Return Respect to the Lakota's
and
Return Honor to the Medal of Honor

The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on December 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of South Dakota.

Twenty-three soldiers from the Seventh Calvary were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee.

We are asking that the Medals of DIS Honor awarded to the members of the 7th Calvary in of the United States Army for the murder of innocent women children and men on that terrible December morning be rescinded. And that the Battle Pennant on the Flag of the United States Army be removed and destroyed

Wounded Knee 1890 Massacre

Under cover of the night on December 23, a band of 350 people left the Miniconjou village on the Cheyenne River to begin a treacherous 150-mile, week-long trek through the Badlands to reach the Pine Ridge Agency. Although Chief Big Foot was aged and seriously ill with pneumonia, his group traversed the rugged, frozen terrain of the Badlands in order to reach the protection of Chief Red Cloud who had promised them food, shelter, and horses. It is reported that both Big Foot and Red Cloud wanted peace. On December 28, the group was surrounded by Major Samuel M. Whitside and the Seventh Calvary (the old regiment of General George Custer). Big Foots band hoisted a white flag, but the army apprehended the Indians, forcing them to the bank of Wounded Knee Creek. There, four large Hotchkiss cannons had been menacingly situated atop both sides of the valley overlooking the encampment, ready to fire upon the Indians. A rumor ran through the camp that the Indians were to be deported to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) which had the reputation for its living conditions being far worse than any prison. The Lakotas became panicky, and historians have surmised that if the misunderstanding had been clarified that they were to be taken to a different camp, the entire horrific incident might have been averted. That evening, Colonel James Forsyth arrived with reinforcements and took over as commander of the operation. The Indians were not allowed to sleep as the soldiers interrogated them through the night. (It has been reported that many of the questions were to determine who among the group had been at Little Bighorn fourteen years earlier. In addition, eyewitnesses claimed that the soldiers had been drinking to celebrate the capture of the ailing Big Foot.) The soldiers ordered that the Indians be stripped of their weapons, and this further agitated an increasingly tense and serious situation. While the soldiers searched for weapons, a few of the Indians began singing Ghost Dance songs, and one of them (thought to be the medicine man, Yellow Bird, although this is still disputed by historians) threw dirt in a ceremonial act. This action was misunderstood by the soldiers as a sign of imminent hostile aggression, and within moments, a gun discharged. It is believed that the gun of a deaf man, Black Coyote, accidentally fired as soldiers tried to take it from him. Although the inadvertent single shot did not injure anyone, instantaneously the soldiers retaliated by spraying the unarmed Indians with bullets from small arms, as well as the Hotchkiss canons which overlooked the scene. (Hotchkiss canons are capable of firing two pound explosive shells at a rate of fifty per minute.) With only their bare hands to fight back, the Indians tried to defend themselves, but the incident deteriorated further into bloody chaos, and the 350 unarmed Indians were outmatched and outnumbered by the nearly 500 U.S. soldiers. The majority of the massacre fatalities occurred during the initial ten to twenty minutes of the incident, but the firing lasted for several hours as the army chased after those who tried to escape into the nearby ravine. According to recollections by some of the Indian survivors, the soldiers cried out "Remember the Little Bighorn" as they sportingly hunted down those who fled -- evidence to them that the massacre was in revenge of Custers demise at Little Bighorn in 1876. (Recorded by Santee Sioux, Sid Byrd, from oral histories of several survivors.) Many of the injured died of exposure in the freezing weather, and several days after the incident the dead were strewn as far as approximately two to five miles away from the original site. By mid-afternoon on December 29, 1890 the indiscriminate slaughter ceased. Nearly three-hundred men (including Chief Big Foot), women, and children -- old and young -- were dead on the frosty banks of Wounded Knee Creek. Twenty-nine soldiers also died in the melee, but it is believed that most of the military causalities were a result of "friendly" crossfire that occurred during the fighting frenzy.

In Memory of those Killed at Wounded Knee

1. Chief Big Foot

2. Mrs Big Foot

3. Horned Cloud

3. Mrs. Horned Cloud

5. William Horned Cloud, son

6. Sherman Horned Cloud, son

7. Pretty Enemy, niece

8. Mrs. Beard, daughter-in-law

9. Thomas Beard, grandson

10. Shedding Bear

11. Trouble In Front, son

12. Last Running

13. Red White Cow, daughter

14. Mother-in-law of Shedding Bear

15. High Hawk

16. Mrs. High Hawk

17. Little Boy, son

18. Little Girl, daughter

19. Whirl Wind Hawk

20. Mrs. Whirl Wind Hawk

21. Young Lady, daughter

22. Young Girl, daughter

23. Little Girl, daughter

24. Little Boy, son

25. Little Boy, son

26. He Crow

27. Pretty Woman, daughter

28. Buckskin Breech Clout

29. Running in Lodge, son

30. White Feather, son

31. Little Boy, son

32. Bear Woman

33. Crazy Bear

34. Elk Creek

35. Mrs. Elk Creek

36. Spotted Chief, son

37. Red Fish

38. Mrs. Red Fish

39. Old Good Bear

40. Young Good Bear

41. Mrs. Good Bear

42. Little Boy, son

43. Pretty Hawk

44. Mrs. Pretty Hawk

45. Baby Pretty Hawk

46. Mrs. Lap

47. Shoots the Right

48. Bad Wound, son

49. Bear Parts Body

50. Little Boy, son

51. Brown Beaver

52. White Beaver Woman

53. Black Coyote 1)

54. Red Water Woman

55. Sun In The Pupil

56. Mrs. Sun In The Pupil

57. Henry Three, or Pretty Bold Eagle

58. Iron Eyes (Big Foot's brother)

59. Mrs. Iron Eyes

60. Has a Dog

61. Red Shirt Girl

62. Pretty Woman

63. Albert Iron Eyes

64. White Day

65. Little Boy, son

66. Charge at Them

67. Old Woman, mother

68. Mrs. Iron American

69. Mrs. Yellow Buffalo Calf

70. Louis Close to Home

71. Cast Away and Run

72. Bad Braves

73. Red Horn

74. Winter

75. Strong Fox

76. Mrs. Strong Fox

77. Little Boy, son

78. One Feather

79. Little Boy, son

80. Without Robe

81. Old Man Yellow Bull

82. Mrs. Old Man Yellow Bull

83. Brown Woman

84. Shakes the Bird

85. Red Ears Horse

86. Shoots with Hawk Feather

87. His mother

88. Ghost Horse

89. Little Boy, son

90. Chief Woman

91. Mrs. Trouble in Love

92. Hat

93. Baby boy

94. Mrs. Stone Hammer

95. Little baby

96. Wolf Eagle

97. Good Boy, son

98. Edward Wolf Ears

99. Little Girl

100. Shoots the Bear

101. Kills Assiniboine

102. George Shoots the Bear

103. Mrs. Shoots the Bear

104. Kills Crow Indian

105. Little Body Bear

106. Mrs. Little Body Bear

107. Little Boy, son

108. Baby girl

109. Red Eagle

110. Eagle Body, daughter

111. Little Girl

112. Little Elk

113. Mrs. Little Elk

114. Black Shield's little girl

115. White Wolf

116. Red Ears Horse, sister

117. Old Woman, her mother

118. Wood Shade

119. Mrs. Wood Shade

120. Running Stand Hairs

121. Mrs. Running Stand Hairs

122. Young lady, daughter

123. Scabbard Knife

124. Mrs. Scabbard Knife

125. He Eagle

126. Mrs. He Eagle

127. Edward He Eagle, son

128. Young girl, daughter

129. Young boy, son

130. Log

131. Mrs. Log

132. Really Woman, son

133. Brown Hoops

134. Little boy, son

135. Young girl, daughter

136. Mule's daughter, young lady

137. Red Other Woman

138. Black Flutes, young boy

139. Takes away the Bow

140. Gray in Eye

141. Mrs. Drops Blood

142. Young boy, son

143. Little boy, son

144. Old Woman

145. Mrs. Long Bull

146. Young girl, daughter

147. Spotted Thunder

148. Swift Bird

149. Mrs. Swift Bird

150. Boy, son

151. Boy, son

152. Strike Scatter

153. Boy, son

154. Wolf Skin Necklace

155. Last Talking, old woman

156. Not go in Among

157. Wounded Hand

158. Comes Out Rattling, wife

159. Big Voice Thunder

160. Mercy to Others

161. Long Medicine

162. Broken Arrow

163. Mrs. Broken Arrow

164. Young Man

165. Young Woman

166. Brown Turtle

167. Old Woman, mother

168. Bird Wings

169. Not Afraid of Lodge

170. Bear Comes and Lies

171. Wears Calf's Robe

172. Yellow Robe

173. Wounded in Winter, son

174. Mrs. Black Hair

175. Bad Spotted Eagle

176. Mrs. Bad Spotted Eagle

177. White American

178. Long Bull

179. Courage Bear

180. Mrs. Courage Bear

181. Fat Courage Bear

182. George Courage Bear

183. Black Hawk

184. She Bear, wife

185. Weasel Bear, daughter 1) had a Winchester Rifle)