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Why is the event at Wounded Knee considered a massacre rather than a battle?
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Plains Wars
View of the army camp at Hidden Wood Creek during Lieut. Col. George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills expedition, 1874; photograph by W.H. Illingworth.
The event at Wounded Knee is classified as a massacre rather than a battle because it lacked the characteristics of a military engagement between two armed forces. Although the Bureau of Indian Affairs initially attempted to portray the event as a battle, subsequent investigations and eyewitness accounts confirmed it was a slaughter of Lakota individuals by the United States Army 7th Cavalry.12
Several key factors distinguish this event as a massacre:
- Disarmament: Many of the Lakota present had already surrendered their weapons at the Army's demand, leaving them with no significant capacity for armed resistance.12
- Disproportionate Force: The U.S. Army combatants significantly outnumbered the Lakota.12
- Civilian Casualties: Nearly half of the 150–300 people killed were women and children.12
This event, which occurred on December 29, 1890, in South Dakota, serves as a profound symbol of historical injustice and marked the end of organized resistance by Plains peoples to reservation life and forced assimilation.13