Wounded Knee
-
What is Wounded Knee in South Dakota?
Wounded Knee is a hamlet and creek within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. It is the site of two historical conflicts between Native Americans and the U.S. government.
On December 29, 1890, the Wounded Knee Massacre resulted in the deaths of an estimated 150–300 Lakota men, women, and children by U.S. Army troops. The massacre marked the end of the U.S. Army’s efforts to suppress Plains peoples’ resistance to reservation life and assimilation. In February 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee to protest the U.S. government's treatment of Native Americans. After a 71-day siege, the activists surrendered in exchange for negotiations, drawing national attention to Native American rights.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where is Wounded Knee located?
Wounded Knee is a hamlet alongside a creek with the same name. It is located within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. The site is known for two historical conflicts between Native Americans and the U.S. federal government that took place there in 1890 and 1973. The Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 150 to 300 Lakota people. In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied Wounded Knee to protest U.S. policies and demand changes in tribal leadership.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who lives in the community of Wounded Knee?
Wounded Knee is a small community within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. In 1930, the population of South Dakota reached 690,000, more than double the number of residents at statehood, with the majority living on farms, ranches, small urban centers, or Indian reservations. As of the most recent data, the population of the locality in southwestern South Dakota is 382.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is Wounded Knee historically important?
Wounded Knee is historically significant because it was the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890, where U.S. Army troops killed approximately 150–300 Lakota people, marking the end of the U.S. Army’s efforts to suppress the Plains peoples. The Ghost Dance religion, which preached hope for improving the difficult living conditions of the Lakota, led to alarm among white settlers and federal military intervention. In February 1973, the site was occupied by the American Indian Movement to protest civil rights violations on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What was the Wounded Knee Massacre?
The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on December 29, 1890, when U.S. Army troops killed approximately 150–300 Lakota people at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.
The massacre was the culmination of the U.S. Army’s efforts to suppress the Plains peoples and their resistance to reservation life. Sparked by the Ghost Dance religion, which promised a return to traditional life, the U.S. government feared it as a threat. The Army surrounded and began disarming the Lakota when a scuffle led to a shot being fired, resulting in soldiers firing into the crowd.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How is Wounded Knee remembered and honored today?
Today, the Wounded Knee Massacre is remembered through memorials and renewed activism. A simple stone monument on the Pine Ridge Reservation marks the site where approximately 150 to 300 Lakota people were killed by U.S. troops in 1890, in an event that ended organized Native American resistance. The site is recognized as a symbol of the injustices suffered by Native Americans.
In 1973, activists with the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied Wounded Knee to bring attention to civil rights violations, highlighting the ongoing struggle for Native American rights and treaty adherence. Additionally, there have been efforts to rescind the Medals of Honor given to the U.S. cavalrymen involved in the massacre, reflecting a contemporary push for accountability and justice.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Wounded Knee, hamlet and creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It was the site of two conflicts, in 1890 and 1973, between Native Americans and the U.S. federal government.
On December 29, 1890, approximately 150–300 Lakota men, women, and children were killed by U.S. troops during the Wounded Knee Massacre, an episode that concluded the federal government’s military campaigns against the Plains Indians. Seeking some hope for improving their difficult living conditions, such as hunger and starvation caused by the reduction in the size of their reservation in the late 1880s, the Lakota responded affirmatively to Wovoka, a Paiute prophet who promised the disappearance of the white man and a return of native lands and buffalo if certain rites and dances were performed. These rites, known as the Ghost Dance, caused alarm among white settlers and led to federal military intervention.
The U.S. Army subdued the Ghost Dance movement, but Chief Sitting Bull was killed by reservation police while being arrested on December 14, 1890, and a few hundred Lakota people left their reservation at Pine Ridge, seeking to hide in the Badlands. Technically classified as hostiles because they had left the reservation, they gathered around the Miniconjou Lakota chief Sitanka, also known as Big Foot. However, they surrendered quietly to pursuing troops of the 7th Cavalry on the night of December 28. Following an overnight encampment near Wounded Knee Creek, Sitanka’s group was surrounded and nearly disarmed when a scuffle broke out over a rifle that a Lakota refused to give up. A shot went off within the group of struggling men, and, from close range, the soldiers, supported by Hotchkiss machine guns, fired into the Lakota, killing many of them instantly. Those who fled were pursued, and some were killed miles from the camp. Although the total number of Native people who died during the Wounded Knee Massacre is unknown, 146 men, women, and children were buried by the U.S. Army in a mass grave soon after the massacre. At least 28 U.S. soldiers were killed.
On February 27, 1973, some 200 members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), led by Russell Means and Dennis Banks, took the reservation hamlet of Wounded Knee by force, declared it the Independent Oglala Sioux Nation, and vowed to stay until the U.S. federal government met AIM’s demands for a change in tribal leaders, a review of all treaties made with Native peoples, and a U.S. Senate investigation of the treatment of Native Americans. The protesters were immediately surrounded by federal marshals, and a siege began. It ended on May 8 when AIM members surrendered and evacuated Wounded Knee in exchange for a promise of negotiations with the federal government. Two protesters were killed and one federal marshal was seriously wounded during the siege, which alternated between negotiation and exchanges of gunfire.