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| The 350 followers of Sioux chief Big Foot were camping on the banks of the Wounded Knee creek on December 29, 1890. The U.S. troops were told to surround Big Foot and his army. They took away their weapons and arrested them. They had trouble and problems coming. Whites knew something was going on. It was a hard time for both Indians and white men. Sioux found their land destroys and their life- source gone. Their lives depended on Indian Agents to keep them alive. They tired hard to get back to the way things were. They found a new salvation told by Paiute Shaman called Wovoka. |
Chief Big Foot |
| Sioux traveled from South Dakota to Nevada to hear the words of Wovoka. Wovoka said that his name is Messiah and he told that the dead would soon join the living a world which the Indians live. The old way would return. The Indians would be surrounded by plentiful game. New soil would cover the earth. Indians were to dance the Ghost Dance to make this happen the dancers wore colored light emblazoned images of animals. They thought the " Ghost Shirts" would keep them safe from the bluecoats bullets. In the fall of 1890 the, the dance grew to the Sioux villages of the Dakota reservation. |
Wovoka
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| The Indians made the whites chicken out and get scared. Indian Agents of Washington in Pine Ridge wrote to Washington. "Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy... We need protection and we need it now. The leaders should be arrested and confined at some. Military past until the matter is quieted and this should be done now." Whites people didn't understand the ghost dance. The dance religion meant no fighting, no war, no stealing, no lying, no cruelty. |
Ghost Dance |
| They were supposed to arrest Chief Sitting Bull at Standing Rock reservation. On December 15, Sitting Bull was killed and Chief Big Foot was next in line. On December 28, they took them to Wounded Knee because the army intercepted them. People heard about Sitting Bull's death so Big Foot took his followers and held south for protection. |
Chief Sitting Bull |
| The chief sat with warriors of his and talked with the officers of the army. In the blink of an eye a gun shot went off in the morning. The Indians were charged at in the early morning. So the Indians went and grabbed their guns and started fighting. From above the Indians they started grape shooting the tepees. After the smoke lightened up they said at least 300 Sioux Indians were dead, and Big Foot was one them. 25 of the Soldiers were dead and the others started moving them because of a blizzard was coming from the North. At Wounded Knee solders started killing women and children after attacking Indians men. Some Smoke started to fog up the air. Men, Women and children ran to safety. A lot of them ran for ravine right beside the camp which and were cut with cross fire. |
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| After the blizzard they came back for the rest of the dead soldiers. The fright was still going on but the wounded knee massacre made the Ghost Dance fade away and put an end to the Indians wars. Indians realized that the U.S. Government would keep Massacre made the Indians not to trust the white people anymore. |
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Samantha Beckwith 8th American History Rossville jr. High Plains History Project 2004 |
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Revised: December 23, 2004 . |
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