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82-543: Frank A. Rinehart 's photographs of the Indian Congress participants are regarded as one of the best photographic documentations of American Indian leaders around the start of the 20th century. In a report on the Indian Congress published in the American Anthropologist in 1899, its chief ethnological consultant, James Mooney credited the realization of the project to "the grit and determination of

164-666: A Ghost Dance , particularly after the U.S. Army attacked dancers during the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. However, the Ghost Dance was encouraged by the managers of the Exposition. A local newspaper reported the Ghost Dance became a popular attraction. The Ghost Dance shirt of Big Foot was displayed in another part of the Expo. Mooney contracted with Frank A. Rinehart and Adolph Muhr to take photographs of

246-412: A cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys ... came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there. I know the men did not aim deliberately and they were greatly excited. I don't believe they saw their sights. They fired rapidly but it seemed to me only

328-466: A few seconds till there was not a living thing before us; warriors, squaws, children, ponies, and dogs ... went down before that unaimed fire. General Nelson A. Miles who visited the scene of carnage, following a three-day blizzard, estimated that around 300 snow shrouded forms were strewn over the countryside. He also discovered to his horror that helpless children and women with babies in their arms had been chased as far as two miles [3 km] from

410-546: A part of the Smithsonian Institution . In 1898 W. A. Jones , the Commissioner of Indian Affairs , sent a letter to each Indian Agency to appeal for attendees. The purpose of the Indian Congress, as he stated, was: It is the purpose of the promoters of the proposed encampment or congress to make an extensive exhibit illustrative of the mode of life, native industries, and ethnic traits of as many of

492-686: A principal feature at future expositions so long as our aboriginal material holds out." After steady lobbying by Rosewater, an extremely influential Republican and a friend of President William McKinley , and other members of the organizing committee of the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition , in December 1897 a bill was introduced in the United States Congress that provided an appropriation of $ 100,000 to carry out an Indian Congress at

574-752: A purchase price of $ 3.9 million [land appraised at $ 14,000]. On September 7, 2022, the Oglala Sioux tribal council and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe voted to buy for $ 500,000 the 40-acre site from the Czywczynskis. (The Oglala Sioux tribal already owned one acre of Land from Wounded Knee which was donated by the Red Cloud Indian school on the site of the Sacred Heart church had stood.) The battalion of 9th Cavalry

656-673: A studio in the Brandeis Building, where he worked until his death. Rinehart married Anna Ransom Johnson (daughter of Willard Bemis Johnson and Phebe Jane Carpenter) on September 5, 1885, in Denver County, Colorado. They had two daughters, Ruth and Helen, both born in Nebraska. In 1898, and in occasion of the Indian Congress held in conjunction with the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition , Rinehart

738-614: A trading post and museum. More than 80 years after the massacre, beginning on February 27, 1973, Wounded Knee was the site of the Wounded Knee incident , a 71-day standoff between militants of the American Indian Movement —who had chosen the site for its symbolic value—and federal law enforcement officials. Among the buildings destroyed were the Czywczynski post and Museum; the Czywczynskis moved away asking

820-530: A vision that the Christian Messiah , Jesus Christ , had returned to Earth in the form of a Native American. According to Wovoka, the white invaders would disappear from Native lands, the ancestors would lead them to good hunting grounds, the buffalo herds and all the other animals would return in abundance, and the ghosts of their ancestors would return to Earth—hence the "Ghost Dance". They would then live in peace. All this would be brought about by

902-579: Is meant to reward soldiers who act heroically. But at Wounded Knee, they didn't show heroism; they showed cruelty." In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the Medals of Honor awards and called on the U.S. government to rescind them. A number of the citations on the medals awarded to the troopers at Wounded Knee state that they went in pursuit of Lakota who were trying to escape or hide. Another citation

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984-595: The 8th U. S. Infantry , under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs acting on behalf of Cornelius Newton Bliss , the United States Secretary of the Interior . The original intention of the organizing committee was to illustrate the daily life, industry and traits of as many tribes as possible. However, once the congress was open authorities realized that the average person attending

1066-534: The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer on January 3, 1891: The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and

1148-723: The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Hallmark Foundation . It includes images from the 1898 Exposition, the 1899 Greater America Exposition , studio portraits from 1900, and photographs by Rinehart taken at the Crow Agency in Montana also in 1900. Wounded Knee Massacre The Wounded Knee Massacre , also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee , was the massacre of nearly three hundred Lakota people by soldiers of

1230-670: The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation . Spotted Elk and his band, along with 38 Hunkpapa, left the Cheyenne River Reservation on December 23 to journey to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to seek shelter with Red Cloud . Former Pine Ridge Indian agent Valentine T. McGillycuddy was asked his opinion of the "hostilities" surrounding the Ghost Dance movement, by General Leonard Wright Colby , commander of

1312-584: The Great Plains , a staple of the Plains Indians , had been hunted to near-extinction. Treaty promises to protect reservation lands from encroachment by settlers and gold miners were not implemented as agreed. As a result, there was unrest on the reservations. During this time, news spread among the reservations of a Paiute prophet named Wovoka , founder of the Ghost Dance religion. He had

1394-466: The Indian reservations for two years, portraying Native American leaders who had not attended the event, as well as depicting general aspects of the indigenous everyday life and culture. The collection of Rinehart Indian Photographs is currently preserved at Haskell Indian Nations University . Since 1994, the collection has been organized, preserved, copied, and cataloged in a computer database, funded by

1476-593: The Nebraska National Guard (portion of letter dated January 15, 1891): As for the 'Ghost Dance' too much attention has been paid to it. It was only the symptom or surface indication of a deep-rooted, long-existing difficulty; as well treat the eruption of smallpox as the disease and ignore the constitutional disease. As regards disarming the Sioux, however desirable it may appear, I consider it neither advisable, nor practicable. I fear it will result as

1558-608: The Nebraska State Historical Society 's summer 1994 quarterly journal, Jerry Green construes that pre-1916 Medals of Honor were awarded more liberally; however, "the number of medals does seem disproportionate when compared to those awarded for other battles." Quantifying, he compares the three awarded for the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain's five-day siege , to the twenty awarded for this short and one-sided action. Historian Will G. Robinson notes that, in contrast, only three Medals of Honor were awarded among

1640-991: The United States Army . The massacre , part of what the U.S. military called the Pine Ridge Campaign , occurred on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek ( Lakota : Čhaŋkpé Ópi Wakpála ) on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota , following a botched attempt to disarm the Lakota camp. The previous day, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside approached Spotted Elk's band of Miniconjou Lakota and 38 Hunkpapa Lakota near Porcupine Butte and escorted them five miles (eight kilometers) westward to Wounded Knee Creek, where they made camp. The remainder of

1722-819: The Winnebago , as well as the Santa Clara Pueblo . Mooney's above-quoted observation that ethnology would be "a principal feature at future expositions" proved prophetic, for Indian Congresses were also convened at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Photos taken by Frank Rinehart and Adolph Muhr at the Indian Congress in Omaha. Frank A. Rinehart Frank Albert Rinehart (February 12, 1861 – December 17, 1928)

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1804-400: The tipi camp full of women and children. It is believed that many of the soldiers were victims of friendly fire from their own Hotchkiss guns. The Lakota women and children fled the camp, seeking shelter in a nearby ravine from the crossfire. The officers had lost all control of their men. Some of the soldiers fanned out and finished off the wounded. Others leaped onto their horses and pursued

1886-652: The " Buffalo Soldiers ". Among the Lakota warriors was a young Brulé from Rosebud named Plenty Horses , who had recently returned from five years at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. A week after this fight, Plenty Horses shot and killed army lieutenant Edward W. Casey, commandant of the Cheyenne Scouts (Troop L, 8th Cavalry). The testimony introduced at the trial of Plenty Horses and his subsequent acquittal also helped abrogate

1968-477: The "zone of military operations" to awaiting trains. A search of the camp confiscated 38 rifles, and more rifles were taken as the soldiers searched the Lakota. None of the old men were found to be armed. A medicine man named Yellow Bird allegedly harangued the young men who were becoming agitated by the search, and the tension spread to the soldiers. Specific details of what triggered the massacre are debated. According to some accounts, Yellow Bird began to perform

2050-481: The 64,000 South Dakotans who fought for four years of World War II . However, historian Dwight Mears points out that awards prior to 1918 were "Medal[s] of Honor in name only," making such comparisons with modern medals inappropriate, since "the medal that existed in 1890 is a materially different award." Native American activists have urged the medals be withdrawn, calling them "medals of dishonor". According to Lakota tribesman William Thunder Hawk, "The Medal of Honor

2132-468: The 7th Cavalry Regiment, led by Colonel James W. Forsyth , arrived and surrounded the encampment. The regiment was supported by a battery of four Hotchkiss mountain guns . The Army was catering to the anxiety of settlers who called the conflict the Messiah War and were worried the Ghost Dance signified a potentially dangerous Sioux resurgence. Historian Jeffrey Ostler wrote in 2004, "Wounded Knee

2214-417: The 7th Cavalry. Testimony had indicated that for the most part, troops attempted to avoid non-combatant casualties. Miles continued to criticize Forsyth, whom he believed had deliberately disobeyed his commands in order to destroy the Lakota. Miles promoted the conclusion that Wounded Knee was a deliberate massacre rather than a tragedy caused by poor decisions, in an effort to destroy the career of Forsyth. This

2296-515: The Exposition wanted to see dances, games, races, ceremonials and sham battles. Soon the main activities of the Indian Congress were re-enactments and the Ghost Dance . According to Captain Mercer's report, the weather "has been trying in the extreme ... Most of the time we have had extreme heat accompanied by dry, hot winds, which rendered camp life anything but pleasant, the conditions being rendered somewhat worse by our location. Following close upon

2378-415: The Ghost Dance, telling the Lakota that their "ghost shirts" were "bulletproof". As tensions mounted, Black Coyote refused to give up his rifle; he spoke no English and was deaf and had not understood the order. Another Lakota said: "Black Coyote is deaf," and when the soldier persisted, he said, "Stop. He cannot hear your orders." At that moment, two soldiers seized Black Coyote from behind, and (allegedly) in

2460-464: The Indian agency). One soldier was immediately killed. The wagon train protected itself by circling the wagons. Corporal William Wilson volunteered to take a message to the agency at Pine Ridge to get help after the Indian scouts refused to go. Wilson took off through the wagon circle with Lakota in pursuit and his troops covering him. Wilson reached the agency and spread the alarm. The 9th Cavalry within

2542-706: The Miniconjou Lakota nation and 350 of his followers were making the slow trip to the agency on December 28, 1890, when they were met by a 7th Cavalry detachment under Major Samuel M. Whitside southwest of Porcupine Butte. John Shangreau, a scout and interpreter who was half Lakota, advised the troopers not to disarm the Lakota immediately, as it would lead to violence. The troopers escorted the Native Americans about five miles (eight kilometers) westward to Wounded Knee Creek where they told them to make camp. Later that evening, Colonel James W. Forsyth and

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2624-487: The Natives (men, women, and children), in some cases for miles across the prairies. In less than an hour, at least 150 Lakota had been killed and 50 wounded. Other estimates indicate nearly 300 of the original 350 having been killed or wounded, with a blizzard preventing immediate search following the massacre. Reports indicate that the soldiers loaded 51 survivors (4 men and 47 women and children) onto wagons and took them to

2706-568: The Pine Ridge Reservation. Army casualties numbered 25 dead. Black Coyote died at Wounded Knee. Suddenly, I heard a single shot from the direction of the troops. Then three or four. A few more. And immediately, a volley. At once came a general rattle of rifle firing then the Hotchkiss guns. [T]hen many Indians broke into the ravine; some ran up the ravine and to favorable positions for defense. I did not know then how much

2788-596: The Rinehart brothers formed a partnership with Western photographer William Henry Jackson , who had achieved widespread fame for his images of the West. Under Jackson's teachings, Rinehart's perfected his professional skills, and developed a keen interest in Native American culture. Frank Rinehart and Anna, the receptionist of Jackson's studio, married and in 1885 moved to Nebraska . In downtown Omaha, Rinehart opened

2870-447: The Rinehart collection: The dramatic beauty of these portraits is especially impressive as a departure from earlier, less sensitive photographs of Native Americans. Instead of being detached, ethnographic records, the Rinehart photographs are portraits of individuals with an emphasis on strength of expression. While Rinehart and Muhr were not the first photographers to portray Indian subjects with such dignity, this large body of work which

2952-538: The United States. The Drexel Mission Fight was an armed confrontation between Lakota warriors and the United States Army that took place on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on December 30, 1890, the day following Wounded Knee. The fight occurred on White Clay Creek approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Pine Ridge , where Lakota fleeing from the continued hostile situation surrounding

3034-512: The aboriginal American tribes as possible. To that end it is pro posed to bring together selected families or groups from all the principal tribes and camp them in tepees, wigwams, hogans etc., on the exposition grounds, and permit them to conduct their domestic affairs as they do at home, and make and sell their wares for their own profit. The entire Indian Congress was managed by ethnologist James Mooney and Army Captain William Mercer of

3116-534: The agency came to rescue the stranded troopers and the Lakota dispersed. For his actions, Corporal Wilson received the Medal of Honor. Historically, Wounded Knee is generally considered to be the end of the collective multi-century series of conflicts between colonial and U.S. forces and American Indians, known collectively as the Indian Wars . It was not however the last armed conflict between Native Americans and

3198-473: The army and its movements upon all the agencies. The Indians, were in consequence alarmed and suspicious. They had been led to believe that the true aim of the military was their extermination. The troops acted with the greatest kindness and prudence. In the Wounded Knee fight the Indians fired first. The troops fired only when compelled to. I was between both, saw all, and know from an absolute knowledge of

3280-621: The association is independent and works to preserve and protect the historic site from exploitation, and to administer any memorial erected there. Papers of the association (1890–1973) and related materials are held by the University of South Dakota and are available for research. It was not until the 1990s that a memorial to the Lakota was included in the National Historic Landmark . In 1968 James Czywczynski purchased 40 acres of property adjacent to Wounded Knee, operating

3362-551: The attendees. Rinehart made several hundred pictures, regarded as one of the most complete, non- exotifying collections of Native American portraits in existence. Rinehart and Muhr took their photographs in a studio on Expo grounds. Speaking of his photos of the Indian Congress, Merry Foresta, director of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution said, "Rinehart's portraits are really quite extraordinary and put him above

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3444-591: The average workaday photographer who might have also made photographs for similar reasons. There were other people working, but he seems to have really, because of the quality of his work, stood apart." 35 individual tribes were represented by more than 500 Indians. The tribes in attendance included the Apache , Arapaho , Assiniboines , Blackfoot , Cheyenne , Chippewa , Crow , Flathead , Fox , Iowa , Kiowa , Omaha , Otoe , Ponca , Pottawatomie , Sauk and Fox , Lakota , Southern Arapaho , Tonkawa , Wichita , and

3526-431: The chiefs into custody in order to quell what they called the "Messiah craze". The military first hoped to have Buffalo Bill —a friend of Sitting Bull—aid in the plan, to reduce the chance of violence. Standing Rock agent James McLaughlin sent the Indian police to arrest Sitting Bull. On December 15, 1890, 40 Native American policemen arrived at Sitting Bull's house to arrest him. When Sitting Bull refused to comply,

3608-550: The crops of the white people, for two years have been almost total failures." "The dissatisfaction is wide spread, especially among the Sioux, while the Cheyennes have been on the verge of starvation, and were forced to commit depredations to sustain life. These facts are beyond question, and the evidence is positive and sustained by thousands of witnesses." After being called to the Pine Ridge Agency, Spotted Elk of

3690-463: The exposition managers, foremost among whom was Edward Rosewater , proprietor of the Omaha Bee . The successful outcome was due chiefly to his tireless activity and unfaltering courage. The ethnologic project was the child of his brain, and in spite of serious imperfections, the general result was such—particularly from the practical standpoint of the ticket seller—that we may expect to see ethnology

3772-434: The field, while at least seven Lakota were mortally wounded. Miles denounced Forsyth and relieved him of command. An exhaustive Army Court of Inquiry convened by Miles criticized Forsyth for his tactical dispositions but otherwise exonerated him of responsibility. The Court of Inquiry, however, was not conducted as a formal court-martial. The Secretary of War concurred with the decision and reinstated Forsyth to command of

3854-466: The heated period we have just had a week of cold, heavy rains which made the camp and life in it more disagreeable even than it was during the hot spell." Ethnologist Mooney sought for the Congress to display customs of the various tribes. Instead, promoters erected a 5,000 seat grandstand, and arranged the tribes in re-enactments of battles. There were also concerns regarding the Indian Congress hosting

3936-628: The legal culpability of the U.S. Army for the deaths at Wounded Knee. The 9th Cavalry were stationed on the Pine Ridge reservation through the rest of the winter of 1890–1891 until March 1891, lodging in their tents. By then, the 9th Cavalry was the only regiment on the reservation after being the first to arrive in November 1890. For this 1890 campaign, the US Army awarded 31 Medals of Honor , 19 specifically for service at Wounded Knee. In

4018-485: The line. It requires the fulfillment of Congress of the treaty obligations that the Indians were entreated and coerced into signing. They signed away a valuable portion of their reservation, and it is now occupied by white people, for which they have received nothing." "They understood that ample provision would be made for their support; instead, their supplies have been reduced, and much of the time they have been living on half and two-thirds rations. Their crops, as well as

4100-585: The massacre at Wounded Knee had set up camp. Company K of the 7th Cavalry—the unit involved at Wounded Knee—was sent to force the Lakotas to return to the areas they were assigned on their respective reservations. Some of the "hostiles" were Brulé Lakota from the Rosebud Indian Reservation . Company K was pinned down in a valley by the combined Lakota forces and had to be rescued by the 9th Cavalry , an African American regiment nicknamed

4182-477: The medals given to the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment tarnished Medals of Honor given to soldiers for genuine acts of courage. Previous efforts to rescind the medals have failed. In March 2021, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Congressman Kaiali'i Kahele (D-HI) answered the South Dakota Senate's call and reintroduced a bill to revoke the Medals of Honor awarded to

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4264-514: The number of dead as high as 300. Twenty-five soldiers also were killed and thirty-nine were wounded (six of the wounded later died). Nineteen soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor specifically for Wounded Knee, and overall 31 for the campaign. In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the military awards and called on the federal government to rescind them. The Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark ,

4346-525: The old way of living before the white man would return. This was not just a religious movement but a response to the gradual cultural destruction. U.S. settlers were alarmed by the sight of the many Great Basin and Plains tribes performing the Ghost Dance, worried that it might be a prelude to armed attack. Among them was the U.S. Indian agent at the Standing Rock Agency where Chief Sitting Bull lived. U.S. officials decided to take some of

4428-471: The original scene of encounter and cut down without mercy by the troopers. ... Judging by the slaughter on the battlefield it was suggested that the soldiers simply went berserk. For who could explain such a merciless disregard for life? ... As I see it the battle was more or less a matter of spontaneous combustion, sparked by mutual distrust. The whole trouble originated through interested whites, who had gone about most industriously and misrepresented

4510-411: The performance of the slow and solemn Ghost Dance, performed as a shuffle in silence to a slow, single drumbeat. Lakota ambassadors to Wovoka , Kicking Bear and Short Bull , taught the Lakota that while performing the Ghost Dance, they would wear special Ghost Dance shirts , as had been seen by Black Elk in a vision. Kicking Bear misunderstood the meaning of the shirts, and said that the shirts had

4592-477: The plains tribes revolved around the bison, and without the resources the animal offered, their cultures rapidly lost stability and security. This forced them to rely on the United States government to provide rations and goods, or else face starvation. The way of life of these independent people was rapidly fading. The Ghost Dance brought hope: the white man would soon disappear; the buffalo herds would return; people would be reunited with loved ones who had since died;

4674-589: The police used force on him. The Lakota in the village were enraged. Catch-the-Bear, a Lakota, shouldered his rifle and shot Lt. Bullhead, who reacted by firing his revolver into the chest of Sitting Bull. Another police officer, Red Tomahawk, shot Sitting Bull in the head, and he dropped to the ground. He died between 12 and 1 p.m. After Sitting Bull's death, 200 members of his Hunkpapa band, fearful of reprisals, fled Standing Rock to join Chief Spotted Elk (later known as "Big Foot") and his Miniconjou band at

4756-461: The power to repel bullets. Some tribes, including the Sioux , believed that a great earthquake and flood would occur which would drown all the whites. The Ghost Dance movement was a result of the slow but ever-present destruction of the Native Americans' way of life. Tribal land was being seized at alarming rates. The once numerous bison herds were nearly hunted to extinction. The entire livelihood of

4838-414: The remainder of the 7th Cavalry arrived, bringing the number of troopers at Wounded Knee to 500. In contrast, there were 350 Lakota: 120 men and 230 women and children. The troopers surrounded Spotted Elk's encampment and set up four rapid-fire Hotchkiss-designed M1875 mountain guns . At daybreak on December 29, 1890, Forsyth ordered the surrender of weapons and the immediate removal of the Lakota from

4920-742: The same time as the Expo. After it passed in the Senate , preparations for the Spanish–American War monopolized the United States House of Representatives , preventing a vote on the bill. In July 1898, $ 40,000 was made available for the event in the Indian Appropriations Act by the President. That was a month after the rest of the Expo opened. Funding was also made available by the Bureau of American Ethnology ,

5002-403: The site of the massacre, has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior . In 1990, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a resolution on the historical centennial formally expressing "deep regret" for the massacre. In the years leading up to the conflict, the U.S. government had continued to seize Lakota lands. The once-large bison herds of

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5084-512: The soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past. Soon after the event, Dewey Beard , his brother Joseph Horn Cloud , and others formed the Wounded Knee Survivors Association , which came to include descendants. They sought compensation from the U.S. government for the many fatalities and injured. Today

5166-408: The soldiers who perpetrated the Wounded Knee massacre. The provision was incorporated into the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act, but was removed in conference with the explanation that "these Medals of Honor were awarded at the prerogative of the President of the United States, not the Congress." This effectively expressed that since adjudication authority was granted to the executive, that it

5248-516: The struggle, his rifle discharged. At the same moment, Yellow Bird threw some dust into the air, and approximately five young Lakota men with concealed weapons threw aside their blankets and fired their rifles at Troop K of the 7th. After this initial exchange, the firing became indiscriminate. Eyewitness accounts state that Black Coyote's gun went off when he was seized from behind by soldiers. Survivor Wasumaza , one of Big Foot's warriors who later changed his name to Dewey Beard, recalled Black Coyote

5330-424: The theoretical enforcement of prohibition in Kansas, Iowa and Dakota; you will succeed in disarming and keeping disarmed the friendly Indians because you can, and you will not succeed with the mob element because you cannot. If I were again to be an Indian agent, and had my choice, I would take charge of 10,000 armed Sioux in preference to a like number of disarmed ones; and furthermore agree to handle that number, or

5412-528: The whole Sioux nation, without a white soldier. Respectfully, etc., V.T. McGillycuddy. P.S. I neglected to state that up to date there has been neither a Sioux outbreak or war. No citizen in Nebraska or Dakota has been killed, molested or can show the scratch of a pin, and no property has been destroyed off the reservation. General Miles sent this telegram from Rapid City to General John Schofield in Washington, D.C., on December 19, 1890: "The difficult Indian problem cannot be solved permanently at this end of

5494-470: The whole affair whereof I say. Following a three-day blizzard, the military hired civilians to bury the dead Lakota. The burial party found the deceased frozen; they were gathered up and placed in a mass grave on a hill overlooking the encampment from which some of the fire from the Hotchkiss guns originated. It was reported that four infants were found alive, wrapped in their deceased mothers' shawls. In all, 84 men, 44 women, and 18 children reportedly died on

5576-427: Was an American photographer who captured Native American personalities and scenes, especially portrait settings of leaders and members of the delegations who attended the 1898 Indian Congress in Omaha . German American Rinehart was born in Lodi (now Maple Park), Illinois . He and his brother, Alfred, moved to Colorado in the 1870s and found employment at the Charles Bohm photography studio, in Denver . In 1881

5658-417: Was at close range; half the Lakota men were killed or wounded before they had a chance to get off any shots. Some of the Lakota grabbed rifles from the piles of confiscated weapons and opened fire on the soldiers. With no cover, and with many of the Lakota unarmed, this lasted a few minutes at most. While the Lakota warriors and soldiers were shooting at close range, other soldiers used the Hotchkiss guns against

5740-437: Was commissioned to photograph the event and the Native American personalities who attended it. Together with his assistant Adolph Muhr (who would later be employed by the photographer Edward S. Curtis ), they produced what is now considered "one of the best photographic documentations of Indian leaders at the turn of the century" . Tom Southall, former photograph curator at the University of Kansas ' Spencer Art Museum, said of

5822-427: Was discharged and a battle occurred, not only the warriors but the sick Chief Spotted Elk, and a large number of women and children who tried to escape by running and scattering over the prairie were hunted down and killed." Modern historians, including Dee Brown , author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee , have supported that Black Coyote was deaf , and that he owned a new Winchester rifle . At first all firing

5904-405: Was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. And I, to whom so great a vision

5986-547: Was for "conspicuous bravery in rounding up and bringing to the skirmish line a stampeded pack mule." Another medal was awarded in part for extending an enlistment. In February 2021, the South Dakota Senate unanimously called upon the United States Congress to investigate the 20 medals of honor awarded to members of the 7th Cavalry for their participation in the massacre. Lawmakers argued that

6068-553: Was given in my youth, — you see me now a pitiful old man who has done nothing, for the nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead. There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce ... A mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing ... The women as they were fleeing with their babies were killed together, shot right through ... and after most all of them had been killed

6150-404: Was later whitewashed, and Forsyth was promoted to brigadier, then later, major general. Many non-Lakota living near the reservations interpreted the battle as the defeat of a murderous cult ; others confused Ghost Dancers with Native Americans in general. In an editorial response to the event, the young newspaper editor L. Frank Baum , later the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , wrote in

6232-423: Was not made up of a series of discrete unconnected events. Instead, from the disarming to the burial of the dead, it consisted of a series of acts held together by an underlying logic of racist domination." On the morning of December 29, the U.S. Cavalry troops went into the camp to disarm the Lakota. One version of events maintains that during the process of disarming the Lakota, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote

6314-750: Was not the role of Congress to revoke medals. As a result, the bill failed due to a separation of powers conflict. An identical version of Remove the Stain was added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (2022), however, it was again removed from the final version of the defense bill by the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Remove the Stain Act also failed to identify an effective process of revocation, stipulating in error that

6396-447: Was reluctant to give up his rifle, claiming he had paid a lot for it. Black Coyote's rifle went off at that point; the U.S. Army began shooting at the Lakota. The Lakota warriors fought back, but many had already been stripped of their guns and disarmed. By the time the massacre was over, more than 250 people of the Lakota had been killed and 51 were wounded (4 men and 47 women and children, some of whom died later); some estimates placed

6478-605: Was scouting near the White River (Missouri River tributary) about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Indian agency at Pine Ridge when the Wounded Knee Massacre occurred and rode south all night to reach the reservation. In the early morning of December 30, 1890, F, I, and K Troops reached the Pine Ridge agency, however, their supply wagon guarded by D Troop located behind them was attacked by 50 Lakota warriors near Cheyenne Creek (about 2 mi or 3 km from

6560-419: Was shot, but following that was a crash". Theodor Ragnar of the 7th Cavalry also stated that Black Coyote was deaf. In contrast, a Native American named Turning Hawk called Black Coyote "a crazy man, a young man of very bad influence, and in fact a nobody." According to commanding General Nelson A. Miles , a "scuffle occurred between one deaf warrior who had [a] rifle in his hand and two soldiers. The rifle

6642-437: Was unable to hear. "If they had left him alone he was going to put his gun down where he should. They grabbed him and spinned him in the east direction. He was still unconcerned even then. He hadn't his gun pointed at anyone. His intention was to put that gun down. They came on and grabbed the gun that he was going to put down. Right after they spun him around there was the report of a gun, was quite loud. I couldn't say that anyone

6724-443: Was widely seen and distributed may have had an important influence in changing subsequent portrayals of Native Americans. Rinehart and Muhr photographed American Indians at the Indian Congress in a studio on the Exposition grounds with an 8 x 10 glass-negative camera with a German lens. Platinum prints were produced to achieve the broad range of tonal values that medium afforded. After the Indian Congress, Rinehart and Muhr travelled

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