I do not know if any of you know this or not but today is an anniversary of one of the most tragic events in our history. On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry massacres 146 (most historians put the total at twice that amount) Sioux at Wounded Knee on the PineRidge reservation in South Dakota.
On December 29, the U.S. Army’s 7th cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under the Sioux Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it’s unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which it’s estimated almost 300 Indians were killed, nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.
It is almost certain that the Sioux did not start the fight as they were already surrounded by a much superior force. Events like this should not be hidden away and forgotten about. We need to learn from these tragedies so as to never repeat anything like this again anywhere on earth. We also need to give them back the sacred Black Hills that were stolen from them even after we signed a treaty with them giving that land to them forever.

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