The Massacre at Wounded Knee

Fall of the Lakota Sioux

The Lakota Sioux Indians were nomadic plains dwellers who followed herds of Buffalo

By the year 1860, the American government had built roads and forts on the Sioux land

In 1877-1879 the Sioux Indians were subjugated by the U.S. government

By 1890 the Sioux Indians found their previous life destroyed, the Buffalo gone, themselves cramped in minute reservations

The Ghost Dance

In 1888 an Indian holy man called Wovaka began the Ghost Dance Religion

The Ghost Dance touched upon elements of traditional Native American culture and Christianity

It foretold of freedom for all Indians from white domination

Members of the Ghost Dance movement included Chiefs Sitting Bull and Big Foot

The Ghost Dance

During the fall of 1890, the Ghost Dance spread to the Sioux villages in the Dakota reservations

Members of the Ghost Dance wore shirts emblazoned with eagles, which they believed could deflect bullets

White officials became alarmed and in December banned the practice of the Ghost dance on Lakota reservations

The death of Sitting Bull

The order was sent out to capture Chief Sitting Bull, one of the leaders of the Ghost Dance

Sitting Bull attempted to seek sanctuary in the South

Before he could leave Standing Rock Reservation, an attempt was made to arrest Sitting Bull on December 15th

Sitting Bull and 7 of his warriors, as well as 6 policeman, were killed in the ensuing scuffle

The flight of Big Foot

When he heard the news of Sitting Bull’s death, Chief Big Foot rallied his followers and attempted to flee to the protection of Chief Red cloud

Big Foot fell ill from pneumonia during the trip, and was forced to ride in the back of a wagon

A detachment of the 7th U.S. Cavalry under Major Samuel Whitside were tasked with intercepting Chief Big Foot

Capture

On December 28th, the 4 troops of cavalry intercepted the Indians, who surrendered

Major Whitside almost attempted to disarm the Indians on the spot, but was dissuaded by one of his staff

In a moment of compassion, Whitside ordered a field ambulance to transport Big Foot

The Indians were escorted to a temporary camp on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek

Wounded Knee camp

When the Indians reached the camp at dusk, they were counted and given rations and shelter

In total the Indians numbered about 120 men, and 230 women and children

To ensure the Indians did not escape, Whitside placed two Hotchkiss guns on a ridge overlooking the Indian lodges

During the night, more cavalry and Hotchkiss guns arrived under Colonel Forsyth who assumed command, bringing the number of soldiers up to 500

Disarming the Indians

The next day, Colonel Forsythe called all the Indian men to the center of the camp

Informing the Indians that they were to be disarmed, he ordered them to surrender their weapons

The Colonel ordered the camp searched for hidden weapons, but he only found two rifles

When attempting to take a rifle from a deaf Indian, Black Coyote, The soldiers accidentally discharged the weapon

The Massacre begins…

The cavalrymen immediately opened fire with their carbines

Most of the casualties were in the first 10-20 minutes of fighting

The Indians then attempted to attack the soldiers at close quarters

Few of the Indians had weapons, and soon they had to flee

The Hotchkiss guns opened fire, systematically destroying the Indian encampment

Aftermath

When the slaughter had ended, Chief Big Foot and 153 of his tribesman lay dead in the snow, many more died of their wounds

About 300 of the original 350 Indians had died as a result of the massacre

The 7th Cavalry suffered 25 dead and 37 wounded, mostly caused by ‘friendly fire’

The surviving Indians were rounded up, spending the freezing night in a Church

The “End” of the Buffalo

During the 1840s to 1880s the Buffalo were hunted to almost extinction with as few as 1,100 left in 1889.

The Buffalo were killed in huge numbers for their hide and tongues.

Many buffalo were just shot by people from trains, just for sport. (the carcass was left to rot)

The mass killing of the buffalo was also a direct cause of the Indian Wars during this period.

Violence

Famous Outlaws

Jesse James

Billy the Kid

Famous Marshals

Wyatt Earp Wild Bill Hickok

Bass Reeves Born into slavery in

Arkansas Fled and lived with

Cherokee, Creek and Seminole Indians until the 1865

Leaves for the West to become of the first black Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River, arrested over 3,000 felons and shot and killed fourteen outlaws in self-defense.

Widely believed to be the inspiration for the fictional character…The Lone Ranger.

Wild West Fact vs. Myth

The myth of the wild west was spread by small books called dime novels that were widely read during the time.

One was a famous series of novels wrote by Edward Wheeler about a fictional character called Deadwood Dick. (thought to be a black cowboy Nat Love)

Another was the Western novel The Virginian by Owen Wister (father of western fiction) that romanticized the cowboy life.

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody also expanded the idea of the Wild West through his Wild West Shows featuring fighting cowboys and Indians, Chief Sitting Bull, and cowgirl Annie Oakley.

Wild West Fact vs. Myth

The Dime novels and the Wild West Shows developed the stereotype (exaggerated or oversimplified) story of the Western Frontier.

In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner introduced the Turner Thesis stating that the American Frontier life had shaped and modeled the character of American people, but excluded the effect of various ethnic groups and business involvement.

He also said that the frontier acted as a safety valve for discontented city people as an opportunity for success and kept down uprisings in cities.

The West: A land of new beginnings Mary Fields..also known as

“Stagecoach Mary” or “Black Mary”

A former slave who would become the first African-American woman mail carrier and the second woman mail carrier in the history of the US Postal Service at age 60 in Montana during 1895

Indians referred to her as White Crow saying “she drinks whiskey, and she swears.. she acts like a white woman but has black skin.“

When Montana passed a law forbidding women to drink in saloons…Mary Fields was grant a exception by the Mayor of Cascade.

Cattle Kingdom

Along the Western railways railhead towns called cow towns developed for the purpose of holding, selling, and distribution of cattle.

Cow towns worked on the same boom and bust system as mining towns and looked just the same.

The different cow towns that developed were: Abilene (first started by Joseph McCoy), Dodge City, Laramie, Ellsworth, Sedalia and etc.

The Cattle Trails

End of the Open Range

The Open Range came to a halt when the bubble on cattle prices fell and bad weather conditions, but the biggest cause was the fencing off of the Plains by farmers due to the invention of barb wire by Joseph Gilden.

The effect of the Cattle Kingdom was

the increased mileage of railroads, the creation of towns to civilize the west for famers, but the biggest was the mass destruction of the wild Buffalo.