December 29, 1890Primary sourceWell documented
The Wounded Knee Massacre
On the timeline · around December 29, 1890 ·
What happened
On December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, U.S. soldiers attempting to disarm a band of Lakota opened fire, killing some 250–300 Lakota men, women, and children. It came amid federal fears of the Ghost Dance, a spiritual movement of hope among desperate, confined tribes.
Why it matters
Wounded Knee is generally regarded as the tragic end of the Plains Indian wars and of centuries of armed Native resistance — a brutal coda to the conquest of the American West.
Sources
- Library of Congress (Classroom Materials). Disaster at Wounded Knee · Primary source