The event that that ended all the wars between the Indians and America was the Battle of Wounded Knee. The battle symbolizes not only never ending battle of Indians and Americans but the end of the American frontier. The once proud Sioux found their free-roaming life ruined, the buffalo gone. They were confined to reservations dependant on Indian Agents for their survival.
They tried to return to their old ways on being dependent on themselves and went to a new mysticism shaman called Wovoka. Wovoka called himself the Messiah and said "The dead would soon join the living in a world were the Indians could live the way they use to." He explains that a tidal wave of new soil would cover the earth, bury all whites, and rebuild the prairie. The Sioux were to dance the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance religion made a long journey to the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota to seek protection from military ca
When Big Foot heard Sitting Bull dies, he led his people to Pine Ridge Reservation. The army captured the tribe on December 28 and brought them to the skirts of the Wounded Knee Creek to the base camp. Big Foot was very ill with pneumonia and was dying. He sat with his warriors and powwowed # throughout the night. Suddenly the sound of a shot fired early sunset. The Sioux rushed and quickly searched for their weapons that were hidden in their blankets. Clouds of smoke filled the air as men, women and children ran for their lives.
pture. The dancers wore brightly colored shirts decorated with images of eagles and buffaloes. The "Ghost Shirts" would protect them from the American soldiers.
The memory of December 29, 1890 still evokes emotional and responses from present day Native Americans and their supporters. We must never forget this moment in United States history of the horrific destruction of human life
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