wounded knee
The appearance of the ghost dance, a religion preached by a Paiute shaman named Wovoka brought demands from whites far and away for the whole thing to be stopped by the army. Wovoka preached that he was the Messiah and prophesied that the world of the dead would soon join the world of the living to create a world in which the Indian could live in the old ways with plentiful game around them.(Davis,74) He also said that a wave of new soil would cover the earth while burring the white man leaving the earth to be ruled by the Indians. To make this event happen faster the Sioux were to dance the Ghost Dance, which they believed, would protect them from the blue coat bullets.(Davis, 74) One Indian Agent at Pine Ridge wired to his superior "Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy....We need protection and we need it now. The leaders should be arrested and confined at some military post until the matter is quieted, and this should be done now".(www.Ibiscom.com/knee.htm) General Nelson A. Miles assembled an army of 5,000 to handle the Indians in the area. Then on December 14, 1890 Sioux police were sent out to arrest Sitting Bull and other leaders to calm the situation. In the events that followed Sitting Bull was k
In the morning of the next day the Sioux were awakened and called out to the center of camp. When they arrived they were issued hardtack for breakfast then were imformed that they were to be disarmed.(www.Two-dog-raven.) This brought tension through out the band but the warriors started to pile their weapons. This did not satisfy the soldiers and they started to go through the camp pulling out knifes, axes, and even tent stakes.(Brown, 442) The soldiers even started checking individual warriors for weapons. This infuriated the Indians but they did not show it. Only a medicine man dance and song the songs of the ghost dance saying their bullets will not hurt you.(Moquin; Doren, 268) The whole search only turned up two guns, one of which belonged to a young man named Black Coyote. It was brand new and he said he had paid good money for the rifle and that it was his. In the events that followed soldiers ordered him to drop the gun but it is said that Black Coyote was deaf so he could not hear their commands. Then they tried to take it physically and in the scuffle a shot was fired, although it is not known from where.(Two-dog-raven.) Then all hell broke loose as the 4 Hotchkiss guns opened up and poured shrapnel through out the camp killing men, women, and children even their own soldiers. The unarmed Indians who ran and survived the initial killing were ran down and shot. When the killing ended the initial count was 153 dead Indians including Big Foot, but an estimate after the battle put the body count at more around 350 Indians dead.(Brown, 444) There were only 25 soldiers killed and 39 wounded but most of the casualties were caused by their own men. Soon after the battle was ov
Some common words found in the essay are:
Black Coyote, John Forsyth, Sioux Indians, , Chief FootBrown, Major Whitside, Dakota December, Sitting Bull's, Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, wounded knee, pine ridge, ghost dance, dead indians, sitting bull, seventh cavalry, hotchkiss guns, black coyote, soldiers started, events followed,
Approximate Word count = 1149
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
