Ghost Dances And The Wounded Knee Massacre

Wounded Knee Massacre The Wounded Knee Massacre came after a battle between the United States and the Sioux. The Sioux had won the battle and clearly the United States were not happy. The Wounded Knee Massacre started with soldiers from the United States that were sent to this tribe to arrest the leaders because the Indians had different beliefs. They started with a man named Sitting Bull who was killed in the process. The United States were sent back and a man named bigfoot was in charge now. A fight between a soldier and an Indian broke out and a shot was fired from an Unknown side. The Indians could have done something to try to prevent this but the United States soldiers and government were the ones that started this because they attacked
“Alarmed by the Ghost Dance Influence on Sioux reservations, Indian Bureau agents requested military assistance”(Infobase Learning). Their values and beliefs included practicing the Ghost Dance and not following the ways of the normal white man. When the government saw that this was happening they immediately sent over troops. “ On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull who they believed was a Ghost Dancer, and ended up killing him , increasing the tension ,and anger at Pine Ridge” (Wounded Knee, History.com). The police were sent to do the job of arresting the leaders and instead they got the wrong guy ,and killed him. Arresting the Indian leader was bad enough because they had no reason to and instead he ended up dead. Even if this was on accident they still have a right to be angry. There was a battle between the two sides before this and the United States lost. At the time the Indian people were not doing anything that went directly towards the United States government or soldiers in a bad way. This was not fair because they simply took advantage over them like they were nothing and did not have the right for their own values and beliefs. They were sent there to decrease tension for themselves and the outcome was increasing the tension for the
The Indians were surrounded by the heavily armed United States troops on December 29th. “Surrounded by heavily armed troops, It’s unlikely that Big Foot’s Band would have started the Fight” (Wounded Knee, History.com). This shows that the United States had some preparedness for something that sounded like a battle or massacre to occur even before it actually happened because of all of the heavy weaponry they were carrying. “ Some historians believed that the 7th cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment’s defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876”(“Wounded Knee”, History.com Staff) . The United States had an advantage already and really from the beginning which is one of the reasons they started this. When a shot was fired, it really didn’t matter which side had fired it because the United States was ready for it which is why around 300 Indians including children were shot and killed. (Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890, Eyewitness