The Importance Of The Battle Of Wounded Knee

To understand the importance of the Battle of Wounded Knee and its impact on the white population, it is essential to understand the attitudes and presumptions held by Native Americans and whites during this time. By the time that Wounded Knee took place there had been decades of hostility between Native Americans and Europeans. These feelings created deep prejudices and biases between whites and natives. Such deep biases were not easily forgotten which attests the importance of Wounded Knee. The battle, which would later be referred to as a massacre, made major steps towards wiping away the deep ruts of bias that had been formed in the white population. This can be seen by looking at newspaper articles and journals leading up to the battle
Finally, during the mid-nineteenth century, the United States government created reservations for Native Americans. These zones, however, were often undesired land with few resources available. Occasionally reservation treaties would even be broken if resources were discovered on Native’s lands. These injustices led to Native American revolts and several Native American wars. These were fought in the second half of the nineteenth century but, “by the 1880s Native American resistance was basically over, and the tribes were confined to reservations.” This unhappy confinement along with the many other struggles faced by Native Americans set the stage perfectly for the rise of a new religious revival among the western tribes, beginning with the Lakota Sioux. The Lakota Sioux also known as the Teton, were the westernmost part of the Sioux nation. The Lakota relied heavily upon the buffalo and lived in small bands that were frequently on the move. Their mobile lifestyle helped the Lakota to avoid problems like disease that other Native American tribes faced. This allowed the Lakota to prosper where other stationary tribes suffered and this prosperity
After a group of Lakota was intercepted by the US military they were forced to shelter at Wounded Knee. While trying to disarm the Lakota, a struggle broke out between a soldier and a Lakota man who did not want to give up his gun. In the struggle, the gun fired and a battle begun between the Lakota and the US military. This battle did not go in favor of the poorly armed and exhausted Lakota and the soldiers quickly gained the upper hand due to their superior firepower. Had the battle stopped there then this would likely have been another tragedy pinned on an accidental misfire, however, the US military continued to kill the defeated Lakota long after the initial battle had ended. This event was initially very confusing with many mixed reports on what had happened. At first media reports defended the US soldiers and pinned blame upon the natives. Once the battle had been thoroughly assessed and it became known what truly happened, the media began headlining stories with obvious sympathy for Native Americans. This event ultimately began a trend of sympathy for Native Americans in white society starting in the press. This event is also historically regarded as the last battle of the western Native American