The once proud Sioux find their free-roaming life destroyed with the buffalo gone and their people confined to reservations dependent on Indian Agents for their existence. In a desperate attempt to return to their days of glory, many sought salvation in a new mysticism preached by a Paiute shaman named Wovoka called the Ghost Dance religion. Sioux emissaries from South Dakota traveled all the way to Nevada to hear him speak. He called himself the Messiah and prophesied that the dead would soon join the living in a world in which the Indians could live in the old way with plentiful game. A tidal wave of new soil would cover the earth, bury the whites, and restore the prairie. “During the fall of 1890, the Ghost Dance spread through the Sioux villages of the Dakota reservations, revitalizing the Indians and bringing fear to the whites. A desperate Indian Agent at Pine Ridge wired his superiors in Washington, ‘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.’”1Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux medicine man was considered responsible for the uprising because of his position of leadership in the tribe. Tribal Police were dispatched to arrest him and he was killed in the crossfire when several tribe members fought to protect him. Two weeks after his death the government sought to relocate and disarm the Sioux people.2
On December 29, 1890, 365 troops of the U.S. 7th Calvary had orders to escort an encampment of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Sioux to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska. One day earlier the Sioux had been cornered and agreed to turn themselves in at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. When the 7th Calvary was in the process of disarming the Sioux a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote could not hear the order to give up his gun and was reluctant to do so. “According to Commanding General Nelson A. Miles, a ‘scuffle occurred between one warrior who had [a] rifle in his hand and two soldiers. The rifle was discharged and a massacre occurred, not only the warriors but the sick Chief Spotted Elk, and a large number of women and children who tried to escape by running and scattering over the prairie were hunted down and killed.’”3By the time it had ended more than 150 Lakota men, women, and children had been killed. There were more than 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers who participated in the Wounded Knee Massacre. Many Native Americans are insulted and angered by these medals of “dis”honor because it was a massacre of Indian people and not a battle.
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It’s given to a service member who has distinguished themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States"4 but, according to Lakota tribesman William Thunder Hawk, "The Medal of Honor is meant to reward soldiers who act heroically. [But] At Wounded Knee, they didn't show heroism; they showed cruelty." In 2001 the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions. These resolutions condemned the Medals of Honor awards and called on the U.S. government to rescind them.
Modern-day Indians say that Wounded Knee is a wound that will not heal as long as the medals honor the massacre. In November 1997, the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions : #SFE-97-121C and #SFE-97-123C, calling for the permanent removal of an offensive "Battle Streamer" and that the names of those who participated and received Medals of Honor for that action be stricken from the Medal of Honor Roll and to call the action what it was: a massacre. At the EPA Administrator's Annual Award Ceremony held on April 12, 1999 in Washington, D.C., the Army color guard was invited to participate as part of the all services military color guard. The U.S. Army flag with all its battle streamers was paraded, along with many other service flags. This included a streamer which is inscribed "Pine Ridge 1890-1891". This streamer honors the only significant military action during that period. That happens to be the Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. “American Indians were insulted and offended by the Army's display of this streamer, particularly Indian veterans, due to federal government's lack of cultural awareness and sensitivity.”5 As you can see the “Battle Streamer” was not removed.
“Why rescind "the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee" when condoning genocide works so well?” says a user called Winter Rabbit on the Native American Netroots forum for Native American issues. Many similar comments have been made by signers of the petition who disagree with the medals;
To have such an honor bestowed on these murderers for killing women and children causes Indian people to doubt the sincerity of every thing the government does. The alienation felt by Native peoples of this country can never be alleviated until these medals are rescinded. At some point we must begin the healing process. (http://www.dickshovel.com/medcom.html)
To white Americans who are aware of the situation these medals represent what is worst in our society. As a veteran of our fiasco in South-East Asia in the 1960’s I knew a great many men who were much more deserving of honor than the twenty at Wounded Knee. The lucky ones escaped with their lives, and not much more. To me and these men the Congressional Medals of Honor awarded for Wounded Knee represent a slap in the face. Our country dis-honors itself with these awards. (http://www.dickshovel.com/medcom.html)
It seems like a sick joke to award medals based on "gallantry" and "extraordinary merit" to those involved in the shameful Massacre at Wounded Knee. (http://www.dickshovel.com/medcom.html)
To at least try and correct past wrongs done by our Government is the very least that we as American people can do. This would be an important step in showing the Native Americans that we are willing to acknowledge the sins of our forefathers and do our best to correct them. Show the world that we are not as cruel and uncivilized as our history suggests. (http://www.dickshovel.com/medcom.html)
John McCain, who at the time was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, got these comments and more along with a letter from Jordan S. Dill who was the organizer of the petition. His response was “I appreciate why you view with dismay the award of the nation's highest decoration for valor to soldiers...[for their] efforts in an action that resulted in the death or wounding of as many as 370 Indian men, women and children. I also appreciate the concern that these awards can be viewed as diminishing the value of Medals of Honor awarded for conduct in other conflicts. The policies and decisions...[of the U.S. government] that led to the Army's being at Wounded Knee in 1890 doubtless can be characterized as unjust, unwise, or worse. Nevertheless, a retrospective judgment that the Government's policies and actions were dishonorable does not warrant rescinding the medals awarded to individual soldiers for bravery in a brief, fierce fight in which 25 soldiers were killed and 45 others wounded. Neither today's standards for awarding the medal nor policies of the United States with regard to Indian tribes are what they were in 1890...I support these efforts [to find a consensus on a Wounded Knee memorial] in the belief that establishing a well-conceived memorial to the victims of Wounded Knee is much preferable to attempting to strip long-dead soldiers of a medal which they might not merit under today's standards.”6
Today it seems unlikely that the medals will truly ever be rescinded. Not many of the newer generations know. Wounded Knee has been glazed over and the fact that Medals of Honor were awarded for Wounded Knee is not a well known fact. There are still strong feelings out there and people still feel a strong connection to Wounded Knee but the Medals of Honor will probably fade away. Battle Streamers will still be flown and the one that says Pine Ridge will probably get lost as more are added. It’s most likely a matter of time from here on out.
“I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream . . . . The nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.” - Black Elk
1 "Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890." Eyewitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it. Web. 07 Dec. 2009.
2 Toledo, Robert A. "WOVOKA: The Paiute Messiah." Viewzone Magazine: A look at life and human culture from different angles. Web. 08 Dec. 2009.
3 "Doctor Sally Wagner Testifies At Wounded Knee Hearings." First Nations: Issues of Consequence. Web. 08 Dec. 2009.
4 "Code of Federal Regulations: Title 32: National Defense." Web. 08 Dec. 2009.
5 "Army Continues to Parade Wounded Knee "Battle" Streamer." National Congress of American Indians: Home. Web. 09 Dec. 2009.
6 "McCain replies..." First Nations | Issues of Consequence. Web. 09 Dec. 2009. <http://www.dickshovel.com/mccain.html>.
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I am most proud of this composition because I feel that I haven't really changed it since the beginning. It was one of my original ideas and ended up being my most interesting essay I think. I think that I did well explaining what happened and what Medals of "Dis"Honor were and why people were mad. I also think that I did well with evidence. I have lots of evidence. Almost too much evidence. What I could improve on is my paraphrasing. If I have a quote that is 10 pages long and include it all it'll add +10 pages to my essay. I think that I could also improve on some of my grammar. I'm still learning new grammar every time I write something. I don't want to stick a comma in the wrong place. Well, back to writing more essays...
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