The Bloodiest Half-Hour in Native American History Happened at This Wind-Swept Memorial Site

Wounded Knee Massacre Site, South Dakota

Wounded Knee doesn’t look like much now. Just prairie grass and a small monument that tourists sometimes find by accident.

But 130 years ago, this patch of South Dakota dirt soaked up blood from one of the most shameful days in American history. This is how it unfolded.

Wovoka and the Ghost Dance

Wovoka, a Paiute man also called Jack Wilson, started the Ghost Dance movement during the eclipse of January 1, 1889. During his vision, he traveled to heaven and returned with instructions for his people.

The Ghost Dance Spreads Like Wildfire

Wovoka taught them a circle dance that brought participants into spiritual trances. Dancers moved for hours, connecting with ancestors and glimpsing a future where Native lands returned to their rightful owners.

Tribes from Nevada to the Dakotas adopted the ceremony, each adding elements from their own traditions.

The Lakota Embrace the New Faith

Lakota people on Dakota reservations took to the Ghost Dance with fierce hope in spring 1890. Chief Kicking Bear journeyed to Nevada, met Wovoka, then brought the sacred teachings home.

At that point, reservation life had almost crushed Lakota spirits. Government agents cut food rations while drought killed crops, and they starved while watching their culture vanish.

The Lakota added their own touch to the ceremony in the form of ghost shirts.

These muslin garments bore painted symbols believed to stop bullets from penetrating flesh.

White settlers saw these shirts and feared war.

Sitting Bull Falls

Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota chief who defeated Custer at Little Bighorn, supported the Ghost Dancers. As a result, government officials marked him as dangerous.

On December 15, 1890, Indian police arrived at his cabin to arrest him.

A struggle broke out. Gunfire erupted.

When the smoke cleared, Sitting Bull was dead with a bullet in his chest.

His death sent 200 followers fleeing to join Chief Big Foot’s band.

Big Foot, known to his people as Spotted Elk, headed a Miniconjou Lakota group. They started moving toward Pine Ridge Reservation seeking safety with Chief Red Cloud.

The Army Finds Big Foot

Major Whitside’s troops spotted Big Foot’s band near Porcupine Butte on December 28, 1890. The Lakota traveled under a white flag showing peaceful intentions.

Pneumonia racked Big Foot’s body. Fever burned through him as soldiers surrounded his people. He could barely sit upright.

Troops escorted the 350 Lakota five miles west to Wounded Knee Creek. There they ordered the group to camp for the night. More soldiers arrived after dark, bringing troop numbers to 500.

Guns on Above the Lakotas

Soldiers positioned four Hotchkiss mountain guns on hills above the Lakota camp. Each weapon fired explosive shells at 50 rounds per minute, capable of shredding anything below.

Many of those soldiers belonged to the 7th Cavalry, Custer’s old regiment. They carried memories of defeat at Little Bighorn fourteen years earlier, and too many wanted revenge.

These soldiers, which numbered over 500 soldiers, surrounded 350 Lakota people.

Only 120 of the group were men.

The rest—women, children, and elders—huddled together in the December cold, unaware of coming violence.

A Fatal Misunderstanding

Colonel Forsyth ordered the Lakota to surrender all weapons at daybreak on December 29. Soldiers moved through the camp, finding only 38 rifles among hundreds of people.

Black Coyote, a deaf Lakota man, didn’t understand the orders shouted at him. He clutched his new rifle, unwilling to give up property he had paid for.

Soldiers grabbed him. Black Coyote resisted.

In the struggle, his rifle discharged. The sound cracked across the winter air, freezing everyone for one terrible moment.

The Massacre Begins

Soldiers opened fire instantly. Men pulled triggers without aiming. Hotchkiss guns erupted from the hillside, raining explosive shells on the camp.

Lakota men tried to fight back with the few weapons they still had. Women grabbed children and ran toward a nearby ravine seeking shelter from the bullets.

Soldiers pursued them, shooting anyone who moved. Horse-mounted troops chased fleeing families across the prairie. Bodies fell for miles around the camp while gunsmoke and screams choked the air.

Within minutes, the snow had turned red beneath hundreds of fallen Lakota.

Counting the Dead

Women and children made up more than half of the Lakotas who had died. Many of them were struck by bullets in the back as they ran from the camp.

Big Foot was hit by a bullet as he lay helpless in bed with pneumonia.

More died later from inadequate medical care.

Only 51 Lakota survived with wounds—just 4 men and 47 women and children.

Twenty-five soldiers died too, many hit by their own side’s bullets as they fired wildly into the camp. Another 39 suffered wounds in the chaos.

The Land Froze Over in the Aftermath

A blizzard hit the area after the massacre. Temperatures plunged far below freezing, locking bodies in the positions where they fell.

Some remained frozen with hands raised in surrender.

Military officials didn’t return until January 3, 1891, bring a burial party that tried digging through frozen ground on a hill overlooking the massacre site. Workers tossed 146 Lakota bodies into a mass grave.

Photographers Trager and Kuhn documented the scene, capturing images of Big Foot’s frozen corpse and rows of dead wrapped in blankets.

These photographs spread across America, forcing people far from Dakota to confront what happened at Wounded Knee.

Remembering the Lost

Survivors erected a stone monument at the site in 1903. Since 1986, Big Foot Memorial Riders travel 300 miles each December on horseback.

They trace the path taken by their ancestors, arriving at Wounded Knee on December 29 to honor the dead.

In 2021, the South Dakota Senate called for investigation into the 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers who participated in the killings.

Visiting Wounded Knee Massacre Site

Wounded Knee sits on Highway 27 approximately 18 miles northeast of Pine Ridge town.

Photography is permitted but maintain appropriate distance from grave sites.

The Wounded Knee Museum in Wall, South Dakota (125 miles north) offers context through exhibits and artifacts. It operates seasonally with modest admission fees.

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