ONEOFMANYFEATHERS'

Great Leaders, Warriors and People

Chief Spotted Elk (Big Foot)

Chief Spotted Elk (Big Foot) was a follower of the Ghost Dance, and, as the religion demanded, he was a man of peace, a respected leader who cared for his people in the traditional ways of the Lakota. When Sitting Bull was murdered in cold blood on December 15, the people of Sitting Bull's band feared for their lives and fled to the sanctuary and comfort of Chief Spotted Elk and his band. The arrival of these refugees and their fear added to the panic within Spotted Elk's band, who also believed that the murder of Sitting Bull would bring on another wave of brutal murder by the Army against the Lakota people. The decision was made by the entire band, including the refugees from Sitting Bull's band, that maybe the only safe place was with Red Cloud at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. So, when the cold, bitter winds and snows of December froze anything out and about, the band of over 300 elders, men, women and children started their trip southward, fleeing for their lives and hoping to find refuge with Red Cloud.

The US Army caught up to them on December 28, 1890, and forced Big Foots people into a selected spot on Wounded Knee Creek a few miles away. Chief Big Foot was deathly ill from pneumonia, but he made it clear to the soldiers that they were peaceful and wanted no trouble. He and the other leaders of the band were assured by the US soldiers that they and the band would spend the night on Wounded Knee Creek, and then would escort them to the agency at Pine Ridge.

The next morning dawned clear and mild. The date was December 29, 1890, four days after the celebrated birth of Jesus Christ and over 250 years after the Pilgrims arrived in this country seeking religious freedom.

Ignorant of the meaning and significance of the Ghost Dance; orders were given to "disarm the hostiles". This activity took place under the watchful eyes of several different units of the US Army, stationed on the hillsides surrounding the camp. Within their ranks were the men of the 7th Cavalry, Custer's group. Only a handful of the men present that day, on December 29, 1890, had been in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where Custer and so many men, that were under Custer's command fell in battle, but the unit knew the history, and wanted to "set things right" for Custer. Gatling guns and cannons were already dug into the hillsides among the Army units, all pointing downward into the valley of Wounded Knee Creek and Chief Spotted Elk's camp.

Not many guns were found by the soldiers searching the Lakota people in the camp, and the officers in charge were convinced that the band must have more and had hidden them in the camp somewhere. Things came to a head when the disarmament turned into a search of the camp. The men became restless. A medicine man started singing to calm the Lakota and to remind them that the Creator would take care of them. It is said by those that survived that day, that a young Lakota man, who could not hear, did not understand what was happening, and when the soldiers tried to take away his rifle, the struggle between him and the soldiers resulted in a shot being fired straight up into the air. Journalists on the scene said that as the disarmament turned into a search, they could hear the clicks of safeties being taken off weapons and rifles being readied to fire, and that the first shot actually came from among the soldiers on the hillside. Whatever is true, what all the survivors reported is, that the soldiers began randomly firing into the camp. Women and children and the elderly began running for their lives into the ravines that run alongside Wounded Knee Creek. The soldiers chased them down and shot them whereever they were found, up to several miles away. Survivors also reported that at one point, all firing stopped and a call was made by the soldiers thru translators among the scouts, for all the children to come out from hiding and they would be kept safe. When the kids did so, soldiers rode up and shot them.

When the soldiers thought that all were dead, the Army marched away and left the bodies lying where they were. A blizzard blew in that evening and the temperatures dropped severly. Snow started to fall. The bodies froze into grotesque shapes, and when the Army unit of civilians came back to bury them, they stacked the bodies like cordwood in wagons and dumped them, men, women, and children, together into mass graves. Later on still, the 7th Cavalry made up songs about how they had taken revenge for their unit and how they had murdered all the savages.

The United States Army described the massacre as "a fierce battle." to the American public. The Army claimed, they had been fired upon by the Lakota, after trying to peacefully disarm them. Twenty Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to the butchers of those helpless men, women, and children. Historical investigation has revealed that it was a soldier that fired the first shot. The other soldiers heard the shot and began to kill without mercy.

The wounded, but surviving Sioux of that day were taken by the wagonload to Pine Ridge Agency where they were treated at the Episcopalian mission. Lying on hay spread on the mission floor, they were in plain sight of the words written above the Christian pulpit, "Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men".

"Nothing I have seen in my whole life, ever effected or depressed or haunted me like the scenes I saw that night in that church. One un-wounded old woman held a baby on her lap. I handed a cup of water to the old woman telling her 'give it to the child' who grabbed it as if parched with thirst, and as she swallowed it hurriedly, I saw it gush right out again, a blood stained stream through a hole in her neck. Heart sick, I went to find the surgeon. For a moment he stood there. Near the door, looking over the mass of suffering and dying women and children, and ahhh the silence, the silence they kept was so complete, it was oppressive. And then to my amazement, I saw the surgeon, who I knew had served in the Civil War, had begun to grow pale "this is the first time I have seen a lot of women and children shot to pieces," he said "and I can't stand it."

~ Thomas Tibbles ~
White reporter at Wounded Knee

Remember