According to Hegseeth, the massacre of Wounded Knee was caused by ‘brave soldiers’

When the weapons were silent, hundreds of Miniconjou Lakota were dead or injured on the winter battlefield. The rigorous bodies of almost one hundred and fifty men, women and children were collected and dumped in a mass grave the following days.

The massacre of Wounded Knee in December 1890, the last major collision between a native people and the US Army, is a symbolic benchmark in the colonization of the American West. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) Van Dee Brown, a popular history of the submission of native America, became a bestseller. ‘We were all Wounded at Wounded Knee’ from the Redbone pop group in 1973 was in the Dutch Top-40 for fifteen weeks. That year the hamlet in the state of South Dakota was occupied by activists from the American Indian Movement (AIM) and evacuated after months of siege by the National Guard and FBI.

Almost a century and a half later, the sinister episode recently reached the media again. Donald Trumps Minister of Defense (or ‘War’) Pete Hegseeth, who wants to make soldiers ‘warriors’ again, announced that he would not withdraw the twenty medals or Honor who were awarded after the slaughter, the highest American military distinction.

Return of the Bizon

Hegseeth, who spoke about a “battle,”, “without a doubt” noted that the “brave soldiers” had earned their medals; Their “place in history” was now insured.

What happened that winter day in 1890 on that poor plain?

The American army surrounded a group of lakota who, against orders, were on their way to joining their relatives. The atmosphere was tense, the Lakota were in the grip of the ‘Spirit’s dance’ who promised a return of the bizon, the authorities feared uprising.

The forced disarmament of the group created a skirmish (according to sources with a deaf Indian man), a shot fell – after which hell broke loose. Cavalry and artillery crashed mercilessly and undisciplined in men, women and children. Between 250 and 300 Lakota were killed, 25 soldiers were died, according to sources mostly in their own barrage.

Military historians spoke to a long time about a “tragedy”, a confrontation that was unnecessarily out of hand because of nerves, mutual suspicion and misunderstandings in translation. That lecture misses the ruthless murder that followed on the first shot change.

A moral and political struggle raged for years about the honorary medals granted afterwards. Lakota activists have found more and more resonance for their call to withdraw the Medals or Honor. Attempts by the Senate of South Dakota during Trumps first term to have the medals reconsidered on constitutional law: the president is about it, as a commander -in -chief.

Trumps successor Biden did decided to investigate the advice to maintain the medals in 2024. The five members of the committee of inquiry voted according to departmental lines: three defense representatives were against withdrawal, two of the Interior for. An official decision was not forthcoming, Hegseeth still took that.

Zoom in

Not only moral objections apply to the awards. The motivation for it was often vague (“courage in battle”), sometimes more concrete (“courage to Indians hidden in a ravine”). One of the decorated people, who coordinated the artillery, later became professor of martial sciences at MIT in Cambridge.

Critics also point to the excessive number of medals that was awarded: as much as after the battle at Antietam (1862) in the civil war, with almost 23,000 deaths and wounded the bloodiest day in American history.

Criticism also sounded in the army, immediately. General Nelson A. Miles, commander of the troops but not present at the massacre, spoke in a letter to his wife of “a horrible, criminal military blunder and a horrible slaughter of women and children.”

Miles, also worried about his own reputation, did not leave it at that and took formal steps against the responsible officer in the field, Colonel James Forsyth. The subsequent military investigation argued completely freely, largely on the basis of statements of his subordinates. The then Minister of War Redfield Proctor turned square against Miles. He regretted the “small family crowd”, which was now happily settled.

Zoom in

This brought the official story about Wounded Knee: the Indians had started shooting, the death of women and children was unintended side damage because they stopped themselves between the men and in clothing could not be distinguished from them.

Historians dispute both claims. After the first shot, the soldiers opened fire, Heather Richardson writes in her book about the event, Wounded knee (2010). The women and children were separated from the men at the forefront, most were later killed in the fight or pursuit.

Miles, a respected veteran, continued to work in vain for the victims. Newspapers on the east coast criticized the army and demanded reforms on the administration of indigenous reserves (not the local newspapers, one of which wrote that it would have been better to kill the lacquer tota too).

Minister Hegseeth said he wants to be “not politically correct but historically correct.” He makes the opposite, in an attempt to knead the army to his political ideal.

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