Wounded Knee
- Wounded Knee is a small town that is important in Native American history.
- It is located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
- An Indian reservation is a piece of land that the U.S. government has set aside for Native Americans.
- The Reservation is home to the Lakota Sioux people.
- Two conflicts between Native Americans and U.S. officials took place there, one in 1890 and the other in 1973.
Conflict One: 1890
- During the 1800s white settlers and gold miners took away much Sioux land.
- They also killed many bison (buffalo), which the Sioux depended on for food.
- A religious leader named Wovoka gave the Sioux new hope.
- He told them that a ceremony called the Ghost Dance would drive away from the whites and bring back the bison.
- The U.S. government sent troops to stop the Ghost Dance.
- Government police killed the Sioux chief while trying to arrest him.
- A few hundred Sioux then left their homes. U.S. troops followed them.
- The Sioux surrendered and camped near Wounded Knee Creek.
- On December 29, 1890, while the soldiers were taking away the weapons of the Native Americans, a shot went off.
- Then the soldiers fired their machine guns at the Sioux.
- More than 200 Sioux were killed, including many women and children.
Conflict Two: 1973
- More than 80 years later, on February 27, 1973, Wounded Knee was the site of another dispute.
- About 200 members of a group called the American Indian Movement took control of Wounded Knee by force.
- They felt that Native Americans were not being treated well, and they wanted the government to help.
- They refused to leave. The protest lasted 70 days.
- Government workers shot and killed two Native Americans during that time.
- The Native Americans left Wounded Knee only after the government agreed to hear their complaints.
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