Battle Of Wounded Knee

The American Civil War has become a point of controversy and argument when discussing key events in shaping America. The arguments that arise when discussing the war tend to focus on whether the Confederate was constitutionally justified in seceding, or whether the North had the right to prevent the secession. However, when discussing the America Civil War and the idea of separation, it is important to be mindful that separation did not simply end at the state level. Letters written by Jesse Rolston, Jr. and Jedediah Hotchkiss portray two significantly different attitudes toward the war, despite the fact that the writers both fought for the Confederate States and give accounts of the same battle, one of which ended in the Confederate’s favor. When examining the documents, both writers express different viewpoints on life on and off the battlefield. This significant difference represents a division amongst the Confederate army.

On June 25, 1876, The Battle of Little Bighorn took place near the Black Hills in Montana. This was one of the most controversial battles of the 20th century and the line between good guys and bad guys was grey at best. Gen. George Armstrong Custer (reduced to LTC after the civil war) had 366 men of the 7thU.S. Cavalry under his command that day. Sitting Bull (A Medicine Man) led 2000 braves of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes (Klos, 2013). At the conclusion of the battle, the stories of the Indians savagery were used to demonize their culture and there were no survivors from the 7thcavalry to tell what really happened.

The Battle of the Alamo is probably the most famous battle to take place in the history of, and in the state of, Texas. The battle has given Texans the will to persevere against tough odds and the courage to endure through seemingly impossible situations for many generations. Many a Texan would draw inspiration during the fights following the defeat at the Alamo. This inspiration eventually led them to victory during the Texas Revolution following the Battle of San Jacinto. Had the Texas military correctly utilized their intelligence and combat assets available to them at the time, they would have been able to properly reinforce the Alamo. This would have allowed Texan leadership to develop an effective strategy to defeat the Mexican army

Most of the women and children in Big Foot's tribe were family members of the warriors who had died in the Plains wars. The Indians had agreed to live on small reservations after the US government took away their land. At the Wounded Knee camp, there were 120 men and 230 women and children. At the camp, they were guarded by the US Seventh Cavalry lead by Major Samuel Whitside. During the year 1890 a new dance called the Ghost Dance started among the Sioux and other tribes. The Sioux's Christ figure, Wovoka, was said to have flown over Sitting Bull and Short Bull and taught them the dance and the songs. The Ghost Dance legend was that the next spring, when the grass was high, the Earth would be covered with a new layer of soil, covering all white men. Wild buffalo and horses would return and there would be swift running water, sweet grass, and new trees. All Indians who danced the Ghost dance would be floating in the air when the new soil was being laid down and would be saved. The Ghost Dance was made illegal after the Wounded Knee massacre though. On December 28, 1890 the Seventh Cavalry saw Big Foot moving his tribe and Big

The U.S Army and the desire for warfare with the Indians was one of the reasons

The American government felt threatened by the Ghost Dance and the prophecies that the Indians

One event brought death to over 225 Sioux Indians on December 29, 1890. The Sioux Indians were fighting against themselves until Wovoka created the Ghost Dance Ritual, which is for the peace of the Indians. Due to the frequent use of the rituals the Americans thought of it as a sign of hostility causing the Ghost Dance Wars. The Ghost Dance Wars caused the death of Sitting Bull which did lead to the start and finish of Wounded Knee Battle. The Battle of Wounded Knee lead to the end of the war, starting violence against the Indians, but lead to the Indians rights to return. The Battle of Wounded Knee, a horrific battle, ended The Ghost Dance Wars, and brought up A.I.M which helped the Sioux tribes gain their rights.

The reservation was also the place where the Battle of Wounded Knee occurred (“History of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation”). As the Ghost Dance movement grew in strength and popularity, so did the uneasiness of the United States government. Sitting Bull was captured and killed. The U.S. 7th Cavalry attacked Black Elk’s Sioux encampment, killing 200 men, women, and children. Black Elk also experienced the poverty and starvation forced upon them by the policies of the U.S. government (“Black Elk”). The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 guaranteed land to the Great Sioux Nation. This was cut down to create the present day Pine Ridge Reservation (Martinez).

Throughout the settlement of Western America, Native Americans were culturally assimilated. This was an attempt by the Americans to transform the Natives’ culture and civilize them through white education and living on reservations. However, the Natives preserved their cultures, tribal identities, and even developed self-sustaining economic practices. First, The Ghost Dance Movement was a revival of Native beliefs that further helped them regain hope through religion. Specifically, it was a religion of the late 1880s and early 1890s that combined elements of Christianity and traditional Native American religion. It fostered the Plains Indians’ hope that they could resurrect the great bison herds and call up a storm to drive whites back across

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19-20 1863, marked the end of a Union in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. With 16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate casualties, the Battle of Chickamauga was the second disastrous battle of the Civil War, ranking only behind the Gettysburg, and was by the deadliest battle fought in the west. With the tenacious attitude of winning the battle, Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee defeated a Union force commanded by General William Rosecrans in the Battle of Chickamauga, during the American Civil War. After Rosecrans’ troops pushed the Confederates out of Chattanooga early that month, Bragg called for reinforcements and launched a counterattack on the banks

During the Civil War Vicksburg was a thorn in the flesh of the Union forces, since from there the Confederates controlled shipping on the river. After several unsuccessful attempts to take the town, Union troops, commanded by General Grant, finally captured it in 1863 after a 47-day siege. Its fall was one of the bitterest defeats of the Confederates. These events are commemorated in the Vicksburg National Military Park and Cemetery. It was one of the most decisive battles of the Civil War. Over 1,300 monuments and markers, reconstructed trenches and the Vicksburg cemetery are found within these boundaries.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as “Cluster’s Last Stand,” which was fought on June 25, 1976 in Montana, U.S. The outcome was indulged for the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne tribes, who presumably will defeat the U.S Army under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and its 7th Calvary. This trounce defeat by the tribes, will consider Indians bloodthirsty by the demise of their enemy. The Indians overwhelmed the 200 men by a cluster of 3,000 men. This insisted the battle was lost by the west, and will always be known as “Cluster’s Last Sand.” A battle that only lasted shortly, and took part of the “Great Sioux War of 1876,” will consider Indians unpredictable in the battle field.

It was said to be insufficient time for the Sioux to respond because the deep winter restricted travel. As the deadline of January 31 passed, the US government telegraphed General George Crook and Alfred Terry to commence their winter campaigns against the Sioux hostiles (Sioux War of 1876).

Crazy Horse was brutally murdered and the Sioux surrendered (“Battle”). In 1890 the government learned that the Native Americans were doing the Ghost Dance (Cayton 265). The Ghost Dance was a ritual in which people join hands and twirled in a circle (Cayton 265). When the government saw the Ghost Dance, they thought the Native Americans were crazy and trying to rebel, so they tried to arrest Sitting Bull (Cayton 265). In this conflict that came to be known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, soldiers killed Sitting Bull, 120 men, and 230 women and children (Cayton 265). These battles pushed Native Americans onto reservations and took away their basic human rights.

On the morning of December 29, 1890, many Sioux Indians (estimated at above two hundred) died at the hands of the United States Army near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Indians were followers of the Ghost Dance religion, devised by Wovoka, a Paiute prophet, as a spiritual outlet for Indian repression by whites. The United States Army set out to intercept this group of Native Americans because they performed the controversial Ghost Dance. Both whites’ and the Sioux’s misunderstanding of an originally peaceful Indian religion culminated in the Battle of Wounded Knee. This essay first shows how the Ghost Dance came about, its later adaptation by the Sioux, and