Wounded Knee Massacre

The U.S. Army killing of Lakota people at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890, during an attempt to disarm a Miniconjou camp.

Ghost Dance: A Native American religious movement that spread across the West in the late 19th century, promising renewal and the restoration of a transformed world. U.S. officials viewed Lakota Ghost Dance practice as a threat and intensified efforts to suppress it.
Disarmament of Big Foot's band: The U.S. Army's attempt to collect weapons from Big Foot's Miniconjou Lakota camp at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. The struggle during this operation preceded the gunfire that became the massacre.
James W. Forsyth: A U.S. Army colonel who commanded the Seventh Cavalry at Wounded Knee in 1890. His command oversaw the disarmament operation and the troops' ensuing gunfire.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation: A reservation in southwestern South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, home primarily to the Oglala Lakota. Survivors and other Lakota people sought refuge there after the massacre.
Sitting Bull: A Hunkpapa Lakota leader who resisted U.S. expansion and became a prominent spiritual and political figure. His killing by Indian police on December 15, 1890, heightened fear and helped drive Lakota people toward Pine Ridge.
Wounded Knee Creek: A creek in southwestern South Dakota near the site of the 1890 massacre. The encampment and killing took place along its banks.
Black Coyote: A Lakota man whose rifle discharge during disarmament is often identified as the immediate trigger for the shooting. Accounts of his role differ, and the circumstances do not explain the scale of the Army's fire.
Indian Wars: A broad term for armed conflicts between Indigenous peoples and colonial or U.S. forces in North America. Wounded Knee is often described as the final major engagement of the Indian Wars.
Big Foot: A Miniconjou Lakota leader, also known as Spotted Elk, who led his people toward Pine Ridge in December 1890. U.S. troops intercepted his band, the people whose disarmament attempt preceded the massacre.
Ghost Dance War: A name sometimes used for the U.S. military campaign against Lakota communities during the Ghost Dance crisis of 1890–1891. The massacre is commonly treated as the campaign's culminating violence.

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