Wounded+Knee+Massacre,+Addendum

The Wounded Knee Massacre involved the Lakota people of the Sioux Nation. The United States military, led by General Nelson Miles, made the decision to engage with the Lakota because the Ghost Dance, that had been banned on Lakota reservations, was believed to be a tradition that continued and, more importantly, would encourage revolt and rebellion against the United States. Yellow Bird, the medicine man, was in favor of resistance and, in one report, was the first to fire his weapon once the military invaded; a shot was discharged and the conflict began. Sadly, the casualties were vastly uneven. Approximately 150 Indians were killed, 50 wounded. The army casualties were less: 25 killed, 39 wounded.

[|Wounded Knee Website]

Although this site is more English than History oriented, there are several great images documenting the conflict. (Also, my wiki was created after the first wiki about Wounded Knee and I thought complimentary rather than repetitive content would be more helpful.) This site, while brief, is a nice mix of modern reflection and first hand accounts.

[|New Perspectives on the West, PBS]

While this site covers a vast majority of the 1800's, it has a plethora of great primary sources which also help to show how Wounded Knee was not an isolated event but a culmination of conflict between Native Americans and the US government.

The All Important Benchmark Connection...

For middle school, students could read first hand accounts from both sides of the conflict. I was thinking that it really doesn't matter who is at fault in a conflict like this, the tragedy occurred and the end result can never be altered. What is important is understanding what people endured in the process. I would have students post online postcards-one from the perspective of a United States military member and one from the perspective of a member of the Lakota tribe. The speaker would be writing to a friend about his or her experience in the conflict. I think this would help students gain historical empathy for both sides of the conflict.