WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE MEMORIAL

The Pine Ridge Indian Reserve, located in south west Dakota, east of Hot Springs and south of Badlands National Park, a residue of the old Sioux Reserve established by the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868, was the scene of a particularly bloody conflict between the Amerindians and the Amerindians. army, known as Wounded Knee's massacre. At that time the Ghost Dances practice (which is a circle dances) initiated by the spiritual movement of Chief Jack Wilson, called more commonly Wovoka, is growing on the reserve. The Amerindians believe, through this practice, to invoke the gods to eradicate the white invader and regain control over their lands. The arrest leading to the death of Chief Sitting Bull in 1890, accused of tolerating these dances, will then increase tensions on the Pine Ridge reserve. It all escaped on December 29, 1890 when the US army sent a division of cavalry on site. As soldiers encircle a Ghost Dancers band under the leadership of Lakota Big Foot and disarm, a fight erupts between an Indian soldier and an American soldier. The result is a horrific massacre costing life to almost 150 Amerindians, almost half of whom are women and children. The violence of soldiers is perceived by some historians as a desire to avenge after the army's overwhelming defeat in Little Bighorn. The Ghost Dances movement thus ends and this tragic episode marks the end of wars with the Indians.