Stewart Huntington
ICT
WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. – The fate of the site of one of the U.S. Army’s worst acts of violence against Indigenous Nations rests now permanently where it belongs: in the hands of the atrocity’s descendants.
Tribal and U.S. federal officials on Monday traveled to Wounded Knee on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to mark the 135th Anniversary of the killing of hundreds of Lakota and Dakota people – and to celebrate the Wounded Knee Memorial and Sacred Sites Act that passed Congress this month and was signed into law.
“We are thankful for coming here today because this is healing for us as we dedicate this sacred site,” Cheyenne River Chairman Ryman Lebeau told the crowd of more than 200 people gathered at the site for the morning ceremony that included honoring songs. “It’s Important today to remember to have that healing of ourselves, that historical trauma that we all carry. Because we don’t want to pass that down to the next generation.”
The new federal law places 40 acres of land where most of the massacre’s carnage took place into what is known as restricted Indian fee title in the names of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
Much of the land in Indian Country is placed in trust with the federal government. In this case, the tribes did not want the government’s name on the title.
LeBeau was joined by Oglala Sioux President Frank Star Comes Out and the entire South Dakota Congressional delegation – and a host of other dignitaries and massacre descendents – for ceremonies to mark the historic event. Tribal leaders thanked the lawmakers for their help getting the bill through Congress and honored them with gifts of star quilts.
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, Republican-S.D., sponsored the original House bill. It passed the House last Congress but never received a Senate vote. This year, it was appended to the defense spending bill that passed this month.
“For 135 years, we have gathered on December 29th to mourn a tragedy, a massacre,” said Johnson. “And today we gather in sorrow, but also for the first time we have the opportunity to acknowledge that something special has happened.”
The tribes now own the massacre site that for generations was in the hands of the Czywczynki family, which had previously operated a trading post and museum on the property. The tribes purchased the land in 2022 and now have had it placed permanently in their hands through the federal legislation.
Tribal leaders say that any decision about what to do with the land will be done in consultation with Wounded Knee descendants.
“The Wounded Knee land will be used for sacred purposes and remembrance, including ceremonies and prayer, and the descendants of victims and survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre will be consulted about the proper care and maintenance of the land as a memorial and sacred site and about the ceremonies and activities to be conducted on the land,” President Star Comes Out said in testimony before Congress as part of the effort to get the law passed.
The deceased and the survivors were not far from the hearts of those in attendance Monday. “We read off 338 names of our ancestors who were massacred,” said Oglala Lakota citizen Valentina Merdanian. “We remember and we continue to move forward in a good way, remembering what they had sacrificed so that we could be here today.”
Now that the campaign to place the massacre site in tribal hands has ended successfully, leaders are looking ahead to work on another front.
“We have a long way to go,” said Star Comes Out. “There’s a lot of concern about the medals.”
On Dec. 29, 1890, the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry surrounded a group of Lakota as they camped near Wounded Knee Creek on the modern-day Pine Ridge Reservation. The calvary had been arresting several tribal members who were participating in the Ghost Dance movement and told the camp to lay down their weapons and that they would be moved to a new camp. According to National Geographic, the campers began a Ghost Dance, which the soldiers took as a signal and began to fire upon the mostly unarmed Lakotas, killing primarily women, children and babies.
Twenty Army soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their actions at Wounded Knee. Tribal leaders have worked for generations to have those medals rescinded. Those efforts were rebuffed in September when U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced in a social media post that the soldiers will keep their awards. Hegseth referred to the action at Wounded Knee as a “battle.” Federal officials did not repeat that language in South Dakota on Monday.
“The recognition in the law, designating it as (a massacre) I think is important,” said Sen. John Thune, Republican-S.D. “What happened here 135 years ago will always be a blight on our state and on our nation’s history. But it’s important for those coming generations that this site be preserved to honor the victims, to honor the lost and remind future generations of what happened here.”
Said Rep. Johnson: “There is a lot of darkness that comes from the massacre but I want to thank all the leaders who worked so hard to bring some light into that darkness.”
And Star Comes out vowed the issue of the medals won’t drift away. “We need to address it,” he said. “That’s going to come next.”