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Report on Historical Investigation of Wounded Knee Battlefield Site, Pine University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln U.S. National Park Service Publications and Papers National Park Service 1952 REPORT ON HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION OF WOUNDED KNEE BATTLEFIELD SITE, PINE. RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA Merrill J. Mattes National Park Service Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natlpark Mattes, Merrill J., "REPORT ON HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION OF WOUNDED KNEE BATTLEFIELD SITE, PINE. RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA" (1952). U.S. National Park Service Publications and Papers. 172. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natlpark/172 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the National Park Service at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in U.S. National Park Service Publications and Papers by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. I D- y I I I 1 I I REPORT ON HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION OF [110w. ED KNEE; BATTLEFIELD SITE, PINL RIDGE I INDIAN RE3iLRVkTION, SOUTH DAKOTA I By Merrill J. Mattes I Regional Historian Region Two Office National Park Service I October 3, 1952 I A I 1 ©N VP CR 0 F I LM I ^:A,,-^^;;U^, ^_r ^ ,° N702iMMIJON CENTER I et.:^, ^ ^ ^_b ER 11 I I I I I I I I REPORT ON HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION OF WOUNDED KNEE BATTLEFIELD SITE, PINP. RIDGE INDIAN REURVhTION, SOUTH DAKOTA I By Merrill J. Mattes Regional Historian I Region Two Office National Park Service I October 3, 1952 I I I I I I I I I Table of Contents I I. Introduction 1 A. Background of Proposal B. Synopsis 2 I C. Field Investigation 4 I II. Critical Analysis of the Site 15 I A. Identification of Site 15 B. Description 15 I C. Bibliography 18 D. Historical Narrative 21 I E. Controversial Aspects of Wounded Knee 30 I III. Park Data 41 A. Ownership 41 I B. Appraised Value 41 t C. Condition of Lands 41 D. Accessibility 42 I E. Suggested Development 42 F. Relation to National Park Service Areas 142 I G. Related Historic Sites 44 1 IV. Maps and Photographs 45 I V. Conclusions 57 I I I t REPORT CN liJ::i'0itTC:.L 1:1Y,^STIr- .T?CtV OF WOUND-60 KNis'E Bi,TTLEFIELD SITE, PINE RIDGE 1 :CNDi..'^ RESi;RV..TION; SOUTH D,,KOT,*.. I I. Introduction I .^. Background of Proposnl In iipril 1952, the National Park Survice was requ,^stc-d I Representative t,: Y. Berry of South Dokota, to considerder the possibility of giving nrtiona1 recognition to Woundu-d Knee t Bettlefic:ld; on. the Pine Ridgc Indim Rcsurvation of South I Dakota. Limited data on the battlefield was presented on iipril 22 to the i,dvisory Bo^rd on National P^rks, Historic Sites, I bluildings, arid Monumi.nts. The Loa.rd ?sk^d that a field invcsti- grtion and ri-;port bc; m-,de by the Service to secure more comprc- I h^.nsive d^.t^-. The Region Two office was requ^.sttd to conduct I this invtstig:tion by a not.,:: appended to Mr. Tolson's letter of May 9 to Senator Karl h. :iundt. I Senator Piundt and Senator Francis Case joinA Repre- 1 sentativ^; Berry in expressing interest in giving the site rccognition. Over forty n^m,:::s of South Dakota citizens were I supplied by them^ with the suag^ st:ion that they be contacted I by the inv^,stig,7tor: No spc:cifi.c ,^crt.pgt" of ground was mentionLd; and no 1 p,-,rticular type of designation was : dvocnted by the Congressme:n, HowtvEr, the terms I "ncti onal battlefield," 'hp.ti anal monumtnt," I 1 I. and "n^tional historic site" all crop up in the preliminnry corrc.spcndesncE:. To the knowludge of the Region Two Office, I the National Park Service has not previously been requested t to consider Wounded Knee for recognition, notwithstanding a reference by Sc:n^.tor Coss in his letter of July 24, 1952, to t Mr. Lloyd, to "what we had hoped for in preparing a national monument some years ago." Neither does it appear to have been I investigated in connection with the Historic Sites Survey dur- I ing its period of activi ty before World Wor II. B. Syncpsis I The "Battle of Wounded Knee" or Me Wounded Knee I Massacre" is an event quite well known, one might say notoricus, in the annals of the Western frcntiesr, the name inspiring strong I and conflicting emotions among latter-day students as well as I among those personally rt1-•ted to the event by geography or group loyalties. There is an extensive bibliography of both scholarly I and popular treatises on the subject, describing an affair of viclence which, like the earlier Battle of the Little Big Horn, 1 continues tc revcrberate with discordant overtones, I On December 29, 1890, some two to three hundred Dakota Sioux, men, women and children, and some thirty soldiers, prin- t cipally of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, were slain at Wounded Knee in an engagement which marked the culmination of the "Messiah Craze" f cr "Ghost Dance Ar," or the "Sioux Outbreak," This tragedy has 1 I 2 I I achieved historicel Ame, partly because of the extraordinary numier of fatalities, partiCularl,y among those normally con- 1 sidered non-combatants, and partly because it was the last im- I port°.nt clash between North ^imericFn Indinns and whitem,^n. 1 Wounded Knee was not a pitched battle. It was 12rg^1_ a hand to hand melee) an explosion of tense nerves and long pent- I up emotions touched off by a single irresponsible rifle shot. The Indians, including Pbout 100 men, had surrendered to a I military force of about 470 me:n. They had pitched camp together 1 and the soldiors were in the process of rolieving the reluctant Indians of their arms when the holocaust was suddenly ignited. r It raged unchecked until most of the fleeing Indians were killed or disabled. The terms "M(--ssiah Graze" and "Ghost Dance War" are I both misle^ding. 'rrue, the reservation was swept by a kind of religious hysteria, but only a part of the population was affected, and the religion embraced was pu<cOul, not warlike, in inttnt. 1 True, there was a military c,-.ripaign resulting in hostilities but there was no real war.. Alarmed by the ontics of the drncers, the a Indion agent called for military aid; while the Indians, alarmed by the concentration of troops, first fled from them en masse; I then sullenly returned to their homes. There were a few other minor actionsp but the exci.tEmtnt would have caused only a ripple in the tides of history, if it had not been for the flare-up of I 3 I Wounded Knee. This served not only to focus nrtional attention upon the immadiate issues of the time, but it bccame the melo- 1 dramrtic finale to 400 years of racial conflict. I C. Field Investigation Extensive resu.^rch on Wounded Knee was conducted in e the Region Two 0? 0ce and Ompha Public Libraries. Other d^ta I was obtained by microfilm from the Nation^1 Archives, and from the Edward S. Luce Colltction of 7th U.S. Cavalry Historical I Data, 1 On Jun(; 18, enroute from Custer Battlefield to Om^.hn, I stopped at Pine Ridge to interview Mr. 0. R. Onde, Superin- 1 tc:ndent of the Pine Ridge Indian ResErvption, regarding the back- ground of the proposul end the attitude of the IndiFns. From Mr. I Srnde, I gathered the following facts: 1 1. The impetus for the proposal came primarily from officials and members of the Chicago-Black Hills Highway Associ- I ation who were interested in the site as a tr;ns-continental tour- ist nttrnction. 1 2. The Indians residing on the Pine Ridge Reservation I by and large were not ^cqua7nttd with the proposal, but a few who were acquainted with it were r<:.the;r cool to the idea. t 3. There was some difference of opinion locally as to 1 how the appro^ch roads to the : rea should be hanc:led. I I 4 I 4 1 4. There was some rivalry among the different Indian bands over the traditional rights to holdings at the Wounded I Knee Battlefield site. 1 5. There were still many survivors of the battle and, understandably enough, feeling was still rather high. In this I connection., Mr. Sande suggested that it might be premature to I establish a monumEnt, but the Indians should be consulted. On the morning of the 19th I drove to the Battlefield I site, 17 mil^s from the agc;ncy, to reconnoitre the area and to I obtain photoc!.r^phs with a Crown Graphic camera. Having ascertained whE:nce ca.mc the m,,in impetus for the 1 proposal we correspond::d with Mr. J. E. Sttg r.of Hot Springs, I South Dakota, Executivc, Secretary of the Association, suggesting that the Regional Historian m&et at some convenient place and time with him and numerous others who had expressed an int,(:,rest, as an alternative to the Regional Historian touring South Dakota 1 and conducting about 40 separate interviews. This plan also had the advontage of bring--ing various and probably conflicting or at least J.ncongruous ideas out into the open for discussion, I thus aiding us in solving what promised to be a quite complicated I and delicate investigational problem. Mr. Steger concurred in this plan, and suggested that I a public meeting be held at Pine Ridge at 10 A.M.
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