American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890

by Jerome A. Greene, Thomas Powers (Foreword by)

Overview

As the year 1890 wound to a close, a band of more than three hundred Lakota Sioux Indians led by Chief Big Foot made their way toward South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation to join other Lakotas seeking peace. Fearing that Big Foot’s band was headed instead to join “hostile” Lakotas, U.S. troops surrounded the group on Wounded Knee Creek. Tensions mounted, and on the morning of December 29, as the Lakotas prepared to give up their arms, disaster struck. Accounts vary on what triggered the violence as Indians and soldiers unleashed thunderous gunfire at each other, but the consequences were horrific: some 200 innocent Lakota men, women, and children were slaughtered. American Carnage—the first comprehensive account of Wounded Knee to appear in more than fifty years—explores the complex events preceding the tragedy, the killings, and their troubled legacy.

In this gripping tale, Jerome A. Greene—renowned specialist on the Indian wars—explores why the bloody engagement happened and demonstrates how it became a brutal massacre. Drawing on a wealth of sources, including previously unknown testimonies, Greene examines the events from both Native and non-Native perspectives, explaining the significance of treaties, white settlement, political disputes, and the Ghost Dance as influential factors in what eventually took place. He addresses controversial questions: Was the action premeditated? Was the Seventh Cavalry motivated by revenge after its humiliating defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn? Should soldiers have received Medals of Honor? He also recounts the futile efforts of Lakota survivors and their descendants to gain recognition for their terrible losses.

Epic in scope and poignant in its recounting of human suffering, American Carnage presents the reality—and denial—of our nation’s last frontier massacre. It will leave an indelible mark on our understanding of American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806169064
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	07/08/2021
Pages:	618
Sales rank:	675,154
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Jerome A. Greene is retired as Research Historian for the National Park Service. He is the author of numerous books, including Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn since 1876, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View; Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877; and Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Thomas Powers is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. His most recent book is The Killing of Crazy Horse.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Foreword Thomas Powers xi

Preface xiii

Prologue 3

1 Wild Indians 9

2 New World 23

3 Broken Faith 37

4 Trauma 55

5 Seeking to Endure 65

6 Perception 83

7 Deployment 127

8 Stronghold 149

9 Grand River 167

10 Pursuit 191

11 Bloodbath 215

12 Place of the Big Killings 271

13 Direct Corollaries 289

14 Close Out 307

15 Aftermath 339

16 Survivors 363

Appendix A Treaty with the Sioux-Brulé, Oglala, Miniconjou, Yankronai, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, Sans Arcs, and Santee-and Arapaho, [April 29,] 1868 [Ratified February 16,1869] 381

Appendix B Ghost Dance Leaders Recommended for Arrest and Confinement 390

Appendix C Standing Rock Police Who Arrested Sitting Bull 392

Appendix D U.S. Army Casualties, Sioux Campaign, 1890 394

Appendix E U.S. Army Estimate of Lakota Casualties at Wounded Knee 399

Appendix F Lakota Casualties 402

Appendix G Medals of Honor for the Pine Ridge Campaign, 1890-91 417

Appendix H General Miles's Congratulatory Message to His Troops at the Conclusion of the Sioux Campaign 419

Appendix I List of Wounded Knee Survivors as of May 1941, Compiled by James Pipe On Head 423

Notes 425

Bibliography 535

Index 575

Editorial Reviews

Jerome Greene’s retelling of Wounded Knee is simply kili (awesome). Please read and understand.”—Her Many Horses, Michael, Wounded Knee community member


“The story of Wounded Knee has been told many times, yet never from the vantage of such a wealth of new sources. Jerome A. Greene provides the definitive last word in this masterfully told account.”—R. Eli Paul, author of Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854–1856


“Wounded Knee is an inordinately complex story. Jerome A. Greene’s thoughtful, artful, passionately written story is destined to become its new foundational history.”—Paul L. Hedren, author of After Custer: Loss and Transformation in Sioux Country

“Jerome Greene is uniquely qualified to take on this controversial topic. His long record of publication demonstrates the highest standards of scholarship and guarantees the solidity of his treatment of Wounded Knee.”—ROBERT M . U T L E Y, author of Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot

“American Carnage is an important addition to the body of work on Wounded Knee. Greene’s hefty volume furnishes a comprehensive discussion of the U.S. Army’s most infamous massacre of indigenous people.”—Western Historical Quarterly

“Much has been written about the confrontation at Wounded Knee, but with its meticulous research, evenhanded coverage, and masterful prose, Greene’s book ranks among the best and most complete accounts of this American tragedy.”—Choice

“American Carnage is an excellent book on a complex and controversial subject. Thoroughly researched and incisively written, it is as balanced as any work on the Wounded Knee tragedy can possibly be." —Army History

From the Publisher

★ 06/01/2014
Greene (Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876), a retired National Park Service research historian, has written an impressive overview of the brutal 1890 massacre of Lakota Sioux men, women, and children noncombatants by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, which effectively closed the era of the Western frontier on the Great Plains. Documenting events in considerable detail and drawing from newly available oral accounts by Plains Indians, the author succeeds in placing the massacre in broad historical context. Pointing to similar premeditated massacres by U.S. troops at Sand Creek in Colorado Territory, Marias River in Montana Territory, and Bear River in Washington Territory, Greene notes the U.S. government's pattern of using military force to coerce and subjugate native peoples. Nine appendixes provide detailed information on topics ranging from the U.S. government's 1868 treaty with the Sioux and Arapaho to a list of Wounded Knee survivors still living in 1941. VERDICT Greene handles his subject with sensitivity and balances the perspectives of Native Americans and U.S. military personnel. Highly recommended to academic researchers and all readers ready for an uncompromised account of an American tragedy.—Nathan Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY

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