Images of Wounded Knee
(they speak for themselves)
Modern aerial view of Wounded Knee battlefield. In 1890 the only existing roads
(wagon trails) were the two that meet at the fork under the label "Council
Circle." The main trail coming from the NE, crossing the creek and then
heading more or less SW. The smaller trail heading S across the dry ravine. FYI:
Big Foot's Tent as shown above, was actually a heated Army medical tent where he
stayed and was treated the night of the 28th.
Red letters and arrows show location and direction of the correspondingly
labeled photographs.
Red letters and arrows show location and direction of the correspondingly
labeled photographs.
The following images, and many more
related to Wounded Knee, are among the extensive holdings of the
Denver Public Library's Western History and Genealogy Photo Collection.
It is with their kind permission that these images are reproduced here.
The DPL's Photo Collection may be accessed at the Colorado
Virtual Library under Digital Collections.
Most of these images required some processing to bring out shadow details.
Also, where there were significant fractures or flaws in the sky area, these
were removed or reduced.
The Hotchkiss light artillery piece. Four of these were used at Wounded Knee.
It fired a 2.62 pound explosive shell or a 2.8 pound canister containing thirty
1/2" hardened lead balls.
A: George Bartlett, Deputy U.S. Marshall for the Pine Ridge and Rosebud
reservations, in front of the post office and
general store operated by Louis Mousseau. Bartlett was sent to try to persuade the Sioux to stop
the Ghost Dance.
B: View to the west across the valley of the Wounded Knee battleground
with slain American Lakota Sioux and burial party barely visible above
cottonwoods along the creek, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.
C: View to the southeast from hill where Native American Lakota
Sioux were buried after the Wounded Knee battle on December 29, South Dakota.
Includes tepee poles marking location of Sioux camp, men loading frozen bodies
into wagons, center, where the council circle was asked to surrender their arms;
the army camp was located to the far left, and a photographer with his tripod
camera shows in foreground.
D: View of the snow covered ravine where many Native American Sioux
sought shelter during the fight at Wounded Knee Creek; shows frozen bodies where soldiers fired and killed from both
sides of the ravine, a few men with horses, and a broken wagon.
E: View northwest (not S.W. as labeled) over the battle field at Wounded Knee
Creek, shows the burial party, including a
Native American Sioux woman, at the west end of the snow covered camp with
frozen bodies and tepee pole frameworks. The mass grave is being dug on the hill
where the Hotchkiss guns were used.
Interior of Holy Cross Episcopal Church at the Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota,
after the battle at Wounded Knee. Shows standing army corp men and a Native
American Sioux man with wounded Sioux from Wounded Knee on the hay covered floor
of the church -- still decorated with Christmas garlands.
The rest of these are grim.
F: View over the battlefield at Wounded Knee
Creek, shows frozen bodies of Native American Lakota Sioux on the snow covered
ground with the civilian burial party with horses and a wagon in the distance.
G: View from center of Native American Lakota Sioux camp to the
northeast, across the council circle, after the fight at Wound Knee creek; shows scattered frozen bodies
(women
in foreground) in the snow, tepee poles; one with a soldier
standing under them, a broken down wagon and U. S. soldiers with horse in
distance.
H: View to the northeast of Lieutenant Sydney
A. Cloman, First Infantry, on his
horse on the Wounded Knee battleground among the frozen bodies of the slain
Native American Lakota Sioux on the snow, including Chief Big Foot on the left. Cloman accompanied the burial party and
drew the official map of the scene of the fighting.
K: View of the slain body of Chief Big Foot, Native American, Miniconjou Lakota
Sioux, propped up in the snow on the Wounded Knee battleground. U. S. soldiers, civilian burial party members, and a
stovepipe from an army tent show in background. (The
location of the army tent is so close to the council circle, that it was most
likely Big Foot's tent. It is documented that Major Samuel Whitside of the 7th
Cavalry ordered a stove placed in Big Foot's tent. See the following image for
an example of the tent heater in use.)
Officers in tent by fire during the Pine Ridge campaign, 1890 - 91. (Notice
the heater in this image is the same as the one in the previous photograph. This
image is courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration)
View of the twisted frozen slain body of Chief Big Foot, Native American,
Miniconjou Lakota Sioux, propped up on the Wounded Knee battleground, Pine Ridge
Reservation, South Dakota.
L: View southwest from just outside of council circle after the fight at Wounded Knee
Creek, shows men holding moccasins and
other souvenirs among the frozen bodies of Native American Lakota Sioux on the
snow covered ground.
M: View east from council circle of the slain frozen body of a Native American Lakota Sioux medicine man,
Wounded Knee Creek, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. The body is posed with a rifle.
N: View of the slain frozen body of a Native American Lakota Sioux medicine man on
the battlefield at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, Wounded Knee Creek,
Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. The body is posed
with a rifle.
O: A civilian burial party stands by their wagon filled with the frozen bodies of
Native American Lakota Sioux, in a ravine south of the camp at Wounded Knee
Creek. Mounted U.S. Army officers look on
from hill above.
P: A civilian burial party and U.S.
soldiers pose over a
mass grave trench with bodies of Native American Lakota Sioux killed at Wounded
Knee, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.
| Read the Joseph Horn Cloud and Dewey Beard Interviews -- Survivors of Wounded Knee |
|
Many thanks to the University of
Nebraska Press for publishing The Indian Interviews of Eli S. Ricker
and kindly permitting this download of the Joseph Horn Cloud and Dewey
Beard interviews. These and many more interviews, relevant to Wounded
Knee, are included in the University of Nebraska Press publication The
Indian Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903-1919 Vol. I -- available
for purchase at the following web page: |
|
I would also like to express my
appreciation to the Nebraska State Historical Society for the good work
they do in preserving old treasures like the Eli Ricker Tablets, and my
gratitude for permitting me to use the photograph of brothers Dewey Beard,
Joseph Horn Cloud, and White Lance. |
|
And finally, a personal thank you to Mike Magstadt, for contacting me and pointing me in a good direction. Thanks to you, Mike, the images on this page now have a voice. |
| Click
here to read the Joseph Horn Cloud and Dewey Beard interviews, as published by the University of Nebraska Press. The
interviews are in PDF format and will require Adobe Reader. The file is
13Mb so be patient if you are using a modem -- the wait will be worth it.
(If the above link fails, due to bandwidth limitations, the document is also at this location.) |
These final two images, provided by Mike
Magstadt, are courtesy of Google Earth.
They provide a picture of the area as it exists today and a good view of the
local topography.
You may like to compare them with the first three images at the top of this
page.
How to cite this web page
MLA Style Citation:
Thomasson, William B. "Images of Wounded Knee (they speak for themselves)."
8 Nov. 2007. 24 Feb 2008 <http://hoist.hrtc.net/~wbt/woundedknee.htm>.
APA Style Citation:
Thomasson, W. B. (2007, November 8). Images of Wounded Knee (they speak for themselves).
Retrieved February 24, 2008, from http://hoist.hrtc.net/~wbt/woundedknee.htm
Chicago Style Citation:
Thomasson, William B. "Images of Wounded Knee (they speak for themselves)."
http://hoist.hrtc.net/~wbt/woundedknee.htm (accessed February 24, 2008).
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