[Under orders to disarm a Sioux camp the US Cavalry gunned down and massacred 250 - 300 Indians. Roughly two hundred of them were women and children. The men were sparsely if not entirely disarmed when it began. ](https://pic8.co/sh/phjn5F.png) >[The outcry against this butchery started in the army itself. Forsyth’s commanding officer, General Nelson Miles, was incensed that a simple surrender with a peaceful band of Indians had become what he called a “criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.” The US government awarded the 1st 20 medals of honor to men for their 'bravery' despite objections from within. ](http://werehistory.org/medal-of-honor-wounded-knee/) >Former Pine Ridge Indian agent Valentine T. McGillycuddy was asked his opinion of the "hostilities" surrounding the Ghost Dance movement, by General Leonard Wright Colby, commander of the Nebraska National Guard (portion of letter dated January 15, 1891):[17] "As for the 'Ghost Dance' too much attention has been paid to it. It was only the symptom or surface indication of a deep rooted, long existing difficulty; as well treat the eruption of small pox as the disease and ignore the constitutional disease." "As regards disarming the Sioux, however desirable it may appear, I consider it neither advisable, nor practicable. I fear it will result as the theoretical enforcement of prohibition in Kansas, Iowa and Dakota; you will succeed in disarming and keeping disarmed the friendly Indians because you can, and you will not succeed with the mob element because you cannot." "If I were again to be an Indian agent, and had my choice, I would take charge of 10,000 armed Sioux in preference to a like number of disarmed ones; and furthermore agree to handle that number, or the whole Sioux nation, without a white soldier. Respectfully, etc., V.T. McGillycuddy." "P.S. I neglected to state that up to date there has been neither a Sioux outbreak or war. No citizen in Nebraska or Dakota has been killed, molested or can show the scratch of a pin, and no property has been destroyed off the reservation."[18] >Aftermath View of canyon at Wounded Knee, dead horses and Lakota bodies are visible Civilian burial party, loading victims on a cart for burial Following a three-day blizzard, the military hired civilians to bury the dead Lakota. The burial party found the deceased frozen; they were gathered up and placed in a mass grave on a hill overlooking the encampment from which some of the fire from the Hotchkiss guns originated. **It was reported that four infants were found alive, wrapped in their deceased mothers' shawls. In all, 84 men, 44 women, and 18 children reportedly died on the field, while at least seven Lakota were mortally wounded.[37] Miles denounced Forsyth and relieved him of comman**d. An exhaustive Army Court of Inquiry convened by Miles criticized Forsyth for his tactical dispositions but otherwise exonerated him of responsibility. The Court of Inquiry, however, was not conducted as a formal court-martial. The first 20 Medals of Honor were awarded for fighting and killing hundreds of disarmed men, women, and children. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre http://werehistory.org/medal-of-honor-wounded-knee/ The fact they hired civilians to dig the mass grave has always disgusted me. Like the final insult. A minor footnote but also a testament to government waste and spending. How have we changed since 1890? Well we're a lot more populated in a lower trust much more multicultural society. It's not if but when will something similar happen again? A little bit of history makes something like [this an absolutely disgusting read](https://pluralist.com/california-textbook-nra/).