Heather Cox Richardson: Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre

Questions for Heather Cox Richardson Wounded Knee:


1) “Of all the chief actors involved in what became the Wounded Knee massacre--the Indian agency, the United States Army, the Republican Party in Washington, local South Dakota politicians, the progressive Sioux leaders, and the Sioux traditionalists and Ghost Dancers--the ones clearly most responsible for this senseless tragedy were the bloodthirsty and racist officers of the Army.”

2) “One need not look very far for the villain of the Wounded Knee massacre. It had nothing to do with politics, parties, racism or even greed. This was a tragedy of one man’s incompetence, and that man was Indian agent Daniel Royer.”


3) “My brothers, read this statement from one of our own:

If you leave us here to grow up in our present surroundings, what can we hope for? Our highest conception of government will be obedience to the word of the chief; our patriotism will be bounded by the confines of our reservation; our lives will be at the mercy of the "medicine man"; our religion will be a vile mixture of superstition, legends and meaningless ceremonies. . . . Our homes will be hovels. . . . We shall have no literature, no accumulated treasures of the past. . . . Our only hope is in your civilization, which we cannot adopt unless you give us your Bible, your spelling book, your plow and your ax. Grant us these and teach us how to use them, and then we shall be like you.
–E. Valandry

Now, my brothers, if you look into your hearts, you will see that we brought the blood of Wounded Knee upon ourselves. Had we but listened to Dr. Eastman or General Miles, we would have had long lives of peace and content.”