Today

From the Writers Almanac...

Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee, which took place in the army camp in South Dakota, 1891. The band of Indians had been fleeing through the cold when they were ordered into Wounded Knee. The next morning federal soldiers began confiscating their weapons, and a scuffle broke out between a soldier and an Indian warrior. The federal soldiers opened fire, killing 290 men, women, and children. The gunfire was so haphazard that the soldiers killed more than 25 of their own men in the crossfire. Even though it wasn't really a battle, the massacre at Wounded Knee is considered the final battle of the Indian Wars, which had lasted 350 years.

A little known fact; George Washington insisted on treating the Native American Tribes as Sovereign Nations. Not all Americans were happy with that. But he quickly conceded that he was powerless to prevent American citizens from stealing their land. He had only a small army and it would have taken an army 10 times the size to stop the settlers in their rush for land.