Wounded Knee

The Battle of Wounded Knee took place on the Pine Ridge Reservation in western South Dakota. The white soldiers were trying to convince the people of the Oglala Lakota tribe to give up their weapons, but the Native Americans would not. They had been promised certain things that would help take care of them by the government, and had not received any of those things. A shot was fired, and we do not know who fired first. It resulted in a bloody battle on the 29th of December, 1980. There was a lot of confusion, and many people may have died because of friendly fire. The battle lasted for less than an hour, and at least 150 Lakota people died and 50 had been hurt somehow. Only 25 American soldiers died with 39 people wounded.