Wounded Knee

Wounded Knee

Battle At Wounded KneeOn the morning of December 29, 1890, the Sioux chief Big Foot and some 350 of his followers camped on the banks of Wounded Knee creek. Surrounding their camp was a force of US troops charged with the responsibility of arresting Big Foot and disarming his warriors. The scene was tense. Trouble had been brewing for months. The Battle at Wounded Knee was in part result of the growing support if the Ghost Dance religion. Founded by, a Paige Indian religious leader, the religion rapidly gained many followers though the Plains Indians. The belief of the Ghost Dance religion was the hope of returning to the ?old days?. It was taught that God would restore the Indian world to the way it was before the Americans arrived. With this praise, the Indians felt as though they were bring back there ancestors and the buffalo which were killed some of the Americans.

The army leaders feared that this religion would lead to upraising with the Indians so they called in troops to kept things under control. To control that area of the Indians, the Americans sent in General Nelson A. Miles and Agent James McLaughlin with an army of over