Battle of Wounded Knee I

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: In the cold early morning hours of December 29, 1890 elements of 7th and 9th United States Cavalry surrounded approximately 350 Miniconjous Sioux led by Big Foot camped at Wounded Knee twenty miles from the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in southwestern South Dakota. Within a brief time over 150 Sioux had been killed with another 44 wounded about half were women and children. More would later die of exposure. Army casualties were not small. Over 60 troopers were wounded or killed. In retrospect, such a high sacrifice of life on both sides made little sense. It resulted from broken promises, emotional despair, faulty expectations, professional ineptitude, and bureaucratic infighting.