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South Dakota · History

Wounded Knee Massacre

1890

Wounded Knee Massacre

On December 29, 1890, U.S. Army soldiers killed approximately 250 to 300 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The massacre effectively ended armed resistance by the Lakota to American rule. Wounded Knee became one of the most painful events in the history of Native American relations with the United States government.