South Dakota’s Republican-dominated Senate has unanimously approved a resolution asking Congress to investigate the 20 medals of Honor that were awarded to members of the 7th Cavalry for their participation in the infamous Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.
Congress has the authority to rescind the medals. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers, advocating both for Native American tribes and military veterans, said their action would give momentum to a years-long effort to rescind Medals of Honor from 20 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment who participated in the December 29, 1890, massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek. An estimated 250 Native Americans were killed, many of whom were women and children.
“It’s not going to change the stain of what happened there today,” said Democratic Sen. Troy Heinert, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said at Monday on the Senate floor. “This will give us a chance to start a new history — that will recognize what we did that day was wrong.”
Heinert recounted the history of the massacre, telling the Senate chamber how Chief Big Foot's band of Minneconjou Lakota had sought to take refuge on the Pine Ridge Reservation but were intercepted by U.S. soldiers. After the Lakota surrendered, the soldiers led them to an encampment. As soldiers finished disarmed the Lakota, a shot was fired, and “what ensued was a massacre,” Heinert said.
Back in the 19th century there weren’t nearly as many medals available to be awarded to soldiers as there are today. The Medal of Honor was one of the few available. And the rigorous review process that goes on today before awarding a medal of Honor didn’t exist back then.
Nonetheless, no medals at all should have been awarded for what amounted to cold-blooded murder. The only things that cavalry unit deserved were courts martial.
While Congress is at it, it would be a good idea to designate the site of the massacre as a national monument. The graveyard on the Pine Ridge Reservation where many victims are buried is run down and badly in need of attention. There should also be a visitors center and museum on the site.
We’ll see if Congress acts on this. But the fact that it passed unanimously in a GOP Senate should at least blunt any Republican opposition from Washington.
While Congress has apologized for the massacre, previous efforts to rescind the Medals of Honor have failed in Congress. But South Dakota Republican lawmakers argued that the medals given to the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment tarnished Medals of Honor given to soldiers for genuine acts of courage.
“That wasn’t a battle, that was a slaughter,” said Republican Sen. V.J. Smith.