If you can come to this, it’ll almost certainly be worth your time. And it’s free! Richardson is an outstanding historian, and a good presenter, and her reading of the political and economic events leading up to the Wounded Knee massacre is well worth your consideration.
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16 comments
March 11, 2009 at 8:43 am
ari
As a historian, you’re only so-so. But you really are my favorite graphic designer.
March 11, 2009 at 9:16 am
Western Dave
Is there a webcast? Can I skype in?
March 11, 2009 at 10:10 am
JPool
But you really are my favorite graphic designer.
Yeah, that’s not my favorite color palette, but it’s a really fabulous arrangement of images.
Have you considered doing your own book covers?
March 11, 2009 at 11:18 am
Ralph Hitchens
I hope Richardson is familiar with the military aspects of Wounded Knee as well. Dee Brown did us all a disservice. My reading of the event is that it was a tragic accident for which the Souix bear a good deal of the responsibility.
March 11, 2009 at 11:39 am
grackle
Too bad I’m too far away to make the talk. And, yes, great graphic, but,uh, where’s the squid?
March 11, 2009 at 12:38 pm
rea
My reading of the event is that it was a tragic accident for which the Souix bear a good deal of the responsibility.
Agreed–All those women and children ought to have done a better job dodging bullets.
March 11, 2009 at 2:29 pm
jazzbumpa
Alas, Yahoo maps tells me I’m 2324.84 miles away.
Don’t think I’ll make it. Shame, too, since I’m a flaming squid hugger.
March 11, 2009 at 3:53 pm
John Emerson
Indian War buffs should look up Inkpaduta, who led the Spirit Lake massacre, fought the US in 1862, fought at Little Big Horn, and died peacefully in Canada.
The Spirit Lake Massacre had been preceded by the unnamed massacre of nine members of Inkpaduta’s family.
March 11, 2009 at 4:30 pm
joel hanes
Ralph –
Got any pointers to history that you think accurately considers the military aspects of Wounded Knee? I’m always willing to consider evidence.
March 11, 2009 at 5:35 pm
rea
Inkpaduta, who led the Spirit Lake massacre, fought the US in 1862, fought at Little Big Horn
Well, he was at Little Big Horn. Doubt he did much fighting at age 80 or so.
March 11, 2009 at 5:58 pm
kid bitzer
i think the whole red stain seeping in the foreground intimates a squid, as of course does the name “ink-pad-uta”, who was clearly named for sepia.
March 12, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Ralph Hitchens
Been a long time since I studied it, but I do recall that SLA Marshall (a competent military historian despite his self-mythologizing) had a good summary of it in his book “Crimsoned Prairie.” As I recall the Souix band and the 7th Cavalry had been in contact for a few days with no violence, when the senior officer decided to force the issue of collecting the Indians’ weapons. A few soldiers entered the village but found only a handful of old, useless rifles. They were apparently about to search inside the lodges when several Indians opened fire with rifles concealed under their robes. The rest of the regiment, a few hundred yards away, began firing when they saw their comrades shot down. It was a cold winter day and Indians of both sexes were swaddled in robes, indistinguishable at a distance. Most of the soldiers were inexperienced and their officers quickly lost control of the situation. Bottom line is that the Army did not seek or expect a battle, and their relatively high casualties reflected the fact that they were taken by surprise. As Casey said, you could look it up.
March 12, 2009 at 7:00 pm
John Emerson
He only got started when he was 60.
March 13, 2009 at 8:12 am
John Emerson
I also wonder where that 1797 birthdate came from. The Santee Bureau of Records? This seems like a good time to point out that Wiki is not infallible.
March 16, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Michael Bartley
I find Ralph’s “tragic accident” remark stunning. Long before a shot rang out, people had committed to a course of action that made Wounded Knee inevitable not accidental. Furthermore, placing responsibility on a starving, desperate and panicked people fleeing their reservation in fear for their lives seems bizarre. Since, Harney at Blue Water, the Lakota, no angels in warfare themselves, had been well aware of American willingness to attack women, children, and the old. Wanton slaughter of “innocents” had occurred too often in the searing struggle for the Northern plains for us to excuse it at Wounded Knee as mistaken identity or any other senseless reason. Responsibility is a heavy burden that belongs squarely on the backs of the Government and the Army in the events surrounding Wounded Knee. The frozen twisted bodies of the dead remain as ghosts haunting our national consciousness.
There are plenty of sources beyond Dee Brown. Perhaps, you could start with Robert Utley for a fair assessment. Finally, while I recognize the importance of detail and context in history, we have a responsibility to be willing to make hard judgments on our past. The dead, our dead, demand it.
March 16, 2009 at 1:28 pm
MichaelElliott
They were apparently about to search inside the lodges when several Indians opened fire with rifles concealed under their robes.
Most of the sources I have read on this have discounted claims that the Lakota opened fire in this way. The first shot came from the rifle of a single Lakota man, an older man, whose rifle was being wrestled away by the 7th Cavalry soldiers. My own sense from reading both primary and secondary accounts is that it is not possible to tell whether the first shot was fired on purpose or by accident during the struggle. The Cavalry then opened fire on the encampment. While it is true that those Indians who had weapons began to use them, it is also true that many of the wounded and injured among the Cavalry were hit by friendly fire.