Hope Springs Eternal by Howard Terpning Courtesy Of Snow Goose Gallery.

Wounded Knee Remembered

The buffalo were gone. The Indians had been moved to reservations, and were poverty-stricken. They knew the end was near. Their only hope was to turn to the Ghost Dance, a religious ritual to bring back the buffalo and the dead, and to make the white man disappear. The soldier's fear of this dance led to the murder of Chief Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Sioux. Soon after that, Big Foot and his 350 people were massacred at Wounded Knee. This massacre ended all battles. All native religions were outlawed by the United States government. This marked the end of an era and the end of freedom. Dewey Beard, known as Iron Tail, told his granddaughter Celene Not Help Him of the horrifying massacre of his people at Wounded Knee in South Dakota on that cold winter day----December 29, 1890.

Dewey Beard's account of the Wounded Knee Massacre as told to his granddaughter Celene Not Help Him.           I was raised by Dewey and Alice Beard after the death of my father. I remember these things [the Massacre], my grandfather told me to listen close and remember so that I can tell these things someday.           My grandfather Dewey Beard, also known as Iron tail, Wasee Maza. He was the last Survivor of the Little Bighorn and also the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. At Wounded Knee he lost his father, mother, two brothers, a sister, his wife and son. He and his four brothers, Joseph Horn Cloud, Daniel White Lance, Frank Horn Cloud and Earnest Horn Cloud, survived.           M grandfather was 27 years old at the time of the Wounded Knee Massacre, he died in 1956 at the age of 98. His father, Horn Cloud, was one of the six to be killed with Chief Big Foot. His mother, Brown Leaf Woman, was shot in the back into the stomach and killed. His sister, Pretty Enemy, was among the ones shot in the ravine. His two brothers, William and Sherman, his wife, Wears Eagle, were shot in the breast, and his son, Wet Feet, was found with his mother, still alive, nursing on his dead mother----he died later.           He said, :The day before we were tired and cold and hungry. When we ran away from Standing Rock, after they killed Sitting Bull, we don't eat that good and we don't sleep that good.           "We made a short stop at Red Water Creek. We built a fire to make some tea for Chief Big Foot. he drank a little bit, but he said he didn't feel like eating, he was really sick." They started out and camped at Red Elk Springs. That's where they spent the overnight.           "By noon we packed everything up and headed out for Pine Ridge. We got to Porcupine Butte. Just then, two of the scouts came back and said 'Alert' or get ready for trouble because we spotted some horseback riders. They were white soldiers and Indians.           "A white man came over and talked toBig Foot. 'Are you Big Foot? We're looking for you,' said the soldier. 'Can you talk?' They asked him, 'When we get to Pine Ridge we want you to put down 25 guns.' He [Big Foot] said he could do that." All the soldiers came around them and then, there was two wagons that came along. It looked like they were really heavy, he said. "Some more came and just before we got to Wounded Knee we got the news that there were Hotchkiss guns all around them, two on each side." They surrendered and the soldiers took them to Wounded Knee.           The soldier said that they were going to camp there overnight. He said "After you put up your tipi and get ready, we will give you rations." Since Big Foot was really sick, he agreed to stop there for the night. So, they all got their rations and built fires and were cooking. After they ate, that's when they told Grandpa Horn Cloud to go to Big Foot's tent.           "This is what I remember. Someone tapped on the tipi door. An Indian soldier [scout] peeked in. 'After you get done, I want you to go to where Big Foot is staying.''' He [my grandfather] got his coat on and went out, going towards where Big Foot's tent was.           On the way a white soldier started to push him around really mean. He turned around and looked up at the white soldier. Then he remembered what Big Foot had told him, to be humble.           When Big Foote told Grandpa Horn Cloud that, he said that he could barely hear him. Big Foot was sick with pneumonia. When he passed the Badlands, he started to have a hemorrage. He lost s lot of blood. He was really getting sick. He told them not to start any trouble. He said there were lots of children and lots of old people, there were more woman than men, so he asked that they be humble. "Humbel yourself," he said.           He [Grandfather] remembered that as he was walking, he [the white soldier] said something to him in English, he didn't understand and asked one of the Indian soldiers what he said. "Don't pay any attention to him," the Indian soldier said. He [my grandfather] went into Big Foot's tent and Big Foot was glad to see him. He said, "Good you came over. That's good, come and sit down." Already Iron Eyes, Spotted Thunder and a few others were there. There were six of them all together and they started talking.           Just then, my grandfather's little brother, Joe Horn Cloud Jr., came in. Grandfather Big Foot told Joe, "Can you go and tell one of the soldiers to fix along the bottom of the tent? It's really cold. They've got a really big stove here, but I think it [the tent] is about two feet off the ground."           Grandpa Beard told me, "They wouldn't let us go to sleep. All night they tortured us by gunpoint. They asked us who all was in the battle of Little Big Horn, the battle with Custer. We can't tell anything----so we told them we don't know. They were saying things to us in English, but we can't tell them what we don't know. Besides, the interpreter is not that good," he said. "Maybe he tells them something else or is afraid to say anything           "One of the six men sitting there almost went to sleep. That's when the soldier poked him really hard with his gunbarrel. We all looked and we didn't like how they treated him, but he said remember be humble. So, he told us not to sleep.

Please go to Page 2 for the rest of the story

This page was last updated on: February 20, 2004