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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
In the late 1880s, US government anxiety about the Native American Ghost Dance Movement prompted many crackdowns on large Native American gatherings. On December 29, 1890, tragedy occurred as US Army troops fired upon Native Americans at Wounded Knee creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation, leaving an estimated 200 people dead. The incident was controversially referred to initially as a “battle” and inspired conflict and backlash that would fuel later Native American movements. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| November 1890 | US Troops move into Pine Ridge Reservation area due to concerns about the Ghost Dance movement. |
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| December 29, 1890 | While disarming Native Americans, a skirmish breaks out. The US Army fires on the Native Americans, killing an estimated 200 Native Americans and wounding many more. |
| January 1891 | General Forsythe is removed from command over the incident, but is acquitted of wrongdoing and restored to command. |
| June 1903 | Native Americans build a monument at Wounded Knee to honor the dead. |
| 1912 | The previously accepted term “Battle of Wounded Knee” is changed to the “Wounded Knee Massacre” by some newspapers. |
| 1914 | A historical reenactment of Wounded Knee is filmed for a movie. |
