James Austin Hanson Knihy

On a wintry December day in 1890, the Seventh Cavalry of the U.S. Army opened fire on a Sioux encampment led by Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. This incident, occurring two weeks after Sitting Bull's death, escalated from a careless gun discharge into a massacre that claimed over 250 lives, including many women and children. Widely regarded as the last episode of the Indian Wars, the tragedy at Wounded Knee has often been documented, yet the accompanying photographs have largely gone unnoticed until now. This work assembles and examines around 150 photographs taken before and after the massacre, featuring the previously unpublished work of itinerant photographers George Trager and Clarence Grant Moreledge. The commentaries provide insights into both the Indian and military perspectives. Richard Jensen's "Another Look at Wounded Knee" explores the political and economic struggles faced by the Sioux after 1877, while R. Eli Paul’s "Your Country Is Surrounded" addresses the army's involvement. John Carter's "Making Pictures for a News-Hungry Nation" discusses the photographers, reporters, and relic hunters seeking to profit from the tragedy. Together, these elements deepen our understanding of the haunting images in this first comprehensive photographic history of Wounded Knee.