Medals of Honor rescinded

PIERRE—Sen. Troy Heinert’s bill to rescind Medals of Honor given to U.S. soldiers for involvement in the Dec. 29 Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 received unanimous, 35-0, approval from fellow state legislators 130 years later in a Feb. 22 state Senate vote.

“The pain from that day is still relevant for many families,” Heinert told the Native Sun News Today. “Without addressing the Medals of Honor, that wound remains open.”

His Resolution 701 had passed unanimously in the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 17. The Medals of Honor are the highest U.S. military award.

Heinert, serving his fourth term in the Legislature, is a Sicangu Lakota of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe representing District 26, which includes Brule, Buffalo, Jones, Lyman, Mellette, and Todd counties on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

The resolution was introduced previously in the 2020 South Dakota State Legislature but failed to pass in the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee because of language.

On the morning of Dec. 29, 1890, the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry disarmed members of Mniconjou leader Spotted Elk’s (later known as Big Foot) encampment near Wounded Knee Creek. The encampment members had fled the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation with some 38 Hunkpapa Lakota after the killing of Sitting Bull by Bureau of Indian Affairs police.

Standing Rock Indian Agent James McLaughlin’s growing fear of an uprising associated with the Ghost Dance led to the arrest, and killing, of the famed Hunkpapa holy man and leader Sitting Bull on Dec. 15, 1890.

Spotted Elk, one of Sitting Bull’s brothers, decided to lead his people away from the possibility of further violence and headed south towards the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, hoping to find safety. Prior to the encounter, a 7th Cavalry Regiment surrounded the encampment and set up four large Hotchkiss guns, which were newly acquired weapons of mass destruction at the time.

During the disarmament, a rifle discharged provoking the 7th Cavalry Regiment to respond with an overuse of force, killing mainly women and children.

Big Foot was among the first to be killed and his body lay untouched for three days along with many others before being dumped into the mass grave that is now the Wounded Knee Massacre site in Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

According to eyewitnesses, soldiers pursued and shot fleeing women and children, some as far as two miles from the site of the original confrontation. According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, some of the participants awarded Medals of Honor are cited for pursuing those escaping.

Subsequently, 20 soldiers were presented with the Medal of Honor. According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History, their names and their deeds are as follows:

Sergeant William Austin, cavalry, directed fire at Indians in ravine at Wounded Knee; Private Mosheim Feaster, cavalry, extraordinary gallantry at Wounded Knee; Private Mathew Hamilton, cavalry, bravery in action at Wounded Knee; Private Joshua Hartzog, artillery, rescuing commanding officer who was wounded and carrying him out of range of hostile guns at Wounded Knee; Private Marvin Hillock, cavalry, distinguished bravery at Wounded Knee; Sergeant Bernhard Jetter, cavalry, distinguished bravery at Wounded Knee for “killing an Indian who was in the act of killing a wounded man of B Troop,”;

Sergeant George Loyd, cavalry, bravery, especially after having been severely wounded through the lung at Wounded Knee; Sergeant Albert McMillain, cavalry, while engaged with Indians concealed in a ravine, assisted the men on the skirmish line, directed their fire, encouraged them by example, and used every effort to dislodge the enemy at Wounded Knee; Private Thomas Sullivan, cavalry, conspicuous bravery in action against Indians concealed in a ravine at Wounded Knee;

First Sergeant Jacob Trautman, cavalry, killing a hostile Indian at close quarters, and, although entitled to retirement from service, remaining to close of the campaign at Wounded Knee; Sergeant James Ward, cavalry, continuing to fight after being severely wounded at Wounded Knee; Corporal William Wilson, cavalry, bravery in Sioux Campaign, 1890; Private Hermann Ziegner, cavalry, conspicuous bravery at Wounded Knee; Musician John Clancy, artillery, twice voluntarily rescued wounded comrades under fire of the enemy;

Lieutenant Ernest Garlington, cavalry, distinguished gallantry; First Lieutenant John Chowning Gresham, cavalry, voluntarily led a party into a ravine to dislodge Sioux Indians concealed therein, was wounded during this action; Second Lieutenant Harry Hawthorne, artillery, distinguished conduct in battle with hostile Indians; Private George Hobday, cavalry, conspicuous and gallant conduct in battle; First Sergeant Frederick Toy, cavalry, bravery; Corporal Paul Weinert, artillery, taking the place of his commanding officer who had fallen severely wounded, gallantly served his piece, after each fire advancing it to a better position.

In 1990, the centennial remembrance of Wounded Knee, the U.S. Congress formally apologized, stating “deep regret on behalf of the United States to the descendants of the victims and survivors and their respective tribal communities”.

Support for Rescinding the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor

There have been several attempts by various parties to rescind the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor.

In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians—the country’s oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian organization—passed two resolutions condemning the military awards and called on the federal government to rescind them.

Most recently, in June 2019, U.S. Representatives Denny Heck (D-WA), Debra Haaland (D-NM), and Paul Cook (R-CA) introduced H.R. 3467, a bipartisan proposal for a federal Remove the Stain Act. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a Senate companion with Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as original cosponsors of the bill.

“The Remove the Stain Act acknowledges a profoundly shameful event in U.S. history, and that’s why I’m joining my House colleagues in this effort to advance justice and take a step toward righting wrongs against Native peoples,” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told The Guardian in November 2019 when she introduced a Senate companion to the Remove the Stain Act.

The proposed act is supported by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the National Congress of American Indians, the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, the Coalition of Large Tribes, United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, Heartbeat At Wounded Knee 1890, the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre Descendants Society, Four Directions, the Native Organizers Alliance, VoteVets, Common Defense, Veterans for Peace, Veterans for American Ideals, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Tim Giago’s newspaper, Indian Country Today, carried editorials asking for the medals to be rescinded 30 years ago. Giago said, “It’s about time and long past due and that is why we (Natives) need to have more tribal members elected to state offices or this would never have happened. We can thank Senator Heinert for being there.”

“Both chapters of the Descendants Society, the Heartbeat at Wounded Knee (H.A.W.K.) 1890, and the Wounded Knee Descendants Society, along with the assistance of OJ Semans, have worked hard in the struggle to bring attention to the rescinding of the medal of honors,” advocate Loreal Black Shawl told Native Sun News Today. Black Shawl is a descendant of Toka Kokipapi, a survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre.

“Thanks to all these people, this bill is finally gaining traction. The rescinding of the medals to men who did not honorably earn them is a long overdue process in our healing as descendants of our relatives that survived such an inhumane act of racism,” Black Shawl said.

Historical Trauma

According to the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the federal Health and Human Services Department, historical trauma is defined as multigenerational trauma experienced by a specific cultural, racial or ethnic group. It is related to major events that oppressed particular groups of people subjugating them to endure such circumstances as slavery, the Holocaust, forced migration, and the violent colonization of American Indians.

“The Wounded Knee massacre is one of many examples of historical trauma” said Dr. Stephanie Big Crow to the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 17.  Big Crow is the Regional Academic Advisor (North America, Arctic, and Pacific Regions) for the Global Leadership School for Indigenous Women at Columbia University, New York, and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

While many may never experience effects of historical trauma, others may experience poor overall physical and behavioral health, including low self-esteem, depression, self-destructive behavior, marked propensity for violent or aggressive behavior, substance misuse and addiction, and high rates of suicide and cardiovascular disease.

“The Wounded Knee massacre not only caused trauma on my ancestors but continues to this day to be relived as part of a terrifying and painful history,” said Big Crow.

“An example to illustrate the disproportionate suffrage of my people ranges from the high rates of mental illness, behavioral health disorders, and addiction leading to the high susceptibility to preventable diseases including high rates of cancer, diabetes and shorter life expectancies of American Indian and Alaskan Native peoples,” she said. “The historical trauma of our ancestors exists today, in our DNA.”

“Those medals are a constant reminder of what our country’s policy was to our ancestors,” said Senator Heinert.

In part, Senate Resolution 701 reads:

“WHEREAS, to date, the Medal of Honor has been bestowed only 3,522 times,                                       including 126 instances for World War I, 145 instances for the Korean War, 23 instances                         throughout the Global War on Terror, and 20 times for the Wounded Knee massacre;                               and WHEREAS, no action has been taken at the federal level to correct this injustice…

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the Ninety-Sixth Legislature                         of the State of South Dakota, that the Senate hereby requests that efforts be made to                              investigate each Medal of Honor awarded to the United States Army members who                                  acted at Wounded Knee Creek, Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota on December 29,                                 1890; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate requests support in this effort                               from Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds, and Representative Dusty Johnson, with                           support from President Biden, the Commander in Chief, to do so; and

BE IT FURTHER        RESOLVED that it is requested that upon congressional passage the name of each person awarded a Medal of Honor for the acts noted above be removed from the Medal of Honor Roll enabled under section 1134a of Title 10 of the United States Code.

“I was extremely pleased that SR 701 was unanimously passed by the South Dakota Senate. 130 years was a long time to wait to try and achieve justice for our ancestors, but we are a resilient people and will not stop until we right this terrible wrong,” said Heinert.

“Senate Resolution 701 signifies the beginning of tangible steps towards truth and reconciliation for our future generations,” legislation co-sponsor Sen. Red Dawn Foster told the Native Sun News Today.

The resolution calls upon South Dakota’s federal representatives in Congress to support and pass the Remove the Stain Act.

 

(Contact Darren Thompson at darrenjthompson(at)hotmail.com)

 

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