The Pentagon has launched an investigation that could lead to the revocation of the 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers involved in the Wounded Knee massacre.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered a review of the awards given to those who participated in the 1890 battle in South Dakota.
About 250 Indians, including women and children, were killed in the battle and at least 100 others were wounded.
Medals of Honor were presented to 20 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment for their actions at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek.
The awards were given for a range of actions, including gallantry, efforts to rescue other soldiers and actions to “drive out Sioux Indians” hiding in a ravine.
About 250 Indians, including women and children, were killed in the battle and at least another 100 were wounded
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered a review of the awards given to those who participated in the 1890 battle in South Dakota.
Native American groups, advocates, South Dakota lawmakers and some members of Congress have called for the awards to be repealed.
In 1990, Congress apologized to the families of the Wounded Knee victims, but the medals were not revoked, even though the incident was considered a massacre at the time.
In a memo signed last week, Austin said the panel will review each award “to ensure that no soldier is recognized for conduct that does not warrant recognition.”
Examples of such punishments include rape or murder of a prisoner, or attacking a non-combatant or someone who has surrendered.
Dwight Mears, a war veteran and former West Point professor, wrote in a 2024 article from the University of Oklahoma that most recipients did not meet the requirements.
Mears wrote in his findings that two soldiers could have their medals revoked because of their actions.
Another, Private Matthew Hamilton, was awarded the medal for ’rounding up and bringing to the battle line a runaway pack mule’.
Austin has instructed the panel to make recommendations to him by Oct. 15 for each medal awarded, he said. Today in the US.
American scout and Indian warrior William Cody (left) with U.S. General Nelson A. Miles and two other horsemen near Pine Ridge, South Dakota, a few days after the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Austin said the panel will review each award. A Medal of Honor is held aloft here during a ceremony at the White House
His order is important in part because over the years the Medal of Honor has increasingly acquired a stigma that borders on sacred reverence.
An official told the magazine: “The Medal of Honor is much more than just participating in combat and doing well.
“The Medal of Honor goes to those who decide to do much, much, more than fight. They show honor, bravery — a word we don’t use every day.
“There is a case to be made that there was no honor at Wounded Knee that day. That is why we need this review.”
President Benjamin Harrison had ordered the army to prevent an uprising in South Dakota and attempted to disarm the Lakota tribe.
According to the American version of the story, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote resisted attempts to disarm him that morning. During the fight, a shot was fired.
This August 2001 photo shows a monument at the cemetery of the Lakota Indians killed in the December 29, 1890 massacre.
The American troops then opened fire, and a small number of Lakota warriors who still had weapons returned fire.
The 7th Cavalry overpowered the Lakota warriors and began firing indiscriminately on Lakota Sioux men, women, and children.
Major General Nelson Miles at the time ordered an investigation into the massacre and expressed his “strong disapproval” to his superiors.
In a personal letter he wrote, “I have never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded Knee.”
The site of Wounded Knee has since become a Native American memorial.
According to USA Today, the Medal of Honor was the only award given to soldiers at the time.
