For this 1890 campaign, the U.S. Army awarded 31 Medals of Honor, 19 specifically for service at Wounded Knee.[7][8][56] 18 were awarded in the months after the massacre, and two more awarded in 1893 and 1897 respectively.[57]
In the Nebraska State Historical Society’s summer 1994 quarterly journal, Jerry Green construes that pre-1916 Medals of Honor were awarded more liberally; however, “the number of medals does seem disproportionate when compared to those awarded for other battles.” Quantifying, he compares the three awarded for the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain’s five-day siege, to the twenty awarded for this short and one-sided action.[58] Historian Will G. Robinson notes that, in contrast, only three Medals of Honor were awarded among the 64,000 South Dakotans who fought for four years of World War II.[59] However, historian Dwight Mears points out that awards prior to 1918 were “Medal[s] of Honor in name only,” making such comparisons with modern medals inappropriate, since “the medal that existed in 1890 is a materially different award.”[60] Mears notes that Army regulations in 1890 stated that “Medals of honor will be awarded, by the President, to officers or enlisted men who have distinguished themselves in action,” meaning that they could be awarded for actions that were merely distinguished, not gallant or heroic.[61]
Native American activists have urged the medals be withdrawn, calling them “medals of dishonor”. According to Lakota tribesman William Thunder Hawk, “The Medal of Honor is meant to reward soldiers who act heroically. But at Wounded Knee, they didn’t show heroism; they showed cruelty.” In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the Medals of Honor awards and called on the U.S. government to rescind them.[16]
A number of the citations on the medals awarded to the troopers at Wounded Knee state that they went in pursuit of Lakota who were trying to escape or hide.[62] Another citation was for “conspicuous bravery in rounding up and bringing to the skirmish line a stampeded pack mule.”[58] Another medal was awarded in part for extending an enlistment.[63] One citation was just “bravery”.[57]
This is how you cover up a PR nightmare. The government is afraid of reporting a massacre, that the public may be shocked by the disparity in casualties. Anyone just reading the papers would notice this was a disproportionately large number of dead. You can make any failed mission look like a success, though, if you give everyone medals.
This is how you cover up a PR nightmare. The government is afraid of reporting a massacre, that the public may be shocked by the disparity in casualties. Anyone just reading the papers would notice this was a disproportionately large number of dead. You can make any failed mission look like a success, though, if you give everyone medals.