Eyewitness at Wounded Knee (Great Plains Photography Series)

By Richard E. Jensen, R. Eli Paul, John E. Carter

Book Overview

On a wintry day in December 1890, near a creek named Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the Seventh Cavalry of the U. S. Army opened fire on an encampment of Sioux Indians led by Big Foot. Coming two weeks after the killing of Sitting Bull, in a tense atmosphere of suspicion and misunderstanding, the careless discharge of one gun set off a massacre that claimed more than 250 lives, including those of many Indian women and children. The tragedy at Wounded Knee, which is generally considered the last episode of the Indian Wars, has often been written about but the existing photographs have received little attention until now.

Eyewitness at Wounded Knee brings together and assesses for the first time some 150 photographs that were made before and immediately after the massacre. Present at the scene were two itinerant photographers, George Trager and Clarence Grant Moreledge, whose work has never before been published. Accompanying commentaries focus on both the Indian and military sides of the story. Richard Jensen's "Another Look at Wounded Knee" dwells on the political and economic quagmire in which the Sioux found themselves after 1877. In "Your Country Is Surrounded," R. Eli Paul discusses the army's role at Wounded Knee. John Carter, in "Making Pictures for a News-Hungry Nation," deals with the photographers and also the reporters and relic hunters who were looking to profit from the misfortune of others. Their words enhance our appreciation of the haunting images in this first book-length photographic history of the events that led up to and followed the bloodshed at Wounded Knee.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080321409X
• ISBN13: 9780803214095
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 2.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 9.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

inspiring and rare glimpses

Was so inspired by the photographs in this book, I took it with me on one of my visits to Wounded Knee, to compare and photograph pictures from on or near the same place the photographer(s) did at that time, at the massacre site as well as the town itself.There are many pictures that I had not seen anywhere else in this book, and anyone interested in this place in history has got to have it. Textually very good as well.

BEST CONTEMPORARY STUDY I'VE ENCOUNTERED

Make no mistake this is an excellent work, both in words and photographs. While reading this book one can almost feel as if you were present soon after the entire sad affair. That cold winter's day "near a creek named Wounded Knee" will leave its imprint on the reader long after finishing the book. This over-sized book lays before the reader approximately 150 photographs of before and immediately after the battle. There were two 'itinerant photographers' on the site at the time of battle: George Trager and Clarence Grant Moreledge "whose work has never before been published". Using these photographs of the time these three authors give commentary equally addressing both the military and Lakotas. Coming only two weeks after the killing of Sitting Bull, the Pine Ridge Agency erupted with gunfire. The ensuing battle was brought about due to an "atomosphere of suspicion and misunderstanding" resulting in an outbreak of arms claiming "more than 250 lives", including many Lakota women and children. As crazy as history can sometimes be, it was a reuniting of the 7th Cavalry and many of the same Lakota of the 1876 battle along the "Greasy Grass". Some have used the term 'massacre' while other choose the word 'tragedy', however, no matter what word one may choose to apply, the true misery and torment of this sad affair will affect the reader of this book long after the reading. Semper Fi.