Reservation Murders
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Reservation Murders

American Indian Movement at Wounded Knee

RESERVATION MURDERS


Updated October 2024
Posted October 2023

FBI RESMURS
Wounded Knee and the Reservation Murders
RESMURS

On February 27, 1973 members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized the town of Wounded Knee, SD, and held it for 11 days. At the end of the siege, a US Marshal and an FBI agent would be seriously wounded, and two Native Americans were killed.

Two years later, on June 26, 1975, FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were murdered at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, approximately 18 miles from Wounded Knee. The agents were on the reservation to arrest Jimmy Eagle on charges of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. They pulled over a suspected vehicle, which instead contained Leonard Peltier (wanted on another charge), Norman Charles, and Joe Stuntz, who started firing at the agents, and later, on numerous other law enforcement officers. The bodies of Special Agent Coler and Special Agent Williams were discovered that afternoon. Peltier was arrested in Hinton, Canada, and in 1977 convicted on two counts of first-degree murder.

There is no concrete connection between the incident involving the FBI at Wounded Knee and the murders of Special Agent Coler and Special Agent Williams. However, factionalism resulted from Wounded Knee, which pitted supporters of the local tribal government against the members of AIM and crime on the reservation had increased in its wake.

FBI Wounded Knee Plate
Wooden Collection Plate from Wounded Knee
1973

On February 27, 1973 members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized the town of Wounded Knee, SD, after tension between supporters of the local tribal government and AIM. They held it for 71 days and often traded fire with law enforcement. At the end of the siege, a US Marshal and an FBI agent would be seriously wounded, and two Native Americans were killed.

This collection plate, with bullet holes, was recovered from the Catholic Church.

Wounded Knee Occupation
The Second Wounded Knee

WIKIPEDIA February 27, 1973
The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, United States, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The protest followed the failure of an effort of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) to use impeachment to remove tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Additionally, protesters criticized the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations to hopefully arrive at fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans.

Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service, FBI agents, and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. The activists chose the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre for its symbolic value. In March, a U.S. Marshal was shot by gunfire coming from the town, which ultimately resulted in paralysis. Frank Clearwater (of Cherokee and Apache nations) was shot and wounded on April 17, dying 8 days later on April 25, 1973, and Lawrence "Buddy" Lamont (Oglala) was shot and killed on April 26, 1973. Ray Robinson, a civil rights activist who joined the protesters, disappeared during the events. It was later determined that he had been buried on the reservation after allegedly being killed during a confrontation with AIM members.

The occupation attracted wide media coverage, especially after the press accompanied two U.S. Senators from South Dakota to Wounded Knee. The events electrified Native Americans, and many Native American supporters traveled to Wounded Knee to join the protest. At the time there was widespread public sympathy for the goals of the occupation, as Americans were becoming more aware of longstanding issues of injustice related to Natives. Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted on charges related to the events, but their 1974 case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct, a decision upheld on appeal.

Wilson stayed in office and in 1974 was re-elected amid charges of intimidation, voter fraud, and other abuses. The rate of violence climbed on the reservation as conflict opened between political factions in the following three years; residents accused Wilson's private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs), of much of it. According to AIM, there were 64 unsolved murders during these years, including opponents of the tribal government, such as Pedro Bissonette, director of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO), but this is disputed, with an FBI report in 2000 concluding that there were only 4 unsolved murders and that many of the deaths listed were not homicides or political.

Other Wikipedia Citings