Why It Matters
The effort to strip Medals of Honor from soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre has resurfaced as a live congressional issue, with the Senate Armed Services Committee now pressing the Defense Department for full transparency on how it reached its decision. Tribal descendants say the fight is far from over, even after the Trump administration chose to leave the medals intact.
What Happened
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in September that the roughly 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers following the events of December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota would not be revoked. The decision came after a five-member Pentagon review panel — three appointees from the Defense Department and two from the Interior Department — was established in 2024 under Former President Joe Biden. The panel completed its review, but its findings were never formally published before Biden left office.
The panel’s Defense-appointed chairman wrote that three of the five members concluded the soldiers had distinguished themselves in action. However, Wizipan Little Elk Garriott, one of the Interior-appointed panelists and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the central question was never properly addressed. “The broader question — that this was a massacre in which women and children were killed and therefore not deserving of medals — was simply not part of the conversation,” Garriott said.
Tribal descendants reacted with grief and resolve. Violet Catches, a descendant of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe whose great-grandfather was killed at Wounded Knee and buried in a mass grave, described the Pentagon’s decision simply: “I cried.” She added that the community has no intention of standing down. “We are not going to quit. We want healing for our youth, for our grandkids,” she said.
By the Numbers
On the day of the massacre, approximately 370 Lakota men, women, and children were camped near Wounded Knee Creek. They were intercepted and surrounded by roughly 470 members of the Army’s 7th Cavalry. Soldiers attempted to disarm the camp, and a chaotic exchange of fire followed after a shot rang out.
Around 20 soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their actions that day, though records from the period are incomplete, making the exact count a matter of some dispute. The five-member Pentagon review panel split 3–2 on whether the medals should stand. The Senate Armed Services Committee has set a February 1 deadline for the Defense secretary to brief both congressional Armed Services committees and submit unredacted materials from the review process. The committee’s directive is part of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act currently under consideration.
Zoom Out
The 7th Cavalry had suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, a history that descendants and advocates argue colored its conduct at Wounded Knee fourteen years later. Wendell William Yellow Bull, an Oglala Sioux Tribe member and descendant of a massacre survivor, challenged official characterizations of the event, questioning why an operation in which soldiers disarmed a civilian camp is described using military battle language at all.
OJ Semans, a Rosebud Sioux Tribe member who has supported prior congressional efforts to rescind the medals, framed the issue in terms of historical literacy. “Until they’re able to read about that injustice, or read about those atrocities, there will be no justice,” he said. Even Brad Upton, a descendant of Colonel James Forsyth — the 7th Cavalry commander who ordered the operation — has publicly supported revoking the medals, a notable position given his family connection to the event.
Broader debates over military honors and their historical context have emerged elsewhere in recent years, including reviews of monuments, unit histories, and commendations connected to episodes now widely viewed as involving civilian casualties or racial violence. The Wounded Knee case is among the most prominent because of the specific, named awards still on the official record.
What’s Next
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s directive requires the Defense Department to submit a full, unredacted account of its review process and deliver a briefing to both congressional Armed Services committees by February 1. Descendants and tribal advocates say they plan to continue lobbying Congress and pressing for a legislative remedy, with the National Defense Authorization Act process providing one potential vehicle for further action. Whether lawmakers will include any medal-related provisions in the final NDAA remains to be seen.