A Valley of Death

“In the days and years after the massacre, survivors probably felt the need to construct a narrative of compliance rather than defiance.”

“Army officers' accounts noted that the two details confiscated domestic tools but gave greater emphasis to guns. Some gave particular attention to finding weapons beneath the bodies of Lakota women. Whitside testified that "the squaws [made] every effort to conceal [weapons], by hiding and sitting on them and in various other ways, evi[n]cing a most sullen mien." Captain Varnum offered strikingly specific details: "the first rifle I found was under a squaw who was moaning and was so indisposed to the search that I had her displaced, and under her was a beautiful Winchester rifle." He found another gun "under the skirts of a squaw, and we had to throw her on her back to get it." 8 Although another officer involved in the search, Lieutenant James D. Mann, claimed that when the soldiers found "squaws" concealing weapons, they "lifted them as tenderly and treated them as nicely as possible," Varnum's testimony undoubtedly comes closer to the truth and reveals a hostility toward the women that he and other officers continued to feel when they testified a week later. This hostility is evident in their use of the word squaw, a term that invoked the racist stereotype of Indian women as ugly and degraded (an image that Varnum accentuated by reserving the description "beautiful" for the rifle). It also appears in Varnum's highly sexualized language (the first woman "moaning" atop a rifle, the second being thrown on her back), suggestive of a rape fantasy.”
depicting women as they did men via violence and rape; concealing weapons fantasy
As people sought shelter in ravines and thickets of brush, artillery gunners pounded them with exploding shells. r7 As the Hotchkiss guns fired, Dewey Beard recalled, "there went up from these dying people a medley of death songs that would make the hardest heart weep."
fighting back led to reduced casualty; retreat of Ling-Vannerus unit after losses, Oglalas allyship
With the entire Seventh Cavalry imploring each other to avoid killing women and children, why did they so abysmally fail? To explain this, officers turned to a time-honored argument, in the words of Captain Edward S. Godfrey: "we could not discern the distinction between bucks and squaws."
point-blank executions, fetal position, close-range atrocities
white flag truce flag signaled during shot; ghost dancers excuse; narrative of treachery
massacre glorified as revenge for custer massacre
- little bighorn
- alcohol inebriation possible, but unlikely
- inexperience possible, but unlikely; lack of restraint across all ranks
higher ranks in rapid city and washington deflecting blame
- benjamin harrison presidency; blame traveled downwards
- relief into exoneration; no indictment issued
  - nelson a. miles
    - demonized ghost, put condemnation and compensation on lower ranks, savage characterization
blizzard on december 29 below 0F, massacre on 28, rescue on 1/1?
- zintkala nuni purchased by nebrasska national guard bigadier general; “most interesting indian relic”
- plunder/collection of ghost shirts and dresses, depiction as art
- finished on 4/1, mass burial on cemetery hill
- episcopal church reading; shovels and rifles pointed at an aggregate mass
surrender in 29/12 of short bull kicking bear ghost dancers → fled after wounded knee
- ruined ability for control
- buffalo soldier saved forsyth unit from massacre in rage
- miles fear of pine ridge assault, paranoia, “messiah craze” and increased racism
- genocidal impulses