US Bishops and Jesuits reject government plan to honour soldiers who killed hundreds at Wounded Knee

Soldiers bury dead in mass grave at Wounded Knee 29 December 1890. Wiki image

Source: Diocese of Rapid City

On 26 September 2025, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth announced that the twenty soldiers who participated in the 1890 massacre of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee would retain the Medals of Honour awarded to them. He declared the decision final, stating: "Their place in our nation's history is no longer up for debate." Secretary Hegseth further stated that US soldiers deserve these medals for their bravery and suggested that any contrary opinion would favor "political correctness" over "historical" accuracy.

The facts of the tragedy at Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, are clear. On that day, US Army soldiers massacred nearly 300 Lakota women, children, and unarmed men.

This was not a battle. To recognise these acts as honourable is to distort history itself. Our response, therefore, is rooted not in "political correctness" but in prayerful correctness, grounded in truth, conscience, and compassion.

We, the De Smet Jesuit Community of West River, South Dakota - including the Jesuit Residences at Holy Rosary Mission (Mahpiya Luta / Red Cloud) on the Pine Ridge Reservation, St Isaac Jogues Parish in Rapid City, and St Francis Mission on the Rosebud Reservation - together with Bishop Scott E Bullock - serve among our Lakota brothers and sisters. We acknowledge the government's intent to honour its troops, yet we reject any narrative that erases the humanity of the victims or glorifies acts of violence.

The Congressional Report: Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act cites a "General Miles Letter to Mary Miles, Jan 15, 1891," in which Miles described Wounded Knee as "the most abominable, criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children."

In light of our lived experience with the Lakota people - and the hope they embody - we firmly reject Secretary Hegseth's decision. We share the sentiment of the South Dakota Senate, which in 2024 overwhelmingly approved Senate Resolution 701, stating that:

Allowing honour to the Seventh Cavalry for acts in the Wounded Knee Massacre dishonours the Medal of Honour and is an implication of hostility and genocide against the Great Sioux Nation and the persons who were killed by the United States at Wounded Knee.

As Catholics and followers of Jesus Christ, we proclaim the infinite dignity of every human life. We confess that humanity - capable of love and goodness - is also capable of terrible evil. Our Lord Jesus, out of love for the world, accepted the cross rather than take up arms against others. His crucifixion and resurrection reveal that true victory comes not through killing but through suffering love, mercy, and truth.

Those who died at Wounded Knee are sacred. Jesus stands with all who suffer and die at the hands of others. Those who committed the violence are also sacred; for this reason, Jesus offers them mercy and healing. Yet the acts themselves were grave evils and cannot be honoured.

If we deny our part in history, we deepen the harm. We cannot lie about the past without perpetuating injustice and moral blindness. Even if we are not personally responsible for Wounded Knee, we bear a moral responsibility to remember and speak the truth.

Let us, through the power and love of Jesus, choose - like him - to stand with our brothers and sisters, walking together in truth, remembering the victims, and seeking reconciliation rooted in honesty and compassion. Only by facing the cross of our shared history can we move toward resurrection-a future of just and lasting peace for all God's beloved children.

MOST REV SCOTT E. BULLOCK, JCL
Bishop of Rapid City

REV L RYEN DWYER, SJ
Superior, De Smet Jesuit Community, West River, South Dakota
Pastor, Holy Rosary Mission: The Lakhota Catholic Community of the Pine Ridge Reservation

REV EDMUND YAINAO, SJ
Pastor, St Francis Mission, Rosebud Reservation

REV PHILLIP COOKE, SJ
Pastor, St Isaac Jogues Parish, Rapid City, South Dakota

REV DAVID MASTRANGELO, SJ
President, Mahhpiya Luta | Red Cloud

REV PETER J KLINK, SJ
President Emeritus, Mahhpiya Luta | Red Cloud

LINK

Diocese of Rapid City: www.rapidcitydiocese.org/