OSEU Five: Interview with Sidney Byrd

I wish that I had a tape and could tape the stories the old grandfathers and grandmothers told me. There were a wealth of stories in history, the old men. It is from the old men telling me that I was able to write the Wounded Knee story, the massacre. The white man always calls it the Battle of Wounded Knee. There was not a battle. Eighteen Congressional Medals of Honor awarded for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty for massacring defenseless women and children. They disarmed him and then one of them resisted. Didn't want to. I gave five ponies for this rifle. You give me five ponies and I'll give it to you. But it's mine. I paid for it. I'm not going to give it to you. And the first shot went off. And that started it. Women, children, didn't make any difference. It is the 7th Cavalry that had been wiped out. The Big Horn, Custer's former unit. This was the same unit. They had brought four Hotchkiss cannon, point-blank range, less than 100 yards. Rapid fire, artillery, four of them shooting. Women, children, one woman was hidden in a drawer. Two little girls came screaming. She grabbed them and pulled them in there with her. She looked up, shoulder mounted, shot. One little girl, she raised her hand, shot the woman. She fell down. She was mortally wounded, still alive. Shoulder rolled down and pulled up her dress. That rolled away. She told this story to Dr. Eastman. He was from here. Dr. Eastman was a Santee, medical doctor. He was the doctor at Pine Ridge at the time of the Wounded Knee Massacre. She told that story to him. For gallantry above and beyond the call of duty, they ordered battle. Iwo Jima, the bloodiest battle in the Pacific, lasted over a month. Many, many Marines gave their lives, 28 Congressional medals of honor, for a battle. The enemy was armed and they fought back. By comparison, here's something that lasted for only a couple hours. Disarmed them, then they shot them like fish in a barrel. They were ordered. All we can surmise is that they were rewarded for finally avenging Custer's death. They called it the Battle of Wounded Knee. It's not a battle, it's a massacre. But that's not the only time the Army, there were other massacres that happened, where the Native people were. But I like to think that Custer was seeking disobeyed orders, the Little Bighorn. He thought all he had to do was ride into the, he didn't know the size of the camp. I read this story, The Last Stand. One of the funny things, after the battle, the Sioux and Cheyenne were having a victory celebration. They were dancing and they were having some, there were some soldiers still surrounded on the hill. And they heard it and one of those soldiers captured a bugle. And he's blowing that bugle and he away, back up at the soldiers on the hill. He's blowing that bugle and he's away. And all of a sudden, soldiers, mounted soldiers were coming by in front of these other soldiers. Those Indians took the soldiers, their uniforms and rode by and they rode by, paraded by. Said Custer is the first one to wear an arrow shirt.