Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: A Summary and Response
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a classic novel written by Dee Brown that was originally published in 1970. It was the first book to enrapture the entire take over of the West. The book starts off with a quote from Christopher Columbus about the Indians. This quote reads, "I swear to you your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle and accompanied with a smile"(1). This feeling wasn’t carried on through the years however, and as we all know there was an undeclared war between the Whites and the Indians.
There isn't really a beginning middle and end with this book so it’s difficult to give an overall summery of the novel. However, each chapter does have a beginning, middle and end. There are some famous stories in this book that I believe deserve to be mentioned, and are good examples of common histories of Native American Tribes.
One of the most well known stories is that of the Battle at Sand Creek. Soldiers were marching to a Cheyenne village and the chief raised a white flag to represent they only wanted peace. The American general told the chief earlier this would stop the soldiers from fighting and would show they meant no harm. All of the Indians were confident in this flag and had not prepared for battle; instead they were all grouped together around the flag. The soldiers started firing upon them at 50 yards away. At one time a group of about 40 squaws were huddled together in a hole and they sent a six-year-old child out with a white flag to signal a truce; the soldiers shot her after taking only a few steps. The bodies of the Cheyenne’s were mutilated and their privates were cut off. The soldiers even made tobacco pouches from the privates of them. Every Indian found had been scalped, even infants. The end count was 105 women and children and 28 men dead.
The last two chapters of this book tell a story of religion. In 1890, Indians were talking of a Ghost Dance and Messiah. It is said that Christ appeared as an Indian, and told the Indians there would soon be a wipeout of the White Men. The Messiah said that in the next spring a new soil would be laid upon the earth and would bury all of the White Men; the new land would have great herds of buffalo and wild horses because there would be no American’s to destroy the herds. The Indians spread this story and the Ghost Dance across the Indian Nation. This alarmed the white people, although the Indians were only dancing. Their great leader, Sitting Bull, was taken into capture and killed, simply because the dancing frightened the Americans. Then, the Calvary migrated the Minneconjou towards the path of Wounded Knee. At Wounded Knee there was a meeting, and all the Indians were supposed to be disarmed there. However, Black Coyote fired a rifle and sparked a battle at the hill, and left 153 Indians dead. The Minneconjou Chief, Big Food, was buried at Wounded Knee. The book ends with the wounded Indians being carried into a white church with a banner that read: Peace on Earth, and Good Will to Men.
My favorite part of this book was the way in which Dee Brown wrote of the white man's true character. He was not afraid to upset the government or Caucasians with this book. Brown did research, and showed the simple facts of the takeover of the West, and the greed of the White's. He did not take his ancestors sides and try to justify the actions of the white men; instead he told the stories simply, and showed the Americans were wrong, and did not act as the Christians they claimed to be.
The author shows the story from a more Indian viewpoint, rather than a white person's, which is usually the case. Dee Brown unveils the evil that the white men seemed to breed. One great example of character comes from the famous quote of General Sheridan. An Indian introduced himself to General Sheridan, and said he was a good Indian, to which Sheridan replied, "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead". With this quote we can see the type of man that General Sheridan was, and it makes us feel sympathy for the Native American.
Another General Sheridan quote reveals his character once more. When he was questioned about his war tactics with the takeover of Black Kettle's village. Sheridan is recorded of saying the tactics were, "good and pious ecclesiastics . . . aiders and abettors of savages who murdered, without mercy, men women, and children". This shows Sheridan's character because the General was the one who had murdered, without mercy, not Black Kettle and the Indians.
On December 26, 1862 there were 38 Indians hanged for various reasons. Only two hours after the hanging officials discovered that two of the men were not on the Lincoln’s list to be executed. In fact, one of the Santee Sioux that had been executed saved a white woman’s life earlier in the year. The White Man’s character was revealed when the author stated that the officials said nothing about the two men being innocent until nine years later. The American’s were so impatient for justice to be served TO the Indians, but when justice should’ve been served FOR the Indians there was no hurry at all. The hanging of the Indians had been reviewed and a date set in two months; the news of innocent Native American’s undeserved death took nine years to even reach the public. This story shows the self-absorbed nature of the Americans.
The white man’s all around character, however, was summed up in this book with one phrase, “Manifest Destiny”. Manifest Destiny was the mindset of the American's, and showed the self-righteousness the whites felt, along with the greed they exhibited. Dee Brown seems to bring out the entitlement American’s felt to the land.
Honestly, I don't think that very many of my classmates would enjoy this book; however, I think it should be a required read. Americans need to know what our ancestors did to the Indians, and understand the deepness of the motto “Manifest Destiny”. This novel is hard to read, simply because there are so many facts involved in the history of itl. I don't think people in my class would appreciate this book, and would be easily bored with it. It took me a while to get into it, but when I did I found it very interesting and captivating. It was so hard to believe that this happened to the Indians with no white person saying how wrong it was. Although not every would enjoy this book,