Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered a review of the Medals of Honor awarded to 20 U.S. Army soldiers for their role in a deadly armed clash at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, on Dec. 29, 1890.
The memorandum Mr. Austin wrote on July 19, which the Department of Defense published last week, directs the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to form a special panel to review the Medal of Honor citations and other supporting documentation for the awards. The panel will then decide whether each soldier’s conduct warranted a Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military decoration for valor.
Often referred to as the “Battle of Wounded Knee” or the “Wounded Knee Massacre,” the clash came about when members of the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry and other units attempted to disarm a group of Lakota tribe members. Accounts differ as to how exactly the shooting began, but the disarmament effort devolved into an exchange of fire in which an estimated 250 Native Americans, including women and children, were killed and about 100 more were wounded.
Mr. Austin’s memo listed the 20 Medal of Honor recipients from the Wounded Knee battle.
Of the 20 Medal of Honor recipients, 16 were members of the 7th U.S. Cavalry: Sgt. William Austin, Pvt. Mosheim Feaster, 1st Lt. Earnest Garlington, 1st Lt. John Gresham, Pvt. Matthew Hamilton, Pvt. Marvin Hillock, Pvt. George Hobday, Sgt. Bernhard Jetter, Sgt. George Loyd, Sgt. Albert McMillan, Pvt. Thomas Sullivan, 1st Sgt. Frederick Toy, 1st Sgt. Jacob Trautman, Capt. Charles Varnum, Sgt. James Ward, and Pvt. Hermann Ziegner.
Three members of the 1st U.S. Artillery also received Medals of Honor: Army Musician John Clancy, Pvt. Joshua Hartzog, and Cpl. Paul Welnert.
And 2nd Lt. Harry Hawthorne, of the 2nd U.S. Artillery, received a Medal of Honor.
Native Americans, political leaders, and other activists have, for years, called for the awards to be rescinded. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other Democratic lawmakers repeatedly proposed legislation between 2019 and 2021, and Congress included a provision in the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act recommending that the Defense Department review the awards.
Two of the Medal of Honor awards credit soldiers with rescuing their wounded comrades during the exchange of fire at Wounded Knee Creek. Two citations credit recipients for continuing to fight and demonstrating bravery after being wounded in the engagement. Another citation credits an officer with leading a charge to capture high ground and cover another troop of soldiers who were withdrawing from the engagement. Still another citation appears to credit a soldier with reenlisting after he “killed a hostile Indian at close quarters” during the engagement.
Four of the Medal of Honor awards focus on soldiers who fought to dislodge groups of Native Americans positioned in one or more ravines near the creek. Another citation credits an artillery soldier with continuing to advance his cannon crew during the engagement after his commanding officer was wounded.
There are 11 less descriptive citations, simply crediting soldiers with “bravery,” “gallantry,” “gallant conduct,” and “distinguished conduct” during the Wounded Knee engagement, with few additional details.
The standards for awarding the Medal of Honor have evolved over time. The defense secretary’s memo states that the review will consider whether any of the awards were given in violation of the Medal of Honor standards in place at the time they were awarded. The review will also examine witness accounts and historical documents, looking for a range of disqualifying actions, including “intentionally directing an attack against a non-combatant or an individual who has surrendered in good faith, murder or rape of a prisoner, or engaging in any other act demonstrating immorality.”
“It’s never too late to do what’s right,” a senior defense official said in a statement from the Department of Defense. “And that’s what is intended by the review that the secretary directed, which is to ensure that we go back and review each of these medals in a rigorous and individualized manner to understand the actions of the individual in the context of the overall engagement.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
