This picture taken in 1902, shows the survivors of the Wounded Knee massacre at a dedication of a memorial for those who died there. If anyone can identify those in the photo please contact NSN. This photo has never been published until now. COURTESY/Leonard Little Finger
John Little Finger pictured here is the grandfather of Leonard Little Finger. Leonard believes that this photo was taken when John Little Finger was touring with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. COURTESY/Smithsonian Institute
A conversation with a Descendant
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News
Managing Editor RAPID CITY— Leonard Little Finger, a highly respected Lakota elder, historian, and direct descendant of Chief Big Foot, has ended his silence on the Wounded Knee sale. Unlike some who have spoken out against the development of a memorial at the site, Little Finger envisions Wounded Knee as the epicenter of a Lakota cultural and spiritual revival. Leonard Little Finger is the grandson of two survivors of Wounded Knee; Joseph Horn Cloud, who is his maternal grandfather and John Little Finger, who is his paternal grandfather. John Little Finger was the son of Yellow Horse, a son of Chief Big Foot. Yellow Horse was killed in an accident when John Little Finger was approximately 10 years old, and his mother remarried to Black Eagle, who was also a son of Chief Big Foot. John Little Finger would live with Chief Big Foot for four years leading up to the massacre at Wounded Knee. On December 29, 1890, the day of the Wounded Knee massacre, John Little Finger along with three other boys managed to escape the slaughter despite being wounded and chased by U.S. government soldiers on horseback. Leonard’s grandfather, John, was shot twice in the leg but managed to survive. The four Lakota boys ran until they reached higher ground near the present day town of Oglala, SD, approximately 10-15 miles as the crow flies from the massacre site. Oglala is located on the northwestern side of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota. From the ridges, the boys possessed a line of sight that extended for miles, which they used to watch for soldiers as they laid in wait for them to come. “He [John Little Finger] came to the Oglala area and hid up in the canyons and was able to scout from the ridges above. He and the three other boys did that because they were sure the soldiers were going to come for them. The boys lost all their families at Wounded Knee,” said Little Finger. The boys would stay hidden in the peaks overlooking the prairie until the grass turned green, according to Leonard. Having lost all of their immediate family members during the inhumane slaughter carried out by the US Army at Wounded Knee, they were forced to rebuild their lives from scratch. The log cabin that John Little Finger built after emerging from hiding still stands today. The cabin serves as a reminder of the boys’ courage and will to live. Despite having lost their family and having to recreate a life from nothing, Little Finger feels that the mere act of surviving and moving on despite their losses instilled a sense of pride in his grandfather. The feeling that his grandfather gained through survival has been passed on, through the generations, to Leonard and his family today. “When my grandpa started life all over again and rebuilt a home and life, there was a whole lot of dignity in this. All of this time that we have been through, the various generations, we have lost track of Wounded Knee and what it really meant. Wounded Knee is a source of dignity for us,” said Little Finger. “Both my grandfathers and those who lived and died there fought to survive. They had to battle for their lives, and it really was a battle for life and death. Some of them survived and others lost their life, but there is dignity in that. I developed a great sense of pride of who I am as a Lakota. I developed a sense of dignity and a sense of self, knowing that I came from that. We cannot forget what happened, but when we acknowledge that this took place and move forward with our lives we can take pride in that,” he added. Until contacted by Native Sun News, Little Finger had not spoken out about the recent attention brought to Wounded Knee as a result of landowner James Czywczynski’s announcement that he intended to sell 40 acres of the site for $3.9 million and another nearby 40 acre lot for $1 million, nearly three months ago. Never one to seek publicity, Leonard, has already begun taking steps to find a way to bring together those who have a special connection to the site in attempt to find a way to use the site for the good of the Lakota Nation. “It is wrong to take a killing field and try to profit from it and it will take a lot of exploration to see what is there, and that is speaking from a realistic perspective. From a moral and ethical perspective, it is also wrong to try and profit from a killing field but after 120 years, it has gone through several generations and there are a lot of different people who have a sense of ownership over it, and in a way they do,” said Little Finger. Little Finger has begun discussions with a legal representative to create a trust or non-profit group that would bring together all those with a sense of ownership of Wounded Knee. Talks are in their infancy but Little Finger said that the only way anything could be accomplished is if everyone was involved in the process. “Generations have passed since Wounded Knee and we are losing our culture and way of life. In that time, I have come to understand that there is ownership over Wounded Knee. It ranges from descendants and those who are related to those who died there, to those people who have taken ownership by living in the community surrounding the actual site, tribal governments who also have some ownership of it and those who sympathize not only with our people but Native Americans across the country,” said Little Finger. “It is not just one group.” Like many who are connected to Wounded Knee, Little Finger has been left out of the discussion by non-Native run news outlets who have created a narrative of opposition to development of any kind at Wounded Knee. Leonard feels that if done correctly, and with the input of all parties connected to the site, a memorial at Wounded Knee could bring about a Lakota spiritual renaissance. “Those names need to be memorialized there. They battled for their lives at Wounded Knee and some lived and some died but there is dignity in that. Wounded Knee can be a place where the dignity that our relatives had at Wounded Knee, can be reestablished for our people today. It can be a place where the culture can be reignited through the language and the spirituality,” said Little Finger. “Many have lost the understanding that this land is sacred because of the blood that was spilled there, and even today people sell trinkets where this blood was spilled. We are not in the way of the dignity of the people of 1890, the lack of knowledge by many people today prevent us from restoring that dignity and those who keep the knowledge don’t always share it with the people. Our culture is way of life that can be restored with our language and spirituality,” he added. In the years after the massacre at Wounded Knee, Leonard’s grandfather, Joseph Horn Cloud, traveled the country raising money for the creation of a memorial for those killed. On May 22, 1902, his efforts were rewarded with the erection of a small monument at the mass grave where US soldiers buried the dead. At the dedication, three individuals spoke: Fire Lightning, who was one of the original owners of the massacre site; Joseph Horn Cloud; and a Catholic priest. It is unknown what was said at the dedication. According to Little Finger, each year the survivors would meet at the memorial in remembrance of the events that took place there on that tragic winter day in 1890. This meeting took place throughout the 1950’s when the last survivors died, and ended in 1972 just prior to the takeover by the American Indian Movement. “There are three really important virtues; kinship, respect for yourself, and respect for others. Mitakuye Oyasin (We are all related). In this way, Wounded Knee touches all of the people. Within the sacred hoop is the presence of our creator and our culture. Spirituality can only be understood when it is lived and we need the language and our culture to be restored to do that. Wounded Knee has the power to do this,” said Little Finger. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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