The Wounded Knee Memorial and cemetery marks the South Dakota spot where at least 250 Lakota Sioux people were massacred in 1890.

In 1890, the U.S. Army herded hundreds of Lakota Sioux Americans into a clearing near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, ordered them to hand over their weapons, and then opened fire, killing as many as 300 people, around half of them women and children.

The 20 soldiers who were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor – the highest military honor – for their role in the massacre will keep that award, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sept. 25.

"We salute their memory, we honor their service, and we will never forget what they did," Hegseth said in a video statement posted to X.

The Defense Department announced a review of those 20 medals in July of 2024, the results of which were never publicly released. The 5-expert panel was tasked with putting together a recommendation for the president.

But Hegseth said the review had already reached a conclusion last October that "these brave soldiers" should keep their medals, and that Lloyd Austin, the then-defense secretary, "chose not to make a final decision."

"Under my direction," Hegseth said, those soldiers "will keep their medals, and we're making it clear that they deserve those medals."

The Pentagon said it did not have anything to add to Hegseth's comments.

'Brutal, cold-blooded massacre'

In the late 19th century, indigenous Americans put up a final push against being forced into reservations. Already, the population faced immiseration and the ravages of diseases like influenza and whooping cough.

In the last days of 1890, the Army intercepted Miniconjou Lakota Chief Big Foot, who sent word he and the 350 people with him would hand over their weapons. After nearly 500 U.S. soldiers surrounded the group, they began an aggressive hunt for weapons. Most were handed over, but one "young man of very bad influence," as he was described by a Sioux witness, discharged his weapon.

The Army opened fire, killing between 250 and 300 people, according to historian estimates. Some two dozen U.S. soldiers were killed – most by friendly fire, historians later found.

Half-frozen bodies left outside were pushed into a mass grave at the site after several days passed. A memorial now stands at the site.

Maj. Gen. Nelson Miles, who later took over the Army unit that carried out the bloodshed, wrote the next year, "I have never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded Knee."

Former President Joe Biden wrote to an advocacy group during his 2020 campaign for president that it was "abhorrent" that soldiers involved in the massacre were awarded the medal. In May, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill to rescind the 20 medals.

In 1973, the American Indian Movement held a 71-day standoff with federal agents at the site of the massacre. At least two tribe members were killed and a federal agent was wounded.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 20 soldiers got the Medal of Honor for a massacre in 1890. Hegseth says they deserve it.

Reporting by Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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