Remains, artifacts from Wounded Knee set to return to South Dakota

Trent Abrego, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·1 min read
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More than 131 items, including moccasins, weapons, arrows and clothing will be returned to representatives of the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes on Saturday in Massachusetts.

The remains and artifacts were stolen in the early 19th century by a traveling shoe salesman from a gravesite at Wounded Knee, a site where an estimated 300 Native Americans were killed in 1890.

Those stolen artifacts ended up at the Founders Museum in Barre, Massachusetts, where they won't be any longer.

Leola One Feather, right, of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, talks with Jeffrey Not Help Him, left, also an Oglala Sioux tribe member, while Native American artifacts are photographed on July 19, 2022, at the Founders Museum in Barre, Massachusetts. The private museum, which is housed in the town library, is working to repatriate as many as 200 items believed to have been taken from Native Americans massacred by U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo)

On Saturday, more than 100 people from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and more will be in attendance at the ceremony to commemorate the return of remains and artifacts.

More: Wounded Knee artifacts highlight slow pace of repatriations

“This is real personal,” Leola One Feather, a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said as she observed the process as part of a two-person tribal delegation in an Associated Press story. “It may be sad for them to lose these items, but it’s even sadder for us because we’ve been looking for them for so long.”

Leola One Feather, right, of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, lines up a grouping as John Willis photographs, left, Native American artifacts on July 19, 2022, at the Founders Museum in Barre, Massachusetts. The private museum, which is housed in the town library, is working to repatriate as many as 200 items believed to have been taken from Native Americans massacred by U.S. soldiers at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. Willis is photographing the items for documentation, ahead of their expected return to the tribe. (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo)

The ceremony will happen on Saturday at noon, in Barre, Mass.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Remains, artifacts from Wounded Knee to return to South Dakota