Place Names: Wounded Knee

littlek, wounded knee is the name of the creek that runs thru the area

why is the creek named wounded knee?

the lakota name of the creek is "caukpe opi" and i don't have a translation

How about the Little Big Horn? Had they no idea of the size?

Hmmmmm..... maybe it's a translation. Lakota you say?

Roger - big mountain?

now thats a good question Roger the name of that creek is "little horn" i have no idea where the "big" comes from.

http://www.dickshovel.com/WKmasscre.html

http://www.elexion.com/lakota/links/links2.html

It is "cankpe opi"!

my typing is almost as good as my spelling

Little Big Horn is a river. The massacre occured at the confluence of the Little Big Horn and Rosebud Rivers.

White men called the Little Big Horn by that name, to the Amerindians, it was known as the Greasy Grass. Little Big Horn means the little river by that name, and the Big Horn river is named for the mountain goats of the same name.

Hey, thanks. I've actually wondered about that for many years, off and on.

http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/07/13/19059.php

I'd been through those websites - thanks for the links. I sent an email to whoever is at the other end at one of those websites.....

driving into the battlefield area you cross a bridge over the creek with the sign "little horn creek"

By the by, there has been speculation for a long time about the effects of long-term, low-grade lead poisoning and it's effect on historical events. The Franklin expedition to the waters of the Arctic Sea north of Canada hoped to find a northwest passage. However, the ships, Cerebrus and Terror, got trapped in the ice pack. Many men died, and after Franklin died, the surviving officers and men decided to march overland. The Hudson's Bay Company post at York Factory was a few hundred miles away. Instead, they chose to make for Montreal (?!?!?!), and dragged the ships' long boats with them, filled with silverware, curtains, window sashes, bed linens--just about everything you could think of that was completely useless. They were later found by a doctor, a famous overland explorer in Canada. Manifests show that they used canned goods as supplies, and, as lead solder was used to seal cans in the 19th century--the speculation about the effects of lead poisoning (dementia is the most common when there is insufficient lead to kill you outright) with regard to the Franklin expedition grew. In the early 1980's, Canadian archaeologist dug up the grave of a young Royal Marine, in which the body was well preserved by the climate. The autopsy revealed advanced, chronic, low-grade lead poisoning.

When the Little Big Horn battlefield (Greasy Grass) was also dug up several years ago, remains of troopers found there (those who were killed as Major Reno's force retreated to the round knoll) also showed signs of chronic, low-grade lead poisoning. These troopers had not been stripped and mutilated, as the Lakota and their allies turned to deal with Custer. Searches in records reveal that Custer's troopers were also subsisting on canned goods, and it's a good bet that lead solder was used in those canning operations, as well. That Custer was totally divorced from reality is shown by his last message. We will never know what his last words were, but he sent a written message to Captain Benteen, to the effect that he had an indian village in sight, and had the "hostiles" on the run, and he ordered Benteen to hurry forward with the trains. (These were horse and mule trains on which the supplies, including ammunition, were packed.) Benteen despised Custer, and ignored the order. His trains with their drivers also included the soldiers who were "absent sick," and with about 100 men, he reinforced Major Reno. With supplies and ammunition, on a bald knob type of hill, Reno was able to hold out for three days, until the Amerindians lost interest--and so most of his men and those of Benteen survived. Custer hadn't a good grip on reality in the first place, and long-term, low-grade lead poisoning probably just pushed him over the edge.

interesting, Bossman!