A blizzard immediately after the fighting at Wounded Knee delayed burial
of the dead until January 1, 1891, when U.S. soldiers collected the frozen
bodies from the battlefield, as pictured above, and buried them in a mass
grave.  They made little effort to identify the bodies, and they did not
allow the Indians to conduct any kind of burial ceremony.  A monument was
later placed at the grave by the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux.  For the
U.S. army and white settlers, the incident at Wounded Knee marked the end
of the Indian wars, leading to a complete surrender of all hostile Indian
tribes to General Nelson Miles on January 15, 1891.  For Native Americans,
the events signified the end of their hopes for autonomy and cultural
revival.