On Feb. 27, 1973, almost two hundred armed Oglala Sioux from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation with members of an activist group, the American Indian Movement (AIM), took over the reservation town of Wounded Knee, the site of a massacre in 1890 of three hundred Sioux by American soldiers. Their stated intent was to focus attention to what they considered government mistreatment of Indians, corruption within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the tribal government's complicity in discrimination. United States marshals and American troops subsequently surrounded the town, and for ten weeks the two sides traded intermittent gunfire, and two Sioux were killed. On March 13, Wood — then assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the US Justice Department — became the first government official who was allowed to enter Wounded Knee, under armed escort of residents of the reservation. He met with AIM leaders for two hours and, while he shortly thereafter became ill and did not conclude the negotiation, he is credited as the "icebreaker" between the government and AIM. The stand-off ended in an agreement on May 6 to end the occupation without further bloodshed.