I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2226 

To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek 

on December 29, 1890, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2021 

Mr. KAHELE (for himself, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. 

HASTINGS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To rescind each Medal of Honor awarded for acts at Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Remove the Stain 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) The Medal of Honor is the highest military 

9 award of the United States. 


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1 (2) Congress found that to earn the Medal of 

2 Honor ‘‘the deed of the person . . . must be so out3 standing that it clearly distinguishes his gallantry 

4 beyond the call of duty from lesser forms of brav5 ery’’. 

6 (3) The actions of Medal of Honor recipients 

7 inspire bravery in those currently serving in the 

8 Armed Forces and those who will come to serve in 

9 the future. 

10 (4) Those listed on the Medal of Honor Roll 

11 have come to exemplify the best traits of members 

12 of the Armed Forces, a long and proud lineage of 

13 those who went beyond the call of service to the 

14 United States of America. 

15 (5) To date the Medal of Honor has been 

16 awarded only 3,522 times, including only 145 times 

17 for the Korean War, 126 times in World War I, 23 

18 times during the Global War on Terror, and 20 

19 times for the massacre at Wounded Knee. 

20 (6) The Medal of Honor is awarded in the 

21 name of Congress. 

22 (7) As found in Senate Concurring Resolution 

23 153 of the 101st Congress, on December 29, 1890 

24 the 7th Cavalry of the United States engaged a trib25 al community ‘‘resulting in the tragic death and inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 May 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2226.IH H2226

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1 jury of approximately 350–375 Indian men, women, 

2 and children’’ led by Lakota Chief Spotted Elk of 

3 the Miniconjou band at ‘‘Cankpe’ Opi Wakpa’’ or 

4 ‘‘Wounded Knee Creek’’. 

5 (8) This engagement became known as the 

6 ‘‘Wounded Knee Massacre’’, and took place between 

7 unarmed Native Americans and soldiers, heavily 

8 armed with standard issue army rifles as well as 

9 four ‘‘Hotchkiss guns’’ with five 37 mm barrels ca10 pable of firing 43 rounds per minute. 

11 (9) Nearly two-thirds of the Native Americans 

12 killed during the Massacre were unarmed women 

13 and children who were participating in a ceremony 

14 to restore their traditional homelands prior to the 

15 arrival of European settlers. 

16 (10) Poor tactical emplacement of the soldiers 

17 meant that most of the casualties suffered by the 

18 United States troops were inflicted by friendly fire. 

19 (11) On January 1st, 1891, Major General Nel20 son A. Miles, Commander of the Division of Mis21 souri, telegraphed Major General John M. Schofield, 

22 Commander-in-Chief of the Army notifying him that 

23 ‘‘[I]t is stated that the disposition of four hundred 

24 soldiers and four pieces of artillery was fatally defec25 tive and large number of soldiers were killed and 


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1 wounded by the fire from their own ranks and a very 

2 large number of women and children were killed in 

3 addition to the Indian men’’. 

4 (12) The United States awarded 20 Medals of 

5 Honor to soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry following 

6 their participation in the Wounded Knee Massacre. 

7 (13) In 2001, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, 

8 a member Tribe of the Great Sioux Nation, upon in9 formation provided by Lakota elders and by vet10 erans, passed Tribal Council Resolution No. 132–01, 

11 requesting that the Federal Government revoke the 

12 Medals of Honor from the soldiers of the United 

13 States Army, 7th Cavalry issued following the mas14 sacre of unarmed men, women, children, and elderly 

15 of the Great Sioux Nation on December 29, 1890, 

16 on Tribal Lands near Wounded Knee Creek. 

17 (14) The National Congress of American Indi18 ans requested in a 2007 Resolution that the Con19 gress ‘‘renounce the issuance of said medals, and/or 

20 to proclaim that the medals are null and void, given 

21 the atrocities committed upon unarmed men, women, 

22 children and elderly of the Great Sioux Nation’’. 

23 (15) General Miles contemporaneously stated 

24 that a ‘‘[w]holesale massacre occurred and I have 


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1 never heard of a more brutal, cold-blooded massacre 

2 than that at Wounded Knee’’. 

3 (16) Allowing any Medal of Honor, the United 

4 States highest and most prestigious military decora5 tion, to recognize a member of the Armed Forces for 

6 distinguished service for participating in the mas7 sacre of hundreds of unarmed Native Americans is 

8 a disservice to the integrity of the United States and 

9 its citizens, and impinges on the integrity of the 

10 award and those who have earned the Medal since. 

11 SEC. 3. RESCISSION OF MEDALS OF HONOR AWARDED FOR 

12 ACTS AT WOUNDED KNEE CREEK ON DECEM13 BER 29, 1890. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each Medal of Honor awarded for 

15 acts at Wounded Knee Creek, Lakota Pine Ridge Indian 

16 Reservation, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890, is re17 scinded. 

18 (b) MEDAL OF HONOR ROLL.—The Secretary con19 cerned shall remove the name of each individual awarded 

20 a Medal of Honor for acts described in subsection (a) from 

21 the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Medal of 

22 Honor Roll maintained under section 1134a of title 10, 

23 United States Code. 


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1 (c) RETURN OF MEDAL NOT REQUIRED.—No person 

2 may be required to return to the Federal Government a 

3 Medal of Honor rescinded under subsection (a). 

4 (d) NO DENIAL OF BENEFITS.—This Act shall not 

5 be construed to deny any individual any benefit from the 

6 Federal Government. 

Æ 


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