The Battle of Wounded Knee began when in 1890 US soldiers tried to disarm an encampment of Lakota near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. At the moment of the attack, some of the Lakota were performing the Ghost Dance, which had been prophesied as a way to bring peace to their lands. Using four powerful Hotchkiss guns, the US Cavalry gunned down over 250 Lakota. Twenty-five soldiers also were killed. In contemporary sign posted at the masacre sight, the government tried to describe it as the ""Battle of Wounded Knee."" But local residents protested, and the sign was painted over to read ""Massacre of Wounded Knee.""