Dec. 29 – On this day in Montana history in 1890 news came of the tragedy of the massacre of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. Many of Montana’s Native Americans lost friends and family there. Since the victory of the Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn the Montana Native American population had dropped from an estimated 19,300 to 10,300. With their land taken and their food sources decimated, Native Americans saw their traditional way of life come to an end.