On this day in 1973, about 200 Native American activists and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seize control of Wounded Knee, a town near the Badlands of South Dakota, where, 83 years earlier, U.S. troops had massacred 250 to 300 Sioux. The occupiers demand the removal of the corrupt Pine Ridge Reservation president and a renegotiation of treaties with the U.S. government. They declare the site the sovereign Oglala Nation and, as more activists join the occupation, the town is soon besieged by hundreds of federal forces. During the 71-days that follow, gunfire is frequently exchanged, two Native Americans are killed, and several others wounded. In response to the killings, tribal elders negotiate an end to the occupation without any demands being met.