All Saints in Sioux Falls in Minnehaha County, South Dakota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Lost Bird
Photographed by Ruth VanSteenwyk, March 30, 2019
1. Lost Bird Marker (side one)
On December 28, 1890, 500 well-armed soldiers of the Seventh Cavalry surrounded a tepee camp of 350 Lakota prisoners of war at Wounded Knee Creek S.D. During a search for weapons the next morning, a Lakota accidentally discharged his rifle. Reacting with close-range volleys of rifle and artillery fire soldiers killed an estimated 250 Lakota men, Women, and children.
Four days later an infant was found alive in a snow bank beneath the frozen body of her mother. Named Zintkala Nuni (Lost Bird), the child became General Leonard Colby's trophy of war.
Lost Bird attended All Saints School for girls in Sioux Falls in 1904. She made steady progress under Headmistress Helen Peabody, but because her adopted father failed to pay her tuition, she was unable to return for a second year.
Raised in non-Indian society but always drawn toward her Lakota heritage, Lost Bird lived a brief, turbulent life. She died in 1920 in California and was buried there. In 1991 her remains were repatriated and buried at the Wounded Knee massacre site.
Erected 2005 by Minnehaha County Historical Society, The South Dakota Humanities Council, and in Honor of Renee Sansom Flood, and Thomas A. Blake in Honor of Jami Blake.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Education • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Wars, US Indian • Women. A significant historical date for this entry is December 28, 1890.
Location. 43° 32.255′ N, 96° 43.648′
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Regionally, this marker is in East River. It is also in the American Midwest, in the Lewis & Clark Corridor, in the Corn Belt, on the prairies, and on the Northern Plains. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Ruperts Land and also the Louisiana Purchase.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: From Glory to Glory (within shouting distance of this marker); The Lyon Family Home / William & Winona Lyon (approx. 0.2 miles away); 1912 Neo-Colonial Cottage Style House (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Soldier Statue & Cannon / The Lyon Park Property History (approx. 0.2 miles away); Seacoast Gun (approx. Ό mile away); Calvary Cathedral (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Helen McKennan Home (approx. 0.4 miles away); The Government Building (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Sioux Falls.
Also see . . . Zintkala Nuni (Lost Bird). (Submitted on April 10, 2019, by Ruth VanSteenwyk of Aberdeen, South Dakota.)
Photographed by Ruth VanSteenwyk, March 30, 2019
2. Lost Bird Marker (side two)
Photographed by Ruth VanSteenwyk, March 30, 2019
3. Lost Bird Marker
Taylors Photo Studio, Beatrice, Nebraska (photo courtesy of National Anthropological Archives), circa 1891
4. ...General L. W. Colby...Holding Baby Girl, Zintkala Nuni (Little Lost Bird)...
Full title is: Portrait of General L. W. Colby of Nebraska State Troops Holding Baby Girl, Zintkala Nuni (Little Lost Bird), Found On Wounded Knee Battlefield, South Dakota
Credits. This page was last revised on February 15, 2026. It was originally submitted on April 10, 2019, by Ruth VanSteenwyk of Aberdeen, South Dakota. This page has been viewed 7,369 times since then and 53 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on April 10, 2019, by Ruth VanSteenwyk of Aberdeen, South Dakota. 4. submitted on April 13, 2019. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
