The Wounded Knee massacre took place near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Although the exact number of casualties is the subject of controversy, as are many facts about the incident, between 150 and 300 men, women, and children of the Lakota Sioux tribe were killed by soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry. The Wounded Knee massacre took place at a time when the United States was finalizing its plan of assimilation of the Sioux and all Native American tribes onto reservations such as Pine Ridge. Into this turbulent atmosphere came the Ghost Dance ceremony, a religion that promised the return of Native spirits and the departure of the white man from Native lands. The Ghost Dance movement was seen by whites as a threat that could unite the various tribes and lead to renewed wars between Native Americans and whites.