TODAY IN AMERICAN INDIAN HISTORY
from On this Date in North American History at http://americanindian.net
JANUARY
The Month of the Cold Moon
03-1891: Bodies picked up at Wounded Knee.
04-1839: Today, Elijah Hicks’ group of Cherokees arrive in the Indian territory. Hicks’ group was one of several which had made their own arrangements to move to their new lands. Hicks started with 748 Cherokees, but would pick up 110 other emigrants en route. A smaller percentage of this group died on the trip, approximately 34. The deaths included the elderly Chief, White Path.
07-1802: President Thomas Jefferson believes that the Indians have more land than they need. He feels that if they become indebted at the government trade houses, they will sell their lands to pay the debts. He has also voiced the opinion that if they become farmers, they will need less land. Today, he will address the Wea, Potawatomi, and Miami Indians on that latter issues. He extols the virtues of renewable food and clothing supplies. “We will with pleasure furnish you with implements for the most necessary arts, and with persons who may instruct you how to make and use them.”
19-1891: The surviving Sioux arrive back on the reservation after Wounded Knee.
FEBRUARY
The Month of the Bony Moon
06-1973: Local authorities have failed to charge the white killer of a local Oglala Indian named Wesley Bad Heart Bull with murder. Angered by this lack of action, several militant Indians set fire to the chamber of commerce building, and the court house in Custer, South Dakota. 1998: Activist groups worldwide have declared today as “Free Leonard Peltier Day.”
18-1837: General Ellis Wool, has been assigned the task of preventing the Cherokees from revolting after the passage of the New Echota Treaty on December 29, 1835. General Wool will try to get the Cherokees to acquiesce to the treaty, but to no avail. Today he will report that opposition to the treaty is so prevalent, that starving Cherokees will not take help from the government for fear that would imply their consent to the treaty.
21-1911: Today, Comanche Chief Quanah Parker dies. He will eventually be buried at Fort Sill, in south_central Oklahoma. His headstone reads, “resting here until day breaks and darkness disappears is Quanah Parker, the last Chief of the Comanches. Died Feb.21,1911, age 64 years.”
22-1838: Cherokee Chief John Ross presents to Congress, today, a petition signed by 15,665 (there are approximately 18,000 Cherokees in all) Cherokees repudiating the New Echota treaty. They remind the Congress that when a similar rigged treaty was ratified in 1825, then president Adams had it nullified. The Senate will not act on the petition.
MARCH
The Month of the Cold Moon
03-1847: An Act is passed by Congress, today, which gives the President, or the Secretary of War, discretionary power to pay annuities to people other than tribal chiefs. With Indian consent, the President can also spend the annuities to promote the prosperity and happiness of the tribe. No monies will be given to intoxicated persons. It also authorizes funds to pay for the Texas treaty signed at Council Springs.
11-1793: Today, 30 Creek warriors from Coweta, lead by adopted Creek John Galphin, will attack a trading post in Georgia on Saint Mary’s River. They will kill a half dozen settlers, and steal a large amount of goods, and slaves. This will be called the “Trader’s Hill Massacre” by some.
16-1621: Samoset meets the Pilgrims.
25-1839: Peter Hilderbrand, and 1,312 of his original group of 1,776 forced Cherokee emigrants arrive in the Indian territory. This would be the last of the major groups of arriving Cherokees in the Indian Territory. The migration would be called “the Trail of Tears”. Although figures vary according to the source, it is believed almost 12,000 Cherokees survived the emigration. Almost 4,000 died during the move.