August 1st
1615: Champlain enters Georgian Bay.
August 2nd
1780: At the start of American Revolutionary War hostilities, Mohawks evacuated their village of Canajoharie, in New York. White settlers moved into the village. Today, Joseph Brant, and Mohawk warriors attack the settlers. Fourteen settlers are killed and 60 taken prisoner.
August 3rd
1492: Columbus sails for the New World.
1869: General Alfred Sully, Military Superintendent of Indian Affairs, writes today that lawless whites and whiskey sellers are driving the Montana Indians to warfare. In his opinion, only U.S. military force against the whites will stop a conflict.
1889: General Crook and the other treaty commissioners convinced the large groups of Sioux and the Standing Rock Agency to agree to move to smaller reservations and to sell their “excess” lands for $1.50 an acre. Sitting Bull is outraged.
1948: A New Mexico court rules that Indians can vote.
August 4th
1528: Having just left the Indian village he called Aute, Panfilo de Narvaez and his Spanish expeditionary force reach the Gulf of Mexico, again.
1991 : A Museum returns Indian goods to the Omaha Indians.
Augurt 5th
1876: Genera] George Crook, with reinforcements, moves his troops down the Tongue River toward the Black Hills, looking for “hostiles.”
Augurt 6th
1867: Cheyenne wreck a train in Nebraska.
August 7th
1670: On this date, Apachee or Nava-jos attack the ancient Zuni Pueblo of Hawikuh. They burn the church and kill
the resident missionary.
1869: A solar eclipse is drawn on Lone Dog’s chronicle of the years.
1965: Today, at the University of Oklahoma, over 500 leaders from most of the Oklahoma tribes hold a meeting. They form the organization Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity (OIO). The OlO’s projects will include work on community improvement, job training and leadership programs for Indian youth.
Augurt 8th
1587: A little over a week ago, one of the English colonists in the Roanoke colony in North Carolina was killed by an Indian. Today, colony leader John White will lead two dozen men in a raid to punish the killer. Revenge exceeded their judgement. They killed the wrong Indian. Some historians believe this might have led to the disappearance of the Roanoke colony.
1865: Today will mark the first written use of the name “Sitting Bull” in English.
Augurt 9th
1869: In Kansas, Indians destroy 150 yards of telegraph lines before the station detachment can chase them off.
August 10th
1703: As a part of Queen Anne’s War, French officers lead 500 Indians against the settlers at Wells, Maine, near the New Hampshire border. Thirty-nine settlers will be killed or captured.
August 11th
1830: The President holds a meeting about Indian removal from the southern States.
1988: The Aleut receive restitution for loses in WWII today.
August 12th
1805: Lewis (of Lewis & Clark) finds an Indian road and the continental divide, today.
August 13th
1786: In a letter to Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, President Jefferson expresses the idea that Indians do not own their lands, but are, instead, only “tenants at will” in lands that the United States had a mandate to own.
1946: An Indian Claims Commission is established today to settle land claims.
1954: Federal Termination Act today says that tribes will no longer receive federal “help.”
1973: An Office of Indian Rights is proposed today by the Department of Justice.
Augurt 14th
1559: Tristan de Luna y Arellano has been appointed to establish Spanish settlements on Pensacola Bay by the Spanish Viceroy in Mexico. Today, his expedition of 13 ships, several priests, 500 soldiers, and 1000 settlers will arrive in Pensacola Bay, in Florida. Much of the expedition will be killed or starve because of a hurricane which struck the area a few days later.
1756: Ft.George is attacked today.
1812: Today Tecumseh tells Sir Isaac Brock, “We gave the forest-clad mountains and valleys full of game, and in return what did they give our warriors and our women? Rum and trinkets and a grave.”
1872: Major E.M. Baker, and troops are attacked by several hundred Cheyenne and Sioux. During some of the fighting Sitting Bull sits in an open area and smokes. He does this while soldiers shoot at him to prove his bravery.
August 15th
1514: Las Casas releases the Indians held as serfs.
1642: In instructions to the Pennsylvania Governor John Printz, of New Sweden, the Queen of Sweden wished for “the wild nations” to be treated kindly and in a humane manner. She also stated that the Indians were the “rightful lords” of this land and must be treated accordingly.
1876: Congress passes a law requiring the Indians to relinquish their lands in the Powder River and the Black Hills regions.
1987: The United States Post Office issues the Red Cloud stamp today.
