Saturday, November 20, 1875. Winking at collision in the Black Hills and the Las Cuevas War.

Commanding General of the U.S. Army William Tecumseh Sherman wrote to Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan :

I know that the matter of the Black Hills was settled in all events for this year. In the spring it may result in collision and trouble.. . . I understand that the president and the Interior Department will wink at it.

Cpt. McNelly.

Texas Ranger Captain Leander McNelly and his men crossed into Mexico to retrieve more than 200 stolen cattle.  He was backed by troops of the U.S. Army, but they did not cross.  The Rangers advanced on the stronghold of Juan Flores Salinas, local leader of the rural guard at the Rincon de Cucharras outpost of the Las Cuevas ranch and a  battle ensued in which about 80 Mexican militiamen were killed, and McNelly ordered a retreat back across the river.  The Army covered his retreat across the river with a Gatling Gun.

At that point, Major A. J. Alexander from Fort Ringgold arrived with a message from Colonel Potter at Fort Brown, which read:

Advise Captain McNelly to return at once to this side of the river. Inform him that you are directed not to support him in any way while he remains on Mexican territory. If McNelly is attacked by Mexican forces on Mexican soil, do not render him any assistance. Let me know if McNelly acts on this advice.

McNelly advised the Army that he would not comply.

At sundown, another message arrived:

Major Alexander, commanding: Secretary of War Belknap orders you to demand McNelly return at once to Texas. Do not support him in any manner. Inform the Secretary if McNelly acts on these orders and returns to Texas. Signed, Colonel Potter.

McNelly issued the reply, which was:

In less than a minute, Captain McNelly penned his now famous reply:

Near Las Cuevas, Mexico, Nov. 20 1875. I shall remain in Mexico with my rangers and cross back at my discretion. Give my compliments to the Secretary of War and tell him and his United States soldiers to go to hell. Signed, Lee H. McNelly, commanding.

Over the Rio Grande his force encountered resistance.  Up to 80 Mexicans were killed in the battle before he retreated.  A smaller force of Rangers would cross the border the following day and recover over 400 stolen cattle.

McNelly's troops crossed again on the 21st and proceeded to a customs house where the cattle had been moved to, and which were now promised to be returned.  The Mexican officer in charge refused to treat with him on a Sunday, which it now was and was taken prisoner. The prisoner was threatened with death and around 400 cattle were crossed into Texas.

McNelly died of tuberculosis in 1877 at age 33.  A liberty ship was named after him during World War Two.

Last edition:

Friday, November 12, 1875. Tacoma, Washington, incorporated.

Labels: 1870s, 1875, Washington, Washington (Tacoma)

Tuesday, November 9, 1875. Indian troubles?

Indian Inspector E. C. Watkins issued a report to the Secretary of the Interior which would end up helping to bring about Gen. Terry's campaign of 1876.  Indeed, on the same day, Gen. Sheridan issued a confidential letter to Terry informing him that he had met with President Grant, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of War, and that the Grant had decided that the military should no longer try to keep miners from occupying the Black Hills: "it being his belief that such resistance only increased their desire and complicated the troubles." 

Watkins was a lawyer and businessman by profession who has served in the Civil War, where he obtained the rank of Major.  He'd been appointed Inspector of Indian Affairs in in 1875 and occupied that position for four years before returning to private life

Philip Sheridan was in command of the Military District of Missouri at the time.  Interestingly, he had only been  married, at age 44, for a few months, to Irene Rucker, who was 22.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 4, 1875. A Proclamation of Thanksgiving.

Labels: 1870s, 1873, 1875, John Allen Campbell, Personalities, Republican Party, Thanksgiving, U.S. Grant, Wyoming, Wyoming (Campbell County)

Sunday, January 4, 1925. Death of Red Shirt. Ignoring the warning signs.

Red Shirt (Ógle Ša) Oglala Lakota leader and supporter of Crazy Horse during the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877 and the Ghost Dance Movement of 1890, died at age 77 at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

Italian prefects were ordered to control "suspect", i.e., non fascist, political organizations.  Mass searches resulted.

Adolf Hitler pledged his loyalty to Bavarian Minister President Heinrich Held. 

Hitler's pledge, of course, would turn out to be a lie.  Held maintained Bavarian state sovereignty until the end, but ultimately the Bavarian government was removed in 1933 by Hitler.  Held's pension would be revoked by the Nazis.  He died in 1938.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 3, 1925. Mussolini becomes a dictator.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Art, Donald Trump, Italy, J. C. Leyendecker, Mussolini

Today In Wyoming's History: Battle of the Rosebud Battlefield, Montana.

Today In Wyoming's History: Battle of the Rosebud Battlefield, Montana.: 

Battle of the Rosebud Battlefield, Montana.

The Battle of the Rosebud was an important June 1876 battle that came, on June 17, just days prior to the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  Fought by the same Native American combatants, who crossed from their Little Big Horn encampment to counter 993 cavalrymen and mule mounted infantrymen who had marched north from Ft. Fetterman, Wyoming, at the same time troops under Gen. Terry, including Custer's command, were proceeding west from Ft. Abraham Lincoln.  Crook's command included, like Terry's, Crow scouts, and he additionally was augmented soon after leaving Ft. Fetterman by Shoshoni combatants.

The battlefield today is nearly untouched.

Called the Battle Where the Sister Saved Her Brother, or the Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother, like Little Big Horn, it was a Sioux and Arapaho victory, although it did not turn into an outright disaster like Little Big Horn. Caught in a valley and attacked, rather than attacking into a valley like Custer, the Army took some ground and held its positions, and then withdrew.  Crook was effectively knocked out of action for the rest of the year and retreated into the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming.

 

Sunday, February 27, 1973. The occupation of Wounded Knee.

Flag of the Independent Ogalala Nation.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 27: 1973     Members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the Independent Ogalala National  occupied Wounded Knee, S.D.

By Tripodero - Own work [1], CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65312096

The occupation grew out of protests on the Pine Ridge Reservation regarding tribal government, something that's generally been forgotten about the dramatic occupation, with its immediate cause being the failed impeachment of Tribal Council Chairman Dick Wilson.  It spread to a larger set of grievances soon thereafter, but Wilson remained the center of the controversy in significant ways.  He'd be reelected in 1974, although the reelection was controversial, and the reservation, which remains the poorest reservation in the United States, endured a period of violence thereafter.

Poster made from one of the photographs of Bobby Onco.

I can recall this event fairly well, even though I was ten years old at the time.  One of the things I oddly recall is discussion of one of the occupiers being armed with an AKM (AK47), something that was extremely unusual at the time.  The man in question was Bobby Onco, who died in 2014 at age 63.  Onco was actually a member of the Kiowa nation, and was a Vietnam Veteran.  Perhaps surprising to many now, it was possible to bring captured weapons back from Vietnam, with some paperwork being required in order to do it.  The iconoic Soviet assault rifle was likely a legally returned weapon from his Vietnam service.

Onco would move to New York, where he married a member of the Shinnecock Nation.  He lived on their reservation there until his death.

The occupation was not universally well received by residents of Pine Ridge, which is part of what ultimately brought it to an end.  From the outside, but in the region, it was one of the events that gave the late 60s and early 70s the feeling that things were coming apart.

Friday, December 10, 1909. Passing of Red Cloud.

 Sioux leader, Maȟpíya Lúta, Red Cloud, died at age 88 at the Pine Ridge, Reservation.

Regarded as the only Plains Indian leader to defeat the U.S. Army at war, he realized shortly thereafter the futility of further struggle and ceased fighting thereafter.  He was baptized as a Catholic in 1884.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 10: 1909     Red Cloud, (Maȟpíya Lúta) Oglala Sioux warrior and chief, and the only Indian leader to have won a war with the United States in the post 1860 time frame which resulted in a favorable treaty from the Indian prospective, died at the Pine Ridge Reservation.  He was 87 years old, and his fairly long life was not uncommon for Indians of this time frame who were not killed by injuries or disease, showing that the often cited assumption that people who lived in a state of nature lived short lives is in error.  After winning Red Cloud's War, a war waged over the Powder River Basin and the Big Horns, he declined to participate in further wars against the United States, which seems to have been motivated by a visit to Washington D.C in which he became aware of the odds against the Plains Indians.  He did not become passive, and warned the United States that its treatment of Indians on the Reservation would lead to further armed conflict, which of course was correct.

While his most famous actions are associated with Wyoming, Red Cloud was born in Nebraska which inducted him in recent years into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

Last edition:

Tuesday, December 7, 1909. State of the Union and Bakelite.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, Government, technology, the spoken word, The written word, United States, Weather, William Howard Taft