DECEMBER 10:

Jacques-René de Brisay, Marquis de Denonville 1637-1710 soldier, governor, was born on this day at Denonville, France, in 1637; died there Sept. 22, 1710. Denonville was appointed Governor General of New France in 1685; arrived at Quebec Aug. 01 during attacks by the Iroquois, backed by the English; 1686 sent de Troyes overland to attack Hudson's Bay Company posts on James Bay; 1687 led punitive expedition against the Seneca north of New York, burning villages and crops and sending Iroquois prisoners to France to serve as galley slaves; 1689 abandoned and destroyed Fort Frontenac after Iroquois Five Nations attacked Lachine; recalled for military service in Europe.

December 10, 1890: Miles orders Ft.Yeates to "secure" Sitting Bull.

1991: The Custer Monument name is changed to the Little Big Horn Battleground Monument.

1948 United Nations, New York - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Canada a signatory; proclaims a 'common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms'.
 
 
 

BACKGROUND:
 

From http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec29.html
 

U.S. government officials became deeply concerned about the popularity of the Ghost Dance movement and its increasingly destructive message. And because of Sitting Bull's notoriety, the government mistakenly identified him as a major leader of the movement. On December 12, days after Sitting Bull asked for permission to leave the Standing Rock Reservation to visit with uncooperative Ghost Dancers, General Nelson Miles issued the order for his capture. Hearing of the warrant for Sitting Bull's arrest, Buffalo Bill Cody, a confidant of Sitting Bull's, volunteered to facilitate the arrest, presumably, to assure Sitting Bull's safety. He was rebuffed by the Standing Rock Indian Agent, James McLaughlin.

(Editor's Note:  Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull) will be the subject of a special "On This Day In History" text later this week.  Leading up to that, information on other individuals cited in the references posted will be provided so as to ensure background coverage.)
 

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From http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/eight/gdmessg.htm
 

Wovoka's Message:  The Promise of the Ghost Dance

[James Mooney, an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology, was sent to investigate the Ghost Dance movement in 1891. He obtained a copy of Wovoka's message from a Cheyenne named Black Short Nose, who had been part of a joint Cheyenne-Arapaho delegation that visited Wovoka in Nevada in August 1891. Wovoka (also known as Jack Wilson) delivered his message orally, and it was transcribed by a member of the group who had attended Carlisle Indian School. Mooney renders the "Carlisle English" of this transcription in a more grammatical form.]

THE MESSIAH LETTER

When you get home you must make a dance to continue five days. Dance four successive nights, and the last night keep us the dance until the morning of the fifth day, when all must bathe in the river and then disperse to their homes. You must all do in the same way.

I, Jack Wilson, love you all, and my heart is full of gladness for the gifts you have brought me. When you get home I shall give you a good cloud [rain?] which will make you feel good. I give you a good spirit and give you all good paint. I want you to come again in three months, some from each tribe there [the Indian Territory].

There will be a good deal of snow this year and some rain. In the fall there will be such a rain as I have never given you before.

Grandfather says, when your friends die you must not cry. You must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight. Do right always. It will give you satisfaction in life. This young man has a good father and mother. [Possibly this refers to Casper Edson, the young Arapaho who wrote down this message of Wovoka for the delegation].

Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is now upon the earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are still alive again. I do not know when they will be here; maybe this fall or in the spring. When the time comes there will be no more sickness and everyone will be young again. Do not refuse to work for the whites and do not make any trouble with them until you leave them. When the earth shakes [at the coming of the new world] do not be afraid. It will not hurt you.

I want you to dance every six weeks. Make a feast at the dance and have food that everybody may eat. Then bathe in the water. That is all. You will receive good words again from me some time. Do not tell lies."
 

[TEXT: James Mooney, The Ghost-dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890, 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part 2 (1896).]
 

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From http://md.essortment.com/nelsonamiles_rfjl.htm
 
 

Nelson A. Miles biography

Nelson Appelton Miles, great Indian fighter, was born in Westminster, Massachusetts on August 8th, 1839. When the Civil War broke out the 21 year old Miles was a crockery store clerk. Like many other young Northerners he joined the Union Army as a volunteer. He was to become involved in many of the decisive battles of the Civil War, including the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Appomatox. He distinguished himself as a brave soldier. His first encounter with the enemy came at Fair Oaks on May 31, 1862. He immediately got recognised for his bravery and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by his commander, General Oliver Otis Howard. At the Battle of Antietam, where he also distinguished himself, he was again promoted, this time to the rank of Colonel and given command of his regiment. He was wounded four times during the course of the war. By war's end he had risen to the rank of Major General of Volunteers. He was to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Chancellorville.

At war's end Miles decided to stay in the Army. He was to play a major role in the key encounters with the hostile Indians tribes over the course of the ensuing twenty five years. His first post civil war command was as officer in charge at Fort Monroe in Virginia. He was still, however, in the volunteer army. In 1866 he was transferred to the regular army with rank of Colonel.

In 1868 Miles married Mary Hoyt Sherman, who just happened to be the daughter of Commanding General of the Army. William Tecumseh Sherman. In March, 1869, Miles was given command of the 5th Infantry and sent out west. He subsequently proved himself a brave and valiant Indian fighter, just as he had a capable Civil War fighter. Victories came in rapid succession, with the Cheyennes, Kiowa, Comanches and Arapaho on the Staked Plains of Texas during the 1874-5 period. After the disaster of Custer's annihilation at Little Big Horn, Miles was a key player in the hunting down of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. He chased Sitting Bull all the way to the Canadian border. The following year he again chased a hardy band of Indians as far as the Canadian line. This time it was the Nez Perce under the brilliant leader, Chief Joseph. Joseph led his men, women and children some 1,700 miles with Miles on his tail all the way, finally surrendered within tantalising grip of the Canadian border. In 1878 he engaged the Bannocks under Elk Horn, bringing them under subjugation.

In December 1880 Miles was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. Five years later he was again promoted, this time to the control of the entire District of Columbia. In April 1886 he became Commander of the Department of Arizona, replacing General George Crook. Miles was not widely popular among the men of that Department who had a real respect for their outgoing General. He did, however, manage to do what Crook had failed to do. In September of that year he finally brought about the surrender of fearful Apache leader Geronimo.

In 1890 he was given command of the Department of the Pacific, stationed in San Francisco. He was also promoted to major General. He was directly responsible for bringing under control the last Sioux uprising during the 1890 Ghost dance movement. The subsequent massacre of some 200 friendly Indians under Chief Big Foot at Wounded Knee, however, brought sharp criticism upon his command.

During the Spanish American War Miles played a mainly administrative role. In 1898, however, he did lead an expedition to Puerto Rico, campaigning there for a month. In 1901 he was promoted to Lieutenant General. He soon got himself into hot water with Theodore Roosevelt by complaining about the actions of certain officers serving in the Phillipinnes. Despite this Miles became the last Commanding General of the United States Army, just prior to his retirement in 1903. His final years were spent in respectful retirement. He penned a number of books retelling the adventures of his eventful life. He died in 1925 while saluting the American flag at a circus ceremony. He was 85 years of age.
 

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From http://www.graceproducts.com/cody/life.html
 

The Life of William Frederick Cody, "Buffalo Bill"

William F. Cody survived a childhood of tragedy and danger ... ... Scout and Guide -- Scouts were the eyes and ears of the Army in the West. Their jobs included guiding soldiers, following trails, carrying messages, locating water and forage, and, of course, finding and fighting their Indian opponents. They were civilian frontiersmen, usually hired for a specific campaign. Buffalo Bill was made a scout for the 5th U.S. Cavalry by Gen. Philip Sheridan in 1868 and was employed continuously for four years, more than any other scout. His commanding officers often singled him out for praise for his skill, his endurance, his intelligence, and his coolness under fire. They also (surprisingly to those who think of him only as a showman) commented on his modesty. In 1872 he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his gallantry in a battle with a war party of Sioux in Nebraska.

The Indian Wars -- American soldiers and militia were at war continually with Indians from colonial times to the end of the 19th century. Since Americans felt that Indian people must surrender or sell land that was, to their way of seeing, "unpopulated" and "under-utilized," conflict was inevitable. Treaties were misunderstood by both sides. In the Great West alone there were 27 or more distinct tribes speaking as many languages. Agreements with a tribe did not necessarily extend even to all factions of the same tribe, much less to other tribes in the West. When the U.S. government found itself unable or unwilling to enforce limitations on settlement or to prevent incursions on treaty lands by its own citizens, it often tried to renegotiate treaties. Failing that, Americans expected the military to deal with the consequences. Indian resistance to American expansion was hampered by intertribal warfare and shifting alliances among the many different Indian nations. For instance, when the powerful Sioux drove the Crow from the Black Hills of Dakota and the Pawnee from their Nebraska homelands, many Pawnee and Crow people worked with the Army in fighting the Sioux and their Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne allies. The wars on the Plains may be said to have begun in 1854 when an inexperienced and arrogant young officer, 2nd. Lt. John Grattan, ordered his soldiers to fire at a group of Sioux warriors near Ft. Laramie, Wyoming Territory. He and his 30 men were all killed. The Plains conflict continued off and on for almost four decades. The Civil War diverted military attention from the far West, and as late as 1868 there were still only 2600 regular army soldiers assigned to posts on the Great Plains. Battles and skirmishes resulted as often as not in stalemates or Indian victories, most notably in the defeat of Custer and 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn, Montana, in 1876. The end of the Indian Wars came with the tragedy at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890 when nervous and undisciplined 7th Cavalry troopers killed about 300 Sioux people in what even some military observers called a massacre.

Buffalo Bill and the Indians -- A reporter once asked Buffalo Bill how to solve the "Indian problem." The answer was simple, Cody replied: "Never make a promise you don't intend to keep." His relationship with Indian people, as with all people, was founded on trust which in turn was founded on mutual respect. America had belonged to the Indians, he said, "And the White Man took it away from them. It was natural that they should resist those whom they regarded as usurpers." Once victorious, Cody argued, the prosperous American nations should keep faith with the Indian people it had confined to reservations and help them become prosperous as well. Like government agents and humanitarian reformers, Buffalo Bill believed that Indian people would eventually be fully assimilated into American life.

Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Cody felt strongly that Indians could not be forced to change. They should be allowed to adapt to new occupations and social arrangements in their own time and in their own ways. In his Wild West show, Buffalo Bill encouraged the Indian performers to preserve their language and customs. "The Indian makes a good citizen, a good farmer, a good soldier. He is a real American," he said. In the conquest and settlement of the West, Buffalo Bill had helped make war on the Indian. In peace he insisted on their rights as Americans and as members of the human family.