TITLE: APRIL NATIVE HISTORY AUTHOR: ABSTRACT: Calendar Dates taken from the Akwesasne Notes, by kind permission from the publishers, contributed by Mr. Eric Gabriel ARTICLE: April 1st 1866- U.S. Congress passes Civil Rights Bill that gives equal rights to all persons born in the U.S.A. excepting Indians. April Fool on the Indians. April 2nd 1885- The major event on the Riel Rebellion: Cree warriors led by Big Bear attack a Frog Lake settlement, southeast of St. Paul, Alberta, killing 9 men and taking two women captives. April 3rd 1856- 113 US soldiers destroy a Tututni village near Gold Beach, Oregon, and force the inhabitants onto a reservation. 1973- A Northwest Territories judge imposes a temporary restraining order affecting all land transactions in the 400,000 square-mile are claimed by NWT native people. April 6th 1832- Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk & Fox peoples, led his people in peace back to their Rock River Valley home to plant corn in spite of orders from the U.S. to stay away. Rumours stemming from this march brought about the "Black Hawk War". 1877- Chief Joseph and Nez Perce flee toward Canada after an army attack on them. They had just agreed to accept a reservation outside their homeland, but the troops still attacked. April 8th 1644- Opechancanough, Susquehannocks head, continued to lead the Powhattan Confederacy in evicting the English by attacking a British settlement, killing 300. April 9th 1973- U.S. agents seize a large quantity of BIA documents at the home of Dock and Keever Locklear in Robeson County, North Carolina, papers liberated during the Trail of Broken Treaties occupation. 1974- Haida Nation sends a letter to Canada's government announcing that it is considering seceding its islands, well off the mainland, and asking for United Nations assistance. April 10th 1779- Britain pledges to the Iroguois that if they helped in the Revolutionary War, Britain guaranteed to replace land lost with the same status as before the war, an independent nation, to be allies of the English, and not British subjects. The pledge was not kept. April 11th 1617- Pocahantas, daughter of King Powhatan

of the Powhatan People of Virginia, died

in England. April 12th 1810- Blackfoot attack on Major Andrew Henry's expedition that was trespassing on Indian lands - 5 expedition members got killed, and large amounts of supplies were taken. 1864- Lt. Dunn 's troops stopped a group of Cheyenne, suspecting them of having stolen horses. He forced them to turn over their horses, but when he tried to take the Cheyenne guns, 4 soldiers were left dead in the fight that ensued. April 13th 1844- Province of New Brunswick claimed the right to sell Indian lands without obtaining the consent of native people. April 14th 1756- Pennsylvania's Governor Morris announced a declaration of war against the Delaware Nation, stating the prices his state would pay for prisoners or their scalps. April 16th 1934- Johnson-O'Malley Act authorized the Secretary of Interior to enter into contracts with states for the education and social welfare of Indians. April 17th 1973- Wounded Knee Trading Post burns to the ground after a child knocked over a kerosene lamp; meanwhile, the US begins preparations for an assault on the village to end occupation by Oglalas who were fighting for treaty rights assured under the treaty signed in 1868. April 18th 1864- Because of the fight between the Cheyenne and Lt. Dunn on April 12, Colorado authorities, particularly Gov. John Evans, began their war of genocide against the Cheyennes. April 19th 1710- 3 Mohawks and 1 Mohagan chief have an audience with Queen Anne at St. James Palace in London. They spend two months in England, and departed May 7. 1858- Yankton Sioux reserve the use of Red Pipestone quarry in Minnesota. April 20th 1769- The great chief of the Ottawas, Pontiac, was assassinated by an Illinois Indian who received a barrel of whiskey for his work from an English trader named Williamson. 1972- Fifty provincial police are sent to arrest Art Powless at Six Nations Reserve for refusing to pay again a gas bill he had already paid. April 21st 1974- The first of 9 mutilated bodies of native men in the Farmington, New Mexico area, are found. Three youths are committed to a state home for boys for some of the slaying. April 23rd 1974- Native leaders meet in Williams Lake, B.C. and acknowledge the right of non-status native people to partcipate in any land claims settlement. 1975- Interior Department reinstates some Menominee lands to reservation status after a trouble ridden termination period beginning in 1961. April 24th 1885- Metis forces stop General Middleton's advance on Batoche at Fish Creek. Middleton's men suffered many casualties. 1975- Native people of British Columbia declare independence at Chilliwack by turning back millions of dollars in government funding. April 25th 1973- Frank Clearwater dies from wounds received while he was sleeping in a church at Wounded Knee during its occupation by Oglalas. April 27th 1973- Wounded Knee II claims second life as Lawrence Lamont shot by U.S. Russell Means arrested by FBI when his bond is revoked because he would not retract statements defending Oglala sovereignty. April 28th 1972- Forty Indians held control of the Fort Totten Reservation jail in North Dakota to dramatize their dissatisfaction with the BIA and to demand a full investigation into the deaths of three Indian inmates. April 30th 1974- Riot police attack native spectators and defendants in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, courtroom after they refuse to rise when the judge enters the courtroom in the Custer trials.

This article was originally published in Cross Cultures Magazine in Volume 7 - Issue 1 - 1997. Unauthorized copying, distribution or other usage without express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.