A Native American Timeline-- Part 7: Dawes Act, Wounded Knee and the Choctow Telephone Squad in WW I

**  FEBRUARY 8, 1887:  President Grover Cleveland  signs the Dawes Act, giving the U.S. president authority  to divide up land allotted to Indians in reservations to individuals.

**  DECEMBER 15, 1890:  Sitting Bull is killed  during a confrontation with Indian police in Grand River, South Dakota.

**  DECEMBER 29, 1890:    U.S. armed forces  surround Ghost Dancers Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, demanding the surrender of their weapons.  An estimated 150 Indians are killed in what became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. along with 25 men of the cavalry.

**  JANUARY 29, 1907:  Charles  Curtis becomes the first  Indian U.S. Senator.

**  SEPTEMBER 1918:  Choctow soldiers use their native language to transmit secret messages for U.S. troops during  World War I's Meuse-Argonne Offensive on the Western Front.  The Choctow Telephone Squad provide Allied forces with a critical edge over the Germans.

I had heard of the  Navajo Code Talkers, but not these men.  Interesting.

--Cooter