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

American Legion in High Gear Around Here-- Part 2: Fox Lake Bulldogs Are 4-1

From Wikipedia.

American Legion baseball is amateur baseball played by teenage boys in all fifty states.

The American Legion Department of South Dakota established it in 1925 in Millbank, South Dakota.  The inaugural season was in 1926.  According to the American Legion:  "The purpose is to give young men an opportunity to develop their skills, personal fitness, leadership qualities and to have fun."

The states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin are in the Great Lakes Division.

Illinois has 84 teams, Minnesota the most with 320, Hawaii 2 and Alaska 1.

The National Champs in 2013 and 2014 was Brooklawn, New Jersey, Post 72.

--RoadBat

Mr. Jefferson's Face

From the Flashback National Geographic page.


The face that you see of Thomas Jefferson on Mt. Rushmore is actually sculptor Gutzon Borglum's second attempt on the third president's face. The first attempt, located to Washington's right, was ruined by a flaw in the granite and was blasted off in 1934.

Borglum's next attempt, to George's left, was successful and dedicated in 1936.

Much of the carving of Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt did not go as the sculptor had planned. Originally, the carvings were to go down to their waists.

I Didn't Know That. --DaCoot