MAY 28 — 1754 Washington leads ambush in Battle of Jumonville Glen; 1830 Jackson signs Indian Removal Act, leading to Trail of Tears; 1946 Carter Glass dies (Federal Reserve); NBA: 2016 Klay Tmopson sinks record 11 3s in playoff game
Audio PlayerMAY 28
1754 — Washington leads an ambush team in the Battle of Jumonville Glen.
This would officially kickoff the French and Indian Wars, though the skirmishes had been going on since 1688. At this point, however, in the upper Ohio River Valley, French and British were getting ready to go to blows after French insisted against Britain’s wishes to establish forts in the area. The fur trade in particular became a very territorial issue, and on this day Virginia Lt.
Gov. Robert Dinwiddie sent Lt. Col George Washington, then 22 years old, and Mingo chief Tanacharison and 40 men to face off against 29 French soldiers to get out. On the 24th of May, Washington and Tancharison camped out at Great Meadows, some 60 miles outside modern nay Pittsburgh. On the 27th, some Indians informed Washington that the French soldiers they were looking for was only about 15 miles away off the beaten trail. The next day Washington and about 50 of his men snuck up on the French camp.
Washington ordered Chief Tancharison and his men to circle around and block the French soldiers escape. Washington made the first move, and completely took the camp by surprise. Within 5 minutes, as usual when it comes to battle, the French surrendered. Legend has it; some of Tanacharison’s men went a little crazy and scalped some of the captured soldiers until Lt. Col. Washington could stop the massacre.
Beyond that gory detail, Jumonville Glen is not insignificant battle folks.
It not only started the War in the New World, but George Washington laid out the groundwork for how the future American military would fight the enemy.
1863 – The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry departs for combat.
…It was the first military unit consisting of black soldiers to be raised in the North during the civil War. Prior to 1863, black troops just weren’t accepted in the military. The adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation in December 1863 provided the impetus for the use of free black men as soldiers and, at a time when state governors were responsible for the raising of regiments for federal service, Massachusetts was the first to respond with the formation of the 54th.
It was a very controversial move. In those days, it was generally disputed whether or not African Americans were even capable of fighting a white man’s war. What was generally agreed upon, however, was that even if the blacks could fight, they couldn’t lead.
As a result, 90% of the officers were white. Recruiting began in February 1863, and in all, about 1000 black men were enlisted. The 54th saw their first action on James Island, losing 45 men. Two days later, after several days with little sleep, food or water, the regiment was instructed to lead the attack against Fort Wagner on Morris Island. It didn’t go well and the 54th suffered heavy damage, losing about half of the men present.
However, the unit showed exceptional bravery and honor, never retreating as they waited for the reinforcements which would never arrive. Nonetheless, the use of black soldiers in the 54th was viewed as a success and opened the way for numerous other black units in the Union Army for the remainder of the war.
1830 – Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act; Trail of Tears is set in motion.
For generations the Creeks, Seminoles, Cherokee and Choctaw lived peacefully in modern-day Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. But as a result of the Louisiana Purchas, discovery of gold in Georgia, and white settlers looking to make a fat profit off the production of cotton, those Native Americans had all the real estate.
Early ion in American history, besides, the white man didn’t like the local aborigines. To the white, cultured farmers, these hunters and gatherers were strange with their weird rituals, they didn’t have actual title to their properties, and others were considered savage beasts.
George Washington agreed with the notion that the best way to handle the “Indian problem” was to culturalism them; you know, convert them to Christianity. More and more white settlers would come into the area and just squat on the Indian land, and terrorize them in other ways by burning their homes and towns. In 1814, Andrew Jackson and his troops would likely have perished if they weren’t saved by 500 Cherokee soldiers who saved his hide.
But that was 1814, and now it was 1830 and Jackson didn’t care and wanted the natives out. Senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay defended the natives. In 1831 the natives lost any rights for sovereignty in as a result of the case of Cherokee Nation vs Georgia. But thanks to the Reverend Samuel Worcester, who was a missionary for the Cherokee, he successfully sued the state of Georgia in front of the Supreme Court in 1832, which ruled in favor of giving Cherokee limited internal sovereignty.
And still Jackson, now president, didn’t care, and still wanted the natives out. Old Hickory spent much of his early career fighting the Creeks in Georgia and and Alabama, as well as the Seminoles in Florida; resulting in the natives losing their land to the white man.
It would be on this day in 1830 Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which would exchange just compensation if they would move to the Indian territory in present day Oklahoma. In 1831, the Choctaw became the first to be kicked out, and off they walked, without food or provisions, some without shoes, while the U.S. Army ransacked their homes for valuables.
It was in the dead of winter and many did not survive the trip. By 1836, 35,000 Creeks were forced to leave, losing around 3500 tribesmen and women. The Cherokee handled it a bit differently. Some tribal leaders were enticed by the idea of getting money and supplies from the UY.S. Government in exchange for their property. But they did not speak on behalf of the rest of the overall tribal government, who issued death warrants to any tribesman who would sign this so-called Treaty of New EchoStar.
Two years later, only 2,000 Cherokees had left for Indian Territory, and President Martin Van Buren sent out Old Fuss and Feathers to finish to job. Future military legend, Scott forced thousand more into the Indian Territory some 1200 miles away. One soldier is noted as saying “I fought through the War Between the States and have seen many men shot, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.
Diseases riddled the tribes as they continued on their journey, whooping cough, Typhus, dysentery; cholera took out around 4 or 5,000 Native Americans along with rampant starvation. By 1840, tens of thousands of native Americans were gone all the way past Mississippi into the Indian Territory, through a forced march known as the Trail of Tears.
1946 – Federal Reserve co-founder Carter Glass dies.
Born in 1858, Lynchburg VA to a prominent newspaper owner, young Carter began interning in the print shop for his family at age 13. Standing 5’4”, Glass would take over the family business as well as all the other newspapers in the area. Glass heard William Jennings Bryan speak in 1896, and from then on he became a permanent member of the Democratic Party. Throughout his political career, Carter Glass would serve as in the House of Representatives from 1902-1918, during which time he was chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee, along with Senator Robert Owen on a bill that would compete with the Aldrich Bill for the creation of the Federal Reserve.
The idea of having a private banking system is unconstitutional as it violates Article 10 Section 8. Andrew Jackson said to the banks before he dismantled them way back in 1833, “Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost you charged it to the bank.” Meanwhile, as Carter Glass himself would admit I never thought the Federal Reserve System would prove such a failure. The Federal Reserve Act was passed to rein in the MoneyTrust, stabilize the economy and prevent depressions and it did the exact opposite. Before he spoke out against the Fed, he served as chairman from 1918-1920, just nine years before the Great Depression. Carter Glass would serve in the Senate from 1920-1946, where he would die of congestive heart failure, age 88.
1892 – John Muir establishes the Sierra Club
… in San Francisco, CA. This was one of the first large-scale environmental preservation organizations in the world, and currently engages in lobbying politicians to promote green policies. These days it has hundreds of thousands of members in chapters located throughout the US.
It also has its share of scandal, according to Time magazine I doubt John Muir would be proud of, for instance the $26 million in gifts from the natural gas industry, mostly from Aubrey McClendon, CEO or Chesapeake Energy. Then there was the IRS claiming that the Sierra Club and its Foundation were not paying income taxes from sales of solar panels for their partners across the US according to the Energy and Environment Legal Institute. Then there are the continuous accusations for suing for profit, other questionable finances, and abuse of the endangered species act.
2016 — Thompson sinks a record 11 three-pointes in a playoff game.
The Splash Brothers were on fire on this crucial game as the Golden State Warriors defeated the OKC Thunder 108-101. Stephen curry delivered it to Klay Thompson, and from way deep he was unstoppable. On this night, while Thompson would deliver 41 points, Thunder’s Kevin Durant would only score 29.In a series which involved Draymond Green kicking Steven Adams in the groin, the Warrior had come back from an OKC 3-1 deficit and would force a game 7. Golden State would get past the Thunder and get into the finals, losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
1957 – Giants and Dodgers move to the west coast.
They were already rivals since the late 19th century. In 1957, the Dodgers were on a roll; they had won five pennants and one World Championship in eight years. There Brooklyn games were generally sell-outs, with 32,000 seats at Ebbets Field all taken.
Dodger’s owner Walter O’Malley managed to convince Giants owner Horace Stoneham, who was considering moving his team to Minnesota to reserve the rivalry by bringing his team to California as well.
The Giants hosted a farewell party at a game on September 29, and the Dodgers formally announced their move on October 8. West Coast baseball fans couldn’t wait, and New York fans were heartbroken. Even though the two teams face each other about 20 times each season, the rivalry just wasn’t the same when they came to California. Once just a subway ride away, the teams were now almost 400 miles apart.
Meanwhile New York got the Mets, an expansion team in 1962, and in 2000 the Yankees and Mets faced off in the World Series, the first subway series since the Dodgers and the Yankees met in 1956.