Non-Indians veterans of the War of 1812 (see entry for JUNE 19, 1812) establish the Society of Red Men, a benevolent society that offers relief to widows and orphans of men killed in battle. Modeled on the Freemasons, the organization features secret rituals referred to as “Indian mysteries.” Among them is an elaborate initiation rite, after which new members are given “Indian” names, such as Black Wampum and Split Log.
William Clark opens his Indian Museum.
The governor of the Missouri Territory, William Clark, builds a wing onto his house in St. Louis to display his collection of more than 200 objects made and used by western Indians. He obtained these items from the Indians he encountered while heading the Lewis and Clark Expedition (see entry for MAY 14, 1804) and from Indian delegations and fur traders he met when serving as superintendent of Indian affairs. Intended to inform the public about Indian life, Clark’s museum will become a popular tourist attraction hailed by a St. Louis visitor’s guide as “the most complete Museum of Indian curiosities to be met with anywhere in the United States.”
The Metis declare victory in the Battle of Seven Oaks.
In 1812 the Hudson’s Bay Company provided a small land grant to a group of Scottish farmers in Canada’s Red River Colony. Ever since, the Metis—a group of people of mixed Indian and European ancestry with a distinct culture—have resented the presence of these settlers. The escalating tension between the groups is encouraged by Hudson’s Bay’s rival, the North West Company (see entry for 1784), which provides arms to the Red River Metis.
Violence breaks out when 60 starving Metis, led by North West Company employee Cuthbert Grant, attack a Hudson’s Bay Company brigade carrying a supply of pemmican (cakes made of dried meat and fruit) and ransack a Hudson’s Bay post. At an area called Seven Oaks, the marauding Metis confront the governor of Red River and an army of 21 settlers. In the ensuing battle, all but three of the whites are killed; the Metis suffer only one casualty. Their success in the battle increases the Metis’s sense of themselves as a separate, sovereign nation and establishes Grant as an important Metis leader.
American troops attack the Seminole settlement at Prospect Bluff.
Led by Andrew Jackson, volunteer troops attack an old British fort at Prospect Bluff in Spanish Florida. The United States wants the fort sacked because it has become a refuge for runaway African-American slaves from Georgia and from North and South Carolina. The community centered around the fort is also the home of many Seminole, including Chief Neamathla, whom the soldiers execute. Many other Indians and slaves are killed, and all of the surrounding farms are destroyed. The attack, illegal under international law, will spark a series of Seminole retaliatory raids on American settlements, sparking in turn what will become known as the First Seminole War.
World History
