P
on Germany, Italy, and Japan. The declaration, made
without the full consent of the Iroquois council, is an
effort to stave off criticism resulting from Iroquois
resistance to the draft (see entries for DECEMBER 27,
1940, and for 1941). Some Iroquois refuse to reg-
ister because they do not regard themselves as U.S.
citizens. Many non-Indians, however, interpret their
opposition to the draft as a lack of patriotism, rather
than as a statement of Indian sovereignty.
The Department of the Interior sees the
Iroquois declaration of war as a public relations
opportunity. To help generate popular support for
the war, government officials orchestrate the dele-
gation’s visit to Washington as a media event and
book the leaders on the CBS radio program We, the
People at War, on which they read the declaration to
a large non-Indian audience.
“The New York Indians, in mak-
ing a separate declaration of
war against the Axis powers do
not question the sovereignty
of the United States Gov-
ernment but they are simply
giving full expression, in their
democratic traditions, to a su-
preme cause which has upset
the internal affairs of the vari-
ous members of the historic
Confederacy. Like millions of
families throughout the United
States, the New York Indians
have sent their sons into the
armed forces and their daugh-
ters into war jobs off the
reservation.”
—from a press release issued by
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
John Collier on the Iroquois
declaration of war1943The Indian Scouting Service is
disbanded.
The Indian Scouting Service, formed to assist the
U.S. Army’s campaigns against western Indians
(see entry for 1866), is eliminated as a branch of
the American military. In the late 19th century,
16 scouts were given the Congressional Medal of
Honor for their participation in the Indian Wars.
During the service’s 77-year history, Indian scouts
also served in several of the United States’s foreign
wars, including the Spanish-American War and
World War I.Lakota Sioux reservation land is seized for
a wartime gunnery range.
Officials from the U.S. government order Lakota
Sioux living on a 3-million-acre area of South
Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation to move in
order to make way for an aerial gunnery range.
According to one evacuee, the reservation’s super-
intendent threatens that the Indians will be shot if
they do not leave their homes within a 30-day pe-
riod. The government offers the displaced Lakota
only 75¢ for each acre of land taken from them.1944MayThe Pribilof Island Aleut return
home.
After the Japanese evacuate the Aleutian Islands,
the Aleut of the Pribilof Islands are sent home by
the federal government. Nearly two years earlier,
they were removed from the region by the U.S.
Navy and relocated and held against their will in an
unsanitary camp (see entry for JUNE 1942). Upon
reaching the Pribilofs, the Aleut find that in their
absence many of their houses have been looted and
destroyed by U.S. military personnel. The damage
is so great that several ancient villages are aban-
doned forever.