the Canadian government sends federal troops to
end the uprising. In a three-day battle, the rebels
are defeated. While the Métis disperse, their leader,
Louis Riel Jr., surrenders to Canadian authorities.
For his role in the rebellion, Riel will be hanged for
treason on November 16. After his death, he will
become a martyr for both the Métis and the French
Canadians in their efforts to force the Canadian
government to recognize their sovereignty.
May 22
Chief Joseph’s band of Nez Perce returns to
the Northwest.
The 150 surviving followers of Chief Joseph board
a train to take them from their reservation in
Indian Territory to the Colville Indian Reservation
in Washington State. Although they are not per-
mitted to return to their homeland in the Wallowa
Valley of Oregon, their return to the Northwest
is considered a victory by the eastern non-Indian
reformers who, impressed by Chief Joseph’s pas-
sion and personal charisma, have taken up the Nez
Perce cause (see JANUARY 14, 1879). Chief Joseph,
however, is reportedly still despondent over his
separation from the Wallowa Valley. At the Nez
Perce leader’s death in 1904, the doctor at Colville
will maintain officially that Joseph died of a
broken heart.
June to October
Sitting Bull appears in “Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West.”
Vigorously courted by William Cody, the founder
of “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” (see entry for
MAY 17, 1883), Sitting Bull signs a contract to
appear in the show’s 1885 tour of the United States
and Canada. As the Indian leader best known to
the non-Indian public, Sitting Bull brings both
jeers and cheers from the crowd as he parades on
a beautiful gray circus horse through the arena in
each show. In exchange for his performance, he re-
ceives $50 a week, a $125 bonus, and the exclusive
right to sell his photograph and autograph to
audiences.
Sitting Bull tells reporters that he enjoys show
business but will decline Cody’s invitation to stay
with the show for a tour of England because he
is needed on the Great Sioux Reservation. When
Sitting Bull’s contract ends, Cody, who has become
a friend, gives him the gray horse.1886Mohawk Indians are first hired as
ironworkers.
While constructing a bridge over the St. Lawrence
River, the Dominion Bridge Company hires several
Mohawk men from the nearby Kahnawake Reserve
as day laborers. The men balance on and climb
the high steel beams so adeptly and confidently
that construction companies begin routinely hir-
ing Mohawk as ironworkers on bridges and other
steel structures. (See also entries for 1915 and for
AUGUST 29, 1907.)United States v. Kagama upholds the Major
Crimes Act.
The legitimacy of the Major Crimes Act (see entry
for MARCH 3, 1885), which gave federal courts
jurisdiction over major crimes occurring on reserva-
tion land, is tested in United States v. Kagama. The
case is brought against two Indians who in a federal
court were convicted of killing another Indian on
the Hoopa Valley Reservation in California. The
criminals challenge the verdict, maintaining that
despite the Major Crimes Act only a tribal court can
try them for a crime committed on a reservation.
The Supreme Court dismisses their argument
and decides that the conviction, and by extension
the Major Crimes Act as well, are constitutional
because Indians are legally wards of the U.S.
government. The ruling reverses the Court’s earlier
controversial decision in Ex parte Crow Dog (see
entry for DECEMBER 17, 1883), which held that
federal courts had no jurisdiction over criminal
activity on Indian-held lands.