May 13

1846     The United States officially declared that a state of war existed with Mexico.

1882  The Ft. Steele hospital burned.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1907  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a popular vote in 1892 concerning the location of the "Agricultural College of Wyoming" was advisory thereby keeping the University of Wyoming in Laramie, rather than moving it to Lander.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1912  The first political conventions in the state to nominate presidential electors took place in Cheyenne:  Attribution:  On This Day.

1918  Casper Daily Press for May 13, 1918. Germans used up their reserves and have the Czar?

The Germans really were using up their reserves and had passed the point of diminishing returns by this date in 1918, but they were still messing around in the East which made the story about the Czar and his family credible, if erroneous.  They would have been lucky if the Germans had taken them into custody.

At the same time, reports of Wyoming men getting killed in action were starting to appear on the front page.

1919  Movie star and recent veteran of the U.S. Army (artillery officer in WWI), Tim McCoy becomes the Adjutant General for the Wyoming National Guard.  In that capacity, he receives a brevet rank of Brigadier General at age 28.  He retained that position until 1921 when, I believe, it reverted to extraordinarily long serving Gen. Esmay, who had held it prior to WWI, with some interruption.

McCoy was also ranching in Wyoming during this time frame.  He ran for the US Senate in Wyoming in 1942 but lost, rejoining the Army as an officer the day after his defeat.  He served in the Army Air Corps in Europe during WWII and reportedly never returned to Wyoming after the war.

Evincing a surprising lack of sentiment about horses for a film star of this early era, McCoy is know to have remarked that he was not sentimental about horses, and that "If you want to know the truth - horses are dumb."

1943  A measles epidemic was raging in the state.  As everyone in my family has the stomach flu today, I can sympathize with epidemics.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

May 12

1865  Col Thomas Moonlight's expedition of the recently arrived 11th Kansas Cavalry reaches the Wind River in Wyoming, but fails to encounter the Cheyenne who were raiding west of Ft. Laramie that he was searching for.

1920  The Wyoming National Guard was reconstituted as the First Regiment, Wyoming Cavalry.

1922  A spring blizzard hit northeastern Wyoming.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2021   Wyoming Congressman Liz Cheney was removed from her number 3 spot in the Republican Congressional leadership over her refusal to accent to House Republican demands that she ignore or deny the role former President Donald Trump had in the January 2021 insurrection in Washington D.C.

May 11

1846  Congress declared war on Mexico.

1929   A Laramie group advocated prohibition of women's figures on cigarette advertisements.  Cigarettes themselves did not become common for the most part until after World War One, which popularized them as they were distributed free to soldiers.  Prior to that, smokers tended to smoke cigars and pipes.  Smoking by women was uncommon, and considered improper.  In the 1920s, cigarette smoking by women expanded due to the social atmosphere of the time, although it was still considered sensational.

1950  The remains of Big Nose George Parrot were found by workmen working on the Rawlins National Bank.  Parrot's remains had been given to Dr. John Osborne, who was later elected Governor, for study.  Osborne stored the body in a salted whiskey barrel, and eventually buried the whiskey barrel in they yard behind his office.  The entire story of the treatment of Parrot's body following his execution is shocking my modern standards, including the means of finally laying them to rest until this date in 1950.

1916   The Punitive Expedition: The March 11, 1916 news
 

May 10

1868 The first train enters Laramie.

1869 A golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

1890 Laramie policemen instructed to stay out of saloons unless specifically called in to act in them.

1868  A Remount arrives at Ft. Leavenworth Kansas from St. Louis, where it will be named Comanche.  It received the U.S. brand upon its arrival, but it would be soon sold for $90.00 to an officer of the 7th Cavalry, Miles Keogh.

Comanche is repeatedly, if inaccurately, claimed to be the "sole survivor" of the Custer's command at the Little Big Horn, which ignores of course that many of the men in Custer's command served with Reno and Benteen that day, and only the men under his direct field command were killed in the battle.  It further ignores that many 7th Cavalry horses were just carted off by the Sioux and Cheyenne who used them, with the presence of many 7th Cavalry horses being noted by the Northwest Mounted Police after the Sioux crossed into Canada.  Inquires by the NWMP as to whether the U.S. Army wished for the NWMP to recover the horses were met with a negative reply, although at least one of the horses was purchased by a Mountie and owned privately.

1893 The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883.

1899 Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Neb.

1910  Powell incorporated.

1917   John J. Pershing informed he is to lead American troops in France.
 

I've backed off nearly daily entries from 1917 here, now that we no longer have the Punitive Expedition to follow, and returned more of the traditional pace and focus of the blog, but there are exceptions and today is one.

On this day, in 1917, John J. Pershing, recently promoted to Major General, was informed by Secretary of War Newton Baker that he was to lead the American expeditionary force in France.

This now seems all rather anticlimactic, as if the appointment of Pershing was inevitable, and perhaps it was, but he was not the only possible choice and his selection involved some drama, to some extent.  Pershing was then 56 years old, an age that would have put him in the upper age bracket for a senior office during World War Two, but not at this time in the context of World War One.  Indeed, his rise to Major General had been somewhat unusual in its history and course, as he had earlier been advanced over more senior officers in an era when that was rare, and it is often noted that his marriage to Helen Warren, the daughter of powerful Wyoming Senator Francis E. Warren, certainly did not hurt his career.  Often regarded as having reached the pinnacle of his Army career due to "leading" the Army during the Punitive Expedition, he was in fact technically second in command during that event as the commander of the department he was in was Frederick Funston.

Funston is already familiar to readers here as we covered his death back in  February.  Not really in the best of health in his later years, but still a good five years younger than Pershing, Funston died suddenly only shortly after the Punitive Expedition concluded leaving Pershing his logical successor and the only Army officer then in the public eye to that extent.  Indeed, as the United States was progressing towards entering the war it was Funston, a hero of the Spanish American War, who was being considered by the Wilson Administration as the likely leader of a US contingent to Europe.  His sudden death meant that his junior, Pershing, took pride of place.

But not without some rivals.  Principal among them was Gen. Leonard Wood, a hero of the later stages of the Indian Wars and the Spanish American War who was a protégée of Theodore Roosevelt.  Almost the exact same age as Pershing, Wood was backed by Republicans in Congress for the position of commander of the AEF.  Not too surprisingly, however, given his close association with Roosevelt, he was not offered the command.  Indeed, it was this same week when it became plain that Roosevelt was also not to receive a combat command in the Army, or any role in the Army, for the Great War, to his immense disappointment.

Pershing went on, of course, to command the AEF and to even rise in rank to the second highest, behind only George Washington, rank in the U.S. Army.  That alone shows that he was an enormous hero in his era. He lived through World War Two and in fact was frequently visited by generals of that war, many of them having a close military association with him from World War One.  His personality dramatically impacted the Army during the Great War, so much so that it was sometimes commented upon to the effect that American troops were all carbon copies of Pershing.  Still highly regarded by most (although some have questioned in recent years his view of his black troops) he is far from the household name he once was for the simple reason that World War Two has overshadowed everything associated with World War One.

1928  A Federal law enforcement officer is murdered in the line of duty by a bootlegger, near Wyoming's white lighting center of Kemmerer.

1944 Tom Bell, the founder of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, wounded in action in a B-24 mission over Austria.  He wold loose his right eye as a result of his injuries.

1954 Bill Haley and His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock".

May 9

1868  Union Pacific completed tracks to Laramie.

1886  The legislature approved the creation of a mental hospital in Evanston.

1887   Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London.

1892  USS Wyoming sold.

1911   Susan Wissler elected Mayor of Dayton, the first woman to be elected as a mayor in Wyoming.  She lived a long, but hard, life, having come to Wyoming with her husband and children in 1900.  Her husband died in 1906 and she did not remarry. She was a millner by trade, but employed in Dayton as a school teacher.  In her later years she was in constant ill health, but she lived to age 85.  She served as mayor for two years.

1916  President Woodrow Wilson mobilizes the National Guard of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to patrol their borders with Mexico.

1918  Trouser wearing outlaw girls and the Germans getting ready to try again. May 9, 1918.

Apparently girls wearing men's clothing wasn't illegal.

Go figure.

And how exactly a person gets turned over to the Salvation Army for their welfare isn't exactly clear. . . but it was a different era.

Meanwhile, the Laramie Boomerang was reporting that the Germans were mustering for yet another push. . .

1945  Ratification in Berlin-Karlshorst of the German unconditional surrender of May 8 in Rheims, France.  Marshal Georgy Zhukov sings for the Soviet Union, Sir Arthur Tedder, British Air Marshal and Eisenhower’s deputy for SHEAF, Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.  The Channel Islands are liberated by the British after five years of German occupation.  U.S. officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.  Herman Goering taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Karl Frank, the Nazi administrator in Czechoslovakia surrendered to the U. S. army near Pilsen, Czechoslovakia.

1950  President Truman spoke at the dedication of Kortes Dam.

2019.  Elements of the 300th AFA of the Wyoming National Guard enter active service in anticipation of being deployed to an designated location in the Middle East.

May 8

1541    Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

1846 General Zachary Taylor defeats a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto,  War had not yet been declared.

1860  Captain W. F. Raynolds' expedition left Deer Creek.  It's intention was to follow the Wind River to its headwaters and then cross a divide to the headwaters of the Yellowstone.Attribution:  On This Day.

1868  Union Pacific completed tracks to Ft. Saunders.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1877   The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.

1880  Soft drink bottling plant opens in Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1915  An earthquake occurred in northern Yellowstone National Park.

1938  Alcova Dam on the North Platte completed.

1945    The German surrender becomes official.  President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe.  End of the Prague uprising.  Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre, ushering in what would ultimately become the French Algerian War.  In day two of rioting, 10,000 servicemen in Halifax Nova Scotia loot and vandalize downtown Halifax during VE-Day celebrations.

1946  Wyoming Game & Fish districts created.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1973    Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

2018  Following the Boys Scouts official departure from being an organization in anyway dedicated to the development of young men, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) severed association with the Boy Scouts.  The joint statement issued by the Boy Scouts and the Mormon church stated the following:

A Joint Statement from
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 and
 The Boy Scouts of America
May 8, 2018 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America have been partners for more than 100 years. The Scouting program has benefited hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint boys and young men, and BSA has also been greatly benefited in the process. We jointly express our gratitude to the thousands of Scout leaders and volunteers who have selflessly served over the years in Church-sponsored Scouting units, including local BSA districts and councils. 

In this century of shared experience, the Church has grown from a U.S.-centered institution to a worldwide organization, with a majority of its membership living outside the United States. That trend is accelerating. The Church has increasingly felt the need to create and implement a uniform youth leadership and development program that serves its members globally. In so doing, it will be necessary for the Church to discontinue its role as a chartered partner with BSA. 

We have jointly determined that, effective on December 31, 2019, the Church will conclude its relationship as a chartered organization with all Scouting programs around the world. Until that date, to allow for an orderly transition, the intention of the Church is to remain a fully engaged partner in Scouting for boys and young men ages 8–13 and encourages all youth, families, and leaders to continue their active participation and financial support.  

While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units after December 31, 2019, it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law and expresses its profound desire for Scouting’s continuing and growing success in the years ahead.

While the severance of relations, effective on December 31, 2019, more than one year away at the time it was announced, was issued as a "joint statement", it was a slam to the the BSA in more ways than one.  For one thing the Mormons had been traditionally huge supporters of Scouting, continuing on a relationship with churches that in some ways reflected an earlier era when Scouting was heavily invested in churches.  The line "While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units after December 31, 2019, it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law" is a shot right under the water line at the Scouts at that, as by severing its relationship with the BSA it implicitly is indicating that it feels that the BSA itself is no longer really true to its original mission and that the LDS church must accordingly break its ties to it.

Where this will go is far from clear, but the public severance by the Mormons nearly closes out an era of close association of various religions with the BSA and reflects a wider societal split on what some very basic values in our society are going to be.  It's also a brave move for the LDS as its takes them very decidedly out into the currently prevailing winds, while at the same time it may be one more move that indicates that Scouting itself is basically coming to an end as it tries to accommodate social trends which run contrary to its original existential purpose.

This is posted here on this site, of course, as the Mormon church is widely represented in some areas of Wyoming as are Scout troops associated with it.

May 7

1824   The Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas was created.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1868  Treaty signed with the Crows at Ft. Laramie.  It stated:

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between the undersigned commissioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of and representing the Crow Indians, they being duly authorized to act in the premises.

ARTICLE 1.

From this day forward peace between the parties to this treaty shall forever continue. The Government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they hereby pledge their honor to maintain it. If bad men among the whites or among other people, subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also re-imburse the injured person for the loss sustained.

If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation upon the person or property of any one, white, black, or Indian, subject to the authority of the United States and at peace therewith, the Indians herein named solemnly agree that they will, on proof made to their agent and notice by him, deliver up the wrong-doer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to its laws; and in case they refuse willfully so to do the person injured shall be re-imbursed for his loss from the annuities or other moneys due or to become due to them under this or other treaties made with the United States. And the President, on advising with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and regulations for ascertaining damages under the provisions of this article as in his judgment may be proper. But no such damages shall be adjusted and paid until thoroughly examined and passed upon by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and no one sustaining loss while violating, or because of his violating, the provisions of this treaty or the laws of the United States shall be re-imbursed therefor.

ARTICLE 2.

The United States agrees that the following district of country, to wit: commencing where the 107th degree of longitude west of Greenwich crosses the south boundary of Montana Territory; thence north along said 107th meridian to the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River; thence up said mid-channel of the Yellowstone to the point where it crosses the said southern boundary of Montana, being the 45th degree of north latitude; and thence east along said parallel of latitude to the place of beginning, shall be, and the same is, set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them; and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employés of the Government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article for the use of said Indians, and henceforth they will, and do hereby, relinquish all title, claims, or rights in and to any portion of the territory of the United States, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid.

ARTICLE 3.

The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct on the south side of the Yellowstone, near Otter Creek,

a warehouse or store-room for the use of the agent in storing goods belonging to the Indians, to cost not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars; an agency-building for the residence of the agent, to cost not exceeding three thousand dollars; a residence for the physician, to cost not more than three thousand dollars; and five other buildings, for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, miller, and engineer, each to cost not exceeding two thousand dollars; also a school-house or mission-building, so soon as a sufficient number of children can be induced by the agent to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars.

The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on said reservation, near the other buildings herein authorized, a good steam circular saw-mill, with a grist-mill and shingle-machine attached, the same to cost not exceeding eight thousand dollars.

ARTICLE 4.

The Indians herein named agree, when the agency-house and other buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named, they will make said reservation their permanent home, and they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they shall have the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon, and as long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts.

ARTICLE 5.

The United States agrees that the agent for said Indians shall in the future make his home at the agency-building; that he shall reside among them, and keep an office open at all times for the purpose of prompt and diligent inquiry into such matters of complaint, by and against the Indians, as may be presented for investigation under the provisions of their treaty stipulations, as also for the faithful discharge of other duties enjoined on him by law. In all cases of depredation on person or property, he shall cause the evidence to be taken in writing and forwarded, together with his finding, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, whose decision shall be binding on the parties to this treaty.

ARTICLE 6.

If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family, shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which tract, when so selected, certified, and recorded in the “land book,”as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common, but the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as he or they may continue to cultivate it.

Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head of a family, may in like manner select and cause to be certified to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quantity of land not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be entitled to the exclusive possession of the same as above directed.

For each tract of land so selected a certificate, containing a description thereof and the name of the person selecting it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to it by the agent, after the same shall have been recorded by him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection, which said book shall be known as the “Crow land book.”

The President may at any time order a survey of the reservation, and, when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting the rights of settlers in their improvements, and may fix the character of the title held by each. The United States may pass such laws on the subject of alienation and descent of property as between Indians, and on all subjects connected with the government of the Indians on said reservations and the internal police thereof, as may be thought proper.

ARTICLE 7.

In order to insure the civilization of the tribe entering into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially by such of them as are, or may be, settled on said agricultural reservation; and they therefore pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty children, between said ages, who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article to continue for twenty years.

ARTICLE 8.

When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands and received his certificate as above directed, and the agent shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence cultivating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to receive seed and agricultural implements for the first year in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year he shall continue to farm, for a period of three years more, he shall be entitled to receive seed and implements as aforesaid in value twenty-five dollars per annum.

And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence farming shall receive instructions from the farmer herein provided for, and whenever more than one hundred persons shall enter upon the cultivation of the soil, a second blacksmith shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material as may be required.

ARTICLE 9.

In lieu of all sums of money or other annuities provided to be paid to the Indians herein named, under any and all treaties heretofore made with them, the United States agrees to deliver at the agency house, on the reservation herein provided for, on the first day of September of each year for thirty years, the following articles, to wit:

For each male person, over fourteen years of age, a suit of good substantial woolen clothing, consisting of coat, hat, pantaloons, flannel shirt, and a pair of woolen socks.
For each female, over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt, or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose, twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid, together with a pair of woollen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named, it shall be the duty of the agent, each year, to forward to him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate from year to year can be based.
And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of ten dollars shall be annually appropriated for each Indian roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture, for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as, from time to time, the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten years, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the tribe herein named, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes; but in no event shall the amount of this appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the Army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their delivery; and it is expressly stipulated that

each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be entitled to receive from the United States, for the period of four years after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove to the reservation herein described, and commence farming, one good American cow and one good, well-broken pair of American oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation.

ARTICLE 10.

The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the Indians the physician, teachers, carpenter, miller, engineer, farmer, and blacksmiths as herein contemplated, and that such appropriations shall be made from time to time, on the estimates of the Secretary of the Interior, as will be sufficient to employ such persons.

ARTICLE 11.

No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservation herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of any force or validity as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by, at least, a majority of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same, and no cession by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such a manner as to deprive, without his consent, any individual member of the tribe of his right to any tract of land selected by him as provided in Article 6 of this treaty.

ARTICLE 12.

It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually, for three years from the date when they commence to cultivate a farm, shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of said tribe who, in the judgment of the agent, may grow the most valuable crops for the respective year.

W. T. Sherman,
   Lieutenant-General.

Wm. S. Harney,
   Brevet Major-General and Peace Commissioner.

Alfred H. Terry,
   Brevet Major-General.

C. C. Augur,
   Brevet Major-General.

John B. Sanborn.

S. F. Tappan.

Ashton S. H. White, Secretary.

Che-ra-pee-ish-ka-te, Pretty Bull, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Chat-sta-he, Wolf Bow, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Ah-be-che-se, Mountain Tail, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Kam-ne-but-sa, Black Foot, his x mark. [SEAL.]

De-sal-ze-cho-se, White Horse, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Chin-ka-she-arache, Poor Elk, his x mark. [SEAL.]

E-sa-woor, Shot in the Jaw, his x mark. [SEAL.]

E-sha-chose, White Forehead, his x mark. [SEAL.]

—Roo-ka, Pounded Meat, his x mark. [SEAL.]

De-ka-ke-up-se, Bird in the Neck, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Me-na-che, The Swan, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Attest:

George B. Wills, phonographer.

John D. Howland.

Alex. Gardner.

David Knox.

Chas. Freeman.

Jas. C. O'Connor.

1898  Elmer Lovejoy demonstrated his automobile in Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1901  Gary Cooper, actor, born in Montana.

1915  Lusitania sunk by German U-boat.

1942  It was announced that the state faced a cricket epidemic.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942  The Wyoming State Journal reported the state free of illegal stills, which would make sense since prohibition had been over with for some time. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Journal.

1945  Germany surrendered to the Allies, making this Victory in Europe Day.

Sidebar: Hispanics in Wyoming

Recently, following St. Patrick's Day, I posted a sidebar on The Irish In Wyoming.  While it is, in no way, an equivalent holiday, we've recently passed Cinco De May, The Fifth of May, and, given as that's a Mexican holiday (although not much observed in Mexico), I'm doing something similar here with an entry on Hispanics in Wyoming.

Starting off here, I should at first note that I debated this title a bit and originally it was titled "Mexicans In Wyoming."  For some reason, the use of the term "Mexican" can be loaded, which certainly is not the intent here.  That is in part because many people have used the term incorrectly in referring to any Hispanic in the United States, a clearly erroneous use.  Additionally, the term is problematic because of the Mexican War.  Everyone was, in terms of citizenship, a Mexican who lived in the Mexican province of Texas, although culturally the fact that Texas had separated in 1836 had a lot to do with cultural identity.  Beyond that, however, after the Mexican War the US occupied new territories which had large Hispanic percentages of population, and who had been Mexican citizens, even if some of those regions had fairly unique Hispanic identities.  With all that being the case, I changed the title.  Be that as it may, the story of Hispanics in Wyoming cannot be separated from Mexico.

When we wrote about the Irish, we noted that we could not really determine when the first Irish American or Irishman set foot in what became Wyoming.  We can't really do that with Hispanics either, but we can say that Wyoming was once owned by Spain, even if the Spanish were not able to extend the control of their empire in North America as far as they claimed.  Indeed, southern Colorado,was really the northern most extent of Spain's empire inside the continent, in spite of occasional claims otherwise.  Trade goods did make it further north, and the Corps of Discovery reported encountering Spanish mules being used by the Shoshones when they came through northern Wyoming.  At any rate, not only the Spanish Mexican colony's province of Texas was part of what would become Wyoming, but Spain also once owned Louisiana, and the Napoleon's transfer of that territory to the United States required a formal transfer of the territory back to France, which all occurred on the same day, oddly enough.

The transfer of Louisiana to the United States did see a population transfer, of course as well, but not one that directly impacts our story here.  Louisiana included both a French and Spanish population, who became subject to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase, but the Spanish population did not have a presence in Wyoming at the time.  This remained the case in 1836 when Texas, which retained title to a southern portion of what would become Wyoming, rebelled against Mexico. And it remained the case at the time at which the United States and Mexico concluded the peace treaty of Guadalupe Hildago.

The Mexican War, however, would be directly responsible for the first Hispanic settlers in Wyoming, as it brought the U.S. Army into Wyoming.  Only shortly after the war ended, the US sent the Regiment of Mounted Rifles to occupy what had been a private fort in Wyoming, so as to secure a part of the early Oregon Trail. That fort was Ft. Laramie, which would go on to have one of the most significant roles of any frontier fort in West.

Cement structures at Ft. Laramie, built by migrants from New Mexico.

When the Army occupied Ft. Laramie its structures were worn and the post was inadequate for its task. Therefore, the Army immediately took to rebuilding the post.

Frontier Army posts are often imagined to be made up of log buildings surrounded by a log stockade, and some were indeed just like that. Only a minority of them, however, had that construction.  Some of the posts, in contrast, were surprisingly substantial and well constructed.  Ft. Laramie was one of these.  In its early days, as a fur company trading post, it was not much more than a simple stockade, but as soon as the Army began to occupy it, that changed.  Part of that change was brought about by the importation of Mexican labor from New Mexico.  And that had to do with Cement.

Cement, as a construction material, dates back to the Romans.  In spite of that, however, it was little used in much of the Western world following the fall of Rome until the late 19th Century, which in part is due to the manufacturing process becoming somewhat obscure, and in part because the types of cement that were commonly known following Rome's decline were slow setting and somewhat hard to make.  Therefore, in the mid 19th Century, cement was uncommon in the United States.  However, for reasons unknown to me, cement remained a construction material elsewhere in the world, including the Spanish world.  While it's popular to imagine everything in New Mexico of this era being constructed of adobe bricks, in fact cement was a common construction material.  With the occupation of New Mexico by the U.S. Army during the Mexican War, this became known to the Army, which was impressed with cement. So, when the Army went to reconstruct Ft. Laramie, it determined to use cement for the new buildings, which in turn required the importation of labor who knew how to make it and build with it. Those laborers were New Mexican Hispanics.

These laborers were, therefore, brought up by the Army in the late 1840s and they gave Wyoming its first Hispanic residents.  The men brought up, who brought up their families, were not men who were employed year around, in New Mexico, as construction laborers, as the area was agrarian and such skills were only part of a set of skills used by agrarian artisans.  Once they completed, their task, therefore, they turned to another part of their skill set, farming.  Through this process, not only did Wyoming receive its first Hispanic immigrants, farming came to the state for the first time.

The Hispanic farms created by the New Mexican ("Mexican") artisans were located some distance away from the fort, on a series of hills visible from the Oregon Trail. The area came be known as "Mexican Hills." The Mexican farmers who located in there used the presence of the trial for market purposes, selling fresh vegetables to travelers on the trail.

I wish I could relate more of this aspect of the story, but unfortunately, I cannot.  The area remains farm ground today, but as far as I know none of the original Mexican presence remains.  When it ceased, I cannot say either, but my suspicion is that it did during the mid 19th Century.  With the fort becoming an increasingly important regional center it may also have become an increasingly difficult place to live.  The farmers did not live on the post grounds, but some distance from it, and therefore would have been at the mercy of Ft. Laramie bands of Indians, who were generally peaceful while in the region, but which would have been somewhat concerning nonetheless. At any rate, I"m not aware of the farms surviving into the 20th Century, and have no idea how long they actually lasted.  Therefore, I can only sadly report the New Mexican immigrants as the first appearance of Hispanic culture in the state, but whether it had any long lasting cultural impact, I cannot.  It certainly had a long-lasting material impact, however, as the concrete structures built at the fort all still remain, albeit as ruins. That's a lot more than a person can say about the stick frame buildings that the Army generally constructed at its more permanent facilities in the same era.

The next significant presence of Hispanics in the state came about due to the explosion of the cattle industry following the Civil War.  In terms of time, that's not really that long after the establishment of the Mexican Hills farms mentioned above, and a person has to wonder if any still remained.  Be that as it may, it's commonly noted that 1/3d of all 19th Century cowboys were "black or Mexican."  I've always found that description rather odd, as African Americans and Hispanics of the same era had distinctly different cultural histories.  Additionally, as they are lumped together by this description, there's no easy way to know what percentage of that "1/3d" were Hispanic.  But what is certain is that Texas ranching came about due to ranching in Mexican Texas and dated back to Spanish Texas, so the Mexican influence on the industry was enormous.  It's no wonder that Hispanic Texans and New Mexicans remained employed in it up into the 1860s and 1870s, and beyond.  Indeed, to this very day.

The state therefore saw new Hispanic men who came up with the herds from Texas.  Undoubtedly some stayed when the long trail drives gave way to regional ranching.  Oddly, however, its hard to find examples of individual Hispanic ranchers.  There probably are some, but I'm unaware of them.  In terms of ranching methods and technology, of course, their impact was huge, and has been enduring throughout the West.  Indeed, Wyoming's cowboys were the direct descendants in terms of methods of the Vacquero who had employed the same skill set in Texas, as opposed to the Caballero who employes a somewhat different skill set in California.  This remains true today.

Mexican ranching influence extended not only to cattle ranching, but sheep ranching as well. The Spanish had introduce sheep to Mexico and they were a presence in the Southwest before the Mexican War.  Sheep started arriving on the Wyoming ranges in the 1890s, accompanied by a great deal of controversy and violence.  They were also accompanied by "Mexican herders."

Not all sheepherders were of Mexican ancestry by any means.  Still, in the  very early sheep industry on the Northern Plains Mexican influence was strong.  Mexican herders were accustomed to highly nomadic herdsmanship which in part leaned on skills acquired from Indians.  While, today, we are used to the sheepwagen, the "Home On The Range," Mexican herders used teepees made of canvas.  This practice is not well known to those outside of the sheep industry, but it was common enough with Mexican herders that the practice lived on well into the 20th Century.

 

 Painted brick sign on the old Kistler Tent & Awning building, in Casper Wyoming.  Kistler Tent & Awning is an ongoing business in Casper, and no doubt can, and still does, make any of the times advertised here.  Note the "Herders Teepees" item, just below "Sheepwagon Covers."

At about the same time that he first herds of cattle began to head north, the Union Pacific came into the state.  Hispanic laborers were not part of that rail expansion, but by the early 20th Century they were very much  a major segment of the Union Pacific workforce, and they remain so to this day.  All of the towns on the Union Pacific came to have significant Hispanic populations.

This saw the creation of distinctly Hispanic neighborhoods in all of those towns, which reflects on the human nature in good and bad ways.  That Hispanic communities would spring up was probably natural enough.  But, by the same token, that an element of prejudice was present in that would be probable. At any rate, all of the towns on the Union Pacific had Hispanic neighborhoods, and many still do. Cheyenne, for example, has South Cheyenne, a neighborhood that lies to the south of the Union Pacific, and which features a very Spanish influenced church, architecturally, as well as a Mexican Restaurant reputed to be one of the town's best.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church in south Cheyenne.

Laramie Wyoming, generally thought of as the home of the University of Wyoming, likewise has a Hispanic influenced neighborhood, reflecting the large Hispanic community that worked and worked in the very large railyard in Laramie.  Not surprisingly, perhaps, Laramie has an excellent Mexican restaurant in West Laramie, the Hispanic part of town, and another just off of the Union Pacific rail line.  Hispanics are a significant portion of the Catholic community in the town as well.

Like Laramie and Cheyenne, Rawlins Wyoming has a Hispanic neighborhood associated with the Union Pacific.  And as with Laramie and Cheyenne, Carbon County has seen the culture reflected in culinary offerings.  Su Casa, in Sinclair Wyoming, and Rose's Lariat, In Rawlins Wyoming, are contenders for the best Mexican restaurants in the state, and even though they are only seven miles apart, each has fiercely loyal clienteles.  All the way across the state, however, the farming and railroad town of Lingle has Lira's, which others argue in the best.  Guernsey Wyoming, on the Burlington Northern line, had Otero's Kitchen, which others maintained was the best.  I've eaten at everyone mentioned here, and they're all great.

To mention all of these restaurants in this context may seem shallow, but it's a reflection of a long lasting and vibrant culture.  Mexican restaurants owned by Hispanic families only preserve for years and years, rather than becoming something like Taco Bell, if there's a vibrant Hispanic community which has become part of the local community.  So the culinary reflection indicates something deeper than just a regional taste for Mexican food.  Rather, it is indicative of the fact that all of these railroad towns had, and still have, vibrant Hispanic communities.

This has reflected itself over the years, additionally, through the Catholic churches in these towns.  In no area of Wyoming is any one parish made up of a majority Hispanic population, but in those towns where there is a significant Hispanic population, it has reflected itself in some way.  Those towns with significant Hispanic populations have seen it reflected, for example, in the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe events.  When I lived in Laramie in the 1980s, for example, St. Lawrence O'Toole's parish crowned a young couple as king and queen of the event, and had a major celebration in church which was complete with a brass and guitar band.  St. Anthony's church in Casper has sometimes seen similar, if less extensive, events.

Of course, with a long presence in the state, it's not surprising that the Hispanic community has members in every walk of life and profession.  Prominent educators, lawyers and physicians have come from within the community and contributed to the state.

Unlike the story of the Irish in Wyoming, this story really cannot be completely written at this time, as Wyoming's towns have  and industries have seen new Hispanic immigrants in recent years.  Receiving an influx of workers during boom times, to see an outward migration thereafter, is part of Wyoming's economic history, so how the current new residents will impact the state is really not known.  However, heavy industry, including the oil and gas industry, has employed a lot of migrant workers in recent years.  As has been the case for generations, service industries have as well, so that towns like Jackson, which at one time had fairly small Hispanic communities, now have very prominent ones.  So this story is incomplete.  But like the story of the Irish, it is one that goes back to the State's very beginnings.

May 6

1877    Sitting Bull leads 1,500 of his followers into Canada to ask protection from the Queen.

1889  Casper incorporated.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

 Casper.  1893.

1909   Nathaniel Seymour Thomas consecrated Episcopal Bishop of Wyoming, the first Episcopal Bishop with Wyoming solely as his territory.

1978  Special Session of the Legislature concludes.  The Legislature had failed to adopt a budget during the regular budget session.

1987  The Parco historic district in Sinclair added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1995  USNS Laramie, a replenishment oiler, launched.

May 5

Today is Cinco de Mayo, I.E., The 5th of May.  The day, celebrating  the first battle of La Puebla in 1862 in which Mexican forces defeated a French force during Mexico's efforts to oust French supported Maximilian.  The day is not widely celebrated in Mexico, which recognizes a different day as its independence day from Spain, but it has become widely celebrated in the United States.

1877. Sitting Bull and his followers cross in to Canada.

1891  Green River, WY incorporated.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1893 Panic at the New York Stock Exchange announces the arrival a severe depression in the United States.

1904 Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in modern major league baseball.

1908  First meeting of the Wyoming Farmers Congress took place in Cheyenne. Attribution:  On This Day.

1918  Oddly, on May 5. . . .

1918, the anniversary of a the Battle of Peubla, an event which has become widely celebrated in the US under the mistaken belief that it's Mexico's independence day, the Cheyenne State Leader was reporting that Germans were "flocking to Mexico" to "stir up population".

So even in the midst of the Spring Offensive of 1918, concerns over Mexico managed to get back on the front page.

1928  The Gillette library opened.  Today this building is the George Amos Memorial Building, which is located next to the Campbell County Courthouse, and which is used for meetings.

 

George Amos Building, formerly the George Hopper Library, now a meeting building in Campbell County.  the memorial is a Campbell County War Memorial.

1943.  Cannons located on the state capitol grounds in Cheyenne, Wyoming were scrapped as part of a scrap drive. The scrapping of Civil War cannons was very common in this period and was largely symbolic.  In terms of their contribution to iron needs for the war, the actual impact was none existent and in retrospect the scrapping of the Civil War cannons can be viewed as a bit of a tragedy.

1988  Jensen Ranch in Sublette County added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2018  Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Day. May 5, 2018.

From the Governor's office:

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Day

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –A proclamation recognizing May 5, 2018 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Day was signed by Chairman Clint Wagon of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council and Roy Brown of the Northern Arapaho Business Council. The proclamation was distributed across the State. Governor Matt Mead joins the Chairmen of the Tribes recognizing the importance of raising public awareness of this critical issue.

May 4

1870  1st Lt. Charles Stambaugh, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, for whom Camp Stambaugh was named, killed in action near Miner's Delight.

1883  Remains of soldiers buried at Ft. Fetterman relocated to the Ft McPherson  National Cemetary.

1890 Bill Carlisle, the Gentleman Bandit, born 

1918  Daniel F. Hudson reappointed as U. S. Marshall.

1923  It was reported, and is reported by the Wyoming State Historical Society, for this day, that a hog in Kemmerer ate 40 lbs of mash, thereby destroying the evidence in a bootlegging case.  To add to that, Kemmerer was a center of bootlegging during prohibition, and was even known for the quality of its illegal whiskey. 

1925  A contract was awarded for the construction of Guernsey Dam.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1934  The Civilian Conservation Corps established Camp Miller near Gillette.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942   The U.S. began food rationing.

1973  Special Agent George W. Henderson, Office of the Attorney General, killed by accidental discharge of his own weapon during the pursuit of a narcotics suspect.

1979  Dwain L. Hardigan, Albany County Sheriff's Deputy, killed in an airplane accident.  He and the pilot were searching for, and had just located, a lost skier.

1987  The Wyoming State Capitol designated a National Historic Landmark.

1987  The Bear Creek Ranch Medicine Wheel added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1987  The Split Rock Prehistoric Site added to the National Register of Historic Places.

May 3

1836  Wyoming Illinois founded. 

1881  Grounds of Camp Stambaugh transferred to the Department of the Interior.

1885 Post hospital opens at Ft. Fetterman.

1898  All of the Wyoming units mustered for service in the Philippines assembled in Laramie County.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1917  

The Casper Daily Tribune for May 3, 1917: Lazy men and soldiering, and the start of a Casper landmark

There are a couple of items in this May 3, 1917 issue of the Casper Daily Tribune that are relevant for later eras.

For one thing, the boom in the town was now reflecting itself in the new professional appearance of the newspaper.  Gone was the small town appearance of purely local news.  Casper, for the first time, now had a paper that was starting to rival the big established papers in other regions of the state.  This paper doesn't even resemble the appearance of the Casper papers of just a couple of months ago.

Secondly, we learn in this paper that the Presbyterian community had purchased the lot where the First Presbyterian Church in Casper now stands:

The church, as can be seen above, is of substantial size and that also points to the change in Casper's economic fortunes in this period. 

Finally, from the various news articles I've seen, I've sort of taken it to be the case that Casper, which was a tiny town prior to 1917, did not have a National Guard unit up until this time.  I could be in error, however, as Casper's newspapers were of a fairly poor quality and they aren't all available by any means.  Douglas had one, however, and its small papers reported on that unit extensively.  Over the last couple of issues, however, its clear that the National Guard, which was actively recruiting for new units in the opening weeks of American participation in World War One, was recruiting for just such a unit to be formed in Casper.

Earlier we noted that 1917 was the year that really made Casper. This newspaper, in and of itself, provides some pretty good examples of how that is true.

1918  The News. May 3, 1918.

I don't point these papers out today for the war news, although there was plenty of it.  No, I'm pointing them out for the local goings on in Cheyenne and Casper.

Let's look at Cheyenne:

This issue is remarkably similar to an issue of this Cheyenne paper that ran a year ago.  We learn here that, once again, a bevy of Cheyenne high school beauties were the "sponsors" of the Annual Cadet Show, an even that no doubt took on more meaning in 1917 and 1918 than it ever had before.

And once again, oil prospects near Cheyenne were in the news.  Those prospects were real, but it wasn't until the 2010s that they'd be developed.  New technology made that possible.

A school nurse was recommending something that was fairly radical at the time. . . but as this came at the tail end of the Progressive Era, it was a somewhat radical age.

Around the state 167 men were called to the colors.  Elsewhere, a terrible military balloon tragedy had occurred.

And in Casper:

Casper's newspapers, now larger with a larger reading audience, continued to improve and at least this issue of the Casper Daily Press was real news. . . not all optimistic petroleum boosterism.

A real city improvement, sanitary and storm sewers were being put in. And that was big news.

William Ross, who would become governor. . . as would his wife, was rising in the Democratic ranks.

And the balloon tragedy also made the front page news in Casper.

1933   Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the Director of the Mints, an office she would hold until 1953.

1944  The Soviet Union decorated a Wyoming officer with the "Order of the Fatherland's War".  Such awards by the Soviets to Western servicemen were not uncommon.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1946         Military Tribunal in Tokyo begins war crimes trials.  One of the principal Japanese defendants was defended by Cheyenne lawyer George Guy.

1968   Colorado Air National Guard 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying F-100Cs, becomes the first Air Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam.

1980  First Wyoming History Day.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

May 2

1670. King Charles II grants a charter to the Hudson's Bay Company, often regarded as the oldest corporation in the world. The company's reach would stretch all the way from the Arctic well down into what is now the Western United States.

In the 18th Century the Hudson's Bay Company was nearly a country unto itself, operating in its vast domain, and existing as a unique wilderness based corporate entity, with the product of its endeavors ultimately going to market in the United Kingdom, and with British products with frontier utility returning to the North American West.  It had its own flag and  forts.  While it is commonly seemingly assumed that the company was mostly a Canadian enterprise, the assumption if false as its network of traders covered vast distances, stretching as far south as Texas and as far north as Alaska.  It's notable that when the Corps of Discovery finally made the Pacific, they were met there by the presence of a Hudson's Bay Company fort, the entire expanse of the "Lewis and Clark" journey covering territory already known and exploited by the Hudson's Bay Company.  Likewise, the first U.S. expedition up the Yukon River after the acquisition of Alaska was met by the arrival of the party at Ft. Yukon, a Hudson's Bay Company fort that was occupying territory in Russian Alaska.

Canadian depiction of activities, at Christmas, at a Hudson's Bay Company post.

1869  The Golden Spike driven at Promontory Point.

1888  Charles Dickens, Jr. delivered an address in Cheyenne. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1898  Wyoming National Guard companies activated for service in the Philippines ordered to report to Camp Richards near Cheyenne.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1900 First party of settlers, Mormon pioneers, settles in Crowley.

1905  Construction began on the rail line from Casper to Lander.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1933 Gillette requested Federal assistance in putting out long burning coal fires. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1974  Wyoming, Rhode Island, added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

May 1

Today is May Day, the International Workers' Holiday, in many localities
Today is Law Day in the United States, an observance created by the American Bar Association in the 1950s which was designed to counter Communist celebrations of May Day with a day dedicated to the rule of law.

1707 Parliament passes the Act of Union forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

1839   An 18 man party from Peoria, Illinois, under the leadership of Thomas J. Farnham, leaves Independence, Missouri, bound for Oregon.

1867  The Cheyenne leader, in boosterism typical for the day, declared Wyoming to be a "cattleman's paradise", citing to the grass and abundant water.

1868  Martha Jane Cannary, "Calamity Jane", arrived in Ft. Bridger.

1869  The Laramie Daily Sentinel starts publication:  Attribution:  On This Day.

1883  William F. Cody put on his first Wild West Show.

1898  The US defeats the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay, in the opening battle of the Spanish American War.  The Philippines would see the deployment of Wyoming volunteers by the end of the year when the Philippine Insurrection rapidly followed the Spanish American War.

1900 The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah.

1903  Basin incorporated. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1909  Cheyenne replaces its volunteer fire department with a full time paid department.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Sinclair Oil Corporation founded on this day in 1916
 

 

 Sinclair advertisement in Hudson Wyoming.

Sinclair Oil Corporation, which recently announced a major turnaround at its refinery in Casper Wyoming, was founded on this day in 1916.

The founder of the company, Harry F. Sinclair, created the company by merging the assets of eleven small petroleum companies. 

The company has long had a presence in Wyoming with even a town being named after it.

 

Former Parco Hotel in Sinclair, which was once called Parco.

1918  Casper Daily Press for May 1, 1918.

We return today to the Casper newspaper.

The headline was correct, actually.  The Germans were stalling out massively in the second stage of the 1918 spring offensive.  And they were making a massive effort, commencing on May 1, to move large numbers of troops to the West.

Not that this didn't pose its challenges.  Only yesterday the Germans had help Ukraine take Sevastopol from the putative Crimean soviet republic.  This was accompanied by the Ukrainian navy moving its ships out of harms way for the time being, although the Germans occupied those that were left.  Lenin ordered their commander to scuttle them, and he refused, showing a Ukrainian navy that proved more loyal to Ukraine in 1918 than it did a couple of years back when it basically defected to Russia.  And the Germans were fighting in Finland against the Red Finns for the White Finns.

Nonetheless, they were moving troops west now, which they should have done months ago.  Having taken massive casualties in the spring offensive, they had little choice.

Eddie Rickenbacker, who really was a race car driver, made his appearance in the paper as a fighter pilot on this day, at least in the local paper, for the first time, thereby achieving the role for which he is remembered.

And Mother's Day was coming up.

1920 It was announced that Cheyenne was to become a principal stop on the new U.S. Air Mail service route.

1923   Frances Beard became State Historian.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1980   Fort Sanders was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

2017  A complete freeze on state hiring commences.