Plenty Coupswas the last traditional chief of the
Crow Tribe and a visionary leader. Plenty Coups
experienced a vision when he was very young that non-Native American people would
ultimately take control of his homeland. He allied the Crow with the whites
when the war for the West was being fought.
One of his famous quotes is: "Education is your greatest weapon.
With education you are the white man's equal, without education you are his
victim and so shall remain all of your lives. Study, learn, help one another
always. Remember there is only poverty and misery in idleness and dreams – but
in work there is self-respect and independence."
Plenty Coups was the last traditional
chief of the Crow Tribe, renowned for his warrior prowess and prophetic visions
that shaped his people's future. Born near Billings, Montana, he earned his
name through daring coups against rivals like the Sioux and Cheyenne. A
childhood vision in the foretold white dominance over Native lands, advising
cooperation to ensure Crow survival—the chickadee, his spirit guide, symbolized
listening and wisdom.
As chief from his late 20s, Plenty
Coups allied with the U.S. Army in 1876 during the Great Sioux War, aiding at
battles like Rosebud to counter territorial threats. He made multiple
Washington trips to safeguard Crow reservations, retaining most lands amid
allotment pressures. Advocating education as the "greatest weapon,"
he transitioned his tribe to reservation life while preserving traditions.
In 1921, he honored the Unknown
Soldier at Arlington, placing his war bonnet on the tomb. His legacy endures in
Chief Plenty Coups State Park, his donated homestead, and his 1930
autobiography chronicling Crow history.
The Crow tribe allied with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer
and the U.S. Army during the 1876 Great Sioux War primarily because of
long-standing intertribal warfare with their traditional enemies: the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho.
For decades, these powerful groups had
raided Crow lands, stolen horses, and pushed into prime buffalo hunting
territories in the Powder River country and Bighorn region—territories
guaranteed to the Crow by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Lakota expansion
threatened the Crow's survival and way of life, creating deep enmity.
Crow leaders, including visionary
chief Plenty Coups, saw alliance
with the United States as a strategic way to counter this existential threat,
gain military protection, and preserve their territory against stronger rivals.
The Crow were generally at peace with Americans and viewed the U.S. Army as a
lesser danger compared to ongoing Sioux and Cheyenne incursions.
Traditional Crow warriors exemplified
the fierce independence and martial culture that drove their decision to fight
alongside the Army:
By siding with Custer, the Crow aimed
to expel the Sioux from their reservation lands. After the broader defeat of
the Lakota, Crow chief Plenty Coups noted his people could finally sleep
without fear of raids—a direct outcome of this pragmatic alliance in a complex
era of survival.
George Armstrong Custer
relied heavily on Native American scouts. These men, primarily from the Arikara
and Crow tribes, served the U.S. Army to strike against their
traditional enemies—the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho.
The Arikara provided around forty
scouts, including the famed Bloody Knife, Custer's favorite
and trusted guide. Several Arikara, like Bloody Knife, Bobtail Bull, and Little
Brave, died in the fighting. The Crow contributed six key scouts, such as Curley,
White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, Hairy
Moccasin, Half Yellow Face, and White Swan.
Familiar with the terrain in their own historic lands, they spotted the vast
encampment from the Crow's Nest overlook and delivered dire warnings Custer
largely ignored.
Their service highlights the
complex alliances of the Indian Wars, where Native warriors fought on both
sides of the conflict.
Ulysses S.
Grant, Civil War hero and 18th U.S. President, died on July 23, 1885, at age 63
from throat cancer at Mount McGregor in New York. Ruined by swindler Ferdinand
Ward's Ponzi scheme, the bankrupt Grant raced against agony to finish his
memoirs, aided by Mark Twain's generous 70% royalty deal.
Unable to
speak or eat without agony, he penned 366,000 words in under a year, declaring
on July 16, "nothing more... I am not likely to be more ready to go."
He passed peacefully surrounded by family.
He whispered "Let us have peace"—his tomb's inscription.
Posthumous sales of his memoirs secured his wife’s future and cemented Grant's
literary triumph.
Captain James Cook, the renowned
British explorer, met his untimely end on February 14, 1779, during his third
Pacific voyage aboard HMS Resolution. Seeking the Northwest Passage, Cook
anchored at Kealakekua Bay in Hawaii, and was initially hailed by natives as a god.
Relations soured. Theft of a boat
prompted Cook to seize the Hawiian King as ransom, igniting a violent clash on
the shore. Overwhelmed by hundreds of Hawaiians, Cook was struck by a club and
stabbed with an iron dagger—ironically, traded from his own crew.
Cook's death highlighted cultural
misunderstandings and the perils of exploration, ending a legacy that mapped
vast oceans and bridged worlds.
In the mid-19th century, the turbulent
landscape of Mexico became the stage for one of history's most poignant
tragedies: the ill-fated reign of Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria and
his wife, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, known as Carlota. Maximilian, born on
July 6, 1832, in Vienna, was the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I. A
naval commander and viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, he was an enlightened liberal
with dreams of progressive governance. Carlota, born June 7, 1840, was the
ambitious daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium, intelligent and politically
astute. Their marriage on July 27, 1857, united two royal houses, but it was
their acceptance of the Mexican throne that sealed their tragic fate.
The backdrop was Mexico's chaos
following independence from Spain in 1821. Decades of civil strife between
liberals, who favored a secular republic, and conservatives, who sought a
monarchy tied to the Catholic Church, culminated in the Reform War (1857–1861).
Liberal leader Benito Juárez emerged victorious as president but suspended
foreign debt payments in 1861 amid economic ruin. This prompted intervention by
France, Spain, and Britain. While the latter two withdrew, Napoleon III of
France saw an opportunity to establish a puppet empire. French forces invaded
in 1862, capturing Mexico City by 1863 and installing a provisional government.
Mexican monarchists, backed by
Napoleon, approached Maximilian with an offer of the crown, presenting a rigged
plebiscite claiming popular support. Initially hesitant, Maximilian was swayed
by Carlota's enthusiasm and assurances of legitimacy. On April 10, 1864, he
accepted, renouncing his Austrian titles. The couple arrived in Veracruz on May
29, 1864, aboard the frigate Novara. Greeted coolly in the liberal port
but warmly in conservative strongholds like Puebla and Mexico City, they were
crowned in the capital's cathedral. They transformed Chapultepec Castle into a
lavish residence, complete with European furnishings, and built a summer home
in Cuernavaca.
Their reign began with promise.
Maximilian, influenced by Enlightenment ideals, enacted reforms that surprised
both sides: he upheld Juárez's land reforms, abolished child labor and corporal
punishment, limited work hours, promoted education and infrastructure, and
tolerated religious freedom. Carlota was no mere consort; she served as regent
during his absences, oversaw charitable works, and toured regions like Yucatán
in 1865 to foster loyalty. The imperial court hosted grand balls, and the
couple immersed themselves in Mexican culture, admiring its landscapes,
cuisine, and diversity. Yet, these progressive policies alienated conservative
backers who expected a restoration of church privileges, while liberals viewed
the regime as foreign imposition.
Cracks soon appeared. The empire
depended on 30,000 French troops, but the U.S. Civil War's end in 1865 shifted
dynamics. The United States, now free to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, supplied
arms and funds to Juárez's republicans and pressured France to withdraw.
Napoleon III, facing Prussian threats at home, began pulling troops in early
1866, leaving Maximilian exposed. Desperate, Maximilian issued the "Black
Decree", authorizing summary executions of republican guerrillas,
resulting in over 11,000 deaths and fueling resentment.
As the situation deteriorated, Carlota
sailed to Europe in July 1866 to plead for aid from Napoleon, the Pope, and her
brother-in-law Franz Joseph. Her efforts failed amid diplomatic rebuffs. Overwhelmed,
she descended into paranoia, convinced of poisoning plots. She refused food
unless tested on cats, collected rainwater herself, and hid in fear. Diagnosed
with mental illness at age 26, she was confined to Miramar Castle in Italy,
then Bouchout Castle in Belgium, where she lived in seclusion, oscillating
between lucidity and delusions of her Mexican empire. She outlived Maximilian
by six decades, dying of pneumonia on January 19, 1927, at 86, her tragedy
immortalized in literature and art.
In the late 1880s, the Ghost Dance
movement swept through Native American communities, offering hope of a
spiritual renewal that would restore traditional ways and expel white settlers.
Sitting Bull, though not a primary leader of the movement, supported its
message of cultural revival. On December 15, 1890, Indian Agency police, acting
on orders to arrest him, arrived at Sitting Bull’s cabin on the Standing Rock
Reservation. The attempt to apprehend him turned violent when his followers
resisted. Sitting Bull was shot and killed. He was around 59 years old.He is buried at Fort Yates, North Dakota.
George Washington died on December 14, 1799.Fearing premature burial, he requested of his doctors to
be “decently buried” and to “not let my body be put into the Vault in less than
three days after I am dead.”In his last will he expressed the desire to be buried at Mount Vernon. George
Washington was entombed in the existing family vault, now known as the old
Vault on December 18, 1799.In his last
will, George Washington directed the building of a new family burial vault.In 1831, Washington’s body was transferred to
the new tomb.
Designed in utmost secrecy
for the I-400-class submarine carriers, the Aichi M6A Seiran (“Mountain Haze”)
was a sleek, single-engine floatplane bomber capable of 295 mph and carrying an
800 kg (1,764 lb) bomb or torpedo. To fit inside the I-400’s hangar, wings
folded backward, horizontal stabilizers folded down, and the entire aircraft
assembled in under seven minutes on the sub’s deck.
Only 28 were built by August
1945. Intended to strike the Panama Canal or American cities, none saw combat.
Six surviving Seiran were captured; one beautifully restored example is
displayed at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center.
During World War II, Imperial
Japan developed the massive I-400-class submarines, the largest non-nuclear
subs ever built until the 1960s. Displacing 6,500 tons and stretching 400 feet,
each carried three Aichi M6A Seiran floatplane bombers folded in a 100-foot
watertight hangar. With a 37,500-mile range—1½ times around the world—they were
designed for surprise strikes on the U.S. mainland or the Panama Canal.
Only three entered service.
The war ended before their planned attack on the Panama Canal (Operation PX)
could launch. Surrendered in 1945, they revealed Japan’s audacious vision of
global submarine aviation.
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