This Day…

1851 – Major James Savage discovered Yosemite Valley in California while chasing Indians

1876 – The Battle of the Powder River takes place in Dakota Territory.

1861 – Cadet George A. Custer received two demerits at West Point for “long hair at inspection.”

1898 – A posse led by Valentine Hoy cornered escaped convicts Harry Tracy, Dave Lant, and Swede Johnson in Browns Park, Colorado.  As he approached them Hoy was shot through the heart by Tracy.

1885-Congress passes a law prohibiting the unauthorized use of barbed wire on public lands in the West.

1885 – John Wesley Hardin is pardoned for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb, after spending 16 years in prison.

1885-Red Hall and Sheriff Charlie McKinney met with some Mexican officials at Las Islas crossing on the Rio Grande River to try and bring peace to the troubled region.  The Mexicans lured them to a fiesta but they were attacked by Rurales and had to flee for their lives

1847-Mexican War/General Taylor refuses to communicate with General Scott, as he has been ordered to do by President Polk.  Instead, Taylor goes west from Saltillo, 18 miles to Agua Nueva.

1875-Pinkerton agents bomb the home of Jesse & Frank James.  The result is the death of their younger brother, Archie, an their mother lost her arm.

1848 – James Marshall discovers gold.