Andrew Alexis Varvel

On this date in 1823, the New York American published a scorching editorial critical of a United States military expedition to punish the Arikara for ambushing fur traders. It said in part, “... our reflections … lead to the conclusion that the wrongs of this quarrel are on our side; that we were the original aggressors; and that in affecting to avenge what has been called an unprovoked outrage upon American citizens, we have only followed up more systematically the first aggression.

The War of 1823, often known as “The Arikara War,” forcibly opened the Upper Missouri River to trade. It also established Anglo-American military supremacy over the Upper Missouri River. This victory would be cemented by an Indian Peace Commission, an integral part of a military expedition led by General Atkinson in 1825. This commission was responsible for a series of unequal treaties throughout the region recognizing Anglo-American supremacy.

By this date in 1823, troops of the United States Sixth Infantry were back in their barracks after a punitive expedition against the Arikaras. A generation of tensions had led to the conflict. St. Louis fur traders felt entitled to go anywhere they wanted on the Missouri River, while the Arikara felt entitled to control their own territory.

On this date in 1930, the body of Vernon Squires, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, laid in state at the University of North Dakota.

On this date in 1930, Vernon Squires, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of North Dakota, died after a long illness.

On this date in 1823, Joshua Pilcher's men burned Arikara villages to the ground. This was directly against the express orders of Colonel Leavenworth.

This date in 1823 saw the second day of combat in “The Arikara War.” That morning, Colonel Leavenworth's Sixth Infantry bombarded the upper and lower villages of the Arikara in the vicinity of what is now Mobridge, South Dakota. His howitzers attacking the upper village mostly fell into the Missouri River or onto the river sands. By noon, his artillery ran out of ammunition.

On this date in 1946, alumni of the University of North Dakota's secret society called “Iron Mask” held a reunion.

On this day in 1968, plans by the Democratic Nonpartisan League to build its new party headquarters in Bismarck had run into a speed bump. Its proposed Kennedy Center had been planned as both a memorial to the slain Kennedy brothers and a party headquarters. The day before, the Bismarck Tribune had published this Associated Press article explaining tax problems for such a building.

This date in 1975 was the last day when homosexuality was illegal in North Dakota, a change that came with little fanfare as North Dakota newspapers focused on other things. A tornado had killed an infant; there was flooding in West Fargo; a civil war in Lebanon; a new adoption law; repeal of the margarine tax, two FBI agents shot dead on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and the old governor's mansion being set for renovation.