Joe's Daily U.S. History Lesson -- May 7

MAY 7 1763-Pontiac’s Rebellion. ...The English had won the French and Indian War in 1863 and the Treaty of Paris was signed. Now that this land belonged to the British, Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa natives believed that more white man would cross into the Ohio territory and encroach on their land. Pontiac got native rebels in just about every tribe he could including the Shawnees, the Munsees, the Wyandot, the Senecas and the Delaware natives to rise up. They attacked British settlements in the Ohio country and western Pennsylvania, and by late fall had killed or captured more than 600 people.

But a year later, the British military got even. Colonel John Bradstreet and Colonel Henry Bouquet launched invasions and subdued the native and forced them to return their prisoners. Although Pontiac himself never actually surrendered, the Rebellion was over.

The Rebellion showed a few things, one, that the natives were going to miss their French allies who helped to protect them, and two, the British learned that another native American uprising could start at anytime. So the English came up with the Proclamation of 1763, which drew a line where the colonists would live east of the Appalachians and the Native Americans would live in the west. This proclamation was ignored after a while, and peace didn’t last long. I don’t mean to make fun of the French military, but….

1954 – Dien Bien Phu falls to the Viet Minh. ...I mean really. Try this, Google French military Victories and hit the I’m Feeling Lucky button. It’s just hilarious.

The French had been fighting a brutal battle in Vietnam since 1946. Actually the Viet Minh flattened the French army in a stunningly short period of time. 40,000 Viet Minh troops surrounded 15,000 French troops and fierce fighting and heavy casualties led to the fall of Dien Bien Phu.

Meanwhile here in the states President Eisenhower considered his options, including nuclear strikes against the Viet Minh, or massive conventional air strikes, paratrooper drops and the mining of Haiphong Harbor, but Eisenhower decided not to take any action to help the French.

The humiliating defeat led to even more public support for an independent Vietnam at the 1954 Geneva Conference.

1933-Happy birthday to the Golden Arm. ...Johnny Unitas played for the Baltimore Colts in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a record-0setting quarterback and the NFL’s MVP in 1959, 1964, and 1967. For 52 years he held the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass, until Drew Brees broke his record in 2012. Then by the time he was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1972 he was way past his prime, but what a hell of a city to retire.

The funniest part about that story was the fact that when Brees did break Johnny’s record, Brees was playing for the New Orleans Saints against the Chargers.

1991-Wilson Pickett gets arrested. ...Besides being one of the most influential R&B, soul and rock singer and songwriter, he also was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1991. One May 7 of that same year he was arrested driving over his neighbor’s lawn in New Jersey. The police also found a knife and a baseball bat, and attempted murder was slapped on the charges. He got off with a small fine and a mandatory charity concert, but kids, let this be a lesson.

Don’t run over your neighbor’s lawn, especially when said neighbor is the town mayor.