generally failing to reach it) I had managed to keep the white and
Indian troops better fed than any other portion of the troops of
the Confederacy any where. I had 26 pieces of artillery, two of the
batteries as perfectly equipped and well manned as any, any where. I
had on hand and on the way, an ample supply of ammunition, after
being once plundered. While in command, _I had procured, first and
last_, 36,000 pounds of rifle and cannon powder. If you would like
to know, sir, how I effected this, in the face
of all manner of discouragements and difficulties, it is no secret. My
disbursing officers can tell you who supplied them with funds for many
weeks, and whose means purchased horses for the artillery. Ask the
Chickasaws and Seminoles who purchased the only shoes they had
received--four hundred pairs, at five dollars each, procured and paid
for by _me_, in Bonham, and which I sent up to them after I was
taken "in personal custody" in November.
_You_ dare pretend, sir, that _I_ might be disloyal, or
even in thought couple the word Treason with _my_ name. What
_peculiar_ merit is it in _you_ to serve on our side in this
war? You were bred a soldier, and your only chance for distinction
lay in obtaining promotion in the army, and in the army of the
Confederacy. You _were_ Major, or something of the sort, in the
old army, and you _are_ a Lieutenant General. Your reward I
think, for what you have done or not done, is sufficient.
I was a private citizen, over fifty years of age, and neither needing
nor desiring military rank or civil honors. I accepted the office of
Commissioner, at the President's _solicitation_. I took that of
Brigadier General, with all the odium that I knew would follow it, and
fall on me as the Leader of a force of Indians, knowing there would be
little glory to be reaped, and wanting no promotion, simply and solely
to see _my_ pledges to the Indians carried out, to keep them
loyal to us, to save their country to the Confederacy, and to preserve
the Western frontier of Arkansas and the Northern frontier of Texas
from devastation and desolation.
What has been my _reward_? All my efforts have been rendered
nugatory, and my attempts even to _collect_ and _form_ an
army frustrated, by the continual plundering of my supplies and means
by other Generals, and your and their deliberate efforts to disgust
and alienate the Indians. Once before this, an armed force was sent to
arrest me. You all disobeyed the President's orders, and treated me as
a criminal for endeavoring to have them carried out. The whole
country swarms with slanders against me; and at last, because I felt
constrained reluctantly to re-assume command, after learning that the
President would not accept my resignation, I am taken from Tishomingo
to Washington, a prisoner, under an armed guard, it having been deemed
necessary, for the sake of effect, to send two hundred and fifty men
into the Indian Country to arrest me. _The Senatorial election was
at hand_.
I had, unaided and alone, _secured_ to the Confederacy a
magnificent country, equal in extent, fertility, beauty and resources
to any of our States--nay, superior to any. I had secured the means,
in men and arms, of keeping it. I knew how only it could be defended.
I asked no aid of any of you. I only asked to be let alone. Verily, I
have my reward also, as Hastings had his, for winning India for the
British Empire.
It is _your_ day _now_. You sit above the laws and domineer
over the constitution. "Order reigns in Warsaw." But bye and bye,
there will be a _just_ jury empannelled, who will hear _all_
the testimony and decide impartially--no less a jury than the People
of the Confederate States; and for their verdict as to myself, I and
my children will be content to wait; as also for the sure and stern
sentence and universal malediction, that will fall like a great wave
of God's just anger on you and the murderous miscreant by whose malign
promptings you are making yourself accursed.
Whether I am respectfully yours, you will be able to determine from
the contents of this letter.
ALBERT PIKE, _Citizen of Arkansas_.
THEOPHILUS H. HOLMES, Major General &c.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SOURCES.
ABEL, ANNIE HELOISE, editor. The official correspondence of James S.
Calhoun (Washington, D.C., 1915).
AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, 1861-1865 (New York).
BISHOP, ALBERT WEBB. Loyalty on the frontier, or sketches of union men
of the southwest (St. Louis, 1863).
CENTRAL SUPERINTENDENCY RECORDS. The Central Superintendency,
embracing much of the territory included in the old St. Louis
Superintendency, was established in 1851 under an act of congress,
approved February 27 of that year.[977] Its headquarters were at St.
Louis from the date of its founding to 1859,[978] at St. Joseph
from that time to July, 1865,[979] at Atchison, from July, 1865 to
1869,[980] and at Lawrence, from 1869 to 1878.
In February of 1878, J.H. Hammond, who was then in charge of the
superintendency, reported upon its records to the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs.[981] He spoke of the existence of "eight cases
containing _Books, Records, Papers_," and he enclosed with
his report schedules of the contents of certain boxes labelled
A,B,C,D,E,F,H,L. Of Box A, the schedule appertaining gave this
information: "Old Records, Files, Memoranda, etc., Miscellaneous
Papers accumulated prior to 1869, when Enoch Hoag became
Sup'tCent.Sup'tcy." More particularly, Box A contained "One Bundle Old
Treaties of various years, three (bundles) of Agency Accounts," and,
for the period of 1830-1833, it contained "One Bundle Ancient Maps,"
and one of "Old Bills and Papers."
The collection as a whole, undoubtedly sent into the United States
Indian Office as Hammond reported upon it, has long since been
irretrievably broken up and its parts distributed. Knowing this the
[Footnote 977: 9 _United States Statutes at Large_, p. 586, sec.
2; Indian Office _Letter Book_, no. 44, p. 259.]
[Footnote 978: Greenwood to Robinson, November 21, 1859, Ibid.,
no. 62, p. 272.]
[Footnote 979: Dole to Murphy, June 23, 1865, Ibid., no. 77, p.
341.]
[Footnote 980: Parker to Hoag, May 26, 1869, Ibid., no. 90, p.
202.]
[Footnote 981: Dr. William Nicholson, who succeeded Enoch Hoag as
superintendent, was ordered to deliver the records to Hammond [Hoyt
to Nicholson, telegram, January 15, 1878, Office of Indian Affairs,
_Correspondence of the Civilization Division_]. Hammond forwarded
the records to Washington, D.C., February 11, 1878.]
investigator is fain to deplore the advent of "efficiency" methods
into the government service. Such efficiency, when interpreted by the
ordinary clerk, has ever meant confusion where once was order and a
dislocation that can never be made good. From the break-up, in the
instance under consideration, the following books have been recovered:
Letter Book, July 25, 1853 to May 10, 1861.
" November 1, 1859 to February 5, 1863.
" February, 1863.
" "Letters to Commissioner of Indian Affairs," May 23, 1855
to October 31, 1859.
" "Letters to Commissioner," "Records," February 14, 1863
to June 6, 1868.
" "District of Nebraska, Letters to Commissioner," June 6,
1868 to April 10, 1871.
" April 12, 1871 to February 21, 1874.
" "Letters to Commissioner," February 21, 1874 to October
22, 1875.
" "Letters to Commissioner," October 25, 1875 to January
31, 1876.
" "Letters to Agents," October 4, 1858 to December 12, 1867.
" "Letters Sent to Agents, District of Nebraska," December
12, 1867 to August 22, 1871.
Account Book of Central Superintendency, being Abstract of
Disbursements, 1853 to 1865.
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. "Jefferson Davis Papers."
These papers, miscellaneous in character and now located in the
Archives Division of the Adjutant General's Office of the United
States War Department, seem to have belonged personally to President
Davis or to have been retained by him. Among them is Albert Pike's
Report of the Indian negotiations conducted by him in 1861.
---- Journal of the Congress, 1861-1865.
United States Senate _Executive Documents_, 58th congress, second
session, no. 234.
Private Laws of the Confederate States of America, First Congress
(Richmond, 1862).
Private Laws of the Confederate States of America, Second Congress
(Richmond, 1864).
Provisional and Permanent Constitutions of the Confederate States and
Acts and Resolutions of the First Session of the Provisional Congress
(Richmond, 1861).
Public Laws of the Confederate States of America, 1863-1864 (Richmond,
1864).
Statutes at Large of the Confederate States of America, First
Congress, edited by J.M. Matthews (Richmond, 1862).
Statutes at Large of the Provisional Government of the Confederate
States of America from February 8, 1861 to February 18, 1862, together
with the Constitution for the Provisional Government and the Permanent
Constitution of the Confederate States, and the
Treaties Concluded by the Confederate States with the Indian Tribes,
edited by J.M. Matthews (Richmond, 1864).
Statutes at Large of the Confederate States, commencing First Session
of the First Congress and including First Session of the Second
Congress, edited by J.M. Matthews (Richmond, 1864).
Statutes at Large of the Confederate States of America, Second
Congress (Richmond, 1864).
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. Papers of the Adjutant and Inspector
General's Office.
Special Orders (Richmond, 1862).
General Orders, January, 1862 to December, 1863 (Columbia, 1863).
General Orders for 1863 (Richmond, 1864).
Special Orders (Richmond, 1864).
General Orders, January 1, to June 30, 1864, compiled by R.C.
Gilchrist (Columbia, 1864).
---- "Pickett Papers."
State papers of the Southern Confederacy now lodged in the Library
of Congress. Had Pike continued to prosecute his mission under the
auspices of the State Department, these papers would undoubtedly have
contained much of value for the present work, but as it is they yield
only an occasional document and that of very incidental importance.
The papers used were found in packages 81, 86, 88, 93, 95, 106, 107,
109, 113, 118. The "Pickett Papers" were originally in the hands of
Secretary Benjamin. After coming into the possession of the United
States government, they were at first confided to the care of the
Treasury Department and were handed over later, by direction of the
president, to the Library of Congress. The fact of their being in the
charge of the Treasury Department explains the circumstance of its
possession of the original treaty made by Pike with the Comanches, and
the fact that that manuscript turned up long after the main body of
"Pickett Papers" had been transferred to the Congressional Library
suggests the possibility that detached Confederate records may yet
repose in the recesses of the Treasury archives. Between the dates of
their consignment and their transfer, they must have become to some
degree disintegrated. The War Department borrowed some of the Pickett
Papers for inclusion in the _Official Records of the War of the
Rebellion_.
---- Records, or Archives.
Among these, which are to-day in the War Department in charge of the
Chief Clerk of the Adjutant-general's Office, are the following:
Chap. 2, no. 258, Letter Book, Brig. Gen. D.H. Cooper, C.S.A., Ex
officio Indian Agent, etc., May 10-27, 1865 (File Mark, W. 236).
It is a mere fragment. Its wrapper bears the following endorsement:
War Department, Archive Office, Chap. 2, No. 258.
Chap. 2, no. 270, Letter Book, Col. and Brig. Gen. Win. Steele's
command.
The contents are,
a. A few letters dealing with Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, March to
July, 1862, pp. 7-22. These letters emanated from the
authority of William Steele, Colonel of the Seventh Regiment of Texas
Mounted Volunteers.
b. Letters dealing with matters in the Department of Indian Territory,
January 8, 1863 to May 18, 1863, pp. 27-254. Pages 1-6, 23-26, and 47
and 48 are missing.
The list of the whole, as given, is,
Letters Sent--Col. and Brig. Gen. Wm. Steele's command--Mch. 7, 1862
to May 18, 1863, viz.,
1. 7th Regt Texas M. Vols. Mch. 7 to June 20/62
2. Dept. New Mexico, June 24/62
3. Forces of Arizona, July 12, 1862.
4. Dept of Indian Territory, Jan. 8-12, 1863
5. 1st Div. 1st. Corps Trans-Miss. Dept., Jan. 13-20, 1863.
6. Dept. of Indian Territory, Jan. 21 to May 18, 1863.
Chap. 2, no. 268, Letters Sent, Department of Indian Territory, from
May 19, 1863 to September 27, 1863.
This is another William Steele letter book, but is not quite complete.
In point of time covered, it succeeds no. 270 and is itself succeeded
by no. 267.
Chap. 2, no. 267, Letters Sent, September 28, 1863 to June 17, 1864.
Pages 3 to 6, inclusive, are missing and there are no letters after
page 119.
Chap. 2, no. 259, Inspector General's Letters and Reports, from April
23, 1864, to May 15, 1865.
The cover has this as title: Letter Book A: Insp't Gen'l's
Office--Dis't of Indian Ter'y From April 23rd, 1864 to May 15, 1865.
On the inside of the front cover, appears this in pencil: "Received
from Gen'l M.J. Wright, Oct. 16/79." Some pages at the beginning of
the book have been cut out. Between pages 145 and 196, are reports,
variously signed, some by E.E. Portlock, some by N.W. Battle, and some
by James Patteson.
Chap. 2, no. 260, District of the Indian Territory, Inspector
General's Letter Book, April 23, 1864 to January 7, 1865.
"Received from Gen'l M.J. Wright, Oct. 16/79." From a comparison of
nos. 259 and 260, it is seen that no. 259 is a rough letter and report
book and that no. 260 is a finished product. The 1864 material in no.
259 is duplicated by that in no. 260.
Chap. 7, no. 36. Indian Treaties.
Chap. 7, no. 48. Regulations adopted by the War Department, on the
15th of April 1862, for carrying into effect the Acts of Congress of
the Confederate States, Relating to Indian Affairs, etc. (Richmond,
1862).
On page 1, is to be found, "Regulations for Carrying into effect, the
Act of Congress of the Confederate States, approved May 21, 1861,
entitled An Act for the protection of certain Indian Tribes, and of
other Acts relating to Indian Affairs."
FORT SMITH PAPERS. See Abel, _The American Indian as Slaveholder and
Secessionist_, p. 361.
GREELEY, HORACE. The American conflict (Hartford, 1864-1867), 2 vols.
INDIAN BRIGADE, Inspection Reports of, for 1864 and 1865. These were
loaned for perusal by Luke F. Parsons, who was brigade inspector under
Colonel William A. Phillips.
KAPPLER, CHARLES J., compiler and editor. Indian Affairs: Laws and
Treaties. United States Senate Documents, 58th congress, second
session, no. 319, 2 vols. Supplementary volume, United States Senate
Documents, 62nd congress, second session, no. 719.
LEEPER PAPERS. See Abel, _The American Indian as Slaveholder and
Secessionist_, pp. 360, 362.
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Complete Works, edited by John G. Nicolay and John
Hay (New York, 1890), 10 vols.
MCPHERSON, EDWARD. Political History of the United States of America
during the Great Rebellion (Washington, D.C., 1864).
MISSIONARY HERALD, containing the proceeding of the American Board for
Foreign Missions (Boston), vols. 56, 57, 60.
MOORE, FRANK, editor. Rebellion Record: Diary of American Events (New
York, 1868), 11 vols. and a supplementary volume for 1861-1864.
PHILLIPS, WILLIAM ADDISON. Conquest of Kansas by Missouri and her
allies (Boston, 1856).
"PIKE PAPERS." On subjects other than Indian, extant manuscripts
written and received by Albert Pike are exceedingly numerous. One
collection of his personal papers is in the possession of Mr. Fred
Allsopp of Little Rock; but the largest proportion of those of more
general interest, as also of more special, is in the Scottish Rite
Temple, Washington, D.C., under the care of Mr. W.L. Boyden. Three
things only deserve particular mention; viz.,
a. Autobiography of General Albert Pike. A bound typewritten
manuscript, "from stenographic notes, furnished by himself."
b. Confederate States, a/c's with. These papers are in a small
file-box and are chiefly receipts from John Crawford, Matthew Leefer,
Douglas H. Cooper, John Jumper, and
others for money advanced to them and vouchers for purchases made by
Pike. There are three personal letters in the box: D.H. Cooper to
Pike, July 28, 1873; William Quesenbury to Pike, August 10, 1873;
William Quesenbury to Pike, August 11, 1873. All three letters have
to do with a certain $5000 seemingly unaccounted for, a subject in
controversy between Pike and Cooper, reflecting upon the latter's
integrity. One of the papers is an itemized account of the money Pike
expended for the Indians, money "placed in his hands to be disbursed
among the Indian Tribes under Treaty stipulations in January, A.D.
1862." It contains an enclosure, the receipt signed by Edward Cross,
depositary, showing that Pike restored to the Confederate Treasury the
unexpended balance, $19,263 10/100 specie, $49,980 55/100, treasury
notes. The receipt is dated Little Rock, March 13, 1863.
c. Choctaw Case. Two packages of papers come under this heading. One
is of manuscript matter mainly, the other of printed matter solely.
In the latter is the _Memorial of P.P. Pitchlynn_, House
Miscellaneous Documents, no. 89, 43d congress, first session, and on
it Pike has inscribed, "Written by me, Albert Pike."
RICHARDSON, JAMES D., editor. Compilation of the messages and
papers of the Confederacy, including the diplomatic correspondence
(Nashville, 1905), 2 vols.
---- Compilation of the messages and papers of the presidents,
1789-1897 (Washington, 1896-1899), 10 vols.
United States of America. Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
_Reports_, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865.
---- Congressional Globe, 37th and 38th congresses, 1861-1865.
---- Department of the Interior, Files.
The files run in two distinct series. One series has its material
arranged in boxes, the other, in bundles. The former comprises letters
from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs only, and has been examined to
the extent here given,
No. 9, January 1, 1861 to December 1, 1861.
" 10, December 1, 1861 to November 1, 1862.
" 11, November 1, 1862 to July 1, 1863.
" 12, July 1, 1863 to June 15, 1864.
" 13, June 15, 1864 to April 1, 1865.
The latter were difficult of discovery. After an exhausting search,
however, they were located on a top-most shelf, under the roof, in
the file-room off from the gallery in the Patent Office building.
The bundles are small and each is bandaged as were the Indian Office
files, originally. The bandage, or wrapper, is labelled according to
the contents. For example, one bundle is labelled, "No. 1, 1849-1864,
War;" another, "No. 24, 1852-1868, Exec." In the first are letters
from the War Department, in the second, from the White House. Some of
the letters are from a
given department by reference only. A great number of the bundles have
nothing but a number to distinguish them,
No. 53, January to June, 1865.
" 54, July to August, 1865.
" 55, September to December, 1865.
" 56, January to December, 1866.
United States of America. Department of the Interior, Letter Books,
"Records of Letters Sent."
No. 3, July 22, 1857 to January 3, 1862.
" 4, January 3, 1862 to June 30, 1864.
" 5. July 1, 1864 to December 12, 1865.
" 6, December 14, 1865 to September 22, 1865.
---- Department of the Interior, Letter Press Books, "Letters, Indian
Affairs."
No. 3, August 20, 1858 to March 5, 1862.
" 4, March 5, 1862 to July 1, 1863.
" 5. July 1, 1863 to June 22, 1864.
" 6, June 22, 1864 to April 11, 1865.
Department of the Interior, Register Books, "Register of Letters
Received," Corresponding to the two series of files, are two series
of registers. One series is a register of letters received from the
Indian Office and each volume is labelled "Commissioner of Indian
Affairs." The particular volume used for the present work covers the
period from December 5, 1860 to January 6, 1866. It will be found
cited as "D," that being a designation given to it by Mr. Rapp, the
person at present in charge of the records. The second series is a
register of letters received from persons other than the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs. Each volume is labelled, "Indians."
"Indians," No. 3, January 8, 1856 to October 27, 1861.
'' 4, January 2, 1862 to December 27, 1865.
---- Office of Indian Affairs, Consolidated Files. During the last few
years and since the time when most of this investigation was made, the
various files of the Indian Office have been consolidated and, in many
cases, hopelessly muddled. It has been thought best to refer in the
text, wherever possible, to the old separate files, inasmuch as all
letter books and registers were kept with the separate filing in view.
---- Office of Indian Affairs,
General Files.
Central Superintendency, boxes 1860-1862, 1863-1868; Southern
Superintendency, boxes 1859-1862, 1863-1864, 1865, 1866; Cherokee,
1859-1865, 1865-1867, 1867-1869, 1869-1870; Chickasaw, 1854-1868;
Choctaw, 1859-1866; Creek, 1860-1869; Delaware, 1855-1861, 1862-1866;
Kansas, 1855-1862, 1863-1868; Kickapoo, 1855-1865; Kiowa, 1864-1868;
Miscellaneous, 1858-1863, 1864-1867, 1868-1869; Osage River,
1855-1862, 1863-1867;
Otoe, 1856-1862, 1863-1869; Ottawa, 1863-1872; Pottawatomie,
1855-1861, 1862-1865; Sac and Fox, 1862-1866; Seminole, 1858-1869;
Wichita, 1860-1861, 1862-1871.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Office of Indian Affairs, Irregularly-Shaped
Papers.
This was a collection made for the convenience of the Indian Office.
The name itself is a sufficient explanation.
---- Office of Indian Affairs, John Ross Papers.
These were evidently part of the evidence furnished at the Fort Smith
Council, 1865.
---- Office of Indian Affairs, Land Files.
Central Superintendency, box 10, 1852-1869; Southern Superintendency,
1855-1870; Cherokee, box 21, 1850-1869; Choctaw, box 38, 1846-1873;
Creek, box 45, 1846-1873; Dead Letters, box 51; Freedmen in Indian
Territory, 2 boxes; Indian Talks, Councils, &c., box 3, 1856-1864, box
4, 1865-1866; Kansas, box 80, 1863-1865; Kickapoo, box 86, 1857-1868;
Miscellaneous, box 103, 1860-1870; Neosho, box 117, 1833-1865; New
York, box 130, 1860-1874; Osage, box 143, 1831-1873; Osage River, box
146, 1860-1866; Shawnee, box 190, 1860-1865; Special Cases, box 111,
"Invasion of Indian Territory by White Settlers;" Treaties, box 2,
1853-1863, box 3, 1864-1866.
---- Office of Indian Affairs, Special Files.
No. 87, "Claims of Loyal Seminoles."
" 106, "Claims of Delawares for Depredations, 1863."
" 134, "Claims of Choctaws and Chickasaws."
" 142, " " " " "
" 201, "Southern Refugees."
" 284, "Claims of Creeks."
Kansas, box 78, 1860-1861, box 79, 1862; Otoe, box 153, 1856-1876;
Ottawa, box 155, 1863-1873; Pawnee, box 156, 1859-1877; Pottawatomie,
box 163, 1855-1865; Sac and Fox, box 177, 1860-1864, box 178,
1865-1868; Shawnee Deeds and Papers, box 195; Subsistence Indian
Prisoners, one box; Wyandott, box 242, 1836-1863, and many other
file boxes, with dates of the period under investigation, have been
examined but have yielded practically nothing of interest for the
subject.
Special Cases are quite distinct from Special Files. There are in all
two hundred three of the former and three hundred three of the latter.
There is in the Indian Office a small manuscript index to the Special
Cases and a folio index to the Special Files.
---- Office of Indian Affairs. Letter Books (letters sent). See Abel,
_The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist_, pp.
363-364.
---- Office of Indian Affairs. Letters Registered (abstract of letters
received), ibid., p. 364.
---- Office of Indian Affairs, Miscellaneous Records, vol. viii,
April, 1852 to July, 1861; vol. ix, July, 1861 to January 22, 1887.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Office of Indian Affairs. Parker Letter
Book. Letters to E.S. Parker, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and
others, 1869 to 1870.
---- Office of Indian Affairs. _Report Books_, Reports of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior. See
Abel, _The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist_, p.
365.