Colonel Drew's regiment of Cherokees had now been in the Confederate
service about ten months. During that period they had remained unpaid,
were scantily clothed, and were generally uncared for, unthanked, and
their services unrecognized.[575] When, therefore, Colonel Weir invaded
the Cherokee country in July, 1862, and the power and prestige of the
Confederacy seemed, for the time being, to have become less potent in
that region, their troops having been withdrawn to other localities,
these discontented and unfed Cherokee soldiers found themselves in
a condition ripe for revolt. Almost _en masse_, they abandoned the
Confederate service and enlisted in that of the United States.
_Conduct of John Ross._--Ross, finding that he had been abandoned by
Drew's regiment, concluded to make a virtue of necessity and become
a loyal man too, with the shrewd assertion that such had always been
the true impulse of his heart; he had been overborne, however, by the
authority and power of the Confederate Government and felt constrained
to save his people and their material interests from total destruction
by dissembling before the officials of that Government, seeking only
the first opportunity, which he had now embraced, to return with
his people to the fealty they so delighted to bear to the Federal
Government.[576] He was escorted out of the Cherokee country by Colonel
Weir's regiment and did not soon return. The burden of proof seems to
be almost, if not quite, conclusive against his pretensions to loyalty
up to this period, and now that the opportunity he had so long desired
of placing himself and his people within the protection of the United
States had arrived, instead of manifesting any of that activity which
had characterized his conduct in behalf of the Confederate States, he
retired to Philadelphia, and did not return to his people for three
years.[577]
_O-poth-le-yo-ho-lo and his loyal followers._--General Pike, in his
letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs pending the negotiation of
the treaty of 1866, seeks to convey the impression that there were no
actively loyal Indians among the Southern tribes during the incipient
stages of the rebellion, and perhaps this is in large measure correct
as to most of those tribes.
Their situation was such as would have worked confusion in the ideas
of a less primitive and simple minded people. For years before the
outbreak of the rebellion their superintendents, agents, and agency
employés had been, almost without exception, Southern men or men of
Southern sympathies. They were a slaveholding people, and the idea was
constantly pressed upon them that the pending difficulties between the
North and the South were solely the result of a determination on the
part of the latter to protect her slave property from the aggressions
and rapacity of the former. When at last hostilities commenced,
they saw the magnitude of the preparation and the strength of the
Confederate forces in their vicinity. The weakness of the Federal
forces was equally striking. Within the scope of their limited horizon
there was naught that seemed to shed a ray of hope upon the rapidly
darkening sky of Federal supremacy. Those who were naturally inclined
to sympathize with, and who retained a feeling of friendship and
reverence for, the old Government were awed into silence. A sense of
fear and helplessness for the time being compelled them to accept and
apparently acquiesce in a state of affairs for which many of them had
no heart.
After the Cherokee convention, at Tahlequah, in August, 1861, at which
it was decided with such unanimity to renounce their treaty relations
with the United States and to enter into diplomatic alliance with the
Confederacy, O-poth-le-yo-ho-lo, an old and prominent Creek chief, whom
Ross had notified by letter of the action taken, and upon whom he urged
the wisdom of securing similar action by the Creeks,[578] refused to
lend himself to any such measure. He called a council of the Creeks,
however, representing to them the action of the Cherokees, alleging
that their chiefs had been bought, and reminded the Creeks of the
duties and obligations by which they were bound to the Government of
the United States.
The majority of the Creeks, notwithstanding, were for active
co-operation with the Confederacy, and an internecine war was at once
inaugurated. The loyal portion of the Seminoles, Wichitas, Kickapoos,
and Delawares joined O-poth-le-yo-ho-lo and his loyal Creeks, who after
two or three engagements with the disloyal Indians, backed by a force
of Texas troops, was compelled to retreat to the north, which he did
in December, 1861.[579] The weather was extremely inclement; the loyal
Indians were burdened with all their household goods, their women
and children, and at the same time exposed to the assaults of their
enemies. Their baggage was captured, leaving many of them without shoes
or comfortable clothing. Hundreds perished on the route, and at last,
after a journey of 300 miles, they reached Humboldt, Kansas, racked
with disease, almost frozen, and with starvation staring them in the
face. Immediately upon learning of the condition of these sufferers,
Indian Superintendent Coffin promptly inaugurated measures for their
relief. Having inconsiderable funds at his command for the purpose,
application was made to General Hunter, commanding the Department of
Kansas, who promptly responded with all the supplies at his disposal.
The Indians in their retreat had become scattered over an area of
territory 200 miles in extent, between the Verdigris and Fall River,
Walnut Creek and the Arkansas. As they became aware of the efforts of
the Government for their relief, they began to pour into the camp of
rendezvous on the Verdigris, but were later removed to Le Roy, Kansas.
Authority was given to enlist the able bodied males in the service of
the United States, and two regiments were at once organized and placed
under command of Colonel Weir for an expedition against the Indian
Territory, mention of which has been previously made. A census taken
of these refugees by Superintendent Coffin, in August, 1862, showed
that there were in camp, exclusive of the 2,000 who had enlisted in
the service of the United States, 3,619 Creeks, 919 Seminoles, 165
Chickasaws, 223 Cherokees, 400 Kickapoos, 89 Delawares, 19 Ionies, and
53 Keechies, in all 5,487, consisting of 864 men, 2,040 women, and
2,583 children. In addition to these at least 15 per cent. had died
since their arrival from hardships encountered in the course of their
retreat. They were subsequently removed to the Sac and Fox reservation
in Kansas.
Until after Colonel Weir's expedition to the Indian Territory not
exceeding three hundred Cherokees had taken refuge within the Union
lines; but in the autumn of 1862, after Weir's retreat, a body of
refugees, mostly women and children, claiming the protection of the
United States, made their way to a point on the Cherokee neutral lands
some 12 miles south of Fort Scott, Kansas.
Like all the other refugees, they were in a most destitute and
suffering condition. In need of food, clothing, and supplies of all
kinds, these sufferers, to the number of two thousand, appealed for
relief, and were for a time supplied by the Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, but afterwards, on being taken under charge of the military
authorities, were transferred to Neosho, Missouri.
_Relations with the Southern Confederacy renounced._--During the month
of February, 1863 (as reported[580] by John Ross from Philadelphia),
a special meeting of the Cherokee national council was convened at
Cowskin Prairie, and the following legislation was enacted:
1. Abrogating the treaty with the Confederate States, and calling a
general convention of the people to approve the act.
2. The appointment of a delegation with suitable powers and
instructions to represent the Cherokee Nation before the United
States Government, consisting of John Ross, principal chief,
Lieutenant-Colonel Downing, Capt. James McDaniel, and Rev. Evan Jones.
3. Authorizing a general Indian council to be held at such time and
place as the principal chief may designate.