THE DELAWARES.
When Hendrik Hudson anchored his ship, the _Half Moon_, off New York
Island in 1609, the Delawares stood in great numbers on the shore to
receive him, exclaiming, in their innocence, "Behold! the gods have come
to visit us!"
More than a hundred years later, the traditions of this event were still
current in the tribe. The aged Moravian missionary, Heckewelder, writing
in 1818, says:
"I at one time, in April, 1787, was astonished when I heard one of their
orators, a great chief of the Delawares, Pachgants-chilias by name, go
over this ground, recapitulating the most extraordinary events which had
before happened, and concluding in these words: 'I admit that there are
good white men, but they bear no proportion to the bad; the bad must be
the strongest, for they rule. They do what they please. They enslave
those who are not of their color, although created by the same Great
Spirit who created them. They would make slaves of us if they could; but
as they cannot do it, they kill us. There is no faith to be placed in
their words. They are not like the Indians, who are only enemies while
at war, and are friends in peace. They will say to an Indian, "My
friend; my brother!" They will take him by the hand, and, at the same
moment, destroy him. And so you' (he was addressing himself to the
Christian Indians at Gnadenhütten, Pennsylvania) 'will also be treated
by them before long. Remember that this day I have warned you to beware
of such friends as these. I know the Long-knives. They are not to be
trusted.'"
The original name of the Delawares was Lenni Lenape, or "original
people." They were also called by the Western tribes Wapenachki, "people
at the rising of the sun." When the name "Delawares" was given to them
by the whites, they at first resented it; but being told that they, and
also one of their rivers, were thus named after a great English
brave—Lord De la Warre—they were much pleased, and willingly took the
name. Their lands stretched from the Hudson River to the Potomac. They
were a noble-spirited but gentle people; much under the control of the
arrogant and all-powerful Iroquois, who had put upon them the
degradation of being called "women," and being forced to make war or
give up land at the pleasure of their masters.
During William Penn's humane administration of the affairs of
Pennsylvania, the Delawares were his most devoted friends. They called
him Mignon, or Elder Brother.
"From his first arrival in their country," says Heckewelder, "a
friendship was formed between them, which was to last as long as the sun
should shine, and the rivers flow with water. That friendship would
undoubtedly have continued to the end of time, had their good brother
always remained among them."
In the French and Indian war of 1755 many of them fought on the side of
the French against the English; and in the beginning of our
Revolutionary war the majority of them sided with the English against
us.
Most of the memorable Indian massacres which happened during this period
were the result of either French or English influence. Neither nation
was high-minded enough to scorn availing herself of savage allies to do
bloody work which she would not have dared to risk national reputation
by doing herself. This fact is too much overlooked in the habitual
estimates of the barbarous ferocity of the Indian character as shown by
those early massacres.[7]
Footnote 7:
See Appendix, Art. X.
The United States' first treaty with the Delawares was made in 1778, at
Fort Pitt. The parties to it were said to be "the United States and the
Delaware Nation." It stipulates that there shall be peace, and that the
troops of the United States may pass "through the country of the
Delaware Nation," upon paying the full value of any supplies they may
use. It further says that, "Whereas the enemies of the United States
have endeavored by every artifice to possess the Indians with an opinion
that it is our design to extirpate them, and take possession of their
country; to obviate such false suggestions, the United States guarantee
to said nation of Delawares, and their heirs, all their territorial
rights in the fullest and most ample manner as bounded by former
treaties."
The treaty also provides that, "should it for the future be found
conducive for the mutual interest of both parties to invite any other
tribes who have been friends to the interests of the United States to
join the present confederation and form a State, whereof the Delaware
Nation shall be the head," it shall be done; and the Delawares shall be
entitled to send a representative to Congress.[8]
Footnote 8:
It is superfluous to say that these provisions were never carried out.
The Delawares agreed to send all the warriors they could spare to fight
for us, and that there should be peace and perpetual friendship.
At this time the rest of the Ohio tribes, most of the New York tribes,
and a large part of the Delawares were in arms on the British side. When
the war of the Revolution was concluded, they were all forced to make
peace as best they could with us; and in our first treaty we provided
for the reinstating in the Delaware Nation of the chiefs and headmen who
had made that old alliance with us; they having lost caste in their
tribe for having fought on our side.
"It is agreed," says the final Article of the treaty, "that the Delaware
chiefs, Kelelamand, or Lieut.-colonel Henry, Henque Pushees, or the Big
Cat, and Wicocalind, or Captain White Eyes, who took up the hatchet for
the United States, and their families, shall be received into the
Delaware Nation in the same situation and rank as before the war, and
enjoy their due portions of the lands given to the Wyandotte and
Delaware nations in this treaty, as fully as if they had not taken part
with America, or as any other person or persons in the said nations."
This Captain White Eyes had adhered to our cause in spite of great
opposition from the hostile part of the tribe. At one time he was
threatened with a violent death if he should dare to say one word for
the American cause; but by spirited harangues he succeeded in keeping
the enthusiasm of his own party centred around himself, and finally
carrying them over to the side of the United States. Some of his
speeches are on record, and are worthy to be remembered:
"If you will go out in this war," he said to them at one time, when the
band were inclined to join the British, "you shall not go without me. I
have taken peace measures, it is true, with the view of saving my tribe
from destruction; but if you think me in the wrong, if you give more
credit to runaway vagabonds than to your own friends—to a man, to a
warrior, to a Delaware—if you insist on fighting the Americans—go! and I
will go with you. And I will not go like the bear-hunter, who sets his
dogs on the animal to be beaten about with his paws, while he keeps
himself at a safe distance. No; I will lead you on; I will place myself
in the front; I will fall with the first of you! You can do as you
choose; but as for me, I will not survive my nation. I will not live to
bewail the miserable destruction of a brave people, who deserved, as you
do, a better fate."
Were there many speeches made by commanders to their troops in those
revolutionary days with which these words do not compare favorably?
This treaty, by which our faithful ally, Wicocalind, was reinstated in
his tribal rank, was made at Fort M'Intosh in 1785. The Wyandottes,
Chippewas, and Ottawas, as well as the Delawares, joined in it. They
acknowledged themselves and all their tribes to be "under the protection
of the United States, and of no other sovereign whatsoever." The United
States Government reserved "the post of Detroit" and an outlying
district around it; also, the post at Michilimackinac, with a
surrounding district of twelve miles square, and some other reserves for
trading-posts.
The Indians' lands were comprised within lines partly indicated by the
Cuyahoga, Big Miami, and Ohio rivers and their branches; it fronted on
Lake Erie; and if "any citizen of the United States," or "any other
person not an Indian," attempted "to settle on any of the lands allotted
to the Delaware and Wyandotte nations in this treaty"—the fifth Article
of the treaty said—"the Indians may punish him as they please."
Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, all are largely made up of the
lands which were by this first treaty given to the Indians.
Five years later, by another treaty at Fort Harmar, the provisions of
this treaty were reiterated, the boundaries somewhat changed and more
accurately defined. The privilege of hunting on all the lands reserved
to the United States was promised to the Indians "without hinderance or
molestation, so long as they behaved themselves peaceably;" and "that
nothing may interrupt the peace and harmony now established between the
United States and the aforesaid nations," it was promised in one of the
articles that white men committing offences or murders on Indians should
be punished in the same way as Indians committing such offences.
The year before this treaty Congress had resolved that "the sum of
$20,000, in addition to the $14,000 already appropriated, be
appropriated for defraying the expenses of the treaties which have been
ordered, or which may be ordered to be held, in the present year, with
the several Indian tribes in the Northern Department; and for
extinguishing the Indian claims, the whole of the said $20,000, together
with $6,000 of the said $14,000, to be applied solely to the purpose of
extinguishing Indian claims to the lands they have already ceded to the
United States by obtaining regular conveyances for the same, and for
extending a purchase beyond the limits hitherto fixed by treaty."
Here is one of the earliest records of the principle and method on which
the United States Government first began its dealings with Indians.
"Regular conveyances," "extinguishing claims" by "extending purchase."
These are all the strictest of legal terms, and admit of no double
interpretations.
The Indians had been much dissatisfied ever since the first treaties
were made. They claimed that they had been made by a few only,
representing a part of the tribe; and, in 1786, they had held a great
council on the banks of the Detroit River, and sent a message to
Congress, of which the following extracts will show the spirit.
They said: "It is now more than three years since peace was made between
the King of Great Britain and you; but we, the Indians, were
disappointed, finding ourselves not included in that peace according to
our expectations, for we thought that its conclusion would have promoted
a friendship between the United States and the Indians, and that we
might enjoy that happiness that formerly subsisted between us and our
Elder Brethren. We have received two very agreeable messages from the
Thirteen United States. We also received a message from the king, whose
war we were engaged in, desiring us to remain quiet, which we
accordingly complied with. During this time of tranquillity we were
deliberating the best method we could to form a lasting reconciliation
with the Thirteen United States. *** We are still of the same opinion as
to the means which may tend to reconcile us to each other; and we are
sorry to find, although we had the best thoughts in our minds during the
before-mentioned period, mischief has nevertheless happened between you
and us. We are still anxious of putting our plan of accommodation into
execution, and we shall briefly inform you of the means that seem most
probable to us of effecting a firm and lasting peace and reconciliation,
the first step toward which should, in our opinion, be that all treaties
carried on with the United States on our parts should be with the
general will of the whole confederacy, and carried on in the most open
manner, without any restraint on either side; and especially as landed
matters are often the subject of our councils with you—a matter of the
greatest importance and of general concern to us—in this case we hold it
indisputably necessary that any cession of our lands should be made in
the most public manner, and by the united voice of the confederacy,
holding all partial treaties as void and of no effect. *** We say, let
us meet half-way, and let us pursue such steps as become upright and
honest men. We beg that you will prevent your surveyors and other people
from coming upon our side of the Ohio River."
These are touching words, when we remember that only the year before the
United States had expressly told these Indians that if any white
citizens attempted to settle on their lands they might "punish them as
they pleased."
"We have told you before we wished to pursue just steps, and we are
determined they shall appear just and reasonable in the eyes of the
world. This is the determination of all the chiefs of our confederacy
now assembled here, notwithstanding the accidents that have happened in
our villages, even when in council, where several innocent chiefs were
killed when absolutely engaged in promoting a peace with you, the
Thirteen United States."
The next year the President instructed the governor of the territory
northwest of the Ohio to "examine carefully into the real temper of the
Indian tribes" in his department, and says: "The treaties which have
been made may be examined, but must not be departed from, unless a
change of boundary beneficial to the United States can be obtained." He
says also: "You will not neglect any opportunity that may offer of
extinguishing the Indian rights to the westward, _as far as the
Mississippi_."
Beyond that river even the wildest dream of greed did not at that time
look.
The President adds, moreover: "You may stipulate that any white persons
going over the said boundaries without a license from the proper
officers of the United States may be treated in such manner as the
Indians may see fit."
I have not yet seen, in any accounts of the Indian hostilities on the
North-western frontier during this period, any reference to those
repeated permissions given by the United States to the Indians, to
defend their lands as they saw fit. Probably the greater number of the
pioneer settlers were as ignorant of these provisions in Indian treaties
as are the greater number of American citizens to-day, who are honestly
unaware—and being unaware, are therefore incredulous—that the Indians
had either provocation or right to kill intruders on their lands.
At this time separate treaties were made with the Six Nations, and the
governor says that these treaties were made separately because of the
jealousy and hostility existing between them and the Delawares,
Wyandottes, etc., which he is "not willing to lessen," because it
weakens their power. "Indeed," he frankly adds, "it would not be very
difficult, if circumstances required it, to set them at deadly
variance."
Thus early in our history was the ingenious plan evolved of first
maddening the Indians into war, and then falling upon them with
exterminating punishment. The gentleman who has left on the official
records of his country his claim to the first suggestion and
recommendation of this method is "Arthur St. Clair, governor of the
territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River, and
commissioner plenipotentiary of the United States of America for
removing all causes of controversy, regulating trade, and settling
boundaries with the Indian nations in the Northern Department."
Under all these conditions, it is not a matter of wonder that the
frontier was a scene of perpetual devastation and bloodshed; and that,
year by year, there grew stronger in the minds of the whites a terror
and hatred of Indians; and in the minds of the Indians a stronger and
stronger distrust and hatred of the whites.
The Delawares were, through the earlier part of these troubled times,
friendly. In 1791 we find the Secretary of War recommending the
commissioners sent to treat with the hostile Miamis and Wabash Indians
to stop by the way with the friendly Delawares, and take some of their
leading chiefs with them as allies. He says, "these tribes are our
friends," and, as far as is known, "the treaties have been well observed
by them."
But in 1792 we find them mentioned among the hostile tribes to whom was
sent a message from the United States Government, containing the
following extraordinary paragraphs:
"Brethren: The President of the United States entertains the opinion
that the war which exists is an error and mistake on your parts. That
you believe the United States want to deprive you of your lands, and
drive you out of the country. _Be assured that this is not so_; on the
contrary, that we should be greatly gratified with the opportunity of
imparting to you all the blessings of civilized life; of teaching you to
cultivate the earth, and raise corn; to raise oxen, sheep, and other
domestic animals; to build comfortable houses; and to educate your
children so as ever to dwell upon the land.
"Consult, therefore, upon the great object of peace; call in your
parties, and enjoin a cessation of all further depredations; and as many
of the principal chiefs as shall choose repair to Philadelphia, the seat
of the Great Government, and there make a peace founded on the
principles of justice and humanity. _Remember that no additional lands
will be required of you, or any other tribe, to those that have been
ceded by former treaties._"
It was in this same year, also, that General Putnam said to them, in a
speech at Post Vincennes: "The United States don't mean to wrong you out
of your lands. They don't want to take away your lands by force. They
want to do you justice." And the venerable missionary, Heckewelder, who
had journeyed all the way from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to try to help
bring about peace, said to them, "The great chief who has spoken to you
is a good man. He loves you, and will always speak the truth to you. I
wish you to listen to his words, and do as he desires you."
In 1793 a great council was held, to which came the chiefs and headmen
of the Delawares, and of twelve other tribes, to meet commissioners of
the United States, for one last effort to settle the vexed boundary
question. The records of this council are profoundly touching. The
Indians reiterated over and over the provisions of the old treaties
which had established the Ohio River as one of their boundaries. Their
words were not the words of ignorant barbarians, clumsily and doggedly
holding to a point; they were the words of clear-headed, statesman-like
rulers, insisting on the rights of their nations. As the days went on,
and it became more and more clear that the United States commissioners
would not agree to the establishment of the boundary for which the
Indians contended, the speeches of the chiefs grow sadder and sadder.
Finally, in desperation, as a last hope, they propose to the
commissioners that all the money which the United States offers to pay
to them for their lands shall be given to the white settlers to induce
them to move away. They say:
"Money to us is of no value, and to most of us unknown; and as no
consideration whatever can induce us to sell the lands on which we get
sustenance for our women and children, we hope we may be allowed to
point out a mode by which your settlers may be easily removed, and peace
thereby obtained.
"We know that these settlers are poor, or they would never have ventured
to live in a country which has been in continual trouble ever since they
crossed the Ohio. Divide, therefore, this large sum of money which you
have offered us among these people; give to each, also, a proportion of
what you say you would give to us annually, over and above this very
large sum of money, and we are persuaded they would most readily accept
of it in lieu of the lands you sold them. If you add, also, the great
sums you must expend in raising and paying armies with a view to force
us to yield you our country, you will certainly have more than
sufficient for the purpose of repaying these settlers for all their
labor and their improvements.
"You have talked to us about concessions. It appears strange that you
should expect any from us, who have only been defending our just rights
against your invasions. We want peace. Restore to us our country, and we
shall be enemies no longer.
"*** We desire you to consider, brothers, that our only demand is the
peaceable possession of a small part of our once great country. Look
back and review the lands from whence we have been driven to this spot.
We can retreat no farther, because the country behind hardly affords
food for its present inhabitants, and we have therefore resolved to
leave our bones in this small space to which we are now confined."
The commissioners replied that to make the Ohio River the boundary was
now impossible; that they sincerely regretted that peace could not be
made; but, "knowing the upright and liberal views of the United States,"
they trust that "impartial judges will not attribute the continuance of
the war to them."
Notice was sent to the governor that the Indians "refused to make
peace;" and General Anthony Wayne, a few weeks later, wrote to the
Secretary of War, "The safety of the Western frontiers, the reputation
of the legion, the dignity and interest of the nation—all forbid a
retrograde manœuvre, or giving up one inch of ground we now possess,
till the enemy are compelled to sue for peace."
The history of the campaigns that followed is to be found in many
volumes treating of the pioneer life of Ohio and other North-western
States. One letter of General Wayne's to the Secretary of War, in
August, 1794, contains a paragraph which is interesting, as showing the
habits and method of life of the people whom we at this time, by force
of arms, drove out from their homes—homes which we had only a few years
before solemnly guaranteed to them, even giving them permission to
punish any white intruders there as they saw fit. By a feint of
approaching Grand Glaize through the Miami villages, General Wayne
surprised the settlement, and the Indians, being warned by a deserter,
had barely time to flee for their lives. What General Wayne had intended
to do may be inferred from this sentence in his letter: "I have good
grounds to conclude that the defection of this villain prevented the
enemy from receiving a fatal blow at this place when least expected."
However, he consoles himself by the fact that he has "gained possession
of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the West without loss of
blood. The very extensive and highly cultivated fields and gardens show
the work of many hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers—the
Miamis, of the Lake, and Au Glaize—appear like one continued village for
a number of miles, both above and below this place; nor have I ever
before beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America, from
Canada to Florida."
All these villages were burnt, and all these cornfields destroyed; the
Indians were followed up and defeated in a sharp fight. The British
agents did their best to keep them hostile, and no inconsiderable aid
was furnished to them from Canada. But after a winter of suffering and
hunger, and great vacillations of purpose, they finally decided to yield
to the inevitable, and in the summer of 1795 they are to be found once
more assembled in council, for the purpose of making a treaty; once more
to be told by the representatives of the United States Government that
"the heart of General Washington, the Great Chief of America, wishes for
nothing so much as peace and brotherly love;" that "such is the justice
and liberality of the United States," that they will now a third time
pay for lands; and that they are "acting the part of a tender father to
them and their children in thus providing for them not only at present,
but forever."
Eleven hundred and thirty Indians (eleven tribes, besides the Delawares,
being represented) were parties to this treaty. By this treaty nearly
two-thirds of the present State of Ohio were ceded to the United States;
and, in consideration of these "cessions and relinquishments, and to
manifest the liberality of the United States as the great means of
rendering this peace strong and perpetual," the United States
relinquished all claims "to all other Indian lands northward of the
River Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of
the Great Lakes and the waters uniting them, according to the boundary
line agreed upon by the United States and the King of Great Britain, in
the treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783," with the
exception of four tracts of land. But it was stated to the Indians that
these reservations were not made "to annoy or impose the smallest degree
of restraint on them in the quiet enjoyment and full possession of their
lands," but simply to "connect the settlements of the people of the
United States," and "to prove convenient and advantageous to the
different tribes of Indians residing and hunting in their vicinity."
The fifth Article of the treaty is: "To prevent any misunderstanding
about the Indian lands now relinquished by the United States, it is
explicitly declared that the meaning of that relinquishment is this:
that the Indian tribes who have a right to those lands are quietly to
enjoy them—hunting, planting, and dwelling thereon _so long as they
please_ without any molestation from the United States; but when those
tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any
part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States; and until
such sale the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes in
the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the United
States, and against all other white persons who intrude on the same."
The sixth Article reiterates the old pledge, proved by the last three
years to be so worthless—that, "If any citizen of the United States, or
any other white person or persons, shall presume to settle upon the
lands now relinquished by the United States, such citizen or other
person shall be out of the protection of the United States; and the
Indian tribe on whose land the settlement may be made may drive off the
settler, or punish him in such manner as they shall think fit."
The seventh Article gives the Indians the liberty "to hunt within the
territory and lands which they have now ceded to the United States,
without hinderance or molestation, so long as they demean themselves
peaceably."
The United States agreed to pay to the Indians twenty thousand dollars'
worth of goods at once; and "henceforward, every year, forever, useful
goods to the value of nine thousand five hundred dollars." Peace was
declared to be "established" and "perpetual."
General Wayne told the Indians that they might believe him, for he had
never, "in a public capacity, told a lie;" and one of the Indians said,
with much more dignity, "The Great Spirit above hears us, and I trust we
shall not endeavor to deceive each other."
In 1813, by a treaty at Vincennes, the bounds of the reservation of the
Post of St. Vincennes were defined, and the Indians, "as a mark of their
regard and attachment to the United States, relinquished to the United
States the great salt spring on the Saline Creek."
In less than a year we made still another treaty with them for the
extinguishment of their title to a tract of land between the Ohio and
the Wabash rivers (which they sold to us for a ten years' annuity of
three hundred dollars, which was to be "exclusively appropriated to
ameliorating their condition and promoting their civilization"); and in
one year more still another treaty, in which a still further cession of
land was made for a permanent annuity of one thousand dollars.
In August of this year General Harrison writes to the Secretary of War
that there are great dissensions between the Delawares and Miamis in
regard to some of the ceded lands, the Miamis claiming that they had
never consented to give them up. General Harrison observes the most
exact neutrality in this matter, but says, "A knowledge of the value of
land is fast gaining ground among the Indians," and negotiations are
becoming in consequence much more difficult. In the course of this
controversy, "one of the chiefs has said that he knew a great part of
the land was worth six dollars an acre."
It is only ten years since one of the chiefs of these same tribes had
said, "Money is to us of no value." However, they must be yet very far
from having reached any true estimate of real values, as General
Harrison adds: "From the best calculation I have been able to make, the
tract now ceded contains at least two millions of acres, and embraces
some of the finest lands in the Western country."
Cheap at one thousand dollars a year!—even with the negro man thrown in,
which General Harrison tells the Secretary he has ordered Captain Wells
to purchase, and present to the chief, The Turtle, and to draw on the
United States Treasury for the amount paid for him.
Four years later (1809) General Harrison is instructed by the President
"to take advantage of the most favorable moment for extinguishing the
Indian title to the lands lying east of the Wabash, and adjoining
south;" and the title was extinguished by the treaty of Fort Wayne—a
little more money paid, and a great deal of land given up.
In 1814 we made a treaty, simply of peace and friendship, with the
Delawares and several other tribes: they agreeing to fight faithfully on
our side against the English, and we agreeing to "confirm and establish
all the boundaries" as they had existed before the war.
In 1817 it was deemed advisable to make an effort to "extinguish the
Indian title to all the lands claimed by them within the limits of the
State of Ohio". Two commissioners were appointed, with great
discretionary powers; and a treaty was concluded early in the autumn, by
which there was ceded to the United States nearly all the land to which
the Indians had claim in Ohio, a part of Indiana, and a part of
Michigan. This treaty was said by the Secretary of War to be "the most
important of any hitherto made with the Indians." "The extent of the
cession far exceeded" his most sanguine expectations, and he had the
honesty to admit that "there can be no real or well-founded objection to
the amount of the compensation given for it, except that it is not an
adequate one."
The commissioners who negotiated the treaty were apprehensive that they
would be accused of having made too liberal terms with the Indians, and
in their report to the department they enumerate apologetically the
reasons which made it impossible for them to get the land cheaper. Mr.
Cass says of the terms: "Under any circumstances, they will fall
infinitely short of the pecuniary and political value of the country
obtained."
The Indians, parties to this treaty, surrendered by it almost the last
of their hunting-grounds, and would soon be driven to depending wholly
upon the cultivation of the soil.
In 1818 the Delawares again ceded land to the United States—ceded all to
which they laid claim in the State of Indiana—and the United States
promised to provide for them "a country to reside in on the west side of
the Mississippi," and "to guarantee to them the peaceable possession" of
the same. They were to have four thousand dollars a year in addition to
all the sums promised by previous treaties, and they were to be allowed
to remain three years longer by sufferance in their present homes. The
Government also agreed to pay them for their improvements on their
lands, to give them a hundred and twenty horses, and a "sufficient
number of pirogues to aid in transporting them to the west side of the
Mississippi;" also provisions for the journey.
In 1829 a supplementary Article was added to this treaty. The United
States Government began to show traces of compunction and pity. The
Article says, "Whereas the Delaware Nation are now willing to remove,"
it is agreed upon that the country in the fork of the Kansas and
Missouri rivers, selected for their home, "shall be conveyed and forever
secured by the United States to the said Delaware Nation, as their
permanent residence; and the United States hereby pledges the faith of
the Government to guarantee to the said Delaware Nation, forever, the
quiet and peaceable and undisturbed enjoyment of the same against the
claims and assaults of all and every other people whatever."
An additional permanent annuity of one thousand dollars is promised;
forty horses, "and the use of six wagons and ox-teams to assist in
removing heavy articles," provisions for the journey, and one year's
subsistence after they reach their new home; also the erection of a
grist and saw mill within two years.
In 1833 the Secretary of War congratulated the country on the fact that
"the country north of the Ohio, east of the Mississippi, including the
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the Territory of Michigan as far
as the Fox and Wisconsin rivers," has been practically "cleared of the
embarrassments of Indian relations," as there are not more than five
thousand Indians, all told, left in this whole region.
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the same year says that it is
"grateful to notice" how much the Indians' condition is "ameliorated
under the policy of removal." He says that they, "protected by the
strong arm of the Government, and dwelling on lands _distinctly_ and
permanently established as their own, enjoying a delightful climate and
a fertile soil, turn their attention to the cultivation of the earth,
and abandon the chase for the surer supply of domestic animals."
This commissioner apparently does not remember, perhaps never read, the
records of the great fields of corn which the Delawares had on the Miami
River in 1795, and how they returned twice that summer and replanted
them, after General Wayne had cut down and burnt the young crops. They
had "turned their attention to the cultivation of the soil" forty years
ago, and that was what came of it. We shall see how much better worth
while it may be for them to plant corn in their new "permanent home,"
than it was in their last one.
The printed records of Indian Affairs for the first forty years of this
century are meagre and unsatisfactory. Had the practice prevailed then,
as at the present time, of printing full annual reports for the
different tribes, it would be possible to know much which is now forever
locked up in the traditions and the memories of the Indians themselves.
For ten years after the making of this last quoted treaty, there is
little official mention of the Delawares by name, beyond the mention in
the fiscal reports of the sums paid to them as annuities and for
education. In 1833 the commissioner says, "The agent for the Delawares
and Shawnees states that he was shown cloth that was spun and wove, and
shirts and other clothing made by the Indian girls."
In 1838 the Delawares are reported as cultivating one thousand five
hundred acres of land in grain and vegetables, and raising a great many
hogs, cattle, and horses. "They are a brave, enterprising people," and
"at peace with all neighboring Indians."
Parties of them frequently make excursions into the Rocky Mountains
after beaver, and return with a rich reward, sometimes as much as one
thousand dollars to an individual; but their money is soon spent,
chiefly for ardent spirits. The agent says: "The only hinderance now in
the way of the Delawares, Shawnees, and Kickapoos is ardent spirits. ***
These whiskey traffickers, who seem void of all conscience, rob and
murder many of these Indians; I say rob—they will get them drunk, and
then take their horses, guns, or blankets off their backs, regardless of
how quick they may freeze to death; I say they murder—if not directly,
indirectly, they furnish the weapon—they make them drunk, and, when
drunk, they kill their fellow-beings. Some freeze to death when drunk;
several drunken Indians have been drowned in the Missouri River this
season, aiming to cross when drunk."
In 1844 the chiefs of the Delawares met together, and prepared a
remarkable document, which was forwarded to the Secretary of War. In
this paper they requested that all the school funds to which they were
entitled by treaty provisions might be paid to the Indian Manual Labor
School near the Fort Leavenworth Agency; might be pledged to that school
for ten years to come, and that they might therefor be guaranteed the
education and subsistence of Delaware children, not exceeding fifty at
any one time. It came out, in course of this negotiation, that two
thousand dollars were due them on arrearages of their school fund.
The Secretary acceded to this request, but imposed five conditions upon
it, of which the fourth seems worth chronicling, as an indication of the
helplessness of the Delawares in the matter of the disposition of their
own money: "The interest to be paid annually when it may suit the
Treasury; and this ratification to be subject to withdrawal, and the
agreement itself to rescission, and to be annulled at the pleasure of
the Department."
In 1845 the Delawares "raise a sufficiency to subsist on. The women do a
large portion of the work on the farms. In many families, however, the
women do not work on the farm. They raise corn, pumpkins, beans, pease,
cabbages, potatoes, and many kinds of garden vegetables. Some few raise
wheat and oats. They have lately had built, out of their own means, a
good saw and grist mill, with two run of stones, one for corn and the
other for wheat. There is a constant stream, called the Stranger, in
their country that affords excellent water privileges. On this stream
their mills are built."
At this time they are waiting with much anxiety to see if their "Great
Father" will punish the Sioux, who have at two different times attacked
them, and murdered in all some thirty men. "They say they do not wish to
offend and disobey their Great Father, and before they attempt to
revenge themselves they will wait and see if their Great Father will
compel the Sioux to make reparation."
In 1848 "almost every family is well supplied with farming-stock; and
they have raised abundance of corn, some wheat, potatoes, oats, and
garden vegetables; have made butter and cheese; and raised fruit, etc.,
etc. They dwell in good log-cabins, and some have extremely neat houses,
well furnished. They have their outhouses, stables, well-fenced lots,
and some have good barns." There are seventy scholars in one school
alone that are taught by the Friends; and the teacher reports: "It is
truly astonishing to see the rapidity with which they acquire knowledge.
The boys work on the farm part of the time, and soon learn how to do
what they are set at. The girls spend a part of their time in doing
housework, sewing, etc. Many of them do the sewing of their own, and
some of the clothes of the other children."
In 1853 the Delawares are recorded as being "among the most remarkable
of our colonized tribes. By their intrepidity and varied enterprise they
are distinguished in a high degree. Besides being industrious farmers
and herdsmen, they hunt and trade all over the interior of the
continent, carrying their traffic beyond the Great Salt Lake, and
exposing themselves to a thousand perils."
Their agent gives, in his report for this year, a graphic account of an
incident such as has only too often occurred on our frontier. "A small
party of Delawares, consisting of a man, his squaw, and a lad about
eighteen years of age, recently returning from the mountains, with the
avails and profits of a successful hunt and traffic, after they had
commenced their journey homeward the second day the man sickened and
died. Before he died he directed his squaw and the young man to hasten
home with their horses and mules—thirteen in number—their money (four
hundred and forty-five dollars), besides many other articles of value.
After a few days' travel, near some of the forts on the Arkansas, they
were overtaken by four white men, deserters from the United States
Army—three on foot, and one riding a mule. The squaw and young man
loaned each of the men on foot a horse or mule to ride, and furnished
them with provisions. They all travelled on friendly together for some
six or seven days, till they arrived at Cottonwood Creek, thirty-five or
forty miles west of Council Grove. One evening, while resting, the young
man was killed by these men; and the squaw was also supposed by these
wretches to be dead, having had her throat cut badly and her head
fractured. The two were then dragged off in the grass, supposed to be
dead. The men gathered the mules, horses, money, guns, blankets—all that
they supposed of value—and made for Jackson County, Missouri, where they
disposed of the stock as best they could, and three of them took steamer
for St. Louis. The squaw, on the day after, resuscitated; and soon
discovering that her companion had been killed, and everything they
possessed had disappeared, she, in her feeble and dangerous condition,
took the road to Council Grove. The fifth day, she says, she was
overtaken by a Kaw Indian, and brought into Council Grove, where the
traders had every attention paid her, and sent a runner to the Delaware
traders and myself, and we soon succeeded in capturing one of the men in
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, where he confessed the whole tragedy—the
murder, robbing, etc. The three others had left for St. Louis. A
telegraphic despatch to St. Louis, however, had the desired effect, and
the three men were taken and brought back to Liberty, where, on trial
before two justices of the peace, they were committed for trial in the
District Court of the United States for the State of Missouri. As feeble
as the squaw was, I was under the necessity of having her taken to
Liberty as a witness. She readily recognized and pointed out in a large
crowd of persons three of the prisoners. I have caused four of the
recovered mules and horses to be turned over to the unfortunate squaw. I
expect to recover two or three more; the balance, I am of opinion, will
never be obtained."
In the report of the Indian Commissioner for this year there is also a
paragraph which should not be omitted from this sketch: "The present
seems to be an appropriate occasion for calling the attention of
Congress to certain treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes which
the Government, for a number of years, has failed to execute. In
consideration of the cession of their lands to the United States"—by
some nine tribes of the Mississippi and Missouri regions, among whom
were the Delawares—"it was stipulated on the part of the Government that
certain sums should be paid to said tribes, amounting in the aggregate
to $2,396,600, and that the same should be invested in safe and
profitable stocks, yielding an interest of not less than five per cent.
per annum.
"Owing, however, to the embarrassed condition of the Treasury, it was
deemed advisable by Congress, in lieu of making the investments, to
appropriate from year to year a sum equal to the annual interest at five
per cent. on the several amounts required to be invested. On this amount
the Government has already paid from its treasury $1,742,240—a sum which
is now equal to two-thirds of the principal, and will in a few years be
equal to the whole, if the practice of appropriating the interest be
continued. As there is no limitation to the period of these payments,
such a policy indefinitely continued would prove a most costly one to
the Government. At the end of every twenty years it will have paid from
the public treasury by way of interest the full amount of the stipulated
investments. *** The public finances are in a prosperous condition.
Instead of fiscal embarrassment, there is now a redundancy of money, and
one of the vexed questions of the day is, What shall be done with the
surplus in the Treasury? Considering the premises, it seems to be quite
clear that so much thereof as may be necessary for the purpose should be
promptly applied to the fulfilment of our treaty obligations."
In 1854 the influx of white settlers into Kansas was so great, it became
evident that the Indian reservations there could not be kept intact; and
the Delawares made a large cession of their lands back to the United
States, to be restored to the public domain. For this they were to
receive ten thousand dollars. The sixth Article of this treaty provided
for the giving of annuities to their chiefs. "The Delawares feel now, as
heretofore, grateful to their old chiefs for their long and faithful
services. In former treaties, when their means were scanty, they
provided by small life annuities for the wants of the chiefs, some of
whom are now receiving them. These chiefs are poor, and the Delawares
believe it their duty to keep them from want in their old age." The sum
of ten thousand dollars, therefore, was to be paid to their five
chiefs—two hundred and fifty dollars a year each.
Article second provided that the President should cause the land now
reserved for their permanent home to be surveyed at any time when they
desired it, in the same manner as the ceded country was being surveyed
for the white settlers.
In the following year their agent writes thus of the results which have
followed the opening of this large tract to white settlers: "The Indians
have experienced enough to shake their confidence in the laws which
govern the white race. The irruptions of intruders on their trust lands,
their bloody dissensions among themselves, outbreaks of party, etc.,
must necessarily, to these unsophisticated people, have presented our
system of government in an unfavorable light.
"Numerous wrongs have been perpetrated on many parts of the reserve; the
white men have wasted their most valuable timber with an unsparing hand;
the trust lands have been greatly injured in consequence of the
settlements made thereon. The Indians have complained, but to no
purpose. I have found it useless to threaten legal proceedings. *** The
Government is bound in good faith to protect this people. *** The
agricultural portion of this tribe have done well this season; abundant
crops of corn promise them a supply of food for the ensuing year."
The simple-minded trustingness of these people is astonishing. Even now
they assent to an Article in this treaty which says that, as the means
arising from the sale of all this land they had given up would be more
than they could use, the remainder should be "from time to time invested
by the President of the United States in safe and profitable stocks; the
principal to remain unimpaired, and the interest to be applied annually
for the civilization, education, and religious culture of the Delaware
people, and such other objects of a beneficial character as in his
judgment are proper and necessary." Another Article stipulates that, if
any of the Delawares are worthless or idle, the President can withhold
their share of the moneys.
Article fifteenth says, gravely, "The primary object of this instrument
being to advance the interests and welfare of the Delaware people, it is
agreed that, if it prove insufficient to effect these ends from causes
which cannot now be foreseen, Congress may hereafter make such farther
provision, by law not inconsistent herewith, as experience may prove to
be necessary to promote the interests, peace, and happiness of the
Delaware people."
In 1860 the United States made its next treaty with the Delawares, in
which they consented to give the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western
Railroad Company right of way and certain lands in their reserve. In
1861 another treaty, in which, as the railway company had not paid, and
was not able to pay, the $286,742 which it had promised to pay the
Delawares, the President authorized the Commissioners of Indian Affairs
to take the bonds of said railroad for that amount, and a mortgage on
one hundred thousand acres of the land which the Indians had sold to the
railway company.
There was another very curious bit of legislation in regard to the
Delawares this year, viz., an Act of Congress authorizing the Secretary
of the Treasury to enter on his books $423,990.26 to the credit of the
Delawares; being the amount of bonds which the United States had
invested for the Delawares in State bonds of Missouri, Tennessee, and
North Carolina, and which had been stolen while in the custody of Jacob
Thompson, late Secretary of the Interior, in whose department they had
been deposited for safe-keeping. (At the same time there were stolen
$66,735 belonging to the Iowas, and $169,686.75 belonging to the
confederated bands of Kaskaskias, Peorias, Piankeshaws, and Keas.)
In this year the Commissioner of Indian Affairs visited the Delawares,
and reported them well advanced in civilization, in possession of
comfortable dwellings and farms, with personal property averaging one
thousand dollars to an individual. Many of them were traders, and
travelled even to the boundaries of California.
In 1862 two regiments of Delawares and Osages enlisted as soldiers in an
expedition to the Indian Territory, under Colonel Weer, who says of
them: "The Indian soldiers have far exceeded the most sanguine
expectations. They bore the brunt of the fighting done by the
expedition, and, had they been properly sustained, would have
effectually ended the sway of the rebels in the Indian Territory."
There was during this year a terrible condition of affairs in Kansas and
the Indian Territory. The Indians were largely on the side of the
rebels; yet, as the Indian Commissioner said in his report for this
year—a paragraph which is certainly a species of Irish bull—"While the
rebelling of a large portion of most of the tribes abrogates treaty
obligations, and places them at our mercy, the very important fact
should not be forgotten that the Government first wholly failed to keep
its treaty stipulations with them in protecting them." "By withdrawing
all the troops from the forts in the Indian Territory," it left them "at
the mercy of the rebels." That is, we first broke the treaty; and then
their subsequent failure to observe it "placed them at our mercy!"
"It is," he says, "a well-known fact that in many instances
self-preservation compelled them to make the best terms they could with
the rebels; and that this is the case has been proved by a large number
of them joining our army as soon as a sufficient force had penetrated
their country to make it safe for them to do so."
The Delawares enlisted, in 1862, one hundred and seventy men in the
Union army, and this out of a population of only two hundred males
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. There was probably no
instance in the whole country of such a ratio of volunteers as this.
They were reported as being in the army "tractable, sober, watchful, and
obedient to the commands of their superiors." They officered their own
companies, and the use of spirituous liquors was strictly prohibited
among them—a fact the more remarkable, as drunkenness was one of their
chief vices at home.
Already, however, the "interests" of the white settlers in Kansas were
beginning to be clearly in opposition to the interests of the Indians.
"Circumscribed as they are, and closely surrounded by white settlements,
I can see nothing in the future for them but destruction," says the
commissioner. "I think it is for the interest of the Indians that they
be removed to some other locality as soon as possible."
"Several of them have from fifty to one hundred acres of land in
cultivation, with comfortable dwellings, barns, and out-houses. *** All
the families are domiciled in houses. *** Their crops of corn will yield
largely. Nearly every family will have a sufficiency for their own
consumption, and many of the larger farmers a surplus. *** There are but
few Delaware children of the age of twelve or fourteen that cannot
read."
Here is a community of a thousand people, larger than many of the
farming villages in New England, for instance, "the average of personal
property amounting to one thousand dollars;" all living in their own
houses, cultivating from fifty to one hundred acres of land, nearly all
the children in schools, and yet it is for their "interest to be moved!"
The last sentence of the following paragraph tells the story:
"When peace is restored to our country, a removal of all the Indians in
Kansas will certainly be advantageous to them as well as to the State."
In 1863 their agent writes: "Since the question of the removal of the
Indians from Kansas has been agitated, improvements have been much
retarded among the Delawares and other Indians in Kansas.
"I think they are sufficiently prepared to make new treaties with the
Government, *** having in view settlement in the Southern country of
those who elect to emigrate, compensation for the homes they relinquish,
and a permission to remain in their present homes for all who are
opposed to leaving Kansas."
At this time, "one-half the adult population are in the volunteer
service of the United States. They make the best of soldiers, and are
highly valued by their officers. *** No State in the Union has furnished
so many men for our armies, from the same ratio of population, as has
the Delaware tribe. *** The tribe has 3900 acres of land under
cultivation, in corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes." (And yet one-half the
adult men are away!)
In this year the Delawares, being "sufficiently prepared" to make new
treaties looking to their removal out of the way of the white settlers
in Kansas, petitioned the United States Government to permit them to
take eight hundred dollars of their annuity funds to pay the expense of
sending a delegation of their chiefs to the Rocky Mountains, to see if
they could find there a country which would answer for their new home.
The commissioner advises that they should not be allowed to go there,
but to the Indian Territory, of which he says, "The geographical
situation is such that its occupation by lawless whites can be more
easily prevented than any other portion of the country." "By common
consent, this appears to be recognized as the Indian country, and I have
strong hopes that it will eventually prove for them a prosperous and
happy home."
In 1864 their agent writes that the greater part of the personal
property owned by the Delawares is in stock, "which is constantly being
preyed upon by the whites, until it has become so reduced that it is
difficult to obtain a good animal in the nation." He says he is unable,
for the want of proper information, to determine what amount they had at
the beginning of the year, but believes, from observation, "that it has
undergone a depletion to the extent of twenty thousand dollars in the
past year."
What a picture of a distressed community! The men away at war, old men,
women, and children working the farms, and twenty thousand dollars of
stock stolen from them in one year!
In 1865 a large proportion of those who had enlisted in the United
States Army were mustered out, and returned home. The agent says: "It
affords me great pleasure to chronicle the continued loyalty of this
tribe during the past four years; and, as events tend westward, they
evince every disposition to aid the Government by contributing their
knowledge of the country to the officers of the army, and rendering such
services thereto as they are qualified to perform."
They "have distinguished themselves in many instances in the conflicts
on the borders;" nevertheless, in this same year, these discharged
soldiers were prohibited by the Government from carrying revolvers. When
the commissioner instructed the agent to disarm them, the agent very
properly replied, stating the difficulties in the case: "Firstly, what
disposition is to be made of weapons taken forcibly from these Indians?
Secondly, many of these Indians are intelligent, only using weapons when
any well-disposed white person would have done so; and if one class is
disarmed, all must be;" on which the commissioner so modified his order
as to say that "peaceably disposed Indians" might keep the usual weapons
used by them in hunting; but whenever they visited agencies or towns
they must deliver up all weapons to the agent, who would receipt for
them, and return them "at proper times." This order is to be enforced,
if possible, by an "appeal to their better judgment."
There are no records of the practical working of this order. Very
possibly it fell at once, by its own weight, into the already large
category of dead-letter laws in regard to Indians. It is impossible to
imagine an Indian who had served four years as an officer in the army
(for the Delawares officered their own companies) submitting to be
disarmed by an agent on any day when he might need to go to Atchison on
business. Probably even that "appeal to his better judgment" which the
commissioner recommends, would only draw from him a very forcible
statement to the effect that any man who went about in Kansas at that
time unarmed was a fool.
In 1866 the Indian Commissioner reports that "the State of Kansas is
fast being filled by an energetic population who appreciate good land;
and as the Indian reservations were selected as being the best in the
State, but _one result can be expected to follow_.
"Most of the Indians are anxious to move to the Indian country south of
Kansas, where white settlers cannot interfere with them.
"Intermingled as the Kansas reservations are with the public lands, and
surrounded in most cases by white settlers who too often act on the
principle that an Indian has no rights that a white man is bound to
respect, they are injured and annoyed in many ways. Their stock are
stolen, their fences broken down, their timber destroyed, their young
men plied with whiskey, their women debauched; so that, while the
uncivilized are kept in a worse than savage state, having the crimes of
civilization forced upon them, those farther advanced, and disposed to
honest industry, are discouraged beyond endurance."
In spite of all this the Delawares raised, in 1866, 72,000 bushels of
grain, 13,000 bushels of potatoes, and owned 5000 head of cattle.
In July of this year a treaty was made with them, providing for the
removal to the Indian Territory of all who should not decide to become
citizens of Kansas, and the sale of their lands. The superintendent of
the Fort Leavenworth Agency writes at this time: "The running of the
Union Pacific Railroad through the Delawares' diminished reserve has
been a source of grievous annoyance and damage to the Delawares, as has
also an organization styled the Delaware Lumber Company. Out of these
two companies grew much complaint and investigation, resulting in the
appointment of a special agent to sell to the railroad the timber
required for the construction of the road, and no more. The Delaware
Lumber Company being thus restricted" (_i.e._, being prevented from
helping themselves to the Indians' timber), immediately "gave up their
business, and stopped their mills," but not before they had damaged the
Indians' property to the amount of twenty-eight thousand dollars.
Twenty thousand dollars' worth of stock and twenty-eight thousand
dollars' worth of timber having been stolen in two years from this
little village of farmers, no wonder they are "sufficiently prepared to
move." Other causes have conspired also to render them in haste to be
gone. The perpetual expectation of being obliged to remove had unsettled
the whole community, and made them indifferent to effort and
improvement. The return of their young men from the war had also had a
demoralizing effect. Drunken frays were not uncommon, in which deadly
weapons were used, spite of the Department's regulations for disarming
all Indians.
In July of this year the Delaware chiefs, distressed by this state of
affairs, drew up for their nation a code of laws which compare favorably
with the laws of so-called civilized States.[9]
Footnote 9:
See Appendix, Art. 8.
In 1867 the Delawares are said to be "very impatient to be gone from
their reserve, in order to build houses this autumn for winter use, and
to be fencing fields for the ensuing year at their new reserve." The
annuities due them in April of this year have not been paid till autumn,
and this has delayed their movements. Many of the young men are still
away, acting as scouts and guides in the army. In the course of this
year and the next the whole tribe moved by detachments to their new
home. "Those who removed during the winter went to work in a laudable
manner, and made their improvements—many building comfortable houses and
raising respectable crops" the first season. They are said to be now in
a fair way to be better off than ever before. They have "given up their
tribal organization and become Cherokee citizens. They report that they
are well pleased with their new homes; and, being separated from the
many temptations by which they were surrounded in their old reservation,
are learning to appreciate the many benefits to be derived from leading
a temperate, industrious, and consequently a prosperous and happy life."
In 1869 it is said that, "as soon as the final arrangement relative to
their funds is perfected, they will lose their nationality and become
identified with the Cherokees."
In 1870 we find nearly all the Delawares in Indian Territory; but it
seems that, owing to a carelessly surveyed boundary, some three hundred
of them had settled down on lands which were outside the Cherokee
Reservation, and had been assigned by the Government to the Osages. This
unfortunate three hundred, therefore, are removed again; this time to
the lands of the Peorias, where they ask permission to establish
themselves. But in the mean time, as they had made previous arrangements
with the Cherokees, and all their funds had been transferred to the
Cherokee Nation, it is thought to be "very unfortunate that they should
be thus obliged to seek a new home;" and it is said to be "quite
desirable that the parties in interest should reconcile their unsettled
affairs to mutual advantage."
We are too much inclined to read these records carelessly, without
trying to picture to ourselves the condition of affairs which they
represent. It has come to be such an accepted thing in the history and
fate of the Indian that he is to be always pushed on, always in advance
of what is called the march of civilization, that to the average mind
statements of these repeated removals come with no startling force, and
suggest no vivid picture of details, only a sort of reassertion of an
abstract general principle. But pausing to consider for a moment what
such statements actually mean and involve; imagining such processes
applied to some particular town or village that we happen to be
intimately acquainted with, we can soon come to a new realization of the
full bearing and import of them; such uprooting, such perplexity, such
loss, such confusion and uncertainty, inflicted once on any community of
white people anywhere in our land, would be considered quite enough to
destroy its energies and blight its prospects for years. It may very
well be questioned whether any of our small communities would have
recovered from such successive shocks, changes, and forced migrations,
as soon and as well as have many of these Indian tribes. It is very
certain that they would not have submitted to them as patiently.
After this we find in the Official Reports no distinctive mention of the
Delawares by name, except of a few who had been for some time living in
the Indian Territory, and were not included in the treaty provisions at
the time of the removal from Kansas. This little handful—eighty-one in
number—is all that now remain to bear the name of that strong and
friendly people to whom, a little more than one hundred years ago, we
promised that they should be our brothers forever, and be entitled to a
representation in our Congress.
This band of Delawares is associated with six other dwindled remnants of
tribes—the Caddoes, Ionies, Wichitas, Towaconies, Wacoes, Keechies, and
Comanches—on the Wichita Agency, in Indian Territory.
They are all reported as being "peaceable, well disposed," and "actively
engaged in agricultural pursuits."
Of the Delawares it is said, in 1878, that they were not able to
cultivate so much land as they had intended to during that year, "on
account of loss of stock by horse-thieves."
Even here, it seems, in that "Indian country south of Kansas, where" (as
they were told) "white settlers could not interfere with them," enemies
lie in wait for them, as of old, to rob and destroy; even here the
Government is, as before, unable to protect them; and in all
probability, the tragedies of 1866 and 1867 will before long be
re-enacted with still sadder results.