reluctant. They feared that their action would result in the
destruction of the nation. Said Joseph P. Folsom, a member of the
council & a graduate of Dartmouth College New Hampshire, "We are
choosing in what way we shall die." Judge Wade said to me, "We expect
that the Choctaws will be buried. That is what we think will be the
end of this." Judge W. is a member of the Senate (for the Choctaw
Council is composed of a Senate & lower house chosen by the people in
districts & the constitution is modeled very much after those of the
states.) & he has been a chief. Others said to me "If the north was
here so we could be protected we would stand up for the north but now
if we do not go in for the south the Texans will come over here and
kill us." Mr. Reid told me a day or two before we left that he had
become convinced during a trip for two or three days through the
country that the _full bloods_ were strongly for the north. I am sure
it _was so then_ & it was the opinion of the missionaries that if we
had all taken the position, that we would not leave, some of us had
been warned to do so by Texan vigilance committees, we could have
raised a thousand men who would have armed in our defence--Our older
brethren told us that this would hasten the destruction of the indians
as they would be crushed before any help could come.--We thought this
would probably be the case and the missionaries who were most strongly
union in sentiment left.
One of the number Rev. John Edwards had been hiding for his life from
Texan & half blood ruffians for two weeks & we at Spencer had had the
_honor_ to be visited by a Texas committee searching for arms.
I continue my narrative from a letter from one of our teachers who was
detained when we left by the illness of his wife & who left Spencer
Sept. 5th & the Nation Sept. 9th. He says Col. Coopers regiment was
filled up with Texans "The half breeds after involving the full bloods
in the war have rather drawn back themselves and but few of them have
enlisted & gone to the war." This indicates that the full bloods have
at last yielded to the pressure and joined the rebels. The
missionaries who remained would generally advise them to do this.
The Choctaw commissioners met Albert Pike rebel commissioner & made a
treaty with him, with reference to this he says "The Choctaws rec'd
quite a bundle of promises from the rebel government. Their treaty
gives their representative a seat in the rebel congress, acknowledges
the right of the Choctaws to give testimony in all courts in the C.
S., exempts them from the expences of the war, their soldiers are to
be paid 20$ a month by the C. S. during the war, the C. S. assume the
debts due the Choctaws by the U. S., they have the privilege of coming
in as a state into the Confederacy with equal rights if they wish it,
or remain as they are, the C. S. to sustain their schools _after the
war_, they guarantee them against all intrusion on their lands by
white men, allow them to garrison the forts in their territory with
their own troops if they wish it said troops to be paid by the C.
S."--Here is a list of promises and when I think of these, of the
belief of their oldest missionaries in the final success of the
rebels, of the fact that all the old Officers of the U. S. government
were in the service of the rebels, of the occupation of the forts
there by rebels, of the activity of a knot of bitter disunionists led
by Capt. Jones, who has long been a very influential man, of the Texas
mob law which considered it a crime for a young man to refuse to
volunteer, of the fact that there was no way for them to hear the
truth as to the designs of the U. S. government concerning them,
except through Col. Pitchlyn who was soon silenced & of the falsehoods
told them as to the designs of the Government, I do not wonder that
they have joined the rebels.
I saw strong men completely unmanned even to floods of tears by the
leaving of Dr. Hobbs and the thoughts of what was before them. I heard
men say they did not want to fight but expected to be forced to do it.
I trust the government will consider the circumstances of the case &
deal gently, considerately with the indians. I do not like to write
such things of my brother missionaries but they are I believe facts &
though I love some of them very much I still must say that, except
Rev. Mr. Byington who was doubtful & Rev. Mr. Balantine a missionary
to the Chickasaws who was union, all the ordained missionaries
belonging to the Choctaw & Chickasaw Mission of the Presbyterian Board
who remain there were victims of the madness which swept over the
South, were secessionists--One or two of the three Laymen who remained
were union men--Cyrus Kingsbury son of Rev. Dr. K. being one....
The failure of the United States government to give the Indians, in
season, the necessary assurance that they would be protected, no matter
what might happen, can not be too severely criticized. It indicated a very
short-sighted policy and was due either to a tendency to ignore the
Indians as people of no importance or to a lack of harmony and cooperation
among the departments at Washington. Such an assurance of continued
protection was not even framed until the second week in May and then the
Indian country was already threatened by the secessionists. Moreover, it
was framed and intended to be given by one department, the Interior, and
its fulfilment left to another, the War. It went out from the Indian
Office in the form of a circular letter,[114] addressed by Commissioner
William P. Dole to the chief executive[115] in each of the five great
tribes. It assured the Indians that President Lincoln had no intention of
interfering with their domestic institutions or of allowing government
agents or employees to interfere and that the War Department had been
appealed to to furnish all needed defense according to treaty guaranties.
The new southern superintendent, William G. Coffin of Indiana, was made
the bearer of the missive; but, unfortunately, quite a little time
elapsed[116] before the military situation[117] in the West would allow
him to assume his full duties or to reach his official headquarters,[118]
and, in the interval, he was detailed for other work. The Indians,
meanwhile, were left to their own devices and were obliged to look out for
their own defense as best they could.
To all appearances neither the legislative action of the Chickasaws and of
the Choctaws nor the work of the inter-tribal council was, at the time of
occurrence, reported officially to the United States government or, if
reported officially, then not pointedly so as to reveal its real bearings
upon the case in hand. All the agents within Indian Territory were as
usual southern men;[119] but may not have been directly responsible or
even cognizant of this particular action of their charges. The records
show that practically all of them, Cooper, Garrett, Cowart, Leeper, and
Dorn, were absent[120] from their posts, with or without leave, the first
part of the new year and that every one of them became or was already an
active secessionist.[121]
It has been authenticated and is well understood today that, as the
Southern States, one by one, declared themselves out of the Union or were
getting themselves into line for so doing, they prepared to further the
cause of secession among their neighbors and, for the purpose, sent agents
or commissioners to them, who organized the movement very much as the
Committees of Correspondence did a similar movement prior to the American
Revolution. In short, in the spring of 1861, the seceding states entered
upon active proselytism and at least two of them extended their labors to
and among the Indians. Those two were Texas and Arkansas. Missouri also
worked with the same end in view, so did Colorado, but apparently not so
much with the great tribes of Oklahoma as with the politically less
important of Kansas. Colorado, it is true, did operate to some extent upon
the Cherokees of the Outlet and upon the Wichitas, but mostly upon the
Indians of the western plains. No one can deny that, in the interests of
the Confederate cause, the project of sending emissaries even to the
Indians was a wise measure or refuse to admit that the contrasting
inactivity and positive indifference of the North was foolhardy in the
extreme. It indicated a self-complacency for which there was no
justification. More than that can with truth be said; for, from the
standpoint of political wisdom and foresight, the inactivity where the
Indians were concerned was conduct most reprehensible.
While Chickasaws and Choctaws, unsolicited,[122] were expressing
themselves, the secessionist sentiment was developing rapidly in Texas.
By the middle of February, conditions were such that steps might be taken
to order the evacuation of the state by Federal troops. This was finally
done under authority of the Committee of Public Safety[123] and the
general in command, D. E. Twiggs of Georgia, compliantly yielded. His
small show of resistance seemed, under the circumstances, a mere pretense,
although he had his reasons, and good ones too, perfectly satisfactory to
himself, for doing what he did. Two main conditions were attached to the
agreement of surrender;[124] one, exacted by General Twiggs, to the effect
that his men be allowed to retain their arms, commissary stores, camp and
garrison equipage, and the means of transportation; the other, exacted by
the Texan commissioners, that the troops depart by way of the coast and
not overland, as the United States War Department had designed when, a
short time before, it had ordered a similar removal.[125] The precaution
of forcing a coastwise journey[126] was taken by the Texan commissioners
to consume time and to prevent the troops being retained in states or
territories through which transit lay for possible future use against
Texas. The easy compliance of General Twiggs[127] undoubtedly merits some
censure and yet was perfectly well justified to his own conscience by the
exigencies of the situation and by the fact that he had repeatedly asked
for orders as to what he should do in the event of an emergency and had
received none. The circumstance of his surrender and the resulting triumph
of the secessionist element could not fail to have its effect upon the
watchful Indians to whom the exhibition of present power was everything.
That the Texan secessionists fully appreciated the strategic position of
the Indian nations and the absolute necessity of making some sort of terms
with them was brought out by the action of the convention at its first
session. An ordinance was passed "to secure the friendship and
co-operation of the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole
Nations of Indians;" and three men, James E. Harrison, James Bourland, and
Charles A. Hamilton, were appointed as commissioners[128] "to proceed to
said nations and invite their prompt co-operation in the formation of a
Southern Confederacy."[129]
Now before following these men in the execution of their mission, it may
be advisable, for breadth of view, to illustrate how Texas still further
made Indian relations an issue most prominent in all the earlier stages of
her secession movement; but at the very outset it must be admitted that,
in so doing, she differentiated carefully between the civilized and the
uncivilized tribes. With the one group she was ready to seek an alliance,
offensive and defensive, but with the other to wage a relentless,
exterminating war. The failure of the United States central government to
protect her against the aggressions and the atrocities so-called of the
wild tribes was cited by her as one principal justification for withdrawal
from the Union,[130] her obvious purpose being to gain thereby the
adherence of the northern counties, non-slaveholding but frontier. Almost
conversely, on the other hand, Governor Houston gave as one good and
sufficient reason for not withdrawing from the Union, the fear that should
the Union be dissolved the wild tribes, who were now, in a measure,
restrained from committing depredations and enormities by the very nature
of their treaty guaranties, would be literally let loose upon Texas.[131]
As far as the civilized tribes were concerned, however, all were of one
mind and that took the form of the conviction that so great was the
necessity of gaining and holding the confidence of the Indians, that Texas
must not procrastinate in joining her fortunes with those of her sister
states in the Confederacy.[132]
James E. Harrison and his colleagues started out upon the performance of
the duties assigned them, February 27, 1861. Their report[133] of
operations and of observations being somewhat difficult of access and its
contents not easily summarized, is herewith appended. Its fullness of
detail is especially to be commended.
We ... crossed Red River and entered the Chickasaw Nation about thirty
miles southwest of Fort Washita; visited and held a private conference
with His Excellency Governor C. Harris and other distinguished men of
that nation, who fully appreciated our views and the object of our
mission. They informed us that a convention of the Chickasaws and
Choctaws was in a few days to convene at Boggy Depot, in the Choctaw
Nation, to attend to some municipal arrangements. We, in company with
Governor Harris and others, made our way to Boggy Depot, conferring
privately with the principal men on our route. We arrived at Boggy
Depot on the 10th day of March. Their convention or council convened
on the 11th. Elected a president of the convention (Ex-Governor
Walker, of the Choctaw Nation); adopted rules of decorum. On the 12th
we were waited on by a committee of the convention. Introduced as
commissioners from Texas, we presented our credentials and were
invited to seats. The convention then asked to hear us, when Mr. James
E. Harrison addressed them and a crowded auditory upon the subject of
our mission, setting forth the grounds of our complaint against the
Government of the United States, the wrongs we had suffered until our
patience had become exhausted, endurance had ceased to be a virtue,
our duty to ourselves and children demanded of us a disruption of the
Government that had ceased to protect us or to regard our rights;
announced the severance of the old and the organization of a new
Government of Confederate Sovereign States of the South, with a
common kindred, common hopes, common interest, and a common destiny;
discussed the power of the new Government, its influence, and wealth;
the interest the civilized red man had in this new organization;
tendering them our warmest sympathy and regard, all of which met the
cordial approbation of the convention.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws are entirely Southern and are determined
to adhere to the fortunes of the South. They were embarrassed in their
action by the absence of their agents and commissioners at Washington,
the seat of Government of the Northern Confederacy, seeking a final
settlement with that Government. They have passed resolutions
authorizing the raising of a minute company in each county in the two
nations, to be drilled for actual service when necessary. Their
convention was highly respectable in numbers and intelligence, and the
business of the convention was dispatched with such admirable decorum
and promptness as is rarely met with in similar deliberative bodies
within the States.
On the morning of the 13th, hearing that the Creeks (or Maskokys) and
Cherokees were in council at the Creek agency, on the Arkansas River,
140 miles distant, we immediately set out for that point, hoping to
reach them before their adjournment. In this we were disappointed.
They had adjourned two days before our arrival. We reached that point
on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, hearing that there was a
religious meeting five miles north of the Arkansas River, in the Creek
Nation, Mr. James E. Harrison attended, which proved to be of the
utmost importance to our mission. The Reverend Mr. H. S. Buckner was
present, with Chilly McIntosh, D. N. McIntosh, Judge Marshall, and
others, examining a translation of a portion of the Scriptures, hymn
book, and Greek grammar by Mr. Buckner into the Creek language. Mr.
Buckner showed us great kindness, and did us eminent service, as did
also Elder Vandiven, at whose house we spent the night and portion of
the next day with these gentlemen of the Creek Nation, and through
them succeeded in having a convention of the five nations called by
Governor Motey Kinnaird, of the Creeks, to meet at North Fork (Creek
Nation) on the 8th of April.
In the intermediate time we visited the Cherokee Nation, calling on
their principal men and citizens, conversing with them freely until
we reached Tahlequah, the seat of government. Near this place Mr. John
Ross resides, the Governor of the nation. We called on him officially.
We were not unexpected, and were received with courtesy, but not with
cordiality. A long conference was had with him, conducted by Mr.
Harrison on the part of the commissioners, without, we fear, any good
result. He was very diplomatic and cautious. His position is the same
as that held by Mr. Lincoln in his inaugural; declares the Union not
dissolved; ignores the Southern Government. The intelligence of the
nation is not with him. Four-fifths, at least, are against his views,
as we learned from observation and good authorities. He, as we
learned, had been urged by his people to call a council of the nation
(he having the only constitutional authority to do so), to take into
consideration the embarrassed condition of political affairs in the
States, and to give some expression of their sentiments and
sympathies. This he has persistently refused to do. His position in
this is that of Sam. Houston in Texas, and in all probability will
share the same fate, if not a worse one. His people are already
oppressed by a Northern population letting a portion of territory
purchased by them from the United States, to the exclusion of natives,
and we are creditably informed that the Governors of some two or more
of the Western free-soil States have recommended their people
emigrating to settle the Cherokee country. It is due Mr. John Ross, in
this connection, to say that during our conference with him he
frequently avowed his sympathy for the South, and that, if Virginia
and the other Border States seceded from the Government of the United
States, his people would declare for the Southern Government that
might be formed. The fact is not to be denied or disguised that among
the common Indians of the Cherokees there exists a considerable
abolition influence, created and sustained by one Jones, a Northern
missionary of education and ability, who has been among them for many
years, and who is said to exert no small influence with John Ross
himself.
From Tahlequah we returned to the Creek Nation, and had great
satisfaction in visiting their principal men--the McIntoshes,
Stidhams, Smiths, Vanns, Rosses, Marshalls, and others too numerous to
mention. Heavy falls of rain occurred about the time the convention
was to meet at North Fork, which prevented the Chickasaws and Choctaws
from attending the council, the rivers and creeks being all full and
impassable. The Creeks, Cherokees, Seminoles, Quapa, and Socks (the
three latter dependencies of the Creeks) met on the 8th of April.
After they had organized by calling Motey Kinnaird, the Governor of
the Creeks, to the chair, a committee was appointed to wait on the
commissioners present, James E. Harrison and Capt. C. A. Hamilton, and
invite them to appear in the convention, when, by invitation, Mr.
Harrison addressed the convention in a speech of two hours. Our views
were cordially received by the convention. The Creeks are Southern and
sound to a man, and when desired will show their devotion to our cause
by acts. They meet in council on the 1st of May, when they will
probably send delegates to Montgomery to arrange with the Southern
Government.
These nations are in a rapid state of improvement. The chase is no
longer resorted to as means of subsistence, only as an occasional
recreation. They are pursuing with good success agriculture and stock
raising. Their houses are well built and comfortable, some of them
costly. Their farms are well planned and some of them extensive and
all well cultivated. They are well supplied with schools of learning,
extensively patronized. They have many churches and a large membership
of moral, pious deportment. They feel themselves to be in an exposed,
embarrassed condition. They are occupying a country well suited to
them, well watered, and fertile, with extensive fields of the very
best mineral coal, fine salt springs and wells, with plenty of good
timber, water powers which they are using to an advantage. Pure slate,
granite, sandstone, blue limestone, and marble are found in abundance.
All this they regard as inviting Northern aggression, and they are
without arms, to any extent, or munitions of war. They declare
themselves Southerners by geographical position, by a common interest,
by their social system, and by blood, for they are rapidly becoming a
nation of whites. They have written constitutions, laws, etc., modeled
after those of the Southern States. We recommend them to the fostering
care of the South, and that treaty arrangements be entered into with
them as soon as possible. They can raise 20,000 good fighting men,
leaving enough at home to attend to domestic affairs, and under the
direction of an officer from the Southern Government would deal
destruction to an approaching army from that direction, and in the
language of one of their principal men:
"Lincoln may haul his big guns about our prairies in the daytime, but
we will swoop down upon him at night from our mountains and forests,
dealing death and destruction to his army."
No delay should be permitted in this direction. They cannot declare
themselves until they are placed in a defensible position. The
Administration of the North is concentrating his forces at Fort
Washita, about twenty-four miles from the Texas line, and within the
limits of the Chickasaw Nation. This fort could easily be taken by a
force of 200 or 300 good men, and it is submitted as to whether in the
present state of affairs a foreign government should be permitted to
accumulate a large force on the borders of our country, especially a
portion containing a large number of disaffected citizens who
repudiate the action of the State.
In this connection it may not be improper to state that from North
Fork to Red River we met over 120 wagons, movers from Texas to Kansas
and other free States. These people are from Grayton, Collin, Johnson,
and Denton, a country beautiful in appearance, rich in soil, genial in
climate, and inferior to none in its capacity for the production of
the cereals and stock. In disguise, we conversed with them freely.
They had proposed by the ballot box to abolitionize at least that
portion of the State. Failing in this, we suppose at least 500 voters
have returned whence they came.
All of which is respectfully submitted this April 23, 1861....
Presumably, the suggestions, contained in the closing paragraphs of the
commissioners' report, in so far as they concerned Texas, were immediately
acted upon by her. It was very true, as the commissioners had reported,
that a change was taking place in the disposition of Federal troops within
the Indian country. About the middle of February, a complaint[134] had
been filed at the Indian Office by the Wichita agent, Matthew Leeper, to
the effect that men, claiming to be Choctaws and Chickasaws, were
trespassing upon the Leased District. The Reserve Indians asked for relief
and protection at the hands of their guardian, the United States
government. Shortly afterwards, perhaps in a measure in response to the
appeal or more likely, to a hint that everything was not quite as it
should be on the Texan border, Colonel William H. Emory, First United
States Cavalry, was ordered, March 13,[135] to take post at Fort Cobb. He
was then in Washington and, immediately upon his departure thence, was
ordered, March 18,[136] to form his regiment at Fort Washita instead, word
having come from the commander at that post,[137] in a report of the third
instant, of a threatened attack by Texans. In explanation of a policy so
vacillating, Emory was given to understand that the change of destination
was really made at the solicitation of the agent and delegation of the
Chickasaws. Those men were in Washington, out of reach of and apparently
out of sympathy with, the events transpiring at home. Agent Cooper,
secessionist though he was, probably did not altogether approve of the
interference of the Texans. At any rate, he shared the representations of
the Chickasaw delegation that Fort Washita stood in need of
reenforcement,[138] and the War Department acceded to their request on the
ground that, "The interests of the United States are paramount to those
of the friendly Indians on the reservation near Fort Cobb."[139]