would-be settlers seem to have been attracted thither from a mistaken
notion that there were mines of precious metals west of Missouri
[Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1858].
[27] As early as 1857, the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri were reported as
looking for a new home to the southward, in a less rigorous climate, and,
with that purpose in mind, they visited the Cherokees. When the Delaware
treaty of 1860 was being negotiated, the Delawares expressed themselves as
very anxious to get away from white interference, to leave Kansas. The
Ottawas thought and thought rightly, forsooth, judging from the experience
of the past, that removal would do no good. They declared a preference for
United States citizenship and tribal allotment [Jotham Meeker, Baptist
missionary, to Agent James, September 4, 1854, also Agent James's
_Report_, 1857]. At this same period, Agent Dorn reported that the Kansas
River Shawnees were desirous of joining those of the Neosho Agency.
Greenwood replied, January 18, 1860, that the subject of allowing the
northern Indians to go south was then under consideration by the
department [Letter to Superintendent Rector].
[28] The evidence of this is to be found in a letter from W. G. Coffin to
Dole, June 17, 1861 [_Neosho Files, 1838-1865_, C1223].
[29] For information on this subject, see Carroll's _American Church
History_, 19, 93, 253-254, 302.
[30] Feeling that, under the treaty of 1854, they were free to choose
whatever denomination they pleased to reside among them, the Kickapoos
expressed a preference for the Methodist Episcopal Church South, but the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was already established among their
neighbors of the Otoe and Missouria and Great Nemaha Agencies, their own
agent, Mr. Baldwin, was a Presbyterian, and so, before long, in some
almost unaccountable way, they found that the Presbyterians (Old School)
had obtained an entry upon their reserve and had established a mission
school there. The Kickapoos were indignant, as well they had a right to
be, and made as much trouble as they possibly could for the Presbyterians.
In 1860, the Presbyterian Board vacated the premises and the Methodist
Episcopal Church South took possession, Agent Badger favoring the change.
The change was of but short duration, however; for, in 1861, the Southern
Methodists, finding the sympathy of the Kickapoos was mainly with the
federal element, took their departure.
[31] Ray, _op. cit._, 86, footnote 107.
[32] The most flourishing schools seem to have been the Roman Catholic.
The Roman Catholics did not greatly concern themselves, as a church
organization, with the slavery agitation, and St. Mary's Mission and the
Osage Manual Labor School were scarcely affected by the war and not at all
by the troubles that presaged its approach.
[33] The Baptist school among the Potawatomies closed in 1861. See
Appendix.
[34] House _Report_, 34th congress, first session, no. 200, pp. 14, 18,
94, 425.
[35] See Indian Office, _Special File, no. 220_.
[36] The work of the American Board among the Cherokees was discontinued
just before the war [_Missionary Herald_, 1861, p. 11; American Board
_Report_, 1860, p. 137].
[37] The four were: "Park hill, five miles south from Tahlequah; Dwight,
forty-two miles south-southwest from Tahlequah; Fairfield, twenty-five
miles southeast from Tahlequah; Lee's creek, forty-three miles southeast
from Tahlequah"--Commissioner of Indian Affairs [_Report_, 1859, p. 173].
There had been a fifth, an out station.
[38] The Congregational schools among the Choctaws were: Iyanubbi, near
the Arkansas line; Wheelock, eighteen miles east of Doaksville; and
Chuahla, one mile from Doaksville.
[39] The Southern Baptist Convention had not been long in the county prior
to the Civil War. The Methodist Episcopal Church South had no schools but
several missionaries. The American Baptist Missionary Union had a number
of meeting-houses.
[40] The Presbyterians (Old School) established Wah-pa-nuc-ka Institute
for young women, forty miles north of Red River and one and one-eighth
miles west of the Choctaw and Chickasaw line; but differences arose
between the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions and the Chickasaw
authorities, neither institutional nor sectional, but purely financial,
which caused the Presbyterians to abandon the school in 1860 [C. H.
Wilson, attorney for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, to
Cooper, April 16, 1860]. The Presbyterian schools among the Choctaws were:
Spencer Academy, "located on the old military road leading from Fort
Towson to Fort Smith, about ten miles north of Fort Towson," and Koonsha
Female Seminary. Both of them were under the Presbyterian Board. A third
institution, Armstrong Academy, belonged to the Cumberland Presbyterians.
The Southern Methodists had Bloomfield Academy, Colbert Institute, and the
Chickasaw Manual Labor School among the Chickasaws; and the Fort Coffee
and New Hope academies, for boys and girls respectively, among the
Choctaws.
[41] The Seminoles were late in manifesting an interest in education, and,
when interest did arise among them, John Jumper, the chief, declared for
boarding-schools and asked that such be established under the Presbyterian
Board, the same that had influence among their near neighbors, the Creeks.
[42] The American Board itself was inclined to be non-committal and
temporizing [Garrison, op. cit., vol. iii, 30]. The _Missionary Herald_,
so valuable an historical source as it proved itself to be for Indian
removals, is strangely silent on the great subject of negro slavery among
the Indians. Its references to it are only very occasional and never more
than incidental.
[43] Kingsbury was superintendent of the Chuahla Female Seminary.
[44] Worcester died, April, 1859 [_Missionary Herald_, 1859, p. 187; 1860,
p. 12].
[45] _Missionary Herald_, 1859, pp. 335-336; 1860, p. 12; The American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, _Report_, 1856, p. 195.
[46] Report of C. C. Copeland, 1860.
[47] Cooper was also Chickasaw agent. On the fifth of October, 1854, some
of the principal men of the Chickasaw Nation, Cyrus Harris, James Gamble,
Sampson Folsom, Jackson Frazier, and D. Colbert, petitioned President
Pierce for the removal of Agent Andrew J. Smith on charges of official
irregularity and gross immorality. A year later, Superintendent Dean
reiterated the charges. Smith's commission was revoked, November 9, 1855;
and, in March, 1856, Cooper was assigned the Chickasaws as an additional
charge. Henceforth, the two tribes had an agent in common.
[48] This note itself bore no date but there is documentary proof that it
was received at Fort Smith, November 27, 1854. It is to be found in the
Indian Office among the _Fort Smith Papers_.
[49] The allusion is, of course, to the "higher law" doctrine expressed in
Seward's Senate Speech of March 11, 1850.
[50] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1859, pp. 190-191.
The letter of Dr. Treat referred to by Agent Cooper is herewith given. It
is accompanied by the letter that covered it and that letter, as it is
found among the _Fort Smith Papers_ in the United States Indian Office,
bears a record to the effect that the copy of it was transmitted by the
southern superintendent to Washington, November 28, 1855.
FORT TOWSON Nov. 16, 1855
SIR: I have the pleasure to forward a copy of letter, addressed to the
Rev{d} S. B. Treat, Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, by C. Kingsbury and
others--Missionaries among the Choctaws--and request the same may be
transmitted to the Hon Comr of Indian Affairs for the information of
the Government of the United States.
The letter as you will perceive refers to an exciting and highly
important subject--in which the States adjoining the Indian Territory
are deeply & directly interested, as well as the Choctaw People.
I cannot refrain from the expression of my gratification at the
position assured in this letter by the old and valued Missionaries
among the Choctaws. The copy was handed to me by Rev{d} Cyrus
Kingsbury, one of the signers to the original letter. Respectfully
DOUGLAS H. COOPER, U. S. Agent for Choctaws
Hon. C. M. Dean, Supt. Indian Affairs,
Ft Smith.
[_Inclosure_]--_Copy_
PINE RIDGE, CHOC. NA. Nov. 15, 1855.
REV. S. B. TREAT, Cor. Secretary of the A.B.C.F.M.
Rev. & Dear Brother, When the Rev. G. W. Wood visited us as a
deputation from the Prudential Committee, he treated us, our views,
and _our practice_ so kindly, and spoke to us so many encouraging
words, that we were constrained to meet him in a similar spirit of
concilliation. We were willing to re-examine the difference in views
on the subject of slavery, which for a long time had existed between
the Committee and ourselves, and to see if there was not common ground
on which we could stand together.
At the opening of the meeting at Good Water, Mr. Wood laid aside the
letter of June 22nd '/48. This was a subject we were not to discuss.
He then introduced, by way of compromise, as we understood it, certain
articles to show that there were principles, or modes of expression,
in relation to slavery, in which there was substantial agreement. To
these articles, though not expressed in every particular as we could
have wished, (and after some of them had been modified by oral
explanations,) we gave our assent, for the sake of peace. We hoped it
would put an end to agitation on a subject which had so long troubled
us, and hindered us in our work. We took it for granted that the
Committee had yielded certain important points, insisted on in the
letter of June 22nd '/48. This gladdened our hearts, and disposed us
to meet Mr. Wood's proposal in a spirit of concilliation and
confidence. We are not skilled in diplomacy, and had no thought that
we were assenting to articles which would be considered as covering
the whole ground of the letter of June 22nd. The first intimation that
we had been mistaken, was from a statement made by Mr. Wood, in New
York, that the result of the meeting at Good Water "_involved no
change of views or action_ on the part of the Prudential Committee and
Secretaries."
In Mr. Wood's report to the Pru. Com. which was read at Utica, the
Good Water document was placed in such a relation on to other
statements, as to make the impression that we had given our full and
willing assent to the entire letter of June 22d. The Com. on that
Report, of which Dr. Beman was chairman, say, "The great end aimed at
by the Pru. Com. in their correspondence with these missions for
several years; and by the Board at their last annual meeting; has been
substantially accomplished."
This is a result we had not anticipated. We can not consent to be thus
made to sanction principles and sentiments which are contrary to our
known, deliberate, and settled convictions of right, and to what we
understand to be the teachings of the word of God. We are fully
convinced that we can not go with the Committee and the Board, as to
the manner in which as Ministers of the Gospel and Missionaries we are
to deal with slavery. We believe the instructions of the Apostles, in
relation to this subject, are a sufficient guide, and that if followed
the best interests of society, as well as of the Church, will be
secured.
We have no wish to give the Com. or the Board farther trouble on this
subject. As there is no prospect that our views can be brought to
harmonize, we must request that our relations to the A.B.C.F.M. may be
dissolved in a way that will do the least harm to the Board, and to
our Mission.
We have endeavored to seek Divine guidance in this difficult matter,
and we desire to do that which shall be most for the glory of our
Divine Master, and the best interests of his cause among this people.
We regret the course we feel compelled to take, but we can see no
other relief from our present embarassment. Fraternally and truly
yours,
(Signed) C. KINGSBURY C. C. COPELAND
C. BYINGTON O. P. STARK
E. HOTCHKIN
[51] That the Buchanan administration did endorse pro-slavery policy and
actions requires no proof today. The findings of the Covode committee of
investigation, 1860, are in themselves sufficient evidence, were other
evidence lacking, of the intensely partisan and corrupt character of the
Democratic regime just prior to the Civil War. Of the officials, having
Indian concerns in charge, the Secretary of the Interior and the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs are, for present purposes, alone important.
Buchanan's Secretary of the Interior was Jacob Thompson, who had formerly
been a representative in Congress from Mississippi and had thrown all the
weight of his influence in favor of the Lecompton constitution for Kansas
[Rhodes, J. F. _History of the United States_, vol. ii, 277]. After his
retirement from Buchanan's cabinet, Thompson served as commissioner from
Mississippi, working in North Carolina for the accomplishment of secession
[Moore's _Rebellion Record_, vol. i, 5]. A. B. Greenwood of Arkansas was
Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Buchanan's time. He also had been in
Congress and, while there, had served on the House Committee of
Investigation into Brooks's attack upon Sumner. He formed with Howell Cobb
of Georgia the minority element [Von Holst, vol. v, 324].
[52] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1860, p. 129.
[53] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1859, p. 172.
[54] Greenwood to Rector, March 14, 1860 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_,
no. 63, p. 128]; Greenwood to Cowart, March 14, 1860 [_ibid._, 125].
[55] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1860. See also additional
documents in Appendix B.
[56] The following extract from the _Fort Smith Times_ of February 3, 1859
makes particular mention of the Reverend Evan Jones:
In the _True Democrat_ of the 19th inst., we find an article credited
to the _Fort Smith Times_, in which the Rev. Evan Jones, a Baptist
Missionary, residing near the State line, Washington county, is
handled rather roughly so far as words are concerned. He is said to be
an abolitionist, and a very dangerous man, meddling with the affairs
of the Cherokees, and teaching them abolition principles.
"As such reports will be circulated to the prejudice of the Southern
Baptists, we hereby request some of our Brethren in the northwest part
of the State to write us the grounds for such reports.
"Is the 'Rev. Evan Jones' connected with any Missionary Society and if
so, what one?
"We hope shortly to hear more concerning this matter."
The above notice is from the first number of the _Arkansas Baptist_, a
new paper just published in Little Rock, P. S. G. Watson, Editor. It
was not our intention to cast any reflections on the Baptist Church by
noticing the Rev. gentleman named above, as we have great respect for
the Church. We deny, however, that Mr. Jones "is handled roughly so
far as words are concerned," for there are no harsh words or epithets
in the article referred to; but he is _handled roughly_ so far as
_facts_ are concerned. He is a Missionary Baptist, and the society by
which he is supported, has, we believe, its headquarters in Boston,
Mass. Mr. Jones' conduct has been fully reported to the Indian office,
at Washington, by a number of the Cherokees, and by their Agent, Mr.
George Butler, to whom we refer the editor of the _Baptist_, for the
truth of the charges we have made against him; and, if they are not
satisfactory we can give a full history of Evan Jones' conduct for a
number of years, well known among the Cherokees.
In connection with the foregoing newspaper extract, it is well to note
that Richard Johnson was the editor of the _True Democrat_. Richard was a
brother of Robert W. Johnson who represented one faction of the Democratic
party in Arkansas while Thomas C. Hindman represented another. This was
before their devotion to the Confederate cause had made them friends.
Robert W. Johnson served in the United States Congress, first as
representative, then as senator. He was later a senator in the Confederate
States Congress. The Johnson family, although not so numerous as the
Rector family, was, like it, strongly secessionistic.
[57] Greenwood to Thompson, June 4, 1860 [Indian Office, _Report Book_,
no. 12, pp. 323-324].
[58] Connelley, _Quantrill and the Border Wars_, 147-149, 152.
[59] Siebert, _Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom_, 284.
[60] This party came to be known, almost exclusively, as the Treaty Party.
After the murder of John Ridge, from whom the party took its name, his
nephew, Stand Watie, became its leader. Stand Watie figured conspicuously
on the southern side in the Civil War.
[61] A good general account of these Cherokee factional disputes may be
found in Thomas Valentine Parker's _Cherokee Indians_.
[62] Kappler, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 561; Polk's _Diary_ (Quaife's edition),
vol. ii, 80.
[63] George Butler to Dean, January 9, 1857.
[64] "... The Cherokee Council is in session, tho they do not seem to be
doing much. It will hold about four weeks yet. I will stay till it breaks.
I think the Councilmen seem to be split on some questions. It seems as if
there are two parties. One is called the land selling party & those
opposed to selling the land (that is Neutral lands). They passed a bill
last council to sell it. Congress would not have anything to do with it &
in fact they got up a protest against selling it & sent it to Washington
City & they did not sell the land."--Extract from J. C. Dickinson to
Captain Mark T. Tatum, dated Tahlequah, October 16, 1860 [_Fort Smith
Papers_].
[65] Kappler, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 388.
[66] Rector to Greenwood, June 14, 1860.
[67] Tuckabatche Micco and other Creek chiefs wished the southern
Comanches to be located somewhere between the Red and Arkansas Rivers.
That might or might not have meant a settlement upon the actual Creek
reservation. Manypenny promised to look into the matter and find out
whether there were any vacant lands in the region designated [Manypenny to
Dean, May 25, 1855, Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 51, pp. 444-445].
[68] Dean to Manypenny, November 24, 1856, and related documents [General
Files, _Chickasaw_, 1854-1858, D304, I400].
[69] For Choctaw political disturbances in 1858, see General Files,
_Choctaw_, 1859-1866, I933 and R1004.
[70] Some of the Tonkawas most probably went back to their old Texan
hunting-grounds upon the breaking out of the war and were found encamped,
in 1866, around San Antonio [Cooley to Sells, February 15, 1866, Indian
Office, _Letter Book_, no. 79, p. 293].
[71] The Leased District was designed to accommodate any Indians that the
United States government might see fit to place there, exclusive of New
Mexican Indians, who had caused the Wichitas a great deal of trouble, and
those tribes "whose usual ranges at present are north of the Arkansas
River, and whose permanent locations are north of the Canadian...."
[Kappler, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 708].
[72] The treatment of the Indians by Texas will be made the subject of a
later publication. The story is too long a one to be told here.
[73] Mix to Rector, March 30, 1859 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 60,
pp. 386-388].
[74] _Annual Report_, 1857.
[75] Samuel Cooper, the New York man, who was now in United States employ
but later became adjutant-general of the Confederacy [Crawford, _Genesis
of the Civil War_, 310], made, about this time, a very significant inquiry
as to how many Indian warriors there were in the vicinity of the various
settlements [Cooper to Mix, January 29, 1856, Indian Office,
_Miscellaneous Files, 1858-1863_].
[76] J. Thompson to J. B. Floyd, March 12, 1858 [Indian Office,
_Miscellaneous Files_].
[77] By this treaty, the Choctaws had surrendered to the United States all
their claims to land beyond the one hundredth degree of west longitude.
[78] Cooper to Rector, June 23, 1858.
[79] Cooper to Rector, June 30, 1858.
[80] Some of the Chickasaws came to Cooper under the lead of the United
States interpreter, James Gamble, later Chickasaw delegate in the
Confederate Congress.
[81] The Cherokees soon deserted Cooper, no cause assigned. Why they were
with him at all can not very easily be explained unless they were looking
out for the interests of the "Cherokee Outlet". They may, indeed, have
been some refugee Cherokees who, in 1854, were reported as living in the
Chickasaw country and consorting with horse thieves and other desperadoes.
Under ordinary circumstances, Cooper had no authority to command the
actions of Cherokees and his call was to Choctaws and Chickasaws whose
agent he was and whose interests were directly involved in the survey then
being made.
[82] On the question of the proposed site, see Rector's _Report_, 1859,
pp. 307, 309. For Emory's familiarity with the region, note his report of
a military reconnaissance undertaken by him in 1846 and 1847 [Pacific
Railroad _Surveys_, vol. ii].
[83] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1859, and accompanying
documents.
[84] It would seem that Van Dorn had been ordered by General Twiggs,
commanding in Texas, to explore the country between the one hundredth and
the one hundred and fourth meridians as far north as the Canadian River.
He was to do it quite irrespective of department jurisdictional lines. Van
Dorn had the Texan's unrelenting hatred for all Indians and, as was to
have been expected, considering the latitude of his orders, soon got
himself into trouble. It is interesting to note in connection with this
affair and in view of all that followed when Van Dorn and Albert Pike were
both serving under the Confederacy, that their dislike of each other dated
from Pike's condemnation of Van Dorn's cruel treatment of the Comanches.
[85] The contractor was Charles B. Johnson of Fort Smith. Under the firm
name of Johnson & Grimes, this man and Marshal Grimes, also of Arkansas,
were able again and again to secure subsistence contracts from Rector and
always with the suspicion of fraud attaching. Whenever possible, Rector
and his friends eliminated entirely the element of competition. Abram G.
Mayers of Fort Smith seems to have been the chief informer against Rector.
As a matter of fact, and this must be admitted in extenuation of Rector's
conduct, the Indian field service was so grossly mismanaged, officials
from the highest to the lowest were so corrupt, that it is not at all
surprising that each one [unless by the merest chance he were strong
enough morally to resist temptation] took every opportunity he could get
to enrich himself at the Indian's expense; for, of course, all such
ill-gotten gains came sooner or later out of the Indian fund. Very few
Indian officials seem to have been able to pass muster in matters of
probity during these troublous times. Secretary Thompson and even
Ex-president Pierce were not above suspicion in the Indian's estimation
[Article, signed by "Screw Fly" in the _Chickasaw and Choctaw Herald_,
February 11, 1859]. Mix was accused of dishonesty, so were Commissioner
Dole, Commissioner Cooley, and Secretary Usher, to say nothing of a host
of lesser officials.
[86] Supervising agent, Robert S. Neighbors, who had always befriended the
Indians when he conveniently could against unfounded charges, was killed
soon after the removal by vindictive Texans. S. A. Blain was then given
charge of the Texas superintendency in addition to his own Wichita Agency.
The consolidation of duties gave the Texans, apparently, a fresh
opportunity to lodge complaints against the Wichitas.
[87] These refugees were mostly Delawares and Kickapoos. There were other
"strays," or "absentees," scattered here and there over the Indian
country. There were Shawnees near the Canadian, Delawares among the
Cherokees, and Shawnees and Kickapoos on the southwestern border of the
Creek lands.
[88] Matthew Leeper was appointed to succeed S. A. Blain as agent, July,
1860. He had previously been special Indian agent in Texas.
[89] Among the _Leeper Papers_ is found the following: