Cherokee Nation, and Park Hill, the residence of Governor Ross, the
principal chief. Since 1835 there have always been two parties in the
Cherokee Nation, bitterly hostile to each other. The treaty of that
year was made by unauthorized persons, against the will of the large
majority of the nation and against that of the chief, Mr. Ross.
Several years ago Ridge, Boudinot, and others, principal men of the
treaty party, were killed, with, it was alleged, the sanction of Mr.
Ross, and the feud is today as bitter as it was twenty years ago. The
full-blooded Indians are mostly adherents of Ross, and many of
them--1,000 to 1,500 it is alleged--are on the side of the North. I
think that number is exaggerated. The half-breeds or white Indians (as
they call themselves) are to a man with us. It has all along been
supposed, or at least suspected, that Mr. Ross would side with the
North. His declarations are in favor of neutrality. But I am inclined
to believe that he is acting upon the policy (surely a wise one) of
not permitting his people to commit themselves until he has formal
guarantees from an authorized agent of the Confederate States. These I
shall give him if he will accept them. General McCulloch will be with
me, and I strongly hope that we shall satisfy him, and effect a formal
and firm treaty. If so, we shall have nearly the whole nation with us,
and those who are not will be unimportant. If he refuses he will learn
that his country will be occupied; and I shall then negotiate with the
leaders of the half-breeds who are now raising troops, and who will
meet me at the Creek Agency on Friday of next week. Several of those
living near here I have already seen.
On Wednesday of next week I will meet the chiefs of the Creeks at the
North Fork of the Canadian. I will then fix a day for a council of the
Creeks, and go on to meet the Choctaws at Fort Washita. When I shall
have concluded an arrangement with them I will go to the Chickasaw
Country, and thence to the Seminoles.
I hope to meet the heads of the Wichitas, Caddos, Iowas, Toncawes,
Delawares, Kickapoos, and Reserve Comanches at Fort Washita. I have
requested their agent to induce them to meet me there. The Creek
chiefs have a council with the wild Indians, Comanches and others,
high up on the North Fork of the Canadian, on the 10th proximo. I
shall endeavor, through the Creek chiefs, to have an interview with
the heads of the wild tribes at Fort Washita and induce them to come
in and settle on the reserve upon the False Washita River near Fort
Cobb.
As I shall be absent from this post some six weeks or more, it is not
likely that I shall be able to give you frequent advice of my
movements. There are no mails in the Indian country and I shall have
to employ expresses when I desire to send on letters.
We shall have no difficulty with the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and
Chickasaws, either in effecting treaties or raising troops. The
greatest trouble will be in regard to arms. Not one in ten of either
of the tribes has a gun at all, and most of the guns are indifferent
double-barreled. I do not know whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs is
a part of the Department of State, and of course whether this is
properly addressed to you. I do not address the Commissioner because I
understand he is on his way hither. The suggestions I wish to make are
important and I venture to hope that you will give them their proper
direction. I have already spoken of arms for the Indians. Those arms,
if possible, should be the plain muzzle-loading rifle, large bore,
with molds for conical bullets hollowed at the truncated end, which I
suppose to be the minie-ball. Revolvers, I am aware, cannot be had,
and an Indian would not pick up a musket if it lay in the road.
Our river is falling and will soon be low, when steam-boats will not
be able to get above Little Rock, if even there. To embody the Indians
and, collecting them together, keep them long without arms would
disgust them, and they would scatter over the country like partridges
and never be got together again. The arms should, therefore, be sent
here with all speed.
No funds have been remitted to me, nor have I any power to procure or
draw for any, for my expenses or for those of the councils I must
hold. It has always been customary for the Indians to be fed at such
councils, and they will expect it. I have borrowed $300 of Mr. Charles
B. Johnson, giving him a draft on the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
for incidental expenses, and if I have a council at Fort Washita shall
contract with him to feed the Indians. I have seen Elias Rector, late
superintendent of Indian affairs at Fort Smith, and William
Quesenbury, appointed agent for the Creeks by the Government at
Washington, but who did not accept, and Samuel M. Rutherford, agent
for the Seminoles, who forwards his resignation immediately; and have
written to Matthew Leeper, agent for the Wichitas and other Reserve
Indians; and have formally requested each to continue to exercise the
powers of his office under the Confederate States. They are all
citizens of Arkansas and Texas and have readily consented to do so.
If we have declared a protectorate over these tribes and extended our
laws over them we have, I suppose, continued in force there the whole
system. Even if we have not we cannot dispense with the superintendent
and agents. I shall also see Mr. Crawford, agent for the Cherokees,
and request him to continue to act, as I have requested Colonel Cooper
to do as agent for the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Unless all this were
done there would be both discontent and confusion, and I therefore
earnestly request that my action may be immediately confirmed and
these officers assured that they shall be continued, and that their
compensation shall be the same as under the United States and date
from the day of the resignation of each or of his acceptance of office
under the Confederate States. And I also strenuously urge that no
changes be made in these offices. The incumbents are all good men and
true, competent, and honest, and are, or will be, very acceptable to
the Indians. To make changes will be to make mischief.
Mr. Charles B. Johnson is feeding the Wichitas and other Reserve
Indians under a contract which ends on the 30th of June. I have
instructed him to continue feeding them during the present season
under the same contract, _i.e._, on the same terms, which I know to be
reasonable.
It is very important that some funds should be at my disposition. The
State of Arkansas has furnished me an escort of a company and General
McCulloch has procured me transportation. To meet contingent expenses
it is necessary that at least $1000 should be placed here subject to
my draft; and, as I have several times urged, money should be placed
in the proper hands to pay a bounty to each Indian that enlists.
I wish I had more definite instructions and power more distinctly
expressed, especially power in so many words to make treaties and give
all necessary guarantees. For without giving them nothing can be done,
and I am [not] sure that John Ross will be satisfied with my statement
or assurance that I have the power, or with anything less than a
formal authority from the Congress. He is very shrewd. If I fail with
him it will not be my fault.
I have the honor to be, sir, very truly and respectfully, yours,
ALBERT PIKE, Commissioner, &c.
_Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i, 359-361.
[350] Pike to Cooley, February 17, 1866.
[351] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. liii, supplement, 688.
[352] A military escort had also been furnished by the Arkansas Military
Board to General McCulloch [_ibid._, 687].
[353] Motey, or Moty, Kennard is occasionally spoken of, in the records,
as the principal chief of the entire Creek Nation. The tribe was, however,
very sharply divided into the Lower and the Upper Creeks. Their
differences had been accentuated by the unpleasant and even dishonorable
and tragic circumstances of their removal from Georgia and Alabama. The
Lower Creeks represented the faction that had stood back of William
McIntosh and that had consented to the fraudulent treaty of Indian
Springs, the Upper Creeks were the dissenters [Abel, _History of Indian
Consolidation_, chapters vi and vii; Phillips, _Georgia and State Rights_,
56-57].
[354] Letter from Greenwood to the Delegation, February 4, 1861 [Indian
Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, pp. 140-141].
[355] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1861. Note that as early
as March 18, 1861, Secretary Smith had ordered the suspension of the
issuance of all requisitions to ordinary disbursing officers in the
seceding states. This order probably affected indirectly even the Indian
Territory [Smith to commissioner of Indian affairs, March 18, 1861,
_Miscellaneous Files, 1858-1863_].
[356] Governor Thomas O. Moore of Louisiana to President Davis, May 31,
1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 588].
[357] See letter of W. S. Robertson to the Secretary of the Interior
[General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, R1664].
[358] See statement of the "Loyal" Creek Delegation at the Fort Smith
Council, September, 1865 [Land Files, _Indian Talks, Councils, etc.,
1865-1866_, Box 4; Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1865, pp.
328-329].
[359] Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la was nevertheless a very prominent man among the
Upper Creeks and had been prominent even before the exodus from Georgia
and Alabama. At all events he was sufficiently prominent to protest with
others against the transportation contracts that had been made by the War
Department [Lewis Cass to Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la and other Creek chiefs, dated
Tuckabatchytown, Alabama, January 27, 1836]. Again in 1838,
Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la headed a party of protest, that time against the
selling of certain Creek lands left unsold at the time of emigration
[_Creek Reservation Papers_, 25].
Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la seems to have been one of the assassins of William
McIntosh; that is, if the subjoined statement of Acting-superintendent
William Armstrong is to be trusted:
CHOCTAW AGENCY August 31, 1836
C. A. HARRIS Esqr, Com{r} of Ind Affairs,
Sir: The first party of emigrating Creeks are now on the opposite side
of the river Arkansas, on their way up. I shall leave tomorrow so as
to meet them at Gibson; while there, I will see the McIntosh party and
endeavor to learn the state of feelings amongst the several parties.
Many threats have been made; and much dissatisfaction manifested by
both Chilly & Rolly McIntosh, the latter has sworn to kill
A-po-the-ho-lo who was concerned in taking the life of his Father.
Rolly McIntosh and the other Chiefs now over, are opposed to
Ne-a-math-la the Chief who is with the party emigrating, upon the
ground mainly that they may probably be superseded, or their authority
abridged. I will however report to you, fully, after I shall have
informed myself, of the state of feeling &c, and will endeavor with
Gen{l} Arbuckle, to bring about a reconciliation. Respectfully Your
Obt Servt
WM ARMSTRONG Act Supt West{n} Ter{y}
_War Department Files_, A37.
Early in the forties, Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la posed as a trader in the Creek
country. He was the partner of J. W. Taylor, a white man. The company so
composed failed, in 1843, "to give bond and license" and so Agent J. L.
Dawson closed its store [Communication of J. L. Dawson, September 5, 1843,
_War Department Files_, I1537].
[360] G. W. Stidham was probably a half-breed. Naturally, being the
official interpreter, he signed as the interpreter and not as a member of
the tribe.
[361]
We the loyal Creek Indians represented by the Delegation now present,
solemnly declare that the Treaty of July 10, 1861 was alone made by
the rebel portion of the Creek Indians, and never was executed or
assented to by the Union portion of the Nation, and is, not now, and
never has been, obligatory upon them and the names to said treaty, of
the loyal party, was a forgery--Land Files, _Indian Talks, Councils,
etc._, Box 4, 1865-1866; Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_,
1865, p. 330.
[362] The document herewith given presents one view of the case:
The undersigned Delegates from the Creek Nation would respectfully ask
to make the following statement concerning the alliance between the
said Creek Nation and the so-called Confederate States of America. To
the end that the Creek Nation may be put upon a proper footing in the
estimation of your honorable body and that there may be no
misapprehension on the part of the Government you here represent we
beg leave to state:
1st. The Alliance entered into by the Creek Nation with the
Confederate Government was entered into voluntarily, and without the
interference of any person or persons other than members of our tribe.
In taking that step the assembled wisdom of the Nation in council,
thought they were acting for the best interests of the Nation and of
their posterity.
2d. Hopoethle Yoholo the far-famed leader of those members of our
tribe who battled against us, was not at the time of the making of the
treaty with Albert Pike Commissioner on the part of the Confederate
States, a Chief, counsellor or head man in said tribe and had no voice
in the council, he was however present at the making of said Treaty
and give said Pike to understand that he fully concurred in the result
of our deliberations. After the making of the Treaty Hopoethle Yoholo
collected together his adherents, and for reasons entirely of a
domestic character and in no wise connected with the National question
at issue, withdrew from the country and assumed a hostile attitude.
With this exception the Creeks were united as one man in action and
were ever united as one man in principle on the National question then
agitated.
3d. Although the Nation we represent would not attempt at this time to
urge anything in palliation of the course of conduct they adopted in
this matter, other than to ask your honorable body to esteem the error
as one of the "head and not of the heart"--but we beg leave to state
that at the time of the forming of the Alliance above refered to
circumstances over which we could not possibly exercise control seemed
to _demand_ an adoption of the course taken. The protection always
borne with the idea of allegiance, was taken from our Nation by the
withdrawal of the United States forces from the Indian Territory. This
movement left the Nations entirely without the support of the United
States government, and had they desired to remain neutral or to take
active measures on the side of the United States they could not
possibly have done so without having their Country desolated, or by
abandoning their homes. Surrounded by States, in a tumult of angry
excitement attendant upon a dissolution of their connection with the
United States, they were completely in the power of those States,
without having United States forces to call to their aid or
assistance. An alliance under such circumstances were [was]
indispensible to the safety of the country. Viewing the matter in this
light the Treaty was made, and once having linked our destiny with
those of the Confederacy, we could not in honor betray our trust. In
conclusion we beg leave to say that as long as events cannot be
controlled by human wisdom and foresight and until an honorable
adherence to promises made voluntarily, is dishonorable so long must
we deem ourselves in one sense at least--guiltless of any criminality
in this matter.--Land Files, _Indian Talks, Councils, etc., Box 4,
1865-1866._
[363] They were also worried over rumors of sequestration:
Statements having found their way into some of the public prints, to
the effect that supplies purchased for the use of the Choctaws, have
been detained by citizens of the Northern States, which statements if
uncontradicted may engender hostile feelings between those Indians and
the Government, I have thought proper to forward to you the enclosed
copies of official correspondence in relation to this subject, that
you may be able authoritatively to contradict such statements and
satisfy the Choctaws that the Government intends faithfully to
preserve and perpetuate the amicable relations subsisting between
itself and those people.--Dole to Rector and same to Coffin, May 16,
1861 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, p. 458].
[364] Particularly by means of the resolutions of the National Council,
June 10, 1861.
[365] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 593.
[366] For evidence of this and for the fullest extant account of the
progress of secession among the Choctaws, see letter of S. Orlando Lee to
Dole, March 15, 1862.
[367] The following is found in the _Fort Smith Papers_:
Tishomingo, C. N. Nov. 26, 1861.
GEN. A. G. MAYERS
Sir: Having been appointed as a Delegate from this Nation (the
Chickasaw) to the Southern Congress, am at a loss (to know) when the
Congress does meet. I have all along understood from newspaper
accounts that it was to be on the 22d of February, but some seems to
think it is sooner. Will you please inform me at your earliest
convenience at what time the S. Congress does meet. Your attention to
the above is respectfully requested. I am yours very Respectfully
JAMES GAMBLE.
P.S. Please continue to send me the Parallel, I will make it all right
with you when on my way to Va.
J. G.
[368] In the list of members of the Confederate congresses, given in
_Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. iii, 1184-1191, no Indian delegate
is specified until 1863.
[369] Cooper to President Davis, July 25, 1861 [_ibid_., first ser., vol.
iii, 614].
[370] E. H. Carruth, in a letter to General Hunter of November 26, 1861
[Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1861, p. 47], would have us
understand that the Seminoles as a tribe did not negotiate with Pike, but
that the whole affair was as between Pike and Jumper, Jumper being
assisted by four chosen friends. The five were probably bribed. That Pike
was not averse to the use of money for such ends, his letter to Walker of
June twelfth would lead us to suspect [_Official Records_, first ser.,
vol. iii, 590]. We have, however, no definite proof of the same. John
Jumper was early rewarded by the Confederate government. By act of the
Provisional Congress, January 16, 1861 [_Statutes at Large_, p. 284], he
was made an honorary lieutenant-colonel of the army of the Confederate
States. Carruth further says that the family influence of Jumper "enabled
him to raise forty-six men, not all Seminoles, and Ben McCulloch
authorized him to call to his aid six hundred rangers from Fort Cobb, that
he might crush out the Union feeling in his tribe."
[371] It is just possible that Rector had been with him all the time. At
all events Rector subsequently entered an expense account against the C.
S. A. for services from July tenth to August twenty-fourth inclusive. See
Appendix A, _Fort Smith Papers_.
[372] See letter of Agent Snow, dated March 10, 1864, and its enclosures,
one of which is a speech of Long John, who became principal chief when the
aged Billy Bowlegs died, and another, a speech of Pas-co-fa, who, provided
his signature to the treaty be genuine, eventually must have repented of
his Confederate alliance. He was soon, with Bowlegs and Chup-co, in the
ranks of Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la [General Files, _Seminole, 1858-1867_, S291].
[373] The report of the United States commissioner of Indian affairs for
1863 estimates the loyal Seminoles at about two-thirds of the tribe [House
_Executive Documents_, 38th congress, first session, vol. iii, 143], that
of the Confederate States commissioner of Indian affairs as fully one-half
[S. S. Scott to Secretary Seddon, January 12, 1863, _Official Records_,
fourth ser., vol. ii, 353].
[374] While at the Creek Agency, Pike had communicated, so it seems, with
John Jumper and had asked him to meet him there with six others competent
and authorized to make a treaty. Up to the time of hearing from Pike, John
Jumper seems to have been inclined to adhere faithfully to the United
States government. The excellent report of E. H. Carruth, July 11, 1861
gives full particulars of this whole affair.
[375] See supplementary Article [_Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i,
525].
[376] See communications from Bowlegs [So-nuk-mek-ko] to Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, March 2, 1863 and May 13, 1863 [General Files, _Seminole,
1858-1869_, B131, B317]. See also Dole to Coffin, March 24, 1863 [Indian
Office, _Letter Book_, no. 70, pp. 208-209].
[377] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1869 [House _Executive
Documents_, 41st congress, second session, vol. iii, part 3, p. 521].
[378] See letter of E. H. Carruth.
[379] William P. Davis of Indiana had been given the United States
Seminole Agency but he never reached his post [Dole to John D. Davis,
April 5, 1862, Indian Office _Letter Book_, no. 68, p. 39]. Consequently,
the Confederate States agent, Rutherford, had sole influence there. Not
until George C. Snow of Indiana became United States Seminole agent, did
the non-secessionist Indians get the encouragement and support they ought
to have had all along.
[380] See Appendix B--_Leeper Papers_.
[381] The _Leeper Papers_, printed in the Appendix, furnish convincing
proof of this. Note also that July 4, 1861, Rector wrote to Leeper from
Fort Smith as follows:
In the 3rd section of the law of the Confederate Congress, regulating
the Indian service connected with said government, and making
provision for the continuance in office of the Superintendent and
Agents heretofore connected with the original U. S. government, you
will be continued upon the same terms and at the same salary, as
heretofore received from the federal government, and before entering
upon your duties as such it will be your duty to take an oath before a
proper officer of a State of the Confederate States, to support the
Constitution of and accept a Commission from the Confederate States of
America....--_Leeper Papers._
[382] Pike to Walker, dated Seminole Agency, July 31, 1861 [_Official
Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 624]. Writing to Benjamin, December 25,
1861 [_ibid._, vol. viii, 720], Pike said he had "64 men."
[383] These two treaties are interesting in various particulars. They
contained fewer concessions, fewer departures from established practice
than any others of the nine. They were made primarily for the maintenance
of peace on the Texan frontier. That fact is only too evident from their
contents and from the circumstances of their negotiation. One of the chief
reasons, cited by Texas, for her withdrawal from the Union was the failure
of the United States to protect her from Indian ravages. It seems never to
have occurred to her to mention the fact that her citizens, by their
aggressions, had constantly provoked the ravages, if such we can call
them. The northern counties of Texas were not "Southern" in climate or
industries, so it was especially necessary to enlist their sympathy in the
Confederate cause by keeping the Indians of the plains quiet and peaceful.
The Comanche treaties were also interesting in the matter of their
signatures and of their schedules. The signatures included that of Rector,
of the Creek chiefs, Motey Kennard and Chilly McIntosh, and of the
Seminole chief, John Jumper. The schedules promised such things as the
following to the Indians but in amounts that were beautifully indefinite:
Blue drilling, warm coats, calico, plaid check, regatta cotton shirts,
socks, hats, woolen shirts, red, white and blue blankets, red and blue
list cloth, shawls and handkerchiefs, brown domestic, thread, yarn and
twine, shoes, for men and women, white drilling, ribbons, assorted
colors, beads, combs, camp kettles, tin cups and buckets, pans, coffee
pots and dippers, needles, scissors and shears, butcher knives, large
iron spoons, knives and forks, nails, hatchets and hammers, augers,
drawing knives, gimlets, chopping axes, fish-hooks, ammunition,
including powder, lead, flints and percussion caps, tobacco.
Two of a kind would have satisfied most of the requirements of these
schedules. The list of things is interesting from the standpoint of
domesticity and general utility and also from the standpoint of the things
that the same Indians had previously seemed to need in such immense
quantities. For illustration it would be well to note that when Agent
Leeper handed in his last accounts to the United States government, he
claimed to have issued during the second quarter of 1861 to the Indians at
the Wichita Agency, 550 pounds of coffee, 550 pounds of sugar, 650 pounds
of soap, 600 pounds of tobacco, etc.