Part 16

P.S. if you do me this favour I will discharge the duties with Honour to you, and credit to Myself

T.M.C.

RICHMOND 21" November 1861.

SIR: The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has caused to be transmitted to New Orleans the sum of twenty five thousand dollars, to be used in purchasing the articles that are to be supplied to the Comanches and other Reserve Indians. As soon as you arrive here the money will be placed at your disposal.

As soon as possible after receipt of this letter, you will please send a proper person to the Wichita Agency, and let the Comanches who it is said are encamped, waiting for the leaves to fall, that they may come in and settle, that I have been delayed, by circumstances that I could not control, so as not to be able to meet them as soon as I intended; but that you will bring or send up their goods, and I will meet them during the winter. It is important that this should be told them at once. It would be better, if Col. Pulliam _can_ go there himself, that he should do so. I do not know who else would answer.

Orders go by the messenger who takes this, from the Acting Commissioner to Agent Leeper, directing him to use all the government laborers in putting up houses for the Comanches who are coming in, and not to use them for any other purpose. If it is possible to send up additional laborers, it had better be done. I am very respectfully yours

ALBERT PIKE, Commissioner of the Confederate States to the Indian tribes West of Arkansas

Major Elias Rector, Superintendent of Ind. Affairs.

FORT SMITH, Nov. 22d 1861.

DR MAJOR. I send you the enclosed document from the Acting Comr. Ind Affairs. recd here today. As I cannot respond to it for you as you are there on the ground--I send it to you for you to make such reply as you think proper, in the premises.

We have just recd authentic information from the armies above, the federals have left Springfield and are making their way towards St. Louis. for what cause is not certainly known but it is thought that their army have become demoralized by the displacing of Fremont and the appointment of Hunter to the Command. Genl Price broke up his encampment at Pineville at day light on Saturday last. and at last accounts was at Sarcoxie. making his way towards the Mo. River it is thought he is pursuing Hunter. you will see by an examination of the map that he will cut of a considerable distance by that route. Coming into the road Hunter will have to travel at Bolivar. or Warsaw. On the same day, (Saturday last) Genl McColloch took four hundred picked men from each of his Mounted Regiments making 2000 men with ten days provisions and started in the direction of Prices army. his destination however is not known. it is supposed however that he & Price are going to throw their Cavalry forward to attack & cut off, or hold until their Infantry can be brought up., Hunters army. Whether these conjectures are true or not time will tell. Cooper is on the march after Opothleyohola. who it is said has taken Maj Emorys trail through Kansas towards Leavenworth,

Small Pox still raging Mrs Nowland lost a negro to day. I saw your boy Henry to day he says your family are all well.

My kind regards to Pike. Also to Mr Scott. Your friend &c

R. P. PULLIAM

The above war news is reliable. and you can give the information to the papers if you wish.

P

I write this in Suttons Store, he says the above contains all the news we have. all of which is confirmed by Messengers and private letters. Consequently he will not write as he promised until something further turns up

P

TISHOMINGO C. N., Nov. 26, 1861

GEN. A. G. MAYERS

Sir: Having appointed as a Delegate from this Nation to the Southern Congress, am at a loss 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.

OFFICE SUPT. IND. AFFAIRS FORT SMITH, Decr. 1861

MR. JESSE CHISHOLM

Dear Sir: I have just returned from Richmond where I have been to see the President on Indian business. I wish you to go out immediately and see the bands of Comanches that are encamped above Fort Cobb and tell them that it is the wish of their great father at Richmond that they come in at once and settle on the reserve, that so soon as they do so they will be furnished with Beef--Flour, Salt, Sugar & Coffee. And that the great father says that all the goods & things that Commissioner Pike promised them will be furnished and given to them. That the Arkansas River has now too little water in it for Steam Boats to come up from the big Cities to bring goods, but as soon as the big water comes in the River and Boats come up their great father will send up to them many large wagons filled with nice goods that I want them to send four or five of their Chiefs and head men to Genl. Pikes head quarters, near Fort Gibson where he and myself will meet them and talk with them and give them a great many presents and satisfy them that the government will do all that Commissioner Pike promised them. I wish Buffalo Hump and his band now on the reserve to be told this, and for him and four or five of his principal men to come also. I will direct the Contractor at the Wichita Agency to furnish them with Rations to bring them over and I will furnish them with Rations to return home, tell them to bring, in all about twenty pack horses to carry back their presents. I want them to meet us at Genl Pikes Camp or head quarters near Fort Gibson, on the first of February if possible I have written a letter to T Caraway inviting him to come with some three or four of his men and I wish you to urge him to come, Commissioner Pike is now in Richmond with their great father making arrangements to get their goods and to do much for them he would have been up to see them at the falling of the leaves but he has been very sick and could not travel he is now well and will be here soon and will go from here to his head quarters.

[ELIAS RECTOR]

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT, Office of Indian Affairs, Richmond, Dec 2d, 1861.

MAJOR ELIAS RECTOR, Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

Sir: I am instructed by the Secretary of War to say that three requisitions have been drawn by him on the Secretary of the Treasury in your favor, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs &c.,--One for nine thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars, dated Dec. 4th 1861, one for two thousand, one hundred and four dollars and fifty cents, dated December 5th 1861, and the other for thirty thousand dollars, dated December 6th 1861.

With the money received by you upon the first named requisition, you will pay Charles B. Johnson, the amount of his account against the Confederate States for Beef furnished certain Bands of Reserve Indians, from July 1st to August 16th under a verbal contract made by him with Albert Pike, Commissioner, &c., and also pay the mounted escort of Creeks and Seminoles, engaged by General Pike to accompany him to the Comanche Country, &c. In regard to this escort General Pike, in a letter to the War Department, of the 14th October, says that he had muster rolls regularly made out, and gave pay accounts to the officers, and slips showing the amount due each of the men.

With the money received by you upon the second named requisition you will pay Charles B. Johnson the balance due him by the old United States Government prior to the 30th June, 1861, and which General Pike, at the time of making the verbal contract hereinbefore mentioned, agreed to pay or have paid him.

And with the money received by you upon the third named requisition, you will pay such expenses of the Superintendency and different Agencies, as may be necessary, proper and legitimate. The balance of this money can be applied to the purchase of suitable clothing, if it can be bought at fair prices, for the Reserve Indians, which Commissioner Pike, in the Treaty of the 12th August, 1861, agreed should be speedily furnished them.

You will forward a statement as to the disbursement of these several sums of money with the proper voucher, &c. Very respectfully,

S. S. SCOTT, Act'g Commr. of Indian Affairs.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, C. S. A., SECOND AUDITOR'S OFFICE Richmond, Va, Dec 7th--1861.

SIR: The Treasurer of the Confederate States will remit to you the sum of Thirty two thousand one hundred & four 50/100 dollars ---- ----, being the amount of Requisition No. 1889 & 1890 issued in your favor on the 6th Inst--, with which you are charged on the Books of this Office, on account of the following Appropriation, to wit:

"To meet the Incidental Expenses of the Public service within the Indian Tribes," as per Act May 21, 1861, No. 232.

Requisition No. 1889. ------ ------ $2,104.50 Req. ---- " 1890, Same as above ---- 30.000. " ---------- $32.104.50

The Treasurer will advise you when the same will be remitted for which you will please forward a Receipt to this Office, specifying therein the date, number and amount of said Requisition. I am, very respectfully, Your Ob't Serv't

AUDITOR.

To Elias Rector, Esq, Supt. Ind. Affairs, Present

WICHITA AGENCY L. D., Decr. 12th 1861.

SIR: In all my official relations I have endeavored to be governed strictly by the instructions of my superior officers, and in reference to the alledged real or imaginary impropriety of my course towards Buffalo Hump in your letter of the 12th Oct. last, I must plead my instructions in mitigation which I followed strictly, not being in possession of any, except the verbal instructions of Commissioner Hubbard, which was in effect to exercise my best judgment in the management of the affairs of the Reserve, but in all things to be governed by strict rules of economy. In my report to you of the 12th Augst. I solicited written instructions, a copy of the Intercourse Laws and of the Contract for furnishing supplies for the Indians, but as yet, have not received even a reply to my communication. There is no Indian with whose character and habits I am more familiar than with Buffalo Humps; he is a fugitive from the Texas Agency of which I was placed in charge; the late Superintendent of that State worried with him for three years before he could induce him to settle, he would come in and make promises to do so, and the Superintendent would load him with presents, he would return to the prairies depredate upon the country until his blankets were worn out, then return with a plausible excuse for not coming in with his people, receive other presents return again to the prairies and repeat the same thing over again until the Superintendents patience became exhausted, and informed Buffalo Hump that he would not submit to any further trifling on the subject, that he had nothing more for him, but as he had come in peace, he might return in peace, but that afterwards he would pursue and hunt him down with the troops; Buffalo Hump then changed his tone, begged to be permitted to have a certain length of time allowed him to bring in his people without renumeration or presents, at that time it was granted, and at the appointed time he brought in his people and settled on the Reserve, where he remained until a feud took place between him and the Chief of the band located previously, which caused him to abandon the Reserve and pursue his former predatory habits. I induced him to come in this time, in addition to the other wild chiefs, who met Commissioner Pike in Augst. last, and entered into an informal treaty with them, it was the result of a years negotiation, which was carried on by means of messengers from this Reserve; it was attempted years ago by Judge Rollins, one of the ablest Indian Agents perhaps the U. S. ever had, who spent eighteen months in attempting to accomplish the object; Agent Stemm lost his life in efforts of the kind; Major Neighbors a very ingenious and competent Agent exerted his influence for six or seven years to no purpose:--Dr. Hill, a most popular Indian Agent and influential man, labored four years without effect, and Capt. Ross' influence was equally ineffectual, yet I am informed in your letter of the 12th Oct. that both yourself and Commissioner Pike regret much that I did not hold out all the inducements which were in my power, and use all the forces and means at my command to provide him with such houses as were contemplated and provided by Commissioner Pike for the comfort of those Indians. In this matter I appear to be peculiarly unfortunate. You are fully aware that I have not received any means for the erection of houses or for any other purpose, and that the few employees who were induced to engage in the work with a hope of renumeration hereafter were all sick, which fact I made known in my report of the 15th Septr. last, therefore it will be perceived that I had no means in my power to build houses or any thing else, nor would I have employed them in building houses for Buffalo Hump in advance of his settlement, if I had possessed ever so much in the absence of positive instructions to that effect. The course I pursued with him induced him to come in with his people a week in advance of the time promised and settle, he has given me no further trouble, tells me he intends to remain here for life, that he does not wish houses built until such times as he can select a suitable place on the Reserve for his future home, and has employed as spies for me two of his sons who are with the wild tribes watching their movements and those of the northern troops, to give immediate notice in case of an advanced demonstration upon this part of the country.

During a period of more than twenty years public service, I have received two rebukes only from my superior officers on account of my official conduct, yours in reference to Buffalo Hump and from the late Superintendent in Texas for failing to insert at the close of one of my official letters "your obt. Srvt."

I infer from your letter of the 30th of Octr. that you conclude, I am disposed to interfere with your appointment of Commissary, I can assure you that such was not nor never has been my intention to disturb or meddle in the slightest degree with the appointment of Commissary or any other which it may be your pleasure to make; sending Sturm as messenger was a matter of necessity not of choice, I apprised you by him that I was not only sick myself, but that my family and almost every one on the Reserve were sick and without medicine, Sturm although sick, was the only person I could obtain as messenger who was willing to make the trip alone, and with the confident hope that by sending him I would obtain medicines which would afford my family relief; I was induced to do so with an understanding that he was to receive pay not only as Commissary during the time of his absence, but three dollars per day also for his services as messenger and I procured the assistance gratuitously of M{r} Bickel one of the interpreters to act as Commissary during his absence, whose name appears on the prevision checks for that quarter merely to prevent confusion of the accounts, but my most sanguine hopes were disappointed for the messenger returned without medicines, and my son has not recovered yet. Whilst upon this subject allow me most respectfully to direct your attention to the fact, and through you the Department, that the office of Commissary is a sinecure, and expense which is utterly useless to the Government and an injury to the public Service, the duty of Commissary simply being an impartial weigher and witness to the delivery of supplies agreably to the terms of the Contract; I, hold it to be the duty of the Agent where issues are made at the Agency to be present, and represent the interest of the Indians, and the Interpreters who are required to be present to witness the issues, such has been the case heretofore, no Commissary has ever been employed at other Agencies, except where issues were made at remote places or where it was impracticable for the Agent to be present; the Commissary is employed perhaps half a day once a week, the remainder of the time is spent in utter idleness, and in gossiping with the employees and Indians on the Reserve.

I received a recent visit from the Chiefs who met Comr. Pike in Augst. last, after preparing to hold a Council or talk with them, their first demand was whiskey, they said they could not talk without having whiskey first, after a length of time however, I convinced them that I had no whiskey, and that whiskey was not allowed on the Reserve, they then informed me that they had approached this place at the appointed time "the falling of the leaves" and ascertained that the Commissioner was not here nor the presents agreably to promise, that now they were here long after the time and still there are no presents or Commissioner, I explained to them that the Comr. had delegated to me his authority for the time being, and that he was now purchasing goods to issue in accordance with his promise as soon as they would comply with their part of the agreement and settle with their people on the Reserve, that they would have the privilege of settling on any part of the Leased District that suited them best, and that I would issue provisions to them until such time as the goods would arrive, they informed me that they had been lied to a good deal, and that they wanted some greater and further evidence now of the sincerity of the Government, that as the goods were not here, which were intended for them, that they would take a few that the trader had, and be satisfied with those, until such time as the others would be forthcoming, and probably settle at the time the grass rises in the Spring, I told them that the traders goods did not belong to me or to the Government, and that I was consequently unauthorized to issue them, they then instantly rose up and told me they were going, I called back a Kioway Chief and told him as it was his first visit, that I would make him a present of some blankets, paint and tobacco, that I was glad to see him, that the Government desired to be on friendly terms with him and his people, and that if he thought proper to come here with his people and settle, that he could do so on the same terms as the others, he informed me that that was the object of his visit, that he would return and consult on the subject and at no distant day would make me another visit, and apprise me of the result of their deliberations; in the mean time the others returned in a better humor, and I told them that upon my own responsibility, I would make them a few little presents, of blankets, paints, &c. which appeared to satisfy them, and when they finally left, declared their friendly intentions, and said they would ultimately settle here in compliance with the treaty.

In compliance with your letter of instructions of the 25th of Octr last, I have rendered H. L. Rodgers all the assistance in my power in the way of his building operations. Very Respectfully. Your obt. Servt.

M. LEEPER, Ind. Agt. C. S. A.

Elias Rector Esq., Supt. Indian Affairs. Fort Smith, Arks.

FORT SMITH, ARK., Dec. 27th, 1861.

SIR: Owing to the continued excitement in the Creek and Seminole Nations, and the dangers necessarily to be encountered by persons either residing in or travelling through the Indian Country, my return to the Agency has been delayed longer than I expected. Taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case I deemed it best and most prudent to await your return from Richmond and submit a report of the case to you. When I left the Agency early in November there seemed a unity of opinion and general profession of Loyalty to the Southern Confederacy; but since then there has been much disaffection and increase of excitement. The consequence has been that some of the Traders residing among the upper Creeks have left--narrowly escaping with their lives. Others are, as I learn, preparing to leave. Since my departure from the Agency there has been two engagements between the Confederate forces under command of Col. Cooper and the followers of Hopothleyoholo, in both engagements Col. Cooper was victorious. This, however, has only increased the vindictiveness of Hopothleyoholos Party and, consequently, magnified the dangers attendent on travelling through or residing in the Nation. My Agency is, as you are aware, situated two hundred miles west of this place, and wholy unprotected and exposed to depredation, it is very insecure. Parscofer and others as stated in my report to the Department as heading the disaffected party, were leaders, in the recent battles, on side of the enemy. But I am pleased to be able to state that Jumper, Short Bird, Cloud and Holatut Fixico were found with Col. Cooper doing their duty as faithful and Loyal allies. It will, probably, not be a great while before the excitement may subside, rendering travel and residence there more secure. When you deem it necessary and safe for me to return I will be ready. I await your orders on the subject. I am very Respectfully Your obt. Servt.

SAM'L M. RUTHERFORD, C. S. Agent for Seminoles.

Maj. E. Rector, Sup. Ind. Affairs, C. S. A., Fort Smith, Ark.

RICHMOND, VA., 29th December, 1861.

SIR: I send herewith, to your care, by a Special Messenger, packages for the Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, which please forward to each immediately by express.

Also a talk for the Comanches and Caiawas, which, if they are still near Fort Cobb, I wish sent to them by express. There is a letter to Chisholm, and it would perhaps be well to send the talk to him and get him to go up and see them.

Also a letter for Major Dorn and one to his Indians. I want them to come down to Head Quarters and receive what is to be given them. I do not know how you will get his letter to him.

The Treaties are all ratified, with two or three amendments that will cut no great figure. As to the _money_ part, nothing has changed. Congress appropriated $681,000 and over, under the Treaties, including Charley Johnson's money up to middle of February, of the whole sum, $265,000 and odd is to be paid in specie. I shall get the Treasury notes to-morrow, and the Specie in New Orleans, and shall bring it all to you. The Secretary agreed, indeed proposed, to send it out by me.

Among them, they fixed my compensation at $3,750.

I mean to be at Head Quarters by the 25th of January. I hope the different Tribes will ratify the amendments, so that you can pay them pretty soon after that time.

I think you had better buy all the goods, of Cochran and others, for the Comanches, that you can. I want them to meet me at Head Quarters, and it will be necessary to have _some_ goods for them. Congress would not agree to give them any arms.

I hope when we pay the Indians their money, and I get some white troops in the Country, we shall settle the difficulties there. God knows.

Give my kind regards to Mrs. Rector and the children. Always yours.

ALBERT PIKE.

I send Dr. Duval's appointment, and Mr. Sandals', by the Messenger.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT Office of Indian Affairs, Richmond, December 30th, 1861.

MAJOR ELIAS RECTOR, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Fort Smith, Arkansas.