Part 20

One of the greatest injuries which I have met with during a term of more than five years service, has been experienced from officious meddlers, idlers and tale-bearers who are apt to hover round Indian encampments, and I have never found one more so than the present Commissary. J. J. Sturm who spends the principal part of his time at the Indian encampments pretends to know more than anyone else, palpably neglects the instructions given him and has produced more disquiet on the Reserve than has been produced from all other causes, he would have been suspended and reported long since, but I was apprehensive that it might be supposed that I was actuated from vindictive feelings towards him on account of an injury which he attempted to inflict upon me. At the close of the present Contract if you should deem it necessary to continue such an office, I hope a more suitable man will be appointed.

At the close of the present fiscal year I shall report in detail everything connected with the Reserve and the Indians thereon, the expenses thereof and the reasons and necessities for so doing. I am sir, Very respectfully, Your obt. servant.

[M. LEEPER]

LEEPER TO PIKE

Copy to Brig. Gen'l Albert Pike, Acting Supt., Comr., Etc., in reference to making a treaty with the Kioway Indians and the signing of the amendments of Congress.

WASHITA AGENCY, L. D., July 11, 1862.

BRIG. GEN'L ALBERT PIKE, & Act'g Superintendent, Commissioner, etc.,

Sir: In compliance with your instructions and authority, I have this day entered into Treaty stipulations with the Kioway Indians and all the wild Comanche bands with the exception of the Kua-ha-ra-tet-sa-co-no who inhabit the western portion of the "Staked Plains," and with those I am negotiating and shall probably conclude a treaty of peace in September or October next. Those who treated in August last have also signed and adopted amendments of Congress.

They retired well satisfied with themselves, and with the action of the Confederate Government, consequently peace and quietness may be expected to prevail in future upon the frontier of Texas, provided, however, that a band of fugitives from the various clans who have congregated on the Pecos, numbering it is said one hundred and fifty or two hundred, governed by no law and disposed to spread desolation wherever they go, are destroyed or our troops can receive aid from the bands who have treated in hunting down and destroying those "fellows". I am sir, Very respectfully, Your obt. ser't

[M. LEEPER] Ind. Agency, C. S. A.

NOTICE

As Agent and Acting Commissioner on the part of the Confederate States of America, I have entered into Solemn Treaty stipulations of perpetual friendship and peace with the Kioway Indians and wild bands of Comanches except the Kna-ha-ra-tet-sa-co-no whose habitations are on the Western extremity of the "Staked Plains" and with those I am negotiating and will probably conclude a treaty some time in September next.

Therefore perfect peace and quietness may soon be expected to prevail on the Texas frontier.

In order to convince the Indians of our sincerity and punctuality, it is necessary to comply strictly with the Treaty, and to do that, the Government expects me to employ four or five farmers and twenty laborers which I desire to do; farmers with families would be preferred, to whom fifty dollars per month and rations will be given, and to laborers twenty-five dollars per month and rations, negro men would be preferred.

At present there is not the slightest danger there, the agency is one of the most quiet and peaceful places within the limits of the Confederate Government.

Apply to the undersigned who will remain a few days in Sherman and afterward at the Washita Agency.

July 21st 1862.

LEEPER [?] TO PARKS

SHERMAN, TEXAS, July 28th, 1862.

MR. ROBERT W. PARKS,

Sir,--Enclosed you will please find the copy of a letter of instructions to me from Gen'l Pike the Acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs (addressed to you) in reference to fifteen thousand dollars appropriated by the Government to purchase farming utensils, oxen, wagons and stock animals for Indians located on the Washita Reserve, which fund was handed to you. The direction of the expenditures of the fund legitimately belongs to the local Agent who is alone supposed to know the amount and description of articles necessary to be purchased for the Indians, hence Gen'l Pike's letter. Before making any of the purchases indicated it would be well to see me in order to ascertain the amount and description required, the Indians already have been furnished with a few wagons, oxen and farming utensils, in fact in reference to farming implements they are well enough supplied with the exception of weeding hoes and axes; and in reference to the stock animals to be purchased I would like to have a distinct understanding with regard to the quality and the price; a responsible gentleman whom I met here is willing to furnish cows and calves, the cows not to exceed six years old delivered at the agency at sixteen dollars; therefore I should be unwilling to receive on the part of the Government animals of that description at a higher price in the absence of positive instructions to that effect; the quantity also to be purchased is an important item.

If you will take the trouble to visit the Agency, I will give you an exact description of the articles necessary to be purchased and will give you the preference as a contractor for furnishing the same.

A copy of this letter will be furnished the Acting Superintendent Gen'l Pike, and the Department. Very respectfully, Your obt sevt.

[M. LEEPER]

WASH., ARK., Aug. 19, 1862.

COLONEL: I have forwarded you letters to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Having resigned and been deprived of command in the Indian Country, I am also relieved of duty as Acting Superintendent, for which crowning mercy, God be thanked.

Mr. Parks returned on receiving your letter and refunded me $15,000 placed in his hands, except $200, paid for a mowing machine. I have deposited the residue, with all other Indian moneys, (Coin and paper), in a safe place, and so advised the Commissioner. As soon as a new Superintendent is appointed, I hope to get rid of it all.

If you had written me, _before_, what you write now, in regard to McKusken[?], you would not have had to complain that I frustrated your efforts. You sent him to me it is true, but with no such charges, and consequently left me bound to pay him off. I had employed him, and no showing was made to me that he did not deserve his pay. I hear the charges _now_ for the first time.

As to the corn at Cobb, I think you are misinformed. When I returned there last fall I found it difficult to get a small quantity, because the officer in Command said they needed it all; although the troops were on the point of leaving. I know it had been so wasted that there was not much left and what _was_ left, you needed, as you had none. I wonder you did not send your wagons and get it, as soon as the troops left, if there was any remaining, and account for it.

I _was_ sorry to hear that you had made unkind remarks in regard to myself, and though apparently my friend, were secretly my enemy--and I am truly glad to receive your flat contradiction. I have _never_ had any unkind feelings towards you, and was glad to believe after meeting you this Summer, that you had none towards me. For any imputations against yourself in your official capacity, you are indebted in chief measure to Major Rector who made them openly, anywhere, and in the presence of many. What Mr. Sturm said was not said willingly, but drawn from him. He showed a great disinclination to say anything against you.

Believe me, I would now, as always for years past, rather serve than injure you. And I sincerely hope our friendly relations may continue. I expect to settle not far from you and will always gladly aid in cultivating friendship with the Indians and enabling you to succeed with them. I am very truly yours

ALBERT PIKE

Col. M. Leeper C. S. Agent Etc.

DESHLER[597] TO LEEPER

Gen. Holmes in reply to your letter of 17th inst. just received, instructs me to say, that Gen. Hindman is going to take command of all the troops in the Indian country, he starts in a day or two. Col. W. P. Lane's Reg't has been ordered to Fort Arbuckle. The gen. com'd'g thinks these measures will be sufficient to insure quiet in your region, but instructs me to say that if he knew of any available force in Texas he would have no objection to sending 5 or 6 Companies to you, but there are no troops available other than Col. Lane's Reg't already ordered to Arbuckle.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF DOCUMENTARY SOURCES.

The material for this book has been drawn almost entirely from documentary sources and, in a very large measure, from unpublished documentary sources; namely, the manuscript records of the United States Indian Office. Those records to-day are in a very disorganized state, largely due to change of system and to the many removals to which they have been subjected within the last few years. At the time when they were examined for the purposes of the present work, such of them as were not included in _Registers_, _Letter Books_, and _Report Books_ were classified as _Land Files_, _General Files_, _Special Files_, _Emigration Files_, _Miscellaneous Files_, _Star Files_, and the like, the basis of classification being, convenience in the current and routine work of the office. The individual files were arranged according to tribe, agency, or superintendency and every incoming letter had its own file mark. It had a letter to designate the transmitter, that letter being the initial of the transmitter's surname or of the office he represented, and it had a number to indicate its rank in a series, all the papers of which bore the same initial letter and had been received in the same given year. Finally, it was rated as belonging to a particular tribe, agency, or superintendency and to a particular file.

In the autumn of 1911, an attempt was made to consolidate the old _Land_ and _General Files_ with the result that now they are no longer distinct from each other; but it has seemed best not to change the reference in the citations. The year, the letter, and the number are permanent indices and, with them at hand, there ought to be no difficulty in the locating of a paper, except for the fact that nearly everything in the United States Indian Office seems, just now, rather transitory and chaotic. Had the inaugural ball for 1913 not been dispensed with, the plan was, to use the records as the base for the band-stand, a decidedly interesting reflection, one must admit, upon the popular notion of the value of the national archives.

Among the manuscripts used in the preparation of the present work, were two collections of papers that came into the United States Indian Office out of the regular course of its official business. In the citations, one is noted as _Leeper Papers_, and the other as _Fort Smith Papers_. Their history, since they came into the Indian Office, proves how urgent is the need for a Hall of Records. Inasmuch as these papers were not required for the every-day business of the office, they were packed away, years and years ago, along with a lot of other commercially useless papers, in huge boxes and stored in the attic of the old Post-office Building. There they were left to be forgotten. In the course of time, the Office of Indian Affairs was moved from the old Post-office Building to the Pension Building; but the packing-boxes in the attic were inadvertently left behind. One day, however, the writer discovered that papers, found at the Wichita Agency at the time Agent Leeper was killed, October, 1862, had really come into the Indian Office; but the question was, where were they? A search high and low was totally without success until it developed that the packing-boxes in the attic were supposed to contain "useless" papers and were still in the old Post-office Building. Permission was obtained to have them examined and, for this purpose, they were transferred to the Pension Building. Among their contents was found a number of interesting and valuable documents which very likely would soon have been lost forever, destroyed by the General Land Office because abandoned by the Indian. The contents included, besides the _Leeper Papers_ for which the search had been especially conducted, letter-books of Michigan territorial governors, file-boxes of all sorts, and a mass of Confederate stuff, brought from Fort Smith. The last-named proved a veritable mine of wealth. It comprised the occasional correspondence of Cooper, Cowart, Crawford, Drew, Dean, Rector, Pike, and many others whose official life had brought them into contact with the Indians. It was all very suggestive and remunerative.

To supplement the manuscripts an exhaustive search of the _Official Records of the War of the Rebellion_ has been made and with good results. It is a pity that the material in the _Official Records_ is so badly arranged and so much of it duplicated and often triplicated. Had it been better edited and better indexed, the danger of over-looking important documents would have been minimized a hundredfold. The volumes found particularly useful for Indian participation in the Civil War were the following:

First Series, vols. i; iii; iv; viii; ix; xiii; xxii, parts 1 and 2; xxvi, parts 1 and 2; xxxiv, parts 1, 2, and 3; xli, parts 1, 2, 3, and 4; xlviii, parts 1 and 2; liii, supplement.

Third Series, vols. i; ii; iii.

Fourth Series, vols. i; ii; iii.

II. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SOURCES

AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, 1861-1865, inclusive (New York).

ARKANSAS. Journal of the House of Representatives for the Thirteenth Session of the General Assembly, November 5, 1860-January 21, 1861 (Little Rock, 1861).

---- Journal of the Convention, 1861.

---- Messages of the Governors.

BUCHANAN, JAMES. Works, collected and edited by John Basset Moore (Philadelphia, 1908-1911), 12 vols.

CAIRNES, J. E. Slave Power: its character, career, and probable designs (New York, 1863), pamphlet.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. Journal of the Congress, 1861-1865. (United States Senate _Executive Documents_, 58th congress, second session, no. 234).

---- Provisional and permanent constitutions; and acts and resolutions of the first session of the Provisional Congress (Richmond, 1861).

---- Special orders of the adjutant and inspector general's office, 1862 (Richmond, 1862).

CONNELLEY, WILLIAM E., editor. Provisional government of Nebraska Territory and the Journals of William Walker [Lincoln, Nebraska, 1899].

DEAN, CHARLES W. Letter Book, May 26, 1855 to December 31, 1856 (Manuscript in United States Indian Office).

DREW, THOMAS S. Letter Book, June 1, 1853 to June 1, 1854 (Manuscript in United States Indian Office).

FORT SMITH PAPERS. A miscellaneous collection of manuscript materials, transmitted from Fort Smith, Arkansas, at the close of the Civil War. Among them is the fragment of one of Elias Rector's _Letter Books_.

---- Minutes of the private meetings of the commissioners, 1865 (Land Files, Indian Talks, Councils, etc., Box 4).

HAGOOD, JOHNSON. Memoirs of the War of Secession from the original manuscripts of Johnson Hagood (Columbia, S. C., 1912).

KAPPLER, CHARLES J., compiler and editor. Indian affairs: Laws and Treaties (United States Senate Documents, 58th congress, Second session, no. 319), 2 vols.

LEEPER PAPERS. Manuscripts, chiefly letters written or received by Matthew Leeper, successively United States and Confederate States Indian Agent, brought from the Wichita Agency after the massacre of October, 1862.

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. Writings, edited by A. B. Lapsley (New York, 1905-1906), 8 vols.

---- Complete Works, edited by John G. Nicolay and John Hay (New York, 1894), 2 vols.

MCPHERSON, EDWARD. Political history of the United States of America during the Great Rebellion (Washington, 1864).

MASON, EMILY V. Southern poems of the war (Baltimore, 1867).

MATTHEWS, JAMES M., editor. Statutes at Large of the Confederate States of America from February 8, 1861 to February 18, 1862, together with the constitution of the provisional government and the permanent constitution of the Confederate States, and the treaties concluded by the Confederate States with the Indian tribes (Richmond, 1864).

---- Statutes at Large of the first congress of the Confederate States of America (Richmond, 1862), pamphlet.

---- Statutes at Large of the Confederate States of America, commencing the first session of the first congress and including the first session of the second congress (Richmond, 1864).

MISSOURI. Adjutant-general's report of the Missouri State Militia for 1861 (St. Louis, 1862).

MOORE, FRANK, editor. Diary, or Rebellion record (New York, 1868), 11 vols. and a supplementary volume for 1861-1864.

NEWSPAPERS. Arkansas Baptist (Little Rock).

Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock). Arkansas Intelligencer (Van Buren). Arkansas True Democrat (Little Rock). Chronicle, The (Little Rock). Daily National Democrat (Little Rock). Daily State Journal (Little Rock). National Democrat (Little Rock). State Rights Democrat, The (Little Rock). Unconditional Union (Little Rock). Weekly Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock).

PHISTERER, FREDERICK. Statistical record of the armies of the United States (New York, 1890).

Supplementary volume to the Campaigns of the Civil War Series.

PIKE, ALBERT. Poems, edited by his daughter, Mrs. Lillian Pike Roome (Little Rock, 1900).

RAINES, C. W., editor. Six decades in Texas, or the memoirs of F. R. Lubbock (Austin, 1890).

RECTOR, ELIAS. Letter Book.

A Fragment. Ms. in United States Indian Office among the Fort Smith Papers. Many of the letters have been almost obliterated by exposure.

RICHARDSON, JAMES D., editor. Compilation of the messages and papers of the Confederacy, including the diplomatic correspondence (Nashville, 1905), 2 vols.

---- Compilation of the messages and papers of the presidents, 1789-1897 (Washington, 1896-1899), 10 vols.

SEWARD, WILLIAM H. Works, edited by G. E. Baker (New York, 1853-1884), 5 vols.

SMITH, WILLIAM R. History and debates of the convention of the people of Alabama, January 7, 1861 (Montgomery, 1861).

TEXAS. Ordinances and resolutions of the convention held in the city of Austin, January 28, 1861, to February 24, 1861 (Austin, 1861).

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Attorney-general, opinions, 1791-1908 (Washington, 1852-).

---- Report of Covode committee, 1860 (House _Reports_, 36th congress, first session, no. 648).

---- Report of select committee to investigate abstraction of bonds held in trust by the United States government for the Indian tribes (House _Reports_, 36th congress, second session, no. 78).

---- Department of the Interior, Reports of the Secretary, 1861-1865, inclusive.

---- Office of Indian Affairs, Land Files, General Files, Miscellaneous Files, and Special Files.

---- Office of Indian Affairs, Letter Books [letters sent]:

No. 50, August 28, 1854 to February 20, 1855. " 51, February 21, 1855 to June 12, 1855. " 52, June 13, 1855 to October 27, 1855. " 53, October 29, 1855 to March 19, 1856. " 54, March 20, 1856 to July 30, 1856. " 55, July 31, 1856 to December 31, 1856. " 56, January 2, 1857 to May 25, 1857. " 57, May 26, 1857 to October 31, 1857. " 58, November 2, 1857 to April 30, 1858. " 59, May 1, 1858 to October 23, 1858. " 60, October 25, 1858 to April 29, 1859. " 61, April 30, 1859 to August 23, 1859. " 62, August 24, 1859 to February 9, 1860. " 63, February 10, 1860 to June 26, 1860. " 64, June 27, 1860 to December 7, 1860. " 65, December 8, 1860 to June 1, 1861. " 66, June 3, 1861 to October 23, 1861. " 67, October 24, 1861 to March 25, 1862. " 68, March 26, 1862 to August 7, 1862. " 69, August 8, 1862 to January 20, 1863. " 70, January 20, 1863 to June 5, 1863. " 71, June 5, 1863 to October 14, 1863. " 72, October 15, 1863 to January 8, 1864. " 73, January 9, 1864 to April 23, 1864. " 74, April 25, 1864 to July 28, 1864. " 75, July 28, 1864 to December 7, 1864. " 76, December 8, 1864 to April 4, 1865. " 77, April 4, 1865 to August 3, 1865. " 78, August 3, 1865 to December 8, 1865.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Office of Indian Affairs, Registers (letters received):

No. 44, January 4, 1855 to July 31, 1855. " 45, August 1, 1855 to December 31, 1855. " 46, January 1, 1856 to June 30, 1856. " 47, July 1, 1856 to December 31, 1856. " 48, January 1, 1857 to June 30, 1857. " 49, July 1, 1857 to December 31, 1857. " 50, January 1, 1858 to June 25, 1858. " 51, June 25, 1858 to December 29, 1858. " 52, December 30, 1858 to June 27, 1859. " 53, June 28, 1859 to December 31, 1859. " 54, January 1, 1860 to June 1, 1860. " 55, June 1, 1860 to December 31, 1860. " 56, January 1, 1861 to June 30, 1861. " 57, July 1, 1861 to December 31, 1861. " 58, January 1, 1862 to July 1, 1862. " 59, July 1, 1862 to December 31, 1862. " 60, January 1, 1863 to June 30, 1863. " 61, July 1, 1863 to January 2, 1864. " 62, January 2, 1864 to May 30, 1864. " 63, June 1, 1864 to December 31, 1864. " 64, January 1, 1865 to June 30, 1865. " 65, July 1, 1865 to December 29, 1865.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Office of Indian Affairs, Report Books:

No. 8, May 1, 1854 to August 9, 1855. " 9, August 10, 1855 to December 31, 1856. " 10, January 1, 1857 to March 31, 1858. " 11, April 1, 1858 to September 2, 1860. " 12, September 3, 1860 to December 9, 1862. " 13, December 12, 1862 to August 19, 1864. " 14, August 20, 1864 to December 12, 1865.

---- Department of War, Reports of the Secretary, 1861-1865, inclusive.

---- Statutes at Large (Boston, 1850-).

WAR OF THE REBELLION. Compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies (Washington), 129 serial volumes and an index volume.

WELLES, GIDEON. Diary (Boston, 1911), 3 vols.

III. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF AUTHORITIES

ABBOTT, LUTHER J. History and Civics of Oklahoma (Boston, 1910).

ABEL, ANNIE HELOISE. Indians in the Civil War (_American Historical Review_, vol. xv, 281-296).

---- Indian reservations in Kansas and the extinguishment of their titles (Kansas Historical Society, _Collections_, vol. viii, 72-109).

---- History of events resulting in Indian consolidation west of the Mississippi River (American Historical Association, _Report_, 1906).

---- Proposals for an Indian State in the Union, 1778-1878 (American Historical Association, _Report_, 1907, vol. i, 89-102).

ADAMS, RICHARD C. Brief history of the Delaware Indians (Senate _Documents_, 59th congress, first session, no. 501).

ALEXANDER, GROSS. History of the Methodist Church South (New York, 1894).

BANCROFT, FREDERIC. Life of William H. Seward (New York, 1900), 2 vols.

BAPTIST HOME MISSIONS in North America, 1832-1882.

Published by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society, New York, 1883.

BISHOP, ALBERT WEBB. Loyalty on the frontier, or sketches of union men of the southwest (St. Louis, 1863).

BOUDINOT, ELIAS C. Speech delivered before the House Committee on Territories, February 7, 1872 (Washington, 1872), pamphlet.

---- Oklahoma, an argument before the House Committee on Territories, January 29, 1878 (Alexandria, 1878), pamphlet.

BREWERTON, G. DOUGLAS. War in Kansas (New York, 1856).

BRIGHAM, JOHNSON. James Harlan (Iowa City, Ia., 1913).

BRITTON, WILEY. Memoirs of the rebellion on the border, 1863 (Chicago, 1882).

---- Civil War on the border, 1861-1862 (New York, 1891).