Part 26

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:

Notice: All free negroes are notified to leave the Wichita Reserve or Leased District forthwith, except an old negro who is in charge of Messrs. Grimes & Rector, who will be permitted to remain a few days.

[M. LEEPER], U. S. Ind. Agt.

Wichita Agency, L. D. Sept. 26, 1860.

[90] The suffering among the Indians must have been very great. There was a complete failure of crops everywhere. Subsistence had to be continued to the Wichitas, the Seminoles were reported absolutely destitute, and even the provident Choctaws were obliged to memorialize Congress for relief on the basis of the Senate award under their treaty of 1855 [General Files, _Choctaw, 1859-1866_]. Out of this application of Choctaw funds to the circumstances of their own pressing needs, came the great scandal of the Choctaw Corn Contract, in which Agent Cooper and many prominent men of the tribe were implicated. In some way Albert Pike was concerned in it also; but it must have been practically the only time a specific charge of anything like peculation could possibly have been brought against any of his transactions. His character for honesty seems to have been impeccable.

[91] In January, 1860, Agent Garrett asked the Creeks in their National Council to consent to the apportionment of the tribal lands. Motty Cunard [Motey Kennard] and Echo Mayo [Echo Harjo] sent the reply of the Council to Garrett, January 19, 1860. It was an unqualified and absolute refusal.

[92] Cooper to Greenwood, March 31, 1860 [General Files, _Choctaw, 1859-1866_, C445].

[93] George E. Baker, _Works of W. H. Seward_ (edition of 1884), vol. iv, 363; Bancroft's _Seward_, vol. ii, 460-470.

[94] _Congressional Globe_, 33rd congress, first session, Appendix, p. 155.

[95] Dean to Manypenny, October 24, 1855 [Dean's _Letter Book_].

[96] INDIAN TRUST FUND

_List of stocks held by the Secretary of the Interior in trust for Indian tribes_

STATE PER CENT AMOUNT

Arkansas 5 $ 3,000.00 Florida 7 132,000.00 Georgia 6 3,500.00 Indiana 5 70,000.00 Kentucky 5 183,000.00 Louisiana 6 37,000.00 Maryland* 6 131,611.82 Missouri 5-1/2 63,000.00 Missouri 6 484,000.00 North Carolina 6 562,000.00 Ohio 6 150,000.00 Pennsylvania* 5 96,000.00 South Carolina 6 125,000.00 Tennessee 5 218,000.00 Tennessee 6 143,000.00 United States 6 251,330.00 Virginia 6 796,800.00 ------------ 3,449,241.82

*Taxed by the State.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1859, p. 452.

[97] David Hubbard to Ross and McCulloch, June 12, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. xiii, 497].

[98] The position of the tribes in the northern part of the Indian country, in Kansas, was considerably different from that of the tribes in the southern part, in Oklahoma. Each of the great tribes to the southward had a government of its own that was modelled very largely upon that of the various states. The tribes to the northward had retained, unchanged in essentials, their old tribal community government. Moreover, they had already been obliged to allow themselves to be circumscribed by territorial lines, soon to be state lines; their integrity had been broken in upon; and now they were not of sufficient importance to have, either individually or collectively, anything to say about the sectional affiliation of Kansas. As a matter of fact, they never so much as attempted to take general tribal action in the premises. Neither their situation nor their political organization permitted it.

[99] An interruption to this came in the shape of the indefinitely defined "Cherokee Outlet," which lay north of Texas and in addition occupied the northern part of Indian Territory.

[100] The subjoined map will illustrate the relative position of the individual Indian reservations. Although published in 1867, it is not correct for that date but is fairly correct for 1861. The "reconstruction treaties" of 1866 made various changes in the Indian boundaries but the map takes no account of them.

[101] Van Buren had a short time previously been the headquarters of the Southern Superintendency.

[102] We find that this intimate intercourse extended even to things scholastic; for, though there were plenty of female seminaries, so-called, within Indian Territory, Indian girls regularly attended similar institutions in Fayetteville [Bishop, A. W., _Loyalty on the Frontier_, 143].

[103] Bishop [_Loyalty on the Frontier_, 20] says that to the zeal of the Knights of the Golden Circle, or "Knaves of the Godless Communion," was mainly attributable "the treasonable complexion" of the Arkansas legislature that organized in November of 1860.

[104] The following documents include the act of the Chickasaw Legislature and related correspondence:

Be it enacted by Legislature of the Chickasaw Nation, That the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, be and he is hereby authorized to appoint four Commissioners, one from each county, namely:--Panola, Pickens, Tishomingo, and Pontotoc County, on the part of the Chickasaw Nation, to meet a like set of Commissioners appointed respectively by the Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole Nations, to meet in General Convention at such time and place That the Chief of the Creek Nation, may set, for the purpose of entering into some compact, not inconsistent with the Laws and Treaties of the United States, for the future security and protection of the rights and Citizens of said nations, in the event of a change in the United States, and to renew the harmony and good feeling already established between said Nations by a compact concluded & entered into on the 14th of Nov. 1859, at Asbury Mission Creek Nation.

Be it further enacted That said Commissioners shall receive for their services the sum of One hundred dollars each, and shall report the proceedings of said Convention to the next session of the Chickasaw Legislature for its approval or disapproval....

Passed the House Repts as amended Jany 5th 1861.

Passed Senate Jan. 5, 1861. Approved Jan. 5, 1861.

Indian Office General Files--_Cherokee 1859-1865_, C515.

Enclosed please find an Act of the called Session of the Chickasaw Legislature, the object of which you will readily understand. Your coöperation, and union of action of the Cherokee people in effecting the object therein expressed is hereby respectfully solicited.

It will be left to the Principal Chiefs of the Creek Nation to appoint the time and place of meeting, of which you will have timely notice.-- CYRUS HARRIS, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, to John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokees, dated Tishomingo, C. N. January 5th, 1861 [_ibid._].

You will please find enclosed a communication from the Gov{r} of the Chickasaw Nation & an Act of the Chickasaw Legislature calling upon their Brethren the Creeks to appoint a time & place for a General Convention of the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Cherokees, and Creeks. We therefore appoint the 17th inst. to meet at the General Council Ground of the Creek Nation--At which time & place we will (be) happy to meet our Brethren the Cherokees.-- JACOB DERRYSAW, acting chief of the Creek Nation, to John Ross, dated Cowetah, Creek Nation, February 4, 1861 [ibid.].

I was much surprised to receive a proposition for taking action so formal on a matter so important, without having any previous notice or understanding about the business, which might have afforded opportunity to confer with our respective Councils and People.

Although I regret most deeply, the excitement which has arisen among our White brethren: yet _by us_ it can only be regarded as a family misunderstanding among themselves. And it behooves us to be careful, in any movement of ours, to refrain from adopting any measures liable to be misconstrued or misrepresented:--and in which (at present at least) we have no direct and proper concern.

I cannot but confidently believe, however, that there is wisdom and virtue and moderation enough among the people of the United States, to bring about a peaceable and satisfactory adjustment of their differences. And I do not think we have the right to anticipate any contingency adverse to the stability and permanence of the Federal Union.

Our relations to the United States, as defined by our treaties, are clear and definite. And the obligations growing out of them easily ascertained. And it will ever be our wisdom and our interest to adhere strictly to those obligations, and carefully to guard against being drawn into any complications which may prove prejudicial to the interests of our people, or imperil the security we now enjoy under the protection of the Government of the United States as guaranteed by our Treaties. In the very worst contingency that can be thought of, the great National Responsibilities of the United States must and will be provided for. And should a catastrophe as that referred to in (your) communication, unhappily occur, then will be the time for us to take proper steps for securing the rights and interests of our people.

Out of respect to the Chiefs of neighboring Nations, and from the deep interest I feel for the peace and welfare of our red brethren, I have deemed it proper to appoint a Delegation to attend the Council appointed by the Creek Chiefs at your request, on the 17th inst. at the Gen{l} Council Ground of the Creek Nation, for the purpose of a friendly interchange of the views & sentiments on the general interests of our respective Nations.

In the language of our Fathers, I am your

"Elder Friend and Brother" JOHN ROSS, Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation.

Extract from letter to Cyrus Harris, February 9, 1861 [_ibid._].

Previous to the receipt of your Communication enclosing the proceedings of the Chickasaw Authorities, I had received similar papers from the "Governor of the Chickasaw Nation."

And I herewith enclose for the information of yourself & people a copy of my reply. I will appoint a Delegation to attend your Council for the purpose therein stated.--Ross to Derrysaw, February 9, 1861 [_ibid._].

I have received a communication from the Gov. of the Chickasaw Nation, with a copy of an Act of their Legislature. And I presume a similar communication has been received by you. Deeming it important that much prudence and caution should be exercised by us in regard to the object of the Governor's communication, I have thought it proper to address him a letter, giving a brief expression of my views on the subject, a copy of which I enclose for your information.--Ross to the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, February 11, 1861 [_ibid._].

[105] See preceding note.

[106] The Creek Agency was probably chosen because of its convenient situation. It was at the junction of the North Fork and the Canadian and, consequently, in close proximity to three of the reservations and not far distant from the other two.

[107] See Mrs. W. P. Ross, _Life and Times of William P. Ross_.

[108] _American Historical Review_, vol. xv, 282.

[109]

... On your deliberations it will [be] proper for you to advise discretion, and to guard against any premature movement on our part, which might produce excitement or be liable to misrepresentation. Our duty is very plain. We have only to adhere firmly to our respective Treaties. By them we have placed ourselves under the protection of the United States, and of no other sovereign whatever. We are bound to hold no treaty with any foreign Power, or with any individual State or combination of States nor with Citizens of any State. Nor even with one another without the interposition and participation of the United States....

Should any action of the Council be thought desirable, a resolution might be adopted, to the effect, that we will in all contingencies rest our interests on the pledged faith of the United States, for the fulfilment of their obligations. We ought to entertain no apprehension of any change, that will endanger our interests. The parties holding the responsibilities of the Federal Government will always be bound to us. And no measures we have it in our power to adopt can add anything to the security we now possess. Relying on your intelligence & discretion I will add no more.--CHIEF ROSS'S instructions to the Cherokee Delegation, February 12, 1861 [Indian Office General File; _Cherokee 1859-1865_, C515].

[110] The Indian Office files are full of testimony proving John Ross's wisdom, foresight, sterling worth generally, and absolute devotion to his people. Indeed, his whole biography is written large in the records. His character was impeccable. Judged by any standard whatsoever, he would easily rank as one of the greatest of Indian half-breeds.

[111] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. i, 682.