Part 27

[112] The evidence of this is to be found in an official letter from Commissioner W. P. Dole to Secretary Caleb B. Smith, under date of April 30, 1861, which reads as follows:

I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of a letter, dated 17th. Inst. from Elias Rector, Esq., Supt. Indian Affairs ... together with copy of its enclosure, being one addressed to _Col. W. H. Emory_ by _M. Leeper_, Agent for the Indians within the "Leased District," having reference to the removal of the troops from Fort Cobb.

The Government being bound by treaty obligations to protect the Indians from the incursions of all enemies, I would respectfully ask to be informed, if it is not its intention to keep in the country a sufficient force for the purpose.

The Choctaw and Chickasaw delegation--composed of the principal men of those Nations--while recently in this City expressed great apprehensions of attack upon their people, by Citizens of Texas and Arkansas; and these delegations having assured me of their determination to maintain a neutral position in the anticipated difficulties throughout our Country, I would recommend that a depot for arms be established within the Southern Superintendency in order that the Indians there may be placed in the possession of the means to defend themselves against any attack....--Indian Office _Report Book_, no. 12, p. 152.

[113] General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, L632.

[114] The letter can be found in manuscript form in Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, pp. 447-449, and in printed form in Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1861, p. 34.

[115] _John Ross_, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation; _Cyrus Harris_, governor of the Chickasaw Nation; _M. Kennard_, principal chief of the Lower Creeks; _Echo Hadjo_ [Echo Harjo], principal chief of the Upper Creeks; _George Hudson_, principal chief of the Choctaw Nation; and the unnamed principal chief of the Seminoles west of Arkansas.

[116] It would seem that the letter was not given to Coffin immediately but was held back on account of the insecurity of the mails [Dole to Creek and Seminole chiefs, November 16, 1861, Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 67, pp. 78-79].

[117] The delay was not entirely due to the military situation. Coffin went from Washington to his home in Indiana. He was there on the twentieth, at Annapolis, Parke County, when Dole wrote urging him to hasten on his way,

I herewith enclose a slip taken from the National Intelligencer of this date, being an extract from the Austin [Texas] State Gazette of the 4th Instant, by which you will perceive that efforts are being made to tamper with the Indians within your Superintendency.

By this you will perceive the urgent necessity, that you should proceed at the earliest moment practicable to the vicinity of the duties in your charge, that from your personal knowledge of the views of the Government in relation to these Indians as well as by the instructions and communications in your possession, you may be able to thwart the endeavors of any and all who have or shall attempt to tamper with these tribes and array them in hostility to the Government.

I deem it of the utmost importance that no time be lost in this matter, as delay may be disastrous to the public service.--Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, p. 473.

By the nineteenth of June, Coffin had managed to reach Crawford Seminary, from which place he reported to Dole,

We have at length reached the Indian Territory propper.... I find Mr. Elder the Agent absent. I learned on my way down here that he had gone to Fort Scott with the view of locating the Agency there for the present which I supposed when I wrote you from the Catholic Mission might be propper from its close proximity to Missouri but as Mr. Phelps district is opposit here and he a good Union man and has been Stumping the district and I learn that the Union cause is growing fast in that part of the State I think there is now at least no Sort of excuse for removing, the buildings here are ample for a large family, watter good....--General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, C1229.

The sequel showed that Agent Elder was right and Superintendent Coffin wrong about the security of the region. Coffin never reached Fort Smith at all and was soon compelled to vacate the Indian Territory. Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 66, which covers the period from June, 1861 to October, 1861, contains scarcely a letter to prove that the Indian Office was in communication with Indian Territory. Official connection with the country had been completely cut off. Military abandonment and dilatory officials had done their work.

[118] Official instructions were issued to Coffin, then in Washington, on the ninth, and gave him permission to change his headquarters at discretion. The following is an excerpt of the instructions:

You having been appointed by the President to be Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Superintendency in place of _Elias Rector_, Esq. ... You will repair to Fort Smith, Arkansas, as early as practicable, for the purpose of relieving _Elias Rector_, Esq.

In your progress from Indiana to Fort Smith, should you deem it expedient and advisable to pass down the Kansas line and among the Indians in that section, you will make it your business to inquire as to their sentiments and disposition with reference to the present disturbances in the neighboring countries, so far as time and opportunity will enable you to do so. On reaching Fort Smith you will also inform yourself as to the condition of Affairs there and surrounding country, and as to the prospect of the business of the Superintendency being carried on without molestation or other inconvenience, and should you find it necessary from the circumstances that may surround you to remove the office of Superintendent from Fort Smith you are authorized to do so, selecting some eligible point in the proximate Indian Territory, or if required some point northwardly among the Indians in Kansas as your best discretion may dictate. I trust however that this discretionary authority may prove unnecessary and that in the legitimate discharge of your duties, you may suffer no interruption from any cause or source whatever. In a report from this Office of the 30th Ultimo, with reference to anticipated Indian troubles in your Superintendency consequent upon the removal of the troops from Fort Cobb, the attention of the _Hon. Secretary of the Interior_ was called to the subject, and the enquiry as to the policy of the Government to keep in the country a sufficient force for the purpose of proper protection; and further calling his attention to the expression of friendship and loyalty made by the Choctaw and Chickasaw delegates lately in this City, recommended that a depot for arms be established within the Southern Superintendency, in order that the Indians there may be placed in possession of the means to defend themselves against any attack. As yet no response to this report has been received....--Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, pp. 442-443.

[119] Douglas H. Cooper, agent for the Choctaws and Chickasaws, was from Mississippi; William H. Garrett, agent for the Creeks, was from Alabama; Robert J. Cowart, agent for the Cherokees, was from Georgia; Matthew Leeper, agent for the Indians of the Leased District, was from Texas; and Andrew J. Dorn, agent at the Neosho River Agency, was from Arkansas.

[120] Telegram, Greenwood to Rector, January 19, 1861 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, p. 104].

[121] For information showing what Indian agents became adherents of the Confederate cause, see, among other things, an extract from a report of Albert Pike to be found in Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 130, pp. 237-238; and a letter from R. W. Johnson to L. P. Walker, published in _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 598.

[122] The evidence on this point is not very convincing, either one way or the other. A number of documents might be cited bearing some brief, vague, or indefinite reference to the steps the Indians took from the beginning. The closing paragraph of the following report from E. H. Carruth, under date of July 11, 1861, is a typical case:

SIR: I know not that any person has given information to any of the United States officers in regard to the position of the Indian Tribes connected with the Southern Superintendency.

I am just arrived from the Seminole Country where for a year I have been employed as [illegible] to induce the Seminoles to establish schools. In Sept. last the chiefs applied to the Department to set aside $5000 for this purpose, but never heard from their application, and their Ag't soon became too deeply interested in the politics of the Country to pay much attention to the affairs of the tribe.

From the time the secession movement began to ripen into treason, the Chief of the Seminoles has constantly sought information on the subject, and whenever I rec'd a mail he would bring an Interpreter & remain with me until all had been read and explained.

After the Forts west were taken possession of by the Texans, the tribes living under the protection of Government around Fort Cobb came into the Seminole Country, seeking the counsel of the Seminoles as to what they should do, hostility to the Texans, being with them strengthened by the recollection of recent wrongs. The Seminoles gave them permission to reside on their lands, and advised them to interfere with neither party, should both be represented in the country.

The Texan officers sent several letters among them & left Commissioners at Cobb to treat with them offering to them the same protection before enjoyed while the Government of the U. S. was represented among them. A letter was also sent to the Seminoles signed by Geo. W. Welch, "Capt-Commanding the Texan troops in the service of the Southern Confederacy" which asserted that the _Northern people were determined to take away their lands & negroes_, that the old Gov't would never be able to fulfill her treaty stipulations and wound up by asking them to place their interests under the protection of the Southern Confederacy.

Very soon afterwards Capt. Albert G. Pike "Commissioner for the Confederate States of America" wrote to the Seminole Chief from the Creek Agency, asking that he should meet him at that place with six of his best men fully authorized to treat with him. He also asked for a body of Seminole warriors, & promised as "good perhaps better treaty" than their old one. His letter was backed up by one from Washburn (formerly Seminole Ag't) who gave a glowing description of treason, representing to the Indians that the U. S. could never pay one dollar of the moneys due them, that European Nations were committed to the cause of the Rebels, and entreated, prayed, almost commanded them to take the step so essential to their political salvation. This Washburn had once been engaged in a money transaction with two of the Chiefs which swindled the nation out of many thousands of dollars, and while they came near losing their heads in the operation, he escaped, & still enjoys great personal popularity with the tribe. No man knows better how to approach Indians. He was born among them of missionary parents, & like all southern men, who regret their northern parentage, he is the most rabid of violent traitors. The day after these letters were rec'd the Chief (John Jumper) spent at my house. He felt true to the treaties, & said that all his people were with the Government, but, the Forts west were in possession of its enemies, their Agent would give them no information on the subject, & he feared that his country would be overrun, if he did not yield.

I told him plainly that Government was shamefully misrepresented, that the treaties bound him to all the states alike, that the U. S. could not fall with all the Army & Navy at her disposal, & that should the South ever succeed in gaining her own independence the free States would fight till not a man, woman or child was left, before yielding one inch of Territory to the rebels. The war being entered into not so much either for or against slavery in the states, as to protect the Constitutional rights of Government in the Territories. The Chief told me that all the full Indians everywhere were with the Gov't, that he did not wish to fight, nor did his people, they had hoped to be left to themselves untill the whites settled their quarrels, his people had enough of war in Florida, & were now anxious for peace. He would however go to the Creek Agency & tell Capt. Pike & Ben McCulloch their determination. I believe the object of Pike in drawing the Seminoles to the Creek country was that he could thus bring Creek influence to bear upon them. When Pike's letter came, the Bearer sent word to the Chief to meet him ten miles below, where they were read, but this caution did not keep them out of sight, as the Chief immediately brought them to me, to whom as clerk they should have come at first, but a "white man" was declared to be the adviser of the Seminoles, for whom a black jack limb would soon suffice. I knew it dangerous to await the arrival of my ranger friends, & with my wife I left on horseback, traveling in a Kickapoo trail, coming in above the Creek country, as they had seceded--I was questioned a good deal in the Cherokee Nation, but not interfered with as I was personally acquainted with their leading half breeds, and my wife being fortunate enough to have a Virginia birth and a brother in Missouri.

When within a half hour's travel of the Neosho River, my shot gun was taken by a company of men, organized that day--the 2d after Seymour was killed--they said "to clean out Kansas Jay hawkers."

The influence of Capt. Pike the Rebel Commissioner is second to no man's among the Southern Indians & I fear that he may succeed in his intrigues with the other tribes, the Creeks, Chickasaws, & Choctaws having already gone. The Cherokees refuse to go as a Nation, & no one is a firmer friend to the Union than John Ross, their Chief, but traitors are scheming, and the half breeds in favor of the South, want an army to come in, in which event they promise to be "forced in" to the Arms of Jeff. Davis, & the select crowd of traitors at Montgomery.

There are many true & loyal men even among the half breeds, some of the Judges of their courts I know to be so, while all the full blood element is with the Gov't.

The half breeds belong to the K. G. C. a society whose sole object is to increase & defend slavery and the full bloods have--not to be outdone--got up a secret organization called the "pins" which meets among mountains, connecting business with Ball-playing, and this is understood to be in favor of Gov't, at least when a half breed at Webers falls raised a secession flag, the "pins" turned out to haul it down & were only stopped by a superior force, they retired swearing that "it should yet be done & its raiser killed" and now Sir, let me say a word in behalf of the full Indians who make up in devotion to our Gov't what they lack in knowledge.

I sometimes hear rejoicing on the part of Northern people, that these tribes are seceding, because they say such violation of their treaties will lose them their lands, whose beauty & fertility have long been admired by western farmers. I have been twelve years among these tribes & I know the full bloods to be loyal to the Gov't. That Gov't is bound by treaties to protect these nations, to keep up Forts for that purpose. The forts are deserted, the soldiers are gone. The Agents are either resigned or, working under "confederate" commissions. The Indians are told that the old Gov't is bankrupt, that it must die, that England & France will help the South, That they are southern Indians & own slaves, & have interests only with & in the south, That the war is waged by the North for the sole purpose of killing slavery, & stealing the Indian lands etc. etc. What have the Indians with which to disprove this? The "Confederate" Gov't is represented there by an army & Commissioners, but the United States have not been heard from for six months. Every battle is believed to be against the old Gov't & those who control the news know in what shape it should go to have influence. The Seminole Agent, Col. Rutherford, has never lifted his finger to give information or advice to the Indians under his charge--He said before Mr. Lincoln took his seat as President that he would not receive a reappointment from him, but would serve until it should come, which means that his love of money would enable him to make an occasional visit to the Agency buildings, but his fear for & sympathy with Ark. rebels, would keep him from doing anything to endanger their interests. A proper officer could have kept the Seminoles from sending a delegation to Capt. Pike, as well as in the Creek country one could have kept the Creeks loyal. That there has been the most culpable neglect on the part of its officers to the interests of the Genl Gov't needs no demonstration--The cry has been: "More favorable treaties can now be made with the South than after the war, as it will show that the Indians are at heart with the South"--No doubt is allowed to be felt as to the issue of the war. The agents who hold Commissions from Mr. Lincoln & go to Montgomery to have Jeff. Davis endorse them, show a faith in the issue, that is not lost upon the Indians.

A Capt. Brown of the Chickasaw tribe was commanding at Arbuckle, in the absence of Col. McKing who was at Tishimingo where the legislature was in session. He informed me that the Texans would not come over until the Choctaws & Chickasaws had given them to understand that "it would be all right"--At the time these nations did not wish to invite them, it would have been too palpable a violation of treaties, tho' they took command of the Fort, whether under their national authorities, or the "Confederate" I do not know which.

Letters now in possession of the Seminole Chief will prove much herein stated. I told the chief to preserve those letters & all others which he might receive of a like nature....--General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, C1348.

[123] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. i, 513.

[124] --_Ibid._, 515-516.

[125] The order was one of the many, dictated by the policy of "no coercion," that issued in the last days of Buchanan's administration and the first of Lincoln's. A few of them, affecting or designed to affect the frontier, may as well be listed in chronological order. On the thirteenth of February, an abandonment of Fort Smith was ordered [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. i, 654]. The citizens protested and the order was countermanded [_ibid._, 655]. On the fifteenth of the same month, General Scott ordered, in the event of secession, all United States troops from Texas, via Fort Belknap and the Indian country, to Fort Leavenworth [_ibid._, 589]. On the eighteenth of March, a similar abandonment of Arkansas and the Indian country was arranged for [_ibid._, 667].

[126] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. liii, supplement, pp. 626, 628, 629.

[127] General Twiggs was then waiting to be relieved of his command, having personally requested to be relieved, his sense of embarrassment being strong and his unwillingness to take responsibility, extreme. Robert E. Lee, brevet colonel, Second United States Cavalry, was relieved from duty in Texas and ordered to repair to Washington, by orders of February 4, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. i, 586].

[128] Commissioners of some sort had been sent to the Indians even before this. They do not seem to have been, in any sense, agents of Texas, indeed, the ones particularly in mind were from Arkansas; but Texas may have taken her cue from their appointment. Their presence in the Indian country is sufficiently attested by the following correspondence:

I have been informed today that persons purporting to act in the capacity of Commissioners are now visiting the Indian nations on our frontier--preparatory to forming an alliance with them to furnish them with arms and munitions of war, in violation of subsisting treaties and the laws of the United States. Occupying the position I do as a Civil officer of the Government in discharge of my duty as well as instructions, It is my duty to make inquiry and report such a state of facts as may exist in relation to the same. And having no authentic information in relation to this matter other than public rumor, I have believed it my duty to address you knowing that if such projects are in embryo or consummation that they cannot escape your vigilance; and that from you I shall be informed of the same, that, they may be communicated from a reliable official source to the authorities at Washington for their action.--JOHN B. OGDEN, United States commissioner, to John Ross, dated Van Buren, February 15, 1861 [Indian Office, General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, O32].

I have received your communication of the 15th inst.--stating that you have been informed that persons purporting to act in the capacity of commissioners are now visiting the Indian Nations on the frontier preparatory to forming an alliance....

It is currently rumored in the Country that Mr. R. J. Cowart--the U. S. Agent--is officially advocating the secession policy of the Southern States and that he is endeavoring to influence the Cherokees to take sides and act in concert with the seceded States--At the same time uttering words of denunciation against all the distinguished Patriots who are exerting their efforts, to devise measures of reconciliation in Congress as well as those in the Peace Convention at Washington for the Preservation of the Union.

Mr. Cowart brought out with him from the State of Georgia a man named--Solomon--who is a notorious drunken brawling disunionist. He is strolling about Tahlequah under the permission of the socalled "U. S. Agent"--and is creating strife & getting into difficulties with citizens of the Nation--a perfect nuisance to the peace and good order of society.

The conduct and general deportment of this man, also of the Agent being in direct violation of the laws and Treaties of the United States--they should be removed out of the Cherokee Country.

For further information as to such facts relating to the subjects of your enquiry, I have to refer you at present to Mr. W. P. Ross for what he may be in possession of....--JOHN ROSS to John B. Ogden, February 28, 1861 [Indian Office, General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, O32].

[129] _Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i, 322.

[130] Tenney, W. J. _Military and Naval History of the Rebellion in the United States_, 134.

[131] Letter to the Alabama commissioner, J. M. Calhoun, January 7, 1861 [_Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i, 74].

[132] "Report of a Committee of the Convention, being an address to the people of Texas, March 30, 1861."--_Ibid._, 199.