Part 30

The truth was, as I afterwards learned with certainty, the Secret Organization in question, whose members for a time used as a mark of their membership a _pin_ in the front of the hunting shirt, was really established for the purpose of depriving the half-breeds of all political power, though Mr. Ross, himself a Scotchman and a McDonald by the father and the mother, was shrewd enough to use it for his own ends. At any rate, it was organized and in _full_ operation, long before Secession was thought of.

General McCulloch and myself assured those who met us at Fort Smith, that they should be protected; and agreed to meet, at an early day then fixed, at Park Hill, where Mr. Ross resided. Upon that I sent a messenger with letters to five or six prominent members of the Anti-Ross party, inviting them to meet me at the Creek Agency, two days after the day on which General McCulloch and I were to meet at Park Hill.

I did not expect to effect any arrangement with Mr. Ross, and my intention was to treat with the heads of the Southern party, Stand Watie and others.

When we met Mr. Ross at Park Hill, he refused to enter into any arrangement with the Confederate States. He said that his intention was to maintain the neutrality of his people; that they were a small and weak people, and would be ruined and destroyed if they engaged in the war; and that it would be a cruel thing if we were to engage them in our quarrel. But, he said, all his interests and all his feelings were with us, and he knew that his people must share the fate and fortunes of Arkansas. We told him that the Cherokees _could_ not be neutral. We used every argument in our power to change his determination, but in vain; and finally General McCulloch informed him that he would respect the neutrality of the Cherokees, and would not enter their Country with troops, or place troops in it, unless it should become necessary in order to expel a Federal force, or to protect the Southern Cherokees.

So we separated. General McCulloch kept his word, and no Confederate troops ever were stationed in or marched into the Cherokee Country, until after the Federal troops invaded it.

Before leaving the Nation I addressed Mr. Ross a letter, which I afterwards printed, and circulated among the Cherokee people. In it I informed him that the Confederate States would remain content with his pledge of neutrality, although he would find it impossible to maintain that neutrality; that I should not again offer to treat with the Cherokees, and that the Confederate States would not consider themselves bound by my proposition to pay the Cherokees for the neutral land, if they should lose it in consequence of the war. I had no further communication with Mr. Ross until September.

Meanwhile, he had persuaded Opoth le Yahola, the Creek leader, not to join the Southern States, and had sent delegates to meet the Northern and other Indians in Council near the Antelope Hills, where they all agreed to be neutral. The purpose was, to take advantage of the war between the States, and form a great independent Indian Confederation--I defeated all that, by treating with the Creeks at the very time that their delegates were at the Antelope Hills in Council.

When I had treated with them and with the Choctaws and Chickasaws, at the North Fork of the Canadian, I went to the Seminole Agency and treated with the Seminoles. Then I went to the Wichita Agency, having previously invited the Reserve Indians to return there, and invited the prairie Comanches to meet me. After treating with these, I returned by Fort Arbuckle, and before reaching there, met a nephew of Mr. Ross, and a Captain [Keld? _sic_] in the prairie, bearing a letter to me from Mr. Ross and his Council, with a copy of the resolutions of Council, and an invitation in pressing terms to repair to the Cherokee Country and enter into a Treaty.

I consented, fixed a day for meeting the Cherokees, and wrote Mr. Ross to that effect, requesting him also to send messengers to the Osages, Quapaws, Shawnees, Senecas, &c. and invite them to meet me at the same time. He did so, and at the time fixed I went to Park Hill, and there effected Treaties.

When I first entered the Indian Country, in May, I had as an escort one company of mounted men. I went in advance of them to Park Hill; General McCulloch went there without an escort. At the Creek Agency I sent the Company back: I then remained without escort or guard, until I had made the Seminole Treaty, camping with my little party and displaying the Confederate flag. When I went to the Wichita Country, I took an escort of Creeks and Seminoles. These I discharged at Fort Arbuckle on my return, and went, accompanied only by four young men, through the Creek Country to Fort Gibson, refusing an escort of Creeks offered me on the way.

From Fort Gibson eight or nine companies of Colonel Drew's Regiment of Cherokees, chiefly full-bloods and Pins, escorted me to Park Hill. This regiment was raised by order of the National Council, and its officers appointed by Mr Ross, his nephew William P. Ross, Secretary of the Nation, being Lieut. Colonel, and Thomas Pegg, President of the National Committee, being its Major.

I encamped, with my little party near the residence of the Chief, unprotected even by a guard, and with the Confederate flag flying. The terms of the Treaty were fully discussed and the Cherokee authorities dealt with me on equal terms. Mr. John Ross had met me as I was on my way to Park Hill, escorted by the National Regiment, and had welcomed me to the Cherokee Nation, in an earnest and enthusiastic speech; and seemed to me throughout to be acting in perfect good faith. I acted in the same way with him.

After the treaties were signed, I presented Colonel Drew's Regiment a flag, and the chief in a speech exhorted them to be true to it: and afterwards, _at his request, I wrote the Cherokee Declaration of Independence_ which is printed with the Memorial of the Southern Cherokees. I no more doubted, then, that Mr. Ross' whole heart was with the South, than that mine was. _Even in May he said to General McCulloch and myself, that if Northern troops invaded the Cherokee Country, he would head the Cherokees and drive them back._ "_I have borne arms_" he said, "_and though I am old I can do it again_."

At the time of the treaty there were about nine hundred Cherokees of Colonel Drew's Regiment encamped near, and fed by me, and Colonel Watie, who had almost abandoned the idea of raising a regiment, had a small body of men, not more, I think, than eighty or ninety, at Tahlequah. When the flag was presented, Col. Watie was present, and after the ceremony the chief shook hands with him and expressed his warm desire for union and harmony in the Nation.

The gentlemen whom I had invited to meet me in June at the Creek Agency did not do so. They were afraid of being murdered, they said, if they openly sided with the South. In October they censured me for treating with Mr. Ross, and were in an ill humour, saying that the regiment was raised in order to be used to oppress _them_.

The same day that the Cherokee Treaty was signed, the Osages, Quapaws, Shawnees and Senecas signed treaties, and the next day they had a talk with Mr. Ross at his residence, smoked the great pipe and renewed their alliance, being urged by him to be true to the Confederate States.

I protest that I believed Mr. John Ross, at this time and for long after, to be as sincerely devoted to the Confederacy as I myself was. He was frank, cheerful, earnest, and evidently believed that the independence of the Confederate States was an accomplished fact. I should dishonour him if I believed that he then dreamed of abandoning the Confederacy or turning the arms of the Cherokees against us in case of a reverse.

Before I left the Cherokee Country, part of the Creeks, under Opoth-le-Yaholo left their homes, under arms and threatened hostilities. Mr. Ross, at my request, invited the old Chief to meet him, and urged him to unite with the Confederate States. Colonel Drew's regiment was ordered into the Creek Country, and afterwards, on the eve of the action at Bird Creek, abandoned Colonel Cooper, rather than fight against their neighbours. But after the action, the regiment was again reorganized. The men were eager to fight, they said, against the Yankees; but did not wish to fight their own brethren, the Creeks.

When General Curtis entered North Western Arkansas, in February 1862, I sent orders from Fort Smith to Colonel Drew to move towards Evansville and receive orders from General McCulloch. Colonel Watie's Regiment was already under General McCulloch's command. Colonel Drew's men moved in advance of Colonel Watie, with great alacrity, and showed no want of zeal at Pea Ridge.

I do not _know_ that any one was scalped at that place or in that action, except from information. None of my officers knew it at the time. I heard of it afterwards. I cannot say to which regiment those belonged who did it. But it has been publicly charged on some of the same men who afterwards abandoned the Confederate cause and enlisting in the Federal Service were sent into Arkansas to ravage it.

After the actions at Pea Ridge and Elk Horn, the Regiment of Colonel Drew was moved to the mouth of the Illinois, where I was able, after a time, to pay them $25 cash, the commutation for six months' clothing, in Confederate money. Nothing more, owing to the wretched management of the Confederate government, was ever paid them; and the clothing procured for them was plundered by the commands of Generals Price and Van Dorn. The consequence was that when Colonel Weer entered the Cherokee Country, the Pin Indians joined him _en masse_.

I had procured at Richmond, and paid Mr. Lewis Ross, Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation, about the first of March 1862, in the Chief's house and in the Chief's presence, the moneys agreed to be paid them by Treaty, being about $70,000 (I think) in coin, and among other sums $150,000 in Confederate Treasury notes, loaned the Nation by way of advance on the price expected to be paid for the Neutral land. This sum had been promised in the Treaty at the earnest solicitation of Mr. John Ross; and it was generally understood that it was desired for the special purpose of redeeming scrip of the Nation issued long before, and much of which was held by Mr. Ross and his relatives. That such _was_ the case, I do not know. I only know that the moneys were paid, and that I have the receipts for them, which, with others, I shall file in the Indian Office.

In May, 1862, Lieut. Colonel William P. Ross visited my camp at Fort McCulloch, near Red River, and said to me that "the Chief" would be gratified if he were to receive the appointment of Brigadier General in the Confederate Service. I did not ask him if he was authorized by the Chief to say so; but I did ask him if he were _sure_ that the appointment would gratify him; and being so assured, I promised to urge the appointment. I did so, more than once, but never received a reply. It was not customary with the Confederate War Department to exhibit any great wisdom; and in respect to the Indian Country its conduct was disgraceful. Unpaid, unclothed, uncared for, unthanked even, and their services unrecognized, it was natural the Cherokees should abandon the Confederate flag.

When Colonel Weer invaded the Cherokee Country, Mr. Ross refused to have an interview with him, declaring that the Cherokees would remain faithful to their engagements with the Confederate States. There was not then a Confederate soldier in the Cherokee Nation, to overawe Mr. Ross or Major Pegg or any other "loyal" Cherokee. Mr. Ross sent me a copy of his letter to Colonel Weer, and I had it printed and sent over Texas, to show the people there that the Cherokee Chief was "loyal" to the Confederate States.

Afterwards, when Stand Watie's Regiment and the Choctaws were sent over the Arkansas into the Cherokee Country, and Mr. Ross considered his life in danger from his own people, in consequence of their ancient feud, he allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Federal troops. At the time, I believed that if white troops had been sent to Park Hill, who would have protected him against Watie's men, he would have remained at home and adhered to the Confederacy: for either he was true to his obligations to the Confederate States, voluntarily entered into,--true at heart and in his inmost soul,--or else he is falser and more treacherous than I can believe him to be.

The simple truth is, Mr. Commissioner, that the "loyal" Cherokees hated Stand Watie and the half-breeds and were hated by them. They were perfectly willing to kill and scalp Yankees, and when they were hired to change sides, and twenty two hundred of them were organized into regiments in the _Federal_ Service, they were just as ready to kill and scalp when employed against us in Arkansas. _We_ did _not_ pay and clothe them, and the United States _did_. They scalped for those who paid for and clothed them. As to "loyalty" they had none at all.

I entered the Indian Country in May, and left it in October. For five months I travelled and encamped in it, unprotected by white troops, alone with the four young men, treating with the different tribes. If there had been any "loyalty" among the Indians, I could not have gone a mile in safety. Opoth-le-Yaholo was not "loyal." He feared the McIntoshes, who had raised troops, and who, he thought, meant to kill him for killing their father long years before. He told me that he did not wish to fight against the Southern States, but only that the Indians should all act together. If Mr. Ross had treated with us at first, _all_ the Creeks would have done the same. If Stand Watie and his party took _one_ side, John Ross and his party were sure, in the end, to take the other, _especially when that other proved itself the stronger_.

So far from the Watie party overawing the party which upheld Mr. Ross, I _know_ it to be true that they were _afraid_ to actively coöperate with the Confederate States, to organize, to raise Secession flags, or even to meet me and consult with me. They feared that Colonel Drew's Regiment would be used to harrass them, and they never dreamed of _forcing_ the authorities into a Treaty.

After the action at Elkhorn, murders were continually complained of by Colonels Watie and Drew, and the Chief solicited me to place part of Colonel Drew's Regiment at or near Park Hill, to protect the government and its records. I did so. There never a time when the "loyal" Cherokees had not the power to destroy the Southern ones.

As to myself, I dealt fairly and openly with all the Indians. I used no threats of force or compulsion, with any of them. The "loyal" Cherokees joined us because they believed we should succeed, and left us when they thought we should not. At their request I wrote their declaration of Independence and acceptance of the issues of war; and if any men voluntarily, and with their eyes open, and of their own motion acceded to the Secession movement, it was John Ross and the people whom he controlled. I am, Sir, Very res{py}, Your obt Svt

ALBERT PIKE

D. N. Cooley Esq, Commissioner of Ind. Aff.

[229] In writing this letter, Pike most certainly addressed himself to Toombs officially and with the idea in mind that he was holding his commission under the Confederate State Department. That he was serving under that department and that he did not get his appointment until May seem scarcely to admit of a doubt, notwithstanding the fact that Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of War later in the year, December [14?], 1861, in reporting to President Davis, could make the following statement:

At the first session of the Congress an act was passed providing for the sending of a commissioner to the Indian tribes north of Texas and west of Arkansas, with the view of making such arrangements for an alliance with and the protection of the Indians as were rendered necessary by the disruption of the Union and our natural succession to the rights and duties of the United States, so far as these Indians were concerned. The supervision of this important branch of administrative duty was confided to the State Department, by which Brig.-Gen. Albert Pike was selected as commissioner. At a later period of the same session a Bureau of Indian Affairs was created by law and attached to this Department, charged with the management of our relations with the Indian tribes....--_Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i, 792.

Now, if Benjamin was correct in his chronology, the appointment of Pike must have antedated that of Hubbard, a very unlikely state of affairs unless, indeed, the Confederate government from the start, taking cognizance of the very advanced condition of the Indians under discussion and of the very extreme delicacy of the situation, concluded it would be wisest to act upon the assumption that the great tribes were independent enough to be dealt with almost as foreign powers and so left everything to the discretion of the State Department.

In November, 1861, the Provisional Congress considered the advisability of transferring the whole Indian Bureau to the Department of State [_Journal_, November 28, 1861, vol. i, 489]. The transfer was probably suggested by the fact that the relations to date of the Confederate States with the Indians had been conducted altogether upon a basis of diplomacy. An added reason might have been, that the ordinary business of the War Department was sufficiently onerous without the details of Indian complications being made a part of it. Yet the transfer was never made.

[230] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 576-578.

[231] Hubbard's ill-health, however, seems to have made it incumbent upon Pike to assume much the larger share of official responsibility and practically to do Hubbard's work as well as his own; that is, so much of it as was not transacted in Richmond.

[232] Adjutant and Inspector-General S. Cooper to McCulloch, May 13, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 575-576].

[233] Hubbard to Walker, June 2, 1861 [_ibid._, 589-590].

[234] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. xiii, 497-498; General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, C515.

[235] Rhodes, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 237-238; also _Report_ of the Select Committee to Investigate the Abstraction of Bonds Held by the United States Government in Trust for Indian Tribes, being House _Report_, 36th congress, second session, no. 78. Dole, in his _Annual Report_ for 1861, p. 27, urged that the government make the loss good to the Indians and also appropriate money "to meet the unpaid interest on those trust bonds of the revolted States yet in custody of the Secretary of the Interior." There ought never, either from the standpoint of national faith or of that of political expediency, to have been any hesitation in the matter.

[236] The entire letter is to be found in _Official Records_, first ser., vol. xiii, 498-499; also in General Files, _Cherokee, 1850-1865_, C515.

[237]

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. ARMY, MONTGOMERY, May 13, 1861.

MAJOR DOUGLAS H. COOPER, Choctaw Nation:

Sir: The desire of this Government is to cultivate the most friendly relations and the closest alliance with the Choctaw Nation and all the Indian tribes west of Arkansas and south of Kansas. Appreciating your sympathies with these tribes, and their reciprocal regard for you, we have thought it advisable to enlist your services in the line of this desire. From information in possession of the Government it is deemed expedient to take measures to secure the protection of these tribes in their present country from the agrarian rapacity of the North, that, unless opposed, must soon drive them from their homes and supplant them in their possessions, as, indeed, would have been the case with the entire South but for our present efforts at resistance. It is well known that with these unjust designs against the Indian country the Northern movement for several years has had its emissaries scheming among the tribes for their ultimate destruction. Their destiny has thus become our own, and common with that of all the Southern States entering this Confederation.

Entertaining these views and feelings, and with these objects before us, we have commissioned General Ben. McCulloch, with three regiments under his command, from the States of Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, to take charge of the military district embracing the Indian country, and I now empower you to raise among the Choctaws and Chickasaws a mounted regiment, to be commanded by yourself, in co-operation with General McCulloch. It is designed also to raise two other similar regiments among the Creeks, Cherokees, Seminoles, and other friendly tribes for the same purpose. This combined force of six regiments will be ample to secure the frontiers upon Kansas and the interests of the Indians, while to the south of the Red River three regiments from Texas, under a different command, have been already assigned to the Rio Grande and western border.

It will thus appear, I trust, that the resources of this Government are adequate to its ends, and assured to the friendly Indians. We have our agents actively engaged in the manufacture of ammunition and in the purchase of arms, and when your regiment has been reported organized in ten companies, ranging from 64 to 100 men each, and enrolled for twelve months, if possible, it will be received into the Confederate service, and supplied with arms and ammunition. Such will be the course pursued also in relation to the two other regiments I have indicated.

The arms we are purchasing for the Indians are rifles, and they will be forwarded to Fort Smith. Respectfully,

L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War.

_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 574-575.

[238] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 572-574.

[239] --_Ibid._, 583.

[240] See McCulloch to Walker, May 28, 1861, _ibid._, 587; also same to same, June 12, 1861, _ibid._, 590-591.

[241] --_Ibid._, 591-592; also vol. xiii, 495.

[242] General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, C515; _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 596-597 and vol. xiii, 495-497.

[243] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 590-591.

[244]

HEADQUARTERS MCCULLOCH'S BRIGADE, Fort Smith, Ark., June 22, 1861.

HON. L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War:

Sir: I have the honor to transmit the inclosed copy of a communication from John Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.