Part 38

Your communication to this office of the 31st December last has been received enclosing a letter which was brought to you by a messenger from the South, as you were holding a Council with the Delaware Chiefs of your Agency, and which letter you desired to be laid before the President of the United States. Your communication also represented the readiness of the Delawares and all the other Western tribes to engage in military service on the side of the Government against the rebel States.

With reference to all these Subjects, you will have an opportunity of conferring with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (who has perused your letter in person) at Leavenworth City, for which destination he left this City on Sunday last on public business.--CHARLES E. MIX, acting commissioner, to F. Johnson, January 21, 1862 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 67, p. 268].

[552] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, pp. 26, 147-148.

[553]

I have the honor to inform you that Capt. J. W. Turner, Chief Commissary of Subsistence of the Department, has just returned from the encampments of the loyal Indians, on the Verdigris river, and in its vicinity. Having made arrangements for subsisting these unfortunate refugees until the 15th day of the present month.

In the neighborhood of Belmont and Roe's Fort, there were, at the time Capt. Turner left, about four thousand five hundred Indians, chiefly Creeks and Seminoles. But their number was being constantly augmented by the arrival of fresh camps, tribes and families.

Their condition is pictured as most wretched--destitute of clothing, shelter, fuel, horses, cooking utensils and food. This last named article was supplied by Capt. Turner in quantities sufficient to last until the 15th instant after which time, I doubt not, you will have made further arrangements for their continued subsistence.

In taking the responsibility of supplying their wants until the Indian Department could make provision for their necessities I but fulfilled a duty due to our common humanity and the cause in which the Indians are suffering. I now trust and have every confidence that under your energetic and judicious arrangements these poor people may be supplied with all they need after the 15th instant, on which day the supplies furnished by Capt. Turner will be exhausted.

I make no doubt that provision should be made for feeding, clothing and sheltering not less than six thousand Indians, and possibly as high as ten thousand, on this point however, you are doubtless better prepared to judge than myself. I only wish to urge upon you the necessity for prompt measures of relief.

P.S. Copies of the reports made by Capt. Turner and Brigade Surgeon Campbell will be furnished to you by tomorrow's post, in view of the urgency of this case, and the fact that these Indians cannot be supplied any further than have been done from the supplies of the army, I send one copy of this letter to Topeka and the other to Leavenworth City. Fearful suffering must ensue amongst the Indians unless the steps necessary are promptly taken.

This letter was forwarded by Edw. Wolcott, at Dole's request, to the Indian Office [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, W513].

[554] Coffin to Dole, dated Fort Roe, Verdigris River, Kansas, February 13, 1862 [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, C1526]; Snow to Coffin, February 13, 1862 [General Files, _Seminole, 1858-1869_].

[555] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, p. 148.

[556] --_Ibid._

[557] Dole to Dr. Kile, February 10, 1862. [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 67, pp. 450-452].

[558] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, p. 148.

[559] _Congressional Globe_, 37th congress, second session, p. 815.

[560] United States _Statutes at Large_, vol. xiii, 562.

[561] It was, however, the beginning of a great deal of graft and misuse of government funds. Citizens of Kansas, otherwise reputable, prepared to reap a rich harvest, and government officials were not at all behindhand in the undertaking. Presumably, immediately upon the departure of Hunter's commissary from Fort Roe, the Indians began to get into the debt of the settlers and the sum of the indebtedness soon mounted up tremendously. Coffin again and again urged payment [Coffin to Dole, May 12, 1862], so did Colonel C. R. Jennison of the Seventh Regiment Kansas Volunteers, and so did General Blunt.

The act of March 3, 1862, reinforced by that of July 5, 1862 [United States _Statutes at Large_, vol. xii, 528] was re-enacted, in whole or in part, each year of the war [Act of March 3, 1863, United States _Statutes at Large_, vol. xii, 793; Act of June 25, 1864, _ibid._, vol. xii, 180]. In addition, special appropriations were made, like that of May 3, 1864, for the refugees.

[562] Hunter to Thomas, December 11, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 428]; McClellan to Hunter, December 11, 1861, [_ibid._].

[563] Halleck to McClellan, January 20, 1862 [_ibid._, 509-510].

[564] Thomas to Hunter, January 24, 1862 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 525-526].

[565] --_Ibid._, 529-530.

[566] --_Ibid._

[567] Stanton had become Secretary of War, January 15, 1862. On the real reasons for Cameron's retirement, see Welles' _Diary_, vol. i, 57.

[568] Lincoln to Stanton, January 31, 1862 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 538].

[569] Lincoln to Hunter and Lane, February 10, 1862 [_ibid._, 551].

[570] Hunter to Halleck, February 8, 1862 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 829-831]; Halleck to Hunter, February 13, 1862 [_ibid._, 554-555]; McClellan to Halleck, February 13, 1862 [_ibid._, 555].

[571]

My object more particularly in writing to you to-night is on account of the orders that we learn here to-night from General Gennison to General Hunter that no Indians are to be mustered into the Service we have taken greate paines and have made flattering progress in enrooling them according to the orders of your Selfe and General Hunter nearly all of them set apart 10 Dollars out of their wages pr month for their families and many that have no families leave it in the hands of the Agents for their benefit after the war is over and they are burning with revenge and spiling for a fight and I have no dout at all but they would doo good Service there are two amongst them at least perhaps many more that I think would make good Commanders Billy Bowlegs & Little Captain the latter a Creek that commands in all the Late Battles and they suposed that he was killed but he got in a few days sinc Billy has also recently arivd I am fully of the opinion that these Indians at least two Thousand of them for such a campaigne as they are designed for or the one is suposed to be that is to go South from here are as well calculated for as any Troops that could be selected and it will make great trouble with them as they have their harts set upon it and will be most cruelly disappointed if not permettd to go and they should be got back as soon as posabl to their homes as the planting season is near and if they do not get there in time for putting in a crop the present Spring it looks like they will have to be suportd by the Government til August 1863 or til a crop can be maturd nex year which could not be sooner than August this would entail a heavy expense upon the Indian department that I would like to be avoidd I have had an Interview with General Gennison and he is very sure that if they would arm these Indians and give him three thousd other Troops he could put those Indians into their homes in time for a crop this year all here are very much disappointed and mortified at the course things are for their families will be no small Item in lessening the expense of Subsisting them which with all the Economy we can use will be very large.--COFFIN to Dole, dated Humboldt, Kansas, February 28, 1862 [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, C1541].

Since writing you from Humboldt Dr. Kile & my selfe have visited Fort Roe to make arrangements for moving the Indians to the Neosho on getting there we found that about 1500 of them had left for this place they left Saturday noon it turned cold Saturday night and commenced snowing and snowed hard most of the day Sunday and last night was the coldest of the season the Indians all got to timber Saturday night to camp and remained in camp Sunday but most of them ware on the Road to day tho it was too coald to travel in the fix they are in I saw many of them barefooted and many more that the feett was a small part of them that was bare, these people realy seem to be doomd to suffer for this Loyalty beyond measure, the goods and shoes ordered by Dr. Kile and an order sent by myselfe before Kile's arival have not yet reached here. Kile remained at Fort Roe to Settle and close up business there and assist in the araingements for starting them from there and I came on to se to those on the way and make araengments for taking care of them when they get here I found many of them Sick and not able to leave camp till teams are sent to them to aid them. We find that we cannot move them with less than about three Teams to the Hundred and it may overrun that the weather is moderating now and we shall make a vigorous effort to move them as quick as possible, we find it very dificult to get Teams on government vouchers and may not be able to move them in a reasonable time on that account the funds I brot down three Thousand Dollars was nearly exausted before Kile arived we are now nearly destitute of money if I find it as dificult around here to get teams as I have between here and the fort I shall make an effort to raise some funds for that purpose tomorrow with what success remains to be seen we have kept them pretty well suplied with Something to eat so far but that is all we can bost of, iff we ware to say they ware well clothed there would be ten thousand square ft of nakedness gaping forth its contradiction; they have been out of Tobacco for Several days and I doo think one days experience in camp would convince the most skeptical that with Indians at least the weed is a necessity, the Indians of all tribs held a grand council last Thursday at Fort Roe in regard to the war, at which they determined with great unanimity to gather up and arm as best they could, all there able bodied men and go down with the army on their own hook and aid in driving out the Rebels from their homes in time to plant a crop for this season and then gather all the Ponies they can and they think they can capture enough from the Rebels with what they have to come up for their families. _Cannot the Government aid so Laudible an enterprise as that at least with a few guns and some amunition_ they appear to be in good earnest and are feeding up the best of their Ponies for the Trip....--COFFIN to Dole, dated Leroy, March 3, 1862 [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, C1544].

[572] Letter of January 28, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 534].

[573]

I have a despatch from Secretary Smith saying that the Secretary of War is opposed to mustering the Indians into the service, and that he would see the President and settle the matter that day (Feb. 6).

This as you will see disarranges all my previous arrangements, and devolves upon me the necessity of revoking my orders to you to proceed with the agents, to organize the loyal Indians in your Superintendency into companies preparatory to their being mustered into the service by Gen. Hunter. I have now to advise that you explain fully to the Chiefs that no authority has yet been received from Washington authorizing their admission into the army of the United States; but I would, at the same time advise that you proceed to ascertain what number are able and willing to join our army, and that you so far prepare them for the service as you can consistently do, without committing the Government to accept them, as I still hope for the power to get these refugees if no others, into the service, it being one, and as I think, the best means of providing for their necessities....--DOLE to Coffin, February 11, 1862 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 67, p. 448].

[574] Coffin had not been written to, Jan. 6, because the original plan did not contemplate the employment of southern Indians. Not until he heard of their presence, as refugees in Kansas, did Dole include them in his list of possible soldiers.

[575] Superintendent Branch may have had something to do with the opposition that grew up in Washington after Dole's departure; for he was there the last days of the month. Lane asked for his immediate return to the west [MIX to Lane, January 27, 1862, Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 67, p. 293].

[576] Special Orders, no. 8, Jan. 10, 1862 [_Official Records_, vol. viii, 734].

[577] Van Dorn to Price, February 7, 1862 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 749].

[578] Cooper to Pike, February 10, 1862 [_ibid._, vol. xiii, 896].

[579] Walker to Cooper, May 13, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 574-575].

[580] Report of Albert Pike, dated Fort McCulloch, May 4, 1862 [_ibid._, vol. xiii, 819].

[581] Van Dorn, Report to Bragg, March 27, 1862 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 283].

[582] Van Dorn to Mackall, February 27, 1862 [_ibid._, 755].

[583] Maury to Pike, March 3, 1862 [_ibid._, 763-764].

[584] Maury to Pike, March 3, 1862 [_ibid._, 764].

[585] Maury to Drew, McIntosh, and Stand Watie, March 3, 1862 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. viii, 764].

[586] This will be discussed fully in a later volume.

[587] _Journal_, vol. i, 640, 743; vol. ii, 19, 20, 51, 52; vol. v, 47, 115, 116, 151, 167, 210.

[588] The act was passed April 8, 1862 [Confederate _Statutes at Large_ (edition of 1864), 11-25].

[589] The writer of this letter was evidently Elias Rector, although the document from which this copy was made is in the handwriting of Albert Pike.

[590] The history of the collection that I have designated for convenience of reference, the _Leeper Papers_, is outlined in the following letter from F. Johnson, Delaware Indian Agent, to Dole, January 20, 1863 [Indian Office, General Files, _Wichita, 1862-1871_, J62].

On or about the first of September last a company of Delaware & Shawnee Indians numbering ninety-six, seventy Delawares and twenty-six Shawnees, left Kansas on an expedition southwest from Kansas under the leadership of Ben Simon a Delaware Indian.

He reports that the expedition traveled to the Neosho River in southern Kansas where they halted a few days. From thence they marched in a southwest direction seventeen days to the leased district in Texas, they then traveled up the Wichita River, one day to the neighbourhood of the Wichita Agency. Simon then sent Spies and Scouts to the Agency who reported two hundred Indians well armed at the Agency in the Service of the Southern Confederacy. On receiving this intelligence the Delawares & Shawnees immediately proceded to the Agency which they reached about sundown. On arriving at the Agency they surrounded the buildings when the Agent a man large sized with black hair came out of the house and asked them what was wanting. Simon replied to him that he was his prisoner. At the same instant the Indians rushed into the house when one of the Delawares was shot dead and a Shawnee wounded--there was four white men at the Agency; when the Indians saw their comrades killed and wounded they killed the three men in the House and Agent Leeper who Simon had hold of at the door--the Indians then took possession of the Property and papers belonging to the Agency and burned the buildings. On the next morning they found the trail of the Indians who had escaped from the Agency and followed it to a grove of timber and found as they supposed about one hundred & fifty Indians a part of whom was women and children whom they attacked and report they killed about one hundred the Ballance making their escape. The Delawares and Shawnees then turned homewards with their Booty which consisted of about One hundred Ponies, Twelve hundred Dollars in Confederate Money, the papers correspondence etc. which is wrapped in a rebel Flag taken at the Agency Among the papers taken I would respectfully call your attention to the treaties in manuscript entered into between Albert Pike Commissioner on the part of the Confederate States and the diferent Tribes of Southern Indians as also the commission of Mathew Leeper Indian Agent from James Buchanan President of the United States dated 1st of February 1861.

These Indians few in numbers marching upon a point more than five hundred miles distant furnishing their own transportation forage and provisions without cost to the Government certainly exhibits a great degree of Loyalty daring and hardihood.

[591] J. J. Stürm, commissary for the Indians of the Leased District [Rector to Stürm, July 1, 1861]. On Oct. 3, 1861, Stürm reported to Leeper:

I arrived here over a week ago, and have been waiting for Maj. Rector, who is absent making a Treaty with the Cherokees, and other Tribes at Telequa.... No talk of anything but war here. Price has taken Lexington, Mo., he took and killed over four thousand of Abe's men, with a great deal of war material....

[592] These two brief communications have a bearing upon Leeper's case:

You are hereby ordered to remain at Fort Smith Arkansas from 10th. January 1862 untill further ordered by the undersigned, as a witness in the case of the Confederate States of America against M. Leeper, Ind. Agt. on certain charges preferred.--JAMES P. SPRING, commissioner, to J. J. Stürm; dated Fort Smith, Ark., December 22, 1861.

Spring may not be able to begin on Leeper's case before Jan. 20--Is obliged to leave city. If Leeper wants while Spring is away, [to go] to Fayetteville, he may & Spring will telegraph him upon his return.--SPRING to Leeper, dated Fort Smith, Ark., December 23, 1861.

[593] William Quesenbury to Leeper, dated Fort Gibson, C. N., Nov. 28, 1861.

[594] H. P. Jones, late lieutenant-commanding to Brigadier-general A. Pike, commanding Indian Territory, dated Washita Agency L. D., May 8, 1862.

[595] H. P. Jones to Pike, dated Washita Agency, May 8, 1862.

[596] Indian Office, Land Files, _Upper Arkansas, 1855-1865_, C1749.

[597] James Deshler to Leeper, dated Little Rock, Sept. 28, 1862.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.

The original text includes several blank spaces. These are represented by ______________ in this text version.

"=U=N=I=T=E=D=" represents "UNITED" with a line drawn through the word.