The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I, Part 45

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926, ed
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : The Weston Historical Association
Number of Pages: 956


USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I > Part 45


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In 1834 the expedition of Col. Henry Dodge, consisting of eight companies of regulars, marched from Fort Gibson west to the villages of the Pawnee Picts near the mountains, for the purpose of impressing them with the strength of the United States, of stopping their attacks on the white settlers and the caravans, of escorting a body of traders and settlers across the plains, and of making a stronger peace with that tribe. He met the leaders of the Pawnees, Comanches, Kiowas, Wacos, Arapahoes and others. The expected results were only partly realized. His second expe- dition, described elsewhere, was made in 1835.


Under the provision of the constitution which gives congress


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444


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power to dispose of United States territory, the Indians were granted their lands west of the Mississippi in perpetuity. It was presumed by congress that the Indians thus sent west to lead hunters' lives would remain uncivilized, and that those who remained east of the river would speedily adopt the customs of the whites ; but just the contrary state of things occurred. Those who went west put themselves from the start under the direction of the Indian department of bureau, and made rapid strides in the ways of the whites. In 1824 a bureau of Indian affairs was organized by the secretary of war as an adjunct of the war department; but in 1832 the bureau of Indian affairs, with a commissioner in charge, was created. Previous to this time small squads of soldiers, sufficient in number to hold the Indians in check, had been stationed at the various western posts. General Macomb stated in 1830 that nothing more was needed except to mount eight companies of these troops.


As early as December 16, 1824, the committee of Indian affairs of the house of representatives was instructed to "inquire into the expediency of organizing all the territory of the United States west of the State of Missouri and the territories of Arkansas and Michigan into a separate territory to be occupied exclusively by the Indians," and was also required to report on the expediency of authorizing the President to remove the various eastern tribes to such territory. The treaty of May 6, 1828, first formally recog- nized the policy of removal afterward adhered to by the govern- ment. It was improved in May, 1830, and, in 1834, the policy was fully developed and put into execution.


'The most notable fact in connection with the law of 1834 is that the faith of the Nation was pledged under the most solemn guaranties that the Indians would never be deprived of their right to the new lands or of their right of self government. Neither were they ever to be constituted a territory or a state of the United States. They could not transcend the laws of the United States, and their affairs were managed by a governor and a gen- eral council.


In 1833 it was proposed that all the territory west of the Mis- sissippi and north of the Osage reservations, the Santa Fe trail to where it crosses the Arkansas river, and from the latter river to the mountains, should be constituted a separate Indian dis- trict, with headquarters at St. Louis, where the superintendent was required to reside. All west of the river and south of that line, extending to the Mexican possessions, was to be constituted Western territory, of which Francis W. Armstrong was to be


445


THE INDIAN TRIBES.


made superintendent. These two districts were to be subdivided into agencies and sub-agencies, with a representative of the gov- ernment in each. This proposition was no sooner broached than it was changed. All the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi not in Missouri, Louisiana or Arkansas, was to be denominated by the general term "Indian country." By thus embracing all the territory in the Indian country, the laws of the United States were extended to the same.


The bill that finally became a law was passed May 20, 1834. It constituted all the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi and south of the Platte, not embraced in Missouri, Louisiana or Arkansas, as the Western territory, with many sub- divisions called agencies or sub-agencies. Previous to the pass- age of this act, no definite steps had been taken for the govern- ment of the Indians removed west of the Mississippi. Part of the Cherokees had gone in 1808, and many of the rest in 1817. Many of the Choctaws had gone in 1820. In 1825 and 1826 the passage of a law for their government was pressed in congress, but failed. The law of May 6, 1828, as before stated, was the first to provide definitely for their removal and care. It was amended and improved by the act of May 30, 1830, by the Choctaw treaty of September 27, 1830, and by the Creek treaty of March 24, 1832. The two most important points guaranteed to the Indians were security in the possession of their land and the right of self-government. The territory was bounded east by Arkansas and Missouri, north by the Platte river, and west and south by the Mexican possessions. It did not embrace what afterward became the Platte purchase of Missouri. It was cal- culated to contain over one Inundred and thirty-two million acres. "'l'his territory is to be dedicated to the use of the Indian tribes forever by a guaranty the most sacred known among civilized communities-the faith of the nation. The committee are aware that this guaranty, the faith of the nation, has not been illustrated by the history of the past in a manner satisfactory to the Indian tribes. They are not surprised that they should now ask, 'What new security can you give us to the lands in the West that you did not in times past give us to our lands in the East? It is admitted that we have given them guaranties which we have not fulfilled, pledges which we have not redeemed; not because we desired not to fulfill them, but because it was believed by the government that we had no right originally to give them, and therefore had no power to redeem them. The Indians, however, will do us the justice to say that we never had ourselves absolved from the


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obligations of indemnifying them, and of acknowledging that these very cessions of lands at the West are a portion of the indemnity. Our inability to perform our treaty guaranties arose from the conflicts between the rights of the states and of the United States. Nor is it surprising that questions arising out of such a conflict, which have bewildered wiser heads, should not be readily comprehended or appreciated by the unlettered Indians."*


By November, 1837, the following Indians had been removed to the west side :


Chickasaws 549


Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies 2,191


Choctaws 15,000


Quapaws


476


Creeks


20,437


Seminoles


407


Apalachicolas


265


Cherokees 7,911


Kickapoos


588


Delawares


826


Shawanese


1,272


Ottawas


374


Weas


222


Piankeshaws 162


Peorias and Kaskaskias


I32


Pottawatomies of Indiana


53 .


Senecas


251


Senecas and Shawanese


211


Total 51,327


In the summer of 1836, owing to a threatened attack from the Indians, four companies were raised in Ray and Clay counties, Mo., for defensive purposes. The two from Ray were com- manded by Captains Pollard and Sconce, and the two from Clay by Captains Atchison and Crawford. Col. H. G. Parks com- manded the two companies from Ray. 'They were paid for eighteen days service by the government.


In 1837 William Armstrong, acting superintendent of Western territory, reported a total of 600 Indian scholars within the bor- ders of the territory. In 1838 Joshua Pilcher, Indian agent, reported that the Blackfeet consisted of five distinct bands :


* Report of House Committee on Indian Affairs, May, 1834.


447


THE INDIAN TRIBES.


Blackfeet proper, Blood Indians, Searcies, Piegans, and Gros Ventres, the latter speaking an entirely different language from the others.


In 1839 serious trouble arose in the Cherokee nation between the old settlers and the new emigrants resulting in the death of John Ridge, Maj. John Ridge and Elias Boudinot. It was occa- sioned by jealousy, conflicting claims, and the desire to rule, the John Ross party triumphing. No doubt grievous wrong was committed.


In November, 1837, the following indigenous tribes were within striking distance of the Western frontier,* of which tribes, it was estimated that about one-fifth were warriors able to fight :


Sioux


21,600


Iowas


1,500


Sacs


4,800


Foxes


1,600


Sacs of Missouri


500


Osages


5,120


Kansas


1,606


Omahas


1,600


Otoes and Missouris


1,000


Pawnees


12,500


Comanches 19,200


Kiowas 1,800


Mandans


3,200


Quapaws


450


Minnetarees


2,000


Piegans


· 30,000


Assiniboines


· 15,000


Apaches


20,280


Krees


3,000


Arapahoes


3,000


Gros Ventres


16,800


Eutaws


19,200


Crows


7,200


Caddoes 2,000


Poncas 900


Arickarees


2,750


Cheyennes


3,200


Blackfeet


30,000


Total


231,806


*Report of C. A. Harris, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to the Secretary of War. November 22, 1837.


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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.


Generally, during the decade of the thirties and forties, the Indians of the West were quiet, there occurring no general move- ment against the authority of the United States. During much of the time William Armstrong remained acting superintendent of Western territory. What is now Indian territory and Okla- homa territory soon became Southwestern territory.


Tribes.t


Lodges.


Men.


Per- sons.


Poncas


80


250


800


Living on south side of Missouri, at the mouth of L'eau-quo-com.


Yanctons


250


750


2,500


Lower band of Sioux, living near Ver- million river.


Tetons


320


950


3,000


Lower band of Sioux, south side of Mis- souri.


Ogallalas


150


500


1,500


Sioux; dialect a little different, same river.


Souans.


1,150


4,000 12,000


Yanctonies


600


1,800.


6,000


Sioux on rivers Cheyenne and Platte. Upper band of Sioux near Mandans.


Mandans*


30


120


300


Live in dirt lodges on the Missouri.


Arickarees


150


450


1,200


Occupy the same village with the Man- dans.


Gros Ventres*


75


300


800


Livejin dirt villages eight miles above the Mandans.


Assiniboines


800


2,500


7,000


Wandering tribe between the Missouri and Red River of the North.


Krees.


100


300


800


Language same as Chippewas ; country Assiniboine.


Crows


500


1,200


2,000


Rascals on the headwaters of the Yel- lowstone.


Cheyennes


250


500


2,000


Wandering tribe on Platte; language remarkable.


Blackfeet


1,500


4,500 13,000


Wanderers near the falls of the Mis- souri; both sides.


Arapahoes


'300


650


2,500


Prairie tribe between the Platte and ilie Arkansas.


Gros Ventres, Prairie


400


900


2,500


Wanderers between the Missouri and the Saskatchewan.


Snakes


200 80


450| 250


1,000!


Poor tribe in the Rocky mountains.


Ifatheads


800


In the mountains; tribe mostly on the Columbia.


t From the Annual Report of D. D. Mitchell, Superintendent of Indian Affairs; St. Louis, September 12, 1842.


* All are wanderers except those marked with an *.


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THE INDIAN TRIBES.


449


Names of tribes .*


Number of each tribe indigenous to the coun- try west of tle Missis- sippi.


Number of each tribe wholly or partially removed west.


Present western population of each tribe, wholly or ipartly removed.


Assiniboines


7,000


Apaches.


20,280


Arapahoes


2,500


Arickarees


1,200


Blackfeet


13,000


Creeks ..


24,594


24,594


Cherokees


25,911


25,911


Choctaws.


16,359


13,592


Chickasaws.


5,090


4,211


Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies, Į and Pottawatomies of Indiana


5,779


4,298


Chippewas of Swan Creek and Black River.


62


62


Chippewas of the Mississippi and Lake l Superior


7,605


Caddoes


2,000


Comanches


19,200


Crows ..


4,000


Cheyennes


2,000


Krees


800


826


1,039


Eutaws.


19,200


3,824


3,136


Flatheads.


800


Gros Ventres


2,500


Iowas ..


470


588


516


Kansas


1.607


Kiowas.


1,800


650


Menomonies


300


Minnetarees


2,000


New York Indians


Ottawas and Chippewas of Michigan


Osages


4,102


Omahas


1,301


Ottoes and Missouris


931


Oneidas of Green Bay


12,500


132


150


Piankeshaws


162


98


Pottawatomies of Huron


777


Piegans.


30,000


Quapaws


and Delawares \


180


268


Sioux ...


25.000


Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi.


2,200


Sacs and Foxes of Missouri


414


Shawanese


1,272


927


Senecas and Shawanese


211


241


Senecas from Sandusky


251


153


Snakes


1,000


225


176


Winnebagoes


4,500


2,183


Wyandots of Ohio


664


555


Total.


179,129


90,630


124,041


* Report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, covering several years ending with 1845, and in many instances based on close estimates only.


[-20


720


Pawnees


Peorias and Kaskaskias


100


Poncas


247


Miamis.


2,508


Delawares


Seminoles


Kickapoos


Mandans ..


3,293 7,055


Stockbridges, Munsees mixed


Weas


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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.


In 1847 Lieutenant Love, with an escort of dragoons in charge of government funds, left Fort Leavenworth for Santa Fe. At the Pawnee fork of the Arkansas, they overtook two large trains of commissary stores bound for the same place. A few days before, these trains had been attacked by a large party of Indians, and one man had been wounded. Love's party also met a return train of empty wagons, which had suffered the loss of all their cattle thus having over twenty wagons unable to proceed. Through the stubbornness of one man, Love's train lost the cattle of thirty wagons from a similar attack of the Indians. However, the thirty wagons were taken along by dividing the other teams. To prevent such attacks, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Indian agent for the Upper Platte and the Arkansas, recommended the organi- zation of a force of two hundred and fifty mounted riflemen, one hundred dragoons, one hundred Mexicans mounted on their native horses, and two or three mountain how- itzers. The force, he said, should consist wholly of western men, who were familiar with the methods of the Indians. He insisted that the regulars of the United States were useless against the Indians. The war with Mexico and the appearance of many soldiers had roused the fighting spirit of the Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Wichitas, Keechies, and others. In 1848 there were practically two tracts of territory set apart for the Indians : One in what is now Indian territory and one in Minnesota territory, the latter then extending west to the Missouri river and White Earth creek. Alexander Ramsey, governor of Minnesota ter- ritory, was ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs within its border.


In 1848 a party of lowas attacked a party of Pawnees and killed and scalped twelve of them. The Indian department forced the former to pay the latter eight hundred dollars of their annuities. On the Upper Platte the Sioux attacked and killed twenty-eight Pawnees and twenty-six Otoes; they were also forced to make reparation. The government at this time was making heroic efforts to police the entire west along the leading trails, but found it a difficult task, owing to the cunning and alertness of the Indians. On the Arkansas river, alone, in 1848, were stationed five hundred soldiers. Along the Platte were six hundred soldiers. The method of the Indians was, by a sudden dash on horseback, amid a great noise, to stampede the cattle and horses of the military trains and of the cmigrants. The Indians were cunning enough to stampede often the horses or cattle even of the army detachments. It is recorded


451


THE INDIAN TRIBES.


as a fact that, during the years 1846-50, they thus obtained so much plunder, they for a time stopped the attacks of their own accord. Fitzpatrick warned the government that, owing to the great emigration to the newly acquired lands of New Mexico, California and Oregon, numerous attacks might be expected from all the tribes along the various trails. He declared that nothing would stop the attacks except a large military force. Hundreds of small attacks continued to be reported from all parts of the overland trails. This meant in part that the Indians resented the expeditions of the whites through their country as a violation of existing treaties. They had been taught to believe that the timber, grass, water, buffalo, deer, etc., were their property ; and accordingly demanded con- pensation therefor from the emigrant trains, and caused trouble if it was not forthcoming.


In 1849, upon the creation of the department of the interior, the bureau of Indian affairs was incorporated therewith, super- visory and appellate powers being lodged with the secretary of war. The commissioner of Indian affairs had reported adversely to this step, upon the following grounds: I. The duties were too great to be assumed by the secretary of war ; 2. The step would necessitate a large standing army; 3. It meant perpetual war with the Indians; 4. Already after seventeen years of trial, the war department had failed to control the Indians ; 5. It meant the destruction of the Indians; 6. The war department and the Indians were incompatible; 7. The transfer was offensive to the ndians and injurious to the whites; 8. The cost would be greatly increased.


Upon assuming the governorship of Minnesota territory, Mr. Ramsey made an elaborate report on the tribes living there. The Sioux and the Chippewas and their relatives were the leading, and almost the only, tribes. They were constantly at war and one of the principal objects of Governor Ramsey's administration was to establish peace between them. Here, as in the Indian territory, large reservations were set apart for the Sioux and the Chippe. was and guaranteed to them in perpetuity much the same as was done with other tribes in the Indian territory. Minnesota thuis came to have almost an Indian territory of its own.


The usual objects sought at the Indian treaties were the fol- lowing: 1. An acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the United States ; 2. The right of the government to establish roads and military posts in the Indian country ; 3. Peace between the various tribes and between the tribes and the United States;


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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.


4. The restoration of captives and of all stolen property ; 5. A liberal supply of presents for the grass, timber, buffaloes, etc., on the Indian lands; 6. The cession of additional tracts of land; 7. The settlement on the tribes of fixed annuities ; 8. Defining the boundaries between the various tribes and between them and the United States. Of this character was the famous treaty of 1851 at Fort Laramie with the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Crows, Assini- boines, Gros Ventres, Mandans, Arickarees, and others. It was particularly agreed that the whites should have the right to cross the Indian lands.


In 1852 it was estimated by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that there were five thousand white people wrongfully on the Sioux lands west of the Mississippi: they refused to obey the orders of the commissioner to vacate, expecting an early purchase by the government. Such an occupancy was almost invariably followed sooner or later by an Indian war, at an enormous expense to the government. The pioneers actually shaped the Indian policy of the country. When they were murdered for their unlawful acts, the government crushed the Indians, and then forced from them the tract desired by the lawbreakers. Such a policy, if it can properly be called by so dignified a name, was unworthy of this great country, and cannot be read without shamc.


In 1854 the killing of a stray Mormon cow near Fort Laramie by a band of Sioux, and the refusal of the Indians to surrender the man who killed her, led to a conflict between about thirty sol . diers under Lieutenant Grattan and the Indians, during which the entire party of whites was overwhelmed and butchered. This was really the start of a long and bloody Indian war. A gov- ernment keel-boat loaded with supplies for the Crows, was attacked by the Blackfeet on the Teregne river and several per- sons were killed .. The annihilation of Grattan's party seemed to fire all the tribes with the desire to shed blood. When Vaughan, agent to the Sioux, went to their villages with presents, Red Leaf, a chief, cut open in a rage the bags of presents and scattered the contents over the ground. Even the life of the agent was in danger. The Blackfeet refused to receive their annuities, and began the steady commission of hostile acts. The Cheyennes were very independent and insolent, one of their chiefs going so far as to demand one thousand white women as wives for the war- riors of his tribe. J. W. Whitfield, agent at Fort Laramie, was in the storm center of the rising cyclone. The presence of the troops to guard the emigrant trains, the utter disregard for the


453


THE INDIAN TRIBES.


Indians' rights, and the construction of posts and roads, seemed to rouse the fighting instincts of the savages. Earnest efforts. to secure peace, particularly by the Stevens expedition, met with almost total failure. The Sioux were especially active in these hostilities, among other deeds killing a mail carrier. It was high time something was done to end the reign of terror in the West.


Finally, an army under Gen. W. S. Harney was sent in 1855 to crush the hostile bands. He advanced rapidly and surprised Little Thunder's camp on Blue Water creek. They were thought to be the same band that had slaughtered Lieutenant Grattan's party and killed the mail-carrier. With nine companies, General Harney struck the camp, killing eiglity-six, wounding five, and capturing about seventy women and children, together with a large quantity of equippage and fifty ponies. Harney's loss was four killed and seven wounded. A few side expeditions and skirmishes closed the campaign. The operations of General Harney and his associates were succeeded by quiet in the West, all the agents concurring in the opinion that the Sioux and other hostiles had been taught a memorable lesson. At this time the northern superintendency embraced Minnesota and part of Wis- consin ; the central the country from the Arkansas river north to the forty-ninth parallel; and the southwestern, the territory from the Arkansas south to Red river. As each territory was after- ward created, it was constituted a separate superintendency. Dakota and Colorado superintendencies were established in 1861.


In 1857 occurred the Sioux outrages at Spirit Lake, Iowa. Inkpaduta's band killed and wounded over forty persons and took several women prisoners. Major Williams, sent against them in the dead of winter with three companies of thirty-seven men each, failed to overhaul them. Captain Bee, with fifty regulars, also failed to catch them. All that could be done was to collect and bury the mutilated dead and care for the few survivors. Strange as it may seem, this Sioux band was never fittingly punished by the government.


In 1859 the Sioux of the Mississippi were engaged in almost open war among themselves. It was a contest between the "improvement" and the "blanket" divisions of the tribe; or between incipient civilization and persistent savagery. It was necessary to send troops there to establish order. The "improve- ment" Indians were those who were endeavoring to adopt the manners and occupations of the whites. They were bitterly opposed by the "blanket" Indians, who desired them to resume the savage customs. . It was, therefore, an indirect attack upon


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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.


the attempts of the government to civilize the tribe. The treaty of Fort Wise in February, 1861, secured to the United States from the Sioux and other tribes vast tracts of territory in the West.


Naturally, the Civil War stirred up all the Indian tribes. Envoys of both the North and the South went among them for. the purpose of enlisting their services. Confederate envoys reached the Northwestern Indians from the British possessions, and were undoubtedly largely responsible for the Sioux outbreak in Minnesota in 1862. They likewise incited large factions of the five civilized tribes in Indian Territory to take up arms against the government. Settlers throughout the West were warned by the Indian agents to be on their guard. A sudden uprising of the Sioux in Minnesota was thought hardly possible. The commissioner of Indian affairs said, "After a careful exam- ination of all the data which the Indian Bureau has been able to obtain, bearing upon the causes which produced the immediate outbreak, I am satisfied that the chief cause is to be found in the insurrection of the Southern States." Immediately after the Mason and Slidell affair, the northwestern Indians began their hostilities. Wampum was sent among them by Confederate and British emissaries. The Confederate authorities in paroling Union soldiers, required them to pledge not to take up arms against the Indians. The early disasters to the Federal arms were duly reported and embellished to the various tribes not only of Indian territory, but of all the West. The danger was real- ized, even in Minnesota, where the Sioux tribe, by levying upon the Missouri bands, could place fully ten thousand warriors in the field. The Confederate authorities well knew that a general outbreak along the whole northern and western border would necessitate the withdrawal of a large force from their immediate front for the purpose of holding the savages in check. This had been the tactics of the British during the War of 1812 and was now adopted by the Confederates, aided by the Canadians.




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