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 47
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It was now seen that the laws of Indian territory would have to be changed to meet the demands of better order. The consoli- dation of reservations and the allotment in severalty of the Indian lands, became serious questions. Every reservation began to be threatened with invasion by the irrepressible settler or home- seeker. Many thousands of whites were permanently established in the Indian territory upon one pretext or another that could
* From the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1876.
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not be gainsaid by the government. The ultimate occupation of every reservation by the whites was seen to be inevitable. The only course that would prevent the utter extinction of the Indian was seen to be allotment in severalty and in perpetuity.
The long-threatened Sioux war at last broke forth in the spring of 1876. Armies under Generals Terry, Crook, and Custer invaded the Powder river and Big Horn river basins. General Crook captured and burnt the village of Chief Crazy Horse, a North Cheyenne. Later, he fought another severe battle in the Rosebud valley, but was partly checked by the savages and obliged to send for reinforcements. Then soon followed the complete annihilation of the small army of General Custer on the Little Big Horn. Colonels Miles, Otis, Reno, Gibbons, and others had sharp engagements with small bands. The cause of the war was revealed by the demand of the Indians at all the conferences that the whites should at once leave the Indian country. In October five principal chiefs were surrendered as hostages; this was the beginning of the end. But the crafty Sitting Bull managed to escape. All the Indians at the reservations were disarmed. Dur- ing the winter of 1876-7 many small engagements occurred. In the spring of 1877, nearly all the bands surrendered and were placed on their reservations.
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In 1874 congress appropriated $300,000 to be used in an experi- ment of enforced civilization among 2,000 or 3,000 Kiowas, Comanches, and Cheyennes who had surrendered ; two years later the plan was seen to be impracticable and was abandoned. The rumor in 1876 that the Indian bureau was soon to be transferred to the war department caused great bitterness among the west- ern tribes. In 1877 the commissioner of Indian affairs recom- mended, Ist, a strong Indian police force ;. 2d, a code of Indian laws; 3d, allotment in severalty; 4th, common schools; 5th, christian teachers ; 6th, economy ; 7th, the steady concentration of all Indians on reservations.
The Nez Perces war of 1877 was caused by the encroachments of the whites on the Indian lands in Wyoming and Montana. Chief Joseph headed the war party. Generals Howard, Gibbons and Miles pursued them, fought several battles and finally crushed them. During this year occurred the Cheyenne raid under Chief Dull Knife across Kansas. They murdered over forty women and children, amid appalling barbarities. Major Thornburg severely chastised a band of Utes under Captain Jack in Colorado in 1878, for various depredations, but was himself killed.
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Many important changes succeeded the Sioux war of 1876-7. The Indians were forced to stay on their reservations and were largely disarmed. The loss of the buffalo was a blessing in dis- guise to the Indians. They were forced to go to work or starve. The new order of affairs was followed by excellent results. Soon many on the reservations were engaged in work. In 1878 the supplies for the reservations were carried by the Indians in wagons furnished by the government. The act of May, 1878, provided for the establishment of Indian police on the reserva- tions; and in 1882 a court of Indian offenses was provided to break up various offensive tribal customs.
Over four million pounds were hauled by the Sioux in 1878-79. By the last of 1879 the Indians had been given one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine wagons and two thousand five hundred sets of double harness. Already many "squawmen," "cattlemen," "lessees" and others were invading every part of Indian Terri- tory. In 1877 Cheyenne and Arapahoe teamsters hauled three hundred thousand pounds, and in 1879, over one million pounds- all in wagons furnished by the government. About the year 1877 the government began to furnish the tribes with stock cattle. From July, 1879, to November, 1880, there were thus distributed ten thousand two hundred and eighty-three head.
It was observed in 1881 that over one million dollars were being spent annually to feed and clothe the Indians where no treaty required such an expenditure. It was determined that this should be stopped, and the Indians be made to work. By November, 1882, there had been furnished the Indians three thousand five hundred and fifty-eight wagons and the necessary sets of double liarness to go therewith. By this time the tribal system in Indian territory was fast disappearing. What was called the "Oklahoma Colony" gave the government much trouble from 1881 to 1884. Beginning about 1880-1 the goveri- ment began an elaborate survey of all the Indian reservations. This necessitated large expenditures by various commissions and escorts, and was the preliminary to ultimate allotment of the Indian lands in severalty. It was seen that a large body of land in Indian territory was yet unassigned to any tribe. It was demanded that this should be thrown into market, and the crea- tion of Oklahoma territory soon followed.
In February, 1887, the general allotment act became a law. This was one of the most momentous steps ever taken in Indian legislation, but had been foreshadowed by the law of 1871. It was preceded by the Indian crimes act of 1885, prior to which
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an Indian committing offenses against the person or property of another Indian on a reservation could not be punished, because no court held jurisdiction. The intrusion on Indian lands continued, the intruders growing rich at the expense of the simple-minded and unbusinesslike natives. Immense numbers of cattle, includ- ing stock furnished by the government, were boldly stolen by unscrupulous whites from the reservations. By private contracts the "cattlemen," as they are called, controlled immense tracts of Indian lands and practically dominated, not only the government agents, but public affairs on the reservations as well.
In 1889 a united district court was established at Muskogee, Indian territory. In 1888-9 the Oklahoma country was cleared of Indian claims by purchase, Many allotments on almost every reservation were in progress after 1887. The new plan embraced the following features: Ist, ownership in severalty ; 2d, oblitera- tion of tribal relations; 3d, abandonment of the agency system) ; 4th, full citizenship; 5th, education; 6th, proper treatment by whites ; 7th, christian influences. As early as 1819 congress took steps "to prevent the decline and extinction of the Indian tribes," by appropriating $10,000 annually to be expended by the Presi- dent in teaching the Indians to read and write. This was the foundation of the Indian educational system in the West. As early as 1817 congress provided that, under proper circumstances, an Indian could became a citizen : this law was improved at later dates. The allotment act of 1887 was followed immediately by the adinission of ten thousand one hundred twenty-two Indians to citizenship, as against three thousand seventy-two prior to that date.
In the summer of 1890 the Sioux of the Pine Ridge and Rose- bud agencies became greatly excited over what was called "ghost dancing." It was heralded that their Messiah was about to appear on earth to redress their many wrongs. By October an outbreak seemed imminent. The arrest of Sitting Bull and other chiefs was ordered with the hope of stopping the tide of disorder. In November it was learned that the Indians were arming, and trouble was momentarily expected. General Brooke, in command of a strong force, was sent to Pine Ridge and arrived there on November 20. A squad of Indian police, sent to arrest Sitting Bull at his village, encountered resistence, during which that dis- tinguished individual was shot twice and killed. The police were reinforced by Captain Fechet's conmand. The campaign practi- cally terminated with the bloody engagement at Wounded Knee, where eighty-four Indian men and boys, forty-four squaws, and
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eighteen children were killed and many were wounded. The troops lost twenty-five killed and thirty-five wounded. The sur- viving Indians scattered to the four winds. A few sharp skir- mishes terminated the campaign.
In 1892 the old method of paying the tribal annuities to the chiefs was changed to that of paying it to the heads of families ; the former method had been in vogue since 1847. It had been the old practice to give live cattle to the Indians to be pursued and shot down by them as they were in the habit of shooting the buffaloes. This practice was changed. The custom of issuing rations was also modified. In 1891 the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars was appropriated to pay matrons for teaching Indian women the art of housekeeping. The next year, so prom- ising were the results, five thousand dollars was thus appropri- ated, and nine tribes were instructed by them.
In recent years much trouble has been experienced from bands which left their reservations and committed various unlawful depredations. The trouble with Colerow's band of Utes in Col- orado was due to their refusal to go to Utah and occupy a new reservation. In 1894 Chief Crow Flies High and his band of Gros Ventres left their reservation, but were returned without serious difficulty. In 1895 the Bannock Indians of the Jackson Hole country in Wyoming left their reservation, and many of them were killed before peace was restored.
In late years among the important Indian questions are the following: The leasing of Indian lands to whites; irrigation on reservations ; industrial schools; teaching Indian women house- keeping ; improvements in agriculture; exhibits of Indian prod- ucts ; Indian homestead rights ; allotment in severalty ; better laws and courts ; extension of the Indian police system ; the enrollment of tribal members; surveying lands and incorporating towns; Indians not to be permitted to disburse moneys; enrollment of freedmen; the abandonment of tribal laws, courts, customs, etc.
The act of March, 1893, created a board of Indian commis- sioners to the five civilized tribes. They were instructed to enter into negotiations with the several nations of Indian Terri- tory for the purpose of carrying into effect more fully the allot- ment act, "it being the express determination of congress to bring about such changes as would enable the ultimate creation of a Territory of the United States with a view of the admission of the same as a State of the Union." In 1898 is was provided by the Curtis act that, as ownership in common had proved under modern conditions a lamentable failure, congress should under-
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take formally to administer upon the estate of the five civilized tribes so as to allot them lands in severalty upon a valuation basis. It was observed with great concern that the children among 300,000 white people in Indian territory were wholly without educational facilities. The rations, reservations, blank- ets, long hair, dances, feasts of dog, etc., are doomed to an early disappearance. The reason is shown by the following pleasing facts : In 1877 the government appropriated $20,000 for the support of Indian schools, and in 1903 appropriated for the same purpose $3,531,220. The interest on the Indian trust fund amounted in 1902 to $1,510,248. The total amount paid them in 1902 including this interest, the gratuities, under treaty agree- ments, from the proceeds of labor, Indian moneys, etc., was $5,419,106.
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