USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. I > Part 12
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At the old Cold Springs camping ground, which is about mid- way between the points where the trail intersects the boundary lines of Oklahoma, and where there was always an abundant water supply, the creek bottom is bounded on one side by a ledge of sand- stone upon which are carved the names of hundreds of freighters, traders, soldiers, hunters, travelers, pioneers and ranchmen, many of them accompanied by dates, home addresses, fraternal emblems, stock brands or other tokens of individual identity or distinction.
Many graves are scattered along the line of the trail, generally unmarked save by the stones which were piled upon them at the
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mand of Capt. Philip Pennywit, ascended the channel of that stream to the mouth of the Grand River, the voyage ending when the boat was moored at the bank of the Grand, close by the block-houses and stockaded walls of Fort Gibson. This was in 1828, presumably dur-
PHILIP PENNYWIT
ing the annual "June rise," which was due to the melting of the snow in the Rocky Mountains.4
For a number of years (since 1820) steamboats had been mak-
time of interment, for the purpose of preventing the wolves from digging into them.
4 Philip Pennywit was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in 1793. He became a riverman early in life and was engaged in navigating the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, between Cincinnati and New Orleans with a keel-boat before the appearance of the first steamboats. Hc built the first steamboat at Cincinnati, naming it for that city. He continued to follow the river until 1847, when he
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ing regular trips to Fort Smith. All supplies and other goods in- tended for Fort Gibson had been unloaded at Fort Smith, whence they were reshipped by wagon train or keel-boat to their ultimate destination. After 1828, however, one or more steamboats made regular trips to Fort Gibson each year. The Arkansas River, which was thus proven to be navigable at favorable stages, remained the one great means of communication and eommercial intercourse with the outside world until the coming of the first railway into the In- dian Territory more than forty years later.
The development of steam navigation greatly facilitated the movement of the Indians of the immigrant tribes from the South. Some of the wealthier and more progressive Cherokees beeame in- terested in steamboating to some extent. One fine steamboat which was owned by Cherokees was engaged in traffic between New Orleans and points in the Indian Territory as early as 1837.
settled at Van Buren, Arkansas. There he engaged in business until the Civil war broke out. He died in 1868 at Little Rock, and was buried at Van Buren.
CHAPTER XIV REMOVAL NEGOTIATIONS
THE CHOCTAW REMOVAL TREATIES
A council between the chiefs and head men of the Choctaw Tribe or Nation of Indians and a Government commission consist- ing of Gen. Andrew Jackson and Gen. Thomas Hinds was held at Doak's Stand on the Natchez Road in Mississippi in the autumn of 1820. At this council a treaty was concluded and signed (October 18, 1820), under the terms of which a reservation was assigned to the Choctaws who should elect to emigrate and settle west of the Mississippi.1 The bounds of this reservation were described as fol-
1 This treaty was signed by one hundred Choctaw chiefs, coun- selors and warriors, all of whom with the exception of four mixed- bloods, merely made their marks by way of signature. Pushmataha, who was a medal mingo and district chief (of which there were but three), was chosen as the spokesman of the Choctaws. General Jackson opened the council by stating the desires of the Government and the benefits which would be gained by the Choctaws by enter- ing into such an agreement with its representatives. He enlarged upon the vastness and fertility and the wonderful resources of the new land which the President wished the Choctaws to accept in exchange for a "little slip" of their country in Mississippi. In conclusion he asked what the Choctaws had to say in reply to the offer. Pushmataha, who had served with Jackson in the war with the Creek Indians, arose to reply. He told his own people that the President had selected two of his greatest war chiefs to represent him in this council with the Choctaws. He then said that the propo- sition submitted by the commissioners was worthy of serious con- sideration and a respectful reply, and he therefore moved that the council adjourn until the middle of the following day. That night the Choctaw leaders gathered for consultation concerning the proposition which had been submitted to them. When the council with the commissioners was reconvened at high noon the next day, Pushmataha was again the spokesman for the Choctaws. In his address to the commissioners, while adroitly disclaiming the pos- session of ability or wisdom, he delivered a masterly reply to the proposition which had been submitted to the Choctaws and deli- cately yet definitely hinting that the fine speech of General Jackson
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lows: "Beginning on the Arkansas River where the lower boun- dary of the Cherokees strikes the same; thence up the Arkansas to the Canadian Fork, and up the same to its source ; thence due south to the Red River; thence down Red River three miles below the
PUSHMATAHA
mouth of Little River, which empties itself into the Red River on the north side; thence by a direct line to the beginning." It thus appears that the new Choctaw Reservation, as first described by
was not altogether free from misrepresentation. The General, who was always impulsive, controlled his temper, but insisted that Push- mataha should explain his words or he (Jackson) would quit the council. This, Pushmataha then proceeded to do. He demonstrated that the "little slip" of the Choctaw lands in Mississippi which the commissioners wished to trade for was in reality a large tract and
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metes and bounds, included a considerable portion of Southwestern Arkansas.
In December, 1824, a delegation of Choctaws visited Washing- ton for the purpose of making another treaty.2 Secretary of War
was more valuable then than the proposed reservation in the West which they wished the Choctaws to aceept in exchange. He not only showed that he had accurate, first-hand, personal knowledge of the proposed new reservation, because he had hunted over most of it, but he also proved that General Jaekson was ignorant of the geography of that region. When Jackson produeed a map, Push- mataha examined it earefully and then proeceded to explain wherein the map was wrong, namely, the Red River did not head as far west as the Canadian. He also asked the eommissioners if they pro- posed to sell with the proposed new reservation the white people who were already living within its limits. After sueh a display of knowledge and ability, the commissioners on the part of the Govern- ment were willing to eonsider such terms as the Indians might have to submit. These were brief and explieit and were presented by Pushmataha. In addition to the offer of the Government eommis- sioners, the demands of the Choctaws were as follows: That each of the men who chose to go to the new reservation to live was to be furnished with a rifle, bullet mould, eamp kettle, one blanket, am- munition sufficient for hunting and defense for one year; that, out of the land which the Choetaws were asked to eede to the United States, fifty-four seetions were to be surveyed and sold to the high- est bidder for the purpose of seeuring a fund to support schools for the Choetaws; that the United States should pay for the mili- tary serviee of all Choctaw warriors who had served in the cam- paign to Pensacola, and, all Choetaws who had good houses or other improvements in the territory to be ceded were to be paid for the same. To these stipulations the commissioners for the Government readily agreed. (For further details, see Cushman's volume on the Choctaws, pp. 121-9.)
2 Pushmataha was a member of the delegation of Choetaws who went to Washington to negotiate this treaty. Shortly after his arrival, he visited General Lafayette, who was then making his fare- well visit to this country. Pushmatala was taken suddenly ill and his death followed within twenty-four hours. He was sixty years old at the time of his death. Nothing is known of his parentage. He distinguished himself as a warrior, when less than twenty years old, while a band of his people were engaged in battle with the Osages, west of the Mississippi River. Eventually he reached the position of a chieftain of the first rank through sheer force of char- aeter and ability. According to his own statements, he had seen much of the country west of the Mississippi, as a hunter as well as a warrior. His influenee and example, more than that of any other man, had held the Choetaws true to their friendship with the United
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John C. Calhoun carried on the negotiations on behalf of the Gov- ernment. It was concluded and signed January 20, 1825. In ac- cordance with its stipulations the Choctaws retroceded and relin- quished all claims to that part of the new reservation lying east of a line beginning 100 paces east of Fort Smith and running due south to the Red River. As a result of this council, the Govern- ment practically doubled the provisions previously made for the education of the Choctaw youth.
Although two treaties had been made for the purpose of induc- ing the Choctaws to move from Mississippi to the big reservation which had been assigned to them between the Arkansas-Canadian and Red rivers, comparatively few of them availed themselves of the privilege. Settlements were crowding more thickly about the remnant of the old Choctaw domain in Mississippi which was still held by the main body of the tribe and, moreover, white men were not lacking when it came to casting covetous eyes over fertile Choc- taw acres. Finally the State of Mississippi, by act of its Legisla- ture, extended the application of its laws over the Choctaw Nation. Then the Government sent another commission, consisting of Hon. John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, who was secretary of war in Presi- dent Jackson's cabinet, and Gen. John Coffee, of Alabama (who had commanded one wing of General Jackson's army at the Battle of New Orleans), to treat with the Choctaws for the removal of all of their people from Mississippi to the reservation in the Indian Ter- ritory. The council between these commissioners and the au- thorized representatives of the Choctaw Nation of Indians was held at the Dancing Rabbit Creek council grounds, where, on 27th of September, 1830, a treaty was signed, under the terms of which . all of the Choctaw lands in Mississippi were to be sold to the United
States when Tecumseh tried to tempt them into an alliance with Great Britain, and he rendered valiant and valuable service in the war which followed. Before he died he asked that his body should be buried with military honors, and 2,000 people marched in the funeral cortege which followed his remains to the Congressional Cemetery, where a monument was afterward erected over his grave. Mindful of the benefits which they had received as the result of his astute and far-sighted diplomacy in treating with the Government commissioners, the Choctaws named one of their three tribal dis- tricts in his honor, and, in more recent times, an Oklahoma county, which was formed from part of the domain of the Choctaw Nation, was also christened in his honor.
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States and the rest of the Choctaw people were to move to the Indian Territory.3
3 It is a fact worthy of note that the Choctaw Indians were quite generally referred to in their own treaties with the Government as "the Choctaw Nation of Red People." This is significant as to the germ of the suggestion which ultimately led to the application of the Choctaw term, "Oklahoma," to the land which now bears that name as a state. It is interesting also in this connection to note that, among the Choctaws to whom allotments were awarded in their old country in Mississippi by the terms of a supplemental agreement attached to this Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creck, was one named "Oaklahoma," the signification of which is "red people." The Choc- taws were to be provided with transportation to their new homes, in steamboats or wagons as might be most convenient. Each war- rior was to be provided with a rifle, bullet mould and ammunition. The people were also to be furnished with plows, hoes, axes, blan- kets, cards, spinning wheels and looms. Not to exceed one-half of the Choctaw people were to be moved to the new country in the autumns of 1831 and 1832 and the remainder were to be moved in the autumn of 1833. Provisions for sustenance during the jour- ney and for one year after their arriving in the new country were also to be furnished.
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CHAPTER XV NEGOTIATIONS FOR REMOVAL, CONTINUED
CREEK REMOVAL TREATIES
In accordance with the terms of the agreement under which the State of Georgia had relinquished to the United States all claims to the ownership of the lands embraced in the present states of Ala- bama and Mississippi, the Federal Government was to secure the cession of all Indian lands lying within the State of Georgia as soon as practicable. The people of Georgia became insistent upon the fulfillment of this agreement on the part of the Federal Govern- ment in the due course of time and many efforts were put forth for the purpose of inducing the Indians to sell their lands in Georgia. This the Indians were very reluctant to do. The people of the Creek, or Muskogee Tribe, in a general tribal council (which was held in 1811), had voted to forbid the sale of any of the remaining part of their lands and imposing the death penalty for the violation of this restriction. As the result of the disaffection of the Upper Creeks during the War of 1812, a large part of the lands of that branch of the tribe were confiscated. Additional cessions of Creek lands were secured by the treaties of January 22, 1818, and January 8, 1821. Two years later, in 1823, William McIntosh, who was the chief of the Lower Creeks, took the lead in a movement to sell more land to the Government, whereupon the Creeks re-enacted the law which proposed to punish by death any Creek who offered to make any further cessions of land from the tribal domain.
At a council held at Indian Springs, Georgia, with Duncan G. Campbell and James Meriwether as the commissioners on the part of the Government, a treaty was signed February 12, 1825, whereby - a large tract of the Creek lands in Georgia were ceded to the United States, the consideration to be the granting of an area of equal size ' between the Arkansas and Canadian rivers together with the pay- ment of the sum of $400,000 to the Creeks. This treaty was signed by William McIntosh and a dozen other chiefs of the Lower Creeks. Thirty-six chiefs, including all those of the Upper Creeks, refused
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to sign the treaty. John C. Calhoun, as secretary of state, declared that he would not recognize a treaty of which the majority of the Creek chiefs did not approve, but President James Monroe laid it before the Senate, and, after the inauguration of John Quincy Adams as President, it was ratified. A formal sentence of death was thereupon pronounced on McIntosh by a council of Creek chiefs and he was killed shortly afterward.1
1 William McIntosh was born at Coweta, Georgia, in 1775. His father was William McIntosh, a Scotchiman who was a British officer and was also engaged in trading among the Indians. His mother was a woman of the Creek tribe. By his talent and address he became recognized as one of the leading chiefs of the Creek Nation. During the second war between the United States and Great Britain his influence was effectively used in behalf of the former. He re- cruited a strong force of Lower Creeks which co-operated with the American forces in the campaigns against the Upper Creeks, who sided with the British, and he distinguished himself in the battles of Atasi and Horseshoe Bend. He was accused of venality in his willingness to sign away the Creek lands in Georgia in exchange for a new reservation in the Indian Territory despite drastic tribal law to the contrary. When the chiefs of the Upper Creeks refused to sign the treaty at Indian Springs, Opothleyohola, addressing the commissioners, said: "We told you we had no land to sell. The chiefs herc have no right to treat. General McIntosh knows our laws. We have no lands to sell. I shall go home." In spite of this implied threat, the commissioners assured McIntosh that the Creek Nation would be sufficiently represented if he and his imme- diate followers signed the treaty, and they also promised him that he would be protected if he did so. On his own part he justified his action with an argument that was logical and statesmanlike. He said : "The white man is growing. He wants our lands ; he will buy them now. By and by he will take them and the little band of our people, poor and despised, will be left to wander without homes and be beaten like dogs. We will go to a new home and learn, like the white man, to till the earth, grow cattle and depend on these for food and life. This knowledge makes the white men like the leaves; the want of it makes the red men few and weak. Let us learn to make books as the white man does and we shall grow and again become a great nation." McIntosh had been assured by the Government commissioners that he would be protected from any violent consequences if he would sign the treaty. When he realized that his life was in danger, he went to Milledgville, where he hoped to be safe from attack. A few days later ( April 29, 1825,) the house in which he was staying was surrounded by a hundred Creek warriors of the faction which was opposed to removal. The white men were ordered to leave and the house was then set on fire. When McIntosh attempted to escape from the burning building he was shot down.
4
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The utter repudiation of the treaty of Indian Springs by a ma- jority of the Creek leaders and the killing of McIntosh had the effect of dampening the ardor of the officials of the Government who had been bent upon quieting the titles to all Creek lands in Georgia. In January, 1826, a delegation of Creek chiefs, headed by Opothleyo- hola and John Stidham, went to Washington to protest against the
OPOTHLEYOHOLA
enforcement of the treaty which had been signed by McIntosh and his followers. While the members of this delegation were in Wash- ington they were in council with James Barbour, who was secre- tary of war in the cabinet of President John Quincy Adams. This council resulted in the signing of a new treaty (January 24, 1826) by the terms of which the treaty of Indian Springs was repudiated and abrogated. The new treaty provided that all of the Creek lands in Georgia should be ceded to the Government, in return for which the Creeks were to receive $217,600 and a perpetual annuity
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of $20,000; it was also provided that the MeIntosh party should be paid $100,000 and given permission to settle between the Arkansas and Canadian rivers, that the moving expenses of its members should be paid, that supplies for a year's maintenance should be furnished to those who migrated and that the size of their reserva- tion should be determined by the President of the United States. A supplemental treaty which was negotiated by Thomas McKenney and John Crowell was signed at the Creek Ageney on March 31, 1826. By its terms the Creeks were to receive additional money and supplies and certain sums were also to be appropriated for the edueation of Creek ehildren.
On March 24, 1832, in the City of Washington, the duly au- thorized representatives of the Creek Nation signed another treaty, by the terms of which they ceded all of the rest of their lands east of the Mississippi to the Government. They were to have all moving expenses paid, were to be furnished with supplies for a year's suste- nance, besides tools, weapons, ammunition, blankets and increased annuities. This treaty was signed by Lewis Cass, as secretary of war and representative of the Government. There was a strong dis- inclination on the part of some of the leaders to move west and re- join their fellow tribesmen of the MeIntosh party who had preceded them to the new reservation. Opothleyaholo, in particular, was so bitterly opposed to such a course that he endeavored, unsuccessfully, to bargain for a tract of land in Texas upon which his people might settle. In the end, however, all of the Creeks migrated to the Indian Territory, though many of them did not go until several years after the last of their domain east of the Mississippi River had been sold to the Government.2
2 To the eredit of the members of the MeIntosh party, it should be stated that they showed no disposition to maintain a feud after the arrival of the main body of the Creek people. On the contrary, the past differences were apparently forgotten and harmony pre- vailed among the people of the reunited Creek Nation.
CHAPTER XVI REMOVAL NEGOTIATIONS, CONTINUED
THE CHEROKEE REMOVAL TREATIES
Although the reservation of the Western Cherokecs in Arkansas was confirmed to them by treaty in 1817, the organization of the Ter- ritory of Arkansas and the rapid influx of settlers which followed soon led to pressure being brought to bear on the Government for the purpose of securing the removal of these Cherokees still further west. As the result of a council which was held in Washington between the representative chiefs of the Western Cherokees and James Barbour, Secretary of War, a treaty was signed, May 6, 1828, in which it was provided that the Cherokees should relinquish their holdings in Arkansas and receive in lieu thereof a new reservation having an area of 7,000,000 acres, located west of Arkansas and north of the Arkansas and Canadian rivers. This treaty included also a proviso that Cherokees from east of the Mississippi should have the right to settle on the proposed new reservation and bound the Government to meet the expense of such removals, together with the usual equipment and supplies for one year.1
The Western Cherokees began moving to the new reservation west of Arkansas shortly after it was assigned to them by treaty. At that time it was estimated that one-third of the Cherokee people were living west of the Mississippi River and, as the total number of Cherokees was probably not far from 20,000, the Western Chero- kee population must have been in the neighborhood of 6,000. Not
1 The treaty also provided for just compensation for all im- provements which had to be abandoned upon removal. Another clause that is of more than passing interest provided that the sum of $500 should be paid to George Guess (Sequoyah) in consideration of the benefits conferred upon the Cherokee people by the invention of his alphabet. Another stipulation was to the effect that $1,000 should be set aside for the purchase of a printing press and type to aid the Cherokees in spreading the knowledge which was made possible by this invention.
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all of the Western Cherokees moved to the new reservation in the Indian Territory when they left Arkansas, however. One band, under the leadership of Tah-chee (Captain Dutch) crossed the Red River and joined the irreconcilable Cherokees who had followed The Bowl in once more migrating beyond the bounds of the United States after the treaty of 1817. Although some of the Creek fol- lowers of McIntosh had moved to the Indian Territory, as also had some of the Choctaws, before the coming of the Western Cherokees, yet the latter constituted the largest body of immigrants that came to settle within the limits of the territory up to that time.
The main body of the Cherokee people still remained in the old Cherokee country, in the Southern Appalachian region, in the states of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. The people of Georgia were very anxious to have the Federal Government ful- fill its agreement to secure the cession of all Indian lands within the limits of their state, including those of the Cherokees as well as those of the Creeks. The Cherokees were progressive as a tribe. Those still residing in their old domain were quiet and peaceably disposed. They were largely engaged in agriculture. Even at that early period many of the Cherokee people were of white descent. Missionaries had been laboring among them for many years with very satisfactory results. The invention of the Cherokee alphabet in the form of a syllabary by Sequoyah 2, had raised the entire
2 Sequoyah, or George Guess, was born about 1760. His father was a white man and his mother was a Cherokee woman. There has long been a tradition that his father was Nathaniel Gist, son of Christopher Gist, the North Carolina scout who accompanied George Washington on his memorable mission to the French posts on the Allegheny, in 1753, the story running that Nathaniel Gist was captured by the Cherokee Indians at Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela and was kept a prisoner among them for many years. This has never been established as a fact, however, and it is more probable that his father was a German peddler from one of the Moravian settlements in the adjacent region of Carolina.
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