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 20
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"Scene, an open court in front of the commanding officer's quarters-Indians are discovered seated under the trees, among them Holate Fixico (Pythias), on the grass, in Indian posture-
silver coin, which was the current medium of exchange in the Indian country. Then, when the gangplank was raised, the boat's bell clanged and the reversed paddle wheels began to turn, the big craft would slip out into the channel while the negro deck hands would give voice to the wild chant of "Far' yo' well, Miss Lucy" and soon the steamboat would disappear around the bend of the river, leaving the little outpost to its wonted isolation and loneliness .- W. J. Weaver in the Fort Smith Elevator.
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Talof Hadjo (Damon), in chains, on a bench, his head resting against the trunk of a tree, looking toward the heavens, with a countenance indicative of resignation-his mother and sister lying on the grass at his feet, the mother weeping at the fate which awaits her son-the colonel and other officers are discovered at a distance from the group of Indians.
"Colonel, to Holate Fixico-Where are the rest of the people sent for ?
"Holate-They have separated and cannot be found. Your troops have scattered them and they have taken different paths.
"Colonel-Know you not that, unless they are brought in, these men (pointing to the prisoners) will be hung? (A pause; the In- dians disconsolate but apparently resigned.) If I send you out for the people, will you bring them in in time to save their lives ?
"Holate-They have gone off and I know not where to look for them. Like the frightened deer, they have fled at the presence of your troops.
"Colonel-Indian can find Indian. If they are not here in ten days, these men will surely die.
"Holate-The track of the Indian is covered; his path is hidden and may not be found in ten suns.
"Colonel, to Talof-Have you a wife ?
"Talof-My wife and child are with the people. I wish them here that I may take leave of them before I die.
"Colonel-Do you love your wife and child ?
"Talof-The dog is fond of its kind; I love my own blood
"Colonel-Could you find the people who are out?
"Talof-They are scattered and may not be found.
"Colonel-Do you desire your freedom ?
"Talof-I see the people going to and fro and wish to be with them. I am tired of my chains.
"Colonel-If I release you, will you bring in the people within the time fixed ?
"Talof-You will not trust me. Yet I would try.
"Colonel-If Holate Fixico will consent to take your chains and be hung in your place if you should not return, you may go. (A long pause. Talof continues throughout the scene with his eyes fixed on the heavens-his mother and sister now cast imploring looks toward Holate, who, during the last few questions, has struggled to maintain his composure, evincing, by the heaving of his breast and his gasping, as though the rope were already about his neck,
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that he is ill at ease-all eyes are turned toward him-he recovers and with the utmost composure and firmness replies-)
"Holate-I have no wife, or child, or mother. It is more fit that he should live than I. I consent to take his chains and abide his fate. Let him go.
"Colonel-Be it so. But do not deceive yourselves. So sure as Talof Hadjo brings not in the people within ten days, Holate dies the death of a dog.
"With the utmost solemnity the two Indians were then marched to the armory, where the chains were transferred and, in fifteen minutes after, Talof was on his journey. Yesterday a messenger arrived, bringing intelligence that Talof Hadjo was on his way in, with his people, and that he might be expected here tomorrow or the next day."
The first bands of Seminoles who came to the Indian Territory located in the Cherokee country, though it was the intention of the Government authorities to have them settle in the Creek Nation. Considerable difficulty was subsequently experienced in inducing them to move to the Creek country.3 Most of the Seminoles were transported to the Indian Territory immediately after the end of the Florida war, in 1842.+ The last band of Seminoles that came
3 Governor Pierce M. Butler, the agent of the Cherokees, and John Ross, the Cherokee chief, held a council with the Seminole intruders, of whom there were 400, in March, 1845, for the purpose of inducing them to leave the Cherokee Nation go to the place which had been assigned to them in the Creek country .- Niles' Register, April 26, 1845.
4 On the 28th of December, 1840, the young wife of Lieut. Alex- ander Montgomery was on her way to join her husband at his post (Watkahoota), escorted by Lieutenants Sherwood and Hopkins, and eleven enlisted men. When within four miles of their destina- tion this little party was ambushed by a force of thirty Seminole warriors. Mrs. Montgomery was killed in the massacre which fol- lowed. Her husband, who was advancing with an escort to meet her, arrived upon the scene shortly afterward. To the agonized hus- band one dying soldier gasped a brief story of the tragedy. It was difficult to establish the identity of the band which was responsible for this massacre but eventually it was learned that it was one under the leadership of Hallek Tustennuggee, one of the most ferocious of the Micasukie clan. Some time afterward he was captured and, with all of his band was removed to the Indian Territory. The boats upon which the members of this band were transported landed at Fort Smith, where it was remarked by some of the soldiers who had been in Florida that the wife of Hallek Tustennuggee was wear- ing the gown of the slain Mrs. Montgomery. Once afterward, Hal- Vol. I-12
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to the Indian Territory, that of Billy Bowlegs, did not leave Florida until about fifteen years after the close of the war with the whites.5 The tribal agent of the Seminoles, Samuel M. Rutherford, and the superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern superintendency,
07 The steamer Robert Morris arrived here on Sunday evening, with about one hundred Choctaw emigrants, from Vicks .. burg .; Fixe deaths had occurred frou: Cholera on the trip. She passed up with them to Fort Coffee and landed them, and passed down on Monday to New Orleans.
0-The Oella No. 2 brought up about thirty Creek Indians. They were re ship. ped, on the Monedo, at Van Buren. The Monedo left for Fort Gibson on Saturday last. Several of the Indians had died from Cholera on the trip ; but when they . were here there was no sickness among them.
RIVER NEWS, FORT SMITH HERALD, 1846
Maj. Elias Rector went to Florida in person and persuaded Billy Bowlegs and his people to consent to the removal.
lek Tustennuggee visited Fort Smith. Lieutenant Montgomery had been promoted to captain and was stationed at Fort Smith as quartermaster. When he heard that Hallek Tustennuggee was in town, he armed himself with knife and pistols and sought him very diligently. Some of the citizens forcibly concealed Tustennuggee, against the will of the latter, in order to prevent a tragedy .- W. J. Weaver in the Fort Smith Elevator, February 18, 1898.
5 The story of the negotiations for the removal of Billy Bow- legs' band is quite unique in the annals of Indian affairs. Agent Rutherford had taken with him to Florida quite a delegation of prominent Seminoles who had been living in the Indian Territory from a dozen to fifteen years. Among these were the kinsmen and friends of many of those in Bowlegs' band. These succeeded in persuading the still defiant renegades to come in and meet Super- intendent Rector in council. The latter had his own ideas as to how such a council should be conducted. The commissary of his camp was not only very liberally provided with food that was attractive to the Indian appetite but was also supplied with fine liquors, wines and choice cigars. At every session of the council,
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Practically all of these later and smaller bands or parties of immigrant Indians were transported to the Indian Territory by means of steamboats which ascended the Arkansas River and dis- charged their passengers and cargoes at Fort Coffee, Webbers Falls or Fort Gibson.6 In addition to the dangers of navigation, there was a great deal of sickness among the immigrant passengers, Asiatic cholera being epidemic along the valley of the Arkansas upon more than one occasion.
The population of the Indian Territory (including the present states of Kansas and Nebraska) was estimated in 1844 at 94,860.
champagne flowed like water and the "talks" were made in the midst of a cloud of smoke from fragrant Havanas. The Indian Territory was truthfully explained to them by their friends who had lived there for some years and thus much of the prejudice was removed. Some were inclined to be sulky but in the end the pleas and arguments of their friends and relatives on the visiting delega- tion and the hospitality so liberally dispensed by Major Rector had its effect and they all prepared to move to the Indian Territory.
6 The Vicksburg Sentinel, of February 18, 1845, referring to the removal of some of the Choctaws at that time, said :
"The last remnants of this once powerful race are now crossing our ferry on their way to their new home in the far West. To one who, like the writer, has been familiar to their bronze, inexpressive faces from infancy, it brings associations of peculiar sadness to see them bidding here a last farewell to the old hills which gave birth, and are doubtless equally dear, to him and them alike. The first playmates of our infancy were the young Choctaw boys of the then woods of Warren County. Their language was once scarcely less familiar to us than our mother English. We know, we think, the character of the Choctaw well. We knew many of their present stal- wart braves in those days of early life when Indian and white alike forget to disguise, but, in the unchecked exuberance of youthful feeling, show the real character that policy and habit may after- ward so much conceal; and we know that, under the stolid and stoic look he assumes, there is burning in the Indian's nature a heart of fire and feeling and an all observing keenness of apprehension that marks and remembers everything that occurs and every insult he receives. Cunni-at-a-hab! 'They are going away !' With a visible reluctance which nothing has ever overcome but the stern necessity which they feel impelling them, they have looked their last upon the graves of their sires-the scenes of their youth-and have taken up their slow, toilsome march with their household gods among them to their new home in a strange land. They leave names to many of our rivers, towns and counties and, as long as our state re- mains, the Choctaws, who once owned most of her soil, will be remembered."
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Of this number, 21,660 were included in the indigenous Indian tribes-Pawnee, Sioux, Ponca, Omaha, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kansas, Osage, Comanche, Kiowa, Plains Apache and Wichita.7 The mem- bers of the immigrant tribes from east of the Mississippi, were esti- mated to number 73,200. These included in addition to the five civilized tribes (all of which were from the South) a number of tribes from the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois and several from the states of Iowa and Missouri.
7 As the Indian Territory was only presumed to extend from 200 to 250 miles west from the borders of Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa, these figures probably did not include all of the indigenous popula- tion of the three states, which must have been at least double the number thus specified.
CHAPTER XXVII
MISSIONS AND EDUCATION
The story of the establishment of the missions and mission sta- tions among the people of the immigrant tribes has been recounted in the history of the preceding period. At the beginning of the period between 1840 and 1860, most of these missions had been established and in operation a sufficient length of time to demon- strate their practical utility. During this period, therefore, there was more missionary activity in the Indian Territory than during that of any other era in its history. The influence of the missions and of the mission schools in aiding the people to adapt themselves to the ways of civilization was an important factor in the life of the period. Many of the missionaries who came West with the In- dians from their old homes, east of the Mississippi, continued to live and labor almost if not quite through this entire period, and some of them survived until several years after its, close.
Practically all of the work was done by the missionaries of the Baptist, Congregational-Presbyterian (American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions) and Methodist churches, though the Moravians had small but efficient missions among the Cherokees. Further north in Kansas, the Roman Catholic Church planted mis- sions among the Osages and the Pottawatomies. In the Cherokee Nation, most of the work of the missionaries of the American Board (Congregational-Presbyterian) and of the Methodist Church was done among the people of mixed Indian and white descent. The work of the Baptists, on the other hand, was almost entirely among the full blood element of the Cherokee Nation. In the other Indian nations-Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw -- the representatives of the Methodist and Presbyterian bodies labored effectively among the people of pure Indian blood. The work of the missionaries of the American Board (Congregational-Presbyterian) was largely car- , ried on from certain fixed centers, in which schools usually played an important part. The Methodists carried on their work, as was their wont in those days, largely by a system of house to house visi-
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tation and through the medium of preachers who were circuit riders in the truest sense of the word; they gave comparatively little atten- tion to the establishment of schools other than those of the most pri- mary character, and there were no academies or secondary schools conducted under their auspices during the earlier years of their work in the Indian Territory.
THE FIRST METHODIST MISSION SCHOOLS
In May, 1840, Rev. Dr. Edward R. S. Ames, secretary of the Mission Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church (and afterward one of the bishops of that denomination) set forth from his home at Greencastle, Indiana, on a tour of investigation of the possible mis- sion fields along the western frontier. He visited the various tribes along the frontier, from the British dominions southward. When he reached the limits of the present State of Oklahoma, he first visited the Senecas, Shawnees and Quapaws, in the northeastern corner of the state; then he went to Tahlequah, in the Cherokee country. He pursued his course leisurely, visited the missionaries of his own and other denominations, took time to form an acquaint- ance with the chiefs and leading men of the various tribes and to thoroughly inform himself of the conditions and prospects of eachı tribe. When he reached the Choctaw Nation he first went to the tribal agency at Skullaville, and sought an introduction to the agent, Maj. F. W. Armstrong,1ª from whom he secured a great deal of in-
1ª Francis William Armstrong was a native of Virginia but was a citizen of Tennessee at the time he entered the military service as captain of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, in March, 1812. Fif- teen months later, he was promoted to the rank of major. In June, 1815, he was discharged by reason of the end of the war but, six months later, he was recommissioned as captain of the Seventh Infantry, with the brevet rank of major. He subsequently resigned his position in the army. When the main body of the Choctaw tribe moved west, he was appointed as their agent and, later, the Chickasaw Indians were also assigned to his agency, whichi was located at Skullaville. He also served as superintendent for the Southern Superintendency (which included the other civilized tribes), continuing to hold his position as agent at the same time. His agency, which was located about fifteen miles from Fort Smith, was called by the Choctaws, "Skullaville," "skulla" meaning a small coin, so the name of the village was literally "money town," so called because the Indians received their annuities there. He died at Skullaville during the administration of President James K. Polk and was succeeded by Samuel M. Rutherford. His brother, Gen.
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formation. Afterward he visited the national council, while it was in session, and there met the chiefs and representative leaders of the Choctaw Nation.
After winning the friendship and confidence of the chiefs and counselors, Doctor Ames proposed the establishment of three tribal academies, one to be located in each of the three sub-trial districts. Spencer Academy was located in Apukshunnubbee District, Nun- ne-wa-ya Academy in the Pushmataha District, and Fort Coffee Academy in the Mosholatubbee District. The Mission Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church then entered into a contract to conduct the two last mentioned schools. In March, 1843, Rev. William H. Goode, a presiding elder in the Indiana Conference, was appointed as superintendent of the Fort Coffee Academy for Choctaw boys and, at the same time, Rev. Henry C. Benson,1b a junior circuit preacher in the same conference, was appointed to the position of principal teacher. Both were transferred to the Arkansas Confer- ence. The journey to their new field of labor by steamboat from Cincinnati, the distance by the rivers being 1,500 miles, was a tedi- ous one in those days, requiring nearly two weeks.
The log buildings of old Fort Coffee, which had been abandoned as a Government military post five years before, were occupied tem-
Robert Armstrong, was a close friend and advisor of Gen. Andrew Jackson. Major Armstrong's son, Gen. Frank C. Armstrong, was born at the old agency at Skullaville. He was connected with the United States Indian service during both of the Cleveland adminis- trations and was later a member of the Dawes Commission.
1b Henry C. Benson was born near Xenia, Ohio, in 1815. He worked his way through college, graduating from Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw), in 1842, and was admitted to the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church the same year. He was sent as a missionary to the Choctaw Indians in 1843. Because of the division of the Methodist Episcopal Church over the slavery question, he returned to the North in 1845, continuing in the pastoral work of the North Indiana Conference until 1850, when he became a member of the faculty of Indiana Asbury Uni- versity, which position he retained for two years. In 1852 he landed in California, where he served as pastor, presiding elder and editor of church periodicals for many years. In the winter of 1858-59, while he was detained at his home, in Placerville, by an unusually heavy fall of snow, he resurrected the diary, or journal, which he had kept while he was stationed at Fort Coffee and, using it as his principal source of material, wrote his book entitled "Life Among the Choctaws," which was published in 1860. He remained a student to the end of his life. He died at Santa Clara, California, January 15, 1897.
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porarily until new buildings could be erected. Several fields had to be cleared and a farm opened up. The furniture for the school rooms and dormitories was delayed by low water on the river and the school was not opened up for the reception of pupils until in February, 1844. Mr. Benson kept a copious journal from which he subsequently drew the material for a book entitled "Life Among the Choctaws." From its pages much information may be gleaned concerning the life and conditions prevailing among thie people of the Indian Territory at that time.
The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church which met in 1844 resulted in such strained relations between the delegates from the free states and those from the slave states that it ultimately led to a division, the Methodist Episcopal Church, Southi, being organized during the following year. The General Conference of 1844, among other business transacted, authorized the organiza- tion of the Indian Mission Conference. Previous to that time all of the Methodist missionaries laboring in the Indian Territory had belonged to (1) the Missouri Conference and, more recently (2) to the Arkansas Conference. The Indian Mission Conference was or- ganized at Riley's Chapel, near Tahlequah, October 23, 1844, Bishop Thomas A. Morris presiding. The conference was divided into three districts, each under the administrative supervision of a pre- siding elder. The districts and superintending elders were respec- tively as follows: Kansas River District, Rev. N. M. Talbott; Che- rokee District, Rev. David B. Cumming; 1c Choctaw District, Rev. Learner B. Stateler.2 Rev. J. C. Berryman was superintendent of
1º David B. Cumming was born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, June 3, 1796. Early in life his family moved to East Tennessee, where, at the age of eighteen, he was converted and joined the Methodists. He began his ministerial work in 1820. His first Indian mission work was done among the Cherokees in Tennessee in 1834. He was transferred to the Arkansas Conference in 1838. He joined the Indian Mission Conference at its organization and continued upon the list of its effective members until he was super- annuated, in 1872. He died in McDonald County, Missouri, August 25, 1880.
2 Learner B. Stateler was born near Hartford, Ohio County, Ken- tucky, July 7, 1811, of German parents. He was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1830 and, a year later, made his way from Kentucky to Missouri on horseback. In 1833 he was sent as a missionary among the Creek Indians who had recently moved to the West. Later he labored among the Delawares and Shawnecs near the Kansas River. In 1844 he was made presiding elder of the Choctaw District, in which position he remained but
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the Mission Conference. The three districts embraced seventeen charges or stations and there were twenty-four preachers assigned to work. The Cherokee and Choctaw districts were in Oklahoma; they embraced eleven charges or stations and employed the services of eighteen preachers. Each of these charges was in reality a cir- cuit, with from six to a dozen or more places at which religious services were regularly held. The conference statistics showed a membership of 2,992 Indians, 85 white people and 133 negroes.
The conference carefully considered the impending division in the church and, by resolution, voted to side with the southern wing, by approving the course of the minority in the General Conference which had been in session several months before. It also elected two delegates to attend the convention which was to meet at Louis- ville, Kentucky, during the month of May, 1845, and which after- ward resulted in the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.3 This division of the church on account of differ- ences of opinion and policy concerning the slavery question led to the withdrawal of Messrs. Goode and Benson, who returned to In- diana in 1845. Subsequent superintendents of the Fort Coffee Academy between 1845 and 1860 were W. L. McAlester, John Har- rell, T. W. Mitchell and F. M. Paine. The superintendency of the New Hope Academy for girls, jointly with that of the Fort Coffee Academy for boys was the assignment of Rev. John Harrell, in 1850, immediately after his transfer from the Arkansas Conference to the Indian Mission Conference. New Hope Academy was located a short distance east of Skullaville and only a few miles from Fort Coffee Academy. Both of these schools were operated under the auspices of the conference until after the outbreak of the war. Ap- pointments to the superintendencies respectively of the Asbury Manual Labor School (Creek) and the Chickasaw Academy were also made in 1850 and regularly every year thereafter.
The second annual session of the Indian Mission Conference was held at the Shawnee Mission in Johnson County, Kansas. There-
one year, after which he returned to the Kansas District, of which he afterward served as presiding elder. He was a pioneer preacher in later years in Colorado and Montana, in both of which states he did much to establish the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died in Montana, May 1, 1895, being one of the last survivors of those who organized the Indian Mission Conference more than fifty years before.
3 Rev. William H. Goode, superintendent of Fort Coffee Acad- emy, was selected as one of the two delegates to the Louisville con- vention, but as the movement did not have his sympathy he declined.
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after, all sessions met at designated points in the Indian Territory, proper. In 1850, the Kansas River District, which was geographi- cally separated from the rest of the conference, was detached and added to one of the conferences in Missouri. The successive annual sessions during the remainder of the period were held as follows: 1846, Riley's Chapel; 1847, Doaksville; 1848, Muddy Springs (Cherokee Nation) ; 1849, Riley's Chapel; 1850, Skullaville; 1851, Muddy Springs; 1852, Clear Spring Camp Ground; 1853, Creek Agency ; 1854, Riley's Chapel; 1855, Asbury Manual Labor School; 1856, Chickasaw Academy ; 1857, Riley's Chapel ; 1858, Skullaville ; 1859, Creck Agency ; 1860, Riley's Chapel.
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