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 26
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10 Report of the governor's commission, Ibid., pp. 297-303.
11 Letter of Capt. John S. Ford, of the Texas Rangers, Ibid., p. 238.
12 The principal correspondence relating to the troubles of the Indians on the Lower Reserve on the Brazos, and the arrangements for their removal to the Valley of the Washita in the Indian Terri- tory fill 114 pages of the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859 (pp. 220-334). In addition to material information contained therein, the writer has secured other data, concerning the incidents and events herein recounted, from mem- bers of the families of officials in the Indian service and from one of the army officers who personally witnessed some of the incidents narrated.
13 Letters of J. M. Smith and G. B. Erath, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859, p. 295.
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their full part in keeping up the agitation.14 And, to the last, the same evil spirits who had first conceived and planned the conspiracy remained implacably active.
As the removal of the Indians from the reservations on the Brazos would have the effect of transferring them to the jurisdic- tion of the southern superintendency, which had its headquarters at Fort Smith, Arkansas, Superintendent Elias Rector was directed . to select locations for the people of these tribes on the lands of the leased district, west of the 98th Meridian and between the Cana- dian and Red rivers. Superintendent Rector promptly addressed himself to the performance of this duty and also sent a message to Superintendent Neighbors, asking that the latter should meet him for conference at Fort Arbuckle at the conclusion of the tour of personal inspection and investigation upon which the former was setting forth. The two superintendents met at Fort Arbuckle at the end of June and agreed as to details of the plans for the removal of the Indians and their settlement in the valleys of the Washita and some of its small tributaries.15 The Wichita Indians were to be settled with the tribes from Texas.
14 Resolutions adopted by mass meeting of citizens of Parker County, at Weatherford, Texas, June 24, 1859, Ibid., pp. 316-7; also, address to the people of neighboring counties, drafted by a committee appointed at the same meeting, pp. 317-8. One para- graph of the address above mentioned is quoted below for the pur- pose of illustrating the incendiary and irresponsible character of the propaganda which was so zealously pushed. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that John R. Baylor was the principal speaker at the Weatherford meeting. The paragraph from the address to the people of neighboring counties was as follows :
"We call upon you, fellow citizens, in the name of all that is sacred; in behalf of suffering women and children, whose blood paints afresh, from the Red River to the Rio Grande, day by day, the scalping knife of the savage foe; in the name of mothers whose daughters have been violated by the 'Reserve Indians,' and robbed of that virtue which God alone can give-come, come, fellow citi- zens ; arouse, and take action before the number of deaths of tender infants, mothers, fathers and aged grandsires is swollen to a more frightful extent by our sluggish action or supine indifference !"
15 Letters of Elias Rector to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ibid., pp. 284-6 and 305-14; also, letter of Robert S. Neighbors to the same, pp. 315-6. Superintendent Neighbors was accompanied by a number of the chiefs and head men of several of the tribes from the reservations on the Brazos, who were fully informed as to the purpose of the conference and its effect upon the interests of their people.
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During the last month that the Indians were on the Lower Reserve, and while they were all encamped at the agency where sev- cral companies of United States troops were stationed on guard and for the purpose of preventing disturbances, the governor of Texas organized a company of 100 volunteers, which were placed under the command of Capt. John Henry Brown, who had been a member of the commission previously appointed by the governor to investi- gate and adjust the disturbed conditions existing at the Indian Reservation. Ostensibly the company of volunteers thus placed in the service was for the purpose of preventing a further clash between Indians and settlers. Practically, it was to prevent any of the In- dians from leaving the reservation. The Indians owned a great many horses and cattle, which ran at large, just as the stock belong- ing to all of the neighboring settlers did. The Indians were there- forc unable to secure the stock that had wandered off the reservation, Superintendent Neighbors estimating that they lost half of their cattle in consequence.16
On the first day of August, 1859, the migration of 1,430 Indians, representing nearly a dozen tribes, began. A military escort, two troops of cavalry and two companies of infantry, under the personal command of Maj. George H. Thomas, accompanied the Indians. That there should have been an escort of such strength was deemed expedient for the reason that threats had been made that the In- dians would not be permitted to leave the state alive.17 The picturesque cavalcade moved slowly northward under the intense heat of the August sun, crossed the Red River at the end of one week and reached their destination on the Washita at the end of another. The various tribes were settled at different points within the limits of the present County of Caddo. The selection of a site for the agency, and the delay occasioned by having to wait for some duly authorized representative of the southern superintendency to whom the custody of the Indians and of the Government property could be relinquished, required considerable time. Major Thomas and the cavalry troops left on the return march to Texas within two or three days after arriving, and the infantry detachment, under Captain Plummer, departed a few days later, thus leaving the new agency and its charges without military protection. The
16 Letters of Robert S. Neighbors, Annual Report of the Com- missioner of Indian Affairs for 1859, pp. 319-20 and 328.
17 Letter of E. J. Gurley, Ibid., pp. 274-5; also, letter of Robert S. Neighbors, pp. 320 and 328.
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site chosen for the agency was near Fort Cobb, though the military post was not located and established until a few weeks afterward. Samuel A. Blain, agent for the Wichita Indians, finally took over the records and property of the two agencies from Texas and as- sumed charge of the Indians which had been attached to them. Su- perintendent Neighbors discharged the agency employes and directed Agents Ross and Leeper to return to their homes and await instructions.18
When Messrs. Neighbors, Ross and Leeper were ready to start on their return to Texas, there were no troops available for escort. Two sons of Agent Ross (Peter F. and Robert S.) were with him and Agent Leeper had his family. There were a number of team- sters and other former employes of the two agencies who were also returning to their homes. In all there were about twenty men who could bear arms in case of an emergency. As some of the wild In- dians (Kiowas) had been troublesome around the new agency, there was considerable apprehension lest the party be attacked on the way home. Thus prepared, with one wagon and two ambulances, the party was ready to leave for home.19 A careful watch was main- tained lest the party be attacked by hostiles. For several days there were no signs. One day, after the Red River had been crossed, Cap- tain Ross (who had had extensive experience in campaigning against hostile Indians) became suspicious of the signs and, when the noon- day halt was made, he directed that the mules be tied to the wagons and fed and that the horses should be picketed with short ropes. Even with these precautions, however, an effort was made to steal their horses. In the fight which followed, Mr. Leeper was severely wounded (and would have been killed had not a despised Mexican, whom the other men of the party regarded as a coward, rushed to his relief). The attacking party was finally put to flight with the loss of several of its members.20
18 Matthew Leeper was subsequently appointed to succeed Mr. Blain as agent for the tribes on the Washita and was continued in that position under the Confederate regime.
19 The parting between the Indians and their former superin- tendent and agents was probably not without mutual feelings of sadness and regret. Even to this day there are old people among the Caddo, Waco and other tribes who remember Neighbors and Ross with feelings of grateful appreciation.
20 After the marauders had disappeared, one of the men, Frank Harris by name, took a canteen of water and remarked to Captain Ross: "That Indian I shot had short hair. I am going to wash the paint off his face and see if he is not some old acquaintance of ours." Vol. 1-16
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Arriving at the Brazos River, Major Neighbors insisted upon going to the little town of Belknap to transact some business, though warned that his life would be endangered if he did so. He pro- ceeded, however, and, after finishing his errand, was about to return to camp when a desperado stepped out from a chimney corner at the end of a building and shot him in the back with a load of buck-
ROBERT S. NEIGHBERS
shot. No one was allowed to approach the body of the fallen man, under threats of instant death. Although it is probable that death was almost if not quite instantaneous, the body of Major Neighbors lay untouched in the sandy street from early morning until late in the afternoon, when it was taken up and buried by a negro serv- ant belonging to Mr. Leeper. Thus had the spirit of human envy
Suiting his action to his word, he found that the body of the sup- posed dead Indian was in reality that of a red-headed white man. No one present was able to identify the body, however, and so the fate of another renegade was found in a justly deserved oblivion. Whether the other "Indians" of the party were of the same variety is not known.
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and hatred found its fruition, not alone in the woes of the unoffend- ing Indians but also in the untimely taking off of as gallant a knight as any that ever poised a lance or drew a sword in behalf of the oppressed.21 It is not improbable that the two agents would
21 Robert S. Neighbors was born in Virginia (locality not re- corded), November 3, 1815. His parents died while he was young and, at the age of nineteen, he left for the Southwest. He stopped for a time in Louisiana. The news of the fall of the Alamo was like a trumpet call to hundreds of young Americans who thronged to Texas to aid in the struggle for its independence and Robert S. Neighbors was one of those who made haste to respond. He enlisted in Capt. Hayden Arnold's company, with which he participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. He subsequently served with the Texas Rangers and he is said to have been a member of Kendall's Santa Fe Expedition, in 1839, whence he was taken with the other pris- oners to the City of Mexico, where they were held for more than a year before their release. Shortly after his return to his home at San Antonio, the Mexican General Woll invaded that place. Neigh- bors was acting as clerk of the District Court, which was in session, and he was captured with the other court officials, September 11, 1842, and, with fifty-two other Texans, was carried to the Castle Perote, where he was imprisoned until March 23, 1844, when, with others, he was released at the urgent request of Gen. Waddy Thompson, the United States minister. Early in 1845 Neighbors was appointed by the Republic of Texas as agent for the Tonkahua (Tonkawa) and Lipan tribes of Indians. He was reported to be quite successful in his management of the affairs of these Indians. He assisted the United States treaty commissioners (Pierce M. Butler and M. G. Lewis) in negotiating the treaty with seven In- dian tribes, on the Brazos River, in the spring of 1846, and was one of the agents selected to accompany the delegation of chiefs which went from that important council on a visit to Washington. After his return from Washington, he was appointed special Indian agent for the Indians of the State of Texas, a position which he filled acceptably until August, 1849, when he was superseded by a par- tisan appointee of the Taylor administration. He served then for a time as commissioner of the state for the organization of new counties in which capacity he succeeded in organizing the County of El Paso, whose people had been Mexican citizens and hostile to Texas until a short time before. He was then elected a member of the Fourth Legislature of Texas, representing the counties of Bexar and Medina in the Lower House. There he served as chair- man of the Committee on Indian Affairs, in which capacity he was instrumental in securing the passage of a joint resolution authoriz- ing the governor of Texas to enter into negotiations with the Presi- dent of the United States for the purpose of establishing an Indian territory in the northern part of Texas, to serve as the home of all the Indians of the tribes living in Texas at the time of its annexa-
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have shared in the fate of their superintendent had similar oppor- tunity been afforded the assassin and his partners in crime.22
Such is the story of the exile of the Caddoes and affiliated tribes from Texas to Oklahoma. Less than two years later, a governor of Texas sent a special envoy to the people of these same tribes, invit- ing them to return to that state to live and to be assured of its pro- tection. When the great war between the states began and the men of Texas were called to arms, then the people of Texas were re-
tion. Though nothing came of this proposition, it gave evidence of his farsightedness. In 1853 he was appointed to a position as supervising agent in the United States Indian Service and was assigned to the general supervision of all Indian affairs in the State of Texas, with three agencies under him. In 1854 he assisted Capt. R. B. Marcy in selecting the reservations on the Brazos River upon which the various small tribes and fragments of tribes were to be concentrated under agreement between the Federal Gov- ernment and the Texas authorities. The Indians were located on these reservations during the following year. The dismissal of a jealous-hearted subordinate was followed by a deliberate and sys- tematically directed endeavor to poison the minds of the inhabitants of neighboring counties against the Indians living on the Brazos reservations and the same spirit of mischievous malevolence aimed its shaft against Supervising Agent Neighbors. While on his way home from the valley of the Washita, whither he had taken the Indians to a place of safety, he walked, unafraid, into the settle- ment where cowardly assassins were thirsting for his blood. There he was shot down by a man to whom he was an entire stranger and died a few minutes later, September 13, 1859. His tragic death occasioned great sorrow among thousands of Texans who had known him and who appreciated his services to Texas, both as republic and as state, and to the Federal Government; but by none was he mourned more deeply than by the Indians of the tribes of the Washita whom he had befriended and protected; they are said to have moaned and wailed for many days after learning of his death. Indeed, it was reported that it was with difficulty that their new agent prevented some of them from stealing away to wreak sum- mary vengeance upon his assassins. His interest in and friendship for the Indian people was always marked. He was quoted as an authority on the Comanches in Schoolcraft's "History of the North American Indians." His home was on a ranch on the Salado, six miles from San Antonio, in the vicinity of which some of his descendants still live.
22 The assassin and his associates remained around the town of Belknap until the arrival of a company of Rangers under Capt. Tom Johnson. When the latter had located and overtaken them, he gave them the same chance for life that they had given Major Neighbors-they were shot down and left where they fell.
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minded of the red trail of the raiding Comanches and Kiowas and of the difficulty of protecting the frontier settlements, aye, then they were willing and even anxious to have the Reserve Indians return and be what they had been before, namely, a buffer between the settlements and the untamed warriors of the Plains. But, though they loved and trusted young "Sul" Ross, the boy captain, whom the governor of Texas had selected as his messenger to bear the invitation to return, they shook their heads in refusal and, later on, fled in the opposite direction. For a decade and a half there- after, the people of the Texas frontier paid a costly tribute for the blundering policy which had driven these peaceably disposed bands of Indians beyond the borders of the state and thus gave the wild Indians an unobstructed path to the settlements.
CHAPTER XXXII
INDIAN COUNCILS
A number of peace councils-always an important institution in Indian history-were held during the course of this period of the history of Oklahoma. These peace councils always had to do with some one or more of the wild tribes, as the immigrant tribes were always peaceably disposed toward one another. The civilized tribes occasionally met in inter-tribal councils to discuss matters other than peace that were of common or mutual interest.
THE COUNCIL AT TAHLEQUAH
One of the greatest inter-tribal peace councils ever held in the Indian Territory was the one held at Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, in June, 1843. Twenty-three tribes and nations of Indians were represented in that gathering, which was in session for some days. Though no detailed record of the event seems to have been preserved, presumably all sessions were distinguished for due regard for ceremony and deliberations, the pipe of peace passing around the circle of assembled chiefs, counselors and war- riors. Even if there was no written record, the covenants and un- derstandings of such a council were treasured in the hearts of the untutored members of the assembled delegations and, unless they were impressed by the importance of the event and disposed to abide by the agreements made and entered into thereat, such a writ- ing would be of no avail.
During the course of the great inter-tribal council at Tahlequah, James M. Stanley, of Detroit, one of the most noted portrait painters of his day, was present and busily engaged with easel and palette and brushes, securing characteristic likenesses of typical Indians of the various tribes which were represented in the assemblage. Mr. Stanley spent some months-possibly the greater part of a year- at Tahlequah and Fort Gibson and in the surrounding region. He not only painted numerous portraits for his collection but also ac- cepted sittings from members of the prominent Cherokee families
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who wished to pay for and retain the same.1 He subsequently crossed the Plains and eventually visited the Pacific coast for the purpose of increasing his gallery of Indian portraits. In 1851 he de- posited the collection, amounting to 140 in all, with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. He then offered to sell the collection for $12,500. Although art commissions and congressional commit- tees made favorable recommendations for the proposed purchase, no appropriation was ever made. In January, 1865, a disastrous fire occurred in the building of the institution almost totally destroying this priceless collection.
In 1842 the Comanche Indians asked Governor Pierce M. Butler and Col. James Logan, tribal agents respectively of the Cherokees and the Creeks to request the president of the Republic of Texas to appoint commissioners to meet the chiefs of their tribe in council at some point on the Red River.2 Governor Butler evidently inter- ested himself in the matter and sought to bring about such a con- ference as he and Col. William S. Harney of the army were selected to represent the Government in a council which was held near the mouth of Cache Creek on Red River, in November, 1843. The Republic of Texas failed to send any representatives to the council.3
After having had troubles with the Osages and the Pawnees, the chiefs of the Creek Nation called an inter-tribal council in 1845. It was held in September and eleven tribes (including the Osage) were represented. The Pawnees did not send a delegation. The Comanches sent a contemptuous reply to the invitation, due, it was believed, to the duplicity of the interpreter accompanying the Creek embassy.+
1 There are at least a dozen of the Stanley portraits in the pos- session of some of the old Cherokee families residing in the vicinity of Tahlequah, Park Hill and Fort Gibson-each one of which is not only a work of art, but also a treasured heirloom and a faithful picture of the olden times in the Cherokee Nation.
2 Niles' National Register, Vol. LXII, p. 384.
3 Ibid., Vol. LXV, pp. 213, 306 and 384.
4 Ibid., Vol. LXVII, p. 257, and Vol. LXIX, pp. 25-6. The principal business of this council (which was held at the Creek Council Grounds), as announced, was "to clear the 'white path' of peace and to cover the blood recently spilt by the Creeks and Pawnees." The reply of the angry Comanches to the Creek invita- tion to visit the council was as follows: "We accept your tobacco and have smoked it. You have lodged with us. Take back your wampum and the broken days (beads) ; they are false and your pco- ple have spoken with a forked tongue."'
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In May, 1846, Governor Pierce M. Butler, the former agent of the Cherokees,5 and Col. M. G. Lewis, of Tennessee, represented the Government as commissioners in a council held with the chiefs and head men of the Comanches, Caddoes, Wichitas and other tribes at Council Springs (Torrey's Trading House), in Robinson County, Texas. The annexation of Texas, the year before, had made it neces- sary to impress upon the minds of the Indians of the Southern Plains Region the fact that they could not make war on the people of that state and at the same time be at peace with "Washington," as they called the Government.6
There was always more or less formality of punctilio about the conduct and ceremony of an Indian peace council. The following account of one of these councils was recorded by Maj. Israel G. Vore, of the Cherokee Nation, as having been related to him by Capt. Black Beaver, the noted Delaware leader.7
5 Pierce M. Butler, a former governor of South Carolina, was appointed as tribal agent of the Cherokees to fill the vacancy occa- sioned by the death of Governor Stokes in 1842. In 1845 he was superseded by James McKissick, of Arkansas. Immediately after- ward he was appointed as a commissioner to treat with the Co- manches and other tribes in Western Oklahoma and Texas. As soon as this duty was performed, he entered the volunteer military service as colonel of the Palmetto Rifles, a regiment recruited in South Carolina. (He had served twelve years in the regular army as an officer and had also been lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of volunteers during part of the Seminole war in Florida.) He was distinguished for conspicuous valor at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, and, at the Battle of Churubusco, although badly wounded early in the engagement, he insisted upon leading his regiment in a des- perate charge upon the enemy's position, during which he fell dead with a bullet through his head.
6 Niles' National Register, Vol. LXX, pp. 229-30 and 257-8.
7 Israel G. Vore was a native of Pennsylvania, born about 1825. He came with his parents to the Cherokee Nation, where his father engaged in merchandising. His parents were murdered and their home and store burned by desperadoes in 1844, the son's absence from home being all that saved his life. He served as quarter- master on the staff of Gen. Douglas H. Cooper during the Civil war. In the winter of 1875-6 he spent some weeks at the Wichita Agency on business and was entertained at the home of Capt. Black Beaver, who was an acquaintance and friend of many years' standing. Dur- ing the time thus spent in Black Beaver's home, the two old men sat up till midnight, night after night, Black Beaver telling the story of his life and career and Major Vore recording it in the form of notes for the purpose of ultimately having it written out and published in book form. A small part of these notes werc
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In the winter of 1850-1, a council was held with the wild Indians on the Concho River, in Texas. There were present the Penateka Band of Comanches, the Wacoes, Towakonies, Caddoes, Lipans, Anadarkoes and a few Wichitas. The name of the Indian agent I do not remember. [It was probably Robert S. Neighbors.] John Conner, a Delaware, was guide and interpreter. Jesse Chisholm, known as "Prairie Jess," was also present, as was Capt. Black Beaver. These were the most notable guides and interpreters on the Plains. They were asked by the Indian agent to remain and assist Conner-he wanted no misunderstanding. The business of Black Beaver and Chisholm was to trade. They asked the agent if he had any objection and he replied that he had none whatever; that he wanted them to assist in civilizing these Indians, to visit them often and to associate with them as much as possible, always to give them good advice and try to keep them at peace and help them to learn better ways than their own. The Comanche Band was headed by Ke-kem-sey-ker-a-way and Tosh-a-way, the present chief.
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