Chapter L: P. WALKER, Secretary of War

_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 574-575.

[238] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 572-574.

[239] --_Ibid._, 583.

[240] See McCulloch to Walker, May 28, 1861, _ibid._, 587; also same to same, June 12, 1861, _ibid._, 590-591.

[241] --_Ibid._, 591-592; also vol. xiii, 495.

[242] General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, C515; _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 596-597 and vol. xiii, 495-497.

[243] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 590-591.

[244]

HEADQUARTERS MCCULLOCH'S BRIGADE,
Fort Smith, Ark., June 22, 1861.

HON. L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War:

Sir: I have the honor to transmit the inclosed copy of a communication
from John Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Under all the circumstances of the case I do not think it advisable to
march into the Cherokee country at this time unless there is some
urgent necessity for it. If the views expressed in my communication to
you of the 14th instant are carried out, it will, I am satisfied,
force the conviction on the Cherokees that they have but one course to
pursue--that is, to join the Confederacy. The Choctaw and Chickasaw
regiment will be kept on the south of them; Arkansas will be to the
east; and with my force on the western border of Missouri no force
will be able to march into the Cherokee Nation, and surrounded as they
will be by Southern troops, they will have but one alternative at all
events. From my position to the north of them, in any event, I will
have a controlling power over them. I am satisfied from my interview
with John Ross and from his communication that he is only waiting for
some favorable opportunity to put himself with the North. His
neutrality is only a pretext to await the issue of events.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

BEN. MCCULLOCH, Brigadier-General Commanding.

_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 595-596.

[245] See Pike to Toombs, May 20, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 580-581].

[246] On the twenty-ninth of May, Pike wrote to Toombs again and informed him that he was leaving for Tahlequah that very morning [_Ibid._, fourth ser., vol. i, 359].

[247] See McCulloch to Walker, May 28, 1861 [_Ibid._, first ser., vol. iii, 587-588].

[248] See Pike to Cooley, February 17, 1866 [Indian Office, _Miscellaneous Files_].

[249] --_Ibid._

[250] McCulloch to Walker, June 12, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 591].

[251] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. xiii, 489-490.

[252] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 585-587.

[253] --_Ibid._, 589.

[254] --_Ibid._, 587.

[255] --_Ibid._, 593-594.

[256] See Albert Pike to John Ross, June 6, 1861 and John Ross to Albert Pike, July 1, 1861 in General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, C515.

[257] It would appear that, failing with John Ross, Pike tried to negotiate with the disaffected Cherokees under the control of Stand Watie, Boudinot, and others. See _Office Letter_ to President Johnson, February 25, 1866. Pike himself says that he invited some of these men to meet him at the Creek Agency. See Pike to Cooley, February 17, 1866.

[258] The text of the treaties is to be found in the _Confederate Statutes_ and also in _Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i, as follows:

Creek Treaty, 426-443 Osage Treaty, 636-646
Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, 445-466 Seneca and Shawnee Treaty,
Seminole Treaty, 513-527 647-658
Wichita Treaty, 542-548 Quapaw Treaty, 659-666
Comanche Treaty, 548-554 Cherokee Treaty, 669-687

[259] Although the Creek Treaty was negotiated July tenth and was the first to be negotiated, Dole was ignorant of its existence as late as October second [_Report_, 1861, 39], which only goes to prove how very slight was the Federal communication with Indian Territory through all that critical time.

[260] President Davis, in his message of December 12, 1861, said,

Considering this act as a declaration by Congress of our future policy
in relation to those Indians, a copy of that act was transmitted to
the commissioner and he was directed to consider it as his
instructions in the contemplated negotiation. [Richardson, _Messages
and Papers of the Confederacy_, vol. i, 149; _Official Records_,
fourth ser., vol. i, 785.]

[261] All the treaties of the First Class contain a _Preamble_, lacking in the others, which specifically outlines the assumption of the protectorate. In addition, those same treaties have a special clause accepting the full force of the Act of May twenty-first.

All references to these treaties, unless otherwise noted, will be page references to the treaties as found in the _Statutes at Large_ of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America.

[262] See Creek Treaty, Articles II and IV, pp. 289, 290; Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Articles II and VII, pp. 312, 313; Seminole Treaty, Articles II and IV, Pp. 332, 333; Cherokee Treaty, Articles II and V, pp. 395, 396.

[263]

ARTICLE VIII (Creek Treaty). The Confederate States of America do
hereby solemnly agree and bind themselves that no State or Territory
shall ever pass laws for the government of the Creek Nation; and that
no portion of the country hereby guaranteed to it shall ever be
embraced or included within or annexed to any Territory or Province;
nor shall any attempt ever be made, except upon the free, voluntary
and unsolicited application of the said nation, to erect the said
country, by itself or with any other, into a State or any other
territorial or political organization, or to incorporate it into any
State previously created [p. 291].

Compare with similar articles in the other treaties; viz., Article X of the Choctaw and Chickasaw, p. 314; Article VIII of the Seminole, p. 334; Article VIII of the Cherokee, p. 397; Articles VIII and XXVI of the Osage, pp. 364, 367; Articles VIII and XIX of the Seneca and Shawnee, pp. 376, 377; Article VII of the Quapaw, p. 367.

[264]

ARTICLE XL (Creek Treaty). In order to enable the Creek and Seminole
Nations to claim their rights and secure their interests without the
intervention of counsel or agents, and as they were originally one and
the same people and are now entitled to reside in the country of each
other, they shall be jointly entitled to a delegate to the House of
Representatives of the Confederate States of America, who shall serve
for the term of two years, and be a member of one of the said nations,
over twenty-one years of age, and labouring under no legal disability
by the law of either nation; and each delegate shall be entitled to
the same rights and privileges as may be enjoyed by delegates from any
territories of the Confederate States to the said House of
Representatives. Each shall receive such pay and mileage as shall be
fixed by the Congress of the Confederate States. The first election
for delegate shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted
in such manner as shall be prescribed by the agent of the Confederate
States, to whom returns of such election shall be made, and he shall
declare the person having the greatest number of votes to be duly
elected, and give him a certificate of election accordingly, which
shall entitle him to his seat. For all subsequent elections, the
times, places, and manner of holding them and ascertaining and
certifying the result shall be prescribed by law of the Confederate
States [p. 297].

Compare with Article XXVII of Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty [p. 318], the chief point of difference between the two being that, in the latter treaty the delegate to which the two tribes, parties to the treaty, were entitled jointly, was to be elected from them alternately. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty also stipulated that the delegate was to be a member by birth or blood on either the father's or the mother's side. The corresponding provision in the Cherokee Treaty, Article XLIV [pp. 403-404], said that the delegate should be a native born citizen. The Seminole arrangement, Article XXXVII [p. 339], was, as might be expected, exactly the same as the Creek.

[265] The Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty was the only one that developed this idea. We might presume that the Creeks were even opposed to it. This is how it appears in Articles XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX, of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty [pp. 318-319]:

ARTICLE XXVIII. In consideration of the uniform loyalty and good
faith, and the tried friendship for the people of the Confederate
States, of the Choctaw and Chickasaw people, and of their fitness and
capacity for self-government, proven by the establishment and
successful maintenance, by each, of a regularly organized republican
government, with all the forms and safe-guards to which the people of
the Confederate States are accustomed, it is hereby agreed by the
Confederate States, that whenever and so soon as the people of each
nation shall, by ordinance of a convention of delegates, duly elected
by majorities of the legal voters, at an election regularly held after
due and ample notice, in pursuance of an act of the Legislature of
each, respectively, declare its desire to become a State of the
Confederacy, the whole Choctaw and Chickasaw country, as above
defined, shall be received and admitted into the Confederacy as one of
the Confederate States, on equal terms, in all respects, with the
original States, without regard to population; and all the members of
the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations shall thereby become citizens of the
Confederate States, not including, however, among such members, the
individuals of the bands settled in the leased district aforesaid.

_Provided_, That, as a condition precedent to such admission, the said
nations shall provide for the survey of their lands, the holding in
severalty of parts thereof by their people, the dedication of at least
one section in every thirty-six to purposes of education, and the sale
of such portions as are not reserved for these, or other special
purposes, to citizens of the Confederate States alone, on such terms
as the said nation shall see fit to fix, not intended or calculated to
prevent the sale thereof.

ARTICLE XXIX. The proceeds of such sales shall belong entirely to
members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, and be distributed among
them or invested for them in proportion to the whole population of
each, in such manner as the Legislatures of said nations shall
provide; nor shall any other persons ever have any interest in the
annuities or funds of either the Choctaw or Chickasaw people, nor any
power to legislate in regard thereto.

ARTICLE XXX. Whenever the desire of the Creek and Seminole people and
the Cherokees to become a part of the said State shall be expressed,
in the same manner and with the same formalities, as is above provided
for in the case of the Choctaw and Chickasaw people, the country of
the Creeks and Seminoles, and that of the Cherokees, respectively, or
either by itself, may be annexed to and become an integral part of
said State, upon the same conditions and terms, and with the same
rights to the people of each, in regard to citizenship and the
proceeds of their lands.

[266] Abel, "Proposals for an Indian State in the Union, 1778-1878," in the American Historical Association, _Report_, 1907, pp. 89-102.

[267] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 577.

[268] Articles V and VI.

[269] Article VIII.

[270] Article XI.

[271] Article XII.

[272] Article VII of the Seminole Treaty [p. 334], and Article VII likewise of the Creek Treaty [p. 291].

[273] Article IV of the Cherokee Treaty [pp. 395-396].

[274] In the matter of the guarantee of territorial integrity, the treaties of the Second Class were strictly on a par with those of the First Class. See Article VIII of the Osage Treaty [p. 364], Article XIX of the Seneca and Shawnee Treaty [p. 378], Article VII of the Quapaw [p. 387].

[275] Article XLVII [pp. 407-408].

[276] Article V [p. 348].

[277] Article III [pp. 374-375].

[278] Article V [p. 291].

[279] Article I [p. 354].

[280] For an illustration of how the Seminoles had been preferring the claim, see the following affidavit:

Be it known that on this 22d day of January, A.D. 1856, personally
appeared before me, J. W. Washbourne, United States' Agent for
Seminoles, in open Council, the following named Chiefs and Head men of
the Seminole tribe of Indians, and deposed to the subsequent
statement.

That sometime during the war between the United States and the
Seminoles, Gen. Thomas S. Jessup, then commanding the U. S. troops in
Florida, issued a proclamation to the effect that all negroes
belonging to the hostile Seminoles who should come in and take service
under the Government against their masters, or in any way render
service to the United States against the Seminoles, or induce them to
sue for peace and emigrate west, they, the negroes, should be declared
free: That many negroes took advantage of said illegal proclamation
and did take service in Florida under Government, but that, by far the
larger number of negro slaves who took refuge under said proclamation
and thereby claimed their freedom, did so after the immigration west
was determined or consummated: That said negro slaves, in great
numbers and to the great injury of their owners, and against their
orders, took refuge within the United States' post, Fort Gibson,
Cherokee Nation, where they were for upwards of three years protected
by the United States officers at that Post, although the Seminoles
claimed them, the negroes, as their lawful slaves, and protested
against this procedure of the U. S. officers: That while these negro
slaves were thus protected by military officers, it was impossible to
keep their slaves at home who were continually flying to Fort Gibson,
where they were beyond the reach of their masters: That this occurred
during the years 1845-'6-'7: That through the instrumentality of their
former Sub Agent and attornies employed by them, they after long delay
and at great expense and loss of slaves, presented the matter to the
attention of the Secretary of War, Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, and that finally
from him, as such Secretary of War, there issued an order bearing date
the 5th of August 1848, directed to the commanding officer at Fort
Gibson, enjoining him to protect no longer said negro slaves at that
Post and commanding him to deliver all of said slaves to the Seminoles
their rightful owners: That even after this order the nuisance did not
abate, for another order dated July 31st 1850 required the commanding
officer of Fort Gibson to give no further protection to these
"Seminole negroes": That by this order of the Secretary of War, as was
just and right, the United States recognised the ownership of these
said slaves as being in the Seminoles, and that they were entitled by
law and right to said slaves and their service: That in consequence of
the withdrawal of the protection afforded them at Fort Gibson and from
their having so long considered themselves free, said slaves in great
numbers escaped, some of whom reached Mexico, some were killed by the
wild Indians, and the remainder were only captured at great and
ruinous expense: That the owners of these said negro slaves are justly
and equitably entitled to the service of said slaves, while unlawfully
and against the power and protests of the Seminoles, detained at Fort
Gibson for the space of more than three years, by U. S. officers: That
the number of said negro slaves so unlawfully detained and kept from
the service due their masters, as near as now can be estimated was Two
Hundred and Thirty-four or thereabouts: That the services of these
said slaves for these three years and upwards were amply worth at the
time Seventy five dollars each per annum, making the sum of Fifty two
Thousand Six hundred and fifty dollars ($52.650.00,) to which the
Seminole owners of said slaves are fully and fairly, in law and
equity, entitled, and which ought to be paid to them by the Government
of the United States.

JOHN JUMPER, P. Chief Seminoles X his mark
PAH SUC AH YO HO LAH, Speaker Council X his mark
CHITTO-TUSTO-MUGGEE X his mark
ARHAH-LOCK-TUSTO-MUGGEE X his mark
NOKE-SU-KEE X his mark
PARS-CO-FER X his mark
TESI-KI-AH X his mark
ALLIGATOR X his mark
TALLA-HASSA X his mark
GEORGE CLOUD X his mark
HO-TUL-GEE-HARJO X his mark
TAR-HAH FIXICO X his mark

Sworn to and subscribed before me, in open Council Jany 22d 1856.

J. W. WASHBOURNE U. S. Agent for Seminoles.

Witnesses: GEORGE M. AUD

[281] President Polk seems to have been of the opinion that negro slaves could not be freed by military proclamation [_Diary_ (Quaife's edition), vol. iii, 504].

[282] Slavery was not completely ignored even in the treaties of the Third Class. In Article IX of their treaty [p. 348], the Wichitas promised to do all in their power to take and return any negroes, horses, or other property stolen from white men or from Indians of the great tribes. The corresponding article in the Comanche Treaty [p. 355], was to like purpose.

[283] Article XXXVII of the Osage Treaty, Article XXVIII of the Seneca and Shawnee Treaty, and Article XXVII of the Quapaw Treaty.

[284] The following are the Creek clauses and the Choctaw and Chickasaw, Articles XLV and XLVII, the Seminole, Articles XXIX and XXXIII, and the Cherokee, Articles XXXIV and XXXVII, are similar:

ARTICLE XXIX. The provisions of all such acts of Congress of the
Confederate States as may now be in force, or may hereafter be
enacted, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provision of the
constitution in regard to the re-delivery or return of fugitive
slaves, or fugitives from labour and service, shall extend to, and be
in full force within the said Creek Nation; and shall also apply to
all cases of escape of fugitive slaves from the said Creek Nation into
any other Indian nation or into one of the Confederate States, the
obligation upon each such nation or State to re-deliver such slaves
being in every case as complete as if they had escaped from another
State, and the mode of procedure the same [p. 296].

ARTICLE XXXII. It is hereby declared and agreed that the institution
of slavery in the said nation is legal and has existed from time
immemorial; that slaves are taken and deemed to be personal property;
that the title to slaves and other property having its origin in the
said nation, shall be determined by the laws and customs thereof; and
that the slaves and other personal property of every person domiciled
in said nation shall pass and be distributed at his or her death, in
accordance with the laws, usages and customs of the said nation, which
may be proved like foreign laws, usages & customs, and shall
everywhere be held valid and binding within the scope of their
operation [p. 296].

[285] P. 369.

[286] Article XVII of the Cherokee Treaty [p. 399].

[287]

ARTICLE XV (Creek Treaty). The Confederate States shall protect the
Creeks from domestic strife, from hostile invasion, and from
aggression by other Indians and white persons not subject to the
jurisdiction and laws of the Creek Nation, and for all injuries
resulting from such invasion or aggression, full indemnity is hereby
guaranteed to the party or parties injured, out of the Treasury of the
Confederate States, upon the same principle and according to the same
rules upon which white persons are entitled to indemnity for injuries
or aggressions upon them committed by Indians [p. 293].

See also Article XXI of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty and Article XV of the Seminole Treaty.

[288] Manypenny to Dean, November 30, 1855 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 53, pp. 94-95]. Dean to Manypenny, December 25, 1855 [_Letter Press Book_].

[289] Compare Article XX of the Cherokee Treaty and Article XXIV of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty with Article XVI of the Creek Treaty and all of these with Article XVI of the Seminole Treaty.

[290] See, for example, Article XVIII of the Seminole Treaty [p. 336].

[291] One other important right was conceded and that was the right of free transit. The concession is well stated in the Creek Treaty and occurs in connection with a prohibition against the pasturing of stock by outsiders within the Creek country.

ARTICLE XXII. No citizen or inhabitant of the Confederate States shall
pasture stock on the lands of the Creek Nation, under the penalty of
one dollar per head for all so pastured, to be collected by the
authorities of the nation; but their citizens shall be at liberty at
all times, and whether for business or pleasure, peaceably to travel
the Creek country; and to drive their stock to market or otherwise
through the same, and to halt such reasonable time on the way as may
be necessary to recruit their stock, such delay being in good faith
for that purpose.

ARTICLE XXIII. It is also further agreed that the members of the Creek
Nation shall have the same right of travelling, driving stock and
halting to recruit the same in any of the Confederate States as is
given citizens of the Confederate States by the preceding article [p.
295].

[292] Article LXV of the Creek Treaty, Article XXVI of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XXXI of the Seminole Treaty, and Article XXII of the Cherokee Treaty.

[293] Article XVIII of the Creek Treaty, Article XXV of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XIX of the Seminole Treaty, and Article XXI of the Cherokee Treaty.

[294] Article LXV of the Creek Treaty and Article XXXI of the Seminole Treaty.

[295] Tush-ca-hom-ma at Boggy Depot and Cha-lah-ki at Tahlequah.

[296] Article XXX of the Creek Treaty, Article XLIII of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XXX of the Seminole Treaty, and Article XXXV of the Cherokee Treaty.

[297] Article XXVIII of the Creek Treaty, Article XLIV of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XXVIII of the Seminole Treaty, Article XXXIII of the Cherokee Treaty, Article XXXVI of the Osage Treaty, Article XXVII of the Seneca and Shawnee Treaty, and Article XXVII of the Quapaw Treaty.

[298] Article XXIX of the Cherokee Treaty and Article XXIII of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty.

[299]

ARTICLE XXXI (Cherokee Treaty). Any person duly charged with a
criminal offence against the laws of either the Creek, Seminole,
Choctaw or Chickasaw Nations, and escaping into the jurisdiction of
the Cherokee Nation, shall be promptly surrendered upon the demand of
the proper authority of the nation within whose jurisdiction the
offence shall be alleged to have been committed; and in like manner,
any person duly charged with a criminal offence against the laws of
the Cherokee Nation, and escaping into the jurisdiction of either of
the said nations, shall be promptly surrendered upon the demand of the
proper authority of the Cherokee Nation [pp. 401-402].

Note the development from the corresponding extradition clause in the earlier treaties of the series. In the Creek and Seminole treaties, extradition was as between Creeks and Seminoles exclusively. In the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, it was as between Choctaws and Chickasaws exclusively. In this treaty of the Cherokees, all the tribes were to be sharers in the extradition privilege; but it is difficult to understand how a clause in the Cherokee Treaty could be made legally binding upon other Indians than Cherokee.

[300] Article XXVI.

[301] It was also a one-sided affair in the treaties of the Second Class. See Article XXXIV of the Osage Treaty, Article XXV of the Seneca and Shawnee Treaty, and Article XXV of the Quapaw Treaty.

[302] Article XXXVII of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty [p. 320], and Article XXXII of the Cherokee Treaty [p. 402].

[303] Article XXXI of the Creek Treaty, Article XLVI of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XXXII of the Seminole Treaty, and Article XXXVI of the Cherokee Treaty. Note that the enjoyment of the privilege by the Seminole Nation was to be conditioned upon its own establishment of regular courts.

[304] There were also secret articles to some of the treaties. The indications are that such secret articles entailed the customary bribery of chiefs and influential men upon whose support depended successful negotiation.

[305] Article VII of the Osage Treaty [p. 364].

[306] Article XIII of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty [p. 315].

[307] Article IX of the Cherokee Treaty [p. 397].

[308] Article LXVI of the Creek Treaty, Article XLIV of the Seminole, Article LIII of the Cherokee.

[309] Article LXIV [p. 330].

[310] Article XL of the Wichita Treaty and Article X of the Comanche.

[311] Article XI of the Creek Treaty, Article XVI of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XI of the Seminole Treaty, Article XIII of the Cherokee Treaty, Article IV of the Osage Treaty, Article V of the Seneca and Shawnee Treaty, and Article IV of the Quapaw Treaty.

[312] Article XII of the Creek Treaty, Article XVII of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, Article XII of the Seminole Treaty, Article XIV of the Cherokee Treaty, Article V of the Osage Treaty, Article VI of the Seneca and Shawnee Treaty, and Article V of the Quapaw Treaty. After the war the posts in certain specified cases were to be garrisoned by native troops.

[313] The reference is the same as the foregoing with two exceptions; viz., Article XXVIII of the Osage Treaty and Article XX the Quapaw Treaty.

[314] Article XIII of the Creek Treaty, Article XVIII of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty, and Article XIII of the Seminole Treaty.

[315] The provision in the Osage Treaty was one exception to this. It was definitely said there that there should be no compensation.

[316] The details of this will come out in the chapter following.

[317]

ARTICLE XXXVIII (Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty). In order to secure the
due enforcement of so much of the laws of the Confederate States in
regard to criminal offences and misdemeanors as is or may be in force
in the said Choctaw and Chickasaw country, and to prevent the Choctaws
and Chickasaws from being further harassed by judicial proceedings had
in foreign courts and before juries not of the vicinage, the said
country is hereby erected into and constituted a judicial district of
the Confederate States to be called the Tush-ca-hom-ma District, for
the special purposes and jurisdiction hereinafter provided; and there
shall be created and semi-annually held, within such district, at
Boggy Depot, a district court of the Confederate States, with the
powers of a circuit court, so far as the same shall be necessary to
carry out the provisions of this treaty, and with jurisdiction
co-extensive with the limits of such district, in such matters, civil
and criminal, to such extent and between such parties as may be
prescribed by law, and in conformity to the terms of this treaty [p.
320].

Articles XXXIX, XL, XLI, and XLII more specifically define the jurisdiction.

[318] See Article XXIII of the Cherokee Treaty, and, for the jurisdiction of the court, see Articles XXIV, XXV, and XXVI.

[319] Article XXXV.

[320] Article XXVI.

[321] Article XXVI.

[322] In other ways than this, the treaties with the minor tribes stressed the "peculiar institution." Consider, for instance, in the matter of extradition, how it was not the criminal generally, but only the fugitive slave that was to be reciprocally extradited. Moreover, as a rule, the weak tribes all pledged themselves to try to return negroes and other property and were assured that negroes should come under the jurisdiction of tribal laws.

[323] Article II [p. 395].

[324] Article LII [p. 410].

[325] Article XXXIX [p. 403].

[326] Without doubt some preliminary sounding of Leeper must have preceded the accompanying document. Pike would hardly have written with such assurance or given such instructions unless he had been very sure of his ground.

FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS, 26th May 1861.

SIR: I have been appointed by the President of the Confederate States
of America Commissioner to the Indian Tribes West of Arkansas, with
discretionary powers, for the purpose of making treaties of alliance
with them, and of enlisting troops to act with the forces of the
Confederate States.

In the exercise of the powers entrusted to me, I hereby authorize and
request you to exercise the powers of Agent for the Wichitas and other
Indians in the Country leased from the Choctaws and Chickasaws, until
you shall receive a regular commission therefor. Your compensation
will be the same as that received from the United States, to commence
from the day when you resigned as agent of the United States.

And you are hereby instructed forthwith to repair to your agency, and
to inform the Indians under your charge that the Confederate States of
America will take you themselves and fully comply with all the
obligations entered into by the United States in their behalf;
securing and paying all that may be due them from injury; and
especially that they will continue to supply them with rations, as it
has heretofore been done, until they shall no longer need to be
supplied.

You will also please inform them that I shall in a short time be among
them, to enter into a treaty with them, on the part of the Confederate
States.

You will impress upon them that the people of Texas are now a part of
the Confederate States, and must no longer be looked upon as enemies:
and if any troops from Texas should come within your jurisdiction, you
will particularly warn them against doing any harm to the Indians
under your charge.

You will make known to the Delawares, and if practicable to the
Kickapoos, that it is my desire, and I have authority, to enlist a
battalion of 350 men, of the Delawares, Kickapoos, and Shawnees, and
will especially assure the Kickapoos, that if they have any cause of
complaint against any of the people of Texas, it will be inquired
into, and reparation made, and that they must in no case commit any
act of hostility against Texas.

I shall be greatly obliged to you for all assistance you can render in
securing the services in arms of the Kickapoos and Delawares. They
will be paid like other mounted men, receiving 40 cents a day for use
and risk of their horse, in addition to their pay, rations, and
clothing.

I need not say that I place much reliance on your zeal and
intelligence and assure you that your services will not fail to be
appreciated by the Government of the Confederate States. Most
respectfully yours

ALBERT PIKE, Comm{r}, C. S. A. to the
Indian Tribes, West of Arkansas.

Matthew Leeper Esq.

_Leeper Papers._

[327] It is not clear as to just when Elias Rector left the United States service or when he entered the Confederate. The Indian Office in Washington was communicating with him officially for some little time after Griffith had been notified of his appointment. There seems no reason to doubt that Rector was working in the interests of the Southern Confederacy all through the spring of 1861; and, when he went over openly to the South, he did not close his accounts with the United States Indian Office. He was accordingly regarded as a defaulter and there was talk of confiscating his property at Fort Smith [W. G. Coffin to Dole, January 29, 1864, General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1863-1864_, I640; Dole to Usher, February 2, 1864, Indian Office, _Report Book_, no. 13, p. 297].

In the course of his official connection with the United States government Elias Rector had frequently been accused of irregularities and even of crookedness [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, C1222]. As touching the Seminole removal from Florida, he had much that was peculiar to explain away. Apparently he quite frequently made queer contracts, was given to making over-charges for mileage and to favoring his friends at the expense of the Indians and of the government. In 1861, he rendered a voucher showing he had paid a certain Henry Pape $6000.00 for building the Wichita Agency house. On various matters connected with his official record, see Rector's _Letter Press Book_ and Indian Office, _Letter Books_, no. 64, p. 342; no. 65, P. 49; no. 66, p. 26. In 1865, Rector made application to be allowed to straighten out his accounts [J. B. Luce to Cooley, November 2, 1865].

Returning, however, to the subject of Rector's incumbency: on the twelfth of June, 1861, he wrote quite frankly to John Schoenmaker, principal of the Osage Mission,

... I have no connection at this time with the Indian Department under
the old U. S. Government. I am now acting as Superintendent under the
Government of the Confederate States, and as no treaties have as yet
been concluded between the Southern confederacy and the tribes of
Indians with whom you are engaged I of course can say nothing to you
on the subject matter of your letter....--General Files, _Southern
Superintendency, 1859-1862_.

The Confederate southern superintendency had not at the time been filled, but Rector seems to have been considered the most competent candidate. Johnson, in recommending various men to Walker for various positions, recommended Rector in strong terms of implied commendation,

Dr. Griffith wants to be appointed superintendent in place of E.
Rector. Do not allow this to be done. Hold everything as it is until
peace and unity are attained, and then make all the changes you think
proper; but not now--not now, by all manner of means.

I do earnestly beg you to keep your agencies as they were. They are
good and true men, and popular and qualified with the tribes and their
business. Restore and commission Elias Rector, superintendent; John
Crawford, Cherokee agent; William Quesenbury, Creek agent; Samuel M.
Rutherford, Seminole agent; and Matthew Leeper, Wichita agent; and if
Cooper has resigned (which I fear is the case), appoint Richard P.
Pulliam (who is the next best living man on earth for the place, I
believe) as agent of the Choctaws. With this programme you will have
peace and success; without it, no one can tell your troubles or our
misfortunes on this frontier....--_Official Records_, first ser., vol.
iii, 598.

[328] Dole to Robinson, April 9, 1861 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, 323].

[329] Dole to Rector, April 6, 1861 [--_ibid._, p. 317].

[330] General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, G463.

[331] General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, G463.

[332] Smith to Dole, May 4, 1861; Dole to Rector, May 9, 1861 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, p. 440].

[333] Johnson to Walker, June 25, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 598].

[334] Caleb B. Smith to Dole, April 6, 1861 [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_].

[335] Dole to Quesenbury [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, p. 330]. In the middle of the summer, George A. Cutler became United States agent for the Creeks [_ibid._, no. 66, p. 200].

[336] Dole to Crawford [_ibid._, no. 65, p. 331].

[337] Rector to Greenwood, August 31, 1860 [_Letter Press Book_].

[338] November 27, 1860, he voted in the affirmative on a resolution against Lincoln's election and against the advisability of Arkansas members of Congress taking their seats during his administration [Arkansas House _Journal_, thirteenth session, 1860-1861, p. 234].

[339] On the thirteenth of June, when Crawford wrote, resigning his commission, he said in extenuation of his conduct,

I only accepted through the influence of friends knowing then the
Cherokee Indians was Southern in their feelings and did not wish a
Northern man sent among them to act as Agent & as the Government of
the Southern Confederacy has in their wisdom thought best to take
charge of all the Indian Tribes south of Kansas and the Indians all
being anxious to join in with the South and oppose to the bitter end
the course now pursued by the Northern Government--I most respectfully
decline acting as agent for the Cherokee Indians under the
Administration of A. Lincoln.--CRAWFORD to Dole, June 13, 1861
[General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_, C1376].

[340] Crawford to Dole, May 20, 1861 [_ibid._].

[341]

The excitement here is at an alarming pitch for the last few days I
trust to God that those in power will do something to settle this
interruption in the government and something must be done soon or War
will ensue troops were drilling here last night at ten oclock, State
troops, strong talk of attacking Fort Smith the President of the
Convention has called the Convention to meet on the 6th day of May and
the State will seceed if there is not something done immediately
perhaps war will be commenced before you receive my letter though I
trust not. I should very much to know that the North and South were
engaged in a war, if you can do anything to have those troubles
settled use your influence with the President in calling a national
convention or something else to have peace....--CRAWFORD to Dole,
dated Van Buren, April 21, 1861 [General Files, _Cherokee, 1859-1865_,
C1044].

[342] Smith to Dole, April 20, 1861 [General Files, _Wichita, 1860-1861_, I320].

[343] Some slight account of the Wichita Agency and of Agent Leeper's defection has already been narrated. A number of documents elucidating the subject are to be found in the "Appendix."

[344] Dole to Elder, April 29, 1861 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, pp. 390-391]; Mix to Elder, August 22, 1861 [_ibid._, no. 66, pp. 283-284].

[345] See, for instance, Stockton to Usher, February 20, 1864 [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1863-1864_].

[346] See Isaac Coleman, United States Indian agent, to Superintendent Elijah Sells, a copy of which letter is retained in the Office of Indian Affairs, the original having been sent to the office of the United States attorney-general, October 10, 1865.

[347] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1865, pp. 310, 345.

[348] The reference is, presumably, to a portion of the money that the United States government had allowed the Choctaws in satisfaction of claims arising under the treaties of 1830 and 1855 [Act of March 2, 1861, U. S. _Statutes at Large_, vol. xii, 238]. The episode of the Corn Contract was directly connected with the expenditure of the money. For documents bearing upon it, see Land Files, _Choctaw, 1874-1876_, Box 39, C1078, particularly documents labelled "N," "O," and "P." Document "N" is a communication from Albert Pike to the General Council of the Choctaw Nation, received at the June session, 1861, and is most interesting as showing how Pike mixed up private and public business and, indeed, gave to private the preference.

FRIENDS AND BROTHERS: You are aware that since the year 1854 M{r} John
T. Cochrane and myself, aided by Col. Cooper your agent and by your
delegates, have been engaged at Washington in prosecuting the just
claims of your people under the treaty of 1830 before the Government
of the United States.

We have succeeded in procuring a final award of the Senate, giving you
the net proceeds of all the lands which you ceded by that treaty, and
a Report from the Committee of Indian Affairs, estimating the sum due
you at over two millions three hundred thousand dollars.

At the last session of Congress, we succeeded in procuring an
appropriation on account of this debt of $250,000 in money and
$250,000 in bonds of the United States.

Owing to the unfortunate difficulties between the Northern and
Southern States, one hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars, only,
of the sums, has been paid, $135,000 of which was placed in your
Agent's hands, ostensibly to purchase corn; and most of it remains
unexpended.

Towards my expenses while prosecuting your claims and towards my fee,
I have received the sum of sixteen hundred dollars. My expenses alone,
in four years have been five thousand dollars.

I have had to abandon my other business, to attend to yours: and
unless some part of my compensation is paid, or my expenses repaid me,
my property will have to be sold to pay my debts. I am entirely
without money, and have you only to look to.

I have labored for you very faithfully; and am sure your Delegates
will tell you that, but for me your claims would never have been
allowed; and but for me, after they were allowed, the appropriation
would not have been obtained.

The whole of the claims will be paid whenever peace is restored,
either by the United States, or by the Confederate Southern States. I
shall take it in charge and never desert you until all is paid.

I respectfully and earnestly request you to cause to be paid to me,
out of the moneys now in the Agent's hands, for my expenses, and on
account of my fee, such sum of money as you may think just and right;
and which I hope will not be less than seven thousand five hundred
dollars.

I also desire to inform you that I have been appointed by the
President of the Confederate States, a Commissioner to your Nation,
and all the other Nations and Tribes west of Arkansas; that I shall at
the proper time come among you to counsel with you, and that I shall
take your interests in charge, and see that your title to your lands,
and all annuities, and other moneys due you by the United States are
assumed and guaranteed by the Confederate States. On this you may
implicitly rely; as it is the promise of one who never breaks his
word.

Let your people therefore, and the Chickasaws remain perfectly quiet
until the proper time arrives, and look to me for advice. If any
emissaries from Arkansas come among you, hear them and say nothing. So
it is that wise men do. The State of Arkansas has nothing whatever to
do with you, and cannot protect you. The Confederate States are both
able and willing to do so; and when they have guaranteed your rights,
it will be time enough for you to act. Your friend

(signed) ALBERT PIKE.

Office of the National Secretary of the Choctaw Nation.

[Endorsement] I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy from
the original letter from Albert Pike on file in the National
Secretary's Office.

Given under my hand and official seal. Done at Chahta Tamaha, November
1{st} A.D. 1873.

(signed) JNO. P. TURNBULL, National Secretary Choctaw Nation.

[349] Pike's programme of operations is outlined in his letter to Toombs of May 29, 1861:

SIR: I leave this morning for Tahlequah, the seat of government of the
Cherokee Nation, and Park Hill, the residence of Governor Ross, the
principal chief. Since 1835 there have always been two parties in the
Cherokee Nation, bitterly hostile to each other. The treaty of that
year was made by unauthorized persons, against the will of the large
majority of the nation and against that of the chief, Mr. Ross.
Several years ago Ridge, Boudinot, and others, principal men of the
treaty party, were killed, with, it was alleged, the sanction of Mr.
Ross, and the feud is today as bitter as it was twenty years ago. The
full-blooded Indians are mostly adherents of Ross, and many of
them--1,000 to 1,500 it is alleged--are on the side of the North. I
think that number is exaggerated. The half-breeds or white Indians (as
they call themselves) are to a man with us. It has all along been
supposed, or at least suspected, that Mr. Ross would side with the
North. His declarations are in favor of neutrality. But I am inclined
to believe that he is acting upon the policy (surely a wise one) of
not permitting his people to commit themselves until he has formal
guarantees from an authorized agent of the Confederate States. These I
shall give him if he will accept them. General McCulloch will be with
me, and I strongly hope that we shall satisfy him, and effect a formal
and firm treaty. If so, we shall have nearly the whole nation with us,
and those who are not will be unimportant. If he refuses he will learn
that his country will be occupied; and I shall then negotiate with the
leaders of the half-breeds who are now raising troops, and who will
meet me at the Creek Agency on Friday of next week. Several of those
living near here I have already seen.

On Wednesday of next week I will meet the chiefs of the Creeks at the
North Fork of the Canadian. I will then fix a day for a council of the
Creeks, and go on to meet the Choctaws at Fort Washita. When I shall
have concluded an arrangement with them I will go to the Chickasaw
Country, and thence to the Seminoles.

I hope to meet the heads of the Wichitas, Caddos, Iowas, Toncawes,
Delawares, Kickapoos, and Reserve Comanches at Fort Washita. I have
requested their agent to induce them to meet me there. The Creek
chiefs have a council with the wild Indians, Comanches and others,
high up on the North Fork of the Canadian, on the 10th proximo. I
shall endeavor, through the Creek chiefs, to have an interview with
the heads of the wild tribes at Fort Washita and induce them to come
in and settle on the reserve upon the False Washita River near Fort
Cobb.

As I shall be absent from this post some six weeks or more, it is not
likely that I shall be able to give you frequent advice of my
movements. There are no mails in the Indian country and I shall have
to employ expresses when I desire to send on letters.

We shall have no difficulty with the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and
Chickasaws, either in effecting treaties or raising troops. The
greatest trouble will be in regard to arms. Not one in ten of either
of the tribes has a gun at all, and most of the guns are indifferent
double-barreled. I do not know whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs is
a part of the Department of State, and of course whether this is
properly addressed to you. I do not address the Commissioner because I
understand he is on his way hither. The suggestions I wish to make are
important and I venture to hope that you will give them their proper
direction. I have already spoken of arms for the Indians. Those arms,
if possible, should be the plain muzzle-loading rifle, large bore,
with molds for conical bullets hollowed at the truncated end, which I
suppose to be the minie-ball. Revolvers, I am aware, cannot be had,
and an Indian would not pick up a musket if it lay in the road.

Our river is falling and will soon be low, when steam-boats will not
be able to get above Little Rock, if even there. To embody the Indians
and, collecting them together, keep them long without arms would
disgust them, and they would scatter over the country like partridges
and never be got together again. The arms should, therefore, be sent
here with all speed.

No funds have been remitted to me, nor have I any power to procure or
draw for any, for my expenses or for those of the councils I must
hold. It has always been customary for the Indians to be fed at such
councils, and they will expect it. I have borrowed $300 of Mr. Charles
B. Johnson, giving him a draft on the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
for incidental expenses, and if I have a council at Fort Washita shall
contract with him to feed the Indians. I have seen Elias Rector, late
superintendent of Indian affairs at Fort Smith, and William
Quesenbury, appointed agent for the Creeks by the Government at
Washington, but who did not accept, and Samuel M. Rutherford, agent
for the Seminoles, who forwards his resignation immediately; and have
written to Matthew Leeper, agent for the Wichitas and other Reserve
Indians; and have formally requested each to continue to exercise the
powers of his office under the Confederate States. They are all
citizens of Arkansas and Texas and have readily consented to do so.

If we have declared a protectorate over these tribes and extended our
laws over them we have, I suppose, continued in force there the whole
system. Even if we have not we cannot dispense with the superintendent
and agents. I shall also see Mr. Crawford, agent for the Cherokees,
and request him to continue to act, as I have requested Colonel Cooper
to do as agent for the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Unless all this were
done there would be both discontent and confusion, and I therefore
earnestly request that my action may be immediately confirmed and
these officers assured that they shall be continued, and that their
compensation shall be the same as under the United States and date
from the day of the resignation of each or of his acceptance of office
under the Confederate States. And I also strenuously urge that no
changes be made in these offices. The incumbents are all good men and
true, competent, and honest, and are, or will be, very acceptable to
the Indians. To make changes will be to make mischief.

Mr. Charles B. Johnson is feeding the Wichitas and other Reserve
Indians under a contract which ends on the 30th of June. I have
instructed him to continue feeding them during the present season
under the same contract, _i.e._, on the same terms, which I know to be
reasonable.

It is very important that some funds should be at my disposition. The
State of Arkansas has furnished me an escort of a company and General
McCulloch has procured me transportation. To meet contingent expenses
it is necessary that at least $1000 should be placed here subject to
my draft; and, as I have several times urged, money should be placed
in the proper hands to pay a bounty to each Indian that enlists.

I wish I had more definite instructions and power more distinctly
expressed, especially power in so many words to make treaties and give
all necessary guarantees. For without giving them nothing can be done,
and I am [not] sure that John Ross will be satisfied with my statement
or assurance that I have the power, or with anything less than a
formal authority from the Congress. He is very shrewd. If I fail with
him it will not be my fault.

I have the honor to be, sir, very truly and respectfully, yours,

ALBERT PIKE, Commissioner, &c.

_Official Records_, fourth ser., vol. i, 359-361.

[350] Pike to Cooley, February 17, 1866.

[351] _Official Records_, first ser., vol. liii, supplement, 688.

[352] A military escort had also been furnished by the Arkansas Military Board to General McCulloch [_ibid._, 687].

[353] Motey, or Moty, Kennard is occasionally spoken of, in the records, as the principal chief of the entire Creek Nation. The tribe was, however, very sharply divided into the Lower and the Upper Creeks. Their differences had been accentuated by the unpleasant and even dishonorable and tragic circumstances of their removal from Georgia and Alabama. The Lower Creeks represented the faction that had stood back of William McIntosh and that had consented to the fraudulent treaty of Indian Springs, the Upper Creeks were the dissenters [Abel, _History of Indian Consolidation_, chapters vi and vii; Phillips, _Georgia and State Rights_, 56-57].

[354] Letter from Greenwood to the Delegation, February 4, 1861 [Indian Office, _Letter Book_, no. 65, pp. 140-141].

[355] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1861. Note that as early as March 18, 1861, Secretary Smith had ordered the suspension of the issuance of all requisitions to ordinary disbursing officers in the seceding states. This order probably affected indirectly even the Indian Territory [Smith to commissioner of Indian affairs, March 18, 1861, _Miscellaneous Files, 1858-1863_].

[356] Governor Thomas O. Moore of Louisiana to President Davis, May 31, 1861 [_Official Records_, first ser., vol. iii, 588].

[357] See letter of W. S. Robertson to the Secretary of the Interior [General Files, _Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862_, R1664].

[358] See statement of the "Loyal" Creek Delegation at the Fort Smith Council, September, 1865 [Land Files, _Indian Talks, Councils, etc., 1865-1866_, Box 4; Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1865, pp. 328-329].

[359] Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la was nevertheless a very prominent man among the Upper Creeks and had been prominent even before the exodus from Georgia and Alabama. At all events he was sufficiently prominent to protest with others against the transportation contracts that had been made by the War Department [Lewis Cass to Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la and other Creek chiefs, dated Tuckabatchytown, Alabama, January 27, 1836]. Again in 1838, Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la headed a party of protest, that time against the selling of certain Creek lands left unsold at the time of emigration [_Creek Reservation Papers_, 25].

Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la seems to have been one of the assassins of William McIntosh; that is, if the subjoined statement of Acting-superintendent William Armstrong is to be trusted:

CHOCTAW AGENCY August 31, 1836