Oklahoma History Reader

April 9, 2018 | Author: Anonymous | Category: Social Science, Political Science, Government
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OKLAHOMA: foot-loose and fancy-free By Angie Debo1

Chapter One: The Land We Know When it was proposed that several pieces of unconnected territory be put together to form the state of Oklahoma, someone noticed that the projected commonwealth was shaped like a butcher’s cleaver. If former Governor Bill Murray’s memory is correct, there were members of the Constitutional Convention determined to adopt the handy utensil as the state seal, and it required shrewd maneuvering to circumvent them. The figure is graphic if not poetical; the long narrow strip on the northwest now known as the Panhandle is the helve of the implement, and the Red River boundary forms its hacked and dented edge. In measurement Oklahoma is about 470 miles long on the north edge, including the handle (“from tip to tip” as it were), about 320 miles through the greatest length of the blade; its greatest breadth is about 225 miles. It contains about 69,283 square miles, which ranks it seventeenth in area among the forty-eight [contiguous] states. It is about the size of North Dakota, slightly larger than Missouri, almost half again the size of New York, and more than 10 per cent larger than all New England. Outsiders seem to think every one of the 69,283 miles is exactly like all the others. For example, Kyle Crichton in an excellent article on Oklahoma’s athletic prowess characterized the whole state from the part he happened to see as “a large flat piece of ground covered with oil wells, wheat fields, and a crop of long rangy individuals.” But it probably has more kinds of country, more kinds of weather, and more kinds 1

Debo, Dr. Angie, Oklahoma: Foot-Loose and FancyFree. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1982.

of flora and fauna than any other area of similar size in the United States. Geologists have traced these differences to a time remote in the earth’s history. The area was apparently a land surface uncounted millions of years in the dim pre-Cambrian ages. The about the middle of the Cambrian period the sea advanced over much of the region and mile-deep layers of Cambrian, Ordocivian, Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian rocks were deposited. During the ensuring Pennsylvanian period most of Oklahoma stood near sea level, thus forming great swamps in which plants grew rank; but the sea flooded it from time to time, laying down layers of mud and sand, thus covering the vegetation, which was eventually converted into coal. At or near the close of this period there were great seismic movements that folded all these rocks into corrugations—if one can imagine an elongated layer cake crumpled into washboard folds, upbent anticlines, downbent synclines—or even broke and shoved them over each other forming what the geologists call “faults.” The tops of these folds have long been worn off, but remnants of the more resistant rocks form Oklahoma’s four mountain uplifts: the Ozarks of the northeast and the Ouachitas of the southeast, extensions of similar formations in Missouri and Arkansas; and the Arbuckles and Wichitas of the south central and southwest [respectively], both projections of one great upthrust. During the succeeding period—the Permian, as geologists reckon time—the sea covered only the western part of Oklahoma, depositing red sands and shales. It is these Permian Red Beds that give the characteristic color to the western half of the state. This about finished the job except for a much later invasion of the sea from the south, and the deposit of Comanchean (Lower Cretaceous) rocks along the southern margin, a continuation of the formation extending through Central Texas and far into Old Mexico. Any subsequent change in the land was the work of wind and streams, except for a lava flow that came over the western border of the Panhandle to form the Black Mesa. The rest of the Panhandle is

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deeply covered with rock debris washed down rock forming conspicuous strips across the from the Rocky Mountains. hillsides, and he will notice that each formation So much for the geological history of has its characteristic types of soil, topography, Oklahoma. But in addition to the local and vegetation. movements with their folding and faulting, the The variation one sees here in miniature whole state is part of a greater fold that bends extends throughout the state. In the Ozark the entire area east of the Rocky Mountains into region are timbered hills of limestone covered an immense syncline. Strictly speaking one with a loose mantle of chert. These are the should call it a synclinorium because the whole “flint hills” of northeastern Oklahoma. In the structure is wrinkled, just as a washboard may Ouachitas are shales and sandstones, the most have smaller corrugations running parallel to the resistant of which form pine-clad mountains main folds. The trough crosses western rising nearly two thousand feet above their base. Oklahoma through Alva and Arapaho. (The West of these uplifts is a prairie region of shale southeastern end of this “Anadarko Basin” was and limestone grading west into a belt of the scene of the most active geological sandstone hills covered with scrub timber. The exploration in the state during the late nineteen Arbuckles thrust up their many-folded strata forties.) In the wide bottom the rocks lie almost through the south end of these sandstone hills. level, but on either side the entire structure rises Next come the Red Beds along a line very gently toward the Rocky Mountains on the roughly dividing the state into eastern and west and the Ouachita-Ozark uplift on the east. western halves; and strangely enough, the Remember we are not speaking of the surface, settlement of Oklahoma followed almost exactly but of the fundamental rock structure. that line of cleavage between white pioneers to Thus nearly every rock ledge one sees in the west, Indians to the east. Along this Oklahoma is tilted in some direction. In the Permian boundary the Red Beds have eroded Arbuckle Mountains this structure is visible on into rugged shapes merging into the older the surface and can be examined by the layman. sandstone hills to the east, but through most of Here rock layers many thousands of feet in the area the soft shales and sandstones have thickness that once lay horizontal have been weathered into level prairie. In the southern thrust up into an immense wrinkle, with the prepart of this region the Wichita Mountains Cambrian porphyry and granite at the core and obtrude their bare granite masses five hundred the younger formations arching over it; and the to eleven hundred feet above the plain. Their top of the wrinkle has been worn away, leaving structure is almost certainly identical with that the raw edges exposed. If I place a pencil under of the Arbuckles, but the Permian deposits have several pages of this book, it forms a ridge; then covered all but traces of the older formations on if I shear off the top of the ridge, I expose the their flanks. Farther west, even the core of the pencil core and the cut edges of the leaves. uplift is completely buried; but it continues Thus one may walk into the heart of the earth by beneath the surface across the Oklahoma border starting at the outer portion of the fold and to form the hidden Amarillo Mountains of the walking from the younger rocks across the Texas Panhandle oil field. Also under these upturned edges of succeeding formations (from level central prairies lie the buried Nemaha Mississippian through Devonian, Silurian, Mountains, starting near Mill Creek in the Ordovician, and Cambrian—limestones, Arbuckle region and running north across the sandstones, and shales) until he reaches the state, and bearing the greatest oil fields of ancient mass of porphyry in the center of the Oklahoma on either side of their huge granite uplift. Or he may cross these millions of years axis. in a few minutes by driving north from Ardmore In the western part of the state, ledges of on U.S. Highway 77, where a geologywhite gypsum alternate with the red soil to form conscious Lions Club has placed road signs picturesque flat-topped mesas or escarpments marking the steps in this backward sweep of along the streams. The most conspicuous are time. He will see uptilted layers of resistant the so-called Glass Mountains near Fairview, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 2

where a transparent form of gypsum known as dunes; near Waynoka on the Cimarron River selenite catches the rays of the sun and throws several great wide-rippled drifts are rolling them back with dazzling effect. The north over the upland, covering elm and surrounding area is wild and barren with the cottonwood trees as they advance. banded red and white soil carved in “bad-land” Thus Crichton made a true characterization topography, and the surface strewn with of all these rivers when he described the sparkling crystals washed down from the hills. Cimarron as a “historic stream” lacking only The whole “gyp hills” region rises rapidly water. But sometimes they are filled with water, toward the west, merging in the northwest into which sweeps down in a swirling torrent bearing the High Plains. soil and uprooted trees, breaking over the low The High Plains are deeply eroded at the banks, destroying farms and tearing out bridges. eastern margin and along the streams to form In earlier days pioneers trying to cross the rugged bluffs. Especially picturesque are the treacherous fords were drowned in these sudden barren Antelope Hills, once a landmark for early rises or engulfed in quicksand. travelers, near the western boundary of the state But it would not be like Oklahoma to have on the South Canadian River. But this is only only one kind of river. From the Ozarks and the the edge of the High Plains. On top, at some Ouachitas come clear streams rippling over places in the Panhandle they are so level that rocky beds. There are no more agreeable they have no drainage; not even the smallest combinations of shad and waterfall and mossy rivulet cuts their surface, and surplus rainfall bank than one finds along the Illinois, the gathers into saucer-like lakes. Sallisaw, the Poteau, the Kiamichi, or the Distinct from all this, is the narrow Mountain Fork. Comanchean strip bordering the Red River. It The rainfall also varies from an average may once have extended along the full length of annual precipitation of less than seventeen the state, but now it appears only along the inches in the western Panhandle to fifty-one eastern half. Here the structure dips gently inches in the southeast. One can draw parallel toward the south and southeast, form parallel lines almost straight north and south across the east-west outcroppings of sand, limestone, and map to connect the points of equal prescription. shale. A very sandy belt, once an ancient The Oklahoma climate is a of spangled coastal plain, lies along the northern margin, sunshine—with variations. Spring comes early then a band of black waxy soil like that in North with a flash of mockingbirds’ wings, moving Texas, and to the south another strip of coastal across the land in power like an army with plain. banners. Summer is dry and scorching with The whole surface of Oklahoma slopes cool breezes at night. Autumn is golden and from northwest to southeast: the altitude on the perfect; it begins about the first of September top of the Black Mesa in the northwestern and lasts till after Christmas. Properly speaking, corner of the Panhandle is 4,978 feet; on the there is no winter; the period is filled with Red River next to the Arkansas line, it is 324. weather left over from the other seasons— Many long rivers flow in parallel lines southeast spring days alternating with autumn days, an across the state. Perhaps one should not say occasional summer day, and once in a great “flow” of these twisting, shallow sheets of water while a howling blizzard. But all the seasons moving lazily over wide beds of sand. In the are likely to be jumbled—snow in May, hot western half each of these streams is bordered winds in March, spring showers in November, along the northeast by a strip of sand two to with hailstorms or even tornadoes thrown in for eighteen miles wide blown up out of the river by good measure. On United States weather maps the south wind. It can still be seen rising from showing the generalized path of storms, the dry bed on any windy day. White and thick Oklahoma is a little white island surrounded by it covers the Red Beds, held down by vegetation sweeping black lines—a fortunate isle set in a except where it has been unwisely put in tempestuous sea. But when a storm strikes, it cultivation. In only a few places it forms naked strikes hard. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 3

At such times the thermometer may drop in haze and the air is a lurid darkness. These days twelve hours from eighty degrees to below are trying, but they come seldom. The sifting freezing; and most of the drop comes in the first dust is not so hard on the temper of housewives hour or two after the wind swings to the north. I as the smoke pall that lies over Eastern cities, remember very well a change of that kind that and the obscurity is not so depressing as the occurred, I believe, about the middle of April in fogs of less sunny climes. 1938. It was the noon hour of a perfect spring For Oklahomans like to take their weather day, and I was sitting under a tree enjoying it straight. They like their clear atmosphere and all. I happened to be facing the north when I brilliant sky. The most scorching sunshine suits felt—I could almost swear I saw—the wind veer them better than a cloud; even in times of sharply, and an icy blast sweep across the bright drought when their very living depends on landscape. By the middle of the afternoon the getting moisture, a half-day’s rain is about all snow was whirling, and by night the railroads they can take without grumbling. And they and the highways were blocked with drifts. have much sunshine. Oklahoma City has an Hundreds of school children from three states annual average of 166 clear days, and most were at Enid to march in the spring band others are only party cloudy. St. Louis has 139, festival. Even the wires were down so that Chicago 117, Detroit 99, New York 105, frantic parents could not communicate with their Pittsburgh 87, and Washington 128. Even sunthinly clad offspring. Enid took them into its kissed Los Angeles has only 179. homes until the roads were opened. Of course With all kinds of soil and all kinds of the drifts soon melted, but the trees had to put weather Oklahoma should—and does—grow out a second crop of leaves and spring had to many kinds of plants. Botanists say that only start all over again. about 5 per cent of our species are found in all Oklahomans like to tell weather stories. parts of the state; in other words, nineteen out of There was the man out in the field with his twenty reach the limit of their range here. And team, when the sun shone so hot that one of the in unspoiled portions of this still new land the horses fell and quickly died. While the abundance as well as the variety of wild flowers discouraged farmer was removing the harness, beggars description. Sheets of color blot out the the wind changed to the north; and before he green of the prairie: banks of color glow through had finished his task, the other horse froze to the timber. And flowers bloom every month of death. Then there was the drought so severe the year. that when the fish swam up the creek, they The mountainous eastern end of the state is raised a dust cloud; but when the rain finally heavily forested. In the northeast is came, the water rose with such fury that it tore hardwood—oak, elm, hickory, maple—and the bricks out of the pavement and bore them some pine (southern yellow pine); south of the away on the surface of the flood. And weather Arkansas River is hardwood and much pine, and proverbs have passed into the common speech: in the extreme southeast along the sparkling “Anybody who tries to predict the weather in steams grow the tulip tree and the cypress. The Oklahoma is a newcomer or a fool”; or “If you largest tree in Oklahoma is an ancient cypress don’t like this weather, just wait a minute.” near Eagletown; it measures fifty-six feet in During the [first] fifty-odd years of white circumference and is ninety feet high. Here in settlement there [were] three series dry cycles: the spring is the breath-taking beauty of the there was the one beginning in the fall of 1893, flowering dogwood; in the winter, the waxy which almost broke the pioneers; there was the green leaves and bright red berries of the holly. terrible summer of 1910, and two or three years West of this, in the great reaches of prairie, following; and there was the drought of the the bluestem grass—so say the old-timers— “dust bowl” ill repute in the middle nineteen once grew as tall “as a man on horseback.” thirties. Even in normal years the western half Washington Irving, who traveled over this park of the state has an occasional day when the wind like region in 1832, described it as a land “of blows hard and the sun is a white ball in a red flowery plains and sloping uplands, diversified Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 4

by groves and clumps of trees, and long screens of woodland; the whole wearing the aspect of complete, and even ornamental cultivation instead of native wildness.” Crossing the state from north to south through the rugged sandstone hills and extending into the eroded margin of the Red Beds lies the belt of tangled blackjacks and post oaks known—and dreaded—by the early travelers as the “Cross Timbers.” Fingers of the same blackjack-post oak jungle extend northwest on the sand hills that flank the rivers. Again quoting Irving: “The Cross Timbers is about forty miles in breadth, and stretches over a rough country of rolling hills . . . very much cut up by deep ravines. . . . The fires made on the prairie by the Indian hunters, had frequently penetrated these forests, scorching and calcining the lower twigs and branches of the trees, and leaving them black and hard, so as to tear the flesh of man and horse that had to scramble through them. . . . It was like struggling through forests of cast iron.” Through all this land west of the mountains, whether prairie or scrub timber, fine trees formerly grew along the streams (the largest ones are gone now); walnut and oak, cedar— partial to the Cimarron and its branches—and pecan, from which the nuts were gathered and shipped in quantity long before the white man came. Through much of the state these trees are decorated in the winter with green knots of mistletoe, which also is shipped commercially. This plant was loved by the pioneers—it is said because it was used in funerals in bleak days when no other growing plant was available— and it is still the “state flower.” As one follows the streams west and the other timber falls away, the cottonwood becomes increasingly conspicuous. It is poor for fuel and worse for lumber, but how could dwellers in a prairie land live without the beauty of its craggy white branches and its polished, twinkling leaves? Also extending far west are the wild plum—in the spring a white drift of bloom, in the summer good for marmalade—and the redbud, the “state tree,” most popular of all Oklahoma plants. And on the broad flood plains of the rivers, especially the Cimarron and Red, the tamarisk

raises its slender gray-green or lavender-pink sprays. The great continuous plain of the Red Beds once formed a sea of grass starred with flowers. Here, about the center of the state, the rank bluestem of the east began to shade into the short, dense buffalo grass of the west. Most of the grass is gone now, and the prairie is an ocean of wheat. But its green waves still roll to a far horizon, with the curled plumes of timbered streams seeming to float on its restless surface. As the plains grade west into a drier climate and a ragged land of gyp hills, the grass becomes bunchy and the blackjack thickets on the strips of river-blown sand give place to shinnery oak and sagebrush. Increasingly common is the yucca (“soap weed” or “bear grass”) with its sharp spear-like leaves and its tall stems of fragrant, waxy flowers, and the cactus—especially the prickly pear (“hog-ear” cactus)—with its fleshy, thorny body and fragile blooms. In the southwest grow the tough but delicate-looking desert willow (Chilopsis lineraris) with its lavender flowers, and the mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) with its dainty foliage and hanging pods. Here is a familiar story about the mesquite—this frail-seeming tree that grows underground. It is a Texas story, but since this part of Oklahoma once thought it belonged to Texas, it is not inappropriate. A tenderfoot ranch hand was directed to climb the windmill tower to turn on water for the stock. Then he was put to digging mesquite roots for fuel. But this time he balked, expressing a fluent opinion of “a -- -- country where you have to climb for water and dig for firewood.” In the Panhandle, sagebrush and clumps of grass still grow on the sand hills bordering the streams, but the flat top of the plains is indeed the “short-grass country.” In this land of shimmering mirages and overpowering sky the curly buffalo grass once grew as tight and thick as the nap of a carpet. Flowers bloom here, too, mostly yellow flowers; and that strange plant, the locoweed, favorite of “Western” fiction writers, once was a minor hazard to the owner of livestock. The Russian thistle, not a native, but a weed brought in with impure seed, breaks Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 5

from its roots and tumbles—a great, loose dynamite in great numbers at their roosting ball—across the fields or drifts high along the places. fences. On the rugged lava-capped Black Mesa Of the migratory birds, orioles, grow piñon trees (Pinus edulis) strayed from hummingbirds, mockingbirds, catbirds, New Mexico, and a few western yellow pine. kingbirds, and the scissor-tailed flycatcher [the Thus Oklahoma flora runs the gamut from the state bird] are among the most common. The great cypress of warm, low southeastern valley mockingbird is the universal favorite. All day to the brave piñon of wind-swept height. and all night he pours out his joy (one wonders Zoologists say that they range in species of when he eats), his slender body atilt on treetop native Oklahoma animals is probably greater or house roof, or floating up into the air borne than that of any equal area in the United States. by the surge of his song. Once in a while a Denizens of the timbered East were at home in belated one stays all winter, when he may be the Ozarks and Ouachitas; Rocky Mountains heard singing rather sadly on some crisp night. species strayed to the western sections; Great Oklahoma also has tarantulas with hairy Plains animals found the prairies their natural legs spreading to a terrifying distance and hairy habitat. body “as big as a hen’s egg.” (I never saw any Most of the wild life is gone now. The that big; one is likely to overestimate their size bears have been killed, the great herds of when he is scared.) It has centipedes ten inches buffalo have disappeared except in parks, the long, repulsive looking and really poisonous. It panther’s scream is seldom heard in the timber, has scorpions, always in a fury, and able to the fierce gray lobo no longer menaces the deliver a painful sting with their lashing tails. It cowman’s profit, and the prairie-dog towns are has harmless lizards darting about, and innocent vanishing from the western flats. But as few horned toads spreading themselves flat and protected deer still live in the northeast and turning their grotesque little heads up wisely. southeast and one small band of wild antelope Oklahoma also has people. They have been fleets across the Black Mesa; the farmers still greatly written about these later years, and as join together to kill the predatory coyote; the they have writhed under distorted portrayals, jack rabbit lopes across the wheat fields as once they have developed an abnormal sensitiveness he loped across the grassland; and small game to public opinion. For they are not Wild West and fur-bearing animals still seek refuge in the characters nor Joads [the famed family of John timber. Stienbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath], but people. The birds also find Oklahoma a meeting And yet they do have traits that set them apart place of North and South, East and West, plain from their fellow Americans. There is a and timber. There are more than 250 varieties, distinctive Oklahoma character—partly the 200 of which stay the year around. Prairie product of physical environment, but even more chickens and wild turkeys, once very numerous, then result of a peculiar history. have been almost destroyed; quail on their way to extinction have been restocked. Geese and ducks fly over, flocks of sea gulls from the Gulf of Mexico visit the state, and dense clouds of blackbirds wheel and twist, and settle on feedlot and pasture. Meadowlarks and cardinals stay all winter, filling the air with their clear notes on every sunny day. Robins also remain the year around. Every spring some unobservant Oklahoman goes into ecstasies on seeing the “first robin” that hopped around his lawn all winter. Crows also stay all the time, probably in order to plot more meanness. Sometimes they become such a nuisance that they are killed with Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 6

A Tour on the Prairies By Washington Irving2

The Pawnee Hunting Ground In the often vaunted regions of the Far West, several hundred miles beyond the Mississippi, extends a vast tract of uninhabited country, where there is neither to be seen the log house of the white man, not the wigwam of the Indian. It consists of great grassy plains, interspersed with forests and groves, and clumps of trees, and watered by the Arkansas, the grand Canadian, the Red River, and their tributary streams. Over these fertile and verdant wastes still roam the elk, the buffalo, and the wild horse, in all their native freedom. These, in fact, are the hunting grounds of the various tribes of the Far West. Hither repair the Osage, the Creek, the Delaware and other tribes that have linked themselves with civilization, and live within the vicinity of the white settlements. Here resort also, the Pawnees, the Comanches, and other fierce, and as yet, independent tribes, the nomads of the prairies, or inhabitants of the skirts of the Rocky Mountains. The regions I have mentioned form a debatable ground of these warring and vindictive tribes; none of them presume to erect a permanent habitation within its borders. Their hunters and “braves” repair thither in numerous bodies during the season of game, throw up their transient hunting camps, consisting of light bowers covered with bark and skins, commit sad havoc among the innumerable herds that graze the prairies, and having loaded themselves with venison and buffalo meat, warily retire from the dangerous neighborhood. These expeditions partake, 2

From Irving, Washington. A Tour on the Prairies. Ed. John Francis McDermott. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

always, of a warlike character; the hunters are all armed for action, offensive and defensive, and are bound to incessant vigilance. Should they, in their excursions, meet the hunters of an adverse tribe, savage conflicts take place. Their encampments, too, are always subject to be surprised by wandering war parties, and their hunters, when scattered in pursuit of game, to be captured or massacred by lurking foes. Mouldering skulls and skeletons, bleaching in some dark ravine, or near the traces of a hunting camp, occasionally mark the scene of a foregone act of blood, and let the wanderer know the dangerous nature of the region he is traversing. It is the purport of the following pages to narrate a month’s excursion to these noted hunting grounds, through a tract of country which had not as yet been explored by white men.

Traveling Companions It was early October 1832, that I arrived at Fort Gibson, a frontier post of the Far West, situated on the Neosho, or Grand River, near its confluence with the Arkansas. I had been traveling for a month past, with a small party from St. Louis, up the banks of the Missouri, and along the frontier line of agencies and missions, that extends from the Missouri to Arkansas. Our party was headed by one of the Commissioners appointed by the government of the United States to superintend the settlement of the Indian tribes migrating from the east to the west of the Mississippi. In the discharge of his duties, he was thus visiting the various outposts of civilization. And here let me bear testimony to the merits of this worthy lead of our little band. He was a native of one of the towns of Connecticut, a man in whom a course of legal practice and political life had not been able to vitiate an innate simplicity and benevolence of heart. The greater part of his days had been passed in the bosom of his family. And the society of deacons, elders, and select men, on the peaceful banks of the Connecticut; when suddenly he had been called to mount his steed, shoulder his rifle, and mingle among stark hunters,

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backwoodsmen, and naked savages on the trackless wilds of the Far West.

Departure from Fort Gibson We now made all arrangements for prompt departure. Our baggage had hitherto been transported on a light wagon, but we were now to break our way through an untravelled country, cut up by rivers, ravines, and thickets, where a vehicle of the kind would be a complete impediment. We were to travel on horseback, in hunter’s style, and with as little encumbrance as possible. Our baggage, therefore, underwent a rigid and most abstemious reduction. A pair of saddlebags, and those by no means crammed, sufficed for each man’s scanty wardrobe, and his great coat were to be carried upon the steed he rode. The rest of the baggage was placed on packhorses. Each one had a bearskin and a couple of blankets for bedding, and there was a tent to shelter us in case of sickness or bad weather. We took care to provide ourselves with flour, coffee, and sugar, together with a small supply of salt pork for emergencies; for our main subsistence we were to depend upon the chase. Such of our horses as had not been tried out in our recent journey were taken with us as pack-horses, or supernumeraries; but as we were going on a long and rough tour, where there would be occasional hunting and where, in cases of meeting with hostile savages, the safety of the rider might depend upon the goodness of his steed, we took care to be well mounted. I procured a stout silver-gray; somewhat rough, but staunch and powerful; and retained a hardy pony which I had hitherto ridden, and which, being somewhat jaded, was suffered to ramble along with the packhorses, to be mounted only in case of emergency.

with the wild scenery around him. He wore a bright blue hunting-shirt trimmed with scarlet fringe: a gaily colored handkerchief was bound round his head something like a turban, with one end hanging down beside his ear; he held a long rifle in his hand, and looked like a wild Arab on the prowl. Our loquacious and evermeddling little Frenchman called out to him in his Babylonish jargon, but the savage having satisfied his curiosity tossed his hand in the air, turned the head of his steed, and galloping along the shore soon disappeared among the trees.

Picturesque March It was a bright sunny morning, with a pure transparent atmosphere that seemed to bathe the very heart with gladness. Our march continued parallel to the Arkansas, through a rich and varied country; sometimes we had to break our way through alluvial bottoms matted with redundant vegetation, where the gigantic trees were entangled with grape-vines, hanging like cordage from their branches; sometimes we coasted along sluggish brooks, whose feebly trickling current just served to link together a succession of glassy pools, imbedded like mirrors in the quiet bosom of the forest, reflecting its autumnal foliage, and patches of the clear blue sky. Sometimes we scrambled up broken and rocky hills, from the summits of which we had wide views stretching on one side over distant prairies diversified by groves and forests, and on the other ranging along a line of blue and shadowy hills beyond the waters of the Arkansas.

Camp Scenes

At one time we passed through a luxuriant bottom of meadow bordered by thickets, where the tall grass was pressed down into numerous An Indian Cavalier “deer beds,” where those animals had couched the preceding night. Some oak trees also bore As we were crossing the ford we saw on the signs of having been clambered by bears, in opposite shore a Creek Indian on horseback. He quest of acorns, the marks of their claws being has paused to reconnoiter us from the brow of a visible in the bark. As we opened a glade of this rock, and formed a picturesque object, in unison sheltered meadow we beheld several deer Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 8

bounding away in wild affright, until having gained some distance they would stop and gaze back, with the curiosity common to this animal, at the strange intruders into their solitudes. There was immediately a sharp report of rifles in every direction, from the young huntsmen of the troop, but they were too eager to aim surely, and the deer, unharmed, bounded away into the depths of the forest. In the course of our march we struck the Arkansas, but found ourselves still below the Red Fork, and, as the river made deep bends, we again left its banks and continued through the woods until nearly eight o’clock, when we encamped in a beautiful basin bordered by a fine stream, and shaded by clumps of lofty oaks.

were then placed athwart it on the inside, to keep it in shape; our camp equipage and a part of our baggage were placed within, and the singular bark was carried down the bank and set afloat. A cord was attached to the prow, which Beatte took between his teeth, and throwing himself into the water went ahead, towing the bark after him; while Tonish followed behind, to keep it steady and to propel it. Part of the way they had foothold, and were enabled to wade, but in the main current they were obliged to swim. The whole way, they whooped and yelled in the Indian style, until they landed safely on the opposite shore.

The Crossing of the Arkansas We had now arrived at the river, about a quarter of a mile above the junction of the Red Fork; but the banks were steep and crumbling, and the current was deep and rapid. It was impossible, therefore, to cross at this place; and resumed our painful course through the forest, dispatching Beatte ahead, in search of a fording place. We had proceeded about a mile further, when he rejoined us, bringing intelligence of a place hard by, where the river, for a great part of its breadth, was rendered fordable by sand-bars, and the remainder might easily be swam by the horses. Here, then, we made a halt. Some of the rangers set to work vigorously with their axes, felling trees on the edge of the river, wherewith to form rafts for the transportation of their baggage and camp equipage. Others patrolled the banks of the river father up, in hopes of The Commissioner and myself were so well finding a better fording place; being unwilling pleased with this Indian mode of ferriage, they to risk their horses in the deep channel. we determined to trust ourselves in the buffalo It was now that our worthies, Beatte and hide. Our companions, the Count and Mr. L., Tonish, had an opportunity of displaying their had proceeded with the horses, along the river Indian adroitness and resource. At the Osage bank, in search of a ford which some of the village which we had passed a day or two rangers had discovered, about a mile and a half before, they had procured a dry buffalo skin. distant. While we were waiting for the return of This was now produced; cords were passed our ferryman, I happened to cast my eyes upon a through a number of small eyelet holes with heap of luggage under a bush, and described the which it was bordered, and it was drawn up, sleek carcass of the polecat, snugly trussed up, until it formed a kind of deep trough. Sticks Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 9

and ready for roasting before the evening fire. I could not resist the temptation to plump it into the river, where it sunk to the bottom like a lump of lead; and thus our lodge was relieved from the bad color which this savory viand had threatened to bring upon it. Our men having recrossed with their cockleshell bark, it was drawn to shore, half filled with saddles, saddle-bags, and other luggage, amounting to a hundred weight; and being again placed in the water, I was invited to take my seat. It appeared to me pretty much like the embarkation of the wise men of Gotham, who went to sea in a bowl: I stepped in, however, without hesitation, though as cautiously as possible, and sat down on the top of the luggage, the margin of the hide sinking to within a hand’s breadth of the water’s edge. Rifles, fowling-pieces, and other articles of small bulk, were then handed in, until I protested against receiving any more freight. We then launched forth upon the stream, the bark being towed as before. It was with sensation half serious, half comic, that I found myself thus afloat, on the skin of a buffalo, in the midst of a wild river, surrounded by wilderness, and towed along by a half savage, whooping and yelling like a devil incarnate. To please the vanity of little Tonish, I discharged the double-barreled gun, to the right and left, when in the center of the stream. The report echoed along the woody shores, and was answered by shouts from some of the rangers, to the great exultation of the little Frenchman, who took to himself the whole glory of this Indian mode of navigation. Our voyage was accomplished happily; the Commissioner was ferried across with equal success, and all our effects were brought over in the same manner. Nothing could equal the vainglorious vaporing of little Tonish, as he strutted about the shore, and exulted in his superior skill and knowledge, to the rangers. Beatte, however, kept his proud saturnine look, without a smile. He had vast contempt for the ignorance of the rangers, and felt that they had undervalued him. His only observation was, “Dey now see de Indian good for something, anyhow!”

The broad, sandy shore where we had landed was intersected by innumerable tracks of elk, deer, bears, raccoons, turkeys, and waterfowl. The river scenery at this place was beautifully diversified, presenting long, shinning reaches, bordered by willows and cotton-wood trees; rich bottoms, with lofty forests; among which towered enormous plane trees, and the distance was closed in by high embowered promotions. The foliage had a yellow autumnal tint, which gave to the sunny landscape the golden tone of one of the landscapes of Claude Lorraine. There was animation given to the scene, by a raft of logs and branches, on which the Captain and his prime companion, the Doctor, were ferrying their effects across the stream; and by a long line of rangers on horseback, fording the river obliquely, along a series of sand-bars, about a mile and a half distant.

Thunderstorm on the Prairies In crossing a prairie of moderate extent, rendered little better than a slippery bog by the recent showers, we were overtaken by a violent thunder-gust. The rain came rattling upon us in torrents, and spattered up like steam along the ground; the whole landscape was suddenly wrapped in gloom; the whole landscape was suddenly wrapped in gloom that gave a vivid effect to the intense sheets of lightning, while the thunder seemed to burst over our very heads, and was reverberated by the groves and forests that checkered and skirted the prairie. Man and beast were so pelted, drenched, and confounded, that they line was thrown in complete confusion; some of the horses were so frightened as to be almost unmanageable, and our scattered cavalcade looked like a tempesttossed fleet, driven hither and thither, and the mercy of wind and wave. At length, at half past two o’clock, we came to a halt, and gathering together our forces, encamped in an open and lofty grove, with a prairie on one side and a stream on the other. The forest immediately rang with the sound of the axe, and the crash of falling trees. Huge

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fires were soon blazing; blankets were stretched before them, by way of tents; booths were hastily reared of bark and skins; every fire had its group drawn close round it, drying and warming themselves, or preparing a comforting meal. Some of the rangers were discharging and cleaning their rifles, which had been exposed to the rain; while the horses, relieved from their saddles and burdens, rolled in the wet grass.

village remains blank and silent. In case they are hard pressed by their pursuers, without any hope of escape, they will assume a pugnacious air, and a most whimsical look of important wrath and defiance. . . . It was toward evening that I set out with a companion, to visit the village in question. Unluckily, it had been invaded in the course of the day by some of the rangers, who had shot two or three of its inhabitants, and thrown the whole sensitive community in confusion. As we A Republic of Prairie Dogs approached, we could perceive numbers of the inhabitants seated at the entrances of their cells, On returning from our expedition . . . I while sentinels seemed to have been posted on learned that a burrow, or village, as it is termed, the outskirts, to keep a lookout. At sight of us, of prairie dogs had been discovered on the level the picket guards scampered in and gave the summit of a hill, about a mile from the camp. alarm; whereupon every inhabitant gave a short Having heard much of the habits and yelp, or bark, and vided into his hole, his heels peculiarities of these little animals, I determined twinkling in the air as if he had thrown a to pay a visit to the community. The prairie dog somerset. is, in fact one of the curiosities of the Far West, We traversed the whole village, or republic, about which travelers delight to tell marvelous which covered an area of about thirty acres; but tales, endowing him at times with something of not a whisker of an inhabitant was to be seen. the politic and social habits of a rational human We probed their cells as far as the ramrods of being, and giving him systems of civil our rifles would reach, but could unearth neither government and domestic economy, almost dog, nor owl, nor rattlesnake. Moving quickly equal to what they used to bestow on the beaver. to a little distance, we lay down upon the ground The prairie dog is an animal of the coney and watched for a long time, silent and kind, and about the size of a rabbit. He is of motionless. By and by, a cautious old burgher sprightly mercurial nature; quick, sensitive, and would slowly put forth the end of his nose, but somewhat petulant. He is very gregarious, instantly draw it in again. Another, at a greater living in large communities, sometimes of distance, would emerge entirely; but catching a several acres in extent, where innumerable little glance at us, would throw a somerset, and heaps of earth show the entrances to the plunge back again into his hole. At length, subterranean cells of the inhabitants, and the some who resided on the opposite side of the well-beaten tracks, like lanes and streets, show village, taking courage from the continued their mobility and restlessness. According to stillness, would steal forth, and hurry off to a the accounts given of them, they would seem to distant hole, the residence possibly of some be continually full of sport, business, and public family connection, or gossiping friend, about affairs; whisking about hither and thither, as if whose safety they were solicitous, or with on gossiping visits to each other’s houses, or whom they wished to compare notes about the congregating in the cool of the evening, or after late occurrences. a shower, and gamboling together in the open . . . The dusk of evening put an end to our air. Sometimes, especially when the moon observations, but the train of whimsical shines, they pass half the night in revelry, comparisons produced in my brain by the moral barking or yelping with short quick, yet weak attributes which I had heard given to these little tones, like those of very young puppies. While politic animals, still continued after my return to in the height of their playfulness and clamor, camp; and late in the night, as I lay awake after however, should there be the least alarm, they all the camp was asleep, and heard in the all vanish into their cells in an instant, and the stillness of the hour, a faint clamor of shrill Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 11

voices from the distant village, I could not help picturing to myself the inhabitants gathered together in noisy assemblage and windy debate, to devise plans for the public safety, and to vindicate the invaded rights and insulted dignity of the republic.

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Historical Atlas of Oklahoma By John W. Morris, Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds3

Map Three: Geographic Regions of Oklahoma Three of the large physical regions of the United States extend into or across Oklahoma. These are the Interior Highlands, Coastal Plains, and Interior Plains. Oklahoma is divided into ten geographic regions, largely on a physical base. The Ozark Plateau, the Ouachita Mountains, and the intervening Arkansas River valley for a part of the Interior Highlands; the Coastal Plain extends from the Gulf of Mexico into southeastern Oklahoma; and the remainder of the geographic regions are divisions of the Interior Plains even though some parts carry the names of hills or mountains. The Ouachita Mountains have a rougher topography than any other region in the state. They are westward extensions of the mountains of southwestern Arkansas. There are several almost parallel ridges extending in a general east-west direction. In such a region, where the topography is rough and the soils are thin, the life of the people is strongly influenced by these physical surroundings. Farming is largely confined to the valleys, the hillsides being used for grazing and the growing of trees. The Ozark Plateau, on the other hand, has several large, fertile areas, commonly known as prairies, on which good crops can be grown. Here, also, the more rugged land can be used for grazing and the growing of trees. All the Ouachita 3

Mountains were in the Choctaw Nation, all of the Ozark Plateau in the Cherokee Nation. The Coastal Plain, often called the Red River Plains in Oklahoma, extend across the southern part of the Choctaw Nation and westward from Island Bayou into the Chickasaw Nation. The region is low in elevation and the land generally level with only a few low hills. In general the soils are fertile, and it was in this area that several large plantations developed in the pre-Civil War era. The Sandstone and Gypsum hills regions have broken lines of hills or cuestas extending in a somewhat general north-south direction. In the eastern area the hills result largely from the resistance of hard sandstones and shales to weathering and erosion. In the western region the hills are capped with layers of white gypsum fifteen to twenty feet thick. Between the hills in both regions are large areas of fertile land suitable for cropping or pasture.

From Morris, John W., Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1986.

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The three plains areas are relatively level regions although all have numerous topographic variations caused by wind and/or water erosion. The Prairie Plains have the greatest variety or crops, grown on smaller fields, due to climatic conditions more suitable for agricultural production. Westward, in the Red Bed Plains and on the High Plains, farm size increases and the density of population decreases; thus the High Plains region contrasts sharply with the Prairie Plains in land utilization and population density. The Arbuckle and Wichita regions are classified as mountain areas largely because of their geologic history. The Arbuckles were formed by the faulting and folding of strata of limestone, shale, sandstone, and other materials. The layer of Arbuckle limestone is some 8,000 feet in thickness. Since being exposed the various strata have been worn down from great heights by weathering and erosion. Glass sand, granite, limestone, and asphaltic materials have been mined or quarried. The Wichita Mountains were formed when earth forces caused igneous materials to be pushed up, the land above being folded into high domes. The folded material was long ago eroded ways leaving great masses of granite standing above the surrounding plains. Mt. Scott, the bestknown mountain in the region, has an elevation of 2,464 feet, approximately 1,000 feet above its base.

Map Five: Landforms of Oklahoma Map 5 is a diagrammatic drawing showing the generalized variations in the local natural landscape of the geographic regions of Oklahoma as identified on Map 3. The principal rivers are also shown on the drawing, but none of the large man-made lakes are located. The Ouachita Mountains are formed by a series of curving ridges known as the Kiamichi Mountains, Winding Stair Mountains, and other local names. The mountains form the most rugged topography in the state and the development of transportation systems within the area is therefore extremely difficult. The Kiamichi River, flowing westward in the valley north of the Kiamichi Mountains, eventually flows south and southeast across the Coastal Plain into the Red River. Other streams, such as the Glover and Little rivers, also follow mountain valleys, but Mountain Fork River has cut a deep valley through some of the southern ridges. The San Bois Mountains, between the Fourche Maline and Arkansas rivers, form the northern part of the Ouachitas.

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The Cookson Hills and the Boston

Mountains form the rugged southern part of the Ozark Plateau, but the northern part of the Plateau has several large areas often referred to as prairies. The Illinois is the principal river flowing southwestward from the Ozarks. The Grand and Arkansas rivers delimit the western and southern boundary of the region. West of the Ouachitas and Ozarks most of the remainder of Oklahoma is a vast plains area. Some local variations are: (1) the rounded hills in south-central Oklahoma known as the Arbuckle Mountains; (2) the large granite peaks of southwestern Oklahoma called the Wichita Mountains and their outlier, the Quartz Mountains; (3) the Shawnee Hills, a sandstone cuesta area located near the Canadian River in the east-central part of the state; (4) the Antelope Hills in the most western of the large meanders of the Canadian River in Roger Mills County; (5) gypsum-capped hills known as the

Glass Mountains, located somewhat on the

divide between the North Canadian and Cimarron rivers; and (6) Black Mesa, located in northwestern Cimarron County. The Osage Hills, located largely in Osage County, are a southern extension of the Flint Hills of Kansas. The elevations of the plains areas across the state increase gradually from the Coastal Plains south of the Ouachitas to the eastern edge of the Panhandle. Once the Great Plains are reached, however, elevation increases rapidly westward across the High Plains to Black Mesa. In several places large sand dunes have formed on the left bank of the Cimarron and North Canadian rivers as well as along Beaver Creek. Much of this material is blow-sand from the rivers. Unless vegetation is able to tie the sand in place it continues to move generally eastward because of wind direction. Large salt plains are located on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas and the upper Cimarron River in Woods County.

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The Arkansas, Canadian, and Red rivers, for the most part, are braided streams that meander across sand-filled beds. Several early travelers and writers noted that these rivers, as well as parts of the Cimarron, “are a mile wide but only six inches deep.” Although little water may be seen flowing on the surface, much water flows through the sands below the surface. These sands are often forty to sixty feet deep. The North Canadian, formed by the confluence of the Beaver and Wolf creeks, flows through a narrow drainage basin which is higher than the

areas to the north or south of it. The Washita is the principal western tributary of the Red River. A deep and narrow canyon has been formed where the Washita cuts through the Arbuckles. The Three Forks Area, where the Grand, Verdigris, and Arkansas rivers unite at the edge of the Ozarks, is one of the most historically important locations in Oklahoma.

Map Thirty-Seven: Three Forks Region

No place in Oklahoma has a stronger appeal for students of history than the area surrounding Three Forks. For many years it was the center of exchange for products of the trappers— Indian, French, American pioneers, and others. Trading posts were established by men whose names were known in St. Louis and New Orleans, as well as to the Indians, who seldom ventured from the security of their remote homeland. Colonel Hugh Glenn and Jacob

Fowler knew the place as traders and pioneer caravan leaders on the long trail to New Mexico. Nathaniel Pryor, the noted explorer of the upper Missouri with Lewis and Clark, was the partner of Colonel Glenn for a few years. Brand and Barbour, French and Rutherford, Jean Pierre Chouteau, Auguste Pierre Chouteau, Jesse B. Turley, and Benjamin Hawkins, a leader of the McIntosh Creeks, were all identified with the trading activities of the Three Forks area.

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Fort Gibson, constructed in 1824, gave an Congress was instrumental in finally bringing an impetus to trade and road building in the Three end to the worst of the disorders. Forks region. Fort Davis had a brief existence as a Confederate stronghold during the Civil Map Sixty-Nine: War. The Texas Road [Eastern Shawnee cattle Agricultural Regions of trail] crossed the Arkansas below the mouth of the Verdigris, and an early cattle trail, Oklahoma prominent in the northern drive, made use of the same ford. Important agencies were established Most of the early settlers of Oklahoma, from time to time in the area. both Indian and white, were primarily interested Great mission schools flourished and in agricultural activities. Many of the Indians declined in the vicinity of Three Forks. Most who moved over the “Trail of Tears” into famous, perhaps, was the academy at eastern Oklahoma had long engaged in growing Tullahassee, where Alice Robertson attended various crops. When they settled in their new classes and began the career which was to add land, they tried to continue farming. Large fame to a great family. As the daughter of Ann cotton plantations developed on the Red River Eliza Robertson and the granddaughter of plains, and well-cultivated and well-stocked Samuel Austin Worcester, Alice Robertson was farms were fairly numerous in the Three Forks expected to render effective public service. Her and Ozark areas. Most of the pioneers who later membership in Congress was only a small part moved into the Unassigned Lands, the Cherokee of her useful career. Outlet, and the various reservations as they were Bacone Indian College, founded by Almon opened to settlement were farmers. Often the C. Bacone as Indian University at Tahleguah in agricultural activities resulted in failure because 1880, was moved near Muskogee and continued the settlers did not know how to farm in the as a junior college. It has achieved a secure environment into which they had moved. position in the field of Indian education. Oklahoma can be divided into five Among its famous alumni are Alexander Posey, agricultural land-use areas, chiefly on the bases the Creek poet, and Patrick Hurley, formerly of climate, soils, and topography. In each area United States Secretary of War. the farmers grow about the same groups of The Negro settlement at Marshall Town on crops in about the same way. Boundaries the “Point” between the Arkansas and Verdigris between the areas are not clearly defined lines rivers was a turbulent spot for many years, but rather are zones in which a somewhat especially between 1878 and 1885. Cattle theft gradual transition takes place. Livestock is the was common in the region, and occasionally common denominator for all the agricultural some of the Cherokee cattlemen attempted to regions since the most common land use in all take the law into their own hands to recover parts of Oklahoma is for pasture. their cattle and punish the thieves. Generally, Six areas of Oklahoma—the western light-horse police in the Muskogee District were Panhandle, the western Canadian River valley, black, and racial antipathy was added to the bad the Osage Hills, the Wichita Mountains, the relations between the young Cherokee cattlemen Arbuckle Mountain area, and the Ouachita and the Creek law officers. The clashes were Mountains—grow very few crops other than frequent and sometimes fatal. In August, 1879, hay. All these area are too rugged or too dry for for example, a fight between the Cherokees and intensive or even extensive cultivation. Wheat the black police resulted in the death of John is the dominant crop in the northwestern quarter Vann, a prominent member of the Indian tribe. of the state and is Oklahoma’s primary export. The battle was a continuation of another clash, Farms are large, and much of the work is on the previous Christmas, in which a mechanized. Winter wheat makes good pasture policeman was killed and three of his men during the winter season; thus the grazing of wounded. An Indian police force established feeder stock is common throughout the area. for the Five Civilized Tribes by an act of Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 17

Grain sorghums are the second most important crop of the northwest. In southwestern Oklahoma cotton competes with wheat for land use, especially in those sections where water is available for irrigation; grain sorghums to be used for feed are the third crop of the southwest. In the region south of the Ouachita Mountains more acres are planted in soybeans than in cotton, but the crop having the greatest acreage is hay. Peanuts are also a common product of this region. In the northeastern part of Oklahoma grain sorghum, corn, wheat, and soybeans are important crops. The northeastern region is also an area of specialty crops, such as vegetables, fruits, and berries. Again, however, more land is planted in hay than in any other crop. Like the northwestern part of the state, livestock grazing is common in all the other regions.

Map Seventy: Petroleum and Natural Gas Oklahoma has long been one of the principal petroleum and natural-gas-producing states of the nation. No authentic records of the first discovery of oil in Oklahoma are available,

but early settlers found oil springs in northeastern Oklahoma and reported a burning spring northeast of McAlester. In 1859 a well being drilled for salt near Salina accidentally produced oil, which was sold as lamp oil. Of wells drilled in search of petroleum, the first commercial well (one that makes a reasonable profit above the cost of drilling, equipping, and producing) was completed at Bartlesville in about 1896. The earliest production of oil in Oklahoma was thirty barrels, in 1901. Since 1933 detailed data has been developed on oil and gas exploration in Oklahoma, but the data prior to that time, especially for the boom years, are incomplete. It has been estimated that the total number of wells drilled in the state in search of oil and gas is probably greater than half a million. In 1981 there were 82,639 wells producing crude oil and 16,994 wells producing natural gas. Daily average production of oil was six barrels per well, and the value of crude oil and natural gas produced in 1981 was $9.2 billion. Total cumulative production during 1901 through 1981 was 12.2 billion barrels of oil, 49.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 1.46 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. The total value of these products was $68.5 billion.

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A substantive part of oil and gas production within Oklahoma comes from areas that have been designated as giant oil or gas fields. A giant oil field is one that has an ultimate recovery of more than 100 million barrels. Through the years there have been twenty-three such fields accounted for 48.7 million barrels of the 152.3 million barrels produced in Oklahoma in 1981. The state’s yearly production has averaged around 160 million barrels of crude oil

production of natural gas with 10 percent of the nation’s output. In 1979 a well in Beckham County was producing gas from a depth of 23,920 to 24,924 feet. This well established a new depth record for production in Oklahoma and flowed 9 million cubic feet of gas per day. Beckham and Washita counties are in the deep part of the Anadarko basin and continue to be the area of deepest drilling in Oklahoma. The deepest

since 1973. A giant gas field is one that has an borehole in the United States is located in ultimate recovery of more than 1 trillion cubic Beckham County. In 1974 the Lone Star No. 1 feet, and there have been five such fields Bertha Rodgers was drilled to a total depth of identified in Oklahoma. 31,441 feet and captured the depth record from Due in considerable part to the oil embargo a well in Washita County, the Lone Star No. 1 by the Organization of petroleum Exporting Baden, which had been drilled to a depth of Countries (OPEC) in 1973, the price of oil 30,050 feet in 1972. These wells were drilled as increased tremendously. In 1973, Oklahoma part of the intensive exploration program produced 191.2 million barrels of oil worth designed to find natural gas reserves known to $723 million or approximately $3.78 a barrel. exist at great depths in major sedimentary basins In 1981, 152.2 million barrels of oil were of the world. produced in the state worth $5.35 billion or This material was taken from or based upon $35.18 a barrel. The great increase in the price two Oklahoma Geological Survey publications, of oil during the seventies led to a burgeoning Geology and Earth Resources of Oklahoma oil and gas drilling industry that produced an (revised, 1979) and Oklahoma Geology Notes all-time high value of $9.2 billion in 1981. In 43 no. 6 (December, 1983). that year Oklahoma ranked fifth in oilproduction among the nation’s oil producing Map Seventy-One: states by providing 5 percent of the total Other Mineral Resources national output, and third among the states in Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 19

The mineral wealth of Oklahoma is enormous and is fairly evenly distributed throughout the state. Mineral industries are active in seventy-six of the seventy-seven counties. The annual mineral production of the state, including petroleum and natural gas, is valued at more than $1 billion, approximately 5 percent of the mineral wealth of the entire United States. Oklahoma is the fourth-leading mineral producer in the nation. Total production since statehood is valued in excess of $28 billion. Although petroleum accounts for about 94 percent of the state’s yearly output, nonpetroleum mineral resources represent a vast reserve of future wealth. Coal, copper, granite, gypsum, cement, helium, stone (limestone, dolomite, sandstone, chat), sand and gravel, and zinc are the principal nonpetroleum resources that are being or have been mined. Minerals of lesser value at present

are salt, Tripoli, glass sand, bentonite, volcanic ash, clay, lime and lead (not all these minerals are shown on May 71). Uranium and iron ore are among the untapped mineral resources. Among the states Oklahoma ranks fifth in the production of gypsum and third in helium. The single helium plant is located in Cimarron County, near Keyes.

Large reserves of bituminous coal are distributed over an area of 10,000 square miles in eastern Oklahoma. The coal ranges from low to high volatile. At present it is burned as an energy source in electric power plants and is converted to coke for use in steel manufacture. More than 200 million tons of coal have been mined from hundreds of Oklahoma mines since mining began in 1872. A recent estimate indicated remaining reserves of more than 3.2 billion tons. Ten Oklahoma companies are not producing coal at the rate of about 2.5 million tons per year. In the past, mined open pit, or strip pit, coal lands have been left without any serious effort to restore or reclaim the land surface, but restoration is now required by Oklahoma’s Mining Lands Reclamation Acts of 1968 and 1971. Newly mined lands must be graded to a gently rolling surface, revegetated, and have their acid-forming minerals buried. In addition, most Oklahoma coal operators voluntarily set

aside the original topsoil and then spread it over the leveled “spoil banks.” These reclamation requirements greatly reduce one of the major environmental problems that have been associated with the recovery of this much needed energy resource.

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is ugly and that its natural tendency is to weakness and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the lavishness of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual chambers it 4 possesses. By Horace Miner While each family generally has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not The anthropologist has become so familiar family ceremonies but are private and secret. with the diversity of ways in which different The rites are normally only discussed with people behave in similar situations that he is not children, and then only during the period when apt to be surprised by even the most exotic they are being initiated into these mysteries. I customs. In fact, if all of the logically possible was able, however, to establish sufficient combinations of behavior have not been found rapport with the natives to examine these somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that shrines and to have the rituals described to me. they must be present in some yet undescribed The focal point of the shrine is a box or tribe. In this light, the magical beliefs and chest which is built into the wall. In this chest practices of the Nacirema present such unusual are kept the many charms and magical potions aspects that it seems desirable to describe them without which no native believes he could live. as an example of the extremes to which human These preparations are secured from a variety of behavior can go. specialized practitioners. The most powerful of Professor Linton first brought the ritual of these are the medicine men, whose assistance the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists must be rewarded with substantial gifts. in 1936, but the culture of this people is still However, the medicine men do not provide the very poorly understood. They are a North curative potions for their clients, but decide American group. Little is known of their origin, what the ingredients should be and then write although tradition states that they came from the them down in an ancient and secret language. east.... This writing is understood only by the medicine Nacirema culture is characterized by a men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, highly developed market economy which has provide the required charm. evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of The charm is not disposed of after it has the people's time is devoted to economic served its purpose, but is placed in the pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors charmbox of the household shrine. As these and a considerable portion of the day are spent magical materials are specific for certain ills, in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is and the real or imagined maladies of the people the human body, the appearance and health of are many, the charm-box is usually full to which loom as a dominant concern in the overflowing. The magical packets are so philosophy of the people. While such a concern numerous that people forget what their purposes is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects were and fear to use them again. While the and associated values are unique. natives are very vague on this point, we can The fundamental belief underlying the only assume that the idea in retaining all the old whole system appears to be that the human body magical materials is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body rituals are 4 Miner, Horace. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” conducted, will in some way protect the American Anthropologist. Vol. 58. No. 3. June worshiper. 1956. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 21

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

Beneath the charm-box is a small font. In the client's view, the purpose of these Each day every member of the family, in ministrations is to arrest decay and to draw succession, enters the shrine room, bows his friends. The extremely sacred and traditional head before the charm-box, mingles different character of the rite is evident in the fact that the sorts of holy water in the font, and proceeds natives return to the holy-mouth-men year after with a brief rite of cleansing. The holy waters year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to are secured from the Water Temple of the decay. community, where the priests conduct elaborate It is to be hoped that, when a thorough ceremonies to make the liquid ritually pure. study of the Nacirema is made, there will be In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, careful inquiry into the personality structure of and below the medicine men in prestige, are these people. One has but to watch the gleam in specialists whose designation is best translated the eye of a holy-mouth-man, as he jabs an awl as "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have an into an exposed nerve, to suspect that a certain almost pathological horror of and fascination amount of sadism is involved. If this can be with the mouth, the condition of which is established, a very interesting pattern emerges, believed to have a supernatural influence on all for most of the population shows definite social relationships. Were it not for the rituals masochistic tendencies. It was to these that of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would Professor Linton referred in discussing a fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, distinctive part of the daily body ritual which is their friends desert them, and their lovers reject performed only by men. This part of the rite them. They also believe that a strong includes scraping and lacerating the surface of relationship exists between oral and moral the face with a sharp instrument. Special characteristics. For example, there is a ritual women's rites are performed only four times cleansing of the mouth for children which is during each lunar month, but what they lack in supposed to improve their moral fiber. frequency is made up in barbarity. As part of The daily body ritual performed by this ceremony, women bake their heads in small everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact ovens for about an hour. The theoretically that these people are so meticulous about care of interesting point is that what seems to be a the mouth, this rite involves a practice which preponderantly masochistic people have strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. It developed sadistic specialists. was reported to me that the ritual consists of The medicine men have an imposing inserting a small bundle of hairs into the mouth, temple, or latipsoh, in every community of any along with certain magical powders, and then size. The more elaborate ceremonies required to moving the bundle in a highly formalized series treat very sick patients can only be performed at of gestures. this temple. These ceremonies involve a In addition to the private mouth-rite, the permanent group of vestal maidens who move people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or sedately about the temple chambers in twice a year. These practitioners have an distinctive costume and headdress. impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a The latipsoh ceremonies are so harsh that it variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The is phenomenal that a fair proportion of the really use of these items in the exorcism of the evils of sick natives who enter the temple ever recover. the mouth involves an almost unbelievable ritual Small children whose indoctrination is still torture of the client. The holy-mouth-man incomplete have been known to resist attempts opens the client's mouth and, using the aboveto take them to the temple because "that is mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which where you go to die." Despite this fact, sick decay may have created in the teeth. Magical adults are not only willing but eager to undergo materials are put into these holes. If there are the protracted ritual purification, if they can no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large afford to do so. No matter how ill the sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so supplicant or how grave the emergency, the that the supernatural substance can be applied. guardians of many temples will not admit a Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 22

client if he cannot give a rich gift to the caretaker. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the recruit to leave until he makes still another gift. Few supplicants in the temple are well enough to do anything but lie on their hard beds. The daily ceremonies, like the rites of the holymouth-men, involve discomfort and torture. With ritual precision, the vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing cleansings, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained. At other times they insert magic wands in the supplicant's mouth or force him to eat substances which are supposed to be healing. From time to time the medicine men come to their clients and jab magically treated needles into their flesh. The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the recruit, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men. In conclusion, mention must be made of certain practices which have their base in native esthetics but which depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body and its functions. There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. Still other rites are used to make women's breasts larger if they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation. A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hyper-mammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee. Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves.

Stories of Creation From the Apache5 In the beginning nothing existed—no earth, no sky, no sun, no moon, only darkness was everywhere. Suddenly from the darkness emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and the other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc sat a small bearded man, Creator, the One Who Lives Above. As if waking from a long nap, he rubbed his eyes and face with both hands. When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He looked down and it became a sea of light. To the east, he created yellow streaks of dawn. To the west, tints of many colors appeared everywhere. There were also clouds of different colors. Creator wiped his sweating face and rubbed his hands together, thrusting them downward. Behold! A shining cloud upon which sat a little girl. “Stand up and tell me where are you going,” said Creator. But she did not reply. He rubbed his eyes again and offered his right hand to the Girl-Without-Parents. “Where did you come from?” she asked, grasping his hand. “From the east where it is now light,” he replied, stepping upon her cloud. “Where is the earth?” she asked. “Where is the sky?” he asked, and sang, “I am thinking, thinking, thinking what I shall create next.” He sang four times, which was the magic number. Creator brushed his face with his hands, rubbed them together, then flung them wide open! Before them stood Sun-God. Again 5

Edmonds, Margot, and Ella E. Clark. “Creation.” Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003. 101104.

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Creator rubbed his sweaty brow and from his Then he began a song about the sky. None hands dropped Small-Boy. existed, but he thought there should be one. All four gods sat in deep thought upon the After singing about it four times, twenty-eight small cloud. people appeared to help make a sky above the “What shall we make next?” asked Creator. earth. Creator chanted about making chiefs for “This cloud is much too small for us to live the earth and sky. upon.” He sent Lightning-Rumbler to encircle the Then he created Tarantula, Big Dipper, world, and he returned with three uncouth Wind, Lightning-Rumbler, and some western creatures, two girls and a boy found in a clouds in which to house Lightning-Rumbler, turquoise shell. They had no eyes, ears, hair, which he just finished. mouths, noses, or teeth. They had arms and Creator sang, “Let us make earth. I am legs, but no fingers or toes. thinking of the earth, earth, earth; I am thinking Sun-God sent for Fly to come and build a of the earth,” he sang four times. sweathouse. Girl-Without-Parents covered it All four gods shook hands. In doing so, with four heavy clouds. In front of the east their sweat mixed together and Creator rubbed doorway, she placed a soft, red cloud for a foothis palms, from which fell a small round, brown blanket to be used after the sweat. ball, not much larger than a bean. Four stones were heated by the fire inside Creator kicked it, and it expanded. Girlthe sweathouse. The three uncouth creatures Without-Parents kicked the ball, and it enlarged were placed inside. The others sang songs of more. Sun-God and Small-Boy took turns healing on the outside, until it was time for the giving it hard kicks, and each time the ball sweat to be finished. Out came the three expanded. Creator told Wind to go inside the strangers who stood upon the magic red cloudball and blow it up. blanket. Creator then shook his hands toward Tarantula spun a black cord and, attaching them, giving each one fingers, toes, mouths, it to the ball, crawled away fast to the east, eyes, ears, noses, and hair. pulling on the cord with all his strength. Creator named the boy, Sky-Boy, to be Tarantula repeated with a blue cord to the south, chief of the Sky-People. One girl he named a yellow cord to the west, and a white cord to Earth-Daughter, to take charge of the earth and the north. With mighty pulls in each direction, its crops. The other girl he named Pollen-Girl, the brown ball stretched to immeasurable size— and gave her charge of health care for all Earthit became the earth! No hills, mountains, or People. rivers were visible; only smooth, treeless, brown Since the earth was flat and barren, Creator plains appeared. thought it fun to create animals, birds, trees, and Creator scratched his chest and rubbed his a hill. He sent Pigeon to see how the world fingers together and there appeared looked. Four days later, he returned and Hummingbird. reported, “All is beautiful around the world. “Fly north, south, east, and west and tell us But four days from now, the water on the other what you see,” said Creator. side of the earth will rise and cause a mighty “All is well,” reported Hummingbird upon flood.” his return. “The earth is most beautiful, with Creator made a very tall piñon tree. Girlwater on the west side.” Without-Parents covered the tree framework But the earth kept rolling and dancing up with piñon gum, creating a large, tight ball. and down. So Creator made four giant posts— In four days, the flood occurred. Creator black, blue, yellow, and white—to support the went up on a cloud, taking his twenty-eight earth. Wind carried the four posts, placing them helpers with him. Girl-Without-Parents put the beneath the four cardinal points of the earth. others into the large, hollow ball, closing it tight The earth sat still. at the top. Creator sang, “World is now made and now In twelve days, the water receded, leaving sits still,” which he repeated four times. the float-ball high on a hilltop. The rushing Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 24

floodwater changed the plains into mountains, hills, valleys, and rivers. Girl-Without-Parents led the gods out from the float-ball onto the new earth. She took them upon her cloud, drifting upward until they met Creator with his helpers, who had completed their work making the sky during the flood time on earth. Together the two clouds descended to a valley below. There, Girl-Without-Parents gathered everyone together to listen to Creator. “I am planning to leave you,” he said. “I wish each of you to do your best toward making a perfect, happy world. “You, Lightning-Rumbler, shall have charge of clouds and water. “You, Sky-Boy, look after all Sky-People. “You, Earth-Daughter, take charge of all crops and Earth-People. “You, Pollen-Girl, care for their health and guide them. “You, Girl-Without-Parents, I leave you in charge over all.” Creator then turned toward Girl-WithoutParents and together they rubbed their legs with their hands and quickly cast them forcefully downward. Immediately between them arose a great pile of wood, over which Creator waved a hand, creating fire. Great billowy clouds of smoke at once drifted skyward. Into this cloud, Creator disappeared. The other gods followed him in other clouds of smoke, leaving the twenty-eight workers to people the earth. Sun-God went east to live and travel with the Sun. Girl-Without-Parents departed westward to live on the far horizon. Small-Boy and Pollen-Girl made cloud homes in the south. Big Dipper can still be seen in the northern sky at night, a reliable guide to all.

From the Cherokee6 Earth is floating on the waters like a big island, hanging from four rawhide ropes fastened at the top of the sacred four directions. 6

Eddoes, Richard. Ed. “Earth Making.” American Indian Myths and Legends. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. 105-107.

The ropes are tied to the ceiling of the sky, which is made of hard rock crystal. When the ropes break, this world will come tumbling down, and all living things will fall with it and die. Then everything will be as if the earth had never existed, for water will cover it. Maybe the white man will bring this about. Well, in the beginning also, water covered everything. Though living creatures existed, their home was up there, above the rainbow, and it was crowded. “We are all jammed together,” the animals said. “We need more room.” Wondering what was under the water, they sent Water Beetle to look around. Water Beetle skimmed over the surface but couldn’t find any solid footing, so he dived down to the bottom and brought up a little dab of soft mud. Magically the mud spread out in the four directions and became this island we are living on—this earth. Someone Powerful then fastened it to the sky ceiling with cords. In the beginning the earth was flat, soft, and moist. All the animals were eager to live on it, and they kept sending down birds to see if the mud had dried and hardened enough to take their weight. But the birds all flew back and said that there was still no spot they could perch on. Then the animals sent Grandfather Buzzard down. He flew very close and saw that the earth was still soft, but when he glided low over what would become Cherokee country, he found that the mud was getting harder. By that time Buzzard was tired and dragging. When he flapped his wings down, they made a valley where they touched the earth; when he swept them up, they made a mountain. The animals watching from above the rainbow said, “If he keeps on, there will be only mountains,” and they made him come back. That’s why we have so many mountains in Cherokee land. At last the earth was hard and dry enough, and the animals descended. They couldn’t see very well because they had no sun or moon, and some said, “Let’s grab Sun from up there behind the rainbow! Let’s get him down too!” Pulling Sun down, they told him, “Here’s a road for you,” and showed him the way to go—from east to west.

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Now they had light, but it was much too hot, because Sun was to close to the earth. The crawfish had his back sticking out of a stream, and Sun burned it red. His meat was spoiled forever, and the people still won’t eat crawfish. Everyone asked the sorcerers, the shamans, to put Sun higher. They pushed him up as high as a man, but it was still too hot. So they pushed him farther, but it wasn’t far enough. They tried four times, and when they had Sun up to the height of four men, he was just hot enough. Everyone was satisfied, so they left him there.

except that it’s winter down there when it’s summer up here. We can see that easily, because spring water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler than the air in summer.

From the Yuchi7 In the beginning, water covered everything. Wind asked, “Who will make the land? Who will make the land appear?” Lock-chew, the Crawfish, said, “I will make the land appear.” So he went down to the bottom of the water and began to stir up the mud with his tail and his claws. He brought up some mud to a certain place and piled it up until it made a mound. The owners of the land at the bottom of the water said, “Who is disturbing our land?” They kept careful watch and discovered it was Crawfish. When they started toward him, Crawfish stirred up the mud so much with his tail that they could not see him. Lock-chew continued to pile up mud, until it came out on top of the surface of the great water. This is how land first appeared. It was so soft that Wind said, “Who will spread the land to make it dry and hard?” Hawk and Buzzard appeared. Because Buzzard’s wings were larger, he tried first. He flew, fanning the soft earth and spreading it all about. When he flapped his wings, hills and valleys were formed. “Who will make the light?” Wind asked. It was very dark. Yo-hah, the Star, said, “I will make light.” It was agreed. The Star shone forth, but its light only remained close to the Star. “Who will make more light? Wind asked. Shar-pah, the Moon, said, “I will make enough light for all my children and I will shine forever.” But the world was still too dark. T-cho, the Sun, said, “Leave it to me to make enough light for everyone everywhere.”

Before making humans, Someone Powerful had created plants and animals and had told them to stay awake and watch for seven days and seven nights. (This is just what young men do today when they fast and prepare for a ceremony.) But most of the plants and animals couldn’t manage it; some fell asleep after one day, some after two days, some after three. Among the animals, only the owl and the mountain lion were still awake after seven days and nights. That’s why they were given the gift of seeing in the dark so that they can still hunt at night. Among the trees and other plants, only the cedar, pine, holly, and laurel were still awake on the eighth morning. Someone Powerful said to them: “Because you watched and kept awake as you had been told, you will not lose your hair in the winter.” So these plants stay green all the time. After creating plants and animals, Someone Powerful made a man and his sister. The man poked her with a fish and told her to give birth. After seven days she had a baby, and after seven more days she had another, and every seven days another came. The humans increased so quickly that Someone Powerful, thinking there would soon be no more room on this earth, arranged things so that a woman could have only one child every year. And that’s how it was. Now, there is still another world under the one we live on. You can reach it by going down 7 Edmonds, Margot, and Ella E. Clark. “In the a spring, a water hole; but you need underworld Beginning.” Voices of the Winds: Native American people to be your scouts and guide you. The Legends. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, world under our earth is exactly like ours, 2003. 285-287. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 26

Sun went to the East and suddenly enough light was everywhere. As Sun traveled over the earth, a drop of blood fell from the sky to the ground. From this spot sprang the first people, the children of the Sun they were called, the Yuchis. The Yu-chis wished to find their medicine since a large monster had destroyed some of their people. The Yu-chis cut off its head, but the next day its head and body were together again. They killed the monster a second time. Again, its head grew back on its body. A third time, they cut off its head. They placed the head on top of a tall tree, so the body could not reach the head. The next morning, the tree was dead and the head had rejoined the monster’s body. They killed it once more, putting its head at the top of a cedar tree. The next morning the cedar tree was still alive, but covered with blood from the head. The monster remained dead. This is how the Yu-chis found their great medicine, the Cedar Tree. Fire was soon discovered by boring a stick into some hard, dry weeds. The Yu-chis selected a second medicine, as each one made a picture of the Sun upon their door. In the beginning, all of the animals could talk with one another. All animals and people were at peace. The deer lived in a cave watched over by a Yu-chis keeper. When the Yu-chis became hungry, the keeper selected a deer and killed it for their food. Finally, all of the deer were set free with the other animals, and a name was give to every animal upon the earth. This is how it was in the beginning with the first people, the Yu-chis Indian tribe.

God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One. God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters; separate water from water!” God made sky. He separated the water under sky from the water above sky. And there it was: he named sky the Heavens; It was evening, it was morning— Day Two. God spoke: “Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!” And there it was. God named the land Earth. He named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good. God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.” And there is was. Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Three.

God spoke: “Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven’s sky! Separate Day from Night. From the Hebrew8 Mark seasons and days and years, Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.” First this: God created the Heavens and Earth— And there it was. all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup God made two big lights, the larger of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky to take charge of Day, blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird The smaller to be in charge of Night; above the watery abyss. and he made the stars. God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth 8 From Peterson, Eugene H. “Genesis”. The Message. And oversee Day and Night, Colorado Spring, CO: Nav Press, 2002. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 27

to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Four.

God looked over everything he had made: it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six.

God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!” God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds reproduce on Earth!” It was evening, it was morning— Day Five.

Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail. By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, Of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.” And there it was: wild animals of every kind. Cattle of all kinds, every sort or reptile and bug. God saw that it was good. God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.” And there it was.

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presence of the artifacts already mentioned seems to point to the possibility of the presence of man in southwestern Oklahoma, in Pleistocene times. Numerous other instances of the discovery of artifacts so deeply embedded in the earth as to attest great antiquity, might be cited. A few of these must suffice, however. In the eastern part of Washita County a sand pit was opened on the brow of a prairie hill. From this deposit of sand, several granite mortars, or metates were taken, the granite evidently having been transported at least sixty miles from the nearest 9 spurs of the Wichita Mountains. In Greer By Joseph B. Thoburn County, a metate was excavated from a point five feet beneath the surface of the prairie loam The prehistoric cultures of Oklahoma may in digging a basement. Near Oklahoma City, a be divided into three classes as to time, namely; stone arrow point was found beneath five feet of (1) Ancient, dating back two thousand or more sand which, in turn, was overlaid by three feet years; (2) Mediaeval, probably dating back from of red clay loam. In the northwestern part of seven to fifteen centuries; and (3)Recent, dating Logan County, a very large earthenware jar, or back from the beginning of the historical period urn, was excavated from beneath several feet of to three or four centuries. sandy loam soil. This receptacle contained a As yet, comparatively little has been number of bones, supposedly human. accomplished in the determination of the scope Unfortunately this last find was not called to the and extent of the Ancient Period. Traces of very attention of any one especially interested in such ancient human occupancy and activities have matters until after all specimens had been lost or been found in numerous parts of the state, carried away. though, as a rule, such discoveries have been so Of the cultures of the Ancient Period which rarely made and so remotely connected, if at all, have been partially differentiated and separated, as to afford small basis of correlation, and it is though not yet fully described, or definitely not possible to draw much if any in the way of identified as to classification, there are at least definite conclusions as to age or cultural two, namely; (a) a Cave-Dwelling stock of the identities. Among the most ancient of these western portion of the Ozark Uplift which might be mentioned the discovery of certain occupied the caves and rock shelters of the mortars, or metates, from the lower levels of the Boone chert formation and, (b) the Basketextensive gravel pit in Tillman County, together maker stock which occupied small caves in the with specimens of chipped chert. This gravel Wingate sandstone, in the canyons of the pit is pronounced by geologists to be an extinct Cimarron River region, in the western part of river bed, which, resisting the process of Cimarron County. Some work has been done in erosion, now appears in the form of a ridge, and the first mentioned of these two cultures and the which extends northward from the site for many caves and rock shelters of northeastern miles toward the Wichita range of mountains, Oklahoma and of Arkansas and southwestern which seems to have been partially included Missouri. I have personally directed some work within the drainage area of this ancient river. in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The archaeological While no skeletal remains have been definitely material of this culture was secured by identified as those of human beings, the excavating the accumulation of ancient kitchen refuse from the floors of the caves. This kitchen 9 Thoburn, Joseph B. “The Prehistoric Cultures of refuse, consisting of wood ashes, charcoal, Oklahoma.” Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 7, No. 3. mussel and clam shells and broken bones, was September 1929. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 29

The Prehistoric Cultures of Oklahoma

carefully sifted and searched for artifacts and other vestigia. On the first expedition into that field, numerous specimens of bones, teeth and bivalve shells were gathered for examination and identification by competent biologists. These specimens attested the fact that the bill of fare of these ancient Cave people was greatly varied. With twenty species of mammals, including those from the size of a squirrel to those of the bison, or buffalo and the elk, with the bones of several species of game birds and several species of fishes were identified, and, with these, no less than twenty-six species of bivalve mollusks. In addition to these, the presence of stationary mortars, in situ, for the grinding of grain and the finding of charred specimens of maize or Indian corn in the ear, corncobs, beans, and the seeds of pumpkins, melons, and gourds, gave further evidence of their habits and customs.

Cave-Dwellers

Jacob’s cavern, near Pineville, Missouri, was rather enlightening in this connection, because of the evidence which it seemed to present as to the chronology of such human occupancy in that underground retreat. This stalagmite, which was still in process of formation at the time of its removal, was found in an open-mouthed cave, or rock shelter and, because of the dust accumulation during the windy season, in March and April, it showed a discolored deposit in a series of annual rings, not unlike those of a tree, when a cross section was made. It is hoped that further work may be done in this line, as opportunity is afforded, in the future. Probably the most ancient culture subject to identification in Oklahoma—older than that of the Ozark Cave-Dwellers—is that of the BasketMakers, traces of whose occupancy are scattered far and wide over Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. These primitive people were acquainted with the rudiments of the textile arts, as they could weave baskets and spin cordage. They knew nothing of the art of fashioning and burning earthenware pottery. Neither did they make or use bows and arrows, nor were they acquainted with the use of polished stone ornaments or implements. They were growing corn and pumpkins and squashes, however. And some of these ears of corn and pumpkin seed and fragments of their baskets and neatly twisted twine are still to be found beneath the deposit of wood ashes and other ancient kitchen refuse on the floors of certain small caves, caverns and rock-shelters in the Wingate sandstone of the upper Cimarron River country, in Cimarron County.

The artifacts of this Ozark cave-dwelling stock included the sherds of well-burned pottery (in some instances sufficiently numerous to make possible the restoration of an entire utensil), implements and ornaments of shell, bone and stone. Shells seem to have frequently been used for scrapers. The bone implements included needles, awls, and shuttles. The stone implements included arrow, javelin, and spear points, knife blades, scrapers and ceremonial blades. Pipes, so far as found, were of burned clay though of varying patterns. The most interesting pipe discovered was an almost exact imitation of a modern calabash pipe in size, shape and color. Some of the bone needles were The Mound-Builder Cultures beautifully wrought and highly polished. Many of the flint blades were also beautifully wrought. These included large numbers of bird points The Mediaeval Period would indicate the (blow-gun points), some of which are very eras of the Mound-Builders, proper, and those minute, though perfect in outline and finish. of other people, or peoples, of equal or similar Many others are finished with a very accurately cultural development. They all tilled the soil, flaked saggitate edge on either side. their implements of tillage usually being The work of Mr. Vernon C. Allison, being a fashioned of stone, either by flaking, pecking, or determination of the age of a stalagmite which grinding by means of abrasive sandstone or by a had protruded upward from the floor through combination of two of these processes. They the deposit of prehistoric kitchen refuse, in were also advanced, at least as far as the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 30

beginning of the Bronze Age, since they knew something of the art of working in copper.

Illinois River, in the northern part of Adair County. Of course, large mounds of the true Mound-Builder type are much more numerous in Arkansas than they are in Oklahoma. Mounds of the True I have only been privileged to be connected Mound-Builders with the dissection of one mound of the true Mound-Builder type. This mound was located The mounds of the true Mound-Builders at a point where the flood plain of the Elk River occur sparingly along the valleys of the merges with that of the Grand-Neosho River, on principal rivers of Eastern Oklahoma, including the boundary-line between Ottawa and those of the larger tributaries of the Red and Delaware counties. It was a small mound of the Arkansas rivers. Whether each of these shapeless pattern just described. Its original monuments to the constructive genius of the altitude was about fourteen feet and its basic inhabitants of Eastern Oklahoma and adjacent diameter was approximately thirty-five feet. A portions of neighboring states are all party, operating under my direction, dissected representative of a single culture, has not yet only about one-third of the contents of this been determined. There is at least a possibility mound, for the reason that the poachers had that these mounds may represent two or three broken into it at the instance of a commercial distinct cultures. This is a matter that can only collector, and this had been followed, later, by be settled by very thorough and extensive further work under the supervision of the owner. investigation and at a considerable outlay of Consequently, many of the finished implements, expense and labor. ornaments, and utensils were removed several Mounds of this class and age vary greatly in years before I undertook to complete the size, form grouping, etc., as they probably also dissection. did in the various purposes for which they were The purpose for which this mound had been severally designed. Possibly most of them are erected is believed to have been ceremonial, this conical in shape. Others are in the form of inference being drawn from the fact that it pyramids, either square or oblong. In one case, contained numerous utensils, artifacts, and near Muskogee, there is a very fine specimen of ornaments which were evidently deposited, a mound in the form of a truncated pyramid, during the course of its construction, as votive approximately sixty feet square at the base and offerings. Exactly what the poachers secured is ten feet high, with the lines following the not known. The owner secured some very fine cardinal points very closely. Others apparently specimens of earthenware pottery, including were merely heaped up into an elevation vases, urns, and water bottles, which are now in without seeming regard to form. two of the large eastern museums. The The largest mound which I have inspected, specimens secured by the expedition of the in Oklahoma, was of the last mentioned type. It Oklahoma Historical Society in the spring and is located out in the valley of the Grand-Neosho summer of 1925, included similar ceramic River in the western part of Delaware County. products. Most of the pottery had been broken Its extreme height is forty-eight feet and its by the expansion or constriction of roots of the basic area probably covers a space of more than trees growing on the surface of the mound, but two acres. Its bulk is composed of material all of the fragments were saved and eventually carried from a decomposing bluff of the Boone each of these works of art was restored. Other chert formation situated half a mile from the items secured included ornamental sheet copper, location of the mound. The mound was partially decomposed beads of shell or pearl, completed by covering this material with a foot and pulley-shaped, disk ear ornaments, made of or more of black river-valley loam soil, which polished stone and partially encased in copper. now supports a rather dense growth of forest These came in pairs and are similar to the diskvegetation. A mound even larger than this is shaped ear ornaments once commonly used in reported to be located near the valley of the tropical America. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 31

The bulk of this mound was composed of What the careful dissection of other clay with considerable gravel content, evidently mounds in eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas may excavated near at hand, but it had been finished disclose along similar lines, is still a matter for with a heavy covering of black river-valley conjecture. If, as has already been intimated, loam soil. This clay content was compact and two or three distinct cultures should be found as because of its contour, very dry and hard to representative of as many separate Moundexcavate. But few traces of human remains Building stocks, then the separation and were found in the body of the mound and these identification of each of these stocks would seemed to indicate at least partial incineration. seem to be in order. Surface burials were much more numerous, however. These were all of a shallow nature, so The Cultural Remains of the that the process of decay had been very nearly Caddoan People complete. From the number of these shallow, surface burials on the part of the mound dissected by the Oklahoma Historical Society’s One of the most important archaeological field party, it was inferred that there had been no fields in the United States, and the most recent less than fifty such burials on the surface of the of the Mediaeval Period in the lower valleys of whole mound, before the poachers disturbed it. the Mississippi and its western tributaries, the Such shallow burials indicated the presence and Red, Arkansas, and Missouri rivers, is that of mortuary visits of people of the Southern the Caddoan peoples, who, while not MoundDivision of the Siouan stock, presumably Osage Builders themselves, were on a par of culture or Quapaw, within the past two or three with the Mound-Building peoples, and who centuries. The finding of stone pipes of the incidentally, but not intentionally, left more modern Siouan type further evidenced that the mounds to mark the face of the land within intrusive burials thus made were of such origin. limits of their prehistoric habitat, than all the At a point supposed to represent the exact mounds of all of the true Mound-Building center of the base of the mound, there was found peoples combined. a fragment of a very large clam or mussel shell Beginning at a point on the Gulf Coast at with concave side uppermost. In the hollow of the mouth of the Colorado River of Texas, and this shell was found a group of three small stone extending eastwardly along the Coast past pipes, one of which was partially decomposed Calcasieu Pass, in southwestern Louisiana; then and the other two slightly so, as if it had been to a crossing of the Mississippi River near deposited with organic matter. These pipes are Vicksburg; then extending northward, a few similar to stone pipes which were found in the miles east of the course of the Mississippi, to a valleys of the Ohio River and some of its point approximately opposite the mouth of the principal tributaries. I believe that they are of Missouri River; then recrossing the Mississippi, proto-Siouan origin. If this conjecture is and extending southwestward, past the corner of warranted, then it means that the people of the Kansas, to a point near the mouth of the whole Siouan stock passed through eastern Cimarron River; then southward to the mouth of Oklahoma, before they reached the valleys of the Washita River; and then back to the point of the Mississippi River and its eastern tributaries; beginning, roughly marks the bounds of the in the course of their migration to the Piedmont prehistoric habitat of the Caddoan peoples. Plateau of Virginia and the Carolinas and Throughout this region a very frequent, and, in several centuries before their retrogressive many places, an almost constant landscape migration to the West. In this connection, it feature consists of multitudes of low, circular seems an odd coincidence that the Osage or mounds, about the shape or contour of an Quapaw people should have found their way ordinary saucer turned upside down. These low, back to bury their dead upon the earthen pile circular, mounds vary in diameter from twenty that had been built by their own people, if not to as much as one hundred and forty feet in indeed, by their own direct ancestors. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 32

extreme cases, and in central height, from a formed any theory as to their origin. It was barely perceptible swell of from four or five nearly twenty-three years later that, while riding inches to as much as five feet, in the case of the through a section of eastern Oklahoma, where larger specimens. Most of them, however, are the whole face of the country was dotted and nearly of the average size, which is from forty to pimpled with these low, circular mounds, at a forty-five feet in diameter, and from twenty to rate varying from three to five or six per acre, twenty-four inches in height at the center. there suddenly dawned upon my imagination the Throughout the years since the first idea that if the Pawnee Indians had built their exploration and early settlements of the region timber-framed, dome shaped, earth-covered huts in question, approximately two centuries ago, or lodges, without excavating the interior circle there has been much puzzle and speculation as to a depth of fifteen or eighteen inches, as they to the origin of these small circular mounds. did, and without building a vestibule entrance, The laymen gave it up as an unsolvable problem also sodded over, as they did, the fall of such a long ago, but the world of science continued to structure, due to the decay of its supporting puzzle over the matter, and not of merely to posts and poles, would make just such a pile of puzzle over it but to dispute over it as well. earth or low circular mound, when the last of its The geologists, who profess to be more posts had disappeared. It was not until some informed concerning the Earth’s surface and its days later that I met Dr. Charles N. Gould, the peculiar formations than the learned men of any well-known geologist, and discussed the matter other profession, were almost unanimous in with him. His concluding remark at the close of scouting every suggestion of human agency, and the interview was that I had advanced the only in agreeing to call them "natural mounds." human agency theory as to the possible origin Among the theories advanced for the purpose of of, these mounds that could be regarded as accounting for such formations by the operation being at all plausible, and that he would like to of purely natural causes, were the following; see a thorough investigation made. Within a erosion, glaciation, wind action, wave action, year and a half, I was privileged to begin such spring and gas vents, earthquakes, animal an investigation under the sponsorship of the burrows, ant hills and uprooted trees, with a University of Oklahoma. In the course of this number of others even more fantastic than any investigation I carefully dissected not one, but a of these. The archaeologists, on the other hand, number of these small, circular mounds. In each were quite keen to claim these low, circular instance so undertaken, I found abundant proof mounds were the result of the work of human of human origin. This investigation was hands, but most of them were utterly at a loss to undertaken primarily for the purpose of offer any sort of a valid explanation to account determining whether or not these mounds were for such a line of construction. About the best due to human activities. At the time there was theory advanced by any of the archaeologists little thought, and less intention, of attempting was that each of these small mounds was a to determine the identity of the culture of the platform or elevated building site to furnish people who were responsible for the formation good drainage for a lodge or hut. To this, the of these peculiar landscape features. The work geologists rejoined with the question, "but why thus begun has been carried on at intervals with so many of them and why were they built on some co-operation at the hands of the University hillsides, where natural drainage was good?" of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Historical I first became familiar with these small, Society but more largely by reason of the circular mounds in eastern Oklahoma, in 1889, generous co-operation of private individuals, and my curiosity concerning their origin led me who furnished means to defray the expense of to ask questions of many people, always with such a line of investigations, which the public negative results, though occasionally someone institutions were not in a position to do. would answer, "I believe some prehistoric race In the dissection of one of these earth-lodge was responsible for them, but I do not know mounds, it was found that the structure had been why they were built." Personally, I never destroyed as the result of an internal fire, there Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 33

being from two to three and a half inches of wood ashes over the entire floor, as if wood had been piled into the but or lodge and deliberately set afire, either by an enemy or by the owner or his neighbors possibly for the purpose of destroying some disease or infection. Moreover, excavation beneath the floor of the but revealed the fact that each of the supporting posts had been charred from ten to thirteen inches below the floor level, and that these charred sections were still standing in place. In addition to this, there were found scattered throughout the ashes on the floor, burned brickhard, fragments of the clay plastering of a partitioned wall, with the parallel imprints of the woven cane or wattle lath very perfectly preserved. Another mute evidence of the life of that time, that was very interesting, was found in the form of several of the clay nests of the muddauber wasps, also burned brick-hard. Another of these mounds that was excavated was much larger than the average, being seventy-five feet in diameter and fortytwo inches in height in the center. In walking over this mound, from which the timber had been cleared for cultivation only a few years before, I was surprised to find chipped chert and potsherds. Remarking upon these to Mr. Leonard M. Logan, a student of the University of Oklahoma, who was with me, the latter replied: "Yes, and see what I have found," and he handed over a fragment of what had once been a pulley shaped stone disk. Instantly there flashed through my mind, that here there had been a possible collapse of such a timberframed, dome-shaped, earth-covered human habitation while it was still occupied, and that this mound should furnish the proof of human origin. Several days later, I slipped back and excavated a small pit at one side of the mound, which resulted in confirming the conjecture this formed. It was not until three years later—in the winter of 1917-18 that I finally dissected the whole mound. This mound was found on what is known as the Fort Coffee Bottoms, about eight miles northeast of Spiro, in the northeastern part of Leflore County, and is located on the flood plain of the Arkansas River.

Description of a Caddoan Earth Lodge

The ground plan of the timber-frame for a Prehistoric Caddoan earth-lodge was practically identical with that of the people of the Pawnee tribe, since the beginning of the Historical Period, with the exception that the prehistoric Caddoan lodge contained no vestibule or frame for the same. Four large, forked posts were selected to support the center of the domeshaped frame. In the case of this lodge, which had collapsed while occupied, the postholes were found to be from fourteen to fifteen inches in diameter. These four posts occupied the four cardinal points. This has been found true in all other lodges excavated or dissected by my teams. At a radius of twenty-two and one-half feet from the center, a circle of smaller forked posts had also been erected. The size of the postholes for this circle of smaller posts was found to be from ten and one-half to eleven inches in diameter. Heavy timbers were laid from fork to fork, on the four sides of the square formed by the large poles surrounding the center. Heavy poles or head-logs were then laid from fork to fork, around the circle of smaller posts. Heavy posts or slabs were then laid at an angle of forty-five degrees or less, the tops resting on the headlogs, of the outer circle, the lower ends probably being embedded in the ground so that they would not slip or slide inward. Heavy poles or light logs, were then laid from the interior square to the head-logs of the outer circle, to serve as rafters. Short length poles, the size of a man’s arm were then laid transversely from rafter to rafter, being tied securely in place with willows or withes. The whole top thus completed was woven full of brush and this was covered with a layer of sedge or coarse grass. The rafters did not quite join at the center of the dome, a small opening being left to admit of light, ventilation, and the escape of smoke, the domestic fire being built immediately under the same. Sod, or turf was cut where there was a natural growth of grass, with an abundance of fibrous roots and these were carried to the frame of the new structure where they were used in Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 34

building a wall that leaned against the posts or settlement. That the head men of the village slabs, slanting outwardly from the head-logs of knew how to "police" camp as well as a modern the post circle. This wall was carried up over military commander, is quite evident. the head-walls and the frame work for the roof, The careful dissection of this mound and was built sufficiently thick to afford good required several weeks of labor, even with an surface drainage, regardless of the sagging of adequate force of assistants. During the course any rafter or rafters which might not have been of this work, it was discovered that, subsequent straight. The only openings to this structure to the collapse of the earth-covered lodge, from were the aperture at the center of the dome and the decay and disappearance of its supporting the door, which was located on the east side. posts, people of another stock had dwelt for a The wall was possibly doubled and made very time in the vicinity and that they had used this heavy, as the roof was also. mound-like lodge ruin as a place of burial for A structure thus erected was comparatively their dead. These burials had been so shallow as warm in winter and relatively cool in summer. to be just below the plow-level. As a result, the It was secure against all but the most violent process of decay of the skeletal remains had storms, and it afforded fair opportunity for been so complete that but little was left except defense, in case of attack. Platforms, which the enamel of the teeth, with occasional traces could be used for seats by day and as beds by of chalky white material that was evidently night, could be constructed of sticks and poles, formed by the decomposition of bone. There around the outer wall beneath the sloping slabs, had been twenty-two of these intrusive posts, or poles which supported the same. The interments on the surface of this mound. width of this portion outside of the post circle Because of the shallowness of these burials it was proportioned to the size of the building, as was surmised that the same had been made by was the height of the structure also. The people of one of the tribes of the Southern location of these seats and beds, covered with Division of Siouan stock. This conjecture was mats, robes, etc., is surmised from the fact that subsequently verified by the finding of several the Pawnee peoples who did not excavate their ceremonial pipes of the modern Siouan type, floors between the post circle, and the foot of which had been carved from a stone of a the wall, used that space for seats in day-time grayish-white color. One of these, eighteen and as beds at night. Moreover, the modern inches long, with a large bowl of perfectly Wichita and Caddo Indians who dwelt in cylindrical bore, is the largest Siouan timber-framed, dome-shaped, grass-thatched ceremonial pipe which I have ever seen. The huts, or lodges, used such beds and seats made only other artifacts found which were certainly of stakes and poles and covered with robes, identified with this Southern Siouan culture, skins and mats. were a number of exquisitely flaked blades of Beneath the floor of the structure, its chert or flint. Four of these, averaging about occupants were wont to dig caches, or storage five inches in length, were found just as they pits, into which they might place much of their had been placed at the time of interment, lying property, temporarily. Later, these pits were with overlapping edges, like shingles on a roof. emptied of their contents and refilled with a The presence of such vestigia, so uniformly near mixture of surface earth, sub-soil, wood ashes the surface and so evidently Siouan of origin, and debris from all parts of the camp. was taken to be a certain indication of the Incidentally, it is notable that all the rubbish in intrusive mortuary activities of more recent the camp was collected—all its loose bones, occupants of the region immediately clam-shells, flaked and broken chert, postherds, surrounding the site and, in point of time, and other waste material—and thrown in the probably not more than half as old as the mound bottom of such storage pits before refilling. This itself. fact doubtless accounts for the utter absence of The collection of artifacts, utensils, tools, any sort of broken utensils or artifacts in the implements, and ornaments which were secured village site of any average prehistoric Caddoan in the dissection of this mound was quite Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 35

extensive and, from a scientific viewpoint, a very valuable one. Only one unbroken piece of ceramic ware was secured—a beautifully decorated shallow bowl of about three-quarts capacity. Much broken earthenware pottery was found, however, and the sherds were preserved for ultimate restoration, if possible. More than thirty-five of the pulley-shaped stone disk ear ornaments were found, many of them with the larger, or outer flange encased in a thin sheet of copper. The diameter of these ear ornaments varied from one and three-fourths to nearly two and one-half inches, the outer flange sometimes having a considerably larger diameter than the inner flange. These occurred commonly in pairs, the two individual specimens being practically identical in pattern, size and decoration. All of these were perforated in the center, the perforation being in the form of a smooth cylindrical bore. With these there were also found and secured, three larger ornaments of the same sort, neither of which was perforated, nor was there a duplicate to either, so it would seem not unlikely that these had been used as labrets rather than ear ornaments. Beads of several different kinds were found, the larger beads being made of the black Webber Falls argillite, running from threeeighths to five-eighths of an inch in diameter and very highly polished. Several pearl beads were found in a very palpable condition, as were also several unusually large shell beads. In some places, veins or layers of very small shell beads, about the size of the modern glass bead used in beading buckskin, were found. A great deal of copper was found. Most of this was in thin plates and evidently had been used in the decoration of wearing apparel, headdresses or shields. Some of this copper was beautifully corrugated, with evenly sized small ridges and channels. Evidence is not lacking that these people had the ability to either weld copper or, at least, to solder or braze it. One of the most interesting finds made was that of a copper blow-pipe which had been made by hammering the native copper into a thin sheet and then rolling it into a tube which, when completed, was not as large as an ordinary lead pencil.

Implements and Tools The people of the prehistoric Caddoan race were largely given to agriculture, as their descendants remain down to the present time. Their implements of tillage are to be found scattered over many fields that were supposed to be still in the virgin sod, when the white man first came, but which had really been broken up and reduced to cultivation some hundred years earlier, by the people of this stock. Their implements of tillage consisted chiefly of spades and hoes made of stone. Throughout the greater part of eastern Oklahoma, such implements were made of the black argillite, mostly secured from the ledge which causes the riffle or rapid in the channel of the Arkansas River, in Muskogee County, that has long been known as Webbers Falls. This material is as black as coal. In composition it is a combination of lime, clay, and silica. It flakes somewhat like chert or flint, only much more coarsely. While it is quite hard, it is not nearly so hard as chert or flint, and it was, therefore, worked also by pecking with a hammerstone and by grinding or polishing with abrasive sandstone. Implements made of this material are better adapted to tilling soil than those made of chert, for the reason that it is tougher and not so brittle. Most Caddoan spades were oblong or almost rectangular blades, from two and one-half to four inches wide and from seven to twelve inches long, and from one-half to three-fourths of an inch thick, thinner at the edges and sharpened at each end. Some of the spades were much narrower and thicker than those just described. These are believed to have been used also in excavating post holes for building purposes and in digging caches, or storage pits, beneath the floors of the lodges. The Caddoan stone hoe was double bitted and, in that region, almost uniformly made of black argillite. It is quite thin on the cutting edges but averages about an inch thick in the narrow center, between the broader blades. Locally, these hoes are commonly called "battle axes," for which purpose they would doubtless have served effectively. These people also used a very large and somewhat heavy turf cutter,

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approximately five by twelve inches in size and in which two or more specimens of pottery have nearly, if not quite, one inch thick, with been buried, supposedly that of some member of carefully ground cutting edges at each end. the community of more than ordinary These were doubtless used in cutting out turf for prominence. In rare instances as many as eight the covering of earth lodges, as well as for or ten specimens of ceramic ware may be found breaking up ground for cultivation. with such burials. The surplus pieces of pottery It is believed that the Caddoan people must accompanying such burials are almost always have cleared up extensive areas of fertile land not only better burned, but also artistic in design on river and creek flood plains, removing all or decoration, or both. It is believed that burial timber, brush, and canebrake growths in the valley lands, where a sandy sub-soil could therefrom; such lands, however, being selected be readily found beneath a cultivated surface, with a view to the fact that they were seldom or was generally resorted to for the reason that never, subject to overflow. They also reduced such an operation could be much more to cultivation certain areas on the upland prairie, expeditiously carried out than if attempts were where the surface was sufficiently level to resist made to excavate graves in the heavy clay suberosion, or soil washing. It is comparatively soil of the uplands, with their crude stone easy to recognize some of these ancient excavating tools. The presence of large clam or cornfield sites to this day, for the reason that, mussel shells in some graves leads to the later when the village site encroached upon the inference that most of these valley-land graves cornfield, there was not to be found, near at were excavated in a mere fraction of the time hand, any grassy turf, bound together with that would have been required to excavate a fibrous roots, which was not only suitable but grave of like size and depth in the heavy clay necessary for the covering of the earth lodges. sub-soil of the uplands, by the use of such crude Consequently, the builders either had to go on stone tools. higher ground, or along the edges of brakes and ravines, or even to the lowland swales where the The Origin of the Caddoan soil was of a tough gumbo consistency, in order People in the United States to find such needed turf for roofing purposes. Therefore, when mounds of light colored clay, or heavy, black gumbo are found superimposed When I first dug a small pit near the edge of on a field having a black or dark brown surface the large Caddoan mound in the northern part of loam, it seems reasonable to conclude that it had LeFlore County, in January, 1914, and found been under cultivation before these sods or turfs pulley-shaped disk ear-ornaments, I containing a different soil, had been transported immediately recognized in them an indication of thither, for building purposes. a possible kinship with the cultures of the The early Caddoan people buried tropical end of the continent. However, since practically all of their dead in the sandy sub-soil one such instance could not prove a theory any of some of their valley land cornfields, usually more than "one swallow makes a summer," from three and one-half to four and one-half feet discretion suggested that I remain silent on the below the surface. An average of one piece of subject. I did this until the summer of 1925, burned earthenware pottery was buried with when I was privileged to oversee the dissection each interment. From the fact that bones of of what was left of a mound of the true Moundgame animals and birds have been found in Builder type, near the Delaware-Ottawa county some of the pottery vessels thus buried with the boundary line, as previously described. There, dead, it may be inferred that some of these, at with the finding of similar pulley-shaped disk least, contained food and drink to sustain the ear-ornaments, though differing somewhat in departed on the journey to the spirit realm. details of construction, I realized that, at last, I Occasionally a skeleton may be found with no might announce a hypothesis concerning the pottery-near; on the other hand, instances have possibility that the eastern half of the United been noted wherein interments have been found Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 37

States and Eastern Canada had been largely region in northeastern Oklahoma were still there peopled as a result of a series of successive when the first French explorers and traders waves of mass-movement migration from racial came among them in the 17th century. But the swarming-grounds in the southern part of the rum and the smallpox and other vices and North American Continent. That such a diseases which came in with the French traders, hypothesis would have to assume that the decimated the numbers of the Caddoan people Mound-Builder cultures, and that of the groups. So, sometime during the latter part of Caddoan people as well, were of exotic origin, the 18th century, the remnants of these peoples instead of local development, was equally plain. merged and their descendants are now called the Down to that time, so far as I was aware, Wichita. American archaeology had not given much attention to the element of racial swarmingThe Siouan Culture grounds, in population and cultural development, though the native American race was as surely as much entitled to have this As previously stated, traces of the Siouan element considered in the problem of culture are to be found in numerous places in development as are any of the races of Europe the northeastern part of Oklahoma, some of or Asia. Plainly, the natural conditions of them coming down to the beginning of Historic Northwestern America did not make for racial Period. The oldest of these are believed to have swarming-grounds. On the other hand, there been made by the present Osage and Quapaw were areas in Yucatan, Southern Mexico, and people. They are easily distinguished from the Central America which, though of limited extent cultural remains from other stocks by such type were possessed of happy combinations of fertile artifacts as the tobacco pipe, the stone hoe and soil and humid climate, thus offering the mortar, or metate, with which they ground opportunities for the production of such vast grain. Their occupancy of Oklahoma probably quantities of human food, by agricultural means, was but temporary from time to time, during the and at such low economic cost, as to lead first, Prehistoric Period. They were among the first to the development of a dense population and tribes to come under French influence in the that, in turn, to that of a high degree of culture Mississippi Valley in the 17th century. Their in the arts and crafts. Then, when the capacity cultural remains are interesting for comparative or saturation point was reached in population, reasons. If, as I have suggested, the Siouan either a real or prospective shortage of food, peoples were in the procession of great imperial colonization, or political discontent, migrations from the far South, that movement might have led to the removal of considerable must have taken place at least a thousand years elements of such overcrowded population. ago, as they are known to have lived in the When such culture was brought into the midst of region east of the Alleghenies and south of the a new and sparsely settled region which was Potomac for several centuries before their teeming with game and fish, and where the retrogressive migration to the West. If such be climate made possible an introduction of the the case, the highly developed culture which cultivation of maize, pumpkins, squashes, was abundantly and well exemplified in the melons and gourds, it would have been but contents of the mound in northwestern natural that there should be a scattering of such Oklahoma has had a long time in which to an immigrant population and, with that deteriorate, and this deterioration is very dispersion, an almost certain and comparatively manifest in the crude pottery and rather coarse early deterioration in culture. work in their other arts, as found existing in the That the Caddoan stock was subdivided village sites and burials of the Siouan (Osageinto well-defined tribe groups in prehistoric Quapaw), which date from just before the times, as it was during the early Historical beginning of the Historical Period. Period, seems altogether probable. These various Caddoan tribes of the Arkansas River Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 38

The Athapascan Culture Scattered over western Oklahoma and adjacent portions of the Texas Panhandle, western Kansas, and southeastern Colorado, are to be found traces of the culture of people whose occupancy antedated the later arrival of the Comanche, the Kiowa, the Cheyenne and the Arapahoe. From the early Spanish archives of New Mexico, it is evident that the region of the Great Plains, extending southward from the valley of the Republican River to that of Red River, was included within the range of that great branch of the Athapascan stock, which is known collectively as the Apache people, and which includes quite a number of tribes. Hitherto, these have always been regarded, as have their distant kinsmen of the Navajo tribe also, as having migrated from the far Northwest, and as being a proof of the theory that all of the Indian Tribes of the Eastern United States, had migrated from the same region. As yet, comparatively little has been done in the way of identifying the remains of any prehistoric culture of the region in question as belonging to the Athapascan people. In the summer of 1920, I spent several weeks with Dr. Warren K. Moorehead, who was then engaged on an archaeological survey of the drainage area along the Arkansas River, accompanied by a small field party, along the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle. Incidentally, in company with Doctor Moorehead, I visited an ancient irrigation canal in Meade and Clark counties, in southwestern Kansas. I have since revisited that section several times and have made considerable further investigation of these remarkable traces of an ancient culture. I have also located traces of similar irrigation works in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, and several mounds, besides one mound group, all of which are believed to be the ruins of pueblo-like structures with earthen walls and earth-covered roofs. That these people grew corn has been definitely determined; that they still continue to make and use pottery is likewise proven; that they might have learned the art of growing corn or that of making pottery in the far Northwest, or at any

point between the far Northwest and the Great Plains south of the Republican River, is highly improbable; that they had once lived much farther east, where they had grown corn under naturally humid conditions, is not unlikely; that they had been driven out upon the High Plains where they still sought to practice agriculture, but where their crops were blasted by the hot winds and destroyed by the big buffalo herds, seems altogether likely; that some of their hunters may have made their way to the Pueblo settlements on the Mora, the Upper Pecos and the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, where they found corn and other field crops being grown by irrigation, is wholly within the bounds of possibility; that they attempted to avail themselves of Pueblo irrigation engineering talent, and that they attempted to adopt and to adapt to their purpose the irrigation husbandry and the architecture of the Pueblo peoples, seems evident. I believe that by means of type artifacts, it may be possible to trace the Athapascan occupancy much farther east than it was at the time of the first exploration and settlements in New Mexico. I am planning to do some systematic work in this very interesting field which, down to this time has been almost a sealed book.

Unidentified Cultures Scattered over various portions of Oklahoma are to be found numerous ancient village sites and shop sites which, while plainly distinguished, are as yet unidentified. This is especially true of the central part of the state, where the remains of most of the identified cultures are scarce or lacking altogether. Such vestigia include implements and projectile points of chert and flint, potsherds, mortars, mullers, hoes, spades, hatchets, cells and occasionally, even grooved axes. Careful study will probably be necessary to identify these and find the type artifacts of the same. This is not of more importance locally than it will be in its relationships in the final study of prehistoric migrations and movements.

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Plains Indian Women From the American Indian Culture Research Center10 American Indian women were revered by their communities as the mothers of the people. They were responsible for raising the children and feeding, clothing, and sheltering their families. They also earned position in other areas such as participants in religious rituals and as medicine women. Generally, they enjoyed a great deal more independence and security than did the white women of that era. The ultimate achievement for a woman in Native American societies is being a mother and rearing a healthy family. Even though many Indian women attained distinctions as religious practitioners, medicine women, and skilled artisans in craftwork, in no way did these tasks affect their role as bearers and raisers of children. Although infant mortality was probably very high among early Native American children and many women undoubtedly died during childbirth, prospective mothers used every precaution to ensure safe delivery and healthy children. Early Plains Indian women relied on herbal medicines, myths, and superstitions to guide them during their pregnancies. Older women in the tribe warned first time mothers to avoid certain foods and to be careful of their personal behavior. According to Indian custom, both were believed to be the cause of a difficult delivery or defect in the unborn baby. The bond between mothers and daughters was very special. However, much of the training of young girls fell to the grandmothers, who taught them to sew and cook, to tan hides, to make their clothing, and to fashion and decorate items. Grandmothers also instilled the 10

From the American Indian Culture Research Center of Marvin, South Dakota. “Plains Indian Women”.

tribe’s moral values and traditions in their granddaughters. Instructions on proper conduct intensified as a girl approached puberty. Her mother and grandmother would increase the amount of tasks assigned to her—tasks that would prepare her for her own lifework as a mother and wife. She no longer enjoyed the freedom to run and play games with the other children. She would be instructed to stay near her lodge and could only venture out in the company of adults. Her family usually arranged the marriage of a Plains Indian woman. Marriage was viewed as a social contract for sharing responsibilities and child rearing. It was not expected to be a marriage based upon the concept of love. However, Plains Indian women had the right to refuse their chose mate, but very few probably exercised that option. If a man fell in love with a young woman, he did everything in his power to impress her family. The suitor would bring gifts and horses and leave them in front of her lodge. Then he waited for a response from her family. If the proposal was rejected, the gifts, including the horses were returned to the suitor. If the proposal was accepted, the young woman’s family took the gifts and the horses. Both families made the marriage preparations and the newlyweds were received into the community with a wedding ceremony and feast.

Women’s Work is Never Done A woman’s place in Plains Indian culture was an indispensable part of tribal life. The man and the woman were partners, he had his responsibilities and she had hers. Each partner’s respective roles were necessary for their survival. The lifestyle of the buffalo-hunting tribes of the Great Plains revolved around the dangerous and risky male pursuits of warfare and hunting. The role of Plains Indian women was to support the hunters and warriors. Such a supportive task involved considerable labor. It is true that the life of the Indian woman was hard, but her value to the tribe was recognized. The woman’s many tasks promoted tribal welfare.

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The Plains Indians lived with constant The buffalo was the commissary of the exposure to the elements, to hunger and to Plains Indians and virtually nothing was wasted. attacks by enemy tribes. When these nomadic Buffalo bones and horns were fashioned into peoples moved their campsite, the men rode on cooking utensils and tools; even the hoofs were the outside or ahead of the group ready to utilized in making glue. In truth, during the defend their families against any threat of attack height of hunting season, even the most and to look for game along the way. The industrious Plains Indian women could not keep women took down the tipis and packed their up with her daily tasks and all the work that possessions on the horses and travois; small needed to be done to process the buffalo. It children rode with their mothers in a took the labor or at least two women to keep up cradleboard or sometimes the cradleboards were with the amount of meat and hides one hunter tied to the firmly to the travois, older children provided. Usually, every wife had someone to often rode their own horses. (Before the help her—a young girl or an elderly relative. acquisition of the horse from the Europeans, the women packed their belongings on the backs of Women in Battle dogs or on a dog drawn travois.) And it was the women who unpacked and pitched the tipi and set up the housekeeping at the next campsite. Although Plains Indian women were Apart from being a wife and mother, this devoted to peace and fighting battles with the strenuous work was done in addition to their enemy was generally the duty of men, the daily homemaking duties of gathering firewood, women could not help but be involved in cooking food, fetching water, and making and combat activities. When a way party was repairing clothing, moccasins, tipis and getting ready to go out on a raid, the camp was manufacturing household items. full of activity. For the most part, the women The primary task of early Plains women participated by providing supplies, outfitting revolved around providing food for her family. their husbands for battle, singing in support of The harvesting of buffalo was the responsibility departing war parties, sending the warriors off of the man, but once the game was harvested, it with prayers for a safe return, and by imploring became the property of the woman. The women the warriors to avenge the deaths of those they of the encampment often followed the men on a loved. Sometimes young wives turned their buffalo hunt. They waited by their travois until children over to the grandmothers and the harvesting was finished and then they would accompanied their husbands on raids, helping rush down to start skinning and cutting up the out by preparing food, nursing the wounded, meat. Each carcass had to be quickly attended and, when necessary, fighting beside the men. to in order to prevent spoilage, especially during When the victorious way party returned from the summer months. The women, skilled in battle with their spoils, the women had the cutting the hide away from the meat, were privilege of dancing during the victory careful no to damage the hide in the process. celebration. In many early tribes, the women Before the hides cooled and became stiff, the decided the fate of any captured enemy. women quickly scraped the hides clean of fat In some communities, wives were allowed and tissue. They wrapped the meat in fresh to carry their husband’s war shield on special buffalo hides and took it back to camp on their occasions. The shield was perceived as having travois. The men might help with the heaviest magical powers to protect the warrior in battle. work such as turning the animal over, but The warrior painted a personal symbol of processing the meat and tanning the hide were protection on the cherished shield and it was primarily the women’s responsibility. If the then strapped onto to the arm with which he hunters had to travel some distance to where the held his bow so that his hands were free to use herd had migrated, the men did the butchering weapons. and carried the hide and the meat back to the It was custom of Plains Indians to instill the camp where the women waited for their return. virtue of bravery in both sexes from early Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 41

childhood. In some cases, girls were encouraged to develop their riding and fighting skills. Ordinarily, the women left warring and raiding expeditions to men, but in some exceptional cases stronger willed women actually became outstanding warriors. Tribal legends give accounts of brave women who were cunning in strategy and skilled in archery and horsemanship. However, not all women who engaged in battle always had a choice. They joined the battle to save themselves and their children from death or from becoming the spoils of way—taken from their homes and becoming captives of their enemies. An appropriate way to express grief, for women whose husbands had been killed in battle, was for the widow to organize a vengeful raid on the enemy tribe. Sometimes the widow would be allowed to accompany the war party. Plains Indians followed certain rituals to show respect for the dead. An important custom for the women of many tribes was to mourn the death their spouses for a year or longer. Widows in come Plains tribes cut their hair short, wailed, and slashed their bodies as a means of ensuring that dead mates would have a safe journey to the afterlife. In some Plains tribes the family tipi was burned and its contents were given away. The widow was taken in and cared for by members of her tribe. After the period of mourning, the widow usually remarried right away, for her skills were vital to the welfare of the community.

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If a child's name included the word "buffalo" in it, the Indians believed that the child would be especially strong and would mature quickly. And though a name in itself is not the guarantee of automatic transformation, a "buffalo" child usually fulfilled the expectations of others by striving to accomplish what his name implied. If a warrior was renamed after a vision or great hunting or war accomplishment, and his new name included the word "buffalo," it meant that the buffalo was his supernatural helper, or that he exhibited the strength of a buffalo, or that he was an extraordinary hunter. In other words, the name described the powers of the man. All the Plains tribes had special songs 11 which they believed would make the buffalo By Thomas E. Mails approach their camp areas. And all the tribes had Dreamers, or holy men, who would conduct If God was the creator and overseer of life, secret rites and then prophesy where the buffalo if the morning star, the moon, and Mother Earth were most plentiful. combined their talents to give birth and hope to Speaking generally, when considering the the Indians, if the sun was dispatcher of wisdom energy put into buffalo calling, it should be and warmth, then the buffalo was the tangible recognized that there were many reasons to and immediate proof of them all, for out of the want the buffalo herds to come close to the buffalo came almost everything necessary to camps. First, the transportation problems were daily life, including his religious use as an monumental, since the enormous quantities of intermediary through which the Great Spirit meat and heavy hides were not easy to carry could be addressed, and by which the Spirit from the hunting areas to the campsites. often spoke to them. In short, the buffalo was Second, it was much safer to hunt in one's own life to the Plains Indians until the white man's domain. In particular, the penetration of enemy goods and ways first eliminated and then territory or even of contested areas was replaced the animal. extremely hazardous. A Ponca spokesman, in Understandably, then a major part of Indian describing the plight of his tribe, tearfully stated life was oriented in and around the buffalo that the more numerous Sioux were cutting the herds. They moved with them during all but the Ponca warriors, who were few in number, to winter months. The buffalo's habits were pieces because they had to go into Sioux studied intensely, and in time the Indians put territory to obtain buffalo. And third, without virtually every part of the beast to some the ever-present buffalo all the Indians could not utilitarian use. In fact, it is almost astounding to have survived, at least on the Great Plains. see a graphic breakdown of the uses made of The buffalo had poor vision, a keen sense him, of his hide, of his organs, of his muscles, of of smell, and surprising speed when aroused. his bones, and of his horns and hoofs. It is With their short tails sticking straight up and slight wonder that the Indians reverenced the their shaggy manes shaking, they ran with a roll buffalo, related him directly to the Great in their gallop which easily deceived the Creator, and be a natural symbol for the spectator as to the pace they were going. The universe, and no doubt the other tribes accorded earth shook as they thundered over it, and not him a like honor. every horse could match their speed. “Blind fury” was an exact description of a charging 11 From Mails, Thomas E. The Mystic Warriors of the buffalo bull. Its momentum was fantastic. In Plains. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1995. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 43

Buffalo: The Life and Spirit of the American Indian

addition to weight and speed, it had an complete detail all of the old ways of dealing impressive height. A mature bull stood six or with hides. Before 1850 the Indians were using seven feet at the shoulder hump. Beyond this woolen and cotton trade cloth in addition to there was a tough hide, a battering-ram skull skins, and from 1890 on, trade cloth was almost with a thick hair pad, and a nervous system that exclusively used to make clothing. sometimes kept it moving long after the beast At their peak, around 60 million buffalo was technically dead. were estimated to have lived on the Great Against these teeming mountains of Plains. When railroad tracks were laid, the muscle, the Indian boy or warrior, until he “iron horse” and buffalo met. Delays occurred obtained a gun, had only the bow and arrow, the as buffalo herds took perhaps one half a day to lance, the long two-edged knife and, of course, cross the tracks. The railroads saw a way to the horse, which was really the weapon that capitalize on this and solve a problem. They finally sliced the odds between hunter and advertised hunting by rail, a sport for the “fun” hunted. Skillfully used, it alone enabled its of killing because the buffalo were left for dead. master to catch up with and get away from a In the East a demand for buffalo robes stampeding herd. became an incentive to kill more buffalo. Accordingly, the buffalo hunt became, in Leavenworth, Kansas became a trading center addition to a source of supply, an ideal training for the robes. This meant year-round work for ground for military duty on horseback, for the buffalo hunters who also supplied buffalo meat two thousand pound Goliaths of blind fury and to the growing number of U.S. army forts in the thrust were excellent tests of anyone’s West. In less than 35 years, the entire competence and valor as a warrior. population was estimated at only 1,000. Today Hunting buffalo was close to warfare in its it is only 200,000. demands upon horsemanship and courage. Cool Native Americans were so dependent were nerves and sharp reflexes were required of horse so dependent upon the animal that their entire and rider in both hunting and war, so the young culture came to be interrelated with it. It was brave trained his finest horses in the buffalo their storehouse, their source of industry, their hunt until they became like extensions of the main topic of conversation, and one of the prime lower part of his own body. intermediaries between God and man. Its swift A bow’s length away was the distance destruction by white hunters, beginning about hunters had to try for, and the preferred targets 1870 in the south and 1886 in the north, left the were the intestinal cavity just behind the last rib, Indians destitute and confused. Life itself as and just back of the left shoulder and into the they knew it had been taken suddenly and heart. At that narrow distance their powerful cataclysmically away. Little wonder they bows could sink an arrow into the buffalo’s fought so furiously for their hunting grounds, body up to the feather, or even pass it clear and in the end were so slow to convert to an through him. A foot closer brought them into agricultural society, although the reasons for hooking range, but a foot farther away meant their reluctance to be converted are exceedingly losing power and accuracy. Unless the buffalo complex, and go far beyond the buffalo itself. was hit in a vital spot, he died slowly, or often recovered altogether. In either case, he would race away and was lost to the tribe. After successfully killing a buffalo, the victor cut out the buffalo’s liver and ate it raw, seasoned with gall and still steaming with body hear and dripping blood. Once the buffalo became virtually extinct, and deer and elk scarce, hide preparations and use came to an end so abruptly that it has not been possible for scholars to reconstruct in Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 44

Coronado’s Journey through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas12 In Brief Finding no wealth in Cibola or the surroundings, Coronado moved his army east to the pueblos around Albuquerque, on the Rio Grande River, in September 1540. They spent the winter there. In these pueblos, Coronado heard stories of another wealthy trade center, Quivira, to the northeast. In April 1541, the entire army marched east to the Texas panhandle, and in May Coronado and thirty horsemen rode north to Quivira, which was located in Kansas. Again finding no wealth, they returned to the Albuquerque area. In December, Coronado was injured in a fall from his horse. Having found no transportable wealth, ailing from his injury, and wanting to see his wife again, Coronado ordered a return of the army to Mexico in 1542. The expedition was considered a colossal failure, squandering fortunes of several participants. Coronado resigned his governorship of the northwest frontier of New Spain and retired to his estates. The Spanish were so disillusioned by the lack of rich empires that they didn't return north in substantial numbers for half a century. Although the Coronado expedition mapped the northern Gulf, pioneered a route to New Mexico, explored America all the way to Kansas, and made the only observations of preEuropean native life, most of this knowledge was lost.

12

The Main Army Moves to Cibola and the Naval Expedition Reaches the Colorado While Coronado's advance guard fought the battle of Cibola on July 7, 1540, the main army was still waiting at the base camp in Corazones, in central Sonora. After occupying the town of Hawikuh, Coronado sent out several parties, including one that discovered the Grand Canyon, another which went east to discover the pueblos along the Rio Grande and the plains full of buffalo herds beyond, and still another to Corazones. The last group notified the army of the events, and the army set out for Cibola in September, reaching there later in the fall. In the mean time, the naval branch of the expedition had packed many of the personal supplies of the soldiers and sailed from Acapulco May 9, 1540. This expedition was under the captain, Hernando de Alarcon. Alarcon reached the Colorado River delta, which had already been discovered by Francisco Ulloa in an expedition sent by Cortes in 1539, but Alarcon sailed further up the river, past modern day Yuma, in a fruitless search for the army. He buried a message, which was later found by party sent out by Coronado, stating that he had sailed this far and returned home. Thus, the army was on its own, and the dream of naval support died.

Moving East from Cibola After Coronado realized that no gold was to be found in any of the six or seven towns of the Cibola province (the present day Zuni Reservation of west central New Mexico), and after the main army arrived, Coronado moved in the last weeks of 1540. He passed the famous mesa-top pueblo of Acoma, which Marcos de Niza had first learned about and recorded as Acus. After a few days they came to the Rio Grande River, along which were numerous large, multi-story pueblos. This is a province the Spaniards called Tiguex (TEE-wish), probably after a native name.

http://www.psi.edu/coronado/coronadosjourney2.html

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The army spent the winter of 1540-41 in couldn't find their way back and were lost. This that area. Although the army made attempts at a area is identifiable as the Llano Estacado, or peaceful presence, they were a serious strain on "Staked Plains" of the Texas panhandle. Finally the food resources of the area, and several that found two canyons where they camped. skirmishes were fought with pueblos, including In an intriguing tie-in, an old, partly blind one site now known as Santiago Pueblo. A informant at one of these Texas panhandle National Historical Monument is located at the campsites told the soldiers that he had heard of ruin of Kuaua Pueblo, a few miles west of the Cabeza de Vaca party, which had passed Albuquerque, where the army may have spent somewhere near there to the south. With a little some time. Crossbow bolt heads and nails, more detail, this remark could help us identify resembling the material at Hawikuh, have been the route of Cabeza de Vaca's castaways, but no found at some of these sites, including one bolt one is sure how far to the south they were. head reportedly embedded in a Puebloan At this point, Coronado did the same thing skeleton at Santiago Pueblo. One of these sites he had done the previous year. He picked a is commemorated by a sign along the west side small, light contingent to travel north to Quivira, of a highway a few miles southwest of leaving the main army behind. There are some Albuquerque. indications that he was beginning to suspect that The army was growing more desperate Quivira would have no more gold than Cibola during this period. During this period, did. In any case, he sent the main army back to Coronado's men sought information about other their base in pueblos of Tiquex, near possible wealthy locations. Many of the Albuquerque, where they arrived in June 1541. soldiers, not to mention Coronado's wife and Meanwhile Coronado's small expeditionary Viceroy Mendoza, had invested their fortunes in force then set out to the north, and probably in the expedition, and the only hope of making July they arrived in the Quivira province, turned good on this investment was to find gold, out to be located in Kansas! jewels, or other transportable wealth that could The midsummer march across the dry be plundered from the native people. Because plains must have been uncomfortable, and once of their faith in their own religion and the again the army was disappointed in the superiority of European culture (not to mention destination. Although Quivira was an important theological questions about whether the "Indietrade center to the buffalo-hunting Plains ans" were actually human), the Spanish army Indians, it was less impressive than the pueblos never questioned their assumed moral right to of New Mexico. As perceived by the Spanish, it take the property and even the lives of the was merely a collection of impoverished "heathen" natives—an age-old problem that has villagers in mud huts. Coronado stayed about 25 been expressed by many cultures. days in Quivira, and finally decided to return to After many interviews, the army learned of the pueblo country, leaving toward the end of another important trading center far to the August, 1541. Some of the soldiers must have northeast, called Quivira. This center did exist, decided that this was the end of the line, and though some historians believe the Puebloans flung down their heavy armor, because various exaggerated its importance just to get rid of the pieces of chain mail have turned up in Kansas. troublesome Spanish visitors! On April 23, 1541, the entire army set out Evidence of Coronado in Kansas to find Quivira, stopping first at the Pecos Pueblo, now a National Monument east of Albuquerque. More Coronado materials have The evidence that Coronado reached been found there. Kansas is well documented but not widely Leaving Pecos, they traveled east across known. The army, of course, recorded that they east-central New Mexico until they reached had marched many days east and north from extremely flat plains—so devoid of features that New Mexico. As early as 1880s, a piece of some men who set out from army camps to hunt chain mail turned up in central Kansas, and Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 46

locals proclaimed that it was Coronado material and Quivira was in Kansas. Others questioned this, however; the chain mail might have come from later Spaniards such as Oñate, in 1601, or been traded into the region by Indians. Writing in 1994, however, archaeologist Waldo Wedel documented numerous fragments of chain mail, from six sites scattered over a few miles in central Kansas, and only in that area. Many of these are from caches made by Indians, and thus are material buried by Indian hands, not directly part of a known Coronado Army campsite. Trade pottery from the New Mexico pueblos is also abundant in the area, affirming that this was a specific destination region for Pueblo traders. Although native people may have moved the material over short distances, it is unlikely that all the material was moved en mass. Wedel thus locates Quivira near Lyons, Kansas.

The Retreat Coronado marched quickly back to the Rio Grande pueblos, arriving October 2, 1541. Some time in December he fell from his horse and hit his head. This injury took some time to heal, and Coronado seems to have become despondent over his failure to find gold, his injury, and his separation from his wife. During the cold weeks of January 1542, in the Albuquerque pueblo country, Coronado decided that the army should return to Mexico, empty handed. Return meant that the investments would be abandoned and the soldiers would return bankrupt. Some of the soldiers tried to talk the general out of his decision, probably arguing that they should stay, explore the new land, and perhaps find mineral deposits that could be worked by native labor, as was being done in Mexico. Coronado overruled them and the return began in the spring of 1542. On the way home, near the campsite at the ruin of Chichilticale, he met up with a relief army on its way north. Many of the fresh troops argued for a glorious return to the Cibola/Tiquex country, but Coronado talked them out of it. The armies returned home, numerous soldiers dropping out and settling

near Culiacán or Compostela rather than return to Mexico City in shame.

An Alternate History: A Southern Empire from Florida to Mexico Ironically, at the time of the march to Quivira in 1541, Hernando de Soto's army was probing west from Florida. In May of 1541, at the same time Coronado was dividing his army in the Panhandle of Texas and starting north to Kansas, de Soto was crossing to the west bank of the Mississippi River. The armies may have passed within some hundreds of miles of each other. All the time that Coronado was in Kansas and marching back to the Albuquerque area, de Soto probing west of the Mississippi, where he died on the Red River in April of 1542. If the two armies had met up, they might have considered their expeditions as much more successful. Such a linkage could have formed a string of base camps and eventual settlement along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas and on around to the Spanish towns on the Mexican coast. Without such a link, and without a good way to measure longitude, the Spanish of the 1500s never really understood how far North America stretched from east to west. Since the Spaniards in Florida were never able to link up with those in Mexico, the Spaniards of the mid 1500s went on believing that these lands were independent islands of the "West Indies." If the Spanish had established ports along the coast, it is possible that all of the southern U.S. might have been permanently settled by Spain in the later 1500s and 1600s, instead of being claimed later by the French in New Orleans and the U.S.

Significance of Coronado's Expedition Coronado's expedition remains a paradox of history and an object lesson in not capitalizing on a discovery. On the one hand, they carried out an amazing exploration of central North America several generations before the Pilgrims

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landed on Plymouth Rock! Undeniably, they displayed great courage and stamina. But because they had the idea that "wealth" must be gold and jewels, and because their economic system required that they get rich quick instead of creating self-sustaining agricultural settlements, they did not recognize value in the fertile valleys and mineral-rich hills through which they passed. It was only because of their own worldview that they were forced to return home as failures. They were among the first exponents of the peculiarly American slash-andburn dream of getting rich quick at the expense of the land and the people, without any long term investment—and because of this perverted dream, they failed to recognize their possibilities for success and pursued their own path toward self-perceived failure.

Spanish Exploration of Oklahoma 1599-1792 By A.B. Thomas13

Introductory We do not customarily associate Oklahoma with the Spanish Southwest, but the Spaniards in their thinking and actions closely linked the region with their possessions in this part of North America. For present Oklahoma, like Colorado and Arkansas, formed, from the Spanish point of view, an important unit in their long frontier line which ran disjointedly from eastern Texas to New Mexico. Necessarily, therefore, of this area and its people, the Spaniards took particular note in their frontier calculations, whether in hopefully searching for new lands, appeasing the Indians, or planning to hold back aggressive French, English, and Americans. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Spanish pioneers brought parts of present Oklahoma well within the orbit of their extensive explorations about New Mexico. In the later eighteenth century other equally energetic Spaniards traversed the region westward along the Arkansas River, northward out of Texas, and finally eastward again from Old Santa Fe. In this work the forerunner was Coronado. His expedition, besides being the first to cross the region, brought into view certain Indian tribes—the Querechose of eastern New Mexico, the Teyas in the upper Brazos 13

Thomas, A.B. “Spanish Exploration of Oklahoma 1599-1792.” Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 6, No. 2, June 1928.

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River of Texas, and Quiviras beyond the Arkansas River that constantly thereafter attracted Spanish attention. Later Spaniards revealed further customs both of these tribes and ones found within present Oklahoma itself, threw light on the various relations existing between themselves, the tribes of neighboring areas, and the Europeans who subsequently came to settle in the lands surrounding. Such is the significance of the explorations considered here, which span the period from 1599 to 1792.

expansion. Of the series of explorations between 1580 and 1598, which opened this new movement, only Humaña and Leyba in 15921593, so far as is known, explored parts of present Oklahoma. Leaving Mexico without proper authority, these adventurers sojourned among the Pueblos for a year and then made off towards Quivira, accompanied by an Indian named Joseph. Like Coronado they encountered shortly beyond Pecos the Querechos; wandering further to the east and north they reached eventually, beyond two large rivers an extensive pueblo of grass lodges, surrounded by cultivated fields. Continuing still

northward, they came to another larger river and then attempted to return. Only their guide, Joseph, however, reached New Mexico alive. In later years it was learned that they had visited Indians now within present Oklahoma, and Humaña and Leyba 1592-1593 Kansas. After Coronado, the Spaniards advanced Five years later, in the spring of 1598, Juan more slowly towards the regions he had de Oñate, of a proud old family, led forth from penetrated. Effectively established in northern northern Mexico a colony, composed of four Mexico by 1580 these colonizers were in that hundred men, women, and children, eighty-three year again contemplating the further extension wagons and carts, and more than seven thousand of their civilization. Missionary zeal, greed, and head of cattle, that established Spain in New fear of foreign aggression stimulated this new Mexico. From his base at San Juan, near later Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 49

Spanish Exploration of Oklahoma 1599-1719

Santa Fe, Oñate hunted for the treasures of a them traveling, the ends of the poles dragging second Mexico. Meanwhile in 1599 the more on the ground, nearly all of them snarling in prosaic demands of his colonists sent forth his their encounters, traveling one after another on lieutenant, Vincente de Saldivar Mendoza, to their journey. In order to lead them the Indian the eastern plains for a supply of buffalo fat. women seize their heads between their knees Proceeding by way of Pecos the party soon and thus load them or adjust the load, which is encountered a band of Indians whom they seldom required, because they travel along, at a referred to as Apachi, and who fruitlessly steady pace as if they had been trained by means begged the Spaniards’ aid against their enemy of reins.” In another place the sargento mayor the Jumano. Beyond, about one hundred and adds to his description: “The Indians are thirty miles from Pecos the soldiers built a huge numerous in all that land. They live in cottonwood enclosure near the Canadian River. rancherias in the hide tents hereinbefore They had poor success, however, in corralling mentioned. They always follow the cattle, and wild buffalo though they finally secured about a in their pursuit they are as well sheltered in their ton of tallow. There, near the present Texastents as they could be in any house. They eat New Mexico line the Spaniards described meat almost raw, and much tallow and suet, informingly the Indians whom they found. Near which serves them as bread, and with a chunk of the Canadian itself they met many herdsmen meat in one hand and a piece of tallow in the who had just crossed the stream, “coming from other, they bite first on one and then on the trading with the Picuries and Taos, populous other and grow up magnificently strong and pueblos of this New Mexico, where they sell courageous. Their weapons consist of flint and meat, hides, tallow, suet, and salt in exchange very large bows, after the manner of the Turks. for cotton blankets, pottery, maize, and some They saw some arrows with long thick points, small green stones which they use.” Nearby in a although few, for the flint is better than spears to ranchería, Saldivar found “fifty tents made of kill cattle. They kill them at the first shot with tanned hides, very bright red and white in color the greatest skill, while ambushed in brush and bell-shaped, with flaps and openings, and blinds made at the watering places, as all saw built as skillfully as those of Italy and so large who went there . . .” that in the most ordinary ones four different mattresses, and beds were easily Oñate 1601 accommodated. The tanning is so fine that Three years later Oñate himself set out for although it should rain bucketfuls it will not the East in the hope of locating there the pass through nor stiffen the hide, but rather rumored rich kingdom of Quivira. There is little upon drying it remains as soft and pliable as doubt as to Oñate’s general route. His map and before. This being so wonderful Saldivar account of his journey show that he followed the wanted to experiment, and, cutting off a piece of Canadian River one hundred and eleven leagues hide from one of the tents, it was soaked and to the Antelope Hills region in Western placed to dry in the sun, but it remained as Oklahoma. From this point the party turned before, and as pliable as if it had never been northeast and reached some Indian lodges just wet. The sargento mayor bartered for a tent and across the Arkansas River near present day brought it to camp, and although it was so very Wichita. Along the first part of his route to the large, as has been stated, it did not weigh over Antelope Hills region, Indians called “Apachi” two arrobas.” To carry the tent poles, supplies were first encountered at the point where the of meat and pinole or maize, the “Indians use a Canadian turns to the east in Eastern New medium-sized shaggy dog, which is their Mexico, “Here some Indians of the nation substitute for mules. They drive great trains of Apache came out with signs of peace . . . raising them. Each, girt round its breast and haunches, their hands to the sun, which is the ceremony and carrying a load of flour of at least one they use as a sign of friendship, and brought to hundred pounds, travels as fast as his master. It us some small black and yellow fruit of the size is a sight worth seeing and very laughable to see of small tomatoes, which is plentiful on all that Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 50

river. . . .” After this meeting Apaches were reaped, but lived solely on the cattle. They were frequently encountered. “In some places we ruled and governed by chiefs, and like came across camps of people of the Apache communities which are freed from subjection to nation, who are the ones who possess these any lord, they obeyed their chiefs but little. plains, and who, having neither a fixed place or They had large quantities of hides which, site of their own, go from place to place with the wrapped about their bodies, served them as cattle always following them. They did not clothing, but the weather being hot, all of the disturb us at all, although we were in their land, men went about nearly naked, the women being nor did any Indian become impolite. We clothed from the waist down. Men and women therefore passed on always close to the river, alike used bows and arrows, with which they and although on one day we might be delayed in were very dexterous.” our journey by very heavy rains, such as are These Indians, as indicated on Oñate’s map common in those plains, on the following day and in other sources, were called Escanjaques. and thereafter we journeyed on, sometimes They guided the explorers to the Arkansas crossing the river at very good fords.” Near the River. The Indians “in a few hours quickly, Antelope Hills region the party left the built a rancheria as well established as the one Canadian, apparently following Commission left behind, which caused no little wonder to Creek. “Having traveled to reach this place one all.” Here the main body halted, for, as they hundred and eleven leagues, it became claimed, the Indians beyond were their enemies. necessary to leave the river, as there appeared From other accounts, however, some of the ahead some sand dunes; and turning from the Escanjaques, apparently went on with the east to the north, we traveled up a small stream Spaniards. Across the Arkansas, in Quivira near until we discovered the Great Plains covered present Wichita, the Spaniards found extensive with innumerable cattle. We found constantly settlements containing several thousand Indians. better roads and better land.” After crossing There they visited several rancherias and wrote several small streams they “discovered a large in considerable detail concerning the life they rancheria with more than five thousand souls; saw and the Quivira grass habitations. Their and although the people were warlike, as it later descriptions of the latter bear a striking developed, and although at first they began to resemblance to those of the Wichita grass place themselves in readiness to fight by signs lodges. These Indians treated the Spaniards of peace they were given to understand that we well, allowed them to move about their were not warriors, and they became so friendly rancherias and obligingly informed them of their with us that some of them came that night to our country. camp and entertained us with wonderful reports They told Oñate, as had the Escanjaques, of of the people further on.” The next day the Humaña’s residence among them, but Spaniards moved forward to this rancheria but disclaimed any part in their death. cautiously stopped within an arquebus shot of Some of these Quiviras shortly developed a their settlement. “From there the governor and hostile attitude and Oñate, petitioned by his the priets went with more than thirty armed soldiers, set out to return. Their route was horsemen to investigate the people and the disputed by the Escanjaques with whom they rancheria, and they, all drawn up in regular fought a bloody battle, and then continued their order in front of their ranchos, began to raise the journey to reach New Mexico on November palms of their hands towards the sun, which is 24th. the sign of peace among them. Assuring them Oñate’s expedition to the Quiviras was, of that peace was what we wanted, all the people, course, an event of importance to the Quiviras women, youths, and small children, came to themselves and soon after the Spaniards’ return where we were; and they consented to our they sent an embassy to secure the aid of the visiting their homes, most of which were newcomers against the defeated Escanjaques. covered with tanned hides, making resemble The incident is described in 1626 by the priesttents. They were not people who sowed or historian, Zarate Salmeron, of New Mexico, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 51

who wrote, while the achievements of Oñate were still familiarly known to the New Mexicans, that there was sent, “from Quivira an Indian ambassador of high standing and gravity. He brought with him six hundred servants with bows and arrows who served him. He Arrived and gave his message inviting the Spaniards with his friendship and lands to help him fight against their enemies, the Ayjaos.” The Ayjaos seem to be but another name for the Escanjaques for a later account furnished by an equally distinguished and well-known New Mexico writer, Father Posadas, writing in 1686, states that the Aijados Indians had accompanied Oñate into the land of the Quivira and proposed to burn their houses. The commander forbade this act of hostility and as a result the Aijados attacked the Spaniards in a great battle. Baca 1634 For the remainder of the seventeenth century information concerning the eastern plains, particularly for the area within present Oklahoma, is scanty. At present, the only known expedition that apparently crossed the region was that of Captain Alonzo Baca, 1634, who, accompanied by some Indian allies, marched three hundred leagues east of Santa Fe. Arriving on the banks of a large river, his allies, like Oñate’s Escanjaques, refused to cross and warned Baca that if he continued the Quivira tribes beyond would eventually kill him and his men. The Spaniards, too few to go on alone, returned to New Mexico. Thus Spanish explorations to 1634 had added to the earlier information supplied by Coronado concerning the Oklahoma region. The area in Eastern New Mexico and the Panhadle of Texas, occupied by the Querechos of Coronado and the Vaqueros of Humaña, is found occupied by Indians; doubtless the same tribe called by 1634 the Apache. Beyond them have appeared the Escanjaques in present Oklahoma, in warlike relations with the Quiviras across the Arkansas River. Who the Escanjaques were is as yet un-determined, for there is no known mention of them again in Spanish records.

De Vargas 1696 For the moment, however, we must note the activities of Governor de Vargas, whose reconquest of New Mexico compelled him to engage in the fall of 1696 in an expedition to the east. In that year some Pueblos, adamantly refusing to accept the Spanish king and God, rebelled and fled from their homes eastward over the Taos Mountains. De Vargas, setting out at once from the Picuries Pueblo recaptured, after an exciting chase, the majority of the rebels but the rest escaped in the company of some Apaches. The governor’s journal of the event does not give sufficient information to state how far he penetrated on this march. He later stated he traveled eighty-four leagues; but whether this is the distance for one or both ways is not clear. His entire journey, going and coming, however, consumed only seventeen days, two of which were spent in camp because of a blinding snowstorm. Colonel Twitchell, nevertheless, has interpreted his remark and the diary to mean that the journey took de Vargas eastward beyond Clayton, New Mexico, into the western Panhandle of present Oklahoma. In the following year, 1697, the Reconquest of New Mexico was completed but the reoccupation of the lost province still presented serious problems to the Spaniards. Constantly on the qui vive against a new uprising, they were quick both to investigate suspicious rumors of revolt and to lend helpful hands to the Pueblo Indians. In this latter spirit the governor dispatched in 1706 an expedition to the far off Cuartelejos to bring back the fugitives who escaped de Vargas in 1696, and others there enslaved, and who now sought the privilege of returning to their kinsmen. The expedition, commanded by Captain Juan de Uribarri, journeyed through the Jicarilla country of northeastern New Mexico, the Carlana country south of the Arkansas and then eastward from near present day Pueblo, Colorado, to the Cuartelejos in eastern Colorado. These savages received the expedition with genuine expressions of friendship, offered no objection to the loss of their slaves and servants but loaded the Pueblo ponies high with corn and sent off Spaniards and Indians rejoicing.

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Uribarri’s expedition is important to Oklahoma’s history. For the first known time there appears, in Uribarri’s notes, the Indian name of the Arkansas River, Rio Napestle. The commander first noted the Arkansas under this name when he crossed it in the foothill region near present Pueblo, Colorado. Thereafter, until the early nineteenth century the stream was always spoken of in New Mexico as the Rio Napestle. Finally, however, the usage of the French, Arkansas, applied to the lower reaches of the stream was carried westward by the Americans and succeeded in displacing this original Indian name.

French and Spanish Exploration of Oklahoma 1713-1763 Eighteenth century history of present Oklahoma can also be studied through the approach of the French from Louisiana and that of the Spaniards who come north to the Red River from their settlements in Central Texas. However, the activities of the French, but briefly summarized here, will be considered only as they bear upon Spanish exploration of the region. The French entered present Oklahoma from two directions; west/southwest from their Illinois settlements through the Osage country, and northwest from Louisiana via the Red, Arkansas, and Canadian rivers. As early as 1703 expeditions from Illinois traded towards New Mexico; thereafter the movement from that direction developed rapidly and joined with the one coming from the southeast. This latter advance was led by St. Denis, the well-known Frenchman who dominated the lower Red River valley in the early part of the eighteenth century from his post at Natchitoches, in present Louisiana. From there French influence extended itself into present eastern and northern Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. In 1719 the Nasonite post was founded among the Cadadocho just beyond the southeast boundary of Oklahoma. In 1719 La Harpe established another trading center among the Cadadoches tribes, visited the Touacaras then living near the

mouth of the Canadian River and proposed a third post for that region. At the same time Du Rivage was sent up the Red River to extend French control in that direction. Paralleling this penetration at the moment was the expedition of Du Tisné who, coming southwest from the Osage, visited and made an alliance with the Pawnees on the Arkansas River where he left a flag flying to indicate French possession. Two years later, 1721, in exploring the Arkansas River, La Harpe’s travels took him about half way to the mouth of the Canadian. Most of these French explorations had for their object, besides Indian commerce, the opening of a trading route via these streams to New Mexico. We have already seen the earliest indications of this advance in the Spanish reports of the French, Plawnee, and Jumano attack on the Cuartelejos. But the French about this time, 1720, as noted above, found themselves blocked by two powerful tribes of Indians. The Apaches along the Red River were hostile to these westward moving Europeans who traded with their enemies, the Indians of Northern Texas and present Oklahoma, known to the Spaniards as the Norteños. North of the Red, along the Arkansas and South Platte rivers the Comanches on their part were averse to French traders supplying weapons to their enemies beyond, the Apaches. Finally, the Spaniards themselves took definite steps to encourage Apache enmity to prevent the French approach to New Mexico. Indeed, the Viceroy of New Spain wrote to the Governor of New Mexico in 1719 that he should take particular care to win the Apaches to the Spanish allegiance so that they might be used with those allied with the Spaniards in Texas, to prevent French entrance into Spanish dominions. As a result, this tribal rivalry and Spanish policy, successfully shut off the advance of French traders until about the middle of the century. Meanwhile, on their side, the French traders and officials concentrated their efforts on persuading the Comanches and Apaches to let them pass beyond. Much of this little-known struggle took place on the soil of what is now Oklahoma.

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Spanish Exploration of Oklahoma 1763-1793

traders the sensible plan was to utilize the services of the French agents who had remained in the province after the transfer to accustom the Norteños to Spanish rule. This policy was accordingly adopted. Two Frenchmen appointed as Indian agents, De Villiers and De Mezieres, were to render signal service to Spain in this capacity among the Norteños. Happily the work of Athanase De Mezieres in Northern Texas has been thoroughly studied and his achievements given their proper recognition.

The transference of Louisiana to Spain in 1763 had its effect upon the frontier Indian policy of New Spain particularly with regard to the region considered here. With the acquisition of Louisiana, Spain’s frontier advanced from Texas to the Mississippi River, beyond which were the expanding English colonies. As a result of this advance, the Norteños, i.e., the Indian tribes of Northern Texas, the Red River Valley, and adjacent regions, heretofore beyond De Mezieres 1772 the frontier and, as we have seen, under French De Mezieres set about immediately to carry influence, were now brought into the empire. out his new duties. In 1770 he secured the Their location accordingly presented a real attendance of powerful chiefs of the Taovayas, problem for they were in a strategic position, on Tawaknoi, Yscanis, and Kichai tribes at a the one hand in the rear of the Spanish Illinoiscouncil near present Texarkana. There they Louisiana settlements and on the other north of promised their friendship and signed treaties those in Texas. Consequently over these drawn up in 1771 at Natchitoches. Next, in Indians, their former enemies, the Spaniards 1772, De Mezieres made an extensive journey now had to extend their control. through the northern tribes to explore their To meet these new conditions, Spanish country, learn the strength, and investigate officials characteristically made careful rumors of English trading among them. From preparation by ordering a survey of the whole Natchitoches he went to the Trinity River, region so that all frontier relations could be thence up the Brazos to the Wichita Indians in viewed in their proper perspective. The Northern Texas. From there he communicated undertaking was entrusted to the Marqués de with the Taovayas, on the Red River. From his Rubi in 1767. When his tour of the frontier was reports of this extensive exploration we learn completed, he drew up recommendations that that the Taovayas were procuring English goods were incorporated, practically as submitted in a in exchange for stolen horses and that the royal order issued in 1772, known as the “New northern tribes were being hard pressed by the Regulation of Presidios.” For our purposes here Osage. Indeed, his report of the hostility of the it is sufficient to note that the New Regulations Oasge towards the Spanish and their Indian provided for the abandonment of Western Texas allies is paralleled by similar reports from the since that region was now protected from the Spanish commandant, Don Pedro Piernas, at St. English colonists by Louisiana. Meanwhile Louis and from the commandant at the Arkansas measures had been taken to win over the post. Norteños and thereby protect the Texas In 1776 a further administrative change was establishments from attack. Here the Spaniards put into effect on the northern frontier of New readily perceived the elements of their problem. Spain. This was the establishment of the For one thing they recognized that the Norteños Privincias Internas, a department composed of were subject to the growing influence of English the provinces from California to Texas traders who had for many years prior been inclusive, of which El Cavallero de Croix, a crossing the Mississippi River to operate among great but little known administrator of western the Indians of the western bank, even as far as North America, was made the first Commanderpresent Oklahoma and Arkansas. Secondly, the General. His most important problem was to Spaniards realized that since these Norteños had check Indian raids on the northern frontiers of long been accustomed to the influence of French New Spain, of whom the Apaches of Western Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 54

Texas were the greatest offenders. De Croix immediately laid plans to use the Norteños, Apache enemies, with Spanish forces in a joint campaign into Western Texas. A council was held accordingly at Monclova, and a later one in January, 1778, at San Antonio whence De Mezieres was summoned from Louisiana. To prepare the Norteños for their role, De Mezieres set out in March to visit the northern tribes. On this occasion he reached the Taovayas villages on the Red River after passing through the northern tribes of Texas about the Brazos. From the Taovayas villages he sent a warning to the Comanches. His visit informed him, too, that in 1777 English traders had pushed their way in the year before into these very villages, on the far side of present Oklahoma, a circumstance that impelled him to write De Croix urging a Spanish settlement among the Taovayas. On his return to Natchitoches he brought back Parilla’s cannon left there after the battle of 1759, recounted above. Shortly afterward De Mezieres was transferred to Texas from Louisiana to control the Norteños from San Antonio instead of Eastern Texas. His death in 1779 and Spain’s entry into our Revolutionary War, partly altered De Croix’s plans in this quarter for the joint campaign against the Apaches. De Meziere’s contribution to our subject is considerable. His marches reveal the importance attached to the tribes of the area within and about present Oklahoma; his reports show that the English have definitely replaced the French as a menace to the frontier here, and finally, his activities center attention on the Taovayas now friendly to Spanish control. In the next decade the Taovayas assume further importance in Spanish frontier explorations.

between New Mexico and Texas. Apache and Comanche hostility, however, was the chief factor in preventing the opening of this route. During the eighteenth century the French traders had learned how to conciliate the Comanche and Apache, and De Mezieres and others had in large part transferred this affection for French traders to the Spaniards, so that the foundations were laid for the efforts now to be successfully made. Pedro Vial, another Frenchman, whose experience among the Indians between Texas and New Mexico well fitted him for the undertaking, was in 1786 the first to be commissioned for this purpose. In that year, directed by the governor of Texas, Don Domingo Cabello, Vial set out to explore a direct route from San Antonio to Santa Fe. Leaving on October 4th, he went north to the Colorado River, turned east to the Brazos, followed that stream sixty-two leagues and then branched off to the Taovayas, northeast on the Red River. Leaving the Taovayas on January 8, 1787, Vial moved along the Red River to a Comanche village where he remained until February 18th when he renewed his journey up the Red thence north to the Canadian, finally making his way to Santa Fe on May 26th, after having passed through several Comanche villages. Vial thus established the fact that communication was not impossible and that the Comanches and other tribes were friendly. In 1788 Vial set out on his return to Texas. This time his objective was Natchitoches. Accompanied by Francisco Xavier Fragoso and thirty soldiers, he left Santa Fe on June 24th, 1788, taking apparently a route between that of his first journey and that of Mares’, to the Taovayas. There his escort left him and after four days returned to Santa Fe. Vial himself Vial 1786-1792 reached Natchitoches on August 20th, passing Another important problem raised by the after leaving the Sabine the ranchos of six adding of Louisiana to the Spanish possessions Frenchmen and one Englishman. In 1789 Vial was that of establishing effective again set out from San Antonio for Santa Fe. communication between the widely separated On this journey, however, he left the Brazos centers of St. Louis, San Antonio and Santa Fe. near the junction of the ninety-fifth meridian In the solving of this problem, much of the and the thirty-third parallel and went northwest resulting exploration between these points directly to Santa Fe, consuming slightly less passed through present Oklahoma. Before this than two months. From the above account of time, plans, one of which appeared as early as these travels it will be observed that all except 1630, had been proposed to establish routes the last passed through the Taovayas, a fact Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 55

which indicates the strategic importance of this trader and on the 16th, having secured a pirogue part of the Spanish frontier then within present from three other traders going to St. Louis, Oklahoma. followed the stream to the Missouri and thence Vial’s extensive experience and successes to their destination. Arriving there on October entitled him to further honors and he was 6th Vial presented his credentials and diary to accordingly selected by the viceroy in 1792 to Zenon Trudeau, the Spanish commandant, and open a route between New Mexico and St. told him that had they not encountered obstacles Louis. The governor of New Mexico, Fernando they could have made the journey in twenty-five de la Concha, drew up Vial’s instructions. days. Vial’s journey is particularly interesting Accompanied by two young men Vial was to in that it is the first to connect St. Louis and leave New Mexico via Pecos, march east to the Santa Fe along the approximate route followed villages of the Magages, thence east northeast to takes by the caravall trade to New Mexico. the Missouri River nearest to Los Ylinneses (Illinois). On this journey Vial was careful to Conclusion note all landmarks, rivers, the direction of their flow, tablelands, etc., and Indian tribes that he encountered. His faithfulness in this respect This study of Spanish exploration in and enables us here to trace the general route of his about the region of present Oklahoma brings travels. into view some important considerations. It is Vial set out on May 21, 1792, from Santa strikingly evident that Spanish sources Fe. Shortly after leaving the Pecos River they contribute much to the Indian history of this lost a day in camp with a band of Comanches area. The names, locations of tribes, unknown and a Spanish interpreter coming from San heretofore in some cases, can therein be th Antonio. On the 26 they renewed their journey determined; their customs and their relations to the Canadian River which they reached on the with neighboring tribes indicated; and the part 29th. Thereafter until June 22nd the party they played in the international struggle carried followed the Canadian along Oñate’s old route. on by Europeans for this region, understood. In On that day they left the stream to turn northeast the second place, as appears here, long before towards the Arkansas. Apparently they left the the advent of Pike, Wilkinson, Dunbar, and Canadian about the Antelope Hills region. other explorers of the early nineteenth century, Their northeast journey took them across several much of the territory and the principal rivers of streams in this part of Oklahoma and southern present Oklahoma and adjacent states was Kansas to the Arkansas which they reached on explored by Spaniards and Frenchmen. Thirdly, the 27th. Without doubt they came upon the there is revealed in our knowledge of this latter where it turns to the northeast for, Vial, frontier some gaps that await research. after spending the 28th in camp, took up the Particularly does the period of French control journey on the 29th. They shortly encountered and influence over the tribes beyond those Indians who took possession of their horses, cut revealed by Spanish exploration, need off the clothes of Vial and his companions, and investigation. Likewise the work of the Spanish threatened to kill them. However, one of the traders after 1763 from St. Louis among the savages, a former servant in St. Louis, Osages and beyond, and from the Arkansas post recognizing Vial, interceded and fortunately westward into present Arkansas and Oklahoma saved the lives of the party. The explorers were presents a fascinating study. Finally, this survey then forced to remain with the hunters until of but a small corner of Spain’s immense empire August 16th when they were permitted to set out suggests the fundamental nature of her once more, though still naked, for the northeast. contribution to North American civilization. A ten days’ journey of about fifty leagues brought them to a Cances village on the river of the Kances River. On September 11th they secured some clothes from a passing French Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 56

extending west to the Spanish possessions of New Mexico, and embracing mainly the present states of Arkansas and Oklahoma—that country drained by the Arkansas, Verdigris and Canadian rivers. The history of this wedgeshaped country has been treated as only secondary to that of the country to the north and to the south; while its history has been just as distinct and important. The history of this country, especially of Oklahoma, could be written around the quest of the white man to find great riches, as the Gran Quivira, and the Seven Cities of Cibola, for which the Spaniards 14 sought. The trade with the Spanish Southwest, By Anna Lewis Taos and Santa Fe, lured the French into this country. Then, last, but not least, Indian trade, The same year that Benjamin Franklin, free land, mines and oil have brought other John Jay, and John Adams signed the treaty of white men into this country. Paris, 1788, making the Thirteen Colonies free The French explorers of this country have and independent states of America, Jacobo du left many traces in the naming of the rivers and Breuil, Commander of Fort Charles III on the mountains. And especially did they leave a Arkansas, celebrated the hundredth anniversary marked influence upon the Indians with whom of that Post. For this celebration a great council they came in contact. Among the Choctaws, of the Arkansas chiefs was held, of which du there was a legend handed down from father to Breuil, in his report, says, "for this occasion we son that the French king was coming and with fired two cannon shots and each took twenty his coming all would be well. Even today this pounds of gunpowder." legend is familiar to the older members of the The earliest history of the Arkansas region tribe. The first French explorers in the Arkansas dates back to Hernando de Soto, 1542. From region, of whom we have any knowledge, were his expedition we get the first geographical Father Marquette and Joliet, who came down knowledge of the region, and our first real the Mississippi River as far as the Arkansas history of the Indians in the southwest. Other River. Father Marquette drew a map of this expeditions into this region came with the same western region, and on his map the Mississippi object in mind, in search of the Gran Quivira. River descended only to the mouth of the Coronado, 1541, "crossed the Texas Panhandle Arkansas. The next visit by the white man to and Oklahoma, and reached Quivira in eastern this region was that of Father Hennipen in 1680. Kansas." The explorations of De Soto and But it was left for La Salle and Tonty to take Coronado were the most elaborate efforts made possession of this country and to establish the by the Spaniards into the interior of North first post. America, and, in some respects, never surpassed On March 14, 1682, La Salle reached the in the later history of the country. Other villages on the Arkansas, took possession of the explorations were made by the Spaniards, but it country in the name of France, erected the arms was left to the French to make the first of the king, and planted a cross. Father Zenobia permanent settlement. Membre, who accompanied La Salle, related The Arkansas region includes that part of this act in a truly missionary way. "I took our country between the Illinois country on the occasion to explain something of the truth of north, and the Natchitoches on the South God, and the mysteries of our redemption, of which they saw the arms. During this time they 14 Lewis, Anna. “French Interests and Activities in showed that they relished what I said, by raising Oklahoma.” Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 2, No. their eyes to heaven and kneeling as if to adore. 3, September 1924. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 57

French Interests and Activities in Oklahoma

We also saw them rub their hands over their bodies after rubbing them over the cross. In fact, on our return from the sea, we found that they had surrounded the cross with a palisade." This was the formal taking possession of the Arkansas region. While in the Arkansas region, La Salle gave Tonty a grant of land, and it was on this grant that the historic old Arkansas post was founded. Here Tonty built a house and fort in 1683. This statement, with that of du Breuil that, in 1783, the post celebrated its hundredth anniversary, gives evidence of the fact that the Arkansas Post was established soon after the return of La Salle and Tonty from the first expedition to the mouth of the Mississippi, or, at least that they must have reckoned their beginning from that date. After leaving the Arkansas, La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi in April, where he took possession of the great valley, naming it, in honor of the King, Louisiana. La

This hazardous undertaking and the failure to find La Salle is one of the romantic incidents in the early history of the Southwest. On the return trip, Tonty made alliances with various Indian nations along the Mississippi. He says, "When we were at Arkansas, ten of the Frenchmen who accompanied me asked for a settlement on the Arkansas River, on a grant that La Salle had given me on our first voyage. I granted the request to some of them. They remained there to build a house surrounded with stakes. The rest accompanied me to Illinois, in order to get what they wanted. We arrived in Illinois, June 24, 1686." Tonty must be ranked next only to La Salle, in his contribution toward the exploration and settlement of the Mississippi Valley. This was the beginning of one of the oldest French posts in the southwest; and from this post, France made treaties with the different Indian tribes, in her efforts to keep back both

Salle now planned a colony at the mouth of the English and Spanish, the Spaniards pushed in Mississippi, and for this purpose returned to from the Southwest, and the English from the France to make definite arrangements. In the Carolinas, using the same methods to get control summer of 1684, La Salle left France with a of the Indians through trade and by alliances. colony to establish this settlement. Tonty, in The Arkansas Post was not only for the order to aid La Salle, descended the Mississippi. purpose of material gain. Tonty, like many Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 58

other early explorers, was a missionary in advantage in numbers and bases of supplies. thought. And that side of life in the Arkansas Tonty, in establishing the post on the Arkansas, country was early considered. Tonty gave to the hoped to forestall the English as well as the Superiors of Canada in 1689, a deed to a strip of Spaniards. The hand of fate seems to have land on the Arkansas a little east of his fort, "for played a part here, because Jean Couture, who a chapel and a mission-house, beside an had been the one that Tonty had selected in immense tract on the opposite side of the river establishing the post, deserted and went to the near the Indian village, for the support of the English in Carolina, and, in 1700, led a party of missionary." This mission was to have been English to the mouth of the Arkansas, erected in 1690, and, among other things, the accomplishing what Tonty had feared, the missionaries were to build two chapels, raise a diversion of the western trade from the French cross fifteen feet high, minister to the Indians, to the English. France realized that in order to and say a mass for Tonty on his feast day." If cope with the Spanish and the English, and to any missionaries were sent to the Arkansas at reap the harvest of her discoveries, colonies this time there are no traces left. must be established as posts of exchange. This Little growth or development had come to caused her to turn to private individuals for aid the Arkansas Post for the first quarter of a in settling up and holding her possessions. In century, trade being slow in development, September 1717, John Law, and his Mississippi because of the Spanish deadlock. When, at the Company, was granted the commerce and close of the seventeenth century, the Spaniards control of Louisiana. Although, Law’s and the French came face to face on the economic goals failed, a new interest in Louisiana-Texas frontier, in a contest for Louisiana had brought men like Bernard de la commerce and empire, they found there several Harpe, Le Page du Pratz, and Du Tisne into the well-marked groups of confederations of native region; each giving new information concerning tribes, which became so the bases for much of the Arkansas country. the struggle. This contest for the control of the Bernard de la Harpe had been granted by frontier tribes was one of the chief policies of the company a tract of land on the upper waters both Spain and France; of course behind this of the Red River, and, in 1718, he started out to was the ultimate object of territorial possession. take possession of this grant. Leaving New The effort expended by the two competing Orleans in December 1718, he arrived at the nations to maintain an influence over these mouth of the Red River on January 10, 1719, tribes had, from the first moment of contact to and, after much difficulty, reached the fort of the time when Louisiana was ceded to Spain, the Natchitoches. the nature of a contest. It, in the main, was While at the Natchitoches post, La Harpe waged only to a slight extent with weapons of learned that the Spanish governor of Texas had military warfare. The principal weapon used by ordered the establishment of a post among the the French was the Indian trader and agent; by Nassonites on the Red River. This news caused the Spaniards, the Franciscan missionary; each him to hurry on his way. Upon his arrival at the backed by a small display of military force. Nassonites, his first concern was to make This contest to control the Southwest was alliances with them. This was accomplished fought along the Arkansas, Canadian, and Red when the Nassonites, Cadodaquins, Natsooe and rivers. The Arkansas Post served as a center for Natchitoches sang the Calumet. This making alliances with Indians along the celebration lasted twenty-four hours. After the Arkansas River, and, later on, with those of the feast, La Harpe made them presents of a large whole region. By these treaties and alliances, amount of merchandise, in order to interest them France hoped to open up trade with the in his company, for which the Indian trade was Spaniards in New Mexico. very necessary. There was, at this same time, a contest in In the meanwhile, La Harpe, having learned the southeast between the English and the that the Spanish and French were at war, and French. From the first, the English had the war being an obstacle to his attempt to establish Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 59

a trade with the Spanish, set out to explore and objects of the expeditions between 1718-1724. to make alliances with the Indians to the La Harpe, Du Rivage, Du Tisne, by series of northeast. This expedition led him through alliances with Indians, treaties were made with Northeastern Oklahoma, and near the mouth of at least thirty different nations in the western the Canadian River, an alliance was made with part of Louisiana. It was hoped that through eight nations including a part of the Roving these alliances, the coveted trade with the Nation. La Harpe says that seven thousand Spaniards in New Mexico would be established. persons were here assembled to sing the When the western company wished to open Calumet. up the Arkansas River as a highway to Spanish La Harpe considered that one of the best territory, La Harpe was chosen for the task. La places in all Louisiana for the establishment of a Harpe reached the Arkansas Post early in post was at the mouth of the Canadian River, March, 1722. His first care was to gain because of its importance in trade, and "because knowledge of the course of the river and the the French could thus obtain control of the trade nations along its banks. The Indians seemed to with the Padoucas and Aricaras." This was the have been under Spanish influence, as they were aim of France, to get control of the Indians by rather reluctant to give any information. They trade. The Spaniards had been trading with the told him that five Frenchmen from M. Law’s Indians in this region for a long time, especially company had ascended the river to the Indian in the trade of horses and cattle. nation on the headwater of the river to purchase While La Harpe was making alliances with horses and had been killed by the Osages. After the Indians in Oklahoma, as a stepping stone making some preparations for his journey, La toward the trade in the Spanish southwest, Du Harpe left the Arkansas Post with a detachment Tisne was making alliances with the Indian of twenty-two men. He continued his tribes on the Osage, the Missouri, and the explorations up the river nine days, when he Arkansas rivers. He made an alliance with the became short of provisions. La Harpe then set Pawnees on the Arkansas, "bought Spanish out overland to see if he could find the fork of horses from them and established the French the river whose right branch led to the nations flag in their village." These two expeditions he had discovered by land in 1719. On account mark a definite step in the direction of trade of the condition of his men, he went only about with the Spaniards in New Mexico. fifty leagues in a westerly direction. But, from To the early French trader, New Mexico the appearances of the river, he concluded that it held almost the same lure that the Gran Quivira was navigable in high water to the settlements held for the early Spaniards, gold and precious of the Padoucas, and the Spanish in New stones, and, in addition, perhaps, a route to the Mexico. He recommended the establishment of South Sea. For the French traders, there were posts near "the Rock" and at the Fork, and that three natural highways of trade with the the Arkansas Post be strengthened by sending Spaniards in New Mexico, the Missouri, the out people to cultivate the soil. Arkansas, and the Red rivers. Each had its own In 1723, Bourgmont erected a post among difficulties. Between the French and New the Missouri tribes and in order to open up this Mexico there roamed the treacherous Comanche route, made treaties with various tribes along the and Apache, from the far north, to the south, route, and secured permission for the following the buffalo. The jealous Spaniards Frenchmen to pass through the Comanche kept these Indians hostile to the French, forming country to the Spanish dominions. Although the as the Spaniards wished, a barrier between the Missouri post was soon destroyed, there are French and the Spanish possessions in New indications of traders attempting to reach New Mexico. Mexico. The Mallet party, which reached Santa In order to trade with New Mexico, it Fe in 1739 is an example. Four of this party would be necessary to maintain peace among returned by way of the Canadian and the the Indians by causing them to make alliances Arkansas rivers. The safe return of this with each other. This was one of the main expedition gave added momentum to Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 60

possibilities of opening up a trade by way of the Arkansas River. Governor Bienville, in 1741, sent Fabray de la Brugeie, with a letter to the Governor of New Mexico, and, guided by the four men of the Mallet party, he was furnished with instructions to open up a commercial route. After going a short distance up the Canadian, Fabray was forced to go back to the Arkansas post for horses. Returning by way of the Cadodacho, he learned that the Mallet brothers had continued to Santa Fe on foot. He gave up the project, crossed Oklahoma from the Canadian to the Red River, where he visited the tribes which La Harpe had discovered in 1719. With the establishment of Fort Cavagnolle, at the Kansas village on the Missouri, the Arkansas route was made safe by a treaty between the Comanche and Jumano, in 1746 or 1747. France had, at last, accomplished her purpose of making possible a highway to the Spaniards of New Mexico, which she had definitely started, by establishing the Arkansas Post, and by making treaties with the Arkansas. A second step was made by La Harpe in 1719, when he made alliances with nine tribes,

collectively called Touacara. During the period between La Harpe’s expedition and the treaty between the Comanches and the Jumano, many attempts had been made to open communication with New Mexico, with more or less success. The effect of the treaty between these important Indian nations that patrolled the western frontier of Louisiana was immediate. At once, new expeditions of all kinds, private, deserters, and official agents started toward New Mexico, the Mecca, of trade in the west. Professor Herbert E. Bolton, searching in the Archives of Mexico, has brought to light records of two of these expeditions which give some interesting facts concerning both the Indians of this western frontier and the methods the French traders used in getting to Spanish territory. The Comanche were little known to the French at this time. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, they were hostile to both French and Spanish. This hostility made a barrier between Spanish New Mexico and French Louisiana. Between the French and the Comanche were the Jumano, Pawnee, and other tribes to the east, all of which had been enemies of the Comanche. This gave the Spaniards a

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better opportunity to trade with the Comanche. European, but the Indian. For the first three Their principal trading place was Taos, where, hundred years, he blazed the way for the white each year, they met in large numbers, and where man on every frontier. He was the buffer pelts and captives were exchanged for horses, between hostile tribes and hostile nations. knives, and other merchandise. Neither of the European nations realized the This trading mart at Taos held great importance of the Indian as a frontiersman. Had attraction for the French, and soon after the there been a better understanding, there would alliance between the Comanche and Jumano, the have been an entirely different Indian problem Comanche reported that two Frenchmen were at for the American government to take up later, their village waiting to accompany them to the and attempt to solve. Taos fair. The Spaniards at once became At the close of the Seven Years’ War, the concerned. In 1749, the governor of New Indian had only two masters. France had not Mexico sent his lieutenant to attend the Taos been able to hold her possessions, though not fair, and he brought three Frenchmen back to for lack of support of her Indian alliances. The Santa Fe. In questioning these three men, as Indian knew that the aggressive English farmer was the Spanish custom, it was found that all would take the place of the French hunter and three claimed to have been deserters from the trapper. The Treaty of Paris, 1763, meant that Arkansas Post, and that they had all heard of civilization had taken a step forward on the Santa Fe from Frenchmen who had come from North American continent. But, an old Choctaw there a few years before. Indian, in recounting what he had once had, said The route over which these travelers came that he remembered the time when he and his is interesting. They started from the village of fellow tribesmen owned a vast territory, "plenty the Arkansas Indians, a short distance from the horses and cattle, on a thousand hills. Now," he post, going up the Arkansas River to the village said, "all we have is civilization, just of the Jumano Indians. The Jumano conducted civilization." "Just civilization" did not appeal to them one hundred and fifty leagues to the the red man. Comanche settlement; here they remained some Spain accepted Western Louisiana as she time. From the Comanche settlement they came found it and attempted to carry out France’s to the Taos fair and from there they were taken policy in dealing with the Indians. Monsieur de to Santa Fe, taking, in all, six months. This was Clouet was commander of the Arkansas Post the route that the French had long wanted to just after, and, possibly, at the time of the open, the nearest and the most direct, to New transfer. From his letters to Lord Aubry, at that Mexico. Within a year another had entered time senior captain of the military forces, and, New Mexico over practically the same route. as such, the temporary governor of Louisiana The Arkansas and Canadian rivers became the until Spain took possession of the province, it international highway between the French and can be seen that the commander of the Arkansas the Spanish in the New World, France using all Post shared the feeling of opposition to Spanish means at her disposal to open and keep open the rule, as did those near New Orleans. way, and Spain using all her means to block it. The contest for the control of North America was, each year, drawing nearer and nearer to an end. The Indian on the frontier had borne the greater part of the burden. Two hundred and fifty years of contact with the white man, and the white man’s superior methods of warfare and diplomacy had made the Indian a tool, merely to be used in getting possession of the Territory. As that possession was gained, the Indian was pushed on to newer frontiers. The true pioneer of North America was not the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 62

American Explorers in Oklahoma By W. David Baird and Danney Goble15 On finalizing the agreement to purchase Louisiana, United States Commissioner Robert Livingston asked his French counterpart to define the boundaries of the province. The reply was, “You have made a noble bargain, Mr. Livingston. Make the most of it!” From the very beginning President Thomas Jefferson and his administration intended to make the most of it. That determination had important implications for Oklahoma. President Jefferson believed that Louisiana would provide the foundation for a great American empire. In that role it could supply needed natural resources, living room for an expanding population, a barrier against foreign aggression, and space for the resettlement of eastern Indians. Yet Jefferson recognized that effective use of Louisiana’s resources required better knowledge of its topography, its flora and fauna, it rocks and minerals, and its people. His desire for that kind of information led him to dispatch a series of expeditions to undertake scientific exploration of Louisiana.

way Lewis and Clark gathered incredible amounts of information about the northern reaches of Louisiana, in addition to impressing the Indians with the power and might of the “Great Father” in Washington. What the two commanders had done in the north, Jefferson hoped others could do in the south. The Sparks Expedition Early in 1806 the President ordered Captain Richard Sparks to proceed up the Red River to the Twin Villages of the Wichitas and from there to the Rocky Mountains. He was to take careful notes on the country he saw and the people he met. Sparks put together a company of twenty-four soldiers and moved upriver in a small fleet of canoes. But his party barely made it into present-day Oklahoma—if it made it all. A Spanish cavalry unit of several hundred men overran its camp and ordered the captain to return to the American settlements or face arrest. Sparks went back. Obviously the Spanish were very sensitive about any United States party exploring southern Louisiana when boundaries were still indefinite.

The Pike-Wilkinson Expedition Since southern Louisiana remained a mystery, authorities next dispatched Captain Zebulon Pike to search out the origins of the Red River. In July 1806, Pike departed from St. Louis with twenty-three men on a route that took him up the Missouri River to the Osage villages. There he obtained horses and, dodging Spanish patrols, made his way to the Great Bend of the Arkansas River in west-central Kansas. At this point, Lieutenant James Wilkinson Scientific Explorers became ill and the command was divided. Wilkinson and five men were sent east down the Arkansas while Pike and the rest of the troops Meriwether Lewis and William Clark went west up the river to its source. Pike’s commanded the earliest and probably best party pushed on to the Rocky Mountains, known of the scientific expeditions. Between eventually being arrested by a Spanish patrol 1804 and 1806 it went up the Missouri River, and subjected to imprisonment in Mexico before crossed the Rocky Mountains, and followed the returning to the United States. Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Along the Meanwhile, in November and December, Wilkinson’s party worked its way down the 15 From Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. The Story of Arkansas River in two elm bark canoes. Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Shallow water soon forced them to march along 1994. the riverbank. By the time they had reached Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 63

northeastern Oklahoma they were barely able to navigate the river in two dugout canoes. Winter came early and hard in 1806. The Arkansas filled with ice, and snowstorms limited visibility. The Wilkinson Party suffered greatly, losing supplies of food and ammunition and experiencing severe frostbite. Some relief came from Osage hunters encamped along the river’s edge. Wilkinson celebrated New Year’s Day 1807 by leaving Oklahoma. Although his group had limited time for observation, the journey shows that they had learned a good deal. The Osages were numerous and in “a constant state of warfare” with any Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws who ventured into the area. Wilkinson heard about a prairie that was encrusted with salt and about lead mines “northwest” of the Osages, and he passed over a seven-foot waterfall (Webbers Falls) on the Arkansas. He also documented that American hunters and trappers were already working the Poteau River. President Jefferson found the official report extremely interesting, especially the part about any entire prairie of salt.

The Long-Bell Expedition No military expedition yielded more information about Oklahoma than did that commanded by Stephen Long. Yet it was an accident. Long was assigned to search out the sources of the Red and Arkansas rivers and to descend each to the Mississippi River. In July 1820 he led his command west from Omaha along the Platte River to the Rocky Mountains. There he divided his party, similarly to the PikeWilkinson expedition, sending Captain John Bell and twelve men down the Arkansas while he continued south to the headwaters of the Red. Bell, like Wilkinson before him, found the Arkansas route tough going. Only this time the problem was not cold temperatures but hot ones. When Bell and his party got to Oklahoma in mid-August, ninety degree temperatures had worn out the animals and men and made game difficult to find. For food they were reduced to eating skunks, a fawn taken literally from the jaws of a wolf, hawks, turkeys, turtles, mussels, and boiled corn. An occasional deer, and grain and melons taken from abandoned Osage campsites restored their strength and kept them going until they reached Fort Smith on The Sibley Expedition September 9. It was the prospect of salt that brought the Thomas Say, a noted zoologist, was a third official expedition to Oklahoma in 1811. member of Bell’s command. His task was to Salt was an important commodity on the make and record observations on the plants, frontier, necessary for meat preservation and animals, minerals, and native peoples the party food seasoning. George Sibley led the encountered along the Arkansas. Unfortunately expedition, and, being a subagent from Fort his five large journals were lost when three Osage, was given the primary mission of soldiers deserted and took those valuable negotiating peace alliances between the Osages materials with them. From the few remaining and western Kansas tribes. He also used the notebooks, Say later published the only account occasion to lead his party into Oklahoma to look of this expedition. at the storied deposits of salt. In the meantime, Long continued Sibley’s visit to the Great Salt Plains southward from the Arkansas looking for the revealed wafer-thin sheets of salt on the vast flat headwaters of the Red River. His party also glistening “like a brilliant field of snow.” The included a noted biologist, Edwin James. sight so excited Sibley’s imagination that he Eventually Long encountered a broad stream pressed on to the Big Salt Plains, the salt which he took to be the Red River, an deposits mentioned by Lieutenant Wilkinson assumption that he held for nearly seven weeks. five years earlier. The “beautifully white” rock Actually it was the Canadian, the waterway the salt, Sibley wrote, was “unquestionably superior French had followed to Santa Fe. Riding horses to any that I ever saw.” Altogether, there was in in the bed of the river, the Long Party reached northern Oklahoma and “inexhaustible store of the Antelope Hills and Oklahoma on August 17. ready made salt” just waiting to enter “into James was impressed with the wildlife he saw: channels of commerce.” “Herds of bison, wild horses, elk, and deer, are Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 64

seen quietly grazing in these extensive and fertile pastures.” A prairie-dog colony, a mile square in area, filled him with awe, as did flocks of white pelicans, egrets and snowy herons, and the occasional bald eagle, not to mention tarantulas. When the Long Party arrived at the Arkansas on September 10, 1820, they recognized to their “mortification” that they were not on the Red River, but the Canadian. Both Long and James were embarrassed and disappointed, even more so because they knew that they did not have the energy, the time, or the means to go back and do the job rights. Instead they pushed on to Fort Smith, where three days later they were reunited with Bell and the remainder of the original party.

agriculture. Thereafter, maps of the American West usually labeled the area as “the Great American Desert.” If Long and his colleagues had had their way, Oklahoma and the surrounding area would have remained in its natural condition. Thomas Nuttall in Oklahoma The most useful and complete information assembled about the resources and people of Oklahoma did not come from governmentsponsored expeditions. Rather it was gathered by the English botanist Thomas Nuttall. In 1819 he spent several months in Oklahoma gathering botanical samples. His expedition followed a route up the Poteau River and then down the Kiamichi River. Along the way

The Long expedition did not meet its Nuttall marveled at the wildlife he saw (bears, declared objective, yet it had important bison, panthers, and snakes) and the loveliness consequences. It generated, despite the loss of of the prairies and mountains. “Nothing could Say’s journals, an impressive quantity of at this season exceed the beauty of these plains,” scientific data on Oklahoma’s flora, fauna, he wrote, “enameled with such an uncommon geology, geography, and native peoples. More variety of flowers of vivid tints, possessing all important, the expedition confirmed a general the brilliancy of tropical productions.” impression that the Southern Plains were a sandy wasteland unsuitable for general Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 65

Commercial Explorers While some Americans sought scientific knowledge about Oklahoma, other sought primarily to profit from it. In the tradition of the French coureurs de bois, they ventured up the Arkansas and Red rivers to trade with the Indians for furs, live-stock, and captives, or to trap and hunt for the skins themselves. Some hoped to realize the old French dream of opening a trade route with Spanish settlements along the Rio Grande. Many of these “expectant capitalists,” became trailblazers and explorers in their own right.

respect fro the needs and rights of Indians. The army tried to expel them from the area in 1819—but with little success.

Three Forks Traders American traders along the Arkansas tended to concentrate in the Three Forks area where the Arkansas, Verdigris, and the Grand rivers merge. Near there the Arkansas band of the Osages resided. French traders out of Arkansas Post frequented the Osages’ Verdigris River villages from the time they were established. With the onset of the American period, there was even more commercial activity at the Three Forks. The Chouteau brothers accounted Red River Traders for much of this. Pierre and Auguste Chouteau The quest for economic success of Anthony had made fortunes trading with the Osage along Glass took him up the Red River only two years the Missouri River. The brothers had lost their after Sparks had been turned back. In July monopoly of that trade, granted by the Spanish, 1808, with permission from American Indian and in 1802 they relocated their considerable agents, Glass and ten others went to participate operation among the 3,000 members of the in a trade fair hosted by the Wichitas and Arkansas Osage band. involved all of the Southern Plains tribes. Joseph Bogy was another early Three Forks Because of Spanish apprehensions regarding trader. Of French extraction, he had operated American intentions, Glass was supposed to trading establishments earlier at Kaskaskia, following the north bank of the Red River to the Illinois and at Arkansas Post. On the Verdigris Twin Villages. Actually he took a route parallel he constructed a post of picket logs and traded to the Red on the Texas side. extensively with the Osages. That commerce in Glass presented the greetings of the part accounted for his loss of a boatload of trade President to the Wichitas and expressed his own goods to a Choctaw war party in 1807. desire to trade with them and their Comanche With the general westward movement of allies. He stayed in the area for six month the American people after the War of 1812, both swapping horses and tracking down a meteorite the population and the range of activity in the revered by the Indians. His final report tells Three Forks area increased. Joining Bogy—the much about Wichita cultural habits. Particularly Chouteau family was temporarily absent—were important were his observations that the Wichita merchants, hunters, salt manufacturers, and even were a people under siege and held virtually as farmers. captives in their own villages by the Osages. The Chouteau interests returned to the Also significant was Glass’s report that an Three Forks area when Colonel A.P. Chouteau, American trading party has already passed the son of Pierre and a graduate of West Point, through the villages on it way to Santa Fe. opened a post on Grand River at Salina in 1817. Glass was able to ascend the Red River Chouteau had just completed a prison term in when two American military expeditions Mexico, his reward for taking trade goods (Sparks and Long) had failed. Other across the plains of Santa Fe without Spanish commercial explorers would follow him to the permission. He immediately purchased the Twin Villages and beyond, but most focused interests of a few competitors near the mouth of their activities in southeastern Oklahoma. the Verdigris and even added a keelboat These hunters and trappers are nameless today, construction operation. Fluent in the Osage but they were an independent lot who had little language and the husband of one white and four Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 66

Indian wives. For the next decade Chouteau reigned as the merchant prince of the Three Forks area until the commercial activity of the region shifted from hunting to agriculture.

Given those prospects, Oklahoma was idea— from a white perspective—as a resettlement zone for eastern Indians who, federal officials assumed, wanted to escape the pressures of civilization.

Santa Fe Traders In 1819 the United States negotiated the Adams-Onís Treaty with Spain. This agreement finally defined the southern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Spain negotiated the treaty in part to help ensure continued control of its Mexican provinces. The idea was to protect them from North American aggression by a well-defined boundary. But Spain’s problem was not external; it was internal. Two years after the Adams-Onís Treaty, Mexico declared it independence from Spain and made it stick. This had important implications fro the traders and merchants at Three Forks and St. Louis because it offered hope that the new government might liberalize its trade policies and permit Americans to trade with Santa Fe and other Rio Grand settlements. Although Mexican policy did allow these traders the economic freedom to pursue trade with Santa Fe, the routes to get there were long and rough. Several expeditions by various traders showed that it was possible to get to the dreamed destination, the profits, due high costs for the trip, were not enough to remove the focus from Three Forks and St. Louis.

What is the Meaning? In 1803 when the flag of the United States rose over Oklahoma very little was known of its resources. Official and unofficial scientific expeditions discovered much about Oklahoma, especially along the Arkansas, Cimarron, Canadian, and Poteau rivers. Hunters and traders operating out of Three Forks and along the Red River discovered even more. By 1825, the “nature and extent” of the land that is now Oklahoma—what Jefferson had set out to know—were reasonably known. Adjoined to “the Great American Desert” and bounded on two sides by Mexico, the area was not likely to attract even the energetic American farmers. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 67

Indians, that you may the better comprehend the parts dealt out to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cares where you are obligated to act without instruction. Our system is to live in perpetual peace with the Indians, to cultivate an affectionate attachment from them, by everything just and liberal which we can do for them within the bounds of reason, and by giving them effectual protection against wrongs from our own people. The decrease of game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient, we wish to draw them to By Michael P. Johnson16 agriculture, to spinning and weaving. The latter branches they take up with great readiness, Diplomatic relations with American Indians because they fall to the women, who gain by were among the new nation’s most important quitting the labors of the field for those which activities. A growing population and the rush of are exercised within doors. When they settlers to frontier farms pushed to the fore withdraw themselves tot he culture of a small issues of access to Indian lands and piece of land, they will perceive how useless to subordination of tribal authority to the trade, them are their extensive forests, and will be laws, and customs of white Americans. willing to pare them off from time to time in President Thomas Jefferson outlined his exchange for necessaries for their farms and strategy for Indian affairs in 1803 in a private families. To promote this disposition to letter to the governor of Indiana Territory, exchange lands, which they have to spare and William Henry Harrison, excerpted here. In we want, for necessaries, which we have to public, Jefferson expressed his Indian policy spare and they want, we shall push our trading many times when visiting delegations of uses, and be glad to see the good and influential American Indians came to Washington, D.C. individuals among them run in debt, because we Jefferson’s address to the Mandans—the source observe that when these debts get beyond what of the next selection—illustrates the public face the individuals can pay, they become willing to of American policy. lop them off by a cession of lands. At our trading houses, too, we mean to sell so low as merely to repay us cost and charges, so as Letter to Governor William H. neither to lessen or enlarge our capital. This is Harrison, February 27, 1803 what private traders cannot do, for they must gain; they will consequently retire from the You receive from time to time information competition, and we shall thus get clear of this and instructions as to our Indian affairs. These pest without giving offense of umbrage to the communications being for the public records, Indians. In this way our settlements will are restrained always to particular objects and gradually circumscribe and approach the occasions; but this letter being unofficial and Indians, and they will in time either incorporate private, I may with safety give you a more with us as citizens of the United States, or extensive view of our policy respecting the remove beyond the Mississippi. The former is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course 16 Johnson, Michael P. “President Thomas Jefferson’s of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As Private and Public Indian Policy.” Reading the to their fear, we presume that our strength and American Past. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. their weakness is now so visible that they must Martin’s, 2005. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 68

President Jefferson’s Indian Policy:

Private and Public Expressions of Thought

see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, and that all our liberalities to them proceed from motives of pure humanity only. Should any tribe be fool-hardy enough to take up the hatchet at any time, the seizing the whole country of that tribe, and driving them across the Mississippi, as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others, and a furtherance of our final consolidation. Combined with these views, and to be prepared to against the occupation of Louisiana by a powerful and enterprising people, it is important that, setting less value on interior extension of purchases from the Indians, we bend our whole views tot he purchase and settlement of the country on the Mississippi, from its mouth to its northern regions, that we may be able to present as strong a front on our western as on our eastern border, and plant on the Mississippi itself the means of its own defense. . . . Of the means, however, of obtaining what we wish, you will be the best judge; and I have given you this view of the system which we suppose will best promote the interest of the Indians and ourselves, and finally consolidate our whole country to one nation only; that you may be enabled the better to adapt your means to the object, for this purpose we have given you a general commission for treating. The crisis is pressing: whatever can now be obtained must be obtained quickly. The occupation of New Orleans, hourly expected, by the French, is already felt like a light breeze by the Indians. You know the sentiments they entertain of that nation; under the hope of their protection they will immediately stiffen against cessions of lands to us. We had better, therefore, do at once what can now be done. I must repeat that this letter is to be considered as private and friendly, and is not to control any particular instructions which you may receive through official channel. You will also perceive how sacredly it must be kept within your own breast, and especially how improper to be understood by the Indians. For their interests and their tranquility it is best they should see only the present age of their history.

Address to the Wolf and People of the Mandan Nation, December 30, 1806 My children, the Wolf and people of the Mandan nation—I take you by the hand of friendship and give you a hearty welcome to the seat of the government of the United States. The journey which have taken to visit your fathers on this side of our island is a long one, and your having undertaken it is a proof that you desired to become acquainted with us. . . . My friends and children, we are descended from the old nations which live beyond the great water, but we and our forefathers have been so long here that we seem like you to have grown out of this land. We consider ourselves no longer of the old nations beyond the great water, but as united in one family with our red brethren here. The French , the English, the Spanish, have now agreed with us to retire from all the country which you and we hold between Canada and Mexico, and never more to return to it. And remember the words I now speak to you, my children, they are never to return again. We are now your fathers; and you shall not lose by the change. As soon as Spain had agreed to withdraw from all the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi, I felt the desire of becoming acquainted with all my red children beyond the Mississippi, and of uniting them with us as we have those on this side of that river, in the bonds of peace and friendship. I wished to learn that we could do to benefit them by furnishing them the necessaries they want in exchange for their furs and peltries. I therefore sent our beloved man, Captain [Meriwether] Lewis, on of my own family, to go up the Missouri River to get acquainted with all the Indian nations in its neighborhood, to take them by the hand, deliver my talks to them, and to inform us in what way we could be useful to them. Your nation received him kindly, you have taken them by the hand and been friendly to him. My children, I thank you for the services you rendered him, and for your attention to his words. He will now tell us where we should establish trading

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houses to be convenient to you all, and what we yourselves. Be sure there are some lying spirits must send to them. between us; let us come together as friends and My friends and children, I have now an explain to each other what is misrepresented or important advice to give you. I have already misunderstood, the clouds will fly away like told you that you and all the red men are my morning, fog, and the sun of friendship appear children, and I wish you to live in peace and and shrine forever bright and clear between us. friendship with one another as brethren of the same family ought to do. How much better is it for neighbors to help than to hurt one another; how much happier must it make them. If you will cease to make war on one another, if you will live in friendship with all mankind, you can employ all your time in providing food and clothing for yourselves and your families. Your men will not be destroyed in war, and your women and children will lie down to sleep in their cabins without fear of being surprised by their enemies and killed or carried away. Your numbers will be increased instead of diminishing, and you will live in plenty and in quiet. My children, I have given this advice to all your red brethren on this side of the Mississippi; they are following it, they are increasing in their numbers, are learning to clothe and provide for their families as we do. Remember then my advice, my children, carry it home to your people, and tell them that from the day that they have become all of the same family, from the day that we became father to them all, we wish, as a true father should do, that we may all live together as one household, and that before they strike one another, they should go to their fathers and let him endeavor to make up the quarrel. My children, you are come from the other side of our great island, from where the sun sets, to see your new friends at the sun rising. . . . I very much desire that you should not stop here, but go . . . and visit our great cities . . . and see how many friends and brothers you have here. . . . I wish you, my children, to see all you can, and to tell your people all you see; because I am sure the more they know of us, the more they will be our hearty friends. . . . My children, I have long desired to see you; I have now opened my heart to you, let my words sink into your hearts and never be forgotten. If ever lying people or bad spirits should raise up clouds between us, call to mind what I have said, and what you have seen Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 70

hours gambling, smoking, or talking while women worked in the fields. And in winter, most women stayed in warm houses while men traveled great distances in bitter cold to search for game. But the Cherokees were not particularly concerned with the optimum use of their labor supply because for them, tasks 17 involved far more than the production of By Theda Perdue commodities. A person’s job was an aspect of their gender, a source of economic and political Prior to contact with Europeans, the power, and an affirmation of cosmic order and Cherokees lived in the fertile valleys of the balance. southern Appalachians. They conceived of their Theoretically, the division of labor was world as a system of categories that opposed very rigid, but in reality, men and women often and balanced one another. In this belief system, willingly helped one another. Men assisted in women balanced men just as summer balanced several agricultural chores, including clearing winter, plants balanced animals, and farming fields and harvesting crops. Although, they did balanced hunting. Peace and prosperity not hoe and weed, Cherokee men helped women depended on the maintenance of boundaries plant the large fields that lay on the outskirts of between these opposing categories, and blurring their towns. Between planting and harvest, the the lines between them threatened disaster. The men retired from agriculture and the women balance their categories and, in particular, assumed total responsibility. Women not only between men and women may not have tended the crops in the large fields but also permitted equality in a modern sense, but their planted smaller gardens near their homes. concern with balance made hierarchy, which These they fenced with hickory or oak saplings often serves to oppress women, indefensible. tied to stakes. In their “kitchen gardens” the Men did not dominate women, and women were women cultivated another kind of corn, which not subservient to men. Men knew little about was smaller than field corn and ripened in only the world of women; they had no power over two months, and they grew beans, peas, and women and no control over women’s activities. other vegetables. Women had their own arena of power, and any Although they probably spent far more time threat to its integrity jeopardized the cosmic farming than European men credited them with, order. So it had been since the beginning of women did have other means for supplying their time. families with the earth’s bounties. In particular, Like their ancestors, the Cherokees divided Cherokee women were prodigious gatherers. In labor according to gender. Men hunted because the fall, they burned the underbrush in the the first man had been responsible for providing woods and collected vast quantities of nuts, his family with meat. Women farmed because which they used in bread or for oil. In summer, their ancestral mother was the source of corn. they picked berries and fruit. Throughout the Men helped clear fields and plant crops, but the year, they relied on wild plants for seeds, leaves primary responsibility for agriculture rested (which were never eaten raw), roots, and stems with women. When women accompanied men to add variety to their diet and to tide them over on the winter hunt, they confined their activities in case provisions ran out before harvest or the to gathering nuts and firewood, cooking for the corn crop failed. The women searched for bee hunters, and perhaps preparing skins. By trees and collected honey, and they made sugar modern standards such a division of labor was from maple sap. not very efficient. Men spent many summer The responsibility for a bountiful harvest, though, fell to the women. If the Cherokees 17 From Perdue, Theda. Cherokee Women: Gender and experience a drought, the women summoned a Culture Change 1700-1835. Lincoln NE: Univ. of priest who tried to produce rain. In addition to Nebraska Press, 1999. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 71

Cherokee Women

ensuring favorable growing conditions, women It was certainly true that beyond their help were also responsible for protecting the crops at planting and harvesting, Cherokee men had from predators, one of the more dangerous and no role in cultivating gardens or fields, which demanding chores associated with farming. In Europeans attributed to the men’s laziness. the outlying fields, the Cherokees built large However, the men were not idle; their scaffolds from which they could watch for obligations to the community differed from crows and raccoons. The task of sitting alone those of women. Perhaps women willingly on scaffolds all summer, the season for war, fell performed most of the work in Cherokee society to elderly women. because they also controlled the fruits of their Cherokee women also made a variety of labor, the crops; the means of production, the other things not directly related to food but land; and the result of production, the children. necessary to the well being of their households The primary landholding unit in Cherokee or for their own pleasure. They made their society was the household, and the produce cooking utensils and other pottery from clay. from the household’s fields went into its own Vessels included pitchers, bowls, dishes, basins, crib. A household consisted of an extended and platters. Cherokee women constructed family linked by women, typically an elderly baskets, which served as containers and sieves, woman, her daughters and their children, the out of river or swamp cane, which they cut into women’s husbands, and any unmarried sons. strips. Dyes for baskets included bloodroot, Married sons did not live in the household. walnut bark, and butternut. Rectangular baskets They resided with their own wives because the usually measured about 3 feet long, 1-½ feet Cherokees were matrilocal; husbands and wide, and I foot deep. In addition to baskets and children lived in the households of their wives pots, gourds and skins served as containers. and mothers. A husband and wife, therefore, Women hollowed out large bottle gourds for occupied buildings belonging to the wife, or carrying water. For storing oil and honey, they rather to the wife’s family, and marriage did not turned whole deerskins into flasks by cutting off alter a woman’s right to her property. Such an the head and feet and sewing up all openings arrangement gave women control over the crops except the neck. Women made their clothing they produced and a sense of ownership in their from a number of materials, including buffalo houses and fields. hair they collected after the animals had shed, The connection between women and corn which they wore into garments and pouches. gave women considerable status and economic Deerskins as well as fabrics made of hemp and power because the Cherokees depended heavily mulberry bark were sewn into clothing with on that crop for subsistence. Corn was the bone needles and thread of sinew. For their preferred food, particularly for those who faced houses, women wove cane mats and hemp competition or danger. Warriors, for example, carpets, which they painted bright colors. They ate only parched corn. Apparently, the also probably carved the soapstone pipes they Cherokees considered meat to be more smoked. Women provided wood and water for weakening than corn and its consumption their households. Carrying water, associated problematic for those who faced various kinds with fertility, was a gender-specific task. of trials. In the 17th century before the advent of Cherokee women, then, had relatively little the deerskin trade, hunting conceivably had free time. Even in the winter they had to keep become so insignificant to the Cherokee the fire going, prepare food, and make any items economy that it was largely ritualistic. they could indoors. In addition, some women Traditional Cherokee ceremonial life may, in followed the men on long hunts lasting three or fact, reflect the relative importance of four months in order to perform their customary agriculture and hunting; most public chores—carrying water, gathering wood, and ceremonies, and in particular the Green Corn cooking. Consequently, it is not surprising that Ceremony, were associated with farming; none Europeans generally believed Cherokee women directly related to the chase. to be victims of male exploitation. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 72

The Cherokees’ understanding of the cosmos helped them understand their place in the world. Although the Cherokees did not have “deities” in the sense of physical representations of spiritual beings they worshipped, they did personify many things in the natural world and assigned them religious significance. A female spirit sometimes appeared as corn, while the Cherokees regarded thunder and rivers as male spirits. The most important “deities” were the sun and the moon: the sun was female and the moon was male. In some ways, this description of the sun and moon symbolizes Cherokee gender roles. The day belongs to the sun, the night to the moon. Rarely can both be seen in the sky at the same time. Similarly, men and women had separate and distinct responsibilities. But the Cherokees viewed the tasks both women and men performed and the contributions they made as essential to their society and, like the sun and moon, to the integrity of the universe.

The Southeastern Indians By W. David Baird and Danney Goble18 The name of our state, Oklahoma, is a Choctaw Indian word. The seals of five Indian nations—the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, the Creeks, the Seminoles, and the Cherokees— appear on the great seal of Oklahoma. From Atoka to Wewoka, countless place-names in the state originate with the Five Tribes. Today, nearly two-thirds of all the Indian people within our state are members of one of the Five Tribes. How do we explain this close connection between Oklahoma and the Five Tribes? Primarily, it is because people of those tribes dominated the history of our state for most of the nineteenth century. They were the first to develop the land rather than just exploit it. They organized Oklahoma’s earliest schools and churches, as well as its first constitutional government. In sum, the real pioneers of modern Oklahoma were not Spanish, not French, not European American; our pioneers were people of those Southeastern tribes. To help us appreciate their contribution, we need to know something about them before their arrival in Oklahoma. Although there were many differences, all of the tribes held many beliefs and customs in common at the time of the arrival of the Europeans.

Traditional Religious Beliefs The Southeastern Indians believed that all living creatures and spiritual beings in the universe existed together in harmony. 18

From Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. The Story of Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

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Everything—even directions, colors, and numbers—had purpose and significance. If tragedy occurred, Indians concluded that things were no longer in harmony. There were three worlds in the universe. The perfectly harmonious Upper World was the residence of gods like the Sun, the Moon, Thunder, and Corn. Monsters and witches lived in the Under World, which was filled with chaos. Southeastern Indians lived in the third world, or “This World,” which they conceived of as a flat island floating on water and hanging on four cords. This World benefited from fire, which was a gift on the Sun, but it was often troubled by the activities of spiritual beings from the Under World. These visitors from the Under World had to be treated carefully. If they were slighted, they might strike the offender with disease or even death. The Five Tribes believed that ghosts were the source of great misery. When a person died, friends and relatives shouted and made noise to frighten the dead person’s ghost up into the western sky. Unfortunately, the ghost did not always stay away but might return when it was lonely and haunt its relatives. In contrast, spirits known as the Immortals were friendly beings, who looked after tired hunters and helped defend villages from enemy attack. They were invisible except when they wanted to be seen. The Immortals lived on high peaks where no timber grew.

Traditional Political Organization

Council composed of representatives from the chiefdoms, had some influence when the interests of all were involved. A council of leading men chose the head of the chiefdom, generally from one of the more important clans. At their meetings each member of the council, seated according to his rank, listened politely to all speeches. The purpose of the council was to achieve a consensus of opinion and harmony of action. The objective was the same in district or national councils.

Traditional Economic Systems Indian children never agonized about what they would do as adults. Men would clear land, construct buildings, make tools and weapons, hunt with a bow and arrows, and fish with spears, traps, nets, and hooks. They would also be warriors. Women would cultivate fields of corn, squash, and beans, gather wild foods, cook, manufacture baskets and pottery, tan hides, make clothing, and raise the children. Women owned the food they produced and controlled the fields they worked. They did not, however, own the land itself. Land was held in common, owned by everyone, by the chiefdom. There was no money system among the Five Tribes. Goods changed hands in barter transactions where on Indian might swap grain for the meat of another Indian. Products also moved from person to person as gifts. Members of the Five Tribes wee more impressed with generosity than individual wealth. They chose their leaders because of their willingness to share their possessions with the rest of the chiefdom. In turn, the leaders had an obligation to be generous, especially in the distribution of the fruits of a common hunt or harvest.

The Southeastern Indians lived in political units known as chiefdoms. The territories of a chiefdom could extend over several miles and contained at least one village, where residents would gather to discuss matters of common concern, play games, and participate in religious Civilization Program ceremonies. Often several chiefdoms joined together to form larger political units. The Choctaw chiefdoms coalesced into three to five Once the American Revolution ended in divisions that together comprised the tribe as a 1783, the newly formed United States whole. Among Creeks, however, some fifty or government dealt with the Indians much as it more chiefdoms, known as “towns,” were would have dealt with a European nation. It virtually autonomous. Cherokee chiefdoms recognizes each tribe as a sovereign community were independent too, although a National that conducted its internal affairs by traditional Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 74

methods. If a change in relations between a tribe and the United States was required, a treaty was negotiated with tribal leaders, signed by the President, and ratified by the Senate. In relationships with the Indian, the goal of the United States was quite simple. Its leaders wanted to transform the tribes people so that they behaved like white Americans. The Indians were to set aside their natural way of life in the wilderness for one dependent on agriculture and domestic arts (spinning and weaving), facilitated by reading, writing, and arithmetic, and redeemed by the beliefs of Christianity. In other words, the United States officials wanted to civilize the Indians and then assimilate them into American society. The Five Tribes responded to the civilization program differently. Some made it clear that they did not want any part of it. Others welcomed it, because they saw it as a way or preserving their tribal independence, since “civilized” people got more respect from the whites than did “savages.” To win respect of the outside world, the leaders of the Five Tribes set a course of change. Although the members of the prominent mixed-blood families were most receptive to the changes, “progressives” in favor of the changes came from every level of tribal society.

New Religious Beliefs

attributing some of the pressure for removal on the missionaries. There was similar feeling among the Cherokees. In none of the Five Tribes did Christianity replace traditional Indian religion. The sacred fires continued to burn in most villages. What the Indians took from the missionaries they took on their own terms and adapted to their own needs and perspectives.

New Political Organization The forms and functions of tribal government changed dramatically under the pressures of white civilization and the encouragement of a small group of wealthy mixed-blood Indians. In 1808 the first written law of the Cherokees established a police force that was to find, try, and execute criminals as well as assure the descent of property through the father’s line. To make government more efficient, the Cherokees established an executive committee of thirteen members, and by 1817 the National Committee had become a powerful and independent executive body. In 1819 the Cherokees adopted a written constitution modeled on that of the United States, creating a government with legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Cherokees even established a capital city at New Echota, Georgia. In 1826, the Choctaws wrote their first constitution. It provided for a central government with an executive of three district chiefs and a council of elected representatives. Among its first laws were those ordering the construction of a national council house, providing for inheritance through the father’s line, and discouraging polygamy. The Chickasaws began adopting written laws in 1829. The Creeks and the Seminoles did not enact written codes of law and establish constitutional governments until after removal to Oklahoma.

The Southeastern Indians, as a general rule, had little interest in the spiritual opportunities presented by the Christian missionaries. At first the Cherokees permitted missionary societies to open schools only if the teachers kept their religious convictions to themselves. Until 1822 the Creeks kept missionaries out of their domain. The Choctaws were so impressed with Presbyterian gospel that ten years passed before thee was a single convert among them! The removal crisis of the 1820s and 1830s both helped and hurt the cause of Christianity among the Five Tribes. In despair Choctaws by the thousands attended both Methodist and Presbyterian camp meetings and professed belief in Christianity. On the other hand, the Creeks became stridently anti-Christian, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 75

New Economic Systems Early in the 1800s the economies of the Southeastern tribes changed from hunting and subsistence farming to herding and plantation agriculture. Indian families Pitchlynns (Choctaw) grazed large herds of cattle on pastures once covered by white-tailed deer. The McIntoshes (Creek) cleared large fields and planted cotton. The cattlemen and planters sold their calves and cotton crops to buyers in adjacent states. A substantial number reinvested the money they received in black slaves. George Waters (Cherokee) possessed 100 slaves, while the Gunter family (Cherokee) owned 104. As United States currency began to circulate within the tribal domains, Indians opened their own stores and trading posts. One of the most successful merchants was James Vann (Cherokee). Still others, like John Ross (Cherokee), built and operated ferries at crucial river crossings. In the household, the introduction of spinning wheels and weaving looms changed the work patterns of many women. No longer did wives and daughters labor in the fields planting and tending the corn crop. Rather their days largely were spent in the house manufacturing cloth and sewing clothes.

crossing the Mississippi River, and settling in Arkansas. A small, militant group of the Creeks known as the Red Sticks would go to the other extreme by taking up arms against the American during the War of 1812—a decision that would bring increased antagonism from white Americans on all members of the Five Tribes once the war was over.

Resistance to Civilization Not all Southeastern Indians embraced the “civilization.” These “traditionalists”, who held fast to the old way, are often associated with tribal members with no white ancestors, the fullbloods. However, there where mixed-blood traditionalists, but they were usually aspiring leaders who adopted traditional perspectives to primarily to win their political support. John Ross (Cherokee) and Alexander McGillivray (Creek) were two prominent mixed-blood traditionalists. Resistance to “civilization” was found in many different forms. The Bowl (Cherokee) and his followers chose a peaceful path of resistance by leaving their traditional homeland, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 76

themselves to competitive society was of immense benefit when the frontiersmen began to press heavily upon them. Four influences seemed to have predominated in the transformation of these Southern Indians. One influence was the whites who infiltrated into the Indian country, became members of the tribes, intermarried with them and came to exert a large influence in Indian life and government. A second force for regeneration was the United States government which through its Indian agents, trading stations, and protection by the United States soldiers exerted a salutary influence on the tribes. The missionaries were a third influence which induced the Indians to accept, at least in part, 19 Christian ideals and customs for the more By Edward Davis repulsive primitive Indian customs. Finally the Indians themselves definitely accepted the white The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek man's civilization and government in order to and Seminole Indians are known as the Five compete with the white civilization and combat Civilized Tribes. Approximately 22.5 percent the pressure of the States about them. of the Indians of the United States are members The first white man to come in contact with of these tribes. The fact that five tribes, rated as the Southern Indians was De Soto in his civilized, constitute such a large portion of the expedition 1539-1541. The Spaniards did not Indians of the United States invites a study of immediately follow this expedition up with the civilizing influences which raised the further explorations of settlements. The French standard of culture of these Indians, and enabled who settled Biloxi, Mobile, and New Orleans them to maintain their numbers while many had considerable contact with the Choctaws and other tribes formerly strong became miserable Creeks. They incurred the enmity of the remnants of their former selves. Chickasaws and were never able to win their The Southern Indians were far advanced in friendship. A French mission existed among the civilization prior to the time of their first contact Choctaws for some time in the early part of the with the whites. Their economy was based on 18th century but with little evidence of agriculture, and corn constituted the chief food converting the Indians to Catholicism or of in their diet. In addition, they raised pumpkins, permanent results. Christian Priber, a French several varieties of beans, squash, artichokes Jesuit, was among the Cherokees from 1736 to and tobacco. They utilized the wild fruits of the about 1745. He seems to have taught many forest, and made oil for cooking from acorns Bible stories to the Cherokees and laid a and hickory nuts. They fished and hunted to foundation of knowledge that the Protestant secure their meat and fat for cooking, while missionaries built upon when they came to the bear, deer, beaver, otter, and other skins Nation about 1800. Many French intermarried constituted most of the sources of their bedding, among the Choctaws and Creeks. Greenwood carpets, and clothing. As soon as white contacts LeFlore, Chief of the Choctaws at the time of were made with them, they adopted many of the removal, was the son of a French father. white customs and methods and made quick Alexander McGillivray, Chief of the Creeks adjustments to them. This ability to adjust during Washington's administration, was the son of a French-Creek mother. 19 Davis, Edward. “Early Advancement Among the Five In the English colonies the Germans and Civilized Tribes.” Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. particularly the Scotch or Scotch Irish usually 14, No. 2, June 1936. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 77

Early Advancement Among the Five Civilized Tribes

occupied the frontier positions and often served the other by retaliation. The United States made as traders in the Indian trade. Such men treaties with the Cherokees in 1785 and the naturally formed marriage alliances with the Choctaws in 1786 in which like terms were Indian women and came to reside in the Indian made. country. The Revolutionary war gave an added The white settlers continued to press on to momentum for white men to press into the Indian lands and new treaties were soon made in Indian country. These men were often Tories which the Indians were forced to cede additional and sometimes caused friction between the lands. A topic common to most of these treaties Indians and the United States. They often came of the 1790's was the insertion of clauses from families of wealth and culture. They took regulating horse stealing between whites and their slaves with them and set up farms in the Indians along the frontier. The Indians except Indian country. The sons of these pioneers were the Choctaws had been friends of the English educated in the States. After the Creek War during the Revolutionary War. They had 1813-1814 and Jackson's attack on the foreign foraged along the frontier and obtained a supply traders in Florida in 1817, they supported the of livestock. They learned to conserve and United States more loyally and came to exert a propagate these horses, cattle and other wholesome influence in Indian culture and livestock. These stock, increased by many government. Their homes and farms were, introduced by the whites, served to lift the level whether intentional or not, models of excellence of the Indian life. The food supply of the for the Indians to copy and their home methods Indians was increased and horses were tended gradually to be absorbed by the Indians. beginning to be used, for plowing to replace the The tribes, from about 1810 until the time the crude hand methods of earlier days. As removals to the west were completed, were beneficial as the acquisition of livestock was to controlled in a large measure by these mixed the Indians, horse stealing was one of the very blood Indians. surest means of friction between the white The early Indian policy of the United frontiersmen and the Indians. The Indian agents States, strangely enough, was stated by George made strenuous attempts to repress horse III, King of England, in a proclamation of stealing. Benjamin Hawkins, the United States October 7, 1763. In this proclamation the Agent to the Creeks, required horses offered for Indians' right of occupancy was recognized over sale in the Creek country to be registered. Soon their hunting grounds and they were not to be the conditions improved and less and less molested in that possession. Subjects of Great friction arose from horse stealing. Britain were to remove from recognized Indian The Creek Treaty of August 7, 1790 lands and to refrain from future settlements. pledged the Creek tribe to restore to the troops The right of purchase of Indian lands was of the United States such whites or Negroes as reserved to the government and private parties they might have in their possession. The treaty were forbidden to make such purchases. The of June 19, 1796 added property taken from right to trade with the Indians was strictly citizens of the United States to the list. The limited to persons licensed by government treaty of January 8, 1821 specified that the officials. Creeks should pay to the State of Georgia in The Congress under the Articles of five annual installments the value of property Confederation followed the lines of the taken before 1802 provided that the five Proclamation of King George and in a payments should not exceed $250,000.00. Chickasaw treaty of 1786 with the United Undoubtedly the Creeks were held responsible States, certain specified lands were guaranteed for Negroes who fled through the Creek Nation to the Indians, white intruders were to be and into the Seminole country. This led to removed from there, the Indians, pledged much later controversy. At the time of the themselves to trade only with traders licensed Seminole removal, the Creeks and other tribes by the United States government, and both sides assisted the United States in despoiling them of pledged themselves not to injure the innocent of their Negroes. Although many of such slaves Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 78

were the legitimate property of citizens of the Between 1795 and 1810 fourteen such stations United States, the matter became a racket in were established with four of them among the which Indians and whites participated. This five tribes. These trading stations were well matter delayed and sorely complicated the distributed and did much to break the power of Seminole removal and advancement problem. the Spanish and British in these tribes. Their The Indian agents, blacksmiths, and goods were cheaper than their competitors. interpreters did fine work for a number of years They sought to cooperate with the Indian agents inducing the Indians to use horse culture, to in introducing plants, animals, farm tools, and raise more livestock, to change communal home utensils among the Indians. When the cultivation for individual fields, and to induce system was discontinued in 1822, it was found the Indian men to do a greater portion of the that the stations had been operated at a financial work in cultivating the fields. They showed the loss to the federal government. They should be Indians how to care for, protect, and increase given, however, much credit for the forward their livestock. They taught the Indians to plant progress of the Indians. and care for many varieties of fruit instead of These earlier treaties of the five tribes with depending on the wild fruits as they had the United States provided the tribes with formerly done. In the way of home blacksmiths and interpreters. The Cherokee conveniences they taught the Indian men to treaty of February 27, 1819, provided for a tract manufacture spinning wheels, looms, and like of land 12 miles square to be set aside as a devices for the making of cloth in the homes. school fund. The lands were sold by the United Many of these tools and articles were introduced States and the proceeds invested as Cherokee and soon the primitive Indian clothing gave school fund. The Choctaw treaty of 1820 way, almost entirely, to civilized dress. likewise provided 54 sections of land for sale The traders from the Spanish territory in and investment as a school fund. In 1825, the their trade relations with the Southern Indians United States, in addition, made permanent a were a source of much trouble to the United Choctaw annuity of $6000 which they had been States. They plied the Indians with whisky and using for schools. Then under the treaty of drove hard bargains with their drunken September 27, 1830, provision was made for the customers. They, further, incited the Indians to education of 20 Choctaw youths annually for hostilities against the United States. These twenty years. The Creek treaty of November conditions were aggravated by the Seminoles 15, 1827 provided for $10,000 for education and who were in the Spanish territory and freely $5,000 for relief. The sum of $5,000 was to be harbored slaves fleeing from the adjoining spent for Creek youths at "Choctaw Academy in states. Alexander McGillivray, Chief of the Kentucky," $2,000 at two schools in Creek Creeks during Washington's first administration, Nation and $3,000 for mills, cards, and wheels. was in league with the traders and benefited by The Chickasaw Treaty of May 24, 1834 the trade. He played British, Spanish and likewise provided $3,000 yearly for 15 years for Americans off against each other and was under the education of Chickasaw youths in the states. the pay of each. Such situations were very The Cherokee treaty of December 29, 1835 set detrimental to our relations with the Indian aside $50,000 for a fund for education and care tribes. of orphans and $200,000 in addition to existing Congress under the Articles of school funds for a permanent school fund. Confederation had already evolved a plan that These illustrate the beginnings of the school aided materially in combating the menace of the funds and of aid to education on the part of foreign traders. The government established these tribes. trading houses with goods owned by it. These As a forerunner of an active missionary goods could be provided to the Indians cheaper effort among the Indians, the Moravians were than those from Pensacola. Not only was the first Protestant denomination to establish a whiskey prohibited in their trading but they school among these tribes. This school was cooperated in keeping it from the Indians. opened at Spring Place, Georgia in 1801. Soon Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 79

after this they established four stations among mixed blood Indians often allied themselves the Chickasaws. with the Churches, and hastened the adoption of The American Board of Commissioners for Christian ideals. Foreign Missions, a cooperative board of The three factors treated above constitute a Presbyterian and Congregational churches, was great source of Indian advancement. The next in this field. The Indians had requested Indians themselves tremendously furthered the schools and not churches. This Board therefore objectives of these benefactors when they began placed its major emphasis upon schools, but was to choose the "white man's road" of their own mildly evangelistic from the beginning. The volition. The Cherokees met in 1808 with all missionaries established Brainard Mission the 7 clans present and passed an act of oblivion which gave the name to Missionary Ridge near for past offenses and renounced future present Chattanooga, Tennessee in January retaliation. After this date only horse thieves 1817. The next year they established Eliott might be killed without trial and a provision was Mission on the Yalobusha River in Northern made for trials for them. Regulating companies Mississippi. This station was on the border were organized to enforce the law and punish between the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. horse thieves and murderers and to probate These institutions aimed to give the Indian estates. children training in agriculture, in mechanics, The Cherokee legislation was amplified in and in household arts. The missionaries worked 1810. The accidental killing of Indians was not side by side with their charges in the school to be punished. The murderer was to be homes, shops, and farms. The younger Indians punished although he might be the brother of the progressed rapidly and soon acquired facility in deceased. This law as the previous one left the the English language and in various arts. The thief of a horse at the mercy of the owner of the adult Indians copied the clothing, houses and horse, and the murderer of the horse thief should agriculture of the mission stations. The stations not be punished. thus became, in a sense, experiment farms for A very distinct step forward was made in an the Indian tribes. act of the Cherokee Council of October 24, These first American Board stations were 1820. This act organized the Cherokee Nation followed by others. In 1828 there were seven into eight court districts and provided for a mission stations and 34 workers among the system of district and appellate courts and for Cherokees and nine stations and 34 workers district Councils. Each district was to have one among the Choctaws and one station among the Judge and a Marshal. A circuit Judge was Chickasaws. This Board soon began the provided for each two districts. A company of evangelization of the Indians. Many prominent light horse police was provided to accompany Cherokees were converted and became judges and punish offenders. A council house members of Churches established in that Nation. was established in each district and Councils Evangelization was slow, at first, in the met in the spring and fall. The act provided for Choctaw Nation but some definite progress was the collection of debts. A ranger was created to made. take up stray horses and if possible find their The Baptist and Methodist Churches owners. A rigid system of permits to traders entered the field of missions to these Indians and white laborers was provided for in October somewhat later than the Moravians, of 1819. The occupation taxes arising from the Presbyterians, and Congregationalists. The law of 1819 were used in defraying the cost of Baptists established one school among the the courts. Creeks in 1823 and two school among the The Choctaws soon made some notable Cherokees soon after. The Methodists had one attempts to discard their ancient customs and school among the Creeks and four missionaries adopt the white civilization. As an example, a among the Cherokees in 1828. The active work particularly repulsive burial custom of placing of these two Churches was in camp meetings their dead on scaffolds and later removing the and in evangelistic effort. The more prominent bones and placing them in a bone-house was Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 80

changed about 1800 to burial with poles about about 1900. Then in July 1827 the Cherokee the grave. They held celebrations and "pulled" Council met and formulated a Constitution for or lifted the poles out of the ground. From the tribe. This tribe now had a Constitution and about 1820 to 1830 they discarded this laws very similar to that of the states about ceremony and adopted a form of Christian them. burial. The Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cherokee This striving for advancement is shown in a tribes had adopted laws and governments letter written by Oboho Kulla Humma, a fullpatterned after the whites. The Creeks had blood Choctaw District Chief, to Cyrus progressed in agriculture and made some Kingsbury in October 1822. The Chief progress in the acceptance of Christianity. The explained that the previous year his district had Seminoles had been so much involved in wars passed laws for the prevention of infanticide, and contests that they had made the least introducing whisky, stealing hogs or cattle, or progress. This start toward civilization would running away with another man's wife. He then probably have become greater had not the made a very touching appeal to the American removal problem intervened. This problem Board to send missionaries to organize a school served to embitter the Indians and postpone the in his district. He asserted that the above laws progress. Even though the educating influences had been passed in order that the Indians might were not given time to work out their logical follow in the ways of the white man. He conclusion a foundation for civilization had pleaded for schools and education to supplement been laid that has later proved of immeasurable this work of legislation. worth to the tribes. The Northeastern District of the Choctaw Nation in October 1821, created a system of Light Horse Police. These were to have charge of the execution of criminal laws and the collection of debts. The Light Horse apprehended criminals, tried the cases and on conviction, executed the sentences. This system was quickly extended to other districts of the Nation. Greenwood LeFlore became District Chief in 1824. Under his influence and that of David Folsom and Peter P. Pitchlynn, the Choctaws made great strides in the abolition of primitive practices as witchcraft and blood revenge. Soon the Choctaws modified their district organizations and adopted a system of tribal legislation, tribal chiefs, and a code of written laws. The Chickasaw movements have not been treated at very great length. An investigation of 1830 showed them to have a set of laws which promoted peace and good order among themselves. The Cherokees had been among the first to accept the white standards. They still continued to advance. In 1821 Sequoyah invented the Cherokee alphabet. In 1826, a national newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix was founded. This paper was printed in both English and Cherokee for the greater part of the time until Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 81

Under these circumstances, the question presented was, whether the General Government had a right to sustain those people in their pretensions? The Constitution declares, that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State,” without the consent of its legislature. If the General Government is not permitted to tolerate the erection of a confederate State within the territory of one of the members of this Union, against her consent; much less could it allow a foreign and independent government to establish itself there. Georgia became a member of the Confederacy which eventuated in our Federal Union, as a sovereign State, always asserting her claim to certain limits; which having been originally defined in her colonial December 8, 1829 charter, and subsequently recognized in the treaty of peace, she has ever since continued to . . . The condition and ulterior destiny of the enjoy, except as they have been circumscribed Indian Tribes within the limits of some of our by her own voluntary transfer of a portion of her States, have become objects of much interest territory to the United States, in the articles and importance. It has long been the policy of cession of 1802. Alabama was admitted into the Government to introduce among them the arts Union on the same footing with the original of civilization, in the hope of gradually States, with boundaries which were prescribed reclaiming them from a wandering life. This by Congress. There is no constitutional, policy has, however, been coupled with another, conventional, or legal provision, which allows wholly incompatible with its success. them less power over the Indians within their Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, borders, than is possessed by Maine or New we have, at the same time, lost no opportunity to York. Would the People of Maine permit the purchase their lands, and thrust them further into Penobscot tribe to erect an Independent the wilderness. By this means they have not Government within their State? and unless they only been kept in a wandering state, but been did, would it not be the duty of the General led to look upon us a unjust and indifferent to Government to support them in resisting such a their fate. Thus, though lavish in its measure? Would the People of New York expenditures upon the subject, Government has permit each remnant of the Six Nations within consistently defeated its own policy; and the her borders, to declare itself an independent Indians, in general, receding further and further people under the protection of the United to the West, have restrained their savage habits. States? Could the Indians establish a separate A portion, however, of the Southern tribes, republic on each of their reservations in Ohio? having mingled much with the whites, and made and if they were so disposed, would it be the some progress in the arts of civilized life, have duty of this Government to protect them in the lately attempted to erect an independent attempt? If the principle involved in the government, within the limits of Georgia and obvious answer to these questions be Alabama. These States, claiming to be the only abandoned, it will follow that the objects of this Sovereigns within their territories, extended Government are reversed; and that it has their laws over the Indians; which induced the become a part of its duty to aid in destroying the latter to call upon the United States for States which it was established to protect. protection. Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the Indians inhabiting parts of Georgia Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 82

Indian Removal Policy

Extract from President Andrew Jackson's Fifth Annual Message to Congress

and Alabama, that their attempt to establish an from the United States than such as may be independent government would not be necessary to preserve peace on the frontier, and countenanced by the Executive of the United between the several tribes. There the States; and advised them to emigrate beyond the benevolent may endeavor to teach them the arts Mississippi, or submit to the laws of those of civilization; and, by promoting union and States. harmony among them, to raise up an interesting Our conduct towards these people is deeply commonwealth, destined to perpetuate the race, interesting to our national character. Their and to arrest the humanity and justice of this present condition, contrasted with what they Government. once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our This emigration should be voluntary: for it sympathies. Our ancestors found them the would be as cruel as unjust to compel the uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. aborigines to abandon the graves of their By persuasion and force, they have been made fathers, and seek a home in a distant land. But to retire from river to river, and from mountain they should be distinctly informed that, if they to mountain; until some of the tribes have remain within the limits of the States, they must become extinct, and others have left but be subject to their laws. In return for their remnants, to preserve, for a while, their once obedience, as individuals, they will, without terrible names. Surrounded by whites, with doubt, be protected in the enjoyment of those their arts of civilization, which, by destroying possessions which they have improved by their the resources of the savage, doom him to industry. But it seems to me visionary to weakness and decay; the fate of the Mohegan, suppose, that, in this state of things, claims can the Narragansett, and the Delaware, is fast be allowed on tracts of country on which they overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the have neither dwelt nor made improvements, Creek. That this fate surely awaits them, if they merely because they have seen them from the remain within the limits of the States, does not mountain, or passed them in the chase. admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honor Submitting to the laws of the States, and demand that every effort should be made to receiving, like other citizens, protection in their avert so great a calamity. It is too late to inquire persons and property, they will, ere long, whether it was just in the United States to become merged in the mass of our population. include them and their territory within the bounds of new States whose limits they could control. That step cannot be retraced. A State cannot be dismembered by Congress, or restricted in the exercise of her constitutional power. But the people of those States, and of every State, actuated by feelings of justice and a regard for our national honor, submit to you the interesting question, whether something cannot be done, consistently with the rights of the States, to preserve this much injured race? As a means of effecting this end, I suggest, for your consideration, the propriety of setting apart an ample district West of the Mississippi, and without the limits of any State or Territory, now formed, to be guarantied to the Indian tribes, as long as they shall occupy it: each tribe having a distinct control over the portion designated for its use. There they may be secured in the enjoyment of governments of their own choice, subject to no other control Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 83

The Indian Removal Act May 28, 1830 An Act to Provide for an Exchange of Lands with the Indians Residing in any States or Territories, and for their Removal West of the River Mississippi. Be it enacted by . . . Congress . . . That it shall and may be lawful for the President . . . to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which Indian title has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove there; and to cause each of said districts to be so described by natural or artificial marks, as to be easily distinguished from every other. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to exchange any or all of such districts . . . with any tribe or nation of Indians now residing within the limits of any of the states or territories, and with which the United States have existing treaties, for the whole or any part or portion of the territory claimed and occupied by such tribe or nation, within the bounds of any one or more of the states or territories, where the land claimed and occupied by the Indians, is owned by the United States, or the United States are bound to the state within which it lies to extinguish the Indian claim thereto. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That in the making of any such exchange . . . it shall and may be lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the

exchange is made, that the United States will forever secure and guarantee to them, and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them . . . Provided always, That such lands shall revert to the United States, if the Indians become extinct, or abandon the same. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if, upon any of the lands now occupied by the Indians, and to be exchanged for, there should be such improvements as add value to the land claimed by any individual or individuals of such tribes or nations, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such value to be ascertained . . . and . . . to be paid to the person or persons rightfully claiming such improvements. And upon the payment of such valuation, the improvements . . . shall pass to the United States. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That upon the making of any such exchange . . . it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such aid and assistance to be furnished to the emigrants as may be necessary and proper to enable them to remove to, and settle in, the country for which they may have exchanged; and also, to give them such aid and assistance as may be necessary for their support and subsistence for the first year after their removal. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That is shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such tribe or nation to be protected, at their new residence, against all interruption or disturbance from any other tribe or nation of Indians, or from any other person or persons whatever. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall be and may be lawful for the President to have the same superintendence and care over any tribe or nation in the country to which they may remove . . . that he is now authorized to have over them at their present places of residence: Provided, That nothing . . . be construed as authorizing . . . the violation of any existing treaty between the United States and any of the Indian tribes.

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refugees from one hiding place to another. By the war’s end they had drifted to Florida and settled among the Seminoles. Osceola grew into manhood as a Seminole living north of presentday Tampa. Soon after the Creek War ended, the First Seminole War began. A major cause of the war was conflict over black slaves. Many had escaped from plantations to take refuge among the Seminoles in Florida. Southern slaveholders were furious and insisted that the army capture runaway slaves and return them to their owners. Major Andrew Jackson was dispatched to 20 the scene in March 1818. His troops fought By Alan Lockwood and David Harris several engagements with the Seminoles in Spanish-owned Florida. The Seminoles were Soon after gaining their independence from finally driven south to the area around Tampa England many Americans moved westward Bay. Jackson withdrew, ending the war. beyond the narrow coastal plain of the Atlantic. After the First Seminole War it became These pioneers braved the wilderness in search clear to the Spanish that they had little control of land for farms and plantations. In the over Florida. It was turned over to the United Southeast, white settlers steadily encroached on States in 1819. Article 6 of the treaty with the lands of the Creek Indians. Spain stated that the inhabitants of Florida were It was in 1813 that war broke out between to be “admitted to the enjoyment of all the Creeks of Georgia and the United States. privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens The war ended the following year after General of the United States.” Jackson attacked a large Creek force, killing a United States policy toward the Seminoles thousand warriors. Fighting during the war was to keep them, at least temporarily, in forced migration of the Creeks from Georgia Florida. Pressure increased on the government into Florida. There they joined the Seminoles to move the Indians westward. White who had migrated to Florida during the previous southerners claimed that unless the Indians were century. Among the migrating Creeks was a driven out of Florida, slaves would continue to boy, later called Osceola, who was to become join them. This pressure led in 1823 to the one of the most famous figures in Florida Treaty of Camp Moultrie. Under threat of history. renewed warfare, the leading chiefs, Osceola was born in 1804 in Georgia. His representing a majority of the Seminoles, signed mother was a Creek Indian and his father a the treaty. It had four major provisions. white trader. Like other Creeks of mixed blood 1. The Seminoles gave up claim to the with a Creek mother, Osceola considered whole territory of Florida except for a himself an Indian. He learned to kill squirrels 4-million-acre reservation. with a bow and arrow and joined other boys for 2. The U.S. government provided a cash moonlight hunts after opossums and raccoons. payment of $5,000 a year for 20 years, He developed stealth in the woods that served plus livestock and farm implements. him well in the future as a warrior. 3. The Indians were to prevent runaway The Creek War came close to young slaves from entering the reservation. Osceola. He and his mother fled with other 4. Whites would not be permitted to hunt, settle, or intrude on the reservation. 20 Lockwood, Alan L. and David E. Harris. “A The reservation boundaries were cut off Unconquered Indian: Osceola.” Reasoning with from the Florida coasts, so fishing was no Democratic Values. Vol. 1. New York: Teachers longer possible for the Indians. Furthermore, College Press, 1985. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 85

An Unconquered Indian: Osceola

the reservation land was poor for agriculture. A agree to move their people there to live. Several few inches of topsoil covered a base of white leading Seminole chiefs did not sign the Payne’s sand. If plowed for any length of time the sand Landing Treaty. It was, however, ratified by the became dominant. About a year after the Treaty U.S. Senate and proclaimed by President of Camp Moultrie was signed most Seminoles Jackson. experienced severe hunger. Some died of The following year a party of Seminole starvation. chiefs examined the proposed reservation By this time Osceola had risen to the beyond the Mississippi and found it to their position of Seminole war chief. He was an liking. Upon returning, without consulting the outstanding athlete, deeply admired for his other chiefs, they signed an agreement on behalf physical skills by other Indians. Despite harsh of their nation. The agreement stated that they conditions on the Seminole reservation, Osceola would begin removal to their new homeland as was determined to enforce the terms of the soon as the federal government made Camp Moultrie Treaty. He did not want his arrangements. people to be forced to move westward. When they heard what the delegation of Conditions west of the Mississippi, where chiefs had agreed to, many Seminole leaders, traditional enemies of the Seminole lived, would including Osceola, were outraged. They be even worse for his people. With a small insisted that the chiefs who agreed to removal band of followers, he began police actions to had no authority to speak for all Seminoles. The prevent young Seminoles from harming whites prestige of Osceola increased as resistance to or stealing white people’s property. This he emigration grew. At a private council of believed necessary if the Seminoles were to Seminole chiefs, he said: avoid being forced out of Florida. Many If we must fight, we will fight. . . . I Seminoles, nearly starving, raided white men’s hope we don’t have to fight the white cattle. Several murders were also committed. man, but if it happens, every one of our Osceola helped bring some of the offenders to warriors will be ready . . . they white justice. people got some of our chiefs to sign a Conflict over land, slaves, and cattle paper to give our lands to them; but our persisted between the Seminoles and the whites. chiefs did not do as we told them to do. The hatchet descended with Andrew Jackson They did wrong; we must do right. became President. In May 1830, the Removal Osceola had now assumed leadership of the Act was passed by congress and signed by the Seminole nation. The chiefs, except those President. The new law provided that the favoring removal, were united behind him. government could trade land in the West for Because resistance to the Payne’s Landing Indian land in the East. Under the law the Treaty grew, the military commander of all government could do whatever was necessary to troops in Florida called a meeting in 1835. The remove the Indians to the new land. The purpose of the meeting was to gain acceptance Removal Act was designed to expand white for peaceful removal. A large number of settlement by moving the Indians out of the Seminole chiefs assembled for the meeting. southeastern states. Most were bitter and defiant. They protested In accordance with the Removal Act, a the Payne’s Landing Treaty, claiming it did not conference was called in 1832 between white represent the desires of the Seminole nation. officials and Seminoles chiefs. They met at a After listening to the protests of several place called Payne’s Landing, near Fort King, chiefs, the U.S. Indian Agent for the Florida the army post near the Seminole reservation. At Territory, General Wiley Thompson, addressed the conference a treaty was signed. The Treaty the chiefs. He picked up a document from the of Payne’s Landing provided that a party of conference table and read it aloud, pausing for Seminole chiefs would be sent to examine the the translator. The document asserted that the country west of the Mississippi River. If the Payne’s Landing Treaty was valid. chiefs thought the country suitable, they would Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 86

Thompson insisted that the Seminoles had sale of arms and powder to the Indians. agreed to go West. He demanded that the chiefs Thompson was still angry about Osceola’s confirm the Payne’s Landing Treaty by signing refusal to sign the document approving the the new document. Eight of the thirteen chiefs Payne’s Landing Treaty. An argument broke around the table signed. Five of the leading out. Osceola flew into a flurry and stormed out chiefs refused. Thompson, red with anger, of the agent’s office. Thompson ordered four picked up another paper. It was a list of soldiers to overtake him. As they dragged Seminole chiefs. Seizing the pen, he made five Osceola back to the fort he shouted, “I shall slashes on the roll. He then faced the Indians remember this hour! The agent has his day, I and said, “I have removed five names from the will have mine!” roll of the chiefs. These men no longer represent the Seminole Nation.” Thompson’s actions made one point clear to the Indians: removal would be enforced with or without their consent. Thompson’s action of deposing the chiefs was a deadly insult. When his words had been translated, a roar of anger arose from the deposed chiefs. There were wild shrieks from warriors around the meeting tent. Finally, calm was restored by the eight chiefs who had signed. General Thompson now wanted the subchiefs who were present to sign the document. Some of them came forward and made their marks on the paper. Osceola stood silently with his arms folded. Thompson read his name, signaling that he should step forward to sign. In his graceful catlike manner, he Osceola: Seminole Leader approached the table, gazing sternly into Osceola was placed in irons and confined to Thompson’s eyes. With a sweeping motion he the guardhouse. By nightfall his fury abated, suddenly drew his hunting knife and stabbed and he was able to think clearly. Thompson, he savagely through the paper on the table. With though, must be killed for this terrible insult. this defiant gesture he cried out, “This is the Meanwhile he needed a means of being only way I sign!” Amidst the shock of white released. He decided to lie. He apologized to officials, Osceola yanked out his knife and Thompson, agreed to sign the paper confirming calmly walked away. The flash of his knife was Payne’s Landing Treaty, and promised to urge a hint of what was to come. other Seminoles to move West. The irons were Osceola, more than any other Seminole struck and Osceola left the guardhouse in leader, inspired his people to fight rather than silence, revenge on his mind. move West. He became a symbol of Indian Matters moved toward disaster. A council resistance to white domination. That resistance of Seminole chiefs met and decided to resist led to the Second Seminole War, the costliest removable forcibly. The chiefs appointed ever fought against the American Indian. It Osceola head war chief. They also decided that resulted in fifteen hundred deaths among white those chiefs who favored removal be treated like soldiers and cost the United States almost 40 enemies and killed. million dollars, an enormous sum for the times. One chief who believed in emigration was In June 1835, before hostilities broke out, Charley Emathla. Osceola led four hundred Osceola paid a final visit to Wiley Thompson in warriors to Charley Emathla’s village where his office at Fort King. Osceola had come to they surrounded the chief’s lodge. They complain about the general’s recent ban on the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 87

demanded that the chief pledge himself and his soldiers barely had a chance to return the fire. people to resist removal. The chief protested, By the end of the assault 107 soldiers were saying that the only hope of being saved from killed and only 3 Seminoles. total destruction was to go West. Osceola and Osceola was winning his war. U.S. 12 companions ambushed the chief the next day generals had been unable to subdue the and shot him to death. Seminoles. This gave Osceola little satisfaction, Hostilities between Seminoles and soldiers however. He knew that in the long run the began in December 1835. During the early days superior forces of the whites could overcome his of the war, Osceola’s enemy General Wily people. His goal was now to secure an Thompson, still believed the Indians could be honorable peace before the Seminole will to coerced into removal. Midday on December 28, resist disintegrated. 1935, he walked from his office at Fort King to As the war became a stalemate, Osceola the officer’s mess for lunch. After a leisurely decided to discuss a possible peace with General meal Thompson took a stroll outside the fort. Thomas Jessup, commander of U.S. forces. When he did not return, a party was sent out to Jessup had only one goal in mind: stop the war search for him. His body was found stabbed, by stopping Osceola. Other Seminole leaders scalped, and riddled with fourteen bullets. were important, but they were mere shadows Osceola had taken his revenge against the when compared to Osceola. Recently Jessup Indian agent. had received a note from Osceola claiming he Full-scale warfare was now in progress. could holdout against the total forces of the Osceola’s grasp of tactics was excellent. HitUnited States for five years. and-run attacks by the Seminoles were In October 1837, Osceola arrived near St. successful. The white soldiers were trained for Augustine with about one hundred warriors to open combat on battlefields. They were engage Jessup in peace talks. A white flag of unprepared for repeated ambushes by Seminole truce flew above the Seminole camp. While warriors concealed in the swamps and forests of they spoke, soldiers encircled the Indian camp Florida. In addition to attacks on soldiers, and closed it in. No shots were fired. The Seminole bands plundered the civilian Seminoles were armed but it was too late to settlements along the east coast of the peninsula. resist. Osceola was captured and placed in a Plantations were attacked and burned as far cell at Fort Marion, an old Spanish prison. south as Miami. Soon after his capture, Osceola had an Characteristic of combat early in the war opportunity to escape with his companions. The was an incident now known as Dade’s Indian prisoners were confined in a small Massacre. On a cold December morning in dungeon of the prison lighted only by a small 1835, 108 men under the command of Major opening in the wall. There were two metal bars Francis Dade were marching along the Little across the opening. On the night of October 21, Withlacoochee River toward Fort King. The 1837, one of the bars, which was either rusted or soldiers gnawed at cold field rations. They loose, was removed by one of the Indians. With plowed through the mud, often waist-deep in one bar removed, the prisoners managed to swamp water. Mosquitoes and flies bit their squeeze with great difficulty through the necks. Alligators lay on the surface of adjacent opening. The sharp stones scraped skin off their sands. It was a struggle for the soldiers to keep bodies. Earlier they had cut up the bags given their cartridge boxes and weapons dry. They to them to sleep on. The shredded bags were also frightened that Seminole warriors furnished the material for rope which they used might be hiding in the woods, waiting to to reach the ground below. Twenty Seminoles ambush them. escaped from their Fort Marion cell that night Suddenly the morning silence was shattered and made their way safely back to a Seminole as a single shot rang out in the midst. Major encampment. Osceola refused to join his Dade slumped in his saddle. An ear-splitting cellmates in their escape. When asked why he assault by Seminole warriors followed. The had not joined those who escaped, he proudly Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 88

replied, “I have done nothing to be ashamed of; it is for those to feel shame who entrapped me.” On January 30, 1838, Osceola died of malaria in prison. Though a few chiefs continued to fight, Seminole resistance began to crumble. By 1842, the war had sputtered to an end. A small number of Seminoles retreated to the Everglades. Most were removed west to Oklahoma.

Cherokees Debate Removal By Michael P. Johnson21 President Jackson proudly announced to Congress in 1830 that the “benevolent policy of the government . . . in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a conclusion.” To the Indians being removed, the policy did not appear benevolent. In 1836, Congress ratified the Treaty of New Echota, which provided that the Cherokees would relinquish all claims to land east of the Mississippi in return for land west of the Mississippi, a large cash payment, and help moving to their new homes. The treaty bitterly divided the Cherokees. The largest group, led by the principal chief, John Ross, opposed the treaty and insisted that the Cherokees not give up their lands. A minority group, led by Elias Boudinot, signed the treaty and urged other Cherokees to accept its terms. The following selections from the letters of Ross and Boudinot reveal the clashing assessments among Cherokees about the threats they confronted and how best to respond to them.

John Ross, 1836 Answer to Inquires from a Friend I wish I could acquiesce in your impression, that a Treaty has been made, by which every difficulty between the Cherokees and the United States has been set at rest; but I must candidly say, that I know of no such Treaty. I do no mean to prophesy any similar troubles to those which have, in other cases, followed the failure 21

Johnson, Michael P. “Cherokees Debate Removal.” Reading the American Past. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.

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to adjust disputed points with Indians; the wrong us with their eyes open. I am persuaded Cherokees act on a principle preventing they have erred only in ignorance, and an apprehensions of that nature—their principle is, ignorance forced upon them by the “endure and forbear”; but I must distinctly misrepresentation and artifices of the interested. declare to you that I believe, the document [the . . . The Cherokees, under any circumstances, Treaty of New Echota] signed by unauthorized have no weapon to use but argument. If that individuals at Washington, will never be should fail, they must submit, when their time regarded by the Cherokee nation as a Treaty. shall come, in silence, but honest argument they The delegation appointed by the people to make cannot think will be forever used in vain. The a Treaty, have protested against that instrument Cherokee people will always hold themselves “as deceptive to the world and a fraud upon the ready to respect a real treaty and bound to Cherokee people.” . . . sustain any treaty which they can feel that they With your impressions concerning the are bound to respect. But they are certain not to advantages secured by teh subtle instrument in consider the attempt of a very few persons to question, you will, no doubt, wonder at this sell the country for themselves, as obligatory opposition. But it possesses not the advantages upon them, and I and all my associates in the you and others imagine; and that is the reason regular delegation, still look confidently to the why it has encountered, and ever will encounter effect of a sense of justice upon the American opposition. You suppose we are to be removed community, in producing a real settlement of through it from a home, by circumstances this question, upon equitable terms and with rendered disagreeable and even untenable, to be competent authorities. But, on one point, you secured in a better home, where nothing can may be perfectly at rest. Deeply as our people disturb or dispossess us. Here is the great feel, I cannot suppose they will ever be goaded mystification. We are not secured in the new by those feelings to any acts of violence. No, home promised to us. We are exposed to sir. They have been too long inured to suffering precisely the same miseries, from which, if this without resistance, and they still look to the measure is enforced, the Untied States’ power sympathies and not to the fears, of those who professes to relieve us, but does so entirely by have them in their power. In certain recent the exercise of that power, against our will. discussions in the representative hall at If we really had the security you and others Washington, our enemies made it an objection suppose we have, we would not thus complain. against me and against others, that we were not One impression concerning us, is, that Indians, but had the principles of white men, and though we object to removal, as we are equally were consequently unworthy of a hearing in the averse to becoming citizens of the United States, Indian cause. I will own that it has been my we ought to be forced to remove; to be tied hand pride, as Principal Chief of the Cherokees, to and foot and conveyed to the extreme western implant in the bosoms of the people, and to frontier, and then turned loose among the wild cherish in my own, the principles of white men! beasts of the wilderness. Now, the fact is, we It is to this fact that our white neighbors must never have objected to become citizens of the ascribe their safety under the smart of the United States and to conform to her laws; but in wrongs we have suffered from them. It is in this the event of conforming to her laws, we have they may confide for our continued patience. required the protection and privileges of her But when I speak of the principles of white men, laws to accompany that conformity on our part. I speak not of such principles as actuate those We have asked this repeatedly and repeatedly who talk thus to us, but of those mighty has it been denied. . . . principles to which the United States owes her In conclusion I would observe, that I still greatness and her liberty. To principles like strongly hope we shall find ultimate justice from these even yet we turn with confidence for the good sense of the administration and of the redemption from our miseries. When Congress people of the United States. I will not even yet shall be less overwhelmed with business, no believe that either the one of the other would doubt, in some way, the matter may be brought Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 90

to a reconsideration, and when the representatives of the American people have leisure to see how little it will cost them to be just, we are confident they will be true to themselves, in acting with good faith towards us. Be certain that while the Cherokees are endeavoring to obtain a more friendly consideration from the United States, they will not forget to show by their circumspection how well they merit it; and though no doubt there are many who will represent them otherwise, for injurious purposes, I can assure you that the white people have nothing to apprehend, even from our sense of contumely [humiliating insults] and unfairness, unless it be through the perverse and the treacherous maneuvers of such agents as they themselves may keep among us.

contact with settled prejudices—with the deeprooted attachment for the soil of our forefathers. Aside from these natural obstacles, the influence of the chiefs, who were ready to take advantage of the well-known feelings of the Cherokees, in reference to their lands, was put in active requisition against us. . . . It is with sincere regret that I notice you [John Ross] say little or nothing about to moral condition of this people, as affected by present circumstances. I have searched in vain, in all your late communications, for some indication of our sensibility upon this point. . . . Indeed, you seem to have forgotten that your people are a community of moral beings, capable of an elevation to an equal standing with the most civilized and virtuous, or a deterioration to the level of the most degraded, of our race. . . . Can it be possible that you consider the mere pains Elias Boudinot, 1837 and privations of the body, and the loss of a A Reply to John Ross paltry sum of money, of a paramount importance to the depression of the mind and the degradation and pollution of the soul? That “What is to be done?” was a natural the difficulties under which they are laboring, inquiry, after we found that all our efforts to originating from the operation of the State laws, obtain redress from the General Government, on and their absorption by a white population, will the land of our fathers, had been of no avail. affect them in that light, I need not here stop to The first rupture among ourselves was the argue with you: that they have already affected moment we presumed to answer that question. them, is a fact too palpable, too notorious, for us To a portion of the Cherokee people it early to deny it: that they will increase to affect them, became evident that the interest of their in proportion to the delay of applying the countrymen and the happiness of their posterity, remedy, we need only judge from past depended upon an entire change of policy. experience. How, then, can you reconcile your Instead of contending uselessly against superior conscience and your sense of what is power, the only course left, was, to yield to determined by the best interest of your people. . circumstances over which they had no control. . . How can you persist in deluding your people In all difficulties of this kind, between the with phantoms, and in your opposition to that United States and the Cherokees, the only mode which alone is practicable, when you see them of settling them has been by treaties; dying a moral death? consequently, when a portion of our people To be sure, from your account of the became convinced that no other measures would condition and circumstances of the Cherokees, avail, they became the advocates of a treaty, as the public may form an idea different from what the only means to extricate the Cherokees from my remarks may seem to convey. When their perplexities, hence they were called the applied to a portion of our people, confined treaty party. Those who maintained the old mostly to whites intermarried among us, and the policy, were known as the anti-treaty party. At descendants of whites, your account is probably the head of the latter has been Mr. John Ross. correct . . . but look at the mass, look at the To advocate a treaty was to declare war entire population as it now is, and say, can you against the established habits of thinking see any indication of a progressing peculiar to the aborigines. It was to come in improvement, anything that can encourage a Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 91

philanthropist? You know that it is almost a opinion, and under such a settled opinion I have dreary waste. I care not if I am accounted a acted in al this affair. My language has been; slanderer of my country’s reputation; every “fly for your lives”; it is now the same. I would observing man in this nation knows that I speak say to my countrymen, you among the rest, fly the words of truth and soberness. In the light from the moral pestilence that will finally that I consider my countrymen, not as mere destroy our nation. animals, and to judge of their happiness by their What is the prospect in reference to your condition as such, which, to be sure, is bad plan or relief, if you are understood at all to enough, but as moral beings, to be affected for have any plan? It is dark and gloomy beyond better or for worse by moral circumstances, I description. Subject the Cherokees to the laws say their condition is wretched. Look, my dear of the States in their present condition? It sir, around you, and see the progress that vice matters not how favorable those laws may be, and immorality have already made! see the instead of remedying the evil you would only spread of intemperance, and the wretchedness rivet the chains and fasten the manacles of their and misery it has already occasioned! I need servitude and degradation. The final destiny of not reason with a man of your sense and our race, under such circumstances, is too discernment, and of your observation, to show revolting to think of. Its course must be the debasing character of that vice to our people; downward, until it finally becomes extinct or is you will find an argument in very tippling shop merged in another race, more ignorable and in the country; you will find its cruel effects in more detested. Take my word for it, it is the the bloody tragedies that are frequently sure consummation, if you succeed in occurring in the frequent convictions and preventing the removal of your people. The executions for murders, and in the tears and time will come when there will be only here and groans of the widows and fatherless, rendered there those who can be called upon to sign a homeless, naked, and hungry, but this vile curse protest, or to vote against a treaty for their of our race. And has it stopped its cruel ravages removal; when the few remnants of our once with the lower or poorer classes of our people? happy and improving nation will be viewed by Are the higher orders, if I may so speak, left posterity with curious and gazing interest, as untainted? While there are honorable relics of a brave and noble race. Are our people exceptions in all classes . . . it is not to be denied destined to such a catastrophe? Are we to run that, as a people, we are making a rapid the race of all our brethren who have gone tendency to a general immorality and before us, and of whom hardly any thing is debasement. What more evidence do we need, known but their name, and, perhaps, only here to prove this general tendency, than the slow but and there a solitary being, waking, “as a ghost sure insinuation of the lower vices into our over the ashes of his fathers,” to remind a female population? Oh! it is heart-rending to stranger that such a race once existed? May think of these things, much more to speak of God preserve us from such a destiny. them; but the world will know them, the world does know them, and we need not try to hid our shame. . . . If the dark picture which I have here drawn is a true one, and no candid person will say it is an exaggerated one, can we see a brighter prospect ahead? In another country, and under other circumstances, there is a better prospect. Removal, then, is the only remedy, the only practicable remedy. By it there may be finally a renovation; our people may rise from their very ashes, to become prosperous and happy, and a credit to our race. Such has been and is now my Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 92

tribes, bequeathing a mental poise to their descendants, many of whom achieved wealth, distinction and influence among the Indians. Scottish surnames became common among the Cherokees, Creeks and Choctaws and the absorption process continued through the years as these racial currents amalgamated. In the 22 political affairs of the Cherokee Nation, Scottish By John Bartlett Meserve influence began to evidence itself and for upwards of fifty years, the political life of that It is to the social upheaval and the chaos of tribe yielded to the influence of chieftains of religious beliefs which engaged England and all Scottish blood. Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, that Among the Scottish immigrants who America is indebted for its first substantial arrived at Charlestown, South Carolina in 1766, settlement. When the Church of England folk was young John MacDonald, who was born at began to oppress the Puritans in the valley of the Inverness, Scotland in 1737. He immediately lower Trent, the Puritans withdrew to Holland removed to Savannah, Georgia and became and from thence came to Massachusetts. When, engaged as a clerk in a trading store that did a under Cromwell's regime, the Roundhead thriving business with the Indians. The young abused the Churchman, the latter sought refuge Scotchman evidenced much finesse in his in Virginia. Likewise later, the persecuted dealings with the Indian clientele of his Quaker found a haven in New Jersey and employers that resulted in his being sent to Fort Pennsylvania and the Catholic sought religious Loudon, on the Tennessee River near Kingston, tolerance in Maryland. Here each brought his Georgia, to open up a trading post and carry on peculiar religious tenets and here they continued a trade with the Cherokees. Shortly thereafter, to dispute wherever they were afforded an he married Anne Shorey, a daughter of William opportunity or could beg one. The Scotch Shorey and Chi-goo-ie (“sweetheart”) his full immigrant to the shores of America was blood Cherokee Indian wife and was adopted influenced by the repeated collapse of his efforts into the Cherokee tribe. He subsequently to reestablish the Stuarts upon the throne of removed, with certain of the Cherokees and England. He was of Calvinistic stock but was located near Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, less serious minded about laying up treasures in where he resumed his trading operations and Heaven; his interest was absorbed in the where he met and formed the acquaintance of plentitude of golden opportunity among the Daniel Ross under circumstances which had a Indians in the new country. These sturdy, rather romantic denouement. militant folk settled largely in the Carolinas and Daniel Ross was a native of later in Georgia. The Highlanders, in many Southerlandshire, Scotland where he was born instances and quite naturally, headed back into in 1760 and as a child came with his parents to the hill country of these colonies and obviously America in the latter half of the 18th century. their immediate contact with the Indians was His parents settled at Baltimore where young much more complete than was that of other Ross was orphaned about the close of our War settlers who lingered in the tidewater regions. of the Revolution. The young man, The Indians gave a ready response to the accompanied by a companion by the name of fraternal spirit evidenced by the Scottish Mayberry, journeyed to Hawkins County, settlers, the utmost comity prevailed and many Tennessee where they constructed a flat boat of the Highlanders were accorded tribal which they loaded with merchandise and the membership. Numerous Scotch traders and adventurous pair undertook a trip down the settlers intermarried with the women of the Tennessee River to the Chickasaw country to engage in the fur trade with the Indians. At 22 Meserve, John Bartlett. “Chief John Ross.” Chronicles Sitico, on the Tennessee River near Lookout of Oklahoma. Vol. 13, No. 4. Winter 1935. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 93

Chief John Ross

Mountain, they were detained by the Cherokees own cotton and woolen cloth and blankets and and as a consequence, were enforced to remain knitted the stockings worn by the family. The among the members of that tribe. It was here Indians lived in cabins built of hewn logs with that young Ross became acquainted with John well-built floors and chimneys. The wealthier MacDonald and the members of his family and members enjoyed fine plantation homes. in 1786, married his daughter Mary. She was Hunting shirts, leggings and moccasins along born at Fort Loudon, Tennessee, on November with old customs and religions were rapidly 1, 1770 and died at Maryville, Tennessee on disappearing. Political progress kept apace with October 5, 1808. During the next twenty years, education and economic advancement and in Daniel Ross traveled among and traded with the 1817, New Echota was made the capital of the Cherokee Indians at numerous trading posts that nation and by 1820, a modest form of he had established. He enjoyed the highest representative government was enjoyed and confidence of these Indians, wielded admirably administered. All savage, nomadic considerable influence among them and died on impulses and practices of the red man had been May 22, 1830. The children of Daniel and abandoned and the Cherokees lived at peace Mary Ross were Jennie, Eliza, John, Susannah, among themselves and with the adjoining tribes. Lewis, Andrew, Annie, Margaret and Marie. Missionaries had been a most potent factor in The celebrated Cherokee Chieftain John the advancement made by these Indians. Ross, son of Daniel and Mary Ross was born at During the years of their progress, the Ross Landing, now Chattanooga, Tennessee on menace of potential eviction from their ancient October 3, 1790. There being no schools to and hereditary homes ever confronted the accommodate the education of his growing Cherokees. They stubbornly parried the earliest family, Daniel Ross who was then living at efforts of the Government, but as time Maryville, Tennessee, prevailed upon the progressed the menace grew until their peaceful Cherokee council, about the closing days of the homes were rudely violated and the actual 18th century, to take its initial steps in the deportation of these unwilling Indians was matter of education. The first school was enforced. The years preceding the removal of established at Maryville and John Ross was one the Cherokees to the old Indian Territory were of the first pupils. He subsequently attended an eventful years in their history. The path of exile academy at Kingston where he remained for two across the prairies to the West and the struggles or three years and later clerked at a trading post. during the inceptive years in their new homes, Independent trading operations were later were painful experiences. It was no pageantry undertaken by young Ross and his brother of adventure; it was a boulevard of broken Lewis which proved quite successful. dreams. Much dishonor was involved in our The dawn of the 19th century found the early treatment of the Cherokees. Through Cherokees, not only the most powerful but also these uncharted seas, the stricken Indians were the most civilized of the North American tribes. extremely fortunate to possess the masterful and Their domain covered lands in southern unselfish leadership of John Ross, chieftain of Tennessee, southwestern North Carolina, the Cherokee Nation from 1828 until his death western South Carolina, northwestern Georgia in 1866. The life story of John Ross covers fifty and northern Alabama. Remarkable progress years of the vital history of the Cherokee was being made in education and in the Indians with every portion of which his efforts adoption of the civilized methods of the white were closely interwoven. These were the years man. Schools, churches, and asylums were of their greatest distresses and later, of their established by leaders who were comparable in rehabilitation. ability with that of their white oppressors. By The public service of John Ross began at 1822 each family cultivated from ten to forty the age of 19 years when Indian Agent Meigs acres, raising corn, rye, wheat and cotton and dispatched him on a mission to the Western much trading was done with their white Cherokees in Arkansas. He later enlisted and neighbors. The women spun and wove their served as an adjutant in his company in a Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 94

regiment of Cherokee warriors who fought with Government to proceed with the deportation of General Jackson in the Creek War of 1813-14. the tribes. The young adjutant served with distinction and John Ross became president of the National rendered heroic service at Horseshoe Bend in Committee in October 1819, a position he the spring of 1814, when the recalcitrant Creek continued to occupy for eight years. The were well nigh annihilated. After the war, National Committee was, at that time, the young Ross and his brother Lewis engaged in designation of the upper house of the legislative the mercantile business and in 1816, he made a branch of the Cherokee national government. business trip to New York. The progress made by the Cherokees was United States officials in surveying the greatly augmented in 1821, by the invention of lands ceded by the Creeks at the conclusion of the Cherokee alphabet by Sequoyah, a full blood the Creek War by the Treaty of August 9, 1814, member of the tribe. The response of the undertook to include a fraction of the Cherokee Indians to this innovation was truly phenomenal domain. A protesting delegation, of which John and in 1823 Sequoyah, with unselfish zeal, Ross was a member, hastened to Washington carried his invention to the Western Cherokees and negotiated the Treaty of March 22, 1816 in Arkansas, where he established his permanent whereby the boundary lines of the Nation were abode. In the fall of that year the Cherokee satisfactorily adjusted. With this service was council, in recognition of the splendid inaugurated a fifty-year period of unremitting contribution made by Sequoyah, awarded him a devotion to the welfare of the Cherokee Indians silver medal bearing a commemorative by John Ross who was to become a most potent inscription. John Ross was delegated to convey force among them. The political autonomy of this token of regard to Sequoyah and once more the Cherokees was again threatened the he journeyed to his fellow tribesmen in following year by the arrival among them of a Arkansas. commission from Washington to open negotiations for the removal of the Cherokees to the West. This commission contacted the Indian leaders at the agency in July 1817 and the task of formulating a response to the demands of the commissioners was delegated to John Ross and Elijah Hicks, his brother-in-law. The response submitted by Ross and Hicks invited attention to the progress being made by these Indians; to the prescriptive rights under which the Indians held title to their lands; expressed disapproval of the removal idea and requested that the tribe be permitted to enjoy a peaceable possession of their domain. This memorial was signed by 67 town chiefs and approved by the Cherokees. John Ross: Principal Chief of the Cherokees Despite the overwhelming opposition of the The State of Georgia became insistent upon responsible leaders of the tribe, a few the removal of the Cherokees and continually irresponsible town chiefs signed a removal reminded the Federal Government of the treaty on July 6, 1817. Efforts to enforce this engagements it had made by the Act of treaty provoked another delegation to Congress of April 24, 1802. On October 4, Washington, headed by John Ross, the finale of 1823, United States Commissioners which was the Treaty of February 27, 1819 Meriweather and Campbell arrived quite which effectively put an end to all removal unexpectedly at New Echota to contact the agitation, at least for the present, although the Cherokee council, then in session, to perfect authorities of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee terms for a removal of the tribe to the West. were continually urging the Federal Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 95

The Indian leaders calmly listened to the overtures of the commissioners, but firmly expressed their resolve not to yield another foot of their domain. It was at this point in the negotiations that the famous McIntosh incident took its place in the pages of Indian history and not altogether to the credit of the United States Commissioners. William McIntosh, a mixed blood of Scottish and Creek Indian descent was, at that time, chief of the lower Creeks and had hitherto enjoyed a high measure of confidence among his Cherokee neighbors. The cunning McIntosh had been a flexible tool in the hands of the commissioners in their dealings with the Creeks and through his skillful manipulations the tribal domain of his people had been entirely dissipated. As a concluding effort in their unsuccessful negotiations with the Cherokees, the commissioners undertook to enlist the assistance and influence of McIntosh, to control the tribal leaders. As a preliminary gesture, but which was quite unfortunate, the wily chief wrote his famous letter of October 21, 1823 to John Ross, in which he expressly agreed to get the commissioners to pay to Ross and his friends, certain, definite sums of money, if they would yield in the negotiations. McIntosh came on to New Echota while the negotiations were pending, to discuss the matter with Ross and requested that he be permitted to address the Cherokee council. Ross easily arranged this engagement but as a preliminary gesture, Ross caused the letter to be read and translated before the council, in the presence of McIntosh. It is unnecessary to state that McIntosh did not address the council, but did barely escape from the hall, mount his pony and ride in haste from the scene of his disgrace. He had misjudged the character of John Ross. Ross sent the letter on to Washington where it may be found today among the archives of the Indian Department. The commissioners returned empty handed and through the adroitness and integrity of John Ross the removal menace again was postponed, although sentiments of uneasiness and uncertainty impelled the council to dispatch another delegation headed by John Ross to Washington, to plead against any further importunities for land cessions.

This delegation grew bolder as it met the demands of Secretary of War Calhoun for the immediate removal of the Cherokees, by a reiteration of their determination to cede no more lands, because the limits as fixed by the treaty of 1819 had left them territory barely adequate for their comfort and convenience. Then in unmistakable terms, the delegation reminded the Secretary that the Indians were the original inhabitants of the country and were unwilling to permit the sovereignty of any state within the boundaries of their domain; they had never engaged to cede their lands to the Federal Government, but, on the other hand, the Government had guaranteed the land to them by solemn treaties which guaranties had been confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States. Ross and his delegation left nothing to be imagined as to the position of the Cherokee Nation and its people. It was a challenge to the rights of the states and to the bona fides of the Federal Government in the numerous engagements which it had made with the tribe. The challenge was taken up by Gov. George M. Troup of Georgia, who hotly declared that "a state of things so unnatural and fruitful of evils as an independent government of a semibarbarous people existing within the limits of a state could not long continue" and in a message to his legislature in 1825, he counseled the extension of the laws of Georgia over the Cherokees. The Cherokees under the inspiration of John Ross, insisted upon their rights as an independent political entity and when the State of Georgia sent surveyors to lay out the course of a canal through the Cherokee country, they were refused permission by the Cherokee council in 1826 with a resolution that "No individual state shall be allowed to make internal improvements within the sovereign limits of the Cherokee Nation." To more effectively coordinate their political status with the plan of the United States Government, a constitutional convention of Cherokee representatives met at New Echota on July 4, 1827 for the purpose of framing a constitution for the Nation and was organized by electing John Ross as its presiding officer. A constitution was framed, modeled after the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 96

Federal constitution with the powers of government carefully distributed into three branches; popular suffrage was ordained and religious freedom guaranteed. Significant was the language of its preamble, "We, the Cherokee people, constituting one of the sovereign and independent Nations of the earth and having complete jurisdiction over its territory to the exclusion of the authority of any other state, do ordain this constitution." The challenge to the states of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee was complete. It was a noble and appealing gesture, predicated upon historic facts, but was to provoke a tragedy. The so-called inherent rights of the Indian had become more or less legendary. As a matter of fact, the "man on horseback" came to the Indian when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. In October 1828, John Ross, the duly elected chief, assumed the duties of chief executive of the newly created Cherokee Republic and immediately proceeded to organize the new government. The discovery of gold in the Cherokee country in July 1829 excited the cupidity of the whites and provoked drastic legislation by the Georgia legislature which completely nullified the potency of the Cherokee government. Its national council was forbidden to meet save for the purpose of ceding its lands. Cherokee courts were denied the right to convene. Laws denying the right of an Indian to bring suit or to testify against the word of a white man were enacted and these provisions rendered it impossible for the Indian to defend his rights in any court or resist the seizure of his home and property. White persons were denied the right to live within the Cherokee country without a license from the Georgia authorities. This enactment was leveled against the white Christian missionaries who lived among and taught these people and this occasioned the arrest, conviction and prison sentence of Rev. Samuel A. Worcester and Elizur Butler, to be followed by the famous decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1832. Obviously, the purpose of these and kindred laws, equally obnoxious, was to enforce the withdrawal of the Cherokees from the state. The Indian Removal Act was

passed at Washington on May 28, 1830 and the Federal Government declared a fixed policy. Disaffection against the policy of Chief Ross began to develop within the tribe, led by Major Ridge, his son John, and his nephew Elias Boudinot, who formed an opposition party which favored removal to the West. These men were capable, cultured, and patriotic members of the tribe who appraised the hopelessness of the situation and the utter futility of further resistance to the stated purposes of the General Government. The Cherokee council passed a law which made possible the imposition of the death penalty upon any citizen who bartered away any of the tribal domain. Although the laws of Georgia had prohibited assemblages of the council, the council continued to meet at Red Clay and Chief Ross never abandoned his brave protest against the oppressive measures invoked by the State of Georgia and the Federal Government. Numerous delegations were sent to Washington to protest against the aggressions of the Georgia authorities, but were able to accomplish nothing. The Treaty of February 28, 1835 engineered by Rev. John F. Schermerhorn with the Ridge faction provided for the complete extinguishment of all title to Cherokee lands in the East and the removal of the tribe to the West. This treaty was submitted to and rejected by the council although it had the support of the Ridges and Boudinot who gave it their support in the face of the previous council legislation providing the death penalty. Chief Ross vigorously opposed the adoption of the treaty by the council and prepared to depart at once for Washington to protest again. On November 7, 1835, the eve of his departure, the Chief was seized by the Georgia authorities and held for several days. His private papers as well as the records of the council were rifled. It was evidently thought that with Ross out of the way, the Cherokees could be managed more easily. At the same time, his friend John Howard Payne, who was his houseguest, was also seized and his historical manuscript rifled. Payne was subsequently released and ordered out of the country. A short time before this, the Cherokee Phoenix and its plant had been seized and removed to Georgia. In the spring of 1834, the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 97

comfortable plantation home of Chief Ross and his extensive farm and buildings near Ross Landing had been ruthlessly taken from him by the holder of a lottery ticket, under Georgia law. He and the members of his family were evicted in a most cruel, humiliating, and inhumane manner. In October 1835, aided by a handful of unprincipled, self-styled representatives of the tribe, a treaty of removal was made, ratified by the United States Senate and proclaimed by the President on May 23, 1836. This treaty was an obvious fraud upon the Cherokees and was

Government now hastened to banish the Indians en masse to lands set aside for them beyond the Mississippi. The removal of the Cherokees came as the culmination of years of imposition upon them. It was a soulless enterprise in which no considerations of humanity were permitted to interfere. The Southeastern States declared a suspension of political ethics and deliverance from the Indians became their chief objective. The Cherokees ultimately yielded their ancient legacies to the despotism of the strong and acquiesced in the tyranny of the more powerful.

denied approval by their council. Chief Ross hastened to Washington with a protest signed by over 15,000 members of the tribe, but with no avail. In the fall of 1836, Ross visited the Western Cherokees in Arkansas again and sought to enlist their opposition to the fraudulent treaty. Opposition to the treaty was practically unanimous among the Cherokees as was evidenced by another protest which Chief Ross presented to Congress in the spring of 1838 and which was signed by 15,665 tribal members. These protests accomplished no consideration and with unrelenting severity the

In the spring of 1838, the enforced removal of the Cherokees was entrusted to Gen. Winfield Scott and on May 10th, the General established headquarters for his troops at New Echota and the actual deportation by military force, was undertaken. Ross met the situation with a calm dignity which forestalled armed opposition by the Indians, but with a strength of purpose which inspired with confidence the harassed Indians. In the ranks of the opposition to the Indians, Ross was considered the chief adversary. The United States Government and the state authorities declined and refused him all

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recognition. Straggling bands of the conflict. Discord was growing and in some disheartened Indians for months had been manner which has never been satisfactorily wending their way to the West when the explained, the Ridges and Boudinot, each military arm of the Government took charge. signers of the removal treaty, were pronounced The Indians were circumvented at every turn but guilty and the penalty of death cruelly exacted it became evident that the removal of these on June 22, 1839 in a savage manner. These people could not be accomplished by brute, men, under the impact of overwhelming odds, military force. There were so many pathetic had favored removal and signed the treaty features which challenged the finer sensibilities which ceded the tribal lands and thus rendered of even the hardened soldiers who were engaged themselves liable to the death penalty. This in the effort. On July 23, 1838, upon request of death penalty was exacted, but not through any the Cherokee council, the entire program for the pretense of compliance with the orderly removal of the Cherokees was handed over to processes of the law, but by some sort of the council and to this task, Chief Ross gave his concerted action. Quite naturally, the Ridge every attention. The famous chieftain, whom adherents attempted to fasten the crime upon the United States Government had declined to Chief Ross, who was perfectly innocent. recognize and whom the Georgia authorities had Naturally, the breach widened and quite attempted to bribe and bulldoze, was now inopportunely, shortly thereafter, the Ross recognized to accomplish the task where the Nationals met in council and denounced the army had failed. Truly, it was a vindication and Ridges and Boudinot as outlaws justly liable to belated recognition of the masterful leadership the death penalty and declared the murderers of John Ross among his people. The kind, restored to their confidence and good favor. unselfish executive in whom his people so In September 1839, a new constitution was relentlessly believed, patiently regimented the framed and subsequently adopted and agreed to Cherokees and in the winter of 1838-39, led the by all factions and John Ross was elected last remnant of the tribe to the unknown West— Principal Chief of the reunited Cherokee tribe, a the West where the broad, open prairies gather position he was to hold by successive the sunset in their arms until the dark comes. reelections until his death in 1866 and When the agony was over, some four thousand Tahlequah was made the capital. of the more helpless old men, women, and It was with courage and finesse that the children had perished during the journey, to be chief postponed the removal crisis for twenty buried by the wayside in unknown and years and his diplomatic efforts in so doing had unmarked graves. Truly, it was a "trail of won and sustained for him, the highest tears." Quatie, the Cherokee wife of Chief Ross confidence of his people although their ultimate sickened during the trip and died at Little Rock destiny should have been apparent. The in March 1839. The brave chief pressed on and conflicting status provoked by the attempted into the Territory and shortly thereafter political autonomy of the Cherokees within the established his famous home at Park Hill some confines of the States was wholly illogical and three miles southeast of the present town of could have no permanence. Ross, erudite leader Tahlequah. that he was must have foreseen the futility of his The Ridges and Boudinot were already in efforts to preserve for his people, even a the West and difficulties faced the chief and the semblance of their independent status in the council in their new home. Three factions grew East. He was not a conciliator but shared the out of the discordant elements—the Old fundamental impulses of the Indians. He created Settlers, composed of the Western Cherokees for them a social and political condition which who had voluntarily come west many years set them apart from "barbarians." before, the Ridge faction who had accepted The decades of their tribal life in the West removal and the Ross Nationals. The Old were as interludes preparatory to their splendid Settlers and the Ridge adherents combined participation in the social and political life of against Ross but were destined to lose in the Oklahoma, but the service of John Ross to these Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 99

people will never be forgotten. His public life involved his complete personal sacrifice. He was an incorruptible advocate amid environs of bribery, betrayal and graft. A survey of the Indian leaders during the tragic removal years, places John Ross foremost in the ranks of his contemporaries. His career is a study in personal leadership of the highest character.

The Golden Years in the Five Republics By Arrell Morgan Gibson23 The one bright period in the 19th century for American Indians was the interval between the conclusion of the removals (around 1835) and the outbreak of Civil War in 1861. There were the “golden years” for the Five Tribes, a time when the Indians made remarkable progress in taming the Oklahoma wilderness. They organized constitutional governments and established towns, schools, farms, ranches, and plantations. They published newspapers, magazines, and books. During these golden years, an extensive educational system, sustained by tribal governments and missionaries, provided noteworthy educational opportunities for Indian youth. In most of the Indian nations it was possible for every child to attend school from kindergarten through the academy (equivalent of high school), and in some cases to complete the first two years of college. From the academies, many bright young men were sent to the eastern colleges of the United States to complete their studies. After 1850, many business, social, and political leaders of the tribes were college graduates. Students in Indian nation schools were taught vocational subjects (job training) in addition to the traditional subjects such as spelling, biology, history, astronomy, Latin, Greek, English, arithmetic, philosophy, and, in the mission schools, Bible studies. The boys were trained in animal husbandry, agriculture, the mechanical arts, and carpentry, which the girls were instructed in childcare, cooking, 23

From Gibson, Arrell Morgan. Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1981.

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sewing, and other domestic arts. “Special Education” is not new in Oklahoma: the Indian Territory educational systems included schools for orphans, the deaf, blind, and mentally ill. Support came from various sources for the schools of Indian Territory. Congress appropriated an annual sum of $10,000 for the Indian Civilization Fund. But there was much competition for this money among the tribes so the tribes turned to missionary groups to provide educational services for their people. Tribes required that for every preacher allowed into their nations, the missionary group must provide a teacher and school facilities as well. Most of the money the Five Tribes poured into their educational systems came from the annuities (annual payments) from the U.S. government for the sale of their eastern lands. Tribal revenues came from several sources but in no case from taxes on Indian citizens, for there were no taxes in Oklahoma in those times. Land, which is the usual source of tax revenue, was held in common by each tribe and thus could produce no revenue. Through its richly varied activities, emphasis on learning, and general enlightenment effort, Park Hill Mission School could well qualify for the title of “Athens of the American Southwest.” This mission was the creation of Rev. Samuel Worcester. Following his release from the Georgia state prison in 1834, Worcester and his wife came to Indian Territory. Disasters on their journey slowed them so much that they did not arrive in Oklahoma until 1835. The great teacher had worked long and hard in eastern cities raising money to purchase a printing press, but the steamer carrying their personal effects, supplies, and the press sank in the Arkansas River. All seemed lost to the muddy waters, but Worcester persevered, and finally recovered the press. This piece of equipment became one of the most important devices ever brought to Oklahoma. Worcester set up his press and published the first two books ever printed in Oklahoma— an eight-page Cherokee language book and a hundred-page translation of portions of the New Testament in Creek. Additionally, Worcester’s press published the first newspaper ever

published in Indian Territory: The Cherokee Phoenix. In 1837, Worcester selected a site five miles south of Tahlequah for his Park Hill Mission School. Under his vigorous and creative leadership, Park Hill became the most important learning center in Indian Territory. In addition to a complex of buildings for classrooms, a church, and dwellings for the missionaries and teachers, the station included a boarding hall and dormitory for students, shops, stables, and barns. Extensive fields were cleared near the station, for Worcester’s goal was to make this a self-sufficient community. Park Hill became famous for its printing press. The missionary compound finally included a two-story publishing house complete with a bindery. The famous Park Hill Press did a massive volume of work for the Cherokees, numbering more than 14 million pages. But his great energy began to falter in 1859, and he called a friend and coworker, Charles C. Torrey to Park Hill to succeed him. A few months later in the same year, Rev. Samuel Worcester, the Cherokees’ greatest teacher died. Economically, the Five Tribes flourished during this period. Slavery was widely practiced among the mixed-blood Indians and they began to rebuild farms and plantations as they had in the Southern states. The more successful planters replaced their log houses with large mansions furnished with carpets, music rooms and libraries, and other elegant fixtures found in many white Southern homes. The Five Tribes had diversified economies. Their farms, plantations, and mines produced meat, hides, grain, salt, lead and other products. The markets for Indian Territory goods were varied as well. The many military posts and forts in Indian Territory were heavy customers of local produce. Fort Washita alone purchased seven thousand bushels of corn and great quantities of eggs, butter, meat, and vegetables each year from Chickasaw farmers. Their goods were also sold in the growing towns within each nation. Although water transportation was widely used for moving people and goods in frontier Oklahoma, not all Indian Territory communities wee situated at river landings. The ancestor of Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 101

today’s highways was the early day network of wagon roads that cut through the wilderness to connect the towns and military posts. The first road constructed in Oklahoma was the 58-mile wagon road laid out in 1825 to connect Fort Smith and Fort Gibson. All of the earliest roads were created to connect the various military forts. By 1845 eastern and central Oklahoma were laced with roads, traces, and trails linking towns, military posts, missions, and schools situated in the Five Republics. Some of the most famous highways in the West were built across Oklahoma before the General Watie surrendered after the Civil War. The Texas Road crossed through the Civil War, by the following articles. southeastern corner of Oklahoma and was the principal road for settlers bound for Texas. THE TREATY The Butterfield Road provided transportation and mail service originating at "Treaty stipulations made and entered into this Tipton, Missouri and on to the Pacific Shore. 23rd day of June 1865 near Doaksville Choctaw Customers purchasing one-way tickets paid Nation between Sent. Colonel A. C. Mathews $200 and road in rode in a stagecoach or spring and W. H. Vance U. S. Vol. commissioners wagon. Passengers were advised to include the appointed by Major General Herron U. S. A. on following in there baggage for the journey: part of the military authorities of the United “One Sharp’s rifle and a hundred States and Brig. General Stand Watie Governor cartridges; a Colts navy revolver and and Principal Chief of that part of the Cherokee two pounds of balls; a knife and Nation lately allied with Confederate States in sheath; a pair of thick boots and acts of hostilities against the Government of the woolen pants; a half dozen pairs of United States as follows towit: thick woolen socks; six undershirts; three woolen over shirts; a wide-awake "ARTICLE I. All acts of hostilities on the part hat; a cheap sack coat; a soldiers of both armies having ceased by virtue of a overcoat; one pair of blankets in convention entered into on the 26th day of May summer and two in winter; a piece of 1865 between Major General E. R. S. Cantry U. Indian rubber cloth for blankets.” S. A. Comdg. Mil. Division West Miss. and Another great early day Oklahoma road General E. Kirby Smith C. S. A. Comdg. Trans. was the California Road. The discovery of gold Miss Department. The Indians of the Cherokee in California set off a feverish rush of gold Nation here represented lately allied with the seekers from the eastern states in 1849. Before Confederate States in acts of hostilities against the gold fever ended, about 5,000 persons the Government of the United States. passed through Oklahoma on their way to California. Indian Territory towns became "Do agree at once to return to their respective prosperous trade centers, as merchants and homes and there remain at peace with United traders profited from the business of outfitting States, and offer no indignities whatever against emigrant trains with wagons, mules, horses, and the whites or Indians of the various tribes who oxen, camp equipment and provisions for the have been friendly to or engaged in the service crossing. Gold fever hit the Five Tribes too, of the United States during the war. especially the Cherokees, and several hundred Indians made the trip out west to the golden fields of California. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 102

Treaty of Surrender by General Stand Watie

"ARTICLE II. It is stipulated by the undersigned commissioners on part of the United States, that so- long as the Indians aforesaid observe the provisions of article first of this agreement, they shall be protected by the United States authorities in their person and property, not only from encroachment on the part of the whites, but also from the Indians who have been engaged in the service of the United States. "ARTICLE Ill. The above articles of agreement to remain and be in force and effect until the meeting of the Grand Council to meet at Armstrong Academy, Choctaw Nation on the 1st day of September A. D. 1865 and until such time as the preceedings of said Grand Council shall be ratified by the proper authorities both of the Cherokee Nation and the United States. "In testimony whereof the said Lieut. Col. A. C. Mathews and adjutant W. H. Vance commissioners on part of the United States and Brig. General Stand Watie Governor and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation have hereunto set their hands and seals. Signed. A. C. Mathews, Sent. Col. W. H. Vance, Adjr. Commissioners. Stand Watie Brig. Genl., Governor and Principal Chief Cherokee Nation.

Historical Atlas of Oklahoma By John W. Morris, Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds24

Map Thirty-Two: Battle of the Washita Indians on the Great Plains regularly avoided military campaigns during winter months. Lacking grain fro their horses, the most active raiders preferred the comfort of the lodge to matching their ponies, subsisting on meager winter pasturage, against the grain-fed mounts of the United States Cavalry. Furthermore, young warriors sometimes sought refuge in the winter camp of a peace friend. United States Army commanders were provoked to desperation by the elusive tactics of hostile Indian leaders. The Battle of the Washita was the result of Black Kettle’s (Moke-ta-ra-to’s) loyalty to Indian friends who were wanted by United States officers, together with determined winter campaigning by General George A. Custer and the difficulty of communication between the two races. In effect, it was a surprise assault of United States troops upon a camp whose leader was well disposed toward the authority of the United States. Black Kettle had shown interest in the Peace Commission of 1867 and a strong tendency toward cooperation with N.G. Taylor, the Indian commissioner. However, Custer had orders from General Philip Sheridan to conduct a cold-weather campaign. The blizzard that descended upon the Southwest in November 1868, offered the 24

From Morris, John W., Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1986.

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to warm himself; but the Cheyenne warriors did not get warning soon enough to catch their ponies and mount. A rear guard was outnumbered four to one. Black Kettle did manage to get on his pony and help his wife mount behind him, but a volley from Cook’s sharpshooters killed them both. Custer learned from a captive, Black Kettle’s sister that there were one thousand Indian lodges farther down the Washita. He determined to pull out without pursuing the fugitives farther. His report showed that he had killed 103 warriors, 16 women, and “a few” children. The United States force last highly valued officers and men, including Major Elliot, Sergeant-Major Walter Kennedy, and Captain Louis Hamilton.

earliest opportunity for trial of the new policy, and Custer was the man chosen to attack the Cheyennes. Custer and twelve troops of the Seventh Cavalry, a party of about 800 men, rode south. Ben Clark, California joe, Hard Rope the Osage, and Jimmy Morrison—all first-rate scouts— accompanied the soldiers. Custer knew the extent of the Cheyenne camp before he attacked. Two young Cheyenne raiders, Crow Neck and Black Shield, had recently come back from Kansas with fresh scalps as trophies. The young men were confident that white troops would not venture an attack on the camp during cold Map Thirty-Three: weather, but Black Kettle was in doubt and Indian Territory, 1866-1889 thought it best to post a sentry. Approaching from the north, Custer waited for dawn behind a low hill. He divided his The Reconstruction Era treaties negotiated command into four bands of about 200 men in 1866 with each of the Five Civilized Tribes, each. Major Joel Elliot was sent downstream in addition to providing for the abolition of nearly three miles to approach the camp from slavery and the recognition of citizens’ rights the east. Captain William Thompson cut south for the freedmen of the Indian tribes, provided across the Washita to come in from the land in the western part of Indian Territory for southwest. The soldiers under Colonel Edward the settlement of tribes from Kansas, Nebraska, Myers advanced on the right, crossing the and elsewhere. stream to approach the Cheyenne camp on the The Choctaw-Chickasaw treaty ceded the south bank as Custer’s band moved in directly Leased District to the United States for from the northwest. With Custer rode forty $300,000. The Creek treaty ceded the western sharpshooters under Lieutenant W.W. Cook. half of Creek lands—3,250,000 acres—for The savage barking dogs aroused Double $975,168. The Seminoles ceded all of their Wolf, the sentinel, who had slipped inside a log Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 104

land—2,169,080 acres—for $325, 362. The Seminoles further agreed to purchase 200,000 acres of land, a part of the tract of land recently acquired by the United States from the Creeks. The Seminoles would eventually purchase an additional tract of land in 1881, enlarging their new home to 375,000. The Cherokee treaty provided that friendly Indian tribes might be settled on the Cherokee

The Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes occupied a reservation more than 3,000,000 acres in extent in the southeastern part of the Leased District. The Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation was west of the 98th meridian and south of the Cherokee Outlet. The region between the North Fork of the Red River and the 100th meridian, about 2,300 square miles in extent, was still in dispute

Outlet at a price agreed upon by the Cherokees between Texas and the United States. Texas and the purchasers. The Cherokee Strip and the had organized the area as Greer County and Neutral Lands, both in Kansas, were to be sold admitted more than 8,000 homesteaders. to the highest bidder for the benefit of the The Cherokee Outlet comprised over Cherokees, at an average price no lower than 6,000,000 acres not occupied by Indian groups. $1.25 an acre. “No Man’s Land” had no legal settlers, and was Settlements on land ceded by the Creeks not officially attached to any state or territory. and Seminoles also were limited to “such other Greer County was settled only in part. A fourth civilized Indians as the United States may region, the “Unassigned Lands,” containing choose to settle thereon.” 1,887,796 acres, became the first area opened to Each of the Five Civilized Tribes agreed to non-Indian settlement in 1889. It was near the admit two railroads—one rail line running east center of the present state. to west, the other north to south—across tribal lands. Map Forty-Six: Tribal settlements in the Cherokee Outlet as Cattle Trails of 1889 were as follows: east of the Arkansas River, Osage and Kaw; west of the Arkansas, Oto and Missouri, Ponca, and Tonkawa. On The trails of the great cattle drives from Creak and Seminole land were the Sac and Fox, Texas through the Indian Territory became wellPottawatomie and Shawnee, Iowa, and established routes fro the transportation of cattle Kickapoo tribes. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 105

on the hoof. In 1866 the price of a fine steer in Texas was usually not more than $5; in Chicago and New York the same beef animal would sell for a price ranging from $65 to $90. The great need of Texas ranchers was a means for delivering their cattle to a point where railroad lines made connections with markets. Railroads in Missouri and eastern Kansas determined the route of the first northern drives. As the rails were pushed westward in Kansas, however, cattle trails leading to them also were established father west. The drives in 1866 followed the Texas Road, a trail filled with difficulties and dangers—deep streams that were hard to ford, Indians who resented cattle drives across their

of the Arkansas, passing near the sites of Pawnee and Ponca City. Eighty miles west of Colbert’s Ferry the Chisholm Trail crossed the Red River near Ringold, TX and extended north to the Kansas line. This famous route, slightly irregular because of the locations of the best fords, was roughly parallel to the 98th meridian and to the line followed later by the Rock Island railroad and U.S. Highway 81. This great artery of the northern drive was named for Jesse Chisholm, the trader. Jesse was son-in-law of the proprietor of Edward’s Post at the mouth of the Little River. The Chisholm Ranch, near the site of Asher, drove cattle nearly one hundred miles to King Fisher’s

insufficient pasture lands, and rough, timbered stagecoach station, where the Texas cattle areas where the wild Texas steers might cause passed on the way to Kansas. Jesse Chisholm, endless delay by hiding in the brush. This was more interested in trade rather than livestock known as the East Shawnee Trail. From Fort growing, hauled provisions south from Gibson a branch trail developed along the left Caldwell, KS to supply the crews on the great bank of the Arkansas River, and many Indian cattle drives. The Cherokee Indian trader thus ranchmen of northeastern Indian Territory became the best-known person on the trail, and followed this route into Cowley County, KS. it was natural to designate the route by his The West Shawnee Trail left the Texas name. Road at Boggy Depot toward the northwest, The Great Western Trail, crossing the Red crossing the Canadian River near the site of River within sight of Doan’s Store, TX ran Konawa, the North Canadian River near the site almost due north to Trail and Cedar Springs, of Shawnee, the Cimarron River near the site of then northwest to the crossing of Beaver Creek present-day Cushing, and continued to the west and to the Kansas line beyond Sherman Ranch. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 106

The Great Western was relatively free of timber, and the Indians were willing to exchange pasturage for beef. The northern objective was Dodge City, KS, which was called “the cow capital of the world” for a decade. Between 1866 and 1885 about 6,000,000 head of cattle were driven north from Texas to the Kansas railroad lines or to northern ranges in Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, or Montana. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad, completed in 1872, the Santa Fe line completed across Oklahoma lands in 1886, and other lines from Texas to Kansas quickly reduced the cattle drives to local operations.

Map Sixty-Four: Oklahoma Railroads, 1870-1985 Plans for railroad building at the time of the Civil War included connecting the Great Lakes with the Missouri River, the Missouri Valley with the Gulf Coast, and the Mississippi River with California. Indian Territory was in the path of the second and third of these major plans. The first railroad line to the Pacific become a reality when the Union Pacific building west from Omaha, and the Central Pacific, building east from Sacramento, met at

Promontory Point, UT in 1869. The Union Pacific planned a southern branch to connect eastern Kansas with the Gulf of Mexico, following the route of the old Texas Road. In 1869 the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway Company, charted by the state of Kansas, acquired the properties of this southern branch, and by 1873 had extended the line from Chetopa, KS across Indian Territory to the Red River near Colbert’s Ferry. Crossing the Arkansas River on a bridge 840 feet long, this first line in the land of the Five Civilized Tribes ran southwest through Muskogee, Eufaula, McAlester, Atoka, and Durant. The Atlantic and Pacific had constructed a line from St. Louis to Seneca, Missouri, on the border of Indian Territory by April 1, 1871. This route extended its line southwest toward the Creek Nation. It formed a junction with the MK&T at Vinita on September 1, and stopped construction until 1882. By that time it had been reorganized as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company. It bridged the Arkansas River by 1886 and established an important cattle-shipping center at Red Fork on the right bank. Between 1882 and 1887 the same company constructed a line from Fort Smith through the Choctaw Nation to the Red River south of Hugo. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific

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Railroad built south from Caldwell, KS in 1890, approximately along the line of the Chisholm Trail across the Cherokee Outlet and the Unassigned Lands to the border of the Chickasaw Nation. In 1902 the Rock Island Company bought the properties of the Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad, which gave El Reno a connection with Oklahoma City, Shawnee, Wewoka, McAlester, and Wister Junction. Since the principal fuel for locomotives at that time was coal, access to the eastern Oklahoma mines was an important consideration for the MK&T, the Rock Island, and other routes. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, which was in operation before the opening of the Unassigned Lands, played a large part in the runs for homesteads and the location of town sites. The growth of population in the Twin Territories and the development of industry and agriculture were closely dependent upon railroads in Oklahoma, as in other parts of the American West. By 1916, even before railroad construction was completed in Oklahoma, abandonment of unprofitable lines had begun. This phenomenon, due in part to the competition of highways and pipelines, parallels abandonments in the nation at large. For example, in 1972 a long MK&T line in western Oklahoma was abandoned. This route had extended from Altus to Woodward and then westward across the Panhandle to a point near Keyes in Cimarron County. The most recent abandonment was the dropping of the Santa Fe line from Pauls Valley to Lindsay in April, 1985.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn By Eyewitness to History25 In late 1875, Sioux and Cheyenne Indians defiantly left their reservations, outraged over the continued intrusions of whites into their sacred lands in the Black Hills. They gathered in Montana with the great warrior Sitting Bull to fight for their lands. The following spring, two victories over the U.S. Cavalry emboldened them to fight on in the summer of 1876. To force the large Indian army back to the reservations, the Army dispatched three columns to attack in coordinated fashion, one of which contained General George A. Custer and the Seventh Cavalry. Spotting the Sioux village about fifteen miles away along the Rosebud River on June 25, Custer also found a nearby group of about forty warriors. Ignoring orders to wait, he decided to attack before they could alert the main party. He did not realize that the number of warriors in the village numbered three times his strength. Dividing his forces in three, Custer sent troops under Captain Frederick Benteen to prevent their escape through the upper valley of the Little Bighorn River. Major Marcus Reno was to pursue the group, cross the river, and charge the Indian village in a coordinated effort with the remaining troops under his command. He hoped to strike the Indian encampment at the northern and southern ends simultaneously, but made this decision without knowing what kind of terrain he would have to cross before making his assault. He belatedly discovered that he would have to negotiate a maze of bluffs and ravines to attack. 25

“The Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1876.” Eyewitness to History. www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1998).

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Reno's squadron of 175 soldiers attacked the southern end. Quickly finding themselves in a desperate battle with little hope of any relief, Reno halted his charging men before they could be trapped, fought for ten minutes in dismounted formation, and then withdrew into the timber and brush along the river. When that position proved indefensible, they retreated uphill to the bluffs east of the river, pursued hotly by a mix of Cheyenne and Sioux. Just as they finished driving the soldiers out, the Indians found roughly 210 of Custer's men coming towards the other end of the village, taking the pressure off of Reno's men. Cheyenne and Hunkpapa Sioux together crossed the river and slammed into the advancing soldiers, forcing them back to a long high ridge to the north. Meanwhile, another force, largely Oglala Sioux under Crazy Horse's command, swiftly moved downstream and then doubled back in a sweeping arc, enveloping Custer and his men in a pincer move. They began pouring in gunfire and arrows.

Custer and his men were killed in the worst American military disaster ever. After another day's fighting, Reno and Benteen's now united forces escaped when the Indians broke off the fight. They had learned that the other two columns of soldiers were coming towards them, so they fled. After the battle, the Indians came through and stripped the bodies and mutilated all the uniformed soldiers, believing that the soul of a mutilated body would be forced to walk the earth for all eternity and could not ascend to heaven. Inexplicably, they stripped Custer's body and cleaned it, but did not scalp or mutilate it. He had been wearing buckskins instead of a blue uniform, and some believe that the Indians thought he was not a soldier and so, thinking he was an innocent, left him alone. Because his hair was cut short for battle, others think that he did not have enough hair to allow for a very good scalping. Immediately after the battle, the myth emerged that they left him alone out of respect for his fighting ability, but few participating Indians knew who he was to have been so respectful. To this day, no one knows the real reason. Little Bighorn was the pinnacle of the Indians' power. They had achieved their greatest victory yet, but soon their tenuous union fell apart in the face of the white onslaught. Outraged over the death of a popular Civil War hero on the eve of the Centennial, the nation demanded and received harsh retribution. The Black Hills dispute was quickly settled by redrawing the boundary lines, placing the Black Hills outside the reservation and open to white settlement. Within a year, the Sioux nation was defeated and broken. "Custer's Last Stand" was their last stand as well.

Carnage at the Little Bighorn George Herendon served as a scout for the Seventh Cavalry—a civilian under contract with the army and attached to Major Reno's As the Indians closed in, Custer ordered his command. Herendon charged across the Little men to shoot their horses and stack the carcasses Bighorn River with Reno as the soldiers met an to form a wall, but they provided little overwhelming force of Sioux streaming from protection against bullets. In less than an hour, their encampment. After the battle, Herendon Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 109

told his story to a reporter from the New York The command headed for the ford, pressed Herald. closely by Indians in large numbers, and at Reno took a steady gallop down the creek every moment the rate of speed was increased, bottom three miles where it emptied into the until it became a dead run for the ford. The Little Horn, and found a natural ford across the Sioux, mounted on their swift ponies, dashed up Little Horn River. He started to cross, when the by the side of the soldiers and fired at them, scouts came back and called out to him to hold killing both men and horses. Little resistance on, that the Sioux were coming in large numbers was offered, and it was complete rout to the to meet him. He crossed over, however, formed ford. I did not see the men at the ford, and do his companies on the prairie in line of battle, not know what took place further than a good and moved forward at a trot but soon took a many were killed when the command left the gallop. timber. The Valley was about three fourth of a mile Just as I got out, my horse stumbled and fell wide, on the left a line of low, round hills, and and I was dismounted, the horse running away on the right the river bottom covered with a after Reno's command. I saw several soldiers growth of who were cottonwood trees dismounted, their and bushes. horses having been After scattering killed or run away. shots were fired There were also from the hills and some soldiers a few from the mounted who had river bottom and remained behind, I Reno's should think in all skirmishers as many as thirteen returned the soldiers, and seeing shots. no chance of He advanced getting away, I about a mile called on them to from the ford to a come into the line of timber on timber and we the right and would stand off the dismounted his Indians. men to fight on foot. The horses were sent into Three of the soldiers were wounded, and the timber, and the men forward on the prairie two of them so badly they could not use their and advanced toward the Indians. The Indians, arms. The soldiers wanted to go out, but I said mounted on ponies, came across the prairie and no, we can't get to the ford, and besides, we opened a heavy fire on the soldiers. After have wounded men and must stand by them. skirmishing for a few minutes Reno fell back to The soldiers still wanted to go, but I told them I his horses in the timber. The Indians moved to was an old frontiers-man, understood the his left and rear, evidently with the intention of Indians, and if they would do as I said I would cutting him off from the ford. get them out of the scrape which was no worse Reno ordered his men to mount and move than scrapes I had been in before. About half of through the timber, but as his men got into the the men were mounted, and they wanted to keep saddle the Sioux, who had advanced in the their horses with them, but I told them to let the timber, fired at close range and killed one horses go and fight on foot. soldier. Colonel Reno then commanded the We stayed in the bush about three hours, men to dismount, and they did so, but he soon and I could hear heavy firing below in the river, ordered them to mount again, and moved out on apparently about two miles distant. I did not to the open prairie. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 110

know who it was, but knew the Indians were fighting some of our men, and learned afterward it was Custer's command. Nearly all the Indians in the upper part of the valley drew off down the river, and the fight with Custer lasted about one hour, when the heavy firing ceased. When the shooting below began to die away I said to the boys “come, now is the time to get out.” Most of them did not go, but waited for night. I told them the Indians would come back and we had better be off at once. Eleven of the thirteen said they would go, but two stayed behind. I deployed the men as skirmishers and we moved forward on foot toward the river. When we had got nearly to the river we met five Indians on ponies, and they fired on us. I returned the fire and the Indians broke and we then forded the river, the water being heart deep. We finally got over, wounded men and all, and headed for Reno's command which I could see drawn up on the bluffs along the river about a mile off. We reached Reno in safety.

now about five o'clock, and the fight lasted until it was too dark to see to shoot. As soon as it was dark Reno took the packs and saddles off the mules and horses and made breast works of them. He also dragged the dead horses and mules on the line and sheltered the men behind them. Some of the men dug rifle pits with their butcher knives and all slept on their arms. At the peep of day the Indians opened a heavy fire and a desperate fight ensued, lasting until 10 o'clock. The Indians charged our position three or four times, coming up close enough to hit our men with stones, which they threw by hand. Captain Benteen saw a large mass of Indians gathered on his front to charge, and ordered his men to charge on foot and scatter them. Benteen led the charge and was upon the Indians before they knew what they were about and killed a great many. They were evidently much surprised at this offensive movement, and I think in desperate fighting Benteen is one of the bravest men I ever saw in a fight. All the time he was going about through the bullets, encouraging the soldiers to stand up to their work and not let the Indians whip them; he went among the horses and pack mules and drove out the men who were skulking there, compelling them to go into the line and do their duty. He never sheltered his own person once during the battle, and I do not see how he escaped being killed. The desperate charging and fighting was over at about one o'clock, but firing was kept up on both sides until late in the afternoon.

General George A. Custer

We had not been with Reno more than fifteen minutes when I saw the Indians coming up the valley from Custer's fight. Reno was then moving his whole command down the ridge toward Custer. The Indians crossed the river below Reno and swarmed up the bluff on all sides. After skirmishing with them Reno went back to his old position which was on one of the highest fronts along the bluffs. It was Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 111

Reservations Not Accepted: Chief Joseph By Alan Lockwood and David Harris26 Centuries before the arrival of whites, American Indian tribes roamed freely throughout what is now the northwestern part of the United States. Animals were hunted for meat. Other foods, such as roots and berries, were gathered from the land. Among the tribes in the area were the Palouse, the Yakima, the Spokan, the Wallawalla, and the Nez Perce. When Lewis and Clark explored the area in 1805-1806, the Nez Perce was one of the largest tribes. According to one estimate, there were four to six thousand Nez Perce living in bands in the area where the borders of present-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho meet. Lewis and Clark, as well as other whites, reported that the Nez Perce were friendly and helpful. As more and more whites came to the area, however, conflicts developed. There were significant differences between white and American Indians ideas about religion, property, and law. Christian missionaries came to the Northwest in the early 1800s. They believed it was their duty to convert the various tribes to Christianity. Often the missionaries failed to understand the importance of Indian religious beliefs, or looked upon them as being of little worth. The Nez Perce, and other tribes, held strong religious views. In general their religions were related to nature and the spirits they believed influenced human and animal behavior, as well as the climate and the weather. The Indians’ 26

Lockwood, Alan L. and David E. Harris. “Reservations Not Accepted: Chief Joseph.” Reasoning with Democratic Values. Vol. 2. New York: Teachers College Press, 1985.

respect for the natural environment was partly a result of their religious beliefs. For example, each Nez Perce might have a personal guardian spirit or Wyakim. Each Wyakim was connected with some feature of the natural world. The conflicts between whites and Indians often erupted into bloody battles. The Nez Perce were generally successful in avoiding violence. At time members of the tribe served as scouts for U.S. soldiers. Unfortunately, the Nez Perce’s time of war was to come. As the United States moved westward, it was its policy to place Indians on reservations in an effort to control the Native American population. When Isaac Stevens became governor of the Washington Territory, he set out to establish reservations for the various tribes in the Territory. In 1855 Stevens met with the leaders of many tribes, and, after much debate, a treaty was established. According to the treaty, large areas of land were set aside for reservations. The government promised to provide money and make certain improvements on the land, and no whites were to be allowed on the reservations without permission of the tribes. The treaty provisions were soon violated. White settlers often moved onto tribal lands. Gold was discovered in the area, and miners began to enter the reservation areas. There were occasional outbreaks of violence. Because of the treaty violations, a new treaty meeting was held in 1863. The chiefs of the Nez Perce bands had a major disagreement. Some were willing to draw boundaries for a new reservation while others were not. As a result, some Nez Perce bands signed a new treaty establishing reservations and other refused to sign. Those who refused to sign returned to the lands they had inhabited after the treaty of 1855. One group of Nez Perce, which had refused to sign the treaty, returned to their lands in the Wallowa Valley. When the chief of the band died in 1871, he told his son Joseph: “When I am gone, think of our country. . . . Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. . . . Never sell the bones of your father and mother.”

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Joseph, holding his dying father’s hand, said Soon after this crisis, Howard and other that he would protect the land with his life. government officials were ordered to place the Young Chief Joseph, now in his early Nez Perce on the reservation. A meeting was thirties, tried to live in peace with the white arranged in November 1876. settlers in the area. He occasionally ate dinner At the meeting, Chief Joseph made his with the settlers and played with their children. position clear: He would explain why the land traditionally The earth was my mother. . . . I could belonged to the Nez Perce. As more and more not consent to sever my affections from white settlers came into the area, however, the land which bore me. I ask nothing tension increased. of the President. I am able to take care Government policy did not reduce the of myself. I do not desire the Wallowa tension. In 1873, President Grant issued an Valley as a reservation, for that would order prohibiting whites from settling on the subject me to the will of another and Nez Perce land in the Wallowa Valley. The make me dependent on him and subject order was ineffective partly because the to laws not of our own making. I am boundaries of the Nez Perce land were not disposed to live peaceably. clearly established. Then, in 1875, the President General Howard and others argued that the revoked the 1873 order, opening the valley to U.S. government made the laws and that all the white settlers. The President’s decision was people must follow them. According to based on an incorrect report stating that Joseph Howard, the Nez Perce were denying the proper and his group were willing to move onto the authority of the government. Joseph and the Nez Perce reservation. other chiefs were not persuaded, and the Pressure to move the tribes onto meeting ended. reservations continued. In some parts of the Northwest, nonreservation Indians fought battles with whites. Throughout the area, a fear and distrust of nonreservation tribes grew among whites. Efforts were made to persuade the nonreservation Nez Perce to move onto the reservation. General Oliver O. Howard was military commander of the area. At first he opposed moving Chief Joseph’s group. In 1875 he wrote the War Department: “I think it is a great mistake to take from Joseph and his band of Nez Perce Indians that valley . . . possibly Congress can be induced to let these really peaceable Indians have this poor valley for their own.” Howard’s advice was not followed. Relations between Joseph’s band and neighboring whites reached a dangerous point. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Two whites killed a friend of Chief Joseph’s The time for discussion was over. The whom they accused of horse stealing. Joseph government ordered Howard to more the Nez was particularly outraged when it seemed that Perce onto the reservation. Violence was to be they two whites were not going to be brought to avoided, but force was to be used if necessary. trial. At one point he treated to drive the white As Howard later wrote, “In fact the time for settlers out of the valley, and he demanded that loving persuasion had now gone by. Positive the killers be turned over the Nez Perce. instruction had come, and obedience was Eventually the killers were brought to trial by required.” white authorities, but they were no convicted. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 113

In May 1877, Howard again met with the nonreservation Nez Perce. It was an angry meeting. One chief challenged the general: “The Great Spirit made the world as it is and as He wanted it. . . . I do not see where you get your authority to say that we shall not live here as He placed us.” The argument continued and finally Howard announced: “I stand here for the President, and there is no spirit good or bad that will hinder me. My orders are plain, and will be executed. I hoped that the Indians had good sense enough to make me their friend, and not their enemy.” Many of the Nez Perce were furious and wanted to begin a war. Chief Joseph was angry also, but he opposed war. He believed a war could be disastrous for his people. The U.S. army had too many soldiers and weapons. After much discussion, the Nez Perce reluctantly agreed to move onto reservations. General Howard wanted to be sure that they tribe would move as quickly as possible. He said the Nez Perce would have 30 days to move to the reservation. Then, it is reported, he gave a warning: “If you let the time run over one day, the soldiers will be there to drive you on the reservation, and all your cattle and horses outside of the reservation at that time will fall into the hands of the white men.” It would be difficult for the Nez Perce to reach the reservation lands within 30 days. They owned thousands of horses and many heads of cattle, and they would have to cross flooded rivers and rocky terrain. Nonetheless, Howard insisted upon the 30-day time limit. Frustrated, sad, and angry, the Nez Perce began their move to the reservation. As they moved, a warlike spirit grew in some of the Nez Perce. Young warriors of Chief White Bird’s band were especially agitated. Whites had made their lives difficult. One white had killed the father of Wahlitits, a young man of White Bird’s band, two years earlier. The memory of his father’s death fueled the flames of resentment in Wahlitits. One day a Nez Perce taunted Wahlitis: “If you are so brave, why don’t you go kill the white man who killed your father?” Before he died, Wahlitits’

father had told him not to seek revenge, but now Wahlitits could no longer restrain himself. Wahlitis and two other young men rode out to seek revenge. They were unable to find the man believed to have killed Wahlitits’ father, but they knew other whites in the area who had mistreated the Nez Perce. The young warriors attacked and killed a number of white settlers. The next day more whites were killed. Although the killings had taken place without the consent of the tribal leaders, Chief Joseph and others were certain the entire tribe would be blamed. Hopes for peace faded, and the Nez Perce prepared for war. On June 14, the 30-day deadline for reaching the reservation had passed, and General Howard heard about the killings of the whites. He ordered troops to pursue the Nez Perce. Howard was convinced that Chief Joseph was the war leader of the tribe. He was incorrect. Joseph’s main responsibility was to oversee the protection of the women, children, and elderly. Other chiefs directed the war efforts. The first battle was faught on June 17, 1877, and the Nez Perce were able to beat back the soldiers. The tribe then began a long series of maneuvers to avoid the troops. The plan that developed was to leave Idaho be crossing the mountains into Montana. Once in Montana, the Nez Perce hoped they could live in peace in the buffalo country. If not, they would cross the border into Canada as the Sioux had done after the defeat of Custer the previous year. Peace did not await them. U.S. troops from the Montana side of the mountains surprised the Nez Perce at Big Hole on August 9. The Nez Perce suffered heavy losses including the death of many women and children. The troops were unable to capture the tribe, however, and the surviving Nez Perce moved on. In the meantime, General Howard and his troops had made the difficult trek across the mountains and were about two days behind the Nez Perce. Public opinion began to turn against the former Union hero of the Civil War. Newspaper articles explained that Howard was moving too slowly; that he should have captured the Nez Perce by now. There were many fears that the Nez Perce would bring war against Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 114

white settlers in Montana. General William When Howard and his troops arrived on Sherman, Howard’s superior officer, heard the October 4, Miles gave them a chilly reception. fears and criticisms. He ordered Howard to Howard assured Miles that he would receive full pursue the Nez Perce more vigorously: “That credit for the victory, and Miles quickly warmed force of yours should pursue the Nez Perce to up. Some Howard’s men were angry because the death, lead where they may. . . . If you are they had suffered during the long march and tired, give the command to some young believed they deserved the credit. Nonetheless, energetic officer.” the general had his way. Howard sent a reply to Sherman saying that On October 5, Joseph was invited to the delay had been caused by the difficult march surrender. Miles and Howard told the chief that and the need to wait for supplies. He said that if he surrendered, his people and their remaining he and his troops would continue to chase the horses and cattle would be returned to the Nez Perce. reservation in Idaho. Joseph accepted the terms Grief-stricken from the causalities suffered of surrender and said: “I am tired of fighting . . . at Big Hole, the Nez Perce continued to little children are freezing to death. . . . Hear me, maneuver away from the troops. They moved my chiefs, I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. through Yellowstone Park. On the way they From where the sun now stands, I will fight no encountered some tourists and killed them. The more forever.” Nez Perce feared that they tourists would report After Joseph’s surrender, a number of Nez their movements to Howard. Perce led by White Bird escaped to Canada. Of The Tribe then turned northward toward the group that surrendered with Joseph, there Canada. Howard’s forces were still two days were approximately four hundred of the over behind, so the Nez Perce stopped to rest in a eight hundred Nez Perce that started out section near the Bear Paw Mountains. For together in June. During the course of their many of them it would be their final resting 1,700-mile trek, approximately one hundred and place. twenty men, women, and children had been General Howard had sent a message ahead killed. About one hundred and eighty whites to Colonel Nelson Miles. Miles commanded a had died. group of soldiers who were in a position to head The surrender terms promised by Miles and off the Nez Perce. In late September, Miles and Howard were rejected by General Sherman and his men discovered the location of the tribe. other higher authorities. Howard agreed with A battle began on September 30. Miles was their decision. He said that because White Bird eager to capture the Nez Perce. If he could and his group had escaped after Joseph’s defeat them before Howard arrived, he would surrender, the terms of the agreement had been get all the credit for the victory and probably a violated, and the promise no longer counted. promotion to general. If Howard arrived before Miles pleaded with his superiors to honor the defeat, Howard, as the superior officer, the surrender promise. Sherman and others would receive credit for capturing the Nez would not agree. They said it would be too Perce. dangerous to send the Nez Perce to the On October 1, Miles sent out a flag of truce Northwest. Violence might begin again. Miles and said he wanted to meet with Chief Joseph. apologized to Chief Joseph: “You must not Miles told Joseph he was in an impossible blame me. I have endeavored to keep my word, situation and that he should surrender at once. but the chief who is over me has given the order Joseph disagreed and refused to surrender. and I must obey it or resign. That would do you Fighting continued, and it began to look no good. Some officer would carry out the hopeless for the Nez Perce. Joseph and other order.” leaders held a meeting. Chief White Bird The Nez Perce were taken to Kansas and wanted to attempt to escape to Canada; Joseph then to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The believed surrender would be best. They decided climate and other conditions were different from that each band could do as it chose. the cool, dry mountain air to which the Nez Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 115

Perce were accustomed. Many of them died of malaria and other diseases. Chief Joseph continued to apply for better treatment, and finally public opinion began to shift in favor of the Nez Perce. In 1885, the government returned the Nez Perce to reservations in the Northwest. Some were settled in Idaho; others, including Chief Joseph, were sent to a reservation in Washington. Joseph made repeated efforts to persuade the government to return his group to their homeland. His appeals were rejected. In 1904, the sad, old chief died on the reservation in Washington.

Standing Bear Becomes a Person By Dee Brown27 In 1804, at the mouth of the Niobrara River (in what is today Nebraska) . . . Lewis and Clark met with a friendly tribe of Indians called the Poncas. The tribe then numbered only two or three hundred, the survivors of a massive epidemic of the white man’s small pox. Half a century later, the Poncas, were still there, still friendly, and eager to trade with white men, their sturdy tribe increased to about a thousand. Unlike most Plains Indians, the Poncas raised corn and kept vegetable gardens, and because they were prosperous and owned many horses, they frequently had to fight off raiders from Sioux tribes to the north. In 1858 the Poncas gave up part of their territory in exchange for promises made by the government to guarantee them protection and a permanent home on the Niobrara River. But in 1876, Congress decided to include the Poncas in the list of northern tribes who were to be exiled to Indian Territory. The first news of the Poncas had of their impending removal was brought to them early in January 1877. The chiefs were united in their determination to hold the government to its treaty obligations and refused to be removed. The U.S. government authorized the use of troops (force) and by May of 1877, the Poncas began their five hundred mile walk to Indian Territory with guns at their backs. Summer heat and biting flies plagued them for weeks, and then at last, on July 9, after a severe drenching in a thunderstorm, they reached their new homes and found a small 27

From Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart of Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Henry Holt and Co., Inc., 2000.

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group of Poncas who had preceded them living would not blame him. Look at me. Take pity wretchedly in tents. The Poncas died so rapidly on me and help me to save the lives of my that by the end of their first year in Indian women and children. My brothers, a power, Territory they lost one fourth of their which I cannot resist, crowds me down to the population. One of those who died was the ground. I need help. I have done.” oldest son of Chief Standing Bear. “At last I The judge in the case ruled that an Indian had only one son left; then he sickened,” was a “person” within the meaning of the Standing Bear said, “When he was dying he habeas corpus act, that the right of expatriation asked me to promise him one thing. He begged was a natural, inherent, and inalienable right of me to take him, when he was dead, back to our the Indian as well as the white race, and that in old burying ground by the Swift Running Water, time of peace no authority could transport the Niobrara. I promised. When he died, I and Indians from one section of the country to those with me put his body into a box and then another without the consent of the Indians or to in a wagon and we started north.” confine them to any particular reservation Sixty-six Poncas made up the burial party, against their will. The judge concluded the all of the Standing Bear’s clan, following the proceedings by ordering Standing Bear and his old wagon drawn by two starving horses. It was band be released from custody. They were free January of 1879. Standing Bear led his people to return their homes in Nebraska. over trails away from settlements and soldiers As soon as the surviving 530 Poncas in but a company of soldiers led by General Indian Territory learned of this astonishing turn George Cook intercepted the party and arrested of events, most them began preparations to join them for leaving their reservation in Indian their relatives back in Nebraska. Through its Territory. In his jail cell Standing Bear told his agents the Bureau of Indian Affairs informed captors, “I thought God intended us to live but I the Ponca chiefs that only the Great White was mistaken, God intends to give the country Father in Washington could decide if and when to the white people, and we are to die. It may be the tribes might return. The Bureaucrats and well; it may be well.” politicians in D.C. recognized the decision as a With the help of sympathetic local Indian strong threat to the reservation system; it would rights activists and even the officer who arrested endanger the large group of entrepreneurs who him—General Cook—Standing Bear sued in were making fortunes selling bad food, shoddy U.S. District Court for his right to return home. blankets, and poisonous whiskey to the The U.S. government claimed that Standing thousands of Indians trapped on reservations. If Bear did not have a right to habeas corpus the Poncas were allowed to leave their because Indians “were not persons within the reservation in Indian Territory and walk away as meaning of the law.” free citizens, this would set a precedent which Thus began in April 1879, the now almost might well destroy the entire reservation system. forgotten civil-rights case of Standing Bear v. Standing Bear’s brother, Big Snake, was Cook. The Poncas’ lawyers argued that an determined to test the new law. He requested Indian was as much a “person” as any white permission to leave the reservation and go north man and could avail himself of the rights of to join his brother. As he expected, permission freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. The to leave was refused by the Indian agent. Big climax of the case came when Standing Bear Snake’s next move was not to leave Indian was given permission to speak for his people: “I Territory, but to travel only a hundred miles to am now with the soldiers and the officers. I the Cheyenne reservation. With him went thirty want to go back to my old place north. I want to other Poncas, making what they believed to be a save myself and my tribe . . . May the Almighty gentle testing of the law which said that an send a good spirit to brood over you, my Indian was a person and could not be confined brothers, to move you to help me. If a white to any particular reservation against his will. man had land and someone should swindle him, The U.S. army arrested Big Snake and that man would try to get it back, and you, while he was in custody he was beat and shot by Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 117

soldiers. The government first issued a statement that Standing Bear’s brother “Big Snake, a bad man [had been] shot accidentally.” The American press, however, growing more sensitive to treatment of Indians since the Standing Bear case, demanded an investigation by Congress. Nothing came of the investigation. The Poncas of Indian Territory had learned a bitter lesson. The white man’s law was an illusion; it did not apply to them. And so, like many other tribes, the diminishing Ponca tribe was split in two—Standing Bear’s band was free in the north and the others were prisoners in Indian Territory.

Indian Policy Reform Extract from President Chester Arthur's First Annual Message to Congress December 6, 1881 . . . Prominent among the matters which challenge the attention of Congress at its present session is the management of our Indian affairs. While this question has been a cause of trouble and embarrassment from the infancy of the Government, it is but recently that any effort has been made for its solution at once serious, determined, consistent, and promising success. It has been easier to resort to convenient makeshifts for tiding over temporary difficulties than to grapple with the great permanent problem, and accordingly the easier course has almost invariably been pursued. It was natural, at a time when the national territory seemed almost illimitable and contained many millions of acres far outside the bounds of civilized settlements, that a policy should have been initiated which more than aught else has been the fruitful source of our Indian complications. I refer, of course, to the policy of dealing with the various Indian tribes as separate nationalities, of relegating them by treaty stipulations to the occupancy of immense reservations in the West, and of encouraging them to live a savage life, undisturbed by any earnest and well-directed efforts to bring them under the influences of civilization. The unsatisfactory results which have sprung from this policy are becoming apparent to all. As the white settlements have crowded the borders of the reservations, the Indians, sometimes contentedly and sometimes against

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their will, have been transferred to other hunting for their own protection made inalienable for grounds, from which they have again been twenty or twenty-five years, is demanded for dislodged whenever their new-found homes their present welfare and their permanent have been desired by the adventurous settlers. advancement. These removals and the frontier collisions In return for such considerate action on the by which they have often been preceded have part of the Government, there is reason to led to frequent and disastrous conflicts between believe that the Indians in large numbers would the races. be persuaded to sever their tribal relations and to It is profitless to discuss here which of them engage at once in agricultural pursuits. Many of has been chiefly responsible for the disturbances them realize the fact that their hunting days are whose recital occupies so large a space upon the over and that it is now for their best interests to pages of our history. conform their manner of life to the new order of We have to deal with the appalling fact that things. By no greater inducement than the though thousands of lives have been sacrificed assurance of permanent title to the soil can they and hundreds of millions of dollars expended in be led to engage in the occupation of tilling it. the attempt to solve the Indian problem, it has The well-attested reports of the their until within the past few years seemed scarcely increasing interest in husbandry justify the hope nearer a solution than it was half a century ago. and belief that the enactment of such a statute as For the success of the efforts now making I recommend would be at once attended with to introduce among the Indians the customs and gratifying results. A resort to the allotment pursuits of civilized life and gradually to absorb system would have a direct and powerful them into the mass of our citizens, sharing their influence in dissolving the tribal bond, which is rights and holden to their responsibilities, there so prominent a feature of savage life, and which is imperative need for legislative action. tends so strongly to perpetuate it. My suggestions in that regard will be Third. I advise a liberal appropriation for chiefly such as have been already called to the the support of Indian schools, because of my attention of Congress and have received to some confident belief that such a course is consistent extent its consideration. with the wisest economy. . . . First. I recommend the passage of an act making the laws of the various States and Territories applicable to the Indian reservations within their borders and extending the laws of the State of Arkansas to the portion of the Indian Territory not occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes. The Indian should receive the protection of the law. He should be allowed to maintain in court his rights of person and property. He has repeatedly begged for this privilege. Its exercise would be very valuable to him in his progress toward civilization. Second. Of even greater importance is a measure which has been frequently recommended by my predecessors in office, and in furtherance of which several bills have been from time to time introduced in both Houses of Congress. The enactment of a general law permitting the allotment in severalty, to such Indians, at least, as desire it, of a reasonable quantity of land secured to them by patent, and Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 119

The Dawes Act February 8, 1887 An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by . . . Congress . . . That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been . . . located upon any reservation created for their use . . . the President of the United States be . . . authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes . . . to be surveyed . . . and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows: To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section; To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section . . . SEC. 4. That where any Indian not residing upon a reservation, or for whose tribe no reservation has been provided . . . he or she shall be entitled, upon application to the local landoffice for the district in which the lands arc located, to have the same allotted to him or her, and to his or her children, in quantities and manner as provided in this act for Indians residing upon reservations . . .

land thus allotted, for the period of twenty-five years, in trust for the sole use and benefit of the Indian to whom such allotment shall have been made . . . and that at the expiration of said period the United States will convey the same by patent to said Indian, or his heirs . . . SEC. 6. That upon the completion of said allotments and the patenting of the lands to said allottees, each and every member of the respective bands or tribes of Indians to whom allotments have been made shall have the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the State or Territory in which they may reside . . . And every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to whom allotments shall have been made under the provisions of this act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States who has voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizens . . . SEC. 8. That the provisions of this act shall not extend to the territory occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Osages . . . SEC. 10. That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed to affect the right and power of Congress to grant the right of way through any lands granted to an Indian, or a tribe of Indians, for railroads or other highways, or telegraph lines, for the public use, or condemn such lands to public uses, upon making just compensation.

SEC. 5. That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in this act by the Secretary of the Interior, he shall . . . declare that the United States does and will hold the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 120

with images of eagles and buffaloes. These "Ghost Shirts" they believed would protect them from the bluecoats' bullets. During the fall of 1890, the Ghost Dance spread through the Sioux villages of the Dakota reservations, revitalizing the Indians and bringing fear to the whites. A desperate Indian Agent at Pine Ridge wired his superiors in Washington, "Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. . . . We need protection and we need it now. The leaders 28 should be arrested and confined at some military By Eyewitness to History post until the matter is quieted, and this should be done now." The order went out to arrest On the morning of December 29, 1890, the Chief Sitting Bull at the Standing Rock Sioux chief Big Foot and some 350 of his Reservation. Sitting Bull was killed in the followers camped on the banks of Wounded attempt on December 15. Chief Big Foot was Knee Creek. Surrounding their camp was a next on the list. force of U.S. troops charged with the When he heard of Sitting Bull's death, Big responsibility of arresting Big Foot and Foot led his people south to seek protection at disarming his warriors. The scene was tense. the Pine Ridge Reservation. The army Trouble had been intercepted the band on brewing for months. December 28 and The once proud brought them to the edge Sioux found their freeof the Wounded Knee to roaming life destroyed, camp. The next morning the buffalo gone, the chief, racked with themselves confined to pneumonia and dying, sat reservations dependent among his warriors and on Indian Agents for powwowed with the their existence. In a army officers. Suddenly desperate attempt to the sound of a shot return to the days of pierced the early morning their glory, many gloom. Within seconds sought salvation in a the charged atmosphere new mysticism erupted as Indian braves preached by a Paiute scurried to retrieve their shaman called discarded rifles and Wovoka. Emissaries troopers fired volley after from the Sioux in South Dakota traveled to volley into the Sioux camp. From the heights Nevada to hear his words. Wovoka called above, the army's Hotchkiss guns raked the himself the Messiah and prophesied that the Indian teepees with grapeshot. Clouds of gun dead would soon join the living in a world in smoke filled the air as men, women and children which the Indians could live in the old way scrambled for their lives. Many ran for a ravine surrounded by plentiful game. A tidal wave of next to the camp only to be cut down in a new soil would cover the earth, bury the whites, withering cross fire. and restore the prairie. To hasten the event, the When the smoke cleared and the shooting Indians were to dance the Ghost Dance. Many stopped, approximately 300 Sioux were dead, dancers wore brightly colored shirts emblazoned Big Foot among them. Twenty-five soldiers lost their lives. As the remaining troopers began the 28 “Massacre at Wounded Knee, 1890.” Eyewitness to grim task of removing the dead, a blizzard History. www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1998). Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 121

Massacre at Wounded Knee

swept in from the North. A few days later they returned to complete the job. Scattered fighting continued, but the massacre at Wounded Knee effectively squelched the Ghost Dance movement and ended the Indian Wars.

Eyewitness to a Massacre

down when he gets around the circle.” When the medicine man came to the end of the circle, he squatted down. A cavalry sergeant exclaimed, “There goes an Indian with a gun under his blanket!” Forsyth ordered him to take the gun from the Indian, which he did. Whitside then said to me, “Tell the Indians it is necessary that they be searched one at a time.” The young warriors paid no attention to what I told them. I heard someone on my left exclaim, “Look out! Look out!” I saw five or six young warriors cast off their blankets and pull guns out from under them and brandish them in the air. One of the warriors shot into the soldiers, who were ordered to fire into the Indians. I looked in the direction of the medicine man. He or some other medicine man approached to within three or four feet of me with a long cheese knife, ground to a sharp point and raised to stab me. He stabbed me during the melee and nearly cut off my nose. I held him off until I could swing my rifle to hit him, which I did. I shot and killed him in self-defense. “Troop K” was drawn up between the tents of the women and children and the main body of the Indians, who had been summoned to deliver their arms. The Indians began firing into “Troop K” to gain the canyon of Wounded Knee creek. In doing so they exposed their women and children to their own fire. Captain Wallace was killed at this time while standing in front of his troops. A bullet, striking him in the forehead, plowed away the top of his head. I started to pull off my nose, which was hung by the skin, but Lieutenant Guy Preston shouted, “My God Man! Don't do that! That can be saved.” He then led me away from the scene of the trouble.

Philip Wells was a mixed-blood Sioux who served as an interpreter for the Army. He later recounted what he saw that Monday morning: I was interpreting for General Forsyth just before the battle of Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890. The captured Indians had been ordered to give up their arms, but Big Foot replied that his people had no arms. Forsyth said to me, “Tell Big Foot he says the Indians have no arms, yet yesterday they were well armed when they surrendered. He is deceiving me. Tell him he need have no fear in giving up his arms, as I wish to treat him kindly.” Big Foot replied, “They have no guns, except such as you have found.” Forsyth declared, “You are lying to me in return for my kindness.” During this time a medicine man, gaudily dressed and fantastically painted, executed the maneuvers of the ghost dance, raising and throwing dust into the air. He exclaimed “Ha! Ha!” as he did so, meaning he was about to do something terrible, and said, “I have lived long enough,” meaning he would fight until he died. Turning to the young warriors who were squatted together, he said “Do not fear, but let your hearts be strong. Many soldiers are about us and have many bullets, but I am assured their bullets cannot penetrate us. The prairie is large, and their bullets will fly over the prairies and will not come toward us. If they do come toward us, they will float away like dust in the air.” I turned to Major Whitside and said, “That man is making mischief,” and repeated what he had said. Whitside replied, “Go direct to Colonel Forsyth and tell him about it,” which I did. Forsyth and I went to the circle of warriors where he told me to tell the medicine man to sit down and keep quiet, but he paid no attention to the order. Forsyth repeated the order. Big Foot's brother-in-law answered, “He will sit Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 122

at being a proper Comanche warrior then most of the other boys. He excelled at hunting but still could not break the barrier of his mixed blood. The Chieftainship is not hereditary; one must earn the right to be called chief. There are two qualifications. First, one must have an outstanding war record. Second, the candidate 29 must show concern for his followers. Quanah excelled as a warrior but as a youth he did not prove to be always so generous with his Quanah Parker was the last Chief of the followers. He did keep the best horses and lions Comanches and never lost a battle to the white share of the stolen booty for himself. He did man. His tribe roamed over the area where provide well for his followers on the reservation Pampas stands. He was never captured by the in later years. Providing for his followers and Army, but decided to surrender and lead his the guests that came to visit, sometimes tribe into the white man's culture, only when he unannounced, necessitated Quanah to seek loans saw that there was no alternative. in the last years of his life. His was the last tribe in the Staked Plains to Quanah fell in love with Weakeah but her come into the reservation system. father, Ekitaocup, forbid their marriage. The Quanah, meaning "fragrant," was born young couple eloped and spent several years out about 1850, son of Comanche Chief Peta on the plains with a growing tribe of which Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, a white girl Quanah was the leader. He was gaining a who had been taken captive during the 1836 raid reputation as a fierce warrior and capable leader. on Parker's Fort, Texas. Cynthia Ann Parker, Eventually Weakeah's father accepted the along with her daughter Prairie Flower, was marriage and they were able to return to the recaptured by whites during an 1860 raid on the Comanche Nation. Years later Ekitaocup Pease River in northwest Texas. She had spent accompanied Quanah to Fort Worth where he 24 years among the Comanche, however, and died in an accident. This accident almost killed thus never readjusted to living with the whites Quanah too. It also almost ended his career. again. Ironically, Cynthia Ann's eldest son Quanah joined the raiding parties of his would adjust remarkably well to living among father's old band and the band of his father-inthe white men. But first he would lead a bloody law. During one raid the leader, Bear's Ear, was war against them. killed. Usually after the leader was killed the A few years after his mother’s recapture, raiders would become disoriented and cease the Quanah’s father died of an infected wound. raid or scatter and loose their booty. Bear's Ear Quanah's brother Pecos died of smallpox in was killed after the raid while they were being 1863 and a few months later Prairie Flower died pursued. The raiding party had reached the Red of influenza. Cynthia Ann starved herself to River. They had planned to cross the Red River death mourning the loss of her two youngest farther west but with the death of Bear's Ear children. Quanah, now an orphan, was taken in confusion ruled. Quanah shouted to the men to by one of his father's other wives, but she too head north to the river where they crossed the later died. river to safety. His actions saved the remainder Quanah was an outcast in his tribe being of the raiding party and their stolen horses. This part white, a fact he did not know until after his lead to his being accepted as a true leader. It mother had been returned to her white family. gained him the right to speak openly in tribal After his stepmother's death Quanah had to council, something only the most noteworthy forage and fend for himself. He worked harder obtained. A young medicine man named Eschiti led 29 an attack on Adobe Walls, a trading post for http://www.nativeamericans.com/QuanahParker.htm Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 123

Quanah Parker:

Comanches Adapt to Reservation Life

buffalo hunters, in 1864. This attack was a miserable failure. Eschiti had told the warriors he had medicine to protect them from bullets. Eschiti's medicine proved false and several warriors were wounded. Quanah was among the wounded. Quanah was wounded while rescuing a fallen comrade, Howeah. Howeah later was recommended to replace Quanah as Chief of the Comanches by Quanah's opposition.

Quanah. It was another year before Quanah gave up. Mackenzie sent Dr. Jacob J. Sturm, a physician and post interpreter, to solicit the Quahada's surrender. Dr. Sturm found Quanah, whom he called "a young man of much influence with his people," and pleaded his case. According to oral tradition, Quanah was unsure of taking his tribe to the reservation. He climbed a mesa at Caon Blanco to meditate on his mother's life. She had been captured as a child and adapted to the Comanche way of life. She later was recaptured by the whites and taken back to her family. While sitting at the top he noticed a wolf below him. The wolf looked up at him, howled and then turned northeastward towards Fort Sill. Quanah then looked up to see an eagle gliding overhead; it too headed northeastward. Quanah took this to be a sign and led his people to Fort Sill and a new way of life. Dr. Sturm then chose Quanah to be one of the messengers to Colonel Mackenzie. Quanah and the other messengers reached Fort Sill the evening of May 13, 1875. Within a few days Quanah had approached Mackenzie concerning the whereabouts of his mother. Mackenzie sent a letter to the quartermaster of Denison, Texas, “Quanah Parker, prior to the reservation”—C.M. Bell asking about Cynthia Ann Parker and her In 1867, a faction of the Comanche Nation, daughter. He received two responses both as well as other tribes, signed the Treaty of stating that both mother and child were dead. Medicine Lodge with the American This interest in his mother proved to be a bonus government. This treaty would confined the to Quanah. Mackenzie took an added interest in southern Plains Indians to a reservation in him and gave him special duties that aided his exchange for the government’s promise to ascent up the ladder of power at Fort Sill. clothe the Indians and turn them into farmers, in Shortly after his arrival at Fort Sill, the imitation of the white settlers. Quanah and Mackenzie sent Quanah into the field to retrieve his Comanche faction, of whom his father had some runaways. Two months after leaving the been chief, refused to accept the provisions of reservation he returned with 21 runaways. He the treaty. pleaded the case for the runaways asking for Knowing of past lies and deceptive treaties clemency. He made the whites happy by of the "white man", Quanah continued to lead bringing in the runaways and made the and join raiding parties even after the signing of runaways happy by keeping them out of prison. the Treaty of Medicine Lodge. In 1874, Colonel Thus started Quanah Parkers career in politics. R. S. Mackenzie found Quanah's hidden Reservation life required a complete encampment at Palo Duro Canyon. Leading a societal change for the Comanches. Quanah charge that scattered the tribes’ horses and desired to traveling the "white man's road," but people, Mackenzie succeeded in breaking many he did it his way. He refused to give up of the Comanches under the command of polygamy and the spiritual tradition of using peyote, much to the reservation agents' chagrin. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 124

Reservation agents being political problem with the ranchers in the area. Many appointees of the Federal Government, their ranchers from Texas would drive their cattle main concern was to destroy all vestiges of across the reservation to take their stock to Native American life and replace their culture market. The reservation consisted of 3,000,000 with that of theirs. Never before in the history acres of land with a population of 3,000 Native of the Comanche Nation had there been one Americans. Ranchers used the western section central leader. Prior to reservation life every on their way to Dodge City. Because of the clan had their own chief. Actually two chiefs, ranchers using the land the Bureau of Indian one for peacetime and one for war. The white Affairs encouraged the Indians not to use the "overlords" were unable to accept this kind of western section of the reservation. political system and imposed a white political Quanah saw this as an opportunity to system on the Comanches. Quanah was chosen provide for his people. He received a letter from by the reservation agent to be the primary chief. the Indian Agent at the reservation; the letter Quanah proved to be influential not only with recognized him as Chief of the Comanches. He the Comanches but also with the Kiowa and would go out into the area where ranchers were Apaches with whom they shared the reservation. seen driving their herds. He would approach the In the North Plains the Ghost Dance cult trail boss and show him the letter. He would was forming. Quanah scoffed at the Ghost offer advise as to where the good grass and Dance. Some Indians at the reservation did water was and extract a payment in head of follow the Ghost Dance but most did not. There cattle. In this manner he provided extra food for are several theories as to why Quanah did not those who followed him. follow the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dancers Quanah also leased out sections of "his" were told that their shirts made them impervious pasture to the Texas ranchers. This was not an to bullets, the same thing Eschiti had told the actual lease. What he would do is care for the Comanches prior to the battle at Adobe Walls. ranchers stock saying it was his own. The Others speculate that Quanah would not follow rancher would pay a nice sum of money to another's teachings because he wanted to be the Quanah for this service. Quanah was paid $50 leader. While still others simply state the ideals per month and his four employees were paid of the Plains Indians religious beliefs. $25 per month. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was to supply The ranchers approached the Bureau of the Comanches on the reservation with food, Indian Affairs with a proposal of leasing the clothing, blankets and other necessities per the western section of the reservation. At first Treaty of Medicine Lodge. The Treaty also Quanah was anti-lease. His profitable stated that the natives could hunt to supplement relationship with the ranchers lead to his the supplies given by the government. The conversion to being pro-lease. December 1884 game was very scarce on the reservation and saw the signing of the first lease agreement. feelings towards the natives were very tense off The ranchers leased the land at $.06 per acre. of the reservation. The Comanches needed The money received from this lease agreement military escorts to go hunting off of the was referred to as "grass money". The "grass reservation. After one such hunting trip that had money" was divided up equally amongst the ended in failure, Quanah and his hunting party Indians on the reservation, but held in trust by were accused of stealing horses. In defense the Federal Government. Quanah pointed to the horses they rode showing During the time of the lease agreements their poor condition. If they had stolen horses Quanah Parker flourished financially. Quanah they would have stolen horses in better shape was close friends with the ranchers. During then those they rode. Considering the their time leasing the rangeland the ranchers Comanches knowledge of horseflesh this would provided Quanah with an invaluable education, have been true. an education that he was to use later when The Comanches began ranching. They dealing with the government concerning started raising cattle. But they also had a allotments. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 125

In 1888 Quanah farmed 150 acres. In 1890 There has been several statements as to Quanah had 425 head of cattle, 200 hogs, 3 the amount of money that we receive. wagons, 1 buggy and 160 horses. Quanah was a It is a great deal of money to be paid celebrity, hosting several dignitaries of his time, each person, and if the Indian makes including hosting a wolf hunt for President good use of it he can live like Theodore Roosevelt. Tanananaka and myself. You look Roosevelt understood the Indians. He around you and see so many good understood why they fought so fiercely to save faces, but they will take their money their land. Roosevelt was an outdoorsman and and buy whiskey. . . . We think we as such loved and respected nature. The hunting understand what the commission has expedition with Quanah served as the avenue said to us, but do not think the for Roosevelt being made aware of the plight of commission has understood what we the Native American. This did prompt have said. . . . This land is ours, just Roosevelt to veto the Stephens Bill to open the like your farm is yours; but for one reservation to settlement. Several months later reason we cannot hold on to ours, Roosevelt did sign the revised bill on June 5, because on the right had is what you 1906. are trying to do and on the left hand is The Jerome Commission came to the the Dawes bill. reservation on September 19, 1892. The Jerome Quanah had realized he could not stop the Commissions duty was to convince the Indians allotments, but he could postpone them. He to sign a treaty allowing allotting of land. The knew he had two options. One, deal with the allotments were to be 160 acres each, per the Jerome Commission or two let the Dawes Act Dawes Act. The Treaty of Medicine Lodge had dictate what happened. He chose to deal with stated that when allotments occurred the lots the Jerome Commission. It took the Jerome were to be 320 acres each. According to The Commission one month to accomplish getting Treaty of Medicine Lodge allotting of the land the "signatures" they were after. was to happen in 1898. Quanah pointed this out Quanah told the commission that as long as in one of the meetings. He also started asking the Jerome Agreement was not ratified he would how much per acre were the Indians going to continue to see to the leasing of the grassland. get for the land that was being opened up for The Jerome Agreement was ratified 1900. The settlement. An estimate of $2,000,000 had been version that passing the House in March 1900 given for the sum total of money the Indians gave each Indian 160 acres, but it did not would receive for the land. The following is an guarantee them money for the remainder of the excerpt of this discussion between Quanah land. The Indian Rights Association lobbied Parker and Commissioner Sayre: against this bill. In a statement they condemned Quanah Parker: How much per acre? it by saying: Mr. Sayre: I can not tell you. utterly destructive of that honor and Quanah Parker: How do you arrive at good faith which should characterize the number of million dollars if you do our dealings with any people, and not know? especially with one too weak to enforce Mr. Sayre: We just guess at it. their rights as against us by any other Because of Quanah's line of questioning means than an appeal to our sense of Commissioner Jerome had came up with some justice. figures to give him the next day. But Quanah This pressure lead to another version of the was onto another line of questioning, he started Jerome Agreement. This version gave each lobbying for an additional $500,000. Lone Indian 160 acres, an additional 480,000 acres of Wolf of the Kiowas expressed concern for the land to be held communally, and guaranteed the more impoverished and less educated of the Indians would receive at least $500,000 of the reservation. Quanah agreed with Lone Wolf $2,000,000 purchase price for the surplus land. and went on to say: This was the version of the Jerome Agreement Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 126

that was ratified in 1900. Provisions were also made for the children that had been born during the time of the signing of the Jerome Agreement and its ratification. Quanah never learned to read but he spoke three languages, Comanche, Spanish and English. Realizing that the only way for his people to survive was to acculturate he encouraged education. Ironically, his own children were not always in school. Lack of space in the schools kept them from attending regularly. In 1893, the Fort Sill Boarding School opened. The addition of this school afforded many children, Quanah's included, the opportunity for an education they would not have otherwise received. Because of the lack of a school in his area Quanah had enrolled his son Kelsey in a white school in Cache. The residents of Cache protested an Indian in their school. Officially the reason given for Kelsey being denied access to the school was that he lived outside of the school district. So Quanah enrolled Kelsey in the Fort Sill School. Kelsey was not happy. Quanah said of the Indian school: No like Indian school for my people. Indian boy go to Indian school, stay like Indian; go white school, he like white man. Me want white school so my children get educated like whites, be like whites.

In 1908 Quanah offered a piece of his property to be used for a school. The reason for the proposed school was that many Indian and white children in the area where Quanah lived were not in any school district. This school never was built. Rumor was that Quanah's son, White Parker, was to be the teacher. Quanah wanted a white teacher; he felt that an Indian teacher would not speak English well enough to truly teach the children. On December 4, 1910, Quanah re-interred his mother's remains. He had brought her body up from Texas to Oklahoma. During the ceremony he said: Forty years ago my mother died. She captured by Comanches, nine years old. Love Indian and wild life so well no want to go back to white folks. All same people anyway, God say. I love my mother. I like my white people. Got great heart. I want my people to follow after white way, get educated, know work, make living when payments stop. I tell 'em they got to know how to pick cotton, plow corn. I want them know white man's God. Comanche may die today, tomorrow, ten years. When end comes then they all be together again. I want see my mother again then. Quanah Parker died on February 23, 1911, and was buried next to his mother at Ft. Sill Military cemetery on Chiefs Knoll in Oklahoma. For his courage, integrity and tremendous insight, Quanah Parker's life tells the story of one of America's greatest leaders and a true hero. Biographer Bill Neeley writes: "Not only did Quanah pass within the span of a single lifetime from a Stone Age warrior to a statesman in the age of the Industrial Revolution, but he accepted the challenge and responsibility of leading the whole Comanche tribe on the difficult road toward their new existence."

“Quanah Parker, after to the reservation”—C.M. Bell

Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 127

of white settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the more helpless the band, the more certain the cruelty and outrage to which they have been subjected. This is especially true of the bands on the Pacific slope. These Indians found themselves of a sudden surrounded by and caught up in the great influx 30 of gold-seeking settlers, as helpless creatures on By Helen Hunt Jackson a shore are caught up in a tidal wave. There was not time for the Government to make treaties; There are within the limits of the United not even time for communities to make laws. States between two hundred and fifty and three The tale of the wrongs, the oppressions, the hundred thousand Indians, exclusive of those in murders of the Pacific-slope Indians in the last Alaska. The names of the different tribes and thirty years would be a volume by itself, and is bands, as entered in the statistical table so the too monstrous to be believed. Indian Office Reports, number nearly three It makes little difference, however, where hundred. One of the most careful estimates one opens the record of the history of the which have been made of their numbers and Indians; every page and every year has its dark localities gives them as follows: "In Minnesota stain. The story of one tribe is the story of all, and States east of the Mississippi, about 32,500; varied only differences of time and place; but in Nebraska, Kansas, and the Indian Territory, neither time nor place makes any difference in 70,650; in the Territories of Dakota, Montana, the main facts. Colorado is as greedy and unjust Wyoming, and Idaho, 65,000; in Nevada, in 1880 as was Georgia in 1830, and Ohio in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, 1795; and the United States Government breaks 84,000; and on the Pacific slope, 48,000." promises now as deftly as then, and with an Of these, 130,000 are self-supporting on added ingenuity from long practice. their own reservations, "receiving nothing from One of its strongest supports in so doing is the Government except interest on their own the wide-spread sentiment among the people of moneys, or annuities granted them in dislike to the Indian, of impatience with his consideration of the cession of their lands to the presence as a "barrier to civilization" and United States." distrust of it as a possible danger. The old tales Of the remainder, 84,000 are partially of the frontier life, with its horrors of Indian supported by the Government-the interest warfare, have gradually, by two or three money due them and their annuities, as provided generations' telling, produced in the average by treaty, being inadequate to their subsistence mind something like an hereditary instinct of on the reservations where they are confined. questioning and unreasoning aversion which it There are about 55,000 who never visit an is almost impossible to dislodge or soften. . . . agency, over whom the Government does not President after president has appointed pretend to have either control or care. These commission after commission to inquire into 55,000 "subsist by hunting, fishing, on roots, and report upon Indian affairs, and to make nuts, berries, etc., and by begging and stealing"; suggestions as to the best methods of managing and this also seems to dispose of the accusation them. The reports are filled with eloquent that the Indian will not "work for a living." statements of wrongs done to the Indians, of There remains a small portion, about 31,000, perfidies on the part of the Government; they that are entirely subsisted by the Government. counsel, as earnestly as words can, a trial of the There is not among these three hundred simple and unperplexing expedients of telling bands of Indians one which has not suffered truth, keeping promises, making fair bargains, cruelly at the hands either of the Government or dealing justly in all ways and all things. These reports are bound up with the Government's 30 From Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor. Annual Reports, and that is the end of them. . . . Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, 1964. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 128

A Century of Dishonor

The history of the Government connections the United States, their rights of property must with the Indians is a shameful record of broken remain insecure against invasion. The doors of treaties and unfulfilled promises. The history of the federal tribunals being barred against them the border white man's connection with the while wards and dependents, they can only Indians is a sickening record of murder, outrage, partially exercise the rights of free government, robbery, and wrongs committed by the former, or give to those who make, execute, and as the rule, and occasional savage outbreaks and construe the few laws they are allowed to enact, unspeakably barbarous deeds of retaliation by dignity sufficient to make them respectable. the latter, as the exception. While they continue individually to gather the Taught by the Government that they had crumbs that fall from the table of the United rights entitled to respect, when those rights have States, idleness, improvidence, and indebtedness been assailed by the rapacity of the white man, will be the rule, and industry, thrift, and the arm which should have been raised to freedom from debt the exception. The utter protect them has ever been ready to sustain the absence of individual title to particular lands aggressor. deprives every one among them of the chief The testimony of some of the highest incentive to labor and exertion—the very military officers of the United States is on mainspring on which the prosperity of a people record to the effect that, in our Indian wars, depends." almost without exception, the first aggressions All judicious plans and measures for their have been made by the white man. . . . Every safety and salvation must embody provisions for crime committed by a white man against an their becoming citizens as fast as they are fit, Indian is concealed and palliated. Every offense and must protect them till then in every right committed by an Indian against a white man is and particular in which our laws protect other borne on the wings of the post or the telegraph "persons" who are not citizens. . . . to the remotest corner of the land, clothed with However great perplexity and difficulty all the horrors which the reality or imagination there may be in the details of any and every plan can throw around it. Against such influences as possible for doing at this late day anything like these are the people of the United States need to justice to the Indian, however, hard it may be be warned. for good statesmen and good men to agree upon To assume that it would be easy, or by any the things that ought to be done, there certainly one sudden stroke of legislative policy possible, is, or ought to be, no perplexity whatever, on to undo the mischief and hurt of the long past, difficulty whatever, in agreeing upon certain set the Indian policy of the country right for the things that ought not to be done, and which must future, and make the Indians at once safe and cease to be done before the first steps can be happy, is the blunder of a hasty and uninformed taken toward righting the wrongs, curing the judgment. The notion which seems to be ills, and wiping out the disgrace to us of the growing more prevalent, that simply to make all present conditions of our Indians. Indians at once citizens of the United States Cheating, robbing, breaking promises-would be a sovereign and instantaneous panacea these three are clearly things which must cease for all their ills and all the Government's to be done. One more thing, also, and that is the perplexities, is a very inconsiderate one. To refusal of the protection of the law to the administer complete citizenship of a sudden, all Indian's rights of property, "of life, liberty, and round, to all Indians, barbarous and civilized the pursuit of happiness." alike, would be as grotesque a blunder as to When these four things have ceased to be dose them all round with any one medicine, done, time, statesmanship, philanthropy, and irrespective of the symptoms and needs of their Christianity can slowly and surely do the rest. diseases. It would kill more than it would cure. Till these four things have ceased to be done, Nevertheless, it is true, as was well stated by statesmanship and philanthropy alike must work one of the superintendents of Indian Affairs in in vain, and even Christianity can reap but small 1857, that, "so long as they are not citizens of harvest. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 129

the man both contemporaries and historians. And that, as much as anything else, makes him an intriguing historical agent. Loved by some, loathed by others, Boudinot left not only a rather disjointed and dubious image of himself for posterity—produced by the mixture of his actions and disputable character—but also one that invites reappraisal. Boudinot was born in 1839, the son of Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee missionary and journalist, and Harriet Gold, a white woman from By Thomas Burnell Colbert31 Connecticut. After the elder Boudinot was assassinated in 1839 for signing the Treaty of “He is a grand fellow, above average in New Echota, his children were raised in New height, stalwart, well formed. . . . His features England. In the 1850s Boudinot returned briefly are strong, expressive, holding that look of to the Cherokee Nation before settling in patience which is the facial seal to some fixed, Fayetteville, Arkansas. There he became a unalterable purpose. His eyes burn and darken, lawyer, and by 1859 he co-owned and edited the and lighten again with the smile that quickly Fayetteville Arkansian and had assumed an follows.” That was how Marie Le Baron active role in the Democratic Party. described Elias Cornelius Boudinot in her After Arkansas left the Union in 1861 “Washington Notables” column in the Boudinot enlisted in the Confederate Cherokee Baltimore Weekly Sun in 1876. regiment being raised by his uncle, Stand Watie. A few years later, Marcus J. Wright With Watie and other Confederate supporters, described Boudinot as “perhaps the best known Boudinot pushed the Cherokee Nation toward on the streets of Washington, and [he] has a and alliance with the Confederacy to which pleasant smile and kind word for everyone he Principal Chief John Ross only reluctantly meets.” It was also said of him that he “was on acceded. But by the fall of 1862, Ross and his familiar and easy terms with the learned justices followers had switched sides; the Southern of the Supreme Court, with stately senators, Cherokees, in tern, elected Watie as Principal members of Congress, distinguished military Chief. Boudinot, who had attained the rank of men, and indeed, with every class of society.” lieutenant colonel, was chosen as the Cherokee Yet, Boudinot also was a person who would delegate to the Confederate Congress in engage in a brawl outside of the office of the Richmond. Commissioner of Indian Affairs and who Following the Confederacy’s defeat, supposedly was threatened with death several Boudinot became a major spokesman for the times. He was described as “a betrayer of his Southern Cherokees in treaty negotiations with people and his race,” and a person who the federal government. He endeavored to have “prostitutes his Indian blood to these base the Cherokee Nation formally split between purposes for the sake of money.” Hero or former Confederates and Union supporters. He villain, visionary or rogue, Boudinot certainly argued that the two groups could not again live earned the distinction of being one of the most in harmony and especially lashed out at Ross, controversial personalities in Cherokee history. whom he blamed for the murder of his father, Throughout his life, Boudinot seemed portraying the old chief as a hypocritical traitor. either surrounded by conflict or embroiled in it, Led by Boudinot, the Southern Cherokees fostering differing, often contradictory, views of wanted to organize a central government for Indian Territory, grant railroad rights-of-way through the Cherokee Nation, and sell the 31 From Colbert, Thomas Burnell. “Visionary or Rogue? Cherokee-owned Neutral Land to the federal The Life and Legacy of Elias Cornelius Boudinot.” government. They almost attained their goals, Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 65, No. 3. Fall 1987. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 130

Visionary or Rogue?

The Life and Legacy of Elias C. Boudinot

but in the end a new treaty was made with Ross’ to call for making Indian Territory an official delegation. territory of the United States, establishing a John Ross died shortly thereafter, and federal court in the territory, bestowing William Potter Ross was chosen to complete his American citizenship on Indians, and dividing uncle’s term as Principal Chief. Many of the tribal lands in severalty. He defended his elder Ross’ faction, however, harbored advocacy of these measures on the grounds that misgivings about William. Desiring to foster the court’s ruling in essence destroyed the unity within the tribe again, they supported validity of Indian treaties and that Indians were Lewis Downing against Ross in the next subject to the laws of the United States. Their national election. Downing won, in part, with rights would be secured, he averred, only after the votes of Southern Cherokees. In turn, he they held citizenship and their real property appointed three Southern Cherokees, including would be safeguarded only if they had private, Boudinot, to the Cherokee delegation in not tribal, ownership. Consequently, in an effort Washington, D.C. to gain support for his views, Boudinot became Although he spent much time in the spokesman for minority factions in the Washington, Boudinot maintained business Cherokee Nation—mixed-blood and white tribal interests in the Cherokee Nation. He operated a members, Cherokee freedman, and Delawares ranch, but most important was the tobacco and Shawnees who had been adopted as factory that he and Watie established in 1868. Cherokee citizens. He also worked to bring railroads into the During most of the next 15 years Boudinot Cherokee Nation, becoming closely associated spent much time lobbying in Washington for first with the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (or territorial bills, claiming authorship for some Katy) and later with the Atlantic and Pacific. In and reportedly having the name “Oklahoma” 1871 he founded the town of Vinita, Indian placed in such bills for the first time, or Territory, at the junction of the Katy and the traveling on the lecture circuit discussing the A&P tracks. “Indian Question,” thereby establishing himself By that time Boudinot had already suffered as a notable and quotable expert on Indian some severe setbacks. He had been dropped affairs, at least to white Americans. He also from the Cherokee delegation for several collected many influential friends, particularly reasons. He championed railroad construction form the ranks of politicians. Moreover, he in the Cherokee Nation and thus angered ignited even more controversy by declaring in tribesmen who feared that their nation would the Chicago Times in 1879 that millions of acres lose land to these companies and be inundated in Indian Territory were part of the public with white settlers. He still entertained the idea domain and could be opened to homesteaders. of establishing a central government for all His assertions fostered the Boomer agitation to tribes in Indian Territory, thereby assaulting the open the so-called Unassigned Lands to settlers, sovereignty of tribal government. And he a movement led by David L. Payne, one of generally seemed more engaged in furthering Boudinot’s friends. his own interests rather than those of the The high point in Boudinot’s political life Cherokee Nation. came in 1885, when, counting on his close Most devastating, however, was the connections with Democratic leaders, he confiscation of his tobacco factory by federal initiated a strong bid to be named Commissioner agents in 1869 for violating a tax law enacted in of Indian Affairs in President Cleveland’s 1868. The case eventually reached the United administration. After his efforts failed, States Supreme Court, which ruled that the Boudinot returned to Arkansas, where he United States government and Indian nations practiced law, oversaw his ranch and other were not equals and the 1868 statute superseded holdings in the Cherokee Nation, and remained Article X of the Cherokee Treaty of 1866. active, but to a much lesser degree than before, At this juncture, Boudinot further alienated in Cherokee politics. Most notably, he fought to himself from his native brethren when he began keep the Cherokee government from leasing the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 131

Cherokee Outlet to the Cherokee Strip “betrayed his trust and deserted his people and Livestock Association, a point of view which in turn was discarded by them.” many Cherokees shared with Boudinot. On the other hand, there were those, Boudinot died in September 1890. By that especially whites, who admired Boudinot, as time, the Unassigned Lands in Indian Territory can be seen in the responses to his death. The had been opened to non-Indians and Oklahoma Fort Smith Call, for example, stated that the Territory established over the area. A federal Cherokees had lost “one of their greatest and court had been created for Indian Territory and a most progressive leaders,” who for 25 years had new right-of-way law allowed more railroads to been “one of the most noted Indians of enter Indian Territory. Also, the Dawes Act of America.” The Fort Smith Elevator declared 1887 had become law. Although it excluded the that Boudinot “was an extraordinary man, and Five Civilized Tribes, this legislation will occupy a marked place in history. Taken in empowered the President to terminate selected all phases of character, he was, perhaps, the best reservations, allot their lands in severalty to representative of the Indian race that ever tribal members, and confer United States existed.” Equally admiring was the New York citizenship on them. All were measures which Times, which described Boudinot as the “most Boudinot had fought for and which so many of noted of the Cherokees,” who “for thirty years his fellow Indians had struggled against. ahs been the most intelligent Indian in North Even from this cursory biography of America.” Likewise, when his fellow lawyers Boudinot, it is easy to understand why, for a in Fort Smith held a memorial gathering in his good portion of his life, many Cherokees held honor, Boudinot was heralded as the “best and him in low repute. The Northern Cherokee most favorably known Indian in America.” treaty delegation in 1866, for example, Former Congressman T. M. Gunter observed described him as “a Cherokee by birth, but that “no man living or dead know so thoroughly reared and educated under the good old Puritan the history, needs, and character of the Indian system of New England—a man who without races as Colonel Boudinot,” and Judge Thomas cause has spent the vigor of his fault-finding Boles opined that “the Indians will acknowledge with the Cherokee Nation, of which he has that he was a far-seeing, unselfish, and patriotic never been a citizen.” A biased view, of course, statesman.” but one containing sentiments that were later Such varying remarks about Boudinot can expressed by others was made by Principal be attributed in part to differing perspectives. Chief Lewis Downing, who by 1873 would Boudinot’s contemporaries often judged him denounce Boudinot as a “betrayer of his people from subjective personal appraisal. Historians and his race.” Downing further declared, “This recounting the triumph of statehood for man is employed in the interest of Railroads. . . . Oklahoma could see him as a progressive Indian With vast schemes, for self-aggrandizement by in the vanguard of opening the Indian Territory private speculation in the land which is the to white civilization. Other, however, pictured common heritage of the Cherokee people, he the Indians as people wronged by white used the name of the Cherokee for the purpose America, and unlike John Ross, who became of robbing and crushing the Cherokee people. identified as a noble tribal leader trying to He prostitutes his Indian blood to these base protect his people, Boudinot provided possibly purposes for the sake of money.” Several of his the best example of an outspoken promoter of erstwhile friends also turned against him, such assimilation, who was perceived at best as a as William Penn Adair, who lamented, “I am misguided mixed-blood, at worst a villainous only sorry that he does not lend us the aid of his traitor. strong talent and ability to carry out the views Clearly there is a lack of consensus in and rights of his people.” More caustic was appraising Boudinot’s character and L.H. “Hooley” Bell, who compared Boudinot to motivations. But despite the disparity of these Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold and conclusions about Boudinot, there are, characterized him as a Cherokee leader who had nevertheless, certain considerations that lend Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 132

themselves to formulating a better every instance, but nevertheless it may be understanding of the man. contended that generally he did and that he For one, Boudinot was relentless in battling never doubted his commitment to their best his foes, especially John Ross, William Potter interests—as he saw them. He came to envision Ross, and the tribal faction they led. But others, the changes modernizing white America indeed almost all, who opposed his views or ultimately overtaking the Cherokee Nation and actions, incurred his animosity. And the virtually destroying the inhabitants unless they evidence of his seemingly ever-present conflicts adapted to white ways. “The world is moving,” makes him appear as a constantly quarrelsome he declared. “We [Indians] must move with it person, a view far removed from the perceptions or be crushed.” In fact, the argument might be of his many friends and acquaintances who made that in his own way, Boudinot followed in knew him to be a genial, gentle, gentlemanly his father’s footsteps. The elder Boudinot had fellow full of charm and warmth. There is, worked to “civilized” the Cherokees by however, no real paradox. Like all human preaching Christianity and advocating beings, Boudinot was often moved by his education, but the prejudice that he found in emotions, which were sometimes very strong, a whites finally led him to conclude that facet of his personality which was assimilation would be impossible, thus sympathetically explained in the Fort Smith prompting him to accept removal in hopes of Times at the time of his death: “To hate was not saving his tribe from destruction. His son, on part of his nature, and though he did hate his the other hand, understood the situation in his enemies with all the fervor of his soul, he did it own times differently. His particular plight with religiously—did it with the impulsive feeling his tobacco factory, mixed with his that no to hate them would be treason to the fundamentally white views, led him to conclude memory of his father and friends who suffered that the best protection Cherokees, indeed all at the hands of savage cruelty.” Indians, could have would be private ownership Second, Boudinot sought status in both of their land and American citizenship. To him, Cherokee and white society. The force of his assimilation became the requisite for Indian ambitions propelled him into political and survival. Red men could not stop the tide of economic activities, while failure or rejection white advances, but they could, he proposed, only spurred him with dogged determination “join the resistless army of civilization and into further ventures. However, regardless of progress, and thus save our people from how much he proudly proclaimed his Indian destruction.” heritage—to the point, for example, of wearing Boudinot also saw the path to civilization in his hair long as a distinguishing feature— economic development. He wanted more Boudinot thought and acted like a white man. commercial and industrial enterprises in the He embraced white America’s concept of Cherokee Nation and saw railroads, in progress, and after the Civil War, his business particular, as the catalyst for such because they dealings, his spirit of boosterism, his dreams of “would send the blood of enterprise tingling wealth, his seemingly constant scheming, all through the viens of every Cherokee.” clearly placed him in the main stream of GildedRailroads in the Cherokee Nation, he Age America. In this context, he represented proclaimed: that “new type” of Indian pointed out by H. are inevitable; they are the great Craig Miner, the culturally more white than red civilizers of the world. If we are ever mixed-blood who promoted economic to prosper as a civilized people, we enterprises apparently for personal profit must do as others do, by multiplying without regard to the wishes or best interests of the facilities of communication. I do his Indian brethren. not fear their demoralizing influences, The foregoing leads to the crucial question: because the fact is, that the individual did Boudinot ever have the welfare of the Indian has improved just in proportion Cherokees at heart? Probably he did not in Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 133

as he has come in close contact with civilization. All this is not to say that Boudinot was imbued with altruism. He was not, nor was he as principled as he would have wanted people to believe. There was significant truth in some of the charges of his critics. He was not above duplicity. He was cozy with railroad companies. He was ever looking for his own gain. These foibles, however, do not necessarily negate his having concern for his fellow Cherokees. What might be said is that Boudinot wanted the Cherokee Nation to boom with a The Scramble of Settlers, Sooners, prosperity, one in which he, too, shared, one produced by a bond of unity and common and Spectators—Reports of purpose between Indians and whites. Disturbances and Quarrels32 Unfortunately for Boudinot, many Cherokees and others, including historians, Purcell, Indian Territory, April 22—A great neither trusted his motives nor shared his views. change has come over this town. Yesterday it Indeed, his undertakings and battles more often was a metropolis; tonight it is a hamlet in point than not could be interpreted as questionable in of population. The metamorphosis was affected purpose. But regardless of any misgivings— at 12 o'clock today, when several thousand men, justified or not—about Boudinot, it cannot be women, and children crossed the Canadian denied that he played a prominent role in River and entered upon a wild struggle for Cherokee history for almost three decades. homes in the Promised Land. The scenes In retrospect, while not excusing but connected with this . . . will never be effaced looking beyond his faults, Boudinot can be from the memory of those who witnessed them. characterized in the context of latter nineteenth The sun was not up sooner than the average century America, and be seen in much the same Boomer this morning. Probably not half the way as by Judge Isaac Parker, Boudinot’s friend people slept at all during the night. Gasoline and a staunch defender of Indian rights: lamps flared from sundown to sunrise in the two I think he was much misunderstood by business streets, and the ghostly forms of prairie some of his people. They had a belief schooners could be seen moving toward the ford that he was not true to their interest, a mile north of town. Daybreak found scores of and that he was willing to barter away men in the saddle and within an hour the town their rights. This was a great mistake. was as lively as it has been since the boom He was jealous of the rights of the began. A steady stream of wagons poured from Indians as any of them, and I believe the broken country, west and north to the main he was ever ready to defend their rights ford and, when this became blocked, hundreds of life, liberty, and property. He was of them were turned to the right, facing the river just a little ahead of his people. He at every point where fording seemed at all wanted them to fall into the ranks of practicable. At least fifty wagons halted where the great column of civilization and their owners only sought a safer spot when progress, as it goes marking on to that Lieut. Samuel E. Adair of the Fifth Cavalry higher, greater, and nobler goal of the flatly told them he would prevent them from nation. attempting to cross there. Although Parker’s remarks were intentionally eulogistic, they are, nonetheless, arguably accurate and fair, to a point, in presenting an 32 assessment of Elias C. Boudinot. From New York Times, April 23, 1889. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 134

Into Oklahoma at Last

Thousands Wildly Dashing in for Homes

Lieut. Adair, with a small body of troopers, men with outfits are known to have been in the came to the scene at 8 o'clock and patrolled the timber or ravines of the Territory, and these are riverbank until noon. Another guard was now reaping the reward of their temerity in stationed at the Santa Fe Bridge, and still opposing the mandate of Uncle Sam. another detachment crossed to the race side and At the Santa Fe station this forenoon began beating the bush for hidden Boomers. hundreds had gathered hours before the time for While this body failed to find any of the five the departure to the north. There was more outfits which have invaded the Territory during baggage piled on the platform than would be put the last three days, it captured several wanderers in any union station in the country. On a side and made an appalling discovery. Twenty men track fully fifty cars were loaded or being compromised the command, and they rode loaded with household goods and merchandise along the river for several miles before turning destined for Oklahoma City or Guthrie. Poles to scout through the timber. Below the bridge is and barbed wire for fences composed the cargo a great bend, where the quicksand is known to of fully one fourth of the cars and these were be most treacherous. marked for immediate shipments. A barbed As the troops emerged from a little strip of wire fence will be a powerful argument against forest they saw, lying upon the sand, the body of occupation of a quarter section by five or ten a youth of not more than twenty years. He was boomers, if it is erected within twenty-four poorly clad and his eyes, his ears, and his hours after pre-emption. A carload of beer was nostrils were filled with sand. A wagon track, known to be sidetracked here this morning, but heading from the opposite shore to a point about as most of the Deputy United States Marshals forty feet from where the body lay, and there had gone to Guthrie or Kingfisher, it was not suddenly disappearing, told the tale as well as descended upon. The other day Chief Deputy an eye witness could have done. Some Ensley discovered a barrel of beer on the enterprising Boomer, with his family and platform of the station at Norman, and he effects, had essayed to ford the stream and the destroyed it in the presence and to the infinite quicksand had swallowed his outfit when it was disgust of dozens of thirsty travelers. apparently beyond the reach of danger. How Men with packs on their backs and their they came, will never be known. The dead boy arms full of goods came down the bluff this was freckled and homely, and was dressed in morning and joined the crowd at the station. the primitive Texas style. His pockets contained The eating-houses were jammed to the very nothing to throw light on the mystery. The kitchen doors, and in the rear of one of these a oldest river man is puzzled to know how he curious woman, as she broiled beefsteak and managed to reach the shore after the others had made coffee over a fire in the yard. perished. There have been many tragic About 10 o'clock the street fakirs and occurrences in this country since the Oklahoma gamblers closed up their schemes and games for excitement began, but none more terrible than the present, packed their paraphernalia, and this boy disclosed. The troops made such made tracks for the station. Some were bound disposition of the body as was possible and for Guthrie and others for Oklahoma City, and a searched up and down stream for further traces few expressed their determination to go to of the fatality, but nothing more was found and Kingfisher, which they considered desirable the scout continued. from the fact that it would not be overrun at first A mile below a Boomer was discovered with gentlemen of their calling. If all the who had just crossed and was urging his horse Purcell "sports" settle in Oklahoma and display up a ravine. He was captured without difficulty, the hustling qualities they have shown here the and a soldier was sent back with him to the ford other fellows will have to rise very early in the at Purcell. Three more rustlers were corralled morning to make the running with them. soon after, and it being then nearly 11 o'clock, When the first train of eight coaches rolled the troop was headed for Purcell, and the last in to the station from the south every Boomer Oklahoma raid was at an end. Several hundred who had planned to invade Oklahoma by Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 135

railroad was on hand. A howl of rage went up livery stables and the horse mart. At that hour as the train sped on, with trainmen on every fully 200 horses were being rubbed down and platform to prevent anyone from getting aboard. saddled and bridled, and every man in sight was This train ran a little below town and halted engaged in the work. From the preparations a until the hour set for its departure into the stranger of sporting proclivities would Territory. unhesitatingly have declared that a horse race Soon afterwards a special train of 12 was on . . . the biggest race ever run in the coaches appeared, and inside of five minutes it United States—a race for homes, for 160 acres was crowded with over one thousand people. It of Oklahoma land. ran down the switch and stopped until 11:40 The owners of the horses being so carefully o'clock. The overflow was so great that another groomed were, for the most part, young men train of equal size was brought up, and this also who own regulation Boomer outfits; who have was crowded to the platforms in an incredibly been here for months, and some of them for short time. years, and all of As the trains whom, it is lay on the siding, believed, belong to each car was a the Oklahoma theatre. It seemed Legion. Every man as if every man had of them has staked a plan whereby he out a claim within could leave the ten miles of Purcell, train after it had and the idea of each passed into is to get to it as soon Oklahoma, and after midday as stealthy glances at possible and wait the bell rope for the wagon to showed that the make a more engineer's gong leisurely trip. To would sound about accomplish this the time the train each had secured a was over the fleet horse, and bridge of the town. cared for it A discussion in religiously in one car brought on anticipation of this a free fight among trying hour. No some gamblers and cavalrymen going pistols were on inspection ever flourished in the most reckless manner. There paid such minute attention to details, as did happened to be a Deputy United States Marshal those home seekers. Every girth, every strap, on the car, who once cut the lobe from a man's was put to the severest test, and bridles and bits ear at thirty paces or thereabouts, and when he were carefully examined. threw up his gun the others disappeared as if by Finally, when nothing more remained to be magic, showing indisputably that reputation in done, the Boomers mounted and rode to a point this country is not the inadequacy it is held to be half a mile south of this town, where a wide in the East. The two specials were finally joined stretch of sand, with no more than an eighth of a together behind a double-header, and thus mile of water, formed the only barrier to equipped the train waited for the word. Oklahoma. Here they formed a line, and In Canadian street at 11 o'clock the town patiently waited for the signal to break for the people who remained on the bluff found plenty Promised Land. of entertainment. There are situated several Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 136

At the main ford, a mile below other and a moment later the sound of the pistol shots horsemen had gathered in advance of the long told that the Texans were firing their salute. procession of wagons which ranged up the river Gathering speed, the train soon came opposite in one line and to the top of the bluff in another. the ford, and then a furious fusillade broke out. To the northeast, hidden from view by a clump It was continued until the train dashed around of tumbles, many wagons whose owners were the bend, preparatory to crossing the bridge. too timid to trust the river were stationed in The succeeding twenty minutes were the readiness to cross the railroad bridge as soon as longest of the day to those on the banks of the the troops should give the word. A number of river. Lieut. Adair could be seen calmly sitting Deputy United States Marshals were noticed watching, and all eyes were centered on him. among the horsemen at both fording places, and Suddenly he is seen to motion to the soldier although there was any amount of grumbling, near him, and the next moment the cheerful they retained their positions in the line and strains of the recall are sounded. In an instant seemed determined to make the race with the the scene changes. There is a mighty shout, and others. Events show that they did so and an the advance guard of the invading army is infinite amount of trouble will grow out of this racing like mad across the sands toward the very fast. narrow expanse of water. The north and south Lieut. Adair, with his troops, forded the wings seem to strike the water together. In they stream at 11 o'clock, and the men were stationed go, helter-skelter, every rider intent on reaching at intervals on the further banks, so they could the bank first. There goes a horse into a deep guard every known fording place. Previous to hole and his rider falls headlong out of the crossing, the Lieutenant had announced that at saddle. Before he can arise he is apparently noon, sun time, he would order his bugle to crushed by another animal, which has stumbled sound the recall, and that this would be the and fallen in. The crowd on shore gives a cry of signal for the rush to begin. At 11:30 o'clock horror, which speedily changed to relief as one of the troopers discovered a wagon neither man is hurt. They struggled to their feet, crossing, half a mile below him, and succeeded and as one of the horses breaks away and joins in heading it off. The old Texan who owned it the flying host his owner surges after him, with swore roundly, but was forced to follow the the water up to his waist, and the other man sand drifts to where the Lieutenant was remounts. stationed, and was kept there until after the By this time the swiftest ones are over and signal was sounded. speeding up the slope of the nearest ridge. The As the supreme moment drew near the head of the line of wagons is just emerging from excitement increased. Every person who had the riverbed. At this rate it will not be ten not arranged to cross had secured an minutes before all are across. The racers take advantageous position on a housetop or the different directions, but most of the wagons great bluff just north of the town and was northeast. The glass detects dozens of men feverishly waiting. Not a few field glasses were miles beyond the river. These are Boomers who brought into requisition. Oklahoma is visible have been hiding. for miles from any elevation in Purcell and There goes a white flag raised over what seems a succession of beautiful valleys, with appears to be a wagon two miles away. "That's well-timbered ridges between. The Times' Dr. Johnson's claim," said an anxious watcher, correspondent, glass in hand, stood 100 feet "and the doctor is riding for it for all he's worth. above the river and had an uninterrupted view of I reckon he will lose it though." The doctor the panorama. does lose it, dugout and all, unless he can prove At 11:40 o'clock the conductor of the long that the man who hoisted the flag was on the special train on the siding gave the signal. The ground before 10 o'clock. engines whistled shrilly and the special began Six shots in rapid succession, coming from its trip toward Oklahoma. It seemed as if every a point a mile away, attract attention. "They're man on the train shouted when the train moved, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 137

settling one dispute already," remarked a man extremely dangerous when drunk. He swears who has pioneered all through the West. tonight that he will hold the claim and Harness "Pashaw, they're only giving notice of is equally positive he will not. preemption," said another. The Purcell merchants who have preempted More shots were heard, but no one could claims today have clearly violated the spirit of satisfactorily explain them. the law. They do not intend to live upon them, Soon the last wagon had crossed the main and most of them will make no improvements at ford and the canvas covers began to dot the present beyond building shanties or tents or Oklahoma landscape. Within thirty minutes making a dugout. In the meantime home Purcell had resumed its normal aspect. seekers will roam through Oklahoma and At the Santa Fe Bridge the mode of perhaps lose their lives in contesting claims with crossing was so wearisome that after two other needy men. wagons had been hauled across by hand the A dispatch from Oklahoma City tonight Boomers became discouraged and decided to says that at 12 o'clock men seemed to rise out of brave the dangers of the ford after all. So they the ground there, and in an incredibly short time took the back track and about 2 o'clock were a town site was staked off and lots placed on the safely in Oklahoma and headed for the north. market. These men dropped from last night's As every claim within ten miles of Purcell had southbound train when it slowed up for the already been taken, these people will travel late station. It is estimated that 200 left the same tonight to make up for lost time. train between Guthrie and Oklahoma. It is About 5 o'clock reports from the front reported that two men have been killed eight began to come in, and they give a fair indication miles from Purcell. of the state of affairs which today's grand rush precipitated. The businessmen of Purcell were largely represented among the horsemen who led the precession. Two of these headed for a claim which one had long since staked out and which the other coveted. They made first-class running, but the covetous man won by a few yards and set a stake. The other declared that he would hold the claim, and began work on a dugout. The situation was waxing when mutual friends, who had secured the adjoining 160 acres, came along and succeeded in preventing "gun play." The dispute was not settled, however, and tonight both men claim the homestead. Another merchant named Harness made a noble ride and came up to his selected claim only to find Tom McNally, Deputy United States Marshall, in possession. Harness dismounted, and by and by his wagon arrived with a tent, which he proceeded to put up. McNally asserted that he had been sent into the territory by Lieut. Adair and was therefore entitled to take up a claim. This argument is worthless, because McNally was in Government employ at the time, and even if he wished to resign he could not well do so all by himself. McNally is a tough citizen and is considered Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 138

Identity, Far and Away By Steve Russell33 Next month, I will testify again in front of the Texas Legislature, and once again I will hear in my mind the unspoken question: What makes you Indian? You don’t ride a horse; you drive a truck. You don’t live in a tipi, but in a house that looks a lot like mine. You are in front of a legislative committee rather than dancing in the woods. You have three college degrees. What makes you any different from me? Yesterday, instead of vision-questing or sitting around a fire with a shaman, I was channel-surfing on the satellite service (cable), and came upon a movie I missed in the theatres, the Tome Cruise/Nicole Kidman vehicle, Far and Away. The film tells the story of Irish immigrants from the Auld Sod (Ireland) to Oklahoma Territory. It contains a gritty portrayal of class conflict and lack of opportunity in Ireland, poverty and crime and exploitation in turn of the century Boston. The Holy Grail for the downtrodden Irish is “free land” in Oklahoma. “Free land” indeed. Locked into that phrase, “free land,” was the story of my people, a story that eluded the pretty people on the big screen. (By the way, can you imagine how the people on reservations would appear if malnutrition, alcohol, and regular beatings produced the appearance of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman?) The “free land coveted in Far and Away came from lands declared “surplus” after the Curtis Act [similar to the Dawes Act, but focused on the Five Tribes] destroyed the 33

reservations of the Five Tribes in Indian Territory: Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Muscogee (Creek), and my people, the Cherokee. The Dawes Commission went out and took rolls, a census of those who would voluntarily receive a piece of the tribal homelands, a process that proceeded in spite of resistance led by the Muscogee Chitto Harjo and the Cherokee Redbird Smith. The lands allotted by the Dawes Commission had been given to the tribes in perpetuity (and also involuntarily) in exchange for the land of their ancestors in the Southeastern U.S. The Indians were removed at gunpoint in an ethnic cleansing noted, if at all, in American history as the Trail of Tears. Cherokees lost their sacred lands and third of their people. My great-great-great grandmother made that walk, a lucky survivor. The climatic land rush of the film visually recreates the famous photos [taken by famed photographer William S. Prettyman] of the run for the Cherokee Strip. The Strip, also known as the Cherokee Outlet, was given to the tribe as a guaranteed path to the rich bison hunting on the Southern Plains. That used of the land was rendered moot with the near-extinction of the bison, which of course did more harm to the Plains Indians than to the Cherokee. My Dutch immigrant great-grandfather was an unsuccessful participant in that very land rush. My Cherokee great-great grandfather was a victim of it. None of this was adverted to in the film. The only Indians on the screen were extras in crowd scenes. Yes, I am a thoroughly modern Indian, and even am a fan of Tom Cruise. From the jet jock in Top Gun to the wounded warrior in Born on the Fourth of July to the jaded doctor in Stanley Kubrick’s final effort, Eyes Wide Shut, I appreciate the entertainment I have received from the actor. But yesterday, channel-surfing on the satellite service, I found myself in tears. And I was not crying for the Irish.

Steve Russell is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington, and sits as a visiting judge after retiring from a 17-year career on the Bench. He has spoken and published extensively about law and Indian rights. Steve is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a past President of the Texas Indian Bar Association.

Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 139

The Dalton Gang’s Last Raid

The ensuing firefight lasted less than fifteen minutes. A brief moment in time in which four townspeople lost their lives, four members of the Dalton Gang were gunned down and a small Kansas town became part of history.

Anatomy of a Gun Battle

David Elliott was editor of the local newspaper and published a detailed account soon after the By Eyewitness to History gun battle. We pick up his story as the desperadoes dismount and head towards their Around 9:30 the morning of October 5, targets: 1892 five members of the Dalton Gang (Grat . . . After crossing the pavement the men Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Bob Dalton, Bill quickened their pace, and the three in the front Powers and Dick Broadwell) rode into the small file went into C.M. Condon & Co.'s bank at the town of Coffeyville, Kansas. Their objective southwest door, while the two in the rear ran was to achieve financial security and make directly across the street to the First National outlaw history by simultaneously robbing two Bank and entered banks. From the the front door of that beginning, their institution. The audacious plan gentleman [the went astray. The observer] was hitching post almost transfixed where they with horror. He had intended to tie an uninterrupted their horses had view of the inside of been torn down Condon and Co.'s due to road bank, and the first repairs. This thing that greeted his forced the gang vision was a to hitch their Winchester in the horses in a nearhands of one of the by alley—a men, pointed fateful decision. towards the cashier's counter in the bank. He To disguise their identity, (Coffeyville was quickly recovered his lost wits, and realizing the the Dalton's hometown) two of the Daltons wore truth of the situation, he called out to the men in false beards and wigs. Despite this, the gang the store that “The bank is being robbed!” was recognized as they crossed the town's wide Persons at different points on the Plaza heard plaza, split up and entered the two banks. the cry and it was taken up and quickly passed Suspicious townspeople watched through the around the square. banks' wide front windows as the robbers pulled At the same time several gentlemen saw the their guns. Someone on the street shouted, "The two men enter the First National Bank, bank is being robbed!" and the citizens quickly suspecting their motive, followed close at their armed themselves—taking up firing positions heels and witnessed them “holding up” the men around the banks. in this institution. They gave the alarm on the east side of the Plaza. A “call to arms” came simultaneously with the alarm and in less time 34 “The Dalton Gang’s Last Raid, 1892.” Eyewitness to than it takes to relate the fact a dozen men with History. www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001). Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 140 34

Winchesters and revolvers in their hands were ready to resist the escape of the unwelcome visitors.

Inside the C.M. Condon Bank As the townspeople arm themselves, the desperados enter the two banks—Bill Powers, Dick Broadwell and Grat Dalton at the C.M. Condon bank, Bob and Emmett Dalton at the First National. Inside the Condon Bank, three employees are forced at gunpoint to fill a sack with money. One brave teller declares to the robbers that the vault has a time lock and can't be opened for another 10 minutes (this was untrue.) The robbers decide to wait, however their plan is interrupted as the townspeople open fire: . . . Just at this critical juncture the citizens opened fire from the outside of the Condon Bank and the shots from their Winchesters and shot-guns pierced the plate-glass windows and rattled around the bank. Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell replied from the inside, and each fired from four to six shots at citizens on the outside. The battle then began in earnest. Evidently recognizing that the fight was on, Grat Dalton asked whether there was a back door through which they could get to the street. He was told that there was none. He then ordered Mr. Ball and Mr. Carpenter, two bank employees, to carry the sack of money to the front door. Reaching the hall on the outside of the counter, the firing of the citizens through the windows became so terrific and the bullets whistled so close around their heads that the robbers and both bankers retreated to the back room again. Just then one at the southwest door was heard to exclaim: “I am shot; I can't use my arm; it is no use, I can't shoot any more.”

Meanwhile, inside the First National Bank A similar scene played out at the First National where Bob and Emmett Dalton forced the bank's employees to fill their sack with money. Using

the employees as shields, the robbers attempted to escape the bank, only to be driven back inside by heavy gunfire: . . . Bob Dalton then ordered the three bankers to walk out from behind the counter in front of him, and they put the whole party out at the front door. Before they reached the door, Emmett called to Bob to “Look out there at the left.” Just as the bankers and their customers had reached the pavement, and as Bob and Emmett appeared at the door, two shots were fired at them from the doorway of the drug store . . . Neither one of them was hit. They were driven back into the bank . . . Bob stepped to the door a second time, and raising his Winchester to his shoulder, took deliberate aim and fired in a southerly direction. Emmett held his Winchester under his arm while he tied a string around the mouth of the sack containing the money. They then ordered the young men to open the back door and let them out. Mr. Shepard complied and went with them to the rear of the building, when they passed out into the alley. It was then that the bloody work of the dread desperadoes began.

Alley of Death Many of the townspeople gathered in Isham's Hardware Store near the banks. Not only did the unarmed citizens get rifles, shotguns, and ammunition, but the store also provided an excellent view of the two banks and the alley where the gang had tied their horses: . . . The moment that Grat Dalton and his companions, Dick Broadwell and Bill Powers, left the C.M. Condon Bank that they had just looted, they came under the guns of the men in Isham's store. Grat Dalton and Bill Powers each received mortal wounds before they had retreated twenty steps. The dust was seen to fly from their clothes, and Powers in his desperation attempted to take refuge in the rear doorway of an adjoining store, but the door was locked and no one answered his request to be let in. He kept his feet and clung to his Winchester until he reached his horse, when another ball struck him in the back and he fell dead at the

Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 141

feet of the animal that had carried him on his severe if not fatal wound at this moment. He errand of robbery. staggered across the alley and sat down on a pile Grat Dalton, getting under cover of the oil of dressed curbstones near the city jail. True to tank, managed to reach the side of a barn that his desperate nature he kept his rifle in action stands on the south side of the alley . . . [At this and fired several shots from where he was point, Marshal Connelly ran across a vacant lot seated. His aim was unsteady and the bullets into “Death Alley” from the south to the spot went wild . . . He arose to his feet and sought where the bandits had tied their horses.] The refuge alongside of an old barn west of the city marshal sprang into the alley with his face jail, and leaning against the southwest corner, towards the point where the horses were brought his rifle into action again and fired two hitched. This movement brought him with his shots in the direction of his pursuers. A ball back to the murderous Dalton, who was seen to from Mr. Kloehr's rifle struck the bandit full in raise his Winchester to his side and without the breast and he fell upon his back among the taking aim fire a shot into the back of the brave stones that covered the ground where he was officer. Marshal Connelly fell forward on his standing. face within twenty feet of where his murderer After shooting Marshal Connelly, Grat stood. Dalton made another attempt to reach his horse. Dick Broadwell in the meantime had He passed by his fallen victim and had advanced reached cover in the Long-Bell Lumber probably twenty feet from where he was Company's yards, where he laid down for a few standing when he fired the fatal shot. Turning moments. He was wounded in the back. A lull his face to his pursuers, he again attempted to occurred in the firing after Grat Dalton and Bill use his Winchester. John Kloehr's rifle spoke in Powers had fallen. Broadwell took advantage of unmistakable tones another time, and the oldest this and crawled out of his hiding-place and member of the band dropped with a bullet in his mounted his horse and rode away. A ball from throat and a broken neck. townsman John Kloehr's rifle and a load of shot Emmett Dalton had managed to escape from a gun in the hands of Carey Seaman unhurt up to this time. He kept under shelter overtook him before he had ridden twenty feet. after he reached the alley until he attempted to Bleeding and dying he clung to his horse and mount his horse. A half-dozen rifles sent their passed out of the city . . . His dead body was contents in the direction of his person as he subsequently found alongside of the road a halfundertook to get into the saddle . . . Emmett mile west of the city. succeeded in getting into the saddle, but not [As Marshal Connelly fell, Bob and until he had received a shot through the right Emmett Dalton—successfully escaping the First arm and one through the left hip and groin. National Bank—ran down a side alley and into During all this time he had clung to the sack “Death Alley” from the north.] When the two containing the money they had taken from the Daltons reached the junction of the alleys they First National Bank. Instead of riding off, as he discovered F.D. Benson in the act of climbing might have done, Emmett boldly rode back to through a rear window with a gun in his hand. where Bob Dalton was lying, and reaching Divining his object, Bob fired at him point down his hand, attempted to lift his dying blank at a distance of not over thirty feet. The brother on the horse with him. “Its no use,” shot missed Mr. Benson, but struck a window faintly whispered the fallen bandit, and just then and demolished the glass. Bob then stepped Carey Seamen fired the contents of both barrels into the alley and glanced up towards the tops of of his shotgun into Emmett's back. He dropped the buildings as if he suspected that the shots from his horse, carrying the sack containing that were being fired at the time were coming over twenty thousand dollars with him, and both from that direction. As he did so, the men at fell near the feet of Bob, who expired a moment Isham's took deliberate aim at him from their thereafter. position in the store and fired. The notorious leader of the Dalton gang evidently received a Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 142

that removal of free blacks to another country was the best way to rid the U.S. of their "troublesome presence." The short-term successes and long-term failures of the Civil War and Reconstruction, however, coupled with the opening of the West to settlers (facilitated by the Homestead act of 1862), and the reestablishment of repression and new forms of institutionalized oppression by such measures as the Black Codes, the convict lease and crop lien in the South led more and more black people to view some sort of colonization as their only viable alternative. The withdrawal of federal troops from the South witnessed an increased interest in the possibilities of foreign and domestic colonization. Such large-scale migrations as those led by Henry Adams and "Pap" Singleton in 1879 and 1880 from the South to Kansas, By Martin Dann35 involving some 40,000 black settlers, were to characterize black migrations for a generation. Prior to the Civil War the emigration and The various factors prompting migrations colonization of black people had been a subject (personal insecurity, economic discontent, the of intense controversy among both black and dream of freedom, and the availability of land) white groups. Though black people, as a whole, converged in the establishment of all-black consistently rejected schemes for the mass communities in the West towards the end of the exportation of free blacks to another country, as century, and specifically in Oklahoma. What projected by the American Colonization Society differentiates the Oklahoma efforts from those before the Civil War, some black pioneers which preceded it is that earlier efforts had not migrated to Liberia, and by the mid-1850's a emphasized the political, economic, and social few thousand had gone to Haiti. The purpose of exclusiveness based on a new political the Caribbean colonists was not only to find consciousness and racial pride that was freedom, but also to establish a base from which practiced by the latter movement. It is precisely to attack the slave states. Canada and the this appeal to black nationalism in the attempt to Northwest Territory attracted a sizeable group develop an economic and political power base of black settlers, and communities were among black people which spoke to increasingly established from Ontario to Wisconsin. Free vigorous black resistance. It is furthermore blacks accumulated property in rural areas of highly significant that the Oklahoma the North (as in southwestern Michigan) despite colonization movement coincided with a a predominantly urban polarization of Northern nascent black populist movement among the black populations. White liberals, as well as agricultural labor force under the Colored racists, saw foreign colonization as a way of Farmers' Alliance. effectively removing an increasingly militant Efforts to establish Oklahoma as a territory black abolitionist group, and at the same time where black people could exercise the right of retain possession of the land. President Lincoln self-determination had begun during the 1880's. reflected a widely held belief when he declared In 1883 a delegation of black men inquired of the Secretary of the Interior as to their possible 35 Dann, Martin. “From Sodom to the Promised Land: claims to the Indian Territory, as a continuation E.P. McCabe and the Movement for Oklahoma of efforts to bring black settlers to Kansas and Colonization.” Kansas Historical Quarterly. Vol. other Western states. William Eagelson, the 40. No. 3. 1974. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 143

From Sodom to the Promised Land:

E.P. McCabe and the Movement for Oklahoma Colonization

editor of the Colored Citizen in Fort Scott, KS, carried stories of the advisability of leaving the in 1878 and later of The Herald of Kansas, in South, as well as accounts of settlers who were Topeka, was one of the most ardent advocates waiting on the borders of Oklahoma Territory of Western colonization. He later became the for free land. In March 1889, the Leavenworth editor of the Langston City Herald, the Advocate, a black Republican paper, ran a story newspaper of that all-black community. But the under the caption "The Oklahoma Lands." The central figure in this dramatic project in editors emphasized the fact that the land had Oklahoma was Edward P. McCabe. "legally" come into the possession of the United McCabe was born in Troy, NY, on October States by expropriation from the Seminole and 10, 1850. The family soon moved to Fall River, Creek tribes. This, however, did not deter black MA, and then settled in Newport, RI, Edward leaders who saw in the possession of this land a was sent to Bangor, ME, where he attended unique opportunity for black self-determination. school until the death of his father. As a young The Rev. Edward Bryant, black editor of the man he traveled to New York City, where he Birmingham Independent, was quoted: "Were worked as a clerk on Wall Street. With this you to leave this southland for 20 years it would experience he moved to Chicago, where he be one of the grandest sections of the globe. We became a clerk for Potter Palmer, the hotel king, would show you Mossback Crackers how to run and in 1872 was appointed clerk in the Cook a country." County office of the federal treasury. Stirred by By the fall of 1889, an immigration society black migrations to the West, he moved to was established in Topeka with agents Kansas in 1878 with Abram T. Hall, Jr., city throughout the South, to "provide for an exodus editor of the Chicago Conservator, where they of Negroes to Oklahoma." They expected set up a law and real estate office in Nicodemus, 20,000 immigrants. Not surprising was an item a predominantly black community. Hall two weeks later which noted that Jay Gould subsequently went on to St. Louis and became wanted to push his railroad into the territory, city editor of the National Tribune. But with Guthrie as a terminal and thus capitalize on McCabe linked his political fortunes to the the new possibilities of exploiting the land and future of black colonization. In 1878 he was its inhabitants. Guthrie was a center of black chosen secretary of the settlement at organizational activity in that area. Nicodemus, one year after it was formally Such organizations as the First Colored organized. In 1880 he married Sarah Bryant Real Estate Homestead and Emigration and in the same year he was appointed county Association of the State of Kansas continued to clerk from Nicodemus. A leading political draw settlers into Oklahoma and help them figure in the Republican Party, McCabe was substantially. On February 28, 1890, the selected as delegate-at-large from Kansas to the American Citizen, a black Republican paper Chicago convention of the Republican Party in published in Kansas City, KS, carried the June 1880. He was accused (at the State following lengthy article concerning the efforts Convention of Colored Men, in April, 1880) of to establish an all-black community in selling out to the conservative faction of the Oklahoma. The author, A.G. Stacey, noted that Republican Party in caucus. He replied that he there were branches in many cities of Kansas, "strove hard, single-handed, to secure a Missouri, and Indian Territory. E.P. McCabe representation for my race, but without avail." was usually designated as the leader of the In 1882 he was elected state auditor, and was movement, though it is clear that he had the reelected in 1884. backing of mutual assistance societies in Kansas By this time the "Oklahoma fever" had (such as the First Grand Independent caught on. Reports filtered in of secret black Brotherhood). Although there is some question "Oklahoma clubs" which had formed as to the reliability of the information below, it throughout Kansas. Repression in the South had is significant that such a movement was reached unbearable proportions, and lynchings recognized as a reality by the press and public were a common occurrence. Black newspapers generally. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 144

TOPEKA.—While not generally and Leavenworth counties have sent at known, and certainly never advertised least 4,000 more, while from other in the press, there is a secret political counties in the state, headed by society in existence, membership in Graham, the original home of the which can be obtained only by those of society, have gone fully 3,000 more, Negro blood. Last year there was making 10,000 from Kansas alone. organized by a little band of Negroes in The result of the work of the auxiliary Graham County the first Grand immigration society has been to add Independent Brotherhood, which is some 12,000 Negroes from Arkansas based upon the principles of Negro and Mississippi, making in all about advancement, mentally and morally, 22,000 Negroes in the territory, which and the future control of Oklahoma number the brotherhood is bending whenever it shall become a state. . . . every energy to make 50,000 before An auxiliary society, called an September 1. . . . "immigration society," was formed, They proposed to found a Negro which undertook the work of reaching state in which the white man will be the Negroes of the south to hasten their tolerated as a necessary evil, but to movement to the promise land. whom no political honors will be At first the officers worked only in given. The brotherhood proposes to Arkansas and Mississippi where the fill all state, county, and municipal results were most marked. Soon there offices and will have only Negro was a scarcity of labor in those states teachers in their schools, which will be and a corresponding increase of mixed if the white's desire advantages Southern Negroes in the new territory for their children. As one of the of Oklahoma. Negro settlement began brotherhood officers said: "You must to appear and grow as if by magic. demand and see that your demands are Near Purcell a large one was founded; enforced, full social equality; you must on the East Canadian two Negro compel the white man to accept you at settlements founded; west of his table in his home and in his bed. . . Kingfisher others were commenced ." They will not. . ." permit a white and grew so rapidly that they were man to be elected to any office towns before the neighboring whites whatever. We will rule." realized what was being done. Nor Reaction to these developments from the was this all. Homesteads were taken, press was mixed. The Leavenworth Times and instead of one family on a quarter believed that setting aside one state for blacks section, or four on a square mile, there might be a solution. But the Leavenworth were often four or five families on a Advocate urged black people not to go to quarter section, where they await the Oklahoma, as they said it was being abandonment of a claim by the whites, misrepresented by promoters, and that all the when it was immediately pounced fertile land had already been taken. upon, or where they patiently wait for Paraphrasing an earlier warning about Kansas, it the day when the Cherokee Strip will concluded: ". . . In God we trusted / In be declared open for settlement. Oklahoma we busted." The Topeka Capital (a Parties in Oklahoma City and white paper) also took a skeptical view of the Guthrie declare with confidence that movement (though it tended to favor migration), there are not over 2,800 Negroes in that and suggested that the whole idea was territory. They are only mistaken. developed by "speculators, land grabbers and Shawnee County has alone furnished office seekers" who had first tried to induce 3,000 Negroes all of whom had money. white settlers to migrate in order to cheat them, Chautauqua, Montgomery, Wyandotte, and when this failed, these men turned to black Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 145

people for victims. The Advocate, which covered with tents of emigrants and staunchly opposed the Farmers' Alliance (and that they are determined to protect later the Populist Party), suggested that blacks themselves from any attempt on the were only being used by whites. But such part of the whites to keep them from concerns were perhaps motivated by political their lands . . . considerations, as it was recognized that the The nearest approach to bloodshed principal inducements to prospective occurred when ex-auditor McCabe of immigrants were not simply the possession of Kansas, the founder of the Negro rich farm lands, but control of the government colony at Langston, started for Guthrie of the territory. Southern Blacks were clearly through Iowa lands. He was met by divided and a few rejected migration as a three men, who ordered him to go back solution to their oppression: "We want no whence he came. He declined and they colonization. We are at home, the only home opened fire on him. One shot struck that we have. We are in our God-given land and the pummel of his saddle, and being we only want protection from government unharmed, he fled back to Langston, which we helped to make and a country for and from there came to Guthrie. which our forefathers fought and died. . . ." In addition to attempts by whites to destroy Nevertheless, black settlers continued to them, the black settlers also faced the opposition move toward the borders of Indian Territory. of Indians. Numerous incidents were recorded Appeals from Oklahoma were printed in black which indicate the severity of the antagonism. papers throughout the country which VENITA, I.T.—Two hundred or emphasized their quest for national identity, more Negro squatters, armed with such as the Detroit Plaindealer: Winchesters and a brass cannon, are We are here first as American entrenched at "Gooseneck " in defiance citizens; we are here because as such of the Cherokee nation. The we have the right to be here to better Cherokees, after notifying the squatters our condition and if permitted to prove to vacate the lands, issued an order of beyond question that we posses the sale. This incensed the Negroes, and qualifications of earnest, thrifty, they armed themselves for resistance. capable and law abiding citizens— They are increasing their forces hourly equal, in fact to the more favored race and swearing vengeance against the in conducting if necessary the affairs of Cherokees. a State without jars or friction to The New York Age, more sympathetic to anyone who may cast their lot with us, colonization, reported the growing troubles and of any race or nationality. . . . You are concluded: "We did not before understand that not wanted in the South. Then the red man was affected by color prejudice like embrace this, perhaps your last the white man." opportunity to get lands for yourselves By the spring of 1891, it had become clear and families . . . to McCabe, and other leaders of the Oklahoma Throughout 1890, white "Boomers" in movement, that there was a limit to the number Oklahoma secretly organized in fear that black of new settlers who could be absorbed. settlers would take over the entire territory. Ku Disillusioned blacks wrote that many were in a Klux Klans were formed and raids against black "terrible condition, almost starving." McCabe's families mounted. The black community, Langston City Herald warned that only those however, resisted efforts to drive them off: with money should move to Oklahoma, as they GUTHRIE, O.T.—Couriers from would have to sustain themselves for at least a Langston City, the Negro colony, came year. While he cautioned "Come prepared, or in this morning and purchased 20 not at all," the agents of the colonization effort carbines and hastened back to the front. continued to promote "Oklahoma—the future They report that the entire town site is land and the paradise of Eden and the garden of Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 146

the Gods . . . here the Negro . . . can rest from congregation refused and the pastor was forced mob law, here he can be secure from every ill of to substitute "John Brown's Body." the southern policies . . ." According to one McCabe's involvement with Langston City correspondent, there were 850 agents of the did not sit well with white Republican leaders. movement in the Southern states. And reports He was nicknamed "pushahead," referring to his continued of bands of blacks making their desire to be appointed governor of the territory. painful way westward. The turning point for McCabe, and the black Although the elements of a city had been settlers as well, came on September 19, 1892, established in September, it was not until when he attempted to make a speech at the October 22, 1890, that McCabe founded Republican county convention telling why he Langston City, "The Only Distinctively Negro had urged blacks to bolt the party. City in America." The town was named after McCabe's bold confrontation brought the John Mercer Langston, a black congressman discontent of black people to a head, and nearly from Virginia who served in the 51st Congress six months later it appeared that the break was from September 1890, to March 1891. complete. A call was issued to Oklahoma black Langston had been an early supporter of settlers for a convention to organize an colonization efforts and actively encouraged the independent political party. The Republican "Black Exodus" from the South. Party had been using black voters to keep their McCabe's political concern clearly indicates majority, and had encouraged immigration for the importance he placed on self-determination. that purpose. But the black settlers in I expect to have a Negro Oklahoma had come too far to allow a repetition population of over one hundred of de facto disfranchisement, or second-class thousand within two years, and we will citizenship. The black Republican American not only have made substantial Citizen observed this phenomenon and sadly advancement for my people, but we concluded that unless this third party move will by that time secure control of could be headed off, the Republican Party in political affairs. At present we are Oklahoma was doomed. Republicans, but the time will soon McCabe apparently moved to Washington, come when we will be able to dictate D.C., in 1894 and accepted an appointment as the policy of this territory or state, and register of deeds for the District of Columbia. when that time comes we will have a In 1897 he returned to Oklahoma to accept the Negro state governed by Negroes. We position of deputy auditor of Oklahoma do not wish to antagonize the whites. Territory, a post he held until 1907 when They are necessary in the development Oklahoma became a state. With the subsequent of a new country, but they owe my race disfranchisement of black citizens, McCabe homes, and my race owes to itself a moved to Chicago, where he died in 1923. governmental control of those homes. For those who struggled on in Oklahoma, it McCabe and the Langston City promoters became in fact, a Southern state. Perhaps it was were attacked by some who said that they were only poetic justice that the 1910 "Grandfather "reaping a fortune by fleecing the unsuspecting Clause" which was used to disfranchise black members of their race, charging them 50¢ people was declared unconstitutional in 1915. apiece for admission to the colony." Though The Oklahoma experiment was a modest McCabe was never directly accused, a white success, and Langston University, established in promoter, W.R. Hill, who founded Hill City, in 1897, continues to attest to that success. For Graham County, was arrested for alleged shady those who sought the promised land of that day, dealings. Nevertheless, the colonization and for those who seek it on our own, political movement had stirred a new sense of identity self-determination was the ultimate, crucial and destiny among black people. In a revealing question. incident, the pastor of a Kansas church asked his audience to join him in singing "America." The Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 147

Instead they were separated into five independent and quite distinct Indian republics.

The Twin Territories By W. David Baird and Danney Goble

Tribal Politics 36

Before there was any state of Oklahoma, there were two territories—the Oklahoma and Indian territories—which commonly were called the Twin Territories. In some respects their eventual combination into one state was the product of accident. But in another since, it was no accident at all. The political reality, Oklahoma, grew from circumstances that were both predictable and political themselves.

As noted, political participation in each of those republics was tightly limited to the citizens of the separate tribe. Except for a handful of newcomers who had married into those tribes and thereby had acquired the status of tribal citizens, neither the whites nor the blacks who were flooding into the territory enjoyed any of the benefits of Indian citizenship. For tribal citizens, however, those governments were quite important. Both the full-bloods and their mixed-blood cousins were

proud of their Indian heritage, and intermarried citizens also recognized the significance of tribal traditions. Not the least element of that heritage and those traditions was the set of tribal governments that had begun right after the removals. Although the forms of these tribal governments looked much like those common in most of the United States, the reality behind them was unique to Indian Territory. For example, although each tribe had at least two 36 From Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. The Story of political parties, in no tribe were these at all Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, related to the Democratic and Republican 1994. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 148 However closely related, the Twin Territories were hardly identical. Roughly the western half of the modern state was known as Oklahoma Territory. On the east lay the estates of the Five Tribes. Although commonly referred to as Indian Territory, that particular term was much less political than it was geographical in meaning. After all, there was no single, unified government over those lands.

parties that existed throughout the rest of the nation. Instead the tribal parties continued to reflect distinctly Indian differences, many of which went back to pre-removal divisions. Thus the Creek Nation’s political parties in the late 1800s still reflected the ancient split between Upper and Lower Creeks. Similarly, the Cherokee parties continued the rivalries between the Ridge and Ross factions. In practice the Indian governments exercised only the most limited powers. Although they continued to maintain fine schools for their own children and effective police forces for their own citizens, their authority over most of their residents were minimal. For example, tribal courts did not have jurisdiction over non-tribal members in the region which led to a large number of outlaws from the surrounding states taking refuge within Indian Territory. Also, the federal constitution’s “commerce clause” allowed Congress to have ultimate power over the Choctaw Nation’s coal industry rather than the Choctaw legislature. The whites and blacks who settled within Indian Territory, despite political standing within the tribes, still held Republican and Democratic party conventions and acted like their counterparts in the surrounding states. Although they knew that their actions were not valid, they were hopeful of a future when the Indians no longer possessed control over Indian Territory and they would be able to implement their own political agendas. These “outsiders” within Indian Territory selected their party allegiances based upon their attitudes regarding the Civil War and its aftermath. Blacks and those whites from the North favored the Republicans while those whites from the South favored the Democrats. In that Indian Territory was surrounded by former Confederate states, it attracted far more Democrats than Republicans. Should tribal government disappear, it was almost certain that Democrats would be in charge.

Politics in Oklahoma Territory

certainty about the eventual outcome. Being bordered by Union Kansas and the large number of freed blacks who sought land during the various land runs, Oklahoma attracted more Republicans than did Indian Territory. The balance of the two parties was near equal. Another difference separated the political affairs of the Twin Territories. Unlike the tribal dominance in Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory did have a formal territorial government, established by the Organic Act of 1890 that officially created Oklahoma Territory. Modeled on similar patterns for the transition from territory to state status since the ratification of the constitution, the Organic Act provided a simple structure of government. A governor and a territorial secretary exercised executive authority, both appointed by the President. Legislative authority rested with a bicameral legislature selected by the territory’s residents. Three judges appointed by the President oversaw the territorial courts. Party control in Oklahoma Territory generally went to the Republicans in that they held a slight majority, a majority that could be overcome if the Democrats would side with a minor party of any reasonable size. In that the President appointed the governor, secretary, and judges, whichever party controlled the White House controlled executive and judicial control in Oklahoma Territory. For thirteen of the seventeen years as a territory, Republicans controlled the presidency. Only one of the territory’s nine governors was a Democrat.

Progressivism During the territorial era a new political movement developed in response to the rapid growth of major corporations, such as the railroad and steel industries. Progressivism sought to limit the expansion of business by increasing the powers of government. Progressives called for laws to protect farmers, workers, children, and others from unfair corporate power. They also wanted to edit governmental processes so that average people would have more of a say within government

Oklahoma Territory, in the west, had similar patterns of party loyalty, but with less Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 149

(i.e. direct election of national senators and female suffrage). In the Twin Territories progressives saw a magnificent opportunity to achieve all of those things and to achieve them all at once. Statehood would require Oklahomans to write a constitution. Progressives hoped to place every one of their ideas right in the heart of that constitution. The progressive agenda found favor among many Democrats, especially in Indian Territory. Uniting with other of like mind, they met in Muskogee in 1905 and gave form and substance to their ideas. Proposing to create a state of Indian Territory alone, they gave it a name— Sequoyah—and wrote a constitution for it. Contained within the proposed constitution was nearly every item on the progressive’s wish list. Of course, Sequoyah never became a state. Progressive or not, any state formed from Indian Territory alone was certain to be Democratic. Republican President Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican controlled Congress had no interest in such a prospect. Instead, they insisted on a joint statehood of Democratic Indian Territory and Republican Oklahoma Territory that had some chance of sending Republicans to Washington. To prepare the way for its entry into the union, Congress approved the Oklahoma Enabling Act in 1906.

of Labor, whose members were both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans remained largely silent during much of the campaign for the upcoming election of convention delegates, believing that registered Republicans would select Republican delegates and Democrats would select Democratic delegates. However, Republicans were soon forced to voice a stance on an issue that arose during the campaigns. Most southern states had laws requiring racial segregation. These Jim Crow laws were a major reason that many blacks had migrated to the Twin Territories. Now, the Democrats in those territories, due in party to their southern legacies, began to demand that Oklahoma’s new constitution must embrace Jim Crow laws too. In that segregation was popular among most whites, even white republicans. This led the territory’s Republicans into an impossible dilemma. If they opposed Jim Crow, many of their white supporters might vote Democratic. If they supported segregation, their black followers might not vote at all. Calculating that black voters had nowhere else to turn, the Republicans made their decision and cast their support for Jim Crow laws as well. On the day of the election for delegates to the constitutional convention, the majority of whites voted for the party that committed itself to the progressive reforms, the Democrats. Most black voters, refusing to support a party The Constitutional Convention which endorsed segregation, did not vote at all. After years of Republican domination in The Enabling Act authorized citizens in Oklahoma Territory, 100 of the 112 convention both territories to elect a single convention later delegate seats went to the Democrats. in 1906. The 122 delegates (55 from Indian Meeting at Guthrie through the last weeks Territory, 55 from Oklahoma Territory, and 2 of 1906 and early 1907, the Democratic victors from the Osage Nation) would then meet in proceeded to keep nearly all of their many Guthrie to draft a proposed constitution for the pledges. One result was that they produced the new state. Within broad guidelines contained in longest written constitution produced up to that the Enabling Act, the convention would be free time. Another result was that Oklahoma’s to write anything its members wanted. constitution was regarded as the most In preparation for those elections, the progressive for its day. Strict corporate progressive Democrats from the Sequoyah regulation, safeguards for farmers, protection convention reminded potential voters of the for workers, rights for children, new instruments progressive ideals that they already supported. of popular rule—all of these and other They also vowed to support an additional list of provisions found their way into the 250,000progressive reforms proposed by both the word document. There, too, was the mandate of Indiahoma Farmers’ Union and the Federation segregation in the new state. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 150

When the constitution was submitted to the people for final ratification they were to vote both on the constitution and for those individuals who would become the first state officials in the event that Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt approved of the finished constitution. In the debate over ratification, Republicans encouraged voters to vote no on the constitution and while Democrats reminded voters that it was they who were chiefly responsible for its progressive provisions. This led the vast majority of the people, who supported the progressive agenda, to fear that Republicans, who were against the final constitution, might attempt to destroy its provisions if elected. When the results were counted, the constitution was overwhelmingly approved and Democrats were elected to every statewide office in the new government. Although Congress approved of the document, President Theodore Roosevelt wavered on signing the constitution. Roosevelt was opposed to segregation elements within the document. However, due to the Supreme Courts’ ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, his advisors reminded him that segregation was considered to be legal. Reluctantly Roosevelt signed Oklahoma’s constitution on November 16, 1907. With the stroke of the President’s pen, Oklahoma became the forty-sixth state in the union and Charles N. Haskell, a key leader at both the Sequoyah and Guthrie constitutional conventions, was sworn in as and the first governor.

The Good Angel of Oklahoma: Kate Barnard By Margaret Truman37 For a few brief years at the beginning of this century, Kate Barnard was a power to be reckoned with in Oklahoma politics. A small, pretty woman with olive skin, black hair, and deep blue eyes, Kate appeared on the political scene in 1907 just as the “Twin Territories”—Oklahoma and Indian—were about to merge and become our forty-sixth state. It was a rare opportunity to mold the future and Kate Barnard played a major role in the drama. A new commonwealth was about to be formed, a new constitution written. Kate Barnard was determined that this constitution would aid Oklahoma’s poor and dispossessed—especially the children. An intense sympathy for the losers, the dropouts, the failures of our competitive society burned deep in Kate Barnard’s spirit. Her mother died when she was only 18 months old and her father’s job as a land surveyor kept him away from home for long periods of time. In her long days alone, she sometimes dreamt of doing something bold and heroic which would win his admiration. It is easy to see why she was instinctively sympathetic to anyone— especially children—who lacked a caring parent or friend. She knew only too well the hollow ache of that pain. Kate thought that happiness had finally arrived when she and her father moved to Oklahoma City in 1892. But Mr. Barnard chose to settle on land he owned in one of the city’s slums—where Kate got her first glimpse of 37

From Truman, Margaret. Women of Courage.

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mass misery. Not everyone who followed the a man with a violent temper. He had obviously frontier was a self-reliant Daniel Boone or Davy used this tactic in the past to silence other Crockett type. A dismaying number were visiting speakers. But it did not work with Kate failures who thought geography was the answer Barnard. She glared right back at him, and to their woes. But they only repeated their tossed aside her prepared speech. dismal performance in a new area and their Pointing her finger at the mine owner she wives and children remained victims of said: poverty’s grinding humiliation and deprivation. The diamonds you are wearing in your Kate wrote a series of letters to the Daily shirt front were bought with the blood Oklahoman describing the grim life of the city’s of fifteen men who were burned to poor and asking the blunt question: What was death in a mine which you own, Oklahoma City going to do about it? The well because you would not spend the to do responded by practically burying Kate in money to provide two entrances. You no fewer than ten thousand garments and a made their wives widows; you made mountain of furniture. She and a small group of their children orphans; you are women associates found four hundred destitute responsible to Almighty God for the children, many of them living in tents, gave long, weary lives of poverty and them the clothing, bought books for them, and ignorance which they face; and if the sent them to school. people of this state of Oklahoma will While she continued to give away food and elect me to the office which I am clothing, Kate organized Oklahoma City’s seeking I will change such conditions, unemployed into a labor union. She gave not only in your mine, but in all others. frequent public speeches encouraging the In the very election when territorial settlers Constitutional Convention delegates to address voted for Oklahoma’s Constitution, they also compulsory education, abolition of child labor, cast they votes for the first elected officials for and the creation of a Department of Charities what they hoped would be a new state. In that and Corrections to supervise the state’s social election in 1907, Kate made political history. welfare programs. All three proposals became She polled six thousand more votes than any major issues in the state Constitutional other Democrat on the ticket and at the age of Convention and all were adopted by the 32 became the first woman in the United States delegates. Thus it came as no surprise when the to be elected to statewide office. An delegates nominated Kate for the job as the first accomplishment amplified even more by the Commissioner of the Department of Charities fact that women could not vote in that election. and Corrections. The early years of the twentieth century— Kate’s popularity combined with her gifts the “Progressive Era”—were a period of as a public speaker made her virtually tremendous social awareness. There were unbeatable. She looked sweet and innocent, but demands for reform in practically every area of there was an inner toughness beneath her charm. American life. Kate was in favor of most of the On one occasion, she was scheduled to speak in reforms, with one surprising exception. She had a town where fifteen coal miners had recently no interest in women’s suffrage. “The boys been burned to death because of inadequate always do what I ask them,” she said, “so I safety conditions at the mine. The town fathers don’t see any need to go to the polls myself.” warned he not to come, but Kate went anyway. Like a good politician, she was willing to When she arrived, all the public halls suddenly compromise on some issues, to win on more became “unavailable.” Unintimidated, Kate important ones. But Oklahoma would soon staged her rally on a street corner. discover that there were some issues on which As soon as she began to speak, the Kate Barnard would never compromise. negligent mine owner pushed his way to the The work of the Commissioner of Charities front of the crowd and stood there, arms folded, and Corrections covered every aspect of social glaring at her. He was a thick-necked barrel of welfare. Kate rounded up homeless children Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 152

and saw that they were housed and fed and sent to school; she battled for safety laws in mines and factories and explored new ways of educating the deaf, the dumb, and the blind. One of her major interests was prison reform. In the summer of 1909, she barged into the Kansas State Prison, where Oklahoma convicts were being kept under a contract system, and demanded to be taken on an inspection tour. She discovered that the prisoners were being grossly overworked and horrendously mistreated. The guards had devised a number of inhuman punishments. On was binding and gagging a man, smearing his face with molasses, and then leaving him beside an open window where flies and other insects could get at him. Another was tying a man’s hands and feet behind his back until they met, and then sealing him face down in a heavy coffin.

living in a field just outside of town. They slept in the hollow of an old tree and got their food by begging at nearby farmhouses. Kate sent one of her assistants to find the trio and bring them back to her office. The three “elves” turned out to be Indian children. They were a sorry sight. Their clothes were filthy rags, their arms and legs were scrawny and covered with scabs, their black hair was so tangled and matted that it resisted comb and brush and had to be cut away from their scalps. The youngsters were sent to a children’s shelter while Kate set about finding out who they were. After six weeks of investigation, she turned up the fact that their parents had died a few years before and they had been placed under the protection of a guardian. The man had also been appointed guardian for some 51 other Indian minors. When Kate asked him where the other children were, he shrugged indifferently. “I don’t know,” he murmured, “I’ve lost all track of them.” What made the situation even more appalling was another discovery by Kate’s investigators. The three Indian children owned valuable lands in the Glenn Pool oilfields. The guardian had been collecting their rents and keeping them for himself. Kate was horrified to discover that defrauding Indians had become a popular and profitable pastime in Oklahoma. Originally, the federal government was supposed to hold the land in trust for each Indian for twenty-five years. But federal officials transferred the responsibility for Indian minors to Oklahoma Kate Barnard—Oklahoma Historical Society archives courts after statehood. Many of these children were immensely wealthy. Coal had been Kate issued a devastating report of her discovered on the Choctaw and Chickasaw finding. In the wake of the scandal it caused, lands, oil and gas on the Creek and Cherokee Oklahoma was inspired to build its own model territories. Since the children were completely penitentiary (at McAlester) and Kansas convicts ignorant about their holding, the opportunities won some badly needed prison reforms. for graft and corruption were enormous. Kate was reelected by a large majority in Oklahoma judges regularly appointed 1910. But her courage and her conscience guardians who had no interest in the children forced her to fight some of the most powerful they were assigned to protect but were men in both her own Democratic Party and the passionately interested in stealing their Republican Party. The trouble started when a inheritances. Kate uncovered dozens of report came into the Department of Charities schemes to cheat Indians. In one case, a and Corrections that three “elf” children were sixteen-year-old Indian boy was kidnapped and Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 153

forced to marry a local prostitute. The marriage the men in charge of Oklahoma’s politics talked legally established his status as an adult. The about how the state budget had doubled in four men who staged the kidnapping then made him years and hypocritically insisted that the sign over the deed to his land. With this elimination of Kate’s department was information in hand, Kate decided to undertake “necessary.” Kate Barnard finally had to accept a probe of the orphans in Oklahoma’s asylums. the bitter truth. The Department of Charities She discovered hundreds of Indian children who and Corrections had ceased to exist. had been turned out to fend for themselves after Using the income from some property that their lands were taken from them by courther father had left her at his death in 1909 and appointed guardians. the money she collected at fund-raising Infuriated by these injustices, Kate Barnard speeches, Kate organized a “People’s Lobby.” went before the state legislature and demanded For the next twenty years Kate continued to that the Department of Charities and Corrections speak out for the Indians, but it was not an issue be given the right to intervene on behalf of any on which she could rebuild he shattered political Indian whose estate was being mismanaged. career. She became more and more affected by She was about adults as well as children. Many a disfiguring skin disease and nervous adult Indians could not read or write and did not exhaustion. She died in 1930 at the age of 55, a understand business procedures. defeated, forgotten name in Oklahoma. Two For the first time in her political life, Kate histories of the state, both published by the Barnard had a hard time mustering a majority. University of Oklahoma, did not even mention Some of the most respected men in the her name. They also failed to mention anything Oklahoma Legislature were either profiting about Oklahoma’s robbing Indians. from the Indian land frauds or had powerful Kate Barnard died thinking of herself as a friends who were getting rich from them. failure. But the cause for which she fought did Almost every guardian had a half dozen or more not die. In 1926, a growing chorus of critics children under his supposed supervision. persuaded the government to fund a study by the A few Oklahomans were delighted with Brookings Institution to see how the Indians Kate’s work. Most, however, were not very were faring under the land allotment system. enthusiastic about it and as the probes continued The findings, published in 1928 and confirmed and a number of influential men were through a long, thorough Congressional implicated, Kate’s popularity began to decline. investigation, stunned the nation. Poverty, The state legislature moved quickly to quiet the starvation, humiliation, had become a way of investigation. life for tens of thousands of Indians. Additionally, the legislature was In 1887, they had owned 138 million acres considering a reduction in the budget of Kate’s of land. By 1934, their holdings had shrunk to Department of Charities and Corrections. Kate 47 million. In Oklahoma, the land belonging to recognized political blackmail when she saw it. the largest tribes had dwindled from 19.5 If she continued her investigation she would million acres to 1.5 million. It would be nice to lose her funding. Unwilling to compromise, say that all the injustices that Kate Barnard had Kate found herself with no money to pay her fought have been rectified. But this is an staff. For the first time, Kate also found she was imperfect world. At least her gallant voice, unable to tell her side of the story in the ignored in her own time, can be heard by newspapers. Reporters avoided her. The courageous men and women of another era. She publishers had joined the ugly conspiracy. They is one more example of a woman of courage too had friends involved in the land frauds. transcending the limitation of her time and Kate tried to keep her office open with place. $350 of her own money and a few hundred more borrowed from friends. Behind the scenes she fought desperately to get another vote on an emergency vote from the state legislature. But Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 154

share, and had paid off his debts at the local store, he could be left with little, if any, cash income. Oklahomans who note how conservative their state has become may be astonished to learn just how strong socialism once was— particularly when the look at it from the vantage 38 point of the collapse of socialism in eastern By W. David Baird and Danney Goble Europe and in the former Soviet Union. Such comparisons, however natural, are unfair. Rich and Poor Oklahoma’s early socialists faced problems unknown to later generations and they advocated solutions completely unlike those that Social class was a significant feature later failed so dismally in Communist nations. affecting early Oklahomans’ lives. These were desperately poor people—people so Oklahoman’s liked to claim that the defining poor and so desperate that they were ready to quality of their brand new state was the equality replace what they regarded as an evil economic, of all, but no one could deny that many families social, and political system with a socialist occupied a status considerably different than alternative. most. Even Oklahoma had its elites—some of Increasing numbers of Oklahoma’s farmers whom, like the oil giant E.W. Marland, would faced real want in the early years of statehood. have been considered upper-class anywhere in This large class of the rural poor provided a America. Though of much more modest fertile field for early socialism within standing, at least some in every community Oklahoma. Socialists believed that the state’s were blessed with wealth and comfort that Democratic officials not only could not solve separated them from their fellow residents. their problems but also added to them. In That is hardly surprising. What may be particular, they believed that the state’s political startling is how very poor so very many early elite had joined hands with its economic elite to Oklahomans were. This was particularly true force poverty upon the masses. In joining the across the former Indian Territory, where the Socialist Party (also known as the Working grafting of land allotments had serious Class Union), they were in open revolt against consequences for not only Indians but everyone that combined elite, the elite that they described else as well. One consequence was that a few as “the parasites in the electric light towns.” were able to take control of huge parcels of Theirs was not a violent revolt. Rather, land. Another was that many were unable to they appealed to voters to mark their ballots for own land at all. Instead, they rented it, usually Socialist Party candidates who pledged to in an arrangement known as sharecropping. promote fundamental changes: for publicly What made it especially hard for them is that the owned cooperatives, state credit for farmers, the crop was almost always cotton (many landlords forced breakup of great land estates, and the would not allow their tenants to grow anything like. else), and cotton prices often barely covered the Those appeals fell on fertile soil. In every cost of production. election from statehood in 1907 to World War I In no county in eastern Oklahoma did in 1914, the Socialist vote at least doubled in anything like one-half of the farmers own their Oklahoma. As early as 1910, Oklahoma had own land. In many, not even one-tenth did. By more Socialist Party members than did any state the time the sharecropper had paid the cost of in the union, even more than New York, ginning the cotton, had given the landlord his although the Empire State had seven times Oklahoma’s population. By the outbreak of the 38 From Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. The Story of First World War, one out of every five Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Oklahomans was voting for Socialist candidates 1994. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 155

Sooner Socialism

and electing them to the state legislature and to dozens of county and local offices. Particularly in the southern counties, the party was unusually strong. Drawing over one-third of the vote, the Socialists passed the Republicans to become the Democrats’ chief opposition in that large section of the state.

The Green Corn Rebellion Makes the News

Ada Weekly News August 2, 1917 To Resist Draft Law—Organization thought to exist in several counties in OK That there is a wrong organization in Pontotoc, Seminole, Pottawatomie, and perhaps The First World War other counties, the purpose of which is to resist the draft law, is the opinion of Pontotoc County This opposition did not survive the world officials. Acting upon evidence collected the war. One reason was that the war’s demand for office of Sheriff Bob Duncan and county farm products briefly pushed prices up to record Attorney A.L. Bullock the federal authorities levels. The temporary easing of the farmer’s today took into custody Sam Bingham, Geo. plight took much wind from the Socialists’ sails. Norman, Ernest Johnson, Jim Hammett Sr., and The larger explanation, however, was that the a Mr. Wilson, all of Francis or near that place. war gave state officials the opportunity to blast These will probably by lodged in the federal jail their vessel from the water. Because many at Holdenville or Muskogee. Socialists opposed America’s participation in Sheriff Bob Duncan and Deputy U.S. the war, and a few openly campaigned against Marshall Frank Whally made the arrests. The it, their more powerful rivals were able to tar the men charged with trying to incite young men in entire party with the brush of “disloyalty,” even the draft age to resist the call to arms, urging the treason. This was especially the case after the young men to defend themselves with weapons. Socialists became associated with several A large meeting, it is said, was held Saturday random acts of violence, as well as an episode night in a grove not far from Francis. And the known as the Green Corn Rebellion. attended was something like one hundred men In the first summer of America’s and boys. Some of the boys refused to enter involvement in World War I, a poorly organized into the plans. The county officials know of band of farmers in the Canadian River valley many meetings that have been held in various took up arms, proclaiming the intent of parts of the county within the last few days, and marching on Washington to force peace on the are keeping an eye on all developments. They government. The revolt took its odd name from have a list of practically all those who have been the rebels’ supposed diet as they were marching attending the meetings. Arrests of dozens of along the way. these participants may be expected at any time. Few ever got beyond their home counties, A meeting of the organization was to have been and their pitiable forces were easily crushed by held in Seminole County Sunday night, but the local sheriffs and the state militia (national News was unable to learn whether this meeting guard). Still, the audacity of the deed was all materialized or not. that many Oklahomans needed for hysteria. Some of the agitators, it is alleged believe Warmly supported by public opinion, state the time has come to strike for a different form authorities proceeded to shut down Socialist of government. They believe that all of those newspapers and jail the party’s leaders—most of not contented with things as they are now will whom had no relationship at all to the pathetic rise up in a common cause and overthrow the rebellion. By the end of World War I, powers of the government. Oklahoma’s Socialist party was virtually dead. It is possible that this organization has spread to other counties. Mr. Bullock thinks. Rumors of it have been reaching Ada fro several days. Quietly the officers have been watching developments. Officials in other counties are Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 156

doing the same. Arrests have been made in Pottawatomie County. Arrests in Seminole are looked for any time. One member of the organization who has not yet been arrested is said to have remarked that a few days would see some startling developments. The officers know who he is and are watching him.

However, there are quite a number of such guns in the community and a good-sized squad could be armed. In Ada there has been no undue excitement, but on every hand there has been evidence a grim determination to back the officers in any and all emergencies.

Ada Weekly News August 9, 1917 Ada Weekly News August 10, 1917 U.S. District Attorney in Deadly Earnest Seven New Arrests Today Against Leaders of Uprising—Excitement At noon today Sheriff Duncan got word that Subsides—Believed trouble is about over but no one of the leaders and six men were captured chances will be taken and taken to Wewoka. Anarchy reared its head in the southern part Anti-draft rioters who for three days run of Seminole County Thursday afternoon and amuck in southeaster OK, this afternoon faced night and part of that section is under control of the United States commissioner’s to answer the mob of anti-draft men of various ages. charge of treason. District Attorney McGinnis, The first outbreak came about 4 o’clock. in charge of the prosecution, announced that Thursday afternoon when Sheriff Grail of where evidence is sufficient he will ask for the Seminole County and Deputy Cross of Sasakwa death penalty. Prohibitive bail will be asked in were waylaid east of Sasakwa and fired on. order to hold the men until trial. They had but one gun but with this they Authorities are confident they have two returned the fire. Some thirty-five shots were National organizers among the 250 prisoners. exchanged and the ambushers disappeared. Evidence and records seized by authorities show The next move of the anti-drafters was to the Working Class Union had 27,000 members make a general roundup of the country, forcing in the State. The records also give evidence for every man they could find to accompany their the arrest of many leaders of the revolutionary party. It is reported that Grant Scroggins and movement. the father and brother of W.T. Melton were The uprising in Seminole County is among those taken. It is said that the raiders apparently about to an end, but posses are still were at least 100 strong when last reported, but searching the woods and picking up suspects they declared they would have 3,000 men and arms. It is estimated that no fewer than 300 together in a short time. men have been taken and now that the tide has The Frisco Bridge was the next object of set in so strongly against them, they are attention, and they fired it in three places, doing beginning to come in and surrender. damage that required until noon today to repair. It was reported that dynamite was also used, but Brewer’s Story men from Francis said if such was the case the C.C. Brewer, age 41, and his two sons, damage was slight. The fires were started and Dave aged 18 and Homer aged 16, held in the to make more certain of their work they set fire city jail for the Seminole County authorities, to a handcar of building material and shoved it talked freely to a News-Herald representative to the middle of the bridge. To conceal their last night. They admitted membership in the movements they cut the telegraph wires both Working Class Union, but maintained they north and south of Francis and service was not entered into their plans only under duress and restored until noon today. had been trying to get out. Evidently the leaders of this movement Asked what the idea of the W.C.U. was in have been preparing for some time, for this their present activities, Brewer replied that it morning when the news began to spread, many was part of a tremendous revolution, which was men went to the various hardware stores only to expected to spread rapidly and become find that every high power gun had been sold. nationwide. The extermination of the officers Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 157

and all who refused to fall in with their plans was contemplated. The only end the leaders could see was the victorious over throw of the government. Resistance of the draft was only a part of their purpose, but was emphasized by the actual nearness of the actual drawing for army service. Details by United Press The death toll of the anti-draft rioting reached three, when J.F. Moose of Okemah was shot and killed Sunday night by a posse guarding the roads leading to Holdenville. Moose was killed when he failed to heed the warning of the posse-men to halt, being riddled with buckshot rifle bullets. He was in an automobile and tried to escape. Ed Blalock was killed and two posse-men injured when a band of thirty rioters were trapped in a schoolhouse southeast of here Sunday afternoon. Jack Paige, former marshal, was shot in the leg and Henry Johnson shot in the head. A special train took 56 arrested rioters from Holdenville to McAlester this morning. All jails of surrounding towns are filled. A total of 225 have been arrested in Seminole County since the outbreak started. Reports from Ada and Wewoka this morning state that everything is quiet. Posses are still scouring the country arresting all individuals in the groups or rioters. Many are giving themselves up to the authorities.

Alice Mary Robertson: Anti-Feminist Congresswoman By Louise B. James39 Alice Mary Robertson is one of the most important women that Oklahoma has produced. The story of her life includes a list of many achievements culminating with her election to the United States House of Representatives in 1920. She was only the second woman elected to this body; she remains the only woman Oklahoma has ever elected to Congress. In spite of all her achievements, her public comments about the role of women in American life indicate her belief that a woman’s chief role was that of wife and mother. Her victory in the first election following the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment was a victory for those opposed to women’s suffrage, as Miss Alice did not wish the right of voting for herself or for other women. Her life story was a paradox for those interested in women’s rights. She was opposed to much of what the feminists of her day were seeking, yet, she achieved more in her own life than most men have achieved either in that time period or in the present. Born into one of Oklahoma’s distinguished missionary families, she was the granddaughter of Rev. Samuel A. Worcester who devoted most of his life to work with the Cherokees. She was the daughter of two missionaries to the Creek Indians, William S. Robertson and Ann Eliza Worcester Robertson. Her mother set an example of what a woman might achieve as she raised a growing family. Her mother also taught classes of Indian students, translated books of the Bible into Creek, and became the first 39

From James, Louise B. “Alice Mary Robertson: AntiFeminist Congresswoman.” Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol. 55, No. 4. Winter 1977-1978.

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American woman to earn a Doctorate of member of the audience, and by the end of the Philosophy (PhD) degree. Her father, William, speech her remarks were directed to him. commented on his wife’s ability, “Tis not every Theodore Roosevelt came to her after the mother that can teach with two children as speech, introducing himself with the remark that assistants, yet Ann Eliza scarcely loses an their views on Indian education were much the hour.” Miss Alice desired to achieve a name for same. herself. At thirteen, she wrote to her older The friendship grew, and during the sister, Ann Augusta, “I have studied algebra Spanish-American War she helped recruit today, and taken my first drawing lesson. I am Troops L and M of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. going to be somebody yet.” When Roosevelt became President, she found For much of her life “being somebody” was herself with a job far outside the education connected with her family’s position and came connected ones she had held in the past. He mainly in the field of Indian education, an appointed his staunch Republican woman friend endeavor which she thought was proper for a as the postmaster of Muskogee in 1905. Miss woman. At the age of nineteen she was Alice did not stop to consider the fact that she employed by the Indian Department in would be the only postmistress of a first class Washington, D.C., as a clerk. While she was post office. She saw work to be done, and she working there, she taught herself shorthand. tried to do her best. Ben Pitman, the originator of the style of A postmistress created quite a stir at the shorthand she learned, was impressed with the convention of postmasters in the fall of 1906. efforts and sent here an autographed copy of his She was placed on every committee. She was shorthand manual. Shorthand brought her much not intimidated by being the only woman. Miss recognition later as she was the only person in Alice presented several papers containing her Indian Territory with such a skill and was suggestions and addressed the convention frequently called upon to use this ability in supporting her views. She requested that she be developments in Indian Territory, including the allowed to become just “one of the boys,” with commission which worked for the cession of the the only exception being that they not smoke Cherokee Outlet. cigarettes in her presence. She did not mind While she was working outside Indian cigars being smoked, and as she attended all Territory, her parent’s mission at Tullahassee session, cigarette smoking was at a minimum. burned leaving the students without a chance to At the same time that she was enjoying the continue their educations. She convinced limelight in the convention, she was making officials of the newly created school at Carlisle, comments on women’s rights. “The exchange PA, to accept twenty-five of the students from of a woman’s privileges for a man’s right is too Tullahassee, and even arranged free fare for much like bartering the birthright for a mess of these students from railroad officials. pottage.” This statement was certain to anger Her career outside Indian Territory was cut suffragists who were trying to achieve political short by the death of her father, and she returned equality at this time! She made it clear that she to help at home in 1881. During this time, she was not a suffragist, but a “hard-working started the boarding school which eventually postmaster.” Roosevelt reappointed her to this become Henry Kendall College, which in turn position which she held until 1913. became Tulsa University. Her next venture into national recognition Her knowledge in the field of Indian was during World War I, and it was again in a education led to Miss Alice being invited to field safely and traditionally feminine. She speak at an educational meeting at Lake began meeting troop trains that came through Mononk, NY, in 1891. In her audience was a Muskogee and gave out cigarettes, candies, post man destined to changed her life, for he would cards, gum, and coffee to the soldiers. She bring her into fields of endeavor far from owned a cafeteria in Muskogee and fed soldiers education and mission work. As she spoke she and their families for free as they passed become aware of one extremely interested through Muskogee. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 159

Following World War I, the avowed opponent of women’s suffrage found herself as a candidate for the United States House of Representatives. As she explained, “The men have thrust the vote on us and now I am going to see whether they mean it.” The campaign she conducted must have been one of the most unusual in political history. It truly had a woman’s touch. She usually ran advertisements in the Muskogee paper for her cafeteria. These advertisements listed the menus in enticing ways, “Lots of hot soup today; pole beans, boiled with bacon in the pot; corn bread, made from white meal, buttermilk, cherry pie!” After she filed for office, comments like, “our campaign seems to be going very well, even if we are not neglecting our customers,” appeared with the usual list of foods. She also observed, “I’m not anyone but home folks, and I want to go to Congress. First because a lot of men moved that I go and then a lot of women seconded them. Some say I won’t get there, but I’m well pleased with the outlook.” She chose a very good year to be a Republican running for Congress in Oklahoma. Five of eight representatives that year were Republican, and the anti-feminist past sixty years of age found herself on of those members. Oklahoma also sent a Republican United States Senator to Washington that year. Congressmen curious about their new female colleague found that in appearance she was “built on similar architectural lines as the late Champ Clark.” Her clothing was never the latest fashion but was described as “something black,” and more suited for Muskogee than Washington, D.C. She had no intention of upsetting the male dominated Congress. She was to pride herself on never speaking when she could avoid a speech. She had always gotten with men than with women and had “always done a man’s work, carried a man’s burdens, and paid a man’s bills.” She was ready to work with Congress and be “just one of the boys” again. Miss Alice did believe that a woman might have one special role in Congress. She believed that a woman should help make the government more honest and truthful, as indicated by her

campaign slogan of, “I cannot be bought; I cannot be sold; I cannot be intimidated.” While she did not plan to make waves when she arrived in Washington, she could not help but be noticed. She was frequently called upon as a guest speaker; this was a request which believed used energies and time which should have been devoted to her duties in Congress. She took committee assignments seriously and tried to attend all meetings. She had a sharp wit and her comments were often worth quoting, especially as the congresswoman was also an anti-feminist.

Alice Mary Robertson—Library of Congress archives

Of special interest for the press was the meeting of Miss Alice and the only female member of the British Parliament, Lady Astor. She like the foreign visitor when they met, even though a feminist group sponsored Lady Astor’s visit. Miss Alice complimented her by saying “I have been impressed with an appreciation of the fact that the sanest women active in political work are wives and mothers accustomed to think for the future of their children. . . .” Perhaps she included herself in such a group, for while she remained single, she adopted, raised and educated one young girl. There were always children around that she helped. The daughter of a close friend even lived with her for a time while she was in Congress. She noted the children around her, “Some women collect china or jewels or lace. I have a fad for collecting boys and girls. . . .” Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 160

She was soon faced with the dilemma mishandled in the telegraphic re-prints in the which confronts elected officials. Should she newspapers that I am simply seething in boiling listen to her constituents and vote the way they oil just now.” Oklahoma could not be expected instructed her; or should she listen to her own to continue in the unusual pattern of voting conscience and vote as she believed? She chose Republican for too many elections, so to be her own voice and quickly found herself in Oklahoma’s only woman in Congress returned trouble with her voters. One of the unpopular home after one term. votes was on a veterans’ bonus bill, which she She was not bitter about her defeat voted against. This was an unusual vote for a remarking, “Happiness is contentment, and I woman who had given so much of her time and always manage to content myself and find resources to help these very soldiers during the something that needs to be done.” She realized war. But part of her campaign promises had that the high point of her career had come rather been, “I am a Christian; I am an American; I am late in life, as she remarked, “I’ve been a a Republican,” and the Republican part of her Cinderella at sixty-nine, but now the pumpkin is believed that paying a bonus to able-bodied men round the corner, waiting to wisk me back.” was a bad precedent. Her vote received much She did get in one jab at enemies back attention, and she had the courage to return home, especially other women. She had been home and defend her actions in person before a told by some women in Oklahoma, “You see, veteran’s group. This was an unpleasant and we didn’t want you to go to Washington in the difficult meeting. She asked for a show of first place, and now we are going to keep you.” hands of those men who had voted for her; She responded, “How do you know I’ll come among the angry veterans, only one man raised back?” his hand. He must have had as much courage as But everyone realized that Miss Alice of Miss Alice did. She thanked him for his vote Muskogee would of course come home. For all and realized that much of her political support that she had seen and done while in was now lost. Washington, she was looking forward to hearing The second unpopular vote was on the those Oklahoma mockingbirds. Evidently she Sheppard-Tower Bill, also called the Maternity did hope that the Republican President would Bill, which included a provision for the reward a faithful party member with an government furnishing instruction to mothers on appointment connected to Indian affairs, but she the care of young children. It was the returned home just a private citizen. legislation which the women’s rights groups had What did Miss Alice’s career in chosen to champion as the symbol of their new Washington accomplish? She has an unusual power in political affairs, and her negative vote response to such a question, telling a reporter, probably did not lose any political support. She “If you asked a housekeeper that what do you even urged women to write to their legislators think she would say? I’ve been keeping house and express their opposition to the bill. Prior to for the nation just like a woman would in her her vote and speech in Congress, she attacked own home—busy, busy, every day, in every the bill in public saying it would allow “the way, without any outstanding thing to show for establishment of practically uncontrolled, yet it.” Most freshman Congressmen can point to Federally authorized centers of propaganda.” very few outstanding achievements, Miss Alice She commented on the pressure being bought on included. her by women’s groups, “They are trying to She had clashed with the feminists mainly scare me into support of the bill, but I can’t be because she believed they were asking for rights scared.” she did not want for herself. Typical of her He defeat at the election of 1922 was no comments on the right to vote was, “I did not surprise. She realized that politically she was in want suffrage. I didn’t ask for it, but they gave trouble early that year when she wrote her sister, it to us, and as God gives me strength, I’ll carry “My political fences are in terrible shape the responsibility.” She also believed that everywhere. I made a speech which was so feminists were asking for privileges simply Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 161

because they were women. She said, “I have never asked any discount on account of my petticoats.” She also believed that very few women had the training to succeed in public life, even though she had managed to do so. She thought other women had “gone into politics the wrong way, beginning at the top instead of bottom. . . . When a woman shows she is fitted for office, she will receive the call to office just as a man does.” This was the way it had been in her life. At important times in her career others had come to her and asked her to do more. Her best work always brought recognition, but she had an advantage other women did not have. She could not forgot that her name was already famous in Oklahoma; she was the granddaughter of Samuel Worcester and the daughter of Ann Eliza Worcester Robertson. She always seemed to work this information into interviews. In a very long and candid interview as she left Washington, she managed to show the two Bibles in her office which had been translated into Indian languages by her ancestors. Miss Alice did not need a famous name in order to succeed because she was very capable in her own right, but with the prominent name she had much more going for her than other Oklahoma women. So when the call to public office came, the caller knew her name so much better.

Tulsa Burning By Jonathan Larsen40 "I was born and raised here, and I had never heard of the riot," Tulsa district attorney Bill LaFortune is saying. He is sitting in front of a massive desk on the fourth floor of the Tulsa County Courthouse. On the edge of his desk is a manila folder stuffed with documents, old newspaper clips and grand-jury indictments relating to Tulsa's Race Riot of 1921, one of the worst in the nation's history. LaFortune pulls out one of the few remaining copies of a self-published, eyewitness account of the riot, written by a young black woman named Mary Jones Parrish . A YMCA typing instructor, Parrish had included in her remarkable volume three wide-angle photographs of the destruction, taped and folded within the book like a triptych. Now LaFortune spreads open the panorama for his guest. "It looks like Hiroshima, or worse," he says. The photographs are breathtaking: 35 blocks of the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, reduced to cinder and rubble. On a single night, more than 10,000 armed and crazed whites looted and burned down the city's entire black section. In the pictures on LaFortune's desk, the smoke is still rising off the scorched earth, drifting between charred trees and the few jagged remains of brick walls. For most of the past 75 years, the riot remained Tulsa's brooding secret. But on June 1, 1996, the 75th anniversary of the event, Tulsa held its first commemorative service and erected a memorial. And in October LaFortune performed his own role in the ritual healing. During an emotional ceremony, he cleared a long deceased black man named J. B. Stradford of the charge of inciting the riot. Stradford was one of Tulsa's most prosperous black entrepreneurs in the 1910's. He owned a 65-room hotel, a savings and loan, and other real estate in Greenwood. Having lost 40

http://www.northtulsa.com/tulsa_burning.html Afrocentric News. 1999

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everything in the riot, Stradford escaped to outlaws in which Tulsa furnished them with Chicago, where he began life anew and became asylum in exchange for being spared from a successful lawyer. When he died in 1935, at criminal acts." Even after Tulsa fell under the the age of 75, the incitement charge still hung American legal system, it remained unusually over him. With the riot's anniversary, the rough. The volatile mix of desperadoes, family wanted his name cleared. But first gamblers, prostitutes, cowboys, wildcatters, LaFortune and Assistant District Attorney roustabouts and Ku Kluxers was enough to Nancy Little had to uncover the details of the weaken the knees of the bravest lawevents of 1921. enforcement officials. "I would almost say I was staggered by Many a town father decided it was more what I learned," Little said. prudent—and sometimes more lucrative—to "I had heard my parents talk about a riot by join the miscreants rather than fight them. black people that came out of a rape." She was James Mitchell, a student at the University of bewildered to find out that neither half of that Tulsa in 1950, wrote his master's thesis on the equation had been true. In particular, Little was politics of Tulsa in the early 1900s. "A vice struck by a series of firsthand accounts, all by ring consisting of newspapermen and black victims of the riot, in the back of Mary politicians, operated a protection racket for Jones Parrish's book. "Those stories," said illegal enterprises," he concluded. "Many Little, "were among the most moving I have crusades against open town conditions by ever read." And the more she read, the more newspapers in Tulsa's boom years were said to she thought, "This doesn't look like a riot. It result when the editors were denied their part of looks like a war, an invasion of the area. the payoffs." Little's dismay is shared by almost any Tulsan today who learns the truth about the riot. Tulsa, after all, had none of the bitter memories of the Civil War or Reconstruction. It was no sprawling northern metropolis plagued by poverty, unemployment and rotting tenements. Nor was it a Southern backwater where racial prejudice was endemic. Tulsa was full of pride and prosperity on both sides of the tracks. The city's black section was as remarkable as the boomtown of the white oil barons. Moreover, this riot happened during the Roaring Twenties: Greenwood district prior to the riot— in modern times. The fact that a southwestern Greenwood Cultural Center archives frontier town could experience such a paroxysm of hate, anger and violence seemed to speak to By 1910, Black Tulsans made up 10 the very notions of equality and civility. And percent of the city's population. Most of these white Tulsa's denial of its own guilt remains a residents were immigrants from the East and case study in cultural amnesia. South, but many others were native to the area, Tulsa in the 1920s was a boomtown with a having been former slaves of wealthy Creek short fuse. Originally part of the sprawling Indians. The Blacks in Tulsa, totally segregated Indian Territory, Tulsa had for years been on the north side of the railroad tracks, were beyond the reach of state or federal law, and building up a prosperous community that after the discovery of oil nearby at the turn of boasted the second highest black literacy rate the century, the town became a notorious haven among Oklahoma counties, and a neighborhood for criminals. An otherwise boisterous history, of shops, hotels, gaming halls and restaurants ordered up by the city in the 1970's, speculated that was gaining a reputation across the about those early boom years: "There seemed to Southwest. The Greenwood section of Tulsa be an unwritten law between the town and the bristled with such energy, prosperity and Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 163

promise, that Booker T. Washington himself— of an allegation by a newspaper with even less. so the legend goes—dubbed Greenwood But those small details would not be fully Avenue "the Black Wall Street." understood before Black Tulsa burned to the This Black prosperity caused resentment ground. among poorer whites, and the city elders Walter White, an NAACP official who worried that it was bad for the city's image. In arrived in Tulsa during the height of the riot, 1912, the Tulsa Democrat complained: "Tulsa would offer a detailed account of the "assault" appears to be in danger of losing its prestige as in The Nation later that month. According to the whitest town in Oklahoma." The paper went White, a young Black messenger named Dick on to ask: "Does Tulsa wish a double invasion Rowland called for an elevator in a downtown of criminal Negro preachers, Negro Shysters, Tulsa building. The operator, a young white crap shooters, gamblers, bootleggers, prostitutes woman named Sarah Page, on finding she had and smart alecs in general?" been summoned by a Black man, started the car At the time of the riot, the Ku Klux Klan on its descent when Rowland was only halfway had something of a stranglehold on Tulsa. in. To save himself from injury, Rowland threw Mitchell found that during the early 1920s the himself into the car, stepping on the girl's foot in Klan "operated as a phantom regime," putting doing so. Page screamed and, when a crowd its imprimatur on political candidates. In the gathered outside the elevator, claimed she had year of the riot alone, 59 Blacks were lynched in been attacked. The police arrested Rowland the border and Southern states. Just six months following day but with little enthusiasm, before, in Oldenville, Oklahoma, a young Black perhaps because they knew the reputation of his man accused of assaulting a white woman was accuser. Page, a new arrival in Tulsa, had left taken from jail, strung to a telephone pole, and her husband in Kansas City, and Sheriff Willard riddled with bullets. The fact that a white man McCullough had served divorce papers on her had been lynched in Tulsa the previous summer just two months before. He was reported to only proved that skin color was no protection. have said later that if half the charges alleged in Accused of murdering a taxi driver, Roy Belton the divorce petition were true, "she is a had been "mobbed" by a group of whites while notorious character." the police directed traffic at the lynching site, Nevertheless, her charge of assault gave ensuring everyone a good view. A Black Tulsa's most disreputable newspaper enough to newspaper wrote at the time: "The lynching of work with. Richard Lloyd Jones—a cousin of Roy Belton explodes the theory that a prisoner the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright—had is safe on top of the Court House from mob purchased the Tulsa Democrat two years before. violence." Jones had changed the paper's name—to the Since the end of World War I, Black Tulsa Tribune—but not its behavior. He not leaders had begun to encourage resistance to only continued the newspaper's racist ways but "Judge Lynch." In 1919, Crisis, the magazine raised them to a higher power, referring to the of the National Association for the Black section of Tulsa as either "Little Africa" Advancement of Colored People, had declared: or "N-----town." "When the murderer comes, he shall no longer The Tribune's coverage of the alleged strike us in the back. When the armed lynchers attack on Page clearly inflamed feelings in gather, we too must gather armed." In Tulsa, Tulsa. The adjutant general of Oklahoma would the success of the Black community had only later blame the riot on "an impudent Negro, a made this resolve more powerful. hysterical girl, and a yellow journal." No The incident that set off the Tulsa riot was original copies of the offending articles exist the same incident that set off so many other race today, either in bound volumes or on microfilm, riots before it: a report of an assault by a Black having been destroyed in the years following the man on a white woman. In the case of Tulsa, a riot. But a University of Tulsa student managed woman of little credibility and a story to find a copy for his 1946 thesis, and published apparently trumped the report up, a combination it in its entirety. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 164

On its front page, the Tribune had charged streets would be bathed in blood." In the event that Rowland had attacked Page, "scratching her of a lynching, Stradford left no doubt as to what hands and face and tearing her clothes." The he thought the community should do. "If I can't managing editor of the paper would, days later, get anyone to go with me, I will go singleadmit that the scratches and torn clothes were handed and empty my automatic into the mob fictions. The article stated that Rowland had and then resign myself to my fate." been identified and arrested, had admitted grabbing Page's arm, and would be tried that afternoon. The final sentence was a guaranteed tearjerker: It stated that Page, whose age it gave as an improbable 17, "is an orphan who works as an elevator operator to pay her way through business college." The Tribune also ran an editorial that day. No copies are known to survive, but people interviewed after the riot recalled an article that spoke of a lynching, and may have even After looting, black homes set on fire by white rioters— McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa archives encouraged one. Scott Ellsworth, who wrote the definitive book on the riot, Death in a Promised In the end, the Black leaders assembled in Land (1982), believes the headline read "To the Star's office voted to go to the courthouse Lynch Negro Tonight." Whatever the Tribune without waiting for the sheriff's summons. (Nor said, the fuse was now lit. Shortly after the did they all heed Stradford's call to remain paper hit the newsstands, talk of a lynching was sober.) Fully armed, some 25 Blacks drove to making its way around town. Within hours, the courthouse. Sheriff McCullough and hundreds of whites were milling in front of the Deputy Sheriff Barney Cleaver, Tulsa's first courthouse—a common prelude to "Judge Black police officer met them there. The two Lynch." law officers persuaded the emissaries to return According to the unpublished memoirs of to Greenwood, which they did peacefully. But J.B. Stradford, the Tribune's stories "aroused the the white crowd did not disperse. It continued wrath of the Ku Klux Klan," and the KKK let it to swell to ominous proportions, reaching 1,500 be known that they would "mob" Rowland that to 2,000. The Blacks returned, this time night. Stradford went on to say that Sheriff numbering between 50 and 75. Once again, McCullough telephoned the office of the Tulsa McCullough and Cleaver tried to send the Star, a Black newspaper, to warn "he expected entourage home, but before they could succeed, an attack would be made on the jail that night." an older white man made the mistake of The sheriff promised that he would do all he confronting a young Black veteran of World could to protect Rowland, but that "if he found War I. According to author Scott Ellsworth, the he could not cope with the situation, for us to white man said, "N-----, what are you going get together and he would call us to help protect with that pistol?" The answer was as polite as it him." was direct: "I'm going to use it if I need to." A meeting was convened at the newspaper's Within moments, a struggle for the gun offices. Stradford was sent for and called upon ensued, a shot rang out and guns were blazing. to speak. As he wrote in his memoirs, "I The Blacks retreated toward Greenwood while hesitated at first, for the situation was a perilous the whites began to prepare for their revenge. In one; I advised the boys to be sober and wait the next few hours, a dozen stores in downtown until the sheriff called for us. I further said that Tulsa that sold firearms—sporting-good stores, I had expected something of that nature on Pawnshops, and even jewelry stores—were account of the bitter feelings against our group broken into and looted. The National Guard and I said then as I had said before that the day a Armory was spared only because a small band member of our group was mobbed in Tulsa, the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 165

of guardsmen, warned in advance, held off the Whenever a fire engine appeared on the scene, multitudes. The whites, now numbering 10,000, the white mob refused to let the fire crew deploy headed for Greenwood, as a smaller rear guard its hoses, forcing them back to the station. of Blacks tried to hold them off. Mary Jones Police and their "deputies," those who were not Parrish, who had read about recent riots in actively engaged in the looting and burning, Chicago and Washington, D.C., heard the firing rounded up Black noncombatants, the elderly, in the distance and later wrote: "It was hours women and children, and trucked them to before the horror of it all dawned upon me. . . . holding facilities. At least one of these It did not seem possible that prosperous Tulsa, prisoners, Dr. A.C. Jackson, whom the Mayo the city which was so peaceful and quiet that brothers had once called the "most able Negro morning, could be in the thrall of a great surgeon in America," was killed while being disaster." held in police "protection." The horror was also dawning on city Mary Jones Parrish, who was still holed up officials. For hours Police Chief John with her daughter at the edge of the fighting, Gustafson clung to the belief that local later wrote: "Looking south out of the window authorities could control the situation. In what of what then was the Woods Building, we saw was an act of either naiveté or depravity, he car loads of men with rifles unloading up near deputized as many as 500 white volunteers with the granary. . . . Then the truth dawned upon us "special commissions." that our men were fighting in vain to hold their The NAACP's Walter White, being very dear Greenwood." light complexioned, volunteered for duty shortly The National Guard finally pulled into town after his arrival in town, and was given one of by train from Oklahoma City at 9:15 a.m. with these commissions. "Now you can go out and Adjutant General Charles Barrett in command. shoot any N----- you see," he was told, "and the "In all my experience," Barrett wrote years later, law'll be behind you." White would spend a "I have never witnessed such scenes as tense night riding about the city in the company prevailed in this city when I arrived at the height of five members of the Ku Klux Klan. of the rioting. Twenty-five thousand whites, Before long, even Gustafson realized events armed to the teeth, were ranging the city in utter were out of his control. He signed a telegram, and ruthless defiance of every concept of law solicited by the governor, requesting the aid of and righteousness. Motor Cars, bristling with the National Guard. The telegram was a model guns swept through the city, their occupants of concise communications: "Race riot firing at will." Nevertheless, the guards' first developed here. Several killed. Unable to official act was to prepare and eat breakfast. handle situation. Request that National Guard One man who had the temerity to question this forces be sent by special train. Situation indulgence was immediately arrested. The serious." guardsmen themselves, once they finished their The fighting, pillaging and burning breakfast, proceeded to round up the remaining continued all night and into the morning. The Black residents at bayonet point, often drawing riot was now a war; being fought building by blood and frequently showing no sympathy for building, block by block. The white's rage was the homeless Blacks who were supposedly blinding: At one point, the advancing mob under their protection. noticed a lone, unarmed pedestrian across the When it was all over, the Red Cross would street. Mistaking him for Black, the rioters report treating almost 1,000 people. Classrooms opened fire, hitting him some 25 times. "Death at the Booker T. Washington School were was instantaneous," reported the Tulsa World converted into an emergency facility. Parrish the following morning. "He was hit so many wrote: "I can never erase the sights of my first times his body was mangled almost past visit to the hospital. There were men wounded identification." Now and again the mob would in every conceivable way, like soldiers after a string a Black corpse to the rear bumper of an big battle. Some with amputated limbs, burned automobile and drag the body around town. faces, others minus an eye or with heads Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 166

bandaged. There were women who were nervous wrecks, and some confinement cases. Was I in a hospital in France? No, in Tulsa. It is impossible to judge the severity of the Tulsa Riot by its death toll. The official count was 36, but the earliest newspaper accounts ranged between 75 and 175, and Scott Ellsworth gives 100 as his best guess. (Many Blacks and some whites believe the actual number of deaths was much higher, with truckloads of corpses dumped into mass graves or into the nearby Arkansas River.) There were other riots around that time that had official counts almost as high, or even higher—the East St. Louis riot of 1917 (at least 125 dead), the Chicago riot of 1919 (at 38 dead); the Elaine, Arkansas riot of 1919 (at least 30 dead). But what had been lost in Tulsa was far more than lives. It was a community and a dream. As bad as the riot was, what followed was in many ways worse. To the hot-blooded crimes of murder, pillaging and arson were added the cold-blooded crimes of false imprisonment, unusual cruelty and incredible hypocrisy. Richard Lloyd Jones would once again set the tone in his editorial in the Tulsa Tribune: "Acres of ashes lie smoldering in what but yesterday was 'N-----town'." He went on to use the riot as a pretext for attacking his political opponents. Over the next several days the headlines told the story of how white Tulsa would choose to view the riot for decades to come: —PROPAGANDA OF NEGROES IS BLAMED. —BLACK AGITATORS BLAMED FOR RIOT. —PLOT BY NEGRO SOCIETY? —BLACKS HAD LEADERS. —BLOOD SHED IN RACE WAR WILL CLEANSE TULSA. —NEGRO SECTION ABOLISHED BY CITY'S ORDER. The attorney general of the state, during an address to the Tulsa City club two weeks after the tragedy, declared: "The cause of this riot was not Tulsa. It might have happened anywhere for the Negro is not the same man that he was 30 years ago when he was content to

plod along his own road accepting the white man as his benefactor." Over the following days and weeks white Tulsa put forth two ideas: Blacks had caused all the trouble, but the white community had opened its purses and hearts and rebuilt the burned neighborhood. The president of the chamber of commerce furnished press associations across the country with a broadside that stated: "The sympathy of the citizenship of Tulsa in a great wave has gone out to the unfortunate law-abiding Negroes who became victims of the action and bad advice of some of the lawless leaders, and as quickly as possible rehabilitation will take place and reparation be made." In fact, at the same time the city fathers were busy passing new ordinances preventing Blacks from rebuilding in the Greenwood area. About the only intact structures left standing in the forlorn landscape were outhouses. Although awash in oil money during its boom years, Tulsa had never extended the city sewer lines to the Black north side.

Burning of the Greenwood District— McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa achives

And as the rioters emptied their cans of oil, they didn't bother with the outhouses, many of which were at some distance from the street. Now Tulsa wanted the north side of town to become a new industrial and transportation center. As for the Blacks, the mayor told his city commission: "Let the Negro settlement be placed further to the north and east." The courts overruled that ordinance four months later, but by then Blacks had lost precious time in rebuilding. As to rehabilitation and restitution, there never would be any. Behind closed doors,

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Tulsa's white leaders plotted to do precisely the the governor that Stradford "would be given a opposite of their proclamations. The Executive fair trial and would be adequately protected Welfare Committee in charge of "relief" efforts from mob violence." The governor was voted to solicit no money for aid, nor accept any convinced and ordered Stradford rearrested. donation, "financial or otherwise," to But Stradford was no fool. Already out on bail, "reconstruct the Negro District." What money he fled with his son to Chicago. did come in to the Welfare Committee was used As for Deputy Sheriff Barney Cleaver, he to reimburse the Red Cross for its Herculean became the toast of Tulsa. Although the town's efforts immediately following the riot. Scott newspapers showed little remorse that the entire Ellsworth pored over the official records while Black section had been burned to the ground, researching his book. "One myth that persists is they were sympathetic about Cleaver's losses, that the white community created a generous which were considerable. Cleaver had amassed relief effort and rebuilt Black Tulsa," he $ 20,000 worth of real estate on a policeman's recently told a reporter for the Tulsa World. pay. If this were not enough to raise questions "The city fathers tried to keep Black Tulsans about Cleaver's conduct, an article about him in from rebuilding. They tried to swindle them out the Tribune strongly suggested that he was of their land. They refused donations from playing a double game: "In all of Tulsa today charitable organizations around the country, there was just one Negro who walked the street telling people they were going to rebuild the openly and unafraid, molested by no one and Black community." The winter of 1921-22 greeted with a cheery smile by all who knew would find close to 1,000 Black Tulsans with him." nothing but tents to protect them from the cold What had Cleaver done to deserve such and snow. good will? Whatever he had done before, he Hundreds of Blacks left Tulsa immediately now sided with the whites in blaming his fellow after the riot, never to return. One of these was Blacks for the riot. Two days after the riot, A.J. Smitherman, the editor of the Tulsa Star, Cleaver was quoted as saying: "I am going to do whose business had been destroyed and whose everything I can to bring the Negroes name had been added to the grand-jury responsible for the outrage to the bars of justice. indictment. Gone too, was Stradford. The day They caused me to lose everything I have been after the riot, he and his wife had been held accumulating and I intend to get them." Get under "police protection" along with some 6,000 them he did. It was largely Cleaver's testimony, Black residents. But with the help of some in court and out, that helped convince white white acquaintances, Stradford managed to Tulsa that it was blameless. leave town and eventually made his way to by Dick Rowland was released from jail two train to Independence, Kansas, to stay with his weeks after the riot. Sarah Page dropped her brother. The day after his arrival, the Kansas charges three months later, and left town. police knocked on his brother's door and Police Chief John Gustafson was found guilty arrested Stradford, on the grounds of having on two counts: dereliction of duty during the riot incited the riot. The evidence: testimony that and "conspiracy to free automobile thieves and the first armed carloads of Blacks had left from collect rewards." Sheriff McCullough admitted in front of Stradford's hotel on Greenwood to the press later that he had fallen asleep. "I Avenue. Stradford was quoted as saying after didn't know there had been a riot until I read the his arrest: "They wanted me and now they have papers the next morning at 8 o'clock," he said. me." Reminded that he too had signed the telegram There followed a law-enforcement soap requesting the aid of the National Guard in the opera. Tulsa wanted Stradford extradited. The middle of the night, the sheriff said he had not attorney general of Oklahoma, along with the bothered to read it. Richard Lloyd Jones Tulsa County attorney, traveled to Topeka to suffered a fitting fate for his role in triggering plead with the governor of Kansas, bringing the riot. Eight years later he commissioned his letters "from prominent men in Tulsa" assuring cousin to build a house in Tulsa. It would be Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 168

perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright's least successful Church, itself a powerful symbol of the riot, house, a towering sprawling affair that having been torched only two months after its resembled a penitentiary and leaked like a completion, and then lovingly rebuilt over the fishing trawler. next 31 years. A crowd of 1,200 overflowed the As for the Black community of Tulsa, it church. On hand were Benjamin Hooks, former soon rebuilt Greenwood without the promised executive director of the NAACP, former help. In the '30s and '40s, the area experienced senator David Boren, now the president of the something of a revival as one of the country's University of Oklahoma, Tulsa Mayor Susan leading jazz centers. But in the decades that Savage and Scott Ellsworth. At one point Rep. followed, Greenwood decayed. Dissected by Don Ross rose to say that over the last 75 years, highways, emptied by suburban drift and no public official had ever apologized for the enervated by integration, the neighborhood riot, so therefore he, an elected official, would finally succumbed to the bulldozer. Today, all do so. The irony that a black man was taking on that remains of "the Black Wall Street" is a the white man's burden of expiation was lost on single gentrified block of Greenwood Avenue, no one. The guests then walked a few hundred surrounded by new urban-renewal projects: a yards to the dedication of a granite slab called new university complex, a duck pond and a new the Black Wall Street Memorial. cultural center that houses a jazz museum. The day's events left many a Tulsan, black Dreams of a memorial to the Tulsa tragedy and white, near tears. "That service was had long been popular in the city's Black something of significance and real power," community, where the riot had never been Levit recalled later. "For me, it was probably forgotten. Don Ross, a Black State one of the most intense moments I have ever representative, had been trying to put together experienced. Don Ross was electrifying." some sort of commemoration since the 50th Plans for the commemoration of Tulsa's anniversary in 1971. And James Goodwin, a race riot made the Today Show. And watching Black lawyer whose family owns the Oklahoma Bryant Gumbel on the morning of May 31 Eagle, had gone so far as to draw up elaborate happened to be J.B. Stradford's great-grandson, plans for a memorial and museum. Chicago Circuit Court Judge Cornelius Toole. What was missing was white participation The judge thought that the Stradford family and enthusiasm. Without white support, fundshould be included in any commemoration of raising would be far more difficult and the point the riot, and he called the mayor's office and the entirely lost. Greenwood Cultural Center to lodge his protest. Enter Ken Levit. A young law graduate No one returned his call. and former staffer for Sen. David Boren, Levit had the fragmentary knowledge of the riot usual among white Tulsans. "I knew that some racial incident of historic proportion took place," he says. "I didn't really understand any of the details—where, when, why, and how." While studying for the bar in the summer of 1994 he came upon Ellsworth's Death in a Promised Land. Using his associations and connections with Tulsa’s legal community, Levit, along with James Goodwin and Don Ross began formulating the plans for the 75th anniversary commemorative and raising money for a Aftermath of the Tulsa Race Riot— Greenwood Cultural Center archives memorial. The anniversary ceremony took place on The judge then fired off letters, explaining June 1, 1996. It began with singing, prayers and J.B. Stradford's central role in Black Tulsa speeches at Greenwood's Mt. Zion Baptist Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 169

before the riot. Along with a photographic For his part, Judge Toole was delighted. "It portrait, he sent this description of the patriarch was a wonderful ceremony," said the judge. of the Stradford clan: "He was magnificent, and "The governor spoke and made an apology to had the courage and physical strength of a the Stradford family; he said something Mandingo warrior." Toole finished by happened that should not have happened, and mentioning the memoirs, which are still in the we know that, but I have never seen such a family's possession. "We are of course writing forceful apology." As for Don Ross, he seemed our own story of this era and his life. of two minds. On the one hand, he said, "The Toole's letter set in motion a series of African American community of Tulsa can now conversations that would lead to another moving say we were the victims and not the criminals in ceremony. On October 18, Toole and 20 other this racial upheaval." On the other, Ross still members of the extended Stradford clan, who believes reparations are in order. He is thinking traveled from Texas, Illinois, Ohio, and New of introducing a bill that would pay out a total of York, standing a stone's throw from where the $6 million to the families that lost everything in Stradford Hotel once stood, listened as Bill the riot. Nancy Little, too, doubts that Tulsa's LaFortune formally dropped the charges, and season of remembrance and contrition can yet Oklahoma governor Frank Keating granted an come to a close. "There is a time to leave the honorary executive pardon. past behind," she mused. "I think that time is not At the request of the family, J.B. Stradford's when something has not been dealt with. Most name was added posthumously to a list of those people still do not know about it." allowed to practice law in Tulsa. Perhaps the newsletter sent out by the "It's regrettable that we have come here to Greenwood Cultural Center following the recognize an embarrassment, a historical event Stradford reception said it best. Under a that never should have happened," said Keating. photograph of the new memorial was a bit of "Our tragedy as Oklahomans is that the verse that went: Stradfords are not living here." And he wasn't "Things ain't what they oughta be, Things overstating the case: No Stradford had ever set ain't what they gonna be, But thank God things foot in Tulsa since J.B.'s hasty departure, but the ain't like they was." family had flourished. Stradford's son became a prominent Chicago lawyer and a founding member of the National Bar Association, arguing and winning Hansberry v. Lee, a crucial civil-rights case, before the U.S. Supreme Court. His granddaughter Jewel LaFontantMankarious, born one year after J.B.'s escape from Tulsa, would go on to become a deputy solicitor general and U.S. ambassador-at-large. Her son, John Rogers, Jr., is founder and president of Ariel Capital Investment in Chicago, and was named by Time magazine in 1994 as one of the country's most promising leaders under the age of 40. Another granddaughter, Letitia Toole, would become a stage and film actress and a member of the American Negro Theater, acting with Ossie Davis and Sidney Portier, and arrayed in front of Keating during the ceremony were four generations of Stradford's extended family, including a cardiologist, a tennis professional, a sculptor, a ballet dancer, and a movie director. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 170

The Arts in Oklahoma By W. David Baird and Danney Goble41

The Kiowa Five When Plains Indian culture was at its zenith, one symbol of its power was the remarkable art that emerged from nearly every tribe. On the Southern Plains the Kiowas have a long history of art traditions linked their their pride in the master of horsemanship, as successful hunters of the great buffalo herds, and as a culture that prides the beauty of dance, song, stories, and the visual arts. The Kiowas were noted especially for their calendars. Known as winter counts, these were elaborate series of pictographs composed and executed collectively to record the tribe’s history through the seasons and the years. Individuals also displayed on hides their personal history and notable exploits with elaborate and colorful images. So striking was the tribe’s use of art, that some people said that every Kiowa was a natural-born artist.

“The Kiowa Five”: Tsa-to-ke, Hokeah, Mopope, Professor Jacobson, Asah, and Auchiah (L to R)

After the American army defeated the Indian warriors and destroyed their nomadic cultures, their art assumed a different role. In 41

From Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. The Story of Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

1875 tribal elders reluctantly designated more than seventy of their young men for punishment for the tribes’ raids against whites. Federal authorities transported these Kiowas, and other tribal members, far from their homes to a prison in Fort Marion at Saint Augustin, FL, where they remained until 1878. Captain Richard H. Pratt (who later founded the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania) headed the prison. He recognized at once that his “pathetic” prisoners were energetic painters. Providing them with

“Squaw Dance” by Stephen Mopope

paper (lined army ledger books), pencils, and paints, Captain Pratt suggest that they create art to sell to the white tourists who often stopped by to see the “wild Indians.” More than 600 drawings and paintings resulted. Known as ledger art, these were not like the tribal displays of the past; instead, they were the private expressions, often painfully autobiographical, of individual Indians. Many even signed their paintings with their private mark. When they returned to Oklahoma, their people called them by a word previously unknown in most Indian languages, “artists.” Few white people recognized the significance of the work created by these Indians and those inspired by them. Determined to root out all traces of Indian identity, the superintendent of Anadarko’s Indian School forbade it when he found some young Kiowa children devotedly sketching and painting. He protested that “they should have been trying to become white men rather than wasting a lot of time with drawing.” One of the few who though otherwise was Susie Ryan Peters.

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A native of Tennessee, Mrs. Peters had come to Oklahoma Territory in a covered wagon. In 1916 she went to work as a field matron for the Kiowa agency in Anadarko.

“Greeting of thee Moon God” by Jack Hokeah

Uninterested in teaching young girls to clean house, she was convinced that her charges— both girls and boys—included several natural artists. In 1918 she arranged for an art instructor from Chickasha to come to Anadarko and teach them, paying the artist’s salary herself. Although these informal lessons lasted only three or four months, Mrs. Peters persuaded Saint Patrick’s Mission School in Anadarko to accept the most promising of the students. At the school, Sister Olivia and Father Al enthusiastically added to the students’ preparation. The budding Kiowa artists were neither average students nor stereotypical “savages.” Several were the sons and grandsons of famous war chiefs and holy men, and most came from important Indian families. All were close to the leaders of their people, for whom ancient traditions remained vivid memories. Many continued themselves to participate in rituals that dated from long before the whites’ arrival. In 1923, Mrs. Peters and Father Al asked the University of Oklahoma to admit some of the Kiowa artists, but none had the necessary scholastic background or the money for tuition. Although they never enrolled as students, Professor Oscar B. Jacobson, head of the university’s school of art, invited them to live in Norman, where they could paint in the university’s art studios under his supervision. In 1927 five young Indians arrived to great

excitement. Collectively they were to achieve fame as the “Kiowa Five”: Monroe Tsa-to-ke (1904-1937), Stephen Mopope (1898-1974), Spencer Asah (1905-1954), Jack Hokeah (19021969), and Lois Bou-ge-tah Smokey (19071981), who was later replaced by James Auchiah (1906-1974). They were almost instant celebrities. Awed by their quickly developing gifts, Professor Jacobson mounted a university exhibit of their work within weeks of their arrival. In November 1927 they gained national recognition when the American Federation of Arts exhibited their paintings at its national convention in Denver. Soon the world learned of the Kiowa Five through their exhibition at the First International At Exposition in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1929 a prestigious French publisher issued a beautiful folio of some of their more-important works. Travel in the 1920s and 30s was a unique opportunity for them to follow the age-old Kiowa tradition, to “journey to the four corners of the Earth.” Imaginatively combining color and detail in a highly stylized format, the Kiowa artists launched an entire school of instantly recognizable Indian art. In some measure they

“Warriors” by Monroe Tsa-to-ke

may have even influenced the U.S. government’s policy toward the Indians. The artwork of the Kiowa Five became well known for its representational, narrative style with ceremonial and social scenes of Kiowa life as

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their subject matter. Their work drew attention to the traditional culture and history of the Kiowas and other tribes. Auchiah once commented: “Our forefathers’ deeds touch us, shape us, like strokes of a painting. In endless procession their deeds mark us. The Elders speak knowingly of forever.” The enthusiasm for rediscovered Indian traditions, sparked in part by the Kiowas’ brilliant work, found one expression in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. One of the New Deal’s reforms, this was the law by which Washington finally abandoned its determination to assimilate Indians into white society through the calculated destruction of their separate cultures. In Oklahoma the Kiowa Five continued their work through the 1930s. In particular, several found employment when the New Deal hired unemployed artists under the Works Progress Administration. Later they went their own ways, some continuing as painters while others took up more ordinary employment to support themselves and their families. Still, even today, a few of Oklahoma’s older public buildings display the murals and other projects that they created. Their legacy, however, is much, much more than that.

audiences. The location of many of those black clubs in Kansas City, MO made that city the nation’s jazz capital during the Roaring Twenties. Kansas City promoters regularly involved the Blue Devils in their famous Battles of the Bands. These were open competitions in which rival bands successively tried to outdo each other’s hottest licks. Not infrequently, the Oklahoma Citians bested every big-time band in the region in those competitions. With the Great Depression of the 1930s, clubs, both black and white, withered; and denied audiences, the Oklahoma City Blue Devils disbanded. Many of their members made their way to Kansas City, where they became the nucleus for a new band directed by one of the Blue Devils’ old piano players. That band, the Count Basie Orchestra, continued for decades as America’s premier jazz band—a continuing reminder of black achievements behind Oklahoma’s walls of segregation.

Jerome Tiger

Eufaula, Oklahoma, takes its name from an appropriate source: an Alabama Creek town and a Creek word which means “they split up here The Blue Devils and went to other places.” At the end of a dirt road that run three miles west of Oklahoma’s America in the 1920s was said to be in the Eufaula stands the West Eufaula Baptist Jazz Age. With its conscious abandonment of Church. Like all Creek Baptist churches, it traditional forms and sentimental lyrics, jazz faces east. For more than 150 years the church was symbolic of the times. It also was has provided not only a center of Christian representative in that it bore the markings of Jim worship but a site for Indian stickball games, Crow. Most of the country’s leading jazz ribbon dances, and other traditional Creek musicians were black, and most of them honed activities. In a weather-beaten four room house their talents playing with other black musicians on the church grounds, on of Oklahoma’s—and for black audiences. That was certainly the case America’s—most-acclaimed twentieth-century for one of the era’s greatest jazz bands, artists spent the formative first ten years of his Oklahoma City’s Blue Devils. life. The Blue Devils came together in 1923 and Jerome Tiger’s grandfather, Lewis made their headquarters in Oklahoma City’s Coleman, was the church’s pastor. Like the Ritz Ballroom. Mostly they traveled to play at Rev. Coleman and his wife, Hettie, Jerome’s clubs, including white clubs across Oklahoma parents, Lucinda Coleman Tiger and John Tiger, and surrounding states. The group’s greatest were bilingual. English was used with the popularity, however, was on the old-time whites, but all were more comfortable with the Chittlin’ Circuit, a string of black-owned clubs Creek that they spoke at home and in church. that booked black bands for appreciative black Because other Indian families moved in and out Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 173

headed Bacone’s art departement from 1935 to 1938, he had established national reputations for both himself and the college. Subsequently, Woody Crumbo, of Creek and Potawatomi ancestry, took Blue Eagle’s place and, like him, further developed the Indian style and enhanced the college’s fame in art circles. He too had studies under both Professor Jacobson and Mrs. Peters like the Kiowa Five. When Jerome Tiger returned to Muskogee, Dick West, a Cheyenne, headed the legendary Bacone art department. Unfortunately for Jerome, he could not be admitted to the college, since he lacked a high school diploma. His older brother, Johnny, however, was a student there, and through him, Jerome learned the conventions and styles of Indian art. No one had to give Jerome Tiger his talent. From his boyhood onward, he had spent hours drawing scenes inspired by events around him and from his imagination as it had been shaped “The Guardian Spirit” by Jerome Tiger by his elders’ stories and tales. Naturally rightBut these were modern times, and Lucinda handed, he could also draw amazingly well with and John Tiger left Eufaula for Muskogee. his left hand. In fact, he once did four drawings Lucinda took a “white” job, pressing clothes at simultaneously—one with each hand and one Teel’s Laundry. John did too, beginning to with each foot! drive fifty miles to Tulsa and his job at the Returning to his grandparents’ home in Douglas Aircraft plant. For the first time Eufaula, Jerome Tiger married, had the first of Jerome and his brothers attended predominately two children, and began to work seriously at his white schools—Edison Elementary, Alice art. Soon his paintings came to the attention of Robertson Junior High, and Muskogee Central Nettie Wheeler, owner of the Thunderbird Shop. High schools. Located north of Muskogee on Highway 69, the School was not particularly hard for Jerome little shop sold tourist trinkets and doodads. Tiger, but neither was it much fun. He spent Stashed among the prevailing disorder were most of his spare time with Indians his age and priceless original works of art, for Nettie other lower income boys whom other students Wheeler was an expert on and patron of Indian regarded as hoods. His chief interests were an artists. Recognizing Jerome Tiger’s genius, she odd combination of violence and sensitivity— began to promote his paintings and entered two boxing and art. Bored with school, he quit after of them in competitions at Sante Fe and Tulsa, his junior year, served a two-year hitch with the where both won prizes. She also encouraged U.S. navy, and returned to Muskogee. He hope Jerome to take advantage of a new program of to enroll in Bacone College. vocational training offered by the Bureau of The little college had begun as a Baptist Indian Affairs. Jerome, his wife, and his missionary school for Indians. Although many daughter moved to Cleveland, OH, where he (even in Oklahoma) had never heard of it, it had studied at the famous Cooper School of Art. been a national treasure for years because of its Cold and crowded, Cleveland was utterly art department begun by Acee Blue Eagle. Blue unlike any place where Jerome Tiger had ever Eagle, also a Creek, had studied art at the lived. Other than the Major League Baseball University of Oklahoma, beginning there just team, there were few other Indians in Cleveland, after the Kiowa Five left. While Blue Eagle and most of them were Navajos, with whom Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 174 of the other houses on the grounds, young Jerome lived not only amid an extended family but in something approaching a traditional Creek communal village. Daily he was surrounded by the living traditions of his fellow Indians.

Tiger regularly fought. He did like the Cooper School, however, even accepting for the first time the discipline required in formal art training. He might have stayed at the school if he had not happened to wander by a professor’s office one day. Standing unseen in the hallway, he overheard one teacher tell another that, although the young Oklahoman certainly had talent, “by the time we get through with him, he’ll be just another Indian that bit the dust.” Jerome Tiger had other plans for his life. He left Cleveland and the Cooper School behind, returned to Muskogee, and polished and perfected his craft. In little time he developed a style so personal that his works were instantly recognizable. Although based on the conventions and themes pioneered by the Kiowa Five and furthered by others, his works were unlike anything ever seen in Indian art before. Clean and uncluttered, their fine lines and exquisite colors seemed to flow together to suggest movement and emotions as much as they did objects and people. Amazed to learn that he was largely self-taught, critics pronounced him a “painter’s painter.” His works, whether based on traditional Creek ways or illustrating the humor and the poignancy of contemporary Indian life, completely fulfilled the mandate that his grandfather had given him. “Put on paper what the Creek has in his heart,” old Coleman Lewis had told him. Jerome Tiger did that better than anyone else ever had. Tiger created an amazing number of paintings. By the hundreds they poured from his home in Muskogee. Working primarily in a corner of his bedroom, he painted whenever and as long as the inspiration moved him, sometimes working all night and into the next. Some he gave away to friends and family. Others he sold, often for a little as thirty or forty dollars. For many purchasers, his work provided their introduction to Indian art, or, for that matter, original art of any kind. Outside his immediate surroundings, Jerome’s paintings regularly won national prizes and took his fame across America. They did not, however, take him. He mailed his paintings to competitions around the country, but Jerome Tiger never traveled outside of Oklahoma again.

The fame that came to him did not change Jerome. He kept up his boxing, one year winning the Oklahoma Golden Gloves championship as a middleweight. He continued to participate in Indian dances and consult with honored Creek holy men. Surrounded by his old friends (some of whom had no idea of his national stature), he played pool, drank beer, and played around with firearms. He was doing the last in the early morning hours of August 13, 1967. After a stomp dance in Eufaula, he piled into his brother’s car with some other friends. Pulling into an all-night restaurant and service station, the group was ready to break up when a deafening explosion shook the car. Jerome Tiger’s .22 pistol had discharged accidentally, sending a bullet into his brain. When he was buried three days later, the funeral brought television crews, nationally famous artists and critics, and scores of simple mourners to the West Eufaula Baptist Church. That is where it had all begun no much earlier. Jerome Tiger was twenty-six years old.

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The Harvest Gypsies By John Steinbeck42

Article One At this season of the year, when California's great crops are coming into harvest, the heavy grapes, the prunes, the apples and lettuce and the rapidly maturing cotton, our highways swarm with the migrant workers, that shifting group of nomadic, poverty-stricken harvesters driven by hunger and the threat of hunger from crop to crop, from harvest to harvest, up and down the state and into Oregon to some extent, and into Washington a little. But it is California which has and needs the majority of these new gypsies. It is a short study of these wanderers that these articles will undertake. There are at least 150,000 homeless migrants wandering up and down the state, and that is an army large enough to make it important to every person in the state. To the casual traveler on the great highways the movements of the migrants are mysterious if they are seen at all, for suddenly the roads will be filled with open rattletrap cars loaded with children and with dirty bedding, with fireblackened cooking utensils. The boxcars and gondolas on the railroad lines will be filled with men. And then, just as suddenly, they will have disappeared from the main routes. On side roads and near rivers where there is little travel the squalid, filthy squatters' camp will have been set up, and the orchards will be filled with pickers and cutters and driers. The unique nature of California agriculture requires that these migrants exist, and requires that they move about. A resident population of laborers cannot harvest peaches and grapes, hops and cotton. For example, a large peach 42

From Steinbeck, John. “The Harvest Gypsies [a series].” San Francisco News. October 5-12, 1936.

orchard which requires the work of 20 men the year round will need as many as 2000 for the brief time of picking and packing. And if the migration of the 2000 should not occur, if it should be delayed even a week, the crop will rot and be lost. Thus, in California we find a curious attitude toward a group that makes our agriculture successful. The migrants are needed, and they are hated. Arriving in a district they find the dislike always meted out by the resident to the foreigner, the outlander. This hatred of the stranger occurs in the whole range of human history, from the most primitive village form to our own highly organized industrial farming. The migrants are hated for the following reasons, that they are ignorant and dirty people, that they are carriers of disease, that they increase the necessity for police and the tax bill for schooling in a community, and that if they are allowed to organize they can, simply by refusing to work, wipe out the season's crops. They are never received into a community nor into the life of a community. Wanderers in fact, they are never allowed to feel at home in the communities that demand their services. Let us see what kind of people they are, where they come from, and the routes of their wanderings. In the past they have been of several races, encouraged to come and often imported as cheap labor; Chinese in the early period, then Filipinos, Japanese and Mexicans. These were foreigners, and as such they were ostracized and segregated and herded about. If they attempted to organize they were deported or arrested, and having no advocates they were never able to get a hearing for their problems. But in recent years the foreign migrants have begun to organize, and at this danger signal they have been deported in great numbers, for there was a new reservoir from which a great quantity of cheap labor could be obtained. The drought in the middle west has driven the agricultural populations of Oklahoma, Nebraska and parts of Kansas and Texas westward. Their lands are destroyed and they can never go back to them.

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Thousands of them are crossing the borders in ancient rattling automobiles, destitute and hungry and homeless, ready to accept any pay so that they may eat and feed their children. And this is a new thing in migrant labor, for the foreign workers were usually imported without their children and everything that remains of their old life with them. They arrive in California usually having used up every resource to get here, even to the selling of the poor blankets and utensils and tools on the way to buy gasoline. They arrive bewildered and beaten and usually in a state of semi-starvation, with only one necessity to face immediately, and that is to find work at any wage in order that the family may eat. And there is only one field in California that can receive them. Ineligible for relief, they must become migratory field workers. Because the old kind of laborers, Mexicans and Filipinos, are being deported and repatriated very rapidly, while on the other hand the river of dust bowl refugees increases all the time, it is this new kind of migrant that we shall largely consider. The earlier foreign migrants have invariably been drawn from a peon class. This is not the case with the new migrants. They are small farmers who have lost their farms, or farm hands who have lived with the family in the old American way. They are men who have worked hard on their own farms and have felt the pride of possessing and living in close touch with the land. They are resourceful and intelligent Americans who have gone through the hell of the drought, have seen their lands wither and die and the top soil blow away; and this, to a man who has owned his land, is a curious and terrible pain. And then they have made the crossing and have seen often the death of their children on the way. Their cars have been broken down and been repaired with the ingenuity of the land man. Often they patched the worn-out tires every few miles. They have weathered the thing, and they can weather much more for their blood is strong.

They are descendants of men who crossed into the middle west, who won their lands by fighting, who cultivated the prairies and stayed with them until they went back to desert. And because of their tradition and their training, they are not migrants by nature. They are gypsies by force of circumstances. In their heads, as they move wearily from harvest to harvest, there is one urge and one overwhelming need, to acquire a little land again, and to settle on it and stop their wandering. One has only to go into the squatters' camps where the families live on the ground and have no homes, no beds and no equipment; and one has only to look at the strong purposeful faces, often filled with pain and more often, when they see the corporationheld idle lands, filled with anger, to know that this new race is here to stay and that heed must be taken of it. It should be understood that with this new race the old methods of repression, of starvation wages, of jailing, beating and intimidation are not going to work; these are American people. Consequently we must meet them with understanding and attempt to work out the problem to their benefit as well as ours. It is difficult to believe what one large speculative farmer has said, that the success of California agriculture requires that we create and maintain a peon class. For if this is true, then California must depart from the semblance of democratic government that remains here. The names of the new migrants indicate that they are of English, German and Scandanavian descent. There are Munns, Holbrooks, Hansens, Schmidts. And they are strangely anachronistic in one way: Having been brought up in the prairies where industrialization never penetrated, they have jumped with no transition from the old agrarian, self-containing farm where nearly everything used was raised or manufactured, to a system of agriculture so industrialized that the man who plants a crop does not often see, let alone harvest, the fruit of his planting, where the migrant has no contact with the growth cycle. And there is another difference between their old life and the new. They have come from the little farm districts where democracy Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 177

was not only possible but also inevitable, where when twelve hundred workers arrived to pick popular government, whether practiced in the the pea crop only to find it spoiled by rain. Grange, in church organization or in local All resources having been used to get to the government, was the responsibility of every field, the migrants could not move on; they man. And they have come into the country stayed and starved until government aid tardily where, because of the movement necessary to was found for them. make a living, they are not allowed any vote And so they move, frantically, with whatever, but are rather considered a properly starvation close behind them. And in this series unpriviledged class. of articles we shall try to see how they live and Let us see the fields that require the impact what kind of people they are, what their living of their labor and the districts to which they standard is, what is done for them and to them, must travel. As one little boy in a squatters and what their problems and needs are. For camp said, "When they need us they call us while California has been successful in its use of migrants, and when we've picked their crop, migrant labor, it is gradually building a human we're bums and we got to get out." structure which will certainly change the State, There are the vegetable crops of the and may, if handled with the inhumanity and Imperial Valley, the lettuce, cauliflower, stupidity that have characterized the past, tomatoes, and cabbage to be picked and packed, destroy the present system of agricultural to be hoed and irrigated. There are several economics. crops a year to be harvested, but there is not time distribution sufficient to give the migrants Article Two permanent work. The orange orchards deliver two crops a year, but the picking season is short. Farther The squatters' camps are located all over north, in Kern County and up the San Joaquin California. Let us see what a typical one is like. Valley, the migrants are needed for grapes, It is located on the banks of a river, near an cotton, pears, melons, beans and peaches. irrigation ditch or on a side road where a spring In the outer valley, near Salinas, of water is available. From a distance it looks Watsonville, and Santa Clara there are lettuce, like a city dump, and well it may, for the city cauliflowers, artichokes, apples, prunes, and dumps are the sources for the material of which apricots. North of San Francisco the produce is it is built. You can see a litter of dirty rags and of grapes, deciduous fruits and hops. The scrap iron, of houses built of weeds, of flattened Sacramento Valley needs masses of migrants for cans or of paper. It is only on close approach its asparagus, its walnuts, peaches, prunes, etc. that it can be seen that these are homes. These great valleys with their intensive farming Here is a house built by a family who has make their seasonal demands on migrant labor. tried to maintain neatness. The house is about A short time, then, before the actual picking 10 feet by 10 feet, and it is built completely of begins, there is the scurrying on the highways, corrugated paper. The roof is peaked; the walls the families in open cars hurrying to the ready are tacked to a wooden frame. The dirt floor is crops and hurrying to be first at work. For it has swept clean, and along the irrigation ditch or in been the habit of the growers associations of the the muddy river the wife of the family scrubs state to provide by importation, twice as much clothes without soap and tries to rinse out the labor as was necessary, so that wages might mud in muddy water. The spirit of this family is remain low. not quite broken, for the children, three of them, Hence the hurry, for if the migrant is a little still have clothes, and the family possesses three late the places may all be filled and he will have old quilts and a soggy, lumpy mattress. But the taken his trip for nothing. And there are many money so needed for food cannot be used for things that may happen even if he is in time. soap nor for clothes. The crop may be late, or there may occur one of With the first rain the carefully built house those situations like that at Nipomo last year will slop down into a brown, pulpy mush; in a Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 178

few months the clothes will fray off the their legs spread wide, there is room for the legs children's bodies while the lack of nourishing of the children. food will subject the whole family to pneumonia There is more filth here. The tent is full of when the first cold comes. flies clinging to the apple box that is the dinner Five years ago this family had fifty acres of table, buzzing about the foul clothes of the land and a thousand dollars in the bank. The children, particularly the baby; who has not wife belonged to a sewing circle and the man been bathed nor cleaned for several days. was a member of the grange. They raised This family has been on the road longer chickens, pigs, pigeons and vegetables and fruit than the builder of the paper house. There is no for their own use; and their land produced the toilet here, but there is a clump of willows tall corn of the middle west. Now they have nearby where human feces lie exposed to the nothing. flies—the same flies that are in the tent. If the husband hits every harvest without Two weeks ago there was another child, a delay and works the maximum time, he may four-year-old boy. For a few weeks they had make four hundred dollars this year. But if noticed that he was kind of lackadaisical, that anything happens, if his old car breaks down, if his eyes had been feverish. he is late and misses a harvest or two, he will They had given him the best place in the have to feed his whole family on as little as one bed, between father and mother. But one night hundred and fifty. he went into convulsions and died, and the next But there is still pride in this family. morning the coroner's wagon took him away. It Wherever they stop they try to put the children was one step down. in school. It may be that the children will be in They know pretty well that it was a diet of a school for as much as a month before they are fresh fruit, beans and little else that caused his moved to another locality. death. He had no milk for months. With this Here, in the faces of the husband and his death there came a change of mind in his family. wife, you begin to see an expression you will The father and mother now feel that paralyzed notice on every face; not worry, but absolute dullness with which the mind protects itself terror of the starvation that crowds in against the against too much sorrow and too much pain. borders of the camp. This man has tried to And this father will not be able to make a make a toilet by digging a hole in the ground maximum of four hundred dollars a year any near his paper house and surrounding it with an more because he is no longer alert; he isn't quick old piece of burlap. But he will only do things at piece-work, and he is not able to fight clear of like that this year. the dullness that has settled on him. His spirit is He is a newcomer and his spirit and losing caste rapidly. decency and his sense of his own dignity have The dullness shows in the faces of this not been quite wiped out. Next year he will be family, and in addition there is a sullenness that like his next-door neighbor. makes them taciturn. Sometimes they still start This is a family of six; a man, his wife and the older children off to school, but the ragged four children. They live in a tent the color of little things will not go; they hide in ditches or the ground. Rot has set in on the canvas so that wander off by themselves until it is time to go the flaps and the sides hang in tatters and are back to the tent, because they are scorned in the held together with bits of rusty baling wire. school. There is one bed in the family and that is a big The better-dressed children shout and jeer, tick lying on the ground inside the tent. the teachers are quite often impatient with these They have one quilt and a piece of canvas additions to their duties, and the parents of the for bedding. The sleeping arrangement is "nice" children do not want to have disease clever. Mother and father lie down together and carriers in the schools. two children lie between them. Then, heading The father of this family once had a little the other way; the other two children lie, the grocery store and his family lived in back of it littler ones. If the mother and father sleep with so that even the children could wait on the Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 179

counter. When the drought set in there was no bad field worker for the same reason. It takes trade for the store any more. him a long time to make up his mind, so he is This is the middle class of the squatters' always late in moving and late in arriving in the camp. In a few months this family will slip fields. His top wage, when he can find work down to the lower class. now; which isn't often, is a dollar a day. Dignity is all gone, and spirit has turned to The children do not even go to the willow sullen anger before it dies. clump any more. They squat where they are and The next door neighbor family of man, wife kick a little dirt. The father is vaguely aware and three children of from three to nine years of that there is a culture of hookworm in the mud age, have built a house by driving willow along the riverbank. He knows the children will branches into the ground and wattling weeds, get it on their bare feet. tin, old paper and strips of carpet against them. But he hasn't the will nor the energy to A few branches are placed over the top to resist. Too many things have happened to him. keep out the noonday sun. It would not turn This is the lower class of the camp. water at all. There is no bed. This is what the man in the tent will be in Somewhere the family has found a big six months; what the man in the paper house piece of old carpet. It is on the ground. To go with its peaked roof will be in a year, after his to bed the members of the family lie on the house has washed down and his children have ground and fold the carpet up over them. sickened or died, after the loss of dignity and The three-year-old child has a gunnysack spirit have cut him down to a kind of subtied about his middle for clothing. He has the humanity. swollen belly caused by malnutrition. Helpful strangers are not well received in He sits on the ground in the sun in front of this camp. The local sheriff makes a raid now the house, and the little black fruit flies buzz in and then for a wanted man, and if there is labor circles and land on his closed eyes and crawl up trouble the vigilantes may burn the poor houses. his nose until he weakly brushes them away. Social workers, survey workers have taken case They try to get at the mucous in the eyehistories. corners. This child seems to have the reactions They are filed and open for inspection. of a baby much younger. The first year he had a These families have been questioned over and little milk, but he has had none since. over about their origins, number of children He will die in a very short time. The older living and dead. children may survive. Four nights ago the The information is taken down and filed. mother had a baby in the tent, on the dirty That is that. It has been done so often and so carpet. It was born dead, which was just as well little has come of it. because she could not have fed it at the breast; And there is another way for them to get her own diet will not produce milk. attention. Let an epidemic break out, say After it was born and she had seen that it typhoid or scarlet fever, and the country doctor was dead, the mother rolled over and lay still for will come to the camp and hurry the infected two days. She is up today, tottering around. cases to the pest house. But malnutrition is not The last baby, born less than a year ago, lived a infectious, nor is dysentery, which is almost the week. This woman's eyes have the glazed, farrule among the children. away look of a sleepwalker's eyes. The county hospital has no room for She does not wash clothes any more. The measles, mumps, and whooping cough; and yet drive that makes for cleanliness has been these are often deadly to hunger-weakened drained out of her and she hasn't the energy. children. And although we hear much about the The husband was a sharecropper once, but he free clinics for the poor, these people do not couldn't make it go. Now he has lost even the know how to get the aid and they do not get it. desire to talk. Also, since most of their dealings with authority He will not look directly at you for that are painful to them, they prefer not to take the requires will, and will needs strength. He is a chance. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 180

This is the squatters' camp. Some are a little better, some much worse. I have described three typical families. In some of the camps there are as many as three hundred families like these. Some are so far from water that it must be bought at five cents a bucket. And if these men steal, if there is developing among them a suspicion and hatred of well-dressed, satisfied people, the reason is not to be sought in their origin nor in any tendency to weakness in their character.

attitude of self-importance, but simply as a register of a man's responsibility to the community. A man herded about, surrounded by armed guards, starved and forced to live in filth loses his dignity; that is, he loses his valid position in regard to society, and consequently his whole ethics toward society. Nothing is a better example of this than the prison, where the men are reduced to no dignity and where crimes and infractions of the rule are constant. We regard this destruction of dignity, then, as one of the most regrettable results of the Article Four migrant's life, since it does reduce his responsibility and does make him a sullen The federal Government, realizing that the outcast who will strike at our Government in miserable condition of the California migrant any way that occurs to him. agricultural worker constitutes an immediate The example at Arvin adds weight to such a and vital problem, has set up two camps for the conviction. The people in the camp are moving workers and contemplates eight more in encouraged to govern themselves, and they have the immediate future. The development of the responded with simple and workable camps at Arvin and at Marysville makes a social democracy. and economic study of vast interest. The camp is divided into four units. Each The present camps are set up on leased unit, by direct election, is represented in a ground. Future camps are to be constructed on central governing committee, an entertainment land purchased by the Government. The committee, a maintenance committee and a Government provides places for tents. Good Neighbors committee. Each of these Permanent structures are simple, including members is elected by the vote of his unit, and washrooms, toilets and showers, an is recallable by the same vote. administration building and a place where the The manager, of course, has the right of people can entertain themselves. The veto, but he practically never finds it necessary equipment at the Arvin camp, exclusive of rent to act contrary to the recommendations of the of the land, costs approximately $18,000. committee. At this camp, water, toilet paper and some The result of this responsible selfmedical supplies are provided. A resident government has been remarkable. The manager is on the ground. Campers are inhabitants of the camp came there beaten, received on the following simple conditions: (1) sullen and destitute. But as their social sense That the men are bona fide farm people and was revived they have settled down. The camp intend to work, (2) that they will help to takes care of its own destitute, feeding and maintain the cleanliness of the camp and (3) that sheltering those who have nothing with their in lieu of rent they will devote two hours a week own poor stores. The central committee makes towards the maintenance and improvement of the law's that govern the conduct of the the camp. inhabitants. The result has been more than could be In the year that the Arvin camp has been in expected. From the first, the intent of the operation there has not been any need for management has been to restore the dignity and outside police. Punishments are the restrictions decency that had been kicked out of the of certain privileges such as admission to the migrants by their intolerable mode of life. community dances, or for continued anti-social In this series the word "dignity" has been conduct, a recommendation to the manager that used several times. It has been used not as some the culprit be ejected from the camp. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 181

A works committee assigns the labor to be remaining 15 percent includes painters, done in the camp, improvements, garbage mechanics, electricians and even professional disposal, maintenance and repairs. The men. entertainment committee arranges for the When a new family enters one of these weekly dances, the music for which is furnished camps it is usually dirty, tired and broken. A by an orchestra made up of the inhabitants. group from the Good Neighbors meets it, tells it So well do they play that one orchestra has the rules, helps it to get settled, instructs it in the been lost to the radio already. This committee use of the sanitary facilities; and if there are also takes care of the many self-made games insufficient blankets or shelters, furnishes them and courts that have been built. from its own stores. The Good Neighbors, a woman's The children are bathed and cleanly dressed organization, takes part in quilting and sewing and the needs of the future canvassed. If the projects, sees that destitution does not exist, children have not enough clothes the community governs and watches the nursery; where sewing circle will get busy immediately. In children can be left while the mothers are case any of the family are sick the camp working in the fields and in the packing sheds. manager or the part-time nurse is called and And all of this is done with the outside aid of treatment is carried out. one manager and one part-time nurse. As These Good Neighbors are not trained experiments in natural and democratic selfsocial workers, but they have what is perhaps government, these camps are unique in the more important, an understanding which grows United States. from a likeness of experience. Nothing has In visiting these camps one is impressed happened to the newcomer that has not with several things in particular. The sullen and happened to the committee. frightened expression that is the rule among the A typical manager's report is as follows: migrants has disappeared from the faces of the New arrivals. Low in foodstuffs. Most Federal camp inhabitants. Instead there is a of the personal belongings were tied up steadiness of gaze and a self-confidence that can in sacks and were in a filthy condition. only come of restored dignity. The Good Neighbors at once took the The difference seems to lie in the new family in hand, and by 10 o'clock they position of the migrant in the community. were fed, washed, camped, settled and Before he came to the camp he had been asleep. policed, hated and moved about. It had been These two camps each accommodate about made clear that he was not wanted. 200 families. They were started as experiments, In the Federal camps every effort of the and the experiments have proven successful. management is expended to give him his place Between the rows of tents the families have in society. There are no persons on relief in started little gardens for the raising of these camps. vegetables, and the plots, which must be cared In the Arvin camp the central committee for after a 10 or 12-hours' day of work, produce recommended the expulsion of a family which beets, cabbages, corn, carrots, onions and applied for relief. Employment is more turnips. The passion to produce is very great. common than in any similar group for, having One man, who has not yet been assigned his something of their own, these men are better little garden plot, is hopefully watering a jimson workers. The farmers in the vicinity seem to weed simply to have something of his own prefer the camp men to others. growing. The inhabitants of the Federal camps are no The Federal Government, through the picked group. They are typical of the new Resettlement Administration, plans to extend migrants. They come from Oklahoma, these camps and to include with them small Arkansas, and Texas and the other drought maintenance farms. These are intended to solve states. Eighty-five per cent of them are former several problems. farm owners, farm renters or farm laborers. The Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 182

They will allow the women and children to disease in the two experimental camps are proof stay in one place, permitting the children to go of this. to school and the women to maintain the farms The fourth argument, as made by the editor during the work times of the men. They will of The Yuba City Herald, a self-admitted sadist reduce the degenerating effect of the migrants' who wrote a series of incendiary and subversive life; they will re-instill the sense of government editorials concerning the Marysville camp, is and possession that have been lost by the that these are the breeding places for strikes. migrants. Under pressure of evidence the Yuba City Located near to the areas which demand patriot withdrew his contention that the camp seasonal labor, these communities will permit was full of radicals. This will be the argument these subsistence farmers to work in the used by the speculative growers' associations. harvests, while at the same time they stop the These associations have said in so many words wanderings over the whole state. The success that they require a peon class to succeed. Any of these Federal camps in making potential action to better the condition of the migrants criminals into citizens makes the usual practice will be considered radical to them. of expending money on tear gas seem a little silly. Article Five The greater part of the new migrants from the dust bowl will become permanent California citizens. They have shown in these camps an Migrant families in California find that ability to produce and to cooperate. They are unemployment relief, which is available to passionately determined to make their living on settled unemployed, has little to offer them. In the land. One of them said, "If it's work you got the first place there has grown up a regular to do, mister, we'll do it. Our folks never did technique for getting relief; one who knows the take charity and this family ain't takin' it now." ropes can find aid from the various state and The plan of the Resettlement Federal disbursement agencies, while a man Administration to extend these Federal camps is ignorant of the methods will be turned away. being fought by certain interests in California. The migrant is always partially The arguments against the camps are as follows: unemployed. The nature of his occupation That they will increase the need for locally makes his work seasonal. At the same time the paid police. But the two camps already carried nature of his work makes him ineligible for on for over a year have proved to need no relief. The basis for receiving most of the relief locally paid police whatever, while the squatters' is residence. camps are a constant charge on the sheriff's But it is impossible for the migrant to offices. accomplish the residence. He must move about The second argument is that the cost of the country. He could not stop long enough to schools to the district will be increased. School establish residence or he would starve to death. allotments are from the state and governed by He finds, then, on application, that he cannot be the number of pupils. And even if it did cost put on the relief rolls. And being ignorant, he more, the communities need the work of these gives up at that point. families and must assume some responsibility For the same reason he finds that lie cannot for them. The alternative is a generation of receive any of the local benefits reserved for illiterates. residents of a county. The county hospital was The third is that they will lower the land built not for the transient, but for residents of the values because of the type of people inhabiting county. the camps. Those camps already established It will be interesting to trace the history of have in no way affected the value of the land one family in relation to medicine, work relief and the people are of good American stock who and direct relief. The family consisted of five have proved that they can maintain an American persons, a man of 50, his wife of 45, two boys, standard of living. The cleanliness and lack of 15 and 12, and a girl of six. They came from Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 183

Oklahoma, where the father operated a little residents. The trouble described as a pain in the ranch of 50 acres of prairie. stomach by the father was not taken seriously. When the ranch dried up and blew away the The father was given a big dose of salts to family put its moveable possessions in an old take home to the boy. That night the pain grew Dodge truck and came to California. They so great that the boy became unconscious. The arrived in time for the orange picking in father telephoned the hospital and found that Southern California and put in a good average there was no one on duty who could attend to season. his case. The boy died of a burst appendix the The older boy and the father together made next day. $60. At that time the automobile broke out There was no money. The county buried some teeth of the differential and the repairs, him free. The father sold the Dodge for $30 and together with three second-hand tires, took $22. bought a $2 wreath for the funeral. With the The family moved into Kern County to chop remaining money he laid in a store of cheap, grapes and camped in the squatters' camp on the filling food—beans, oatmeal, and lard. He tried edge of Bakersfield. to go back to work in the fields. Some of the At this time the father sprained his ankle neighbors gave him rides to work and charged and the little girl developed measles. Doctors' him a small amount for transportation. bills amounted to $10 of the remaining store, He was on the weak ankle too soon and and food and transportation took most of the could not make over 75¢ a day at piecework, rest. chopping. Again he applied for relief and was The 15-year-old boy was now the only refused because he was not a resident and earner for the family. The l2-year-old boy because he was employed. The little girl, picked up a brass gear in a yard and took it to because of insufficient food and weakness from sell. measles, relapsed into influenza. He was arrested and taken before the The father did not try the county hospital juvenile court, but was released to his father's again. He went to a private doctor who refused custody. The father walked in to Bakersfield to come to the squatters' camp unless he was from the squatters' camp on a sprained ankle paid in advance. The father took two days' pay because the gasoline was gone from the and gave it to the doctor who came to the family automobile and he didn't dare invest any of the shelter, took the girl's temperature, gave the remaining money in more gasoline. mother seven pills, told the mother to keep the This walk caused complications in the child warm and went away. The father lost his sprain which laid him up again. The little girl job because he was too slow. had recovered from measles by this time, but He applied again for help and was given her eyes had not been protected and she had lost one week's supply of groceries. part of her eyesight. This can go on indefinitely. The case The father now applied for relief and found histories like it can be found in the thousands. It that he was ineligible because he had not may be argued that there were ways for this man established the necessary residence. All to get aid, but how did he know where to get it? resources were gone. A little food was given to There was no way for him to find out. the family by neighbors in the squatters' camp. California communities have used the old, A neighbor who had a goat brought in a cup old methods of dealing with such problems. of milk every day for the little girl. The first method is to disbelieve it and At this time the 15-year-old boy came home vigorously to deny that there is a problem. The from the fields with a pain in his side. He was second is to deny local responsibility since the feverish and in great pain. people are not permanent residents. And the The mother put hot cloths on his stomach third and silliest of all is to run the trouble over while a neighbor took the crippled father to the the county borders into another county. The county hospital to apply for aid. The hospital floater method of swapping what the counties was full, all its time taken by bona fide local Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 184

consider undesirables from hand to hand is like slack times the diet becomes all starch, this a game of medicine ball. being the cheapest way to fill up. Dinners A fine example of this insular stupidity during lay-offs are as follows: concerns the hookworm situation in Stanislaus —Family of seven—Beans, fried dough. County. The mud along water courses where —Family of six—Fried cornmeal. there are squatters living is infected. Several —Family of five—Oatmeal mush. businessmen of Modesto and Ceres offered as a —Family of eight (there were six solution that the squatters be cleared out. There children)—Dandelion greens and was no thought of isolating the victims and boiled potatoes. stopping the hookworm. It will be seen that even in flush times the The affected people were, according to possibility of remaining healthy is very slight. these men, to be run out of the county to spread The complete absence of milk for the children is the disease in other fields. It is this refusal of responsible for many of the diseases of the counties to consider anything but the malnutrition. Even pellagra is far from immediate economy and profit of the locality unknown. that is the cause of a great deal of the unsolvable The preparation of food is the most quality of the migrants' problem. The counties primitive. Cooking equipment usually consists seem terrified that they may be required to give of a hole dug in the ground or a kerosene can some aid to the labor they require for their with a smoke vent and open front. If the adults harvests. have been working 10 hours in the fields or in According to several Government and state the packing sheds they do not want to cook. surveys and studies of large numbers of They will buy canned goods as long as they migrants, the maximum a worker can make is have money, and when they are low in funds $400 a year, while the average is around $300, they will subsist on half-cooked starches. and the large minimum is $150 a year. This The problem of childbirth among the amount must feed, clothe and transport whole migrants is among the most terrible. There is no families. prenatal care of the mothers whatever, and no Sometimes whole families are able to work possibility of such care. They must work in the in the fields, thus making an additional wage. fields until they are physically unable or, if they In other observed cases a whole family, do not work, the care of the other children and weakened by sickness and malnutrition, has of the camp will not allow the prospective worked in the fields, making less than the wage mothers any rest. of one healthy man. It does not take long at the In actual birth the presence of a doctor is a migrants' work to reduce the health of any rare exception. Sometimes in the squatters family. Food is scarce always, and luxuries of camps a neighbor woman will help at the birth. any kind are unknown. There will be neither sanitary precautions nor Observed diets run something like this hygienic arrangements. The child will be born when the family is making money: on newspapers in the dirty bed. In case of a bad —Family of eight—Boiled cabbage, baked presentation requiring surgery or forceps, the sweet potatoes, creamed carrots, beans, mother is practically condemned to death. Once fried dough, jelly, tea. born, the eyes of the baby are not treated, the —Family of seven—Beans, baking-powder endless medical attention lavished on middlebiscuits, jam, coffee. class babies is completely absent. —Family of six—Canned salmon, The mother, usually suffering from cornbread, raw onions. malnutrition, is not able to produce breast milk. —Family of five—Biscuits, fried potatoes, Sometimes the baby is nourished on canned dandelion greens, pears. milk until it can eat fried dough and cornmeal. These are dinners. It is to be noticed that This being the case, the infant mortality is very even in these flush times there is no milk, no great. butter. The major part of the diet is starch. In Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 185

The following is an example: Wife of family with three children. She is 38; her face is lined and thin and there is a hard glaze on her eyes. The three children who survive were born prior to 1929, when the family rented a farm in Utah. In 1930 this woman bore a child which lived four months and died of "colic."

brought more than 30,000 persons into the state. . . . The influx is now averaging one immigrant outfit every ten minutes, and the trek has only begun. . . . Many of the newcomers are competent farmers who have lost out in the drought and are seeking greener fields in California. They’re eager to work for wages on the farms, to save what they can, and eventually buy land of their own. They’re decidedly in the minority. The rank and file are out to seek their fortunes in a land where, so they have been told, living is easier. The relief office is the objective of many of these, and relief costs, especially in the San Joaquin counties, are rising. . . . When the Dust Bowl people show up at the San Joaquin farmer’s door asking for work, they’re usually welcome, especially as heretofore employers have had to transport most of their laborers to the fields. Experience has shown, too, that most of the newcomers won’t have anything to do with farm labor organizers for a time, at least, and this condition may tend to relieve the pressure of the agricultural unions on California farmers during this harvest season. . . “Migrant Mother”—Dorothea Lange, 1937 . The addition of so great an army of immigrants Library of Congress archives to the farm areas is stimulating certain lines of retail business. . . . The newcomers must eat. In 1931 her child was born dead because "a They must buy a certain amount of clothing han' truck fulla boxes run inta me two days (shelter, water, and wood are furnished by before the baby come." In 1932 there was a employers to those who work on the farms). miscarriage. "I couldn't carry the baby 'cause I The wages these people receive are providing was sick." She is ashamed of this. In 1933 her many of them with the first real cash they’ve baby lived a week. "Jus' died. I don't know had in months, and they’re eager to buy. what of." In 1934 she had no pregnancy. She is Observers point out that much of this buying is also a little ashamed of this. In 1935 her baby not “healthy,” that wages are going for down lived a long time, nine months. payments on radios, automobiles, cheap jewelry, "Seemed for a long time like he was gonna rather than for necessities. On the other side of live. Big strong fella it seemed like." She is the picture, Mr. John Citizen, of the San Joaquin pregnant again now. "If we could get milk for Valley, when questioned on the unprecedented um I guess it'd be better." This is an extreme immigration throws up his hands. For every case, but by no means an unusual one. worker that presents himself at the farmer’s door asking for a job, another goes on relief “Flee Dust Bowl for California”43 with his entire family. . . . County hospitals are crowded with free patients, many of them maternity cases, neatly timed for arrival in California businessmen are watching with California at the crucial moment. Schools are mixed emotions the current influx of families overwhelmed with new pupils. . . . A social from the Dust Bowl which, since Jan. 1, has worker asked one man why he had come to California. He pulled two newspaper clippings 43 “Free Dust Bowl for California.” Business Week. Vol. from his pocket, one from an Oklahoma paper 33, No. 409 (July 3, 1937), 36-37. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 186

and another from Texas. In them were unsigned advertisements painting in glowing terms the wonderful opportunities to be found in California. Are certain interests exploiting these people as ruthlessly as the steamship companies did during the days of the great immigrations from southern Europe two or three decades ago? Is there any doubt of it?

Along the Road44 In April 1939, Fortune reported on its findings about the migrant problem in a lengthy article entitled “I Wonder Where We Can Go Now.” The magazine sent a reporter to California to live among migrants in order to gather information for the article. The April issue of Fortune included excerpts from the reporter’s notebook with the feature article. The following are from the reporter’s notes. In an effort to get located I went to the county camp near Shafter but when they found I did not have a tent but was living in my car they refused me admission on the grounds that it would be embarrassing to the people around me. I was just as glad as this camp was one of the dirtiest that I had seen. I decided to stay on the desert but I found that the health authorities were driving them off the desert and trying to get them into the county camp. I tried to get space in a pay camp. There I was told . . . “I’d like to rent you a space but I’m full up. I charge $2 a month. I’ve had to turn away seventy-five people in the last few days.” . . . So I decided to see if I could “make it on the desert.” The idea was to drive out about a mile or two from town sometime around dusk and then set up camp. There would generally be a dozen or more others coming on right up until dark and soon their campfires could be seen. One night I talked to a group of family people. There were three in the family, husband and wife, nineteen and eighteen respectively, and the boy’s seventeen-year-old sister. . . . They gave the following as their yearly routine: 44

spuds at Shafter, ‘cots other side of Merced, Marysville for prunes and hops, then to the Big Valley (couldn’t remember the name of it) for tomatoes. This took about six months of the year, which was their full working period. . . . The costume of the men is almost uniform. The trousers are invariably blue jeans. These, like the rest of their clothes, are many times patched and mended, usually very neatly. The clothes of the young boys are replicas of their fathers’ except that they may go barefooted occasionally. . . . Several cases of typhoid have appeared in the area [Imperial Valley] since I have been here. This is due to their habit of drinking “ditchwater,” or that water which flows through the irrigation ditches. An epidemic was avoided only because a great many were vaccinated. There are at least eight, and possibly more, cases of pellagra in the camp. The cure for this disease, which may be fatal, is green vegetables or red meat. However, they have eaten starchy foods for so long that they no longer have a taste for meats and vegetables. When the doctor told one woman to feed meat to her family, she replied that they didn’t like meat and wouldn’t eat it. . . . These people aren’t relief-minded. I’ve seen them around where relief was being given out. They’d ask what the line-up was about, then say, “I’ve got two bucks left, I expect to get work next week, I don’t want no relief.”

“Along the Road: Extracts from a Reporter’s Notebook.” Fortune. Vol. 19, No. 4 (April 1939), 97-100.

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Other residents are opposed to granting any honors because they remember Woody Guthrie as a left-winger who betrayed the conservatism of rural, east-central Oklahoma and wrote a newspaper column for the American Communist party. Thus far, supporters of the dusty-voiced singer have managed to get “Home of Woody Guthrie” painted on one of the town's water tanks. They also have persuaded the local library to accept a collection of his records and By B. Drummond Aryes, Jr.45 books. But the town is still holding out on the Okemah, Oklahoma—Out on the eastern ultimate Guthrie honor—an annual Woody edge of this little farming and ranching town, Guthrie day. where the streets run to yellow clay and the “Commemoration just isn't justified yards are littered with broken-down cars on because of Guthrie's Communist affiliation, cinder blocks, there is a crumbling hillside whether he was active or duped,” says Allison shack with a high porch that commands the best Kelly, a banker. view in Okemah. “Commemoration is justified because A person can stand on this porch and take Woody was a great musician and a great in a lot of what Oklahoma is all about—oil individualist who nobody ever proved was a pumps rhythmically nodding like so many giant Communist,” counters Earl Walker, a petroleum praying mantises, fat Black Angus cattle grazing company owner who recently bought the old in a pasture of frost-crumpled prairie grass, and Guthrie house from another family for $7000 wind, always the wind, rattling willows down in and hopes to turn it into a “living memorial” run the bottom, flapping blue denim overalls on a by a nonprofit foundation. galvanized line, kicking up a puff of dust on a Such give-and-take has caused memories of distant tabletop butte. Woody to flood back in Okemah. Inside the old shack, there are four dank Suddenly, those who knew him and those and empty rooms. The light is bad, but even in who did not seem to remember the wiry, curlythe semidarkness, the graffiti can be read: haired boy who “blew out” of here at the age of “Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote on 15, memories of the panoramic view from that your wall . . . and Woody, no one even high porch imbedded deeply in his psyche, cared.” battered guitar slung across his back, “bound for Not until recently, anyway. glory, bound to win,” as he put it. Now, however, five years after he died at Suddenly everyone seems to recall how the age of 55 and his ashes were scattered over Woody used to swing up on red-balling freights the Atlantic, Woody Guthrie is suddenly the talk to escape railroad yard “bulls,” how he joined of Okemah (pronounced Oh-KEE-Muh). with other Dust Bowl migrants to pick the Some of the town's 3000 residents have grapes of wrath in California, how he used to decided it is time to honor him as a native son sing out for the laboring man to “take it easy, who became the balladeer of the Depression and but take it.” Dust Bowl by writing 1000 heartfelt American And of course everyone suddenly folk songs, among them “This Land is Your remembers that he wrote that column after his Land.” surfeit of social impatience boiled over. Were it not for Earl Walker, the memories might have lain dormant. But Mr. Walker is a 45 From Ayers, B. Drummond, Jr. “Woody Guthrie’s staunch Guthrie fan, and he has pushed hometown is divided on paying him homage.” New repeatedly for some sort of recognition. York Times. December 14, 1972. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 188

Woody Guthrie:

Hometown Divided on Paying Him Homage

For instance, he led the drive to have the “I know people around here say Woody water tank painted. (The two other towers Guthrie did some bad things, but about all I already were labeled “hot” and “cold;” an know about his songs is that he wrote ‘This indication that the water board does not always Land is Your Land’,” says 14-year-old Marilyn toe the conservative line that cuts through rural Jones. She is standing in front of Powers TV on Oklahoma.) Broadway, staring at a display of guitars. Already some people are speaking out There are, nevertheless, usually a few against the new paint job, done in black against youngsters in town who know all about a bright yellow background. Says a service Woody's songs. They come by foot, by car, and station operator: “Woody was no good. About by motorbike, one and two at a time, packs and half the town feels that way. I knew him, went guitars on their backs. Somehow, they always to school with him, used to whup him. He find their way to the old Guthrie house, though doesn't deserve to have his name up there.” they seldom ask directions from the local Before persuading the water board to act, populace. Then, they climb the rickety stairs, Mr. Walker joined with some of Woody's take in the view from the high porch, perhaps second cousins—the only kin left here—and led smoke a little grass, leave their respects on a the fight that forced the local library to accept wall and depart. the collection of Guthrie records and books. “Jai B” dropped by on 5/19/72. He wrote: Initially the library board flatly refused, Going down that hot dusty road relenting only in the face of Mr. Walker's Okie wind was ablowin'. pressure and when Woody's widow, Marjorie, I passed your only childhood home and his son, Arlo, also a folk singer, showed up And Woody, I'm aknowin'. in Okemah to hand over the gift in person. Well, Woody, I finally made it. Mr. Walker and his followers are now Woody, I'm finally here. pushing for a Woody Guthrie Day. “We'll get Woody, I finally made it. something through sooner or later, but there's no And Woody, no one even cared. question that some people still don't fully accept Woody,” says J. O. Smith, a hardware store owner. One of those people is Mr. Smith's son, Mac, owner of a variety store. He says: “We can honor him in some manner, O. K. But he did have that affiliation and we ought not to go hogwild by painting his name all over the place.” Mr. Smith, who sells records, says he has never had a request for anything by Woody Guthrie despite the current furor over the singer. The older folks around here are still trying to forget many of the things he sang about—the Depression and the Dust Bowl days, when half the town left, not bound for glory but simply searching for a place where there was money and topsoil. Okemah's youngsters prefer to listen to the Top 40 out of Tulsa and Oklahoma City, where the disk jockeys play the Three Dog Night, the Rolling Stones, and, of course, Merle Haggard, a country and Western singer who put nearby Muskogee on the musical map by celebrating its supposedly upright Oklahoma ways in song. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 189

Maria Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina By Maria Tallchief, with Larry Kaplan46 My father, Alexander Joseph Tall Chief, was a full-blood Osage Indian. Six foot two; he walked with a sturdy gait and loved to hunt. With his strong curved profile, Daddy resembled the Indian on the buffalo-head nickel. Women found him handsome, and when I was young I idolized him. When Daddy was a boy, oil was discovered on Osage land, and overnight the tribe became rich. As a young girl growing up on the Osage reservation in Fairfax, OK, I felt my father owned the town. He had property everywhere. The local movie theater on Main Street, and the pool hall opposite, belonged to him. Our tenroom, terra-cotta-brick house stood high on a hill overlooking the reservation. When my father was a young man, he married a young German immigrant and they had three children—Alexander, Tommy, and Frances. They were little children when their mother died. Later, when Ruth Porter, my mother, came to Fairfax to visit her sister, who worked as a cook and housekeeper for my Grandma Tall Chief, Daddy was Fairfax's most eligible bachelor. Mother must have arrived tired and dusty from her long journey, but from what I'm told there was an instant attraction. Mother was born in Oxford, KS. A determined woman of Scots-Irish blood, she was beautiful, with light brown hair, gray eyes, and delicate features. My tall and lanky father and my tiny mother made an odd couple physically, but they were very much in love. As 46

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soon as they married they started a family, and Daddy's children from his first marriage went to live with Grandma Tall Chief, who brought them up in her house at the bottom of the hill. I was born in Fairfax in the tiny local hospital on January 24, 1925. The doctor mishandled the forceps, leaving a large red mark on my forehead. Otherwise, I was healthy and normal. They named me Elizabeth Marie after two grandmothers: Eliza Tall Chief and Marie Porter, who'd been named for Marie Antoinette. They called me Betty Marie. When Mother became pregnant again, she decided she wasn't going to repeat the experience of giving birth in Fairfax. Her next child, my sister Marjorie, born twenty-one months after me, came into the world in Denver. Summers were hot in Oklahoma, and every July and August my parents drove to Colorado Springs, where Daddy played golf and Mother, Marjorie, and I played in the pool of the Broadmoor Hotel. When I was three, Mother took me for my first ballet lesson in the Broadmoor's basement. What I remember most is that the ballet teacher told me to stand straight and turn each of my feet out to the side, the first position. I couldn't believe it. But I did what I was told. Ballet lessons were a weekly affair for me, and for Marjorie too, after she was three. In 1930 Mrs. Sabin, an itinerant ballet teacher from Tulsa, visited Fairfax looking for students. When she heard about the two little girls in the town's most prominent family, she headed for the house on the hill. Before long, Mrs. Sabin had me dancing on pointe and giving recitals. But I don't look back on her with gratitude. She was a wretched instructor who never taught the basics, and it's a miracle I wasn't permanently harmed. And my frugal mother was no help. She always bought my toe shoes a size too big so she wouldn't have to buy them too often. Then she'd stuff them with cloth pads so they'd fit and I'd be able to perform the double and triple turns on pointe that seemed to thrill everybody. Of course, Mother didn't really understand the finer points of ballet, and I simply did what she asked. I showed an aptitude for dancing and wanted to please. It

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never occurred to me to say, "It hurts to do all mineral income, which was tax-free. An that." Osage might sell the surface rights to his land, When I was growing up, my Grandma Tall but never a "headright." That was illegal. The Chief was a majestic figure to me. A typical only way an Osage could lose his "headright" Indian woman, she wore her hair in a single was to die. braid down her back and always had a tribal By 1925, even though the Osage had blanket draped over her shoulders. She and my become rich, they, like all Indian tribes, were father were my link to the Osage people. At the subject to government edicts, which were time, the tribe lived royally. I was an adult designed to destroy tribal customs. Indian before I heard some of their history. ceremonies were banned and tribal languages In the eighteenth century, the Osage lived forbidden. The Osage and many other Indian in Virginia's Piedmont region, where French and nations kept their culture alive by holding Spanish missionaries converted the Indians to ceremonies in remote corners of the reservation. Catholicism. When white people settled the Marjorie and I were thrilled when, together with region, the tribe migrated to the valleys near the Grandma Tall Chief, Daddy drove us to the Ohio and Missouri Rivers. After the West location. opened up and settlers began arriving, the Osage The powwow was a journey to the past. were forced to move again. They went to The Indians wore traditional tribal clothing Kansas, where they farmed the land and hunted. made of animal hide, elaborate headdresses, In the nineteenth century, the white man tribal blankets, beads, silver jewelry, and was continually chasing the Indians off their moccasins; they clustered in groups, sitting on land. As a result, the Osage weren't destined to the ground in semicircles, smoking pipes. remain in Kansas. But in 1871, when the U.S. During conversations, they stared off into space, seized their property, the government had a never looking at the person they were talking to. change of heart, if only for a short period. They It was as if they could feel the person instead of paid the Indians for what they took, and with the seeing him, and that was preferable to visual profits the tribe bought a million and a half contact. acres in northwestern Indian Territory, which At the powwow there was dancing, and later became Oklahoma. Indian music was played on tom-toms. Osage The Osage had to adjust to the new women didn't really dance. Instead they formed environment. People couldn't hunt or farm, and a circle around the men and did a little side step, times were difficult, but no one starved. shifting their weight from one foot to the other Underground lay one of the biggest mineral in time to the drumbeat, covering very little reserves in North America, and when oil was space. Men did the active dancing, stomping discovered, everything changed for the Osage. their feet on the ground to the tom-tom rhythm. Grandma Tall Chief's father, Chief Peter Accompanying themselves on the drums, they Bigheart, played an important role in the Osage also sang songs that told fables about the history saga. In 1886 Grandma traveled with him and of the tribe. The rhythm of those songs has Chief James Bigheart to Washington. Both men stayed with me. spoke English and were on the council that When I was five, Mother enrolled me in worked out the provisions of the Osage Sacred Heart Catholic School, which was down Allotment Act. The act, which was approved by the hill from our house in the opposite direction Congress in 1906, divided the reservation into of Grandma's, almost at the end of our tracts. Each of the 2,229 members of the tribe driveway. The teachers there, impressed by my received approximately 658 acres, but the reading ability, placed me in a class two grades allotment of land applied to surface rights only. ahead of the other children my age. All mineral rights, the gas and oil that lay I was a good student and fit in at Sacred underground, were held in common by the tribe. Heart. But in many ways, I was a typical Indian Each Osage received a "headright," meaning girl—shy, docile, introverted. I loved being out that he or she would receive an equal share of doors and spent most of my time wandering Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 191

around our big front yard where there was an old swing and a garden. I'd also ramble around the grounds of our summer cottage hunting for arrowheads in the grass. Finding one made me shiver with excitement. These rolling pastures, green and lush, seemed magical to me.

As a little girl, however, I didn't have much time to dream. When it was discovered that I had perfect pitch Mother insisted I play the piano. Most of my day was taken up with schoolwork and music and ballet lessons. I remember practicing ballet one afternoon with Marjorie, when my half-sister, Frances, and my cousin Pearl Bigheart appeared at the window of our house, giggling and making fun of what we were doing. Cousin Pearl was an orphan, and our family was concerned for her well-being. When she was small, her house had been firebombed and everyone inside killed, murdered for their headrights. Pearl's situation was not uncommon. In the 1920s, villainous white men married into Osage families, then poisoned their wives or shot them in order to get their money, another example of the slaughter of Indians that is a notorious chapter of U.S. history. This was called the Osage Reign of Terror, and it began in 1921 when an Osage woman was found with a bullet in her head at the bottom of a canyon. William K. Hale, a prosperous rancher, who was responsible for

this death and many others, was also responsible for the murder of Pearl's relatives. He had persuaded his cousin Ernest Burkhart to marry one of Pearl's aunts. After the wedding, Burkhart poisoned her and inherited her headright. But he was greedy. He and Hale made plans to grab all the family's headrights by dynamiting the house and killing everyone inside. Luckily, Pearl was visiting Grandma Tall Chief when the blast occurred, and she escaped with her life. Grandma was raising her now. The irony was that because of the carnage, Pearl now owned more headrights than anyone. She was one of the richest people in the tribe. When Hale and Burkhart realized what had happened, they developed a new scheme and tried stealing Pearl's fortune with a fake life insurance policy naming Burkhart as beneficiary. Insurance scams were another means of robbing the Indians. But Grandma was too brave and too smart to be taken in. She couldn't read or write, and used to sign important papers with an X, but she knew what was happening. When Burkhart and Hale came knocking on her door, she stood up to the killers and sent them away. Eventually, the FBI was brought in to investigate. By 1926 the agency had gathered enough evidence to indict Burkhart and Hale and convict them for murder. The Reign of Terror had come to an end but not before more than sixty Osage Indians had been slaughtered. Once Marjorie grew older, Mrs. Sabin created routines we performed—part ballet, part vaudeville—to "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Glow Worm" at community events, county fairs, and rodeos. For "Glow Worm," I wore a costume my mother made by putting turquoise feathers onto her peach negligee. In "Stars and Stripes Forever," an American flag was sewn into the lining of my cape. Like many in the wealthy Osage tribe, Daddy had never worked a day in his life. He was a modern-day Osage in another respect. He drank. His drinking ran in cycles, mostly when the oil royalties check arrived. Royalties were paid quarterly for the sum of several thousand dollars, a large amount for the time but

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considerably less than it had been because by Ocean seemed to be everywhere, lurking 1930 the Osage oil supply was being depleted. beyond curves in the road, hiding between gaps Mother and Daddy often argued about in the trees. After the ponds, creeks, and rivers money. Since the income he received from his of Oklahoma and Colorado, the immensity of real estate holdings was negligible, the family the ocean terrified me. lived on the oil checks. Usually he was patient, We reached Los Angeles after an overnight always trying to calm Mother's fears, but the stay with Mother's relatives in San Diego. arrival of the oil money set him off. He'd Without knowing where we would settle, we pocket the check and cash it, then disappear for just drove on. In the Wilshire District Daddy a week at a time. Mother would become frantic. stopped for gas. Marjorie and I were restless She was afraid that Daddy would spend all the and hungry, so Mother took us to the local money, or worse, injure himself or become ill. drugstore. We ordered hamburgers and soda She suffered terribly during Daddy's binges, pop at the fountain, and we sat on red-leather never knowing her husband's whereabouts or stools while waiting for them to be served. what he was doing. Mother asked the druggist if he knew a good Mother endured father's alcoholism. She dancing school in the neighborhood. was helpless to change it and never judged him. "Yes, I do," the man told us. "Ernest She loved him in spite of his flaws. When the Belcher's." famous novelist Edna Ferber was writing her That was it. An anonymous man in an book Cimarron, which is set in Oklahoma, she unfamiliar town decided our fate with those few tried to interview Daddy. Cimarron concerned words. After we devoured our hamburgers, the Osage and their headrights, and I think Mother walked out to the car and told Daddy Ferber believed that Daddy had information she that she wanted to live right there, in a needed. But my mother wouldn't let him see neighborhood where we had only stopped to fill her. She was jealous. Daddy was extremely the gas tank. handsome, attractive to women. Although In California, public school teachers Ferber wasn't known for her good looks, I seemed to understand that an eight-year-old had believe Mother was afraid that Daddy would fall no business being in the fifth grade, and they in love with the sophisticated novelist and placed me back in the third grade in what they abandon us. called an Opportunity Class, an advanced My mother grew increasingly dissatisfied program. Opportunity Class or not, I was still with our life in Fairfax. To her it was a place way ahead. With nothing to do, I often where people wasted their lives, where her wandered around the school yard by myself. husband destroyed himself with drink, and Ballet school was different. There I had to where her daughters remained in small-town work. At Ernest Belcher's studio, in addition to music and ballet lessons that never would ballet, pupils studied tap, acrobatics, and amount to much. Spanish dancing. So Marjorie and I had it all. In 1933 Mother could wait no longer. To Elissa Cansino, who taught Spanish dancing, her, Los Angeles was a giant city that held a was a wonderful teacher, and I became expert future with glittering promise. Daddy raised no with the castanets. We even studied tumbling, objection to our leaving. L.A. promised a and for hours on end I had to practice walkovers dreamlike climate in which he could play golf until I wanted to scream. I hated the tumbling all year long, in truth, a powerful incentive for classes and worked myself into such a frenzy moving. We crowded into Daddy's maroon over them that Mother let me stop, but years Pierce-Arrow and set off into our future. later I'd be able to put all I learned there to good Hours in the car passed with little to do use. other than gaze out the windows as the world Mr. Belcher understood, however, that it flashed by. When we reached California, the was not character dancing technique Marjorie expanse of orange groves hypnotized me with and I lacked. A character dancer performs its order and brilliance of color. The Pacific national or folk dances, such as mazurkas and Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 193

polkas, which are not performed on pointe. My a signal for students to take their places at the sister and I were deficient in the basics of ballet barre. In a flash, I realized who she was. By technique. Our training shocked him. then, there was no mistaking Madame Nijinska. "Your daughters have been put on pointe Everyone at the school was in awe of her. way, way too early, Mrs. Tall Chief. It's a Bronislava Nijinska was the sister of the miracle they haven't injured themselves." fabulous Vaslav Nijinsky, and like him a He insisted we go back to the beginning. graduate of the Imperial Theatre School in St. We were fortunate. Mr. Belcher was an Petersburg, Russia. She too had danced at the excellent teacher who had studied the principles Maryinsky Theatre and with Sergei Diaghilev's of Enrico Cecchetti, the Italian ballet master Ballets Russes in Europe, and she was also a who worked in Russia at the turn of the century. choreographer. Two of her ballets, Les Noces A small man with a tiny mustache, Mr. Belcher and Les Biches, were classics. sat when he taught; even so, he would When we started working I saw at once that demonstrate in his chair, and that fascinated me. Madame's class was rigorous. Students weren't I was eager to learn. allowed to slouch at the barre or hang on it While Marjorie and I were studying at Mr. haphazardly, and we had to be conscious of Belcher's, our family moved from the Wilshire each exercise. After we finished doing a step, District to a house on Rexford Drive in Beverly we had to walk to the side and stand still with Hills. Public schools in Beverly Hills were perfect posture until it was time to take our academically superior to those in the rest of the places for the next exercise. At the same time, city, and Mother made the move so we could Madame indicated that we should watch our attend a public school. But at Beverly Vista fellow students closely and listen to every School I was made to feel different. correction. Some of the students made fun of my last Because her English was practically name, pretending they didn't understand if it nonexistent Madame Nijinska rarely spoke. She was Tall or Chief. A few made war whoops didn't have to. She had incredible personal whenever they saw me, and asked why I didn't magnetism and she radiated authority. Most of wear feathers or if my father took scalps. After the time she demonstrated. It was hard to a while, they became accustomed to me, but the imagine her as a ballerina, but how she moved! experience was painful. Eventually, I turned the Her footwork was phenomenal. She jumped spelling of my last name into one word. and flashed around the studio. I was under her Everything in school was in strict alphabetical spell. The likes of Madame Nijinska were order and I wanted to avoid confusion. something I had never seen before. When I was twelve years old and Marjorie Every day she dressed in the same pants was ten and a half, we went to a new ballet and plain top; her ballet slippers had a slight teacher. A ballet mother at Mr. Belcher's told heel. In her pointe class, we'd have to repeat Mother that the great Bronislava Nijinska had steps over and over, learning how to balance opened a studio near Beverly Hills, and even and how to hold a position so that our entire though I'm not sure Mother knew who Nijinska backs were being utilized. She was very was, she decided to have Marjorie and me study precise. In first position, elbows had to be held with her. Without telling Mr. Belcher, she a certain way and the little finger had to touch enrolled us at her school. the front of the thigh. If Madame could come The new studio seemed no different from by and move someone's elbow, the position was Mr. Belcher's. Little girls were changing into wrong. leotards, and mothers were milling about She was insistent on port de bras, and she gossiping. A small, rotund gray-haired woman told us the reason her brother could jump so with great, big, luminous green eyes was high and hover in the air so long was because of counting heads. I thought she was the secretary. the control he had over his abdominals. It was When the pianist entered and bowed to her, from Madame Nijinska that I first understood the little gray-haired woman clapped her hands, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 194

that the dancer's soul is in the middle of the Nijinska's to take class and pay their respects. I body and that proper breathing is essential. couldn't get over the sight of those magnificent Even though she wasn't verbal, Nijinska artists in my teacher's studio. Frederic Franklin, knew how to get her point across. She Mia Slavenska, George Zoritch: They were all communicated with a firm tap on the shoulder. there. And the biggest star of all, Alexandra Her husband, Nicholas Singaevsky, sometimes Danilova, gave Nijinska roses when she entered translated, but his English wasn't much better the studio, and executed a reverence as she than hers. presented them. "Madame say you look like spaghetti," he'd It wasn't only at Nijinska's, however, that I explain, and the message was understood. He'd was learning what it meant to be a professional. also expound her philosophy. "Madame say Ada Broadbent, a one-time dancer with Fauchon when you sleep, sleep like ballerina. Even on and Marco's Hollywood Symphonic Ballet, used street waiting for bus, stand like ballerina." to choreograph dances for the Los Angeles So we didn't concentrate only for an hour Civic Light Opera, and Marjorie and I danced and a half a day on what was being taught. We for her. Broadbent also staged extravaganzas of lived it, and I was beginning to understand just her own—a mix of vaudeville, show business, how hard I was going to have to work if I and classical ballet—that featured music and wanted to be a dancer. I was small-hipped and dancing on themes like "Dance Through the had to work hard for the turnout essential to Ages." In one, Marjorie and I danced a jazzy ballet. But since I was eager to develop, when I number to the tune of the "Black Bottom." We was in Nijinska's class I never took my eyes off also danced the "Waltz of the Flowers" and her, never looked away, even when she was something called "South American Rumba." helping another girl. Broadbent choreographed the first pas de The force of Madame Nijinska's deux I ever danced, to music from The personality, and her unwavering devotion to her Vagabond King for the Los Angeles Civic Light art, helped me to understand that ballet was Opera. Paul Godkin, who later joined Ballet what I wanted to do with my life. In her studio I Theatre, was my partner. We did it in one of became committed to becoming a ballerina, and Broadbent's productions at the Philharmonic Madame understood I was serious. She saw that Auditorium. We also appeared at the Shrine I was very musical and had good proportions, Auditorium, where Milton Berle was on the bill. and she paid a great deal of attention to me. She When I was about fifteen years old, was always giving me corrections, a sign of her Madame Nijinska decided to stage three of her interest, and little by little she began treating me ballets, Etude, Chopin Concerto, and Bolero, at like her protégée. the Hollywood Bowl, which is a huge outdoor In 1938 the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo's amphitheater in the Hollywood hills. The music arrival in Los Angeles was a momentous event she was using for Chopin Concerto, the Piano in my world. With a slew of other adolescent Concerto in E Minor, was special to me as I was girls, Marjorie and I flocked to performances, playing it on the piano. That I was familiar with returning several times. We saw Giselle and the concerto seemed like a good omen. Balanchine's Serenade, but Gaite Parisienne, One big role was being performed by a Ballet Russe's signature piece, so romantic and lovely dancer named Cyd Charisse. Cyd, who colorful, made the strongest impression. would later become a movie star, was a Choreographed to operetta music by Jacques stunningly beautiful girl who had already Offenbach, the ballet was a frothy celebration of performed professionally with the Original fin-de-siecle European ambience, filled with Ballet Russe. When rehearsals began, instead of high spirits and convivial dancing. I was being cast opposite her in the other lead, I was captivated. put in the corps de ballet. I was hurt and More thrilling than the performances, humiliated. I couldn't understand what was however, was when the Ballet Russe stars I happening. Madame Nijinska had always paid worshiped from afar arrived at Madame so much attention to me. What was wrong? Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 195

Didn't she love me anymore? Wasn't I her favorite? I was miserable, and showed it. Not being used to dancing in the ensemble, I stood there in the line of girls without putting any energy or feeling into what I was doing. Mother understood the problem. "You have to show that you want to dance with all your heart, Betty, even in the corps. You shouldn't just expect a role to be handed to you." The next day, I put everything into rehearsing, and shortly thereafter was rewarded with the other leading part. I was ecstatic. Now I couldn't stop practicing, and went over the steps day and night. Marjorie was also in the ballet, in the ensemble. The night of the performance we arrived at the Bowl about fifteen minutes before curtain. Mother drove us but got us there late. Uninitiated in the rites of professional theater, she didn't realize we were supposed to arrive two hours early to put on makeup and warm up. At rehearsal earlier in the day we'd seen how slippery and hard the floor was. Canvas cloths had been laid down for the performance, but we arrived too late to try them out. Apprehensive, I stood in the wings waiting for my cue, and when I heard it I made my entrance. As soon as I started dancing, I slipped. I recovered quickly and went on, but I was shaken. Madame Nijinska was watching from the wings. It was the only time I had seen her in street clothes. When I made my first exit, I went over to her, a stricken look on my face. But she made nothing of the incident. Performing the ballet was different from dancing in the Broadbent extravaganzas. The choreography was extremely difficult. I had to perform double fouettes, a bravura step in which a whipping motion of the free leg propels the dancer around the supporting leg, with the most precise control. (The thirty-two fouettes the ballerina performs in Swan Lake, Act Three, is one of the most famous passages in the ballet.) And dancing next to Cyd, the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my life, with lovely long legs and sculptured feet, didn't help my confidence. But once I recovered my nerves, I attempted to perform as Madame Nijinska had taught me.

Madame Nijinska was my ballet teacher all through my high school years, and I worked hard to absorb everything she taught me and to do everything she said. Occasionally, however, I studied with other celebrated artists who came to Los Angeles to teach. One of them, David Lichine, a respected dancer-choreographer, made a favorable impression on Mother. His wife, Tatiana Riabouchinska, a beautiful Russian, had been one of the famous "baby" ballerinas Balanchine had created in Paris in the 1930s, and was also a star of Colonel de Basil's Original Ballet Russe. She seemed to epitomize all the qualities Mother admired. She was poised, ladylike, quite formal, and a wonderful dancer. In my senior year, another star came to Los Angeles. Mia Slavenska, the beautiful Yugoslavian ballerina who danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was teaching at a local studio and sometimes we went there to study with her. Like Nijinska, Slavenska seemed to favor me and told my mother she was going to arrange an audition for Serge Denham and his committee when they came to town. Mr. Denham was the head of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and on the appointed day he appeared at Slavenska's studio with Frederic Franklin and a few others I didn't recognize and watched her teach her class. When it was over, no one said anything to me or offered me any contract. But Mr. Denham did tell my mother, "She's very good. I'd like to see her after she graduates from high school." That seemed like a vague promise and I was a little disappointed, but I didn't let it bother me. A part of me was determined to enter college. Yet, in an unexpected turn of events, my father didn't like the idea. "You know, I've paid for your lessons all your life and now it's time for you to find a job," he said. I was surprised, but ages seventeen through twenty are important years for a dancer. If I was going to be a ballerina it was time to get started. I auditioned for an MGM movie musical called Presenting Lily Mars, a Judy Garland vehicle. It wasn't much of a job; I was little more than a dancing extra, but I liked Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 196

being on the set. Judy Garland worked hard and was full of energy. Listening to her sing on playback was a thrill. Daddy was proud. As soon as my part in the film was completed I started thinking about what else I could do. I knew I didn't want to dance in the movies for a living. It wasn't gratifying. I was trying to figure out how to earn money when my mother startled me with a proposition.

"You know, Betty Marie, Tanya Riabouchinska is going to New York to join David Lichine and dance at Ballet Theatre. She asked me if you'd like to go along with her for the summer. She said she'd be perfectly willing to take you. I think it's wonderful. When you're in New York you can make an appointment with Mr. Denham and audition again for the Ballet Russe." Mother was fired with enthusiasm for my dancing dream. It seemed a little out of character. She knew I was no longer practicing piano two hours a day. Perhaps she was beginning to understand my dreams. Most of all, the visit in New York must have seemed like a great way for me to spend the summer. She had absolute faith in the Lichines and knew they would look after my welfare. After I got over my surprise, I agreed to go. I still wanted to do whatever would please her. Mother and I went out and bought a huge fortnighter suitcase, which I packed so full that we had a hard time closing it. I'm not sure what I put into it or why I thought I needed such a huge bag. I could hardly lift it off the ground.

A few days later, Daddy drove us all to the terminal Marjorie, still in high school and studying with Nijinska, was excited on my behalf, certain that in New York I would be able to realize the dream we both shared of becoming a ballerina. After saying good-bye to Marjorie, Daddy, and Mother, I boarded the train with Riabouchinska I was on my way. Maria was determined to win acclaim as a great ballerina with her innate talent, not because she was an Osage Indian. She studied hard and became the highest paid ballerina at one point in her career. Maria Tallchief received numerous awards during her lifetime of exquisite ballet performances. Among those were: 1. Named “Woman of the Year” in 1953 by President Eisenhower. 2. Named Wa-Xthe-Thomba (“Woman of Two Worlds”) by the Osage tribe in recognition of her international achievements and Native American heritage. 3. Inducted into the Woman's National Hall of Fame in 1996. 4. Gold Medal for lifetime contribution to the Performing Arts by the Kennedy Center, 1998. 5. Awarded an honorary Doctorate by Illinois University in 1997 and was inducted into the International Women's Forum Hall of Fame.

6. One of only six women in the history of ballet to receive the title “Prima Ballerina Assoluta.” Maria, her sister Marjorie, and two other prominent American Indian ballerinas—Yvonne Chouteau and Rosella Hightower—have been immortalized in on of the four murals painted by Charles Banks Wilson which hang in the rotunda of Oklahoma’s Capitol Building.

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movement, believed in the usefulness of nonviolent resistance as an instrument of social change because of the example on the Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi. Blacks in Oklahoma made wide use of the sit-in, a nonviolent tactic, in their march toward first-class citizenship. The leader of the sit-in movement in Oklahoma was an energetic, By Jimmie Lewis Franklin47 highly vocal woman named Clara Luper, Director of the Oklahoma City NAACP Youth The social and legal position of African Council. A native of Okfuskee County, Luper Americans after the Civil War was not took her undergraduate degree at Langston immediately set in stone. Their new place in University, later received a master’s degree society was determined in part because of from the University of Oklahoma, and was a conflicts among whites. It became clear that teacher for many years in the state. Luper whites would relegate African Americans to the believed in democratic government and her lowest social and economic positions. training as a social studies specialist doubtless Whites ostracized blacks in many ways had some impact on how she viewed America’s after the Civil War. Part of the way that whites failure to solve the race problem. Prior to her did this was through an elaborate social involvement in the sit-in movement, she had structure of unwritten rules that both races were been active in civil rights. Discrimination, she to follow. However, there was another, and in contended, degraded blacks, and amounted to some ways, more serious form of ostracism used immorality. A believer in Dr. Martin Luther against blacks. Whites enacted a series of King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence, Luper set segregation statutes known as “Jim Crow” laws. out to overthrow segregation in public places. These laws relegated a variety of interactions She knew that legal methods took too much between blacks and whites, including time and had often failed. Therefore, she turned educational facilities, use of public facilities like to a technique that would bring the difference in restrooms and waiting rooms, and occupancy of treatment of black’s in public places to the hotels and hospitals—even cemeteries. attention of the entire community, and which Throughout the early 20th century, but would create such inconvenience that injustice especially after World War II, African to blacks would end. Americans became more vocal in demanding Like other cities in many parts of America, their rights. Some of them filed court cases to Oklahoma City and other municipalities in the contest unequal education opportunities. Others state adhered to a policy of segregation. There participated in letter writing campaigns to the was much logic in striking at Oklahoma City; it federal government or circulated desegregation had the state’s largest population and it was the petitions. Still others adopted a different tactic capital, the center of Oklahoma’s political known as nonviolent resistance. power. And it provided Luper with a potentially Nonviolent resistance is a strategy to gain large number of young black youths to man her social change through strikes, sit-ins, boycotts, “children’s army” against segregation, bigotry, and civil disobedience. The idea is that the and injustice. A strategic victory in Oklahoma community is forced to address an issue that it City, she correctly reasoned, would have an has refused to deal with as a result of the actions important effect upon other parts of the state, of resisters. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of and any success would help condition the white the leaders of the American civil rights community for even greater changes. After much preparation, Luper and her NAACP Youth Council were ready to act. 47 From Franklin, Jimmie Lewis. “Clara Luper: When white segregated eating Oklahoma Civil Rights Leader.” The Blacks in establishments failed upon request to change Oklahoma. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 198

Clara Luper: Oklahoma Civil Rights Leader

their policies of segregation, Luper struck at stores in downtown Oklahoma City. In August 1958, the Youth Council conducted a “sit and wait” demonstration against Katz drugstore. Though sit-ins had occurred elsewhere in the late 1940s and 1950s, this was the first demonstration of this kind to involve youth. The thirteen original participants in this historic event in Oklahoma ranged from six to sixteen years of age. Luper had taught them well about nonviolence and about their major mission. Whites experienced shock when the welldressed young blacks took their seats and requested food to eat within the establishment, not “to take out,” as had often been the custom in many businesses which were segregated. Some whites became angry when the children persisted in their demonstration against Katz, but after days of protest the drugstore changed its policy—not just in Oklahoma, but in Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa, too. Within the next year a few other stores gave blacks service, including the S.H. Kress Company. Much hardcore resistance, nevertheless, remained. Luper intensified her attack with greater media coverage of the sit-ins, and as the national movement placed more emphasis on civil rights activity. Moreover, as young blacks saw their friends express their bravery by sitting at a counter or standing in a picket line, they became more inclined to “do something for freedom.” Fired by the example in Oklahoma City, demonstrations took place in a few other Oklahoma cities. Clara Luper had been right about the success and impact of a sit-in in the state’s capital. Clara Luper continued her work with youth and civil rights, both as a teacher and with the NAACP. She was a leader in the fight to integrate Oklahoma’s public schools and helped to organize the Oklahoma City sanitation workers’ strike. She has now retired from teaching but continues to be active for civil rights causes. She still works with the OKC NAACP Youth Council as an advisor.

Obituary Jim Thorpe is Dead on West Coast at 64 By the Associate Press48 LOS ANGELES, March 28—Jim Thorpe, the Indian whose exploits in football, baseball, and track and field won him acclaim as one of the greatest athletes of all time, died today in his trailer home in suburban Lomita. His age was 64. He should have been in more than one Hall of Fame. Children should read about him school. But this remarkable athlete, master of many sports, was destined to receive the back of the hand from a cruel and insensitive society. His Sac and Fox Indian ancestors were uprooted from their native lands in Iowa by greedy white neighbors. With the aid of blue-coated U.S. troops, they were driven into Kansas and finally herded to an arid territory in Oklahoma. It was in to this grim, hopeless atmosphere that Jim Thorpe was born on May 28, 1888 on of 19 children, son of a white farmer and Indian mother. But Thorpe’s rare athletic skills saved him from a bleak existence. His mother gave him the Indian tribal name Wa-Tho-Huck, or Bright Path. Official records, however, list him as James Francis Thorpe. Young Jim was sent to the Haskell Indian School at Lawrence, KS, and then to the Carlisle School at Carlisle, PA. He showed no particular interest in college athletics until Pop Warner persuaded him to come out for football. That was in the fall of 1907 and he played as a substitute. The next year he became a regular and attracted attention as a ball-carrier and kicker. He weighed around 178 pounds. Hero of the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and a towering football figure, Jim Thorpe was probably the greatest natural athlete the world had seen in modern times. King Gustaf V of Sweden said to the black-haired Sac 48

New York Times. March 29, 1953.

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and Fox Indian as he stood before the royal box, “Pop” Warner. (Carlisle was an all-Indian “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” college in Pennsylvania.) In 1911 and 1912 he That was after Thorpe almost single-handedly was chose as halfback on Walter Camp’s Allgained the Olympic honors for the United American teams. States, setting a point-total record never before Thorpe played professional football for approached and dominating the games as no almost fifteen years and in both his prime at other figure. Thorpe came back from Carlisle and as a pro he never had to leave the Stockholm with $50,000 worth of trophies. The field because of an injury, such was his courage included a Viking ship presented to him by the and stamina. In his last year at the Indian Czar of Russia, and gifts from King Gustaf. school he won letters in five major sports, and A month later the new American sports idol he was proficient in others. His activities was toppled from his high pedestal when the included running, jumping, football, lacrosse, Amateur Athletic Union filed charges of boxing, basketball, hockey, archery, rifle professionalism against him, accusing him of shooting, canoeing, handball, swimming, and receiving pay for playing summer baseball with skating. the Rocky Mount Club in the Eastern Carolina League. The amount of money was negligible, His Record as Track Athlete helping to tide him over at school, but the American Olympic Committee offered its apologies and sent back the gifts and medals He could run the 100-yard dash in 10 lavished upon the young man to whom seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8, the 440 in 50.8, the President Theodore Roosevelt had cabled long 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high messages of congratulations. hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low Thorpe’s plea was that he was just an hurdles in 24 seconds. He broad-jumped 23 feet innocent Indian kid who was unaware of any 6 inches and high-jumped 6 feet 5 inches. He wrongdoing. The medals were forwarded to the pole-vaulted 11 feet, put the shot 47 feet 9 runners-up in the pentathlon and decathlon inches, and threw the javelin 163 feet, the events at Stockholm. Thorpe had won four of hammer 140 feet, and the discus 136 feet. the five events in the Pentathlon and finished third in the other, a record unequaled to this day, Career at Carlisle and in the decathlon he scored 8,412 out of a possible 10,000 points, also unequaled. Thorpe’s decathlon feats in the Olympics In the spring of 1908 Jim made the track have since been surpassed by Bob Mathias, who team. Jumping and hurdling were his won the event for the second straight time last specialties. By the time he finished his fiveyear. However, another Olympic great— year term at Carlisle in the spring of 1909 he Finland’s Paavo Nurmi—declared that “Jim had developed into a track star. Thorpe could still beat them all.” Even if In 1911 he won All-American honors in Thorpe never could beat Mathias in his prime, football, as he did in 1912 also, performing most experts still place the Indian ahead as an sensationally against Harvard, Penn, Princeton, all around athlete. In 1950 Thorpe’s athletic Army, Syracuse, and Penn State. Against prowess won for him selection as the greatest Harvard in 1911 Thorpe ran 70 yards in nine athlete of the twentieth century and the greatest plays for a touchdown and kicked three field football player in an Associated Press poll of goals from back of the 40-yard line. sports writers and broadcasters. President Eisenhower can attest to Thorpe’s Before leaping into world-wide fame as the hitting power. When the general was a cadet at star of the Olympics, Thorpe had become a the United States Military Academy, the Army national sports figure through his deeds on the team played Carlisle, the Indians winning, 27gridiron as a member of the famous Carlisle to 6. Thorpe stopped General Eisenhower time Indians football teams coached by Glenn S. Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 200

after time, and in the process the general injured his knee and never played again.

The Alcatraz Indian Occupation

One-Man Track Team In his track days Carlisle was booked to meet the Lafayette team at Easton. A welcoming committee was puzzled when only two Indians got off the train. “Where’s your team?” they asked. “This is the team,” Thorpe replied. “Only two of you?” “Only one,” Jim said with a smile. “This fellow’s the manager.”

Baseball Player Thorpe played baseball with the New York Giants baseball team for six years and briefly for Cincinnati as outfielder. He finished his career with three years in the minors, hitting over 300. Thorpe was back in the news in 1943, when the Oklahoma Legislature adopted a resolution that the A.A.U. be petitioned to reinstate Thorpe’s Olympic records, but no action was taken. In February 1952, a group in Congress made another unsuccessful attempt to have the medals restored. After an operation for cancer of the lip in the preceding November, he had been discovered to be nearly penniless and groups throughout the country raised thousands of dollars for him. In the summer of 1949, Warner Brothers started work on a motion picture entitled “Jim Thorpe—All American,” with Burt Lancaster in the athlete’s role. The picture reached Broadway in the summer of 1951. Thirty years after his death, Thorpe’s medals finally were restored, thanks to a Swedish researcher who discovered a loophole in the Olympic Charter that specified that protests of professionalism had to be made within 30 days of the Games. The return of the medals brought small solace to his family. The Olympic committee, however, never restored his records.

By Dr. Troy Johnson49 European discovery and exploration of the San Francisco Bay Area and its islands began in 1542 and culminated with the mapping of the bay in 1775. These Early visitors to the Bay Area, however, were preceded 10,000 to 20,000 years earlier by the native people indigenous to the area. Prior to the coming of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers, over 10,000 indigenous people, later to be called the Ohlone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "western people"), lived in the coastal area between Point Sur and the San Francisco Bay. Early use of Alcatraz Island by the indigenous people is difficult to reconstruct, as most tribal and village history was recorded and passed down generation-to-generation as an oral history of the people. A large portion of this oral history has been lost as a result of the huge reduction of the California Indian population following European contact and exploration. Based on oral history it appears that Alcatraz was used as a place of isolation for tribal members who had violated a tribal law or taboo, as a camping spot, an area for gathering foods, especially bird eggs and sea-life, and that Alcatraz was utilized also as a hiding place for many Indians attempting to escape from the California Mission system. Once Alcatraz Island became a prison, both military prisoners and civilians were incarcerated on the island. Among these were many American Indians. The largest single group of Indian prisoners sentenced to confinement on Alcatraz occurred in January 1895 when the U.S. government arrested, tried, and shipped nineteen Moqui Hopi to Alcatraz 49

http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/Indian.html

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Island. Indian people continued to be confined as prisoners in the disciplinary barracks on the island through the remainder of the 1800s and the early 1900s.

November 9, 1969 On this day, Indian people once again came to Alcatraz Island when Richard Oakes, a Mohawk Indian, and a group of Indian supporters set out in a chartered boat, the Monte Cristo, to symbolically claim the island for the Indian people. On November 20, 1969, this symbolic occupation turned into a full-scale occupation which lasted until June 11, 1971. The November 9, 1969 occupation was planned by Richard Oakes, a group of Indian students, and a group of urban Indians from the Bay Area. Since many different tribes were represented, the name "Indians of All Tribes" was adopted for the group. They claimed the island in the name of Indians of all tribes and left the island to return later that same evening. In meetings following the November 9th occupation, Oakes and his fellow American Indian students realized that a prolonged occupation was possible. Oakes visited the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA where he recruited Indian students for what would become the longest prolonged occupation of a federal facility by Indian people to this very day. Eighty Indian students from UCLA were among the approximately 100 Indian people who occupied Alcatraz Island. It is important to remember that the occupation force was made up initially of young urban Indian college students. And the most inspirational person was Richard Oakes. Oakes is described by most of those as handsome, charismatic, a talented orator, and a natural leader. Oakes was the most knowledgeable about the landings and the most often sought out and identified as the leader, the Chief, the mayor of Alcatraz.

Government “Negotiations” Once the occupiers had established themselves on the island, organization began immediately. An elected council was put into place and everyone on the island had a job; security, sanitation, day-care, school, housing, cooking, laundry, and all decisions were made by unanimous consent of the people. The federal government initially insisted that the Indian people leave the island, placed an ineffective barricade around the island, and eventually agreed to demands by the Indian council that formal negotiations be held. From the Indians side, the negotiations were fixed. They wanted the deed to the island; they wanted to establish an Indian university, a cultural center, and a museum. The government negotiators insisted that the occupiers could have none of these and insisted that they leave the island. By early 1970 the Indian organization began to fall into disarray. Two groups rose in opposition to Richard Oakes and as the Indian students began returning to school in January 1970, Indian people from the urban areas and from reservations who had not been involved in the initial occupation replaced them. Additionally, many non-Indians now began taking up residency on the island, many from the San Francisco hippie and drug culture. The final blow to the organized leadership occurred on January 5, 1970, when Oakes's 13-year-old stepdaughter fell three floors down a stairwell to her death. Following Yvonne's death, Oakes left the island and the two competing groups maneuvered back and forth for leadership on the island. The federal government responded to the occupation by adopting a position of noninterference. The FBI was directed to remain clear of the island. The Coast Guard was directed not to interfere, and the Government Services Administration (GSA) was instructed not to remove the Indians from the island. While it appeared to those on the island that negotiations were actually taking place, in fact, the federal government was playing a waiting game, hoping that support for the occupation

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would subside and those on the island would elect to end the occupation. At one point, secret negotiations were held where the occupiers were offered a portion of Fort Miley, in San Francisco, as an alternative site to Alcatraz Island. By this time, mid-1970, however, those on the island had become so entrenched that nothing less than full title to the island and the establishing of a university and cultural center, would suffice. In the meantime, the government shut off all electrical power, and removed the water barge which had provided fresh water to the occupiers. Three days following the removal of the water barge, a fire broke out on the island. Several historic buildings were destroyed. The government blamed the Indians; the Indians blamed undercover government infiltrators trying to turn non-Indian support against them. The new population on the island became a problem as time passed. The daily reports from the government caretaker on the island as well as testimony from the remaining original occupiers complain of the open use of drugs, fighting over authority, and general disarray of the leadership. An egalitarian form of government was supposed to prevail, yet no leadership was visible with which the government could negotiate. The occupation continued on into 1971 with various new problems emerging for the Indian occupiers. In an attempt to raise money to buy food, they allegedly began stripping copper wiring and copper tubing from the buildings and selling it as scrap metal. Three of the occupiers were arrested, tried and found guilt of selling some 600lbs of copper. In early 1971, the press, which had been largely sympathetic to this point, turned against them and began publishing stories of alleged beatings and assaults; one case of assault was prosecuted. Soon, little support could be found.

it was enough to push the federal government into action. President Nixon gave the go ahead to develop a removal plan—to take place when the smallest number of people were on the island and to use as little force as possible. On June 10, 1971, armed federal marshals, FBI agents, and Special Forces police swarmed the island and removed five women, four children, and six unarmed Indian men. The occupation was over. The success or failure of the occupation should not be judged by whether the demands of the occupiers were realized. The underlying goals of the Indians on Alcatraz were to awaken the American public to the reality of the plight of the first Americans and to assert the need for Indian self-determination. As a result of the occupation, whether directly or indirectly, the official government policy of termination of Indian tribes was ended and a policy of Indian self-determination became the official US government policy. During the period the occupiers were on Alcatraz Island, President Nixon returned Blue Lake and 48,000 acres of land to the Taos Indians. Occupied lands near Davis California would become home to a Native American university. The occupation of Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in Washington, D.C. would lead to the hiring of Native American's to work in the federal agency that had such a great effect on their lives. Alcatraz may have been lost, but the occupation gave birth to a political movement which continues to today.

All Things Must Come to an End In January 1971, two oil tankers collided in the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. Though it was acknowledged that the lack of an Alcatraz light or foghorn played no part in the collision, Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 203

Indians Of All Nations: The Alcatraz Proclamation To the Great White Father and his People, 1969 Fellow citizens, we are asking you to join with us in our attempt to better the lives of all Indian people. We are on Alcatraz Island to make known to the world that we have a right to use our land for our own benefit. In a proclamation of November 20, 1969, we told the government of the United States that we are here "to create a meaningful use for our Great Spirit’s Land." We, the native Americans, reclaim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery. We wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land, and hereby offer the following treaty: We will purchase said Alcatraz Island for twenty-four dollars in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man’s purchase of a similar island 300 years ago. We know that $24 in trade goods for these 16 acres is more than what was paid when Manhattan Island was sold, but we know that land values have risen over the years. Our offer of $1.24 per acre is greater than the $0.47 per acre the white men are now paying the California Indians for their lands.

and the rivers go down in the sea. We will further guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living. We will offer them our religion, our education, our way of life—ways in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all their white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state. We offer this treaty in good faith and wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with all white men. We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable for an Indian reservation, as determined by the white man’s own standards. By this, we mean that this place resembles most Indian reservations in that: 1.

It is isolated from modern facilities, and without adequate means of transportation. 2. It has no fresh running water. 3. It has inadequate sanitation facilities. 4. There are no oil or mineral rights. 5. There is no industry and so unemployment is very great. 6. There are no health-care facilities. 7. The soil is rocky and nonproductive, and the land does not support game. 8. There are no educational facilities. 9. The population has always exceeded the land base. 10. The population has always been held as prisoners and kept dependent upon others. Further, it would be fitting and symbolic that ships from all over the world, entering the Golden Gate, would first see Indian land, and thus be reminded of the true history of this nation. This tiny island would be a symbol of the great lands once ruled by free and noble Indians. What use will we make of this land?

We will give to the inhabitants of this island a Since the San Francisco Indian Center burned portion of the land of their own to be held in down, there is no place for Indians to assemble trust . . . by the Bureau of Caucasian Affairs . . . and carry on tribal life here in the white man’s in perpetuity—for as long as the sun shall rise Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 204

city. Therefore, we plan to develop on this island several Indian institutions: 1. A Center for Native American Studies will be developed which will educate them to the skills and knowledge relevant to improve their lives and spirits of all Indian peoples. Attached to this center will be traveling universities, managed by Indians, which will go to the Indian Reservations, learning this necessary and relevant materials now about 2. An American Indian Spiritual Center, which will practice our ancient tribal religious and sacred healing ceremonies. Our cultural arts will be featured and our young people trained in music, dance, and healing rituals. 3. An Indian Center of Ecology, which will train and support our young people in scientific research and practice to restore our lands and waters to their pure and natural state. We will work to de-pollute the air and waters of the Bay Area. We will seek to restore fish and animal life to the area and to revitalize sea-life which has been threatened by the white man’s way. We will set up facilities to desalt seawater for human benefit.

5. Some of the present buildings will be taken over to develop an American Indian museum which will depict our native food and other cultural contributions we have given to the world. Another part of the museum will present some of the things the white man has given to the Indians in return for the land and life he took: disease, alcohol, poverty and cultural decimation (as symbolized by old tin cans, barbed wire, rubber tires, plastic containers, etc.). Part of the museum will remain a dungeon to symbolize both those Indian captives who were incarcerated for challenging white authority and those who were imprisoned on reservations. The museum will show the noble and tragic events of Indian history, including the broken treaties, the documentary of the Trail of Tears, the Massacre of Wounded Knee, as well as the victory over Yellow-Hair Custer and his army. In the name of all Indians, therefore, we reclaim this island for our Indian nations, for all these reasons. We feel this claim is just and proper, and that this land should rightfully be granted to us as long as the rivers run and the sun shall shine. We hold the rock!

4. A Great Indian Training School will be developed to teach our people how to make a living in the world, improve our standard of living, and to end hunger and unemployment among all our people. This training school will include a center for Indian arts and crafts, and an Indian restaurant serving native foods, which will restore Indian culinary arts. This center will display Indian arts and offer Indian foods to the public, so that all may know of the beauty and spirit of the traditional Indian ways.

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Unfortunately, a poor local economy made the Mankiller family an easy target for the Bureau of Indian Affairs relocation program of the 1950s. Government agents were entrusted with the job of moving rural Cherokees to cities, effectively dispersing them and allowing others to buy their traditional, oil-rich lands. In 1959 the family moved to San Francisco, where Wilma's father could get a job and where Wilma began her junior high school years. This was not By Susannah Abbey50 a happy time for her. She missed the farm and she hated the school where white kids teased her Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of about being Native American and about her the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, lives on the name. land which was allotted to her paternal Mankiller decided to leave her parents and grandfather, John Mankiller, just after go to live with her maternal grandmother, Pearl Oklahoma became a state in 1907. Surrounded Sitton, on a family ranch inland from San by the Cherokee Hills and the Cookson Hills, Francisco. The year she spent there restored her she lives in a historically rich area where a confidence and after returning to the Bay Area, person's worth is not determined by the size of she got increasingly involved with the world of their bank account or portfolio. Her family name the San Francisco Indian Center. "Mankiller" as far as they can determine, is an "There was something at the Center for old military title that was given to the person in everyone. It was a safe place to go, even if we charge of protecting the village. As the leader of only wanted to hang out." The Center provided the Cherokee people she represented the second entertainment, social and cultural activities for largest tribe in the United States, the largest youth, as well as a place for adults to hold being the Dine (Navajo) Tribe. Mankiller was powwows and discuss matters of importance the first female in modern history to lead a with other BIA relocatees. Here, Mankiller major Native American tribe. With an enrolled became politicized at the same time reinforcing population of over 140,000, and an annual her identity as a Cherokee and her attachments budget of more than $75 million, and more than to the Cherokee people, their history and 1,200 employees spread over 7,000 square traditions. miles, her task may have been equaled to that of When a group of Native Americans a chief executive officer of a major corporation. occupied Alcatraz Island in November 1969, in Wilma Mankiller came from a large family protest of U.S. Government policies, which had, that spent many years on the family farm in for hundreds of years, deprived them of their Oklahoma. They were, of course, poor, but not lands, Mankiller participated in her first major desperately so. "As far back as I can remember political action. there were always books around our house," she "It changed me forever," she wrote. "It was recalls in her autobiography, Mankiller: A Chief on Alcatraz...where at long last some Native and Her People. "This love of reading came Americans, including me, truly began to regain from the traditional Cherokee passion for telling our balance." and listening to stories. But it also came from In the years that followed the "occupation," my parents, particularly my father....A love for Mankiller became more active in developing the books and reading was one of the best gifts he cultural resources of the Native American ever gave his children." community. She helped build a school and an Indian Adult Education Center. She directed the 50 http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=w_mankiller Native American Youth Center in East Oakland, with excepts from coordinating field trips to tribal functions, http://www.powersource.com/gallery/people/wilma. hosting music concerts, and giving kids a place html Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 206

Community Hero:

Chief Wilma Mankiller

to do their homework or just connect with each other. The youth center also gave her the opportunity to pull together Native American adults from around Oakland as volunteers, thus strengthening their ties. Mankiller says she learned on the job, joking "my enthusiasm seemed to make up for my lack of skills." But she was, in truth, a natural leader. She returned to Oklahoma in the 1970s where she worked at the Urban Indian Resource Center and volunteered in the community. Then in 1980 she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes varying degrees of weakness in the voluntary muscles of the body. She maintains that it was the realization of how precious life is that spurred her to begin projects for her people, such as the Bell project.

Wilma Mankiller

easy one. There had never been a woman leader of a Native American tribe. She had many ideas to present and debate, but encountered discouraging opposition from men who refused to talk about anything but the fact that she was a woman. Her campaign days were troubled by death threats, and her tires were slashed. She sought the advice of friends for ways to approach the constant insults, finally settling on a philosophy summed up by the epithet, "Don't ever argue with a fool, because someone walking by and observing you can't tell which one is the fool." In the end, Mankiller had her day: she was elected as first woman Deputy Chief, and over time her wise, strong leadership vindicated her supporters and proved her detractors wrong. In 1985, Chief Ross Swimmer resigned and left to become the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. With his resignation Mankiller was obligated to step into his position, becoming the first woman to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. In the historic tribal elections of 1987, Mankiller won the post out-right and brought unprecedented attention to the tribe as a result. "We are a revitalized tribe," said Mankiller, "After every major upheaval, we have been able to gather together as a people and rebuild a community and a government. Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward. We are able to do that because our culture, though certainly diminished, has sustained us since time immemorial. This Cherokee culture is a wellkept secret." In 1986, Wilma married long time friend and former director of tribal development, Charlie Soap. Mankiller's love of family and community became a source of strength when again a life threatening illness struck. Recurring kidney problems forced Mankiller to have a kidney transplant, her brother Don Mankiller served as the donor. During her convalescence, she had many long talks with her family, and it was decided that she would run again for Chief in order to complete the many community projects she had begun.

In 1981 she founded and then became director of the Cherokee Community Development Department, where she orchestrated a community-based renovation of the water system and was instrumental in lifting an entire town, Bell, Oklahoma, out of squalor and despair. It was the success of the Bell project that thrust Mankiller into national recognition as an expert in community development. In 1983, she ran for Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation. The campaign was not an Oklahoma History Supplemental Reader Page 207

Although poor health forced her to retire from that position in 1995, Wilma Mankiller continues to be a political, cultural, and spiritual leader in her community and throughout the United States. In 1990 Oklahoma State University honored her with the Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service Award, and in 1998, President Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. She has shown in her typically exuberant way that not only can Native Americans learn a lot from the whites, but that whites can learn from native people. Understanding the interconnectedness of all things, many whites are beginning to understand the value of native wisdom, culture and spirituality. Spirituality is then key to the public and private life of Wilma Mankiller who has indeed become known not only for her community leadership but also for her spiritual presence. A woman rabbi who is the head of a large synagogue in New York commented that Mankiller was a significant spiritual force in the nation.

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