Chronicles of Oklahoma Volume 8, No. 4 December, 1930 Oklahoma Historical Society Building 359 Editorials 365 The Legend of the Battle of Claremore Mound Rachel Caroline Eaton 369 Some Remnants of Frontier Journalism M. A. Ranck 378 General John Nicks and his Wife, Sarah Perkins Nicks Carolyn Thomas Foreman 389 A History of the Cherokee Indians Hugh T. Cunningham 407 Meeting of Board of Directors 441 Book Reviews 444 Necrology 454 OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAS. F. COLCORD, President THOS. H. DOYLE, Vice President PHIL D. BREWER, Vice President JASPER SIPES, Pres. Emeritus GOVERNOR W. J. HOLLOWAY THOS. A. EDWARDS Wm. P. THOMPSON MRS. EMMA ESTILL-HARBOUR MRS. JESSIE E. MOORE ROY M. JOHNSON CHAS. F. BARRETT MRS. FRANK KORN W. A. LEDBETTER Wm. S. KEY R. A. SNEED A. N. LEECRAFT MRS. W. A. ROBLIN R. L. WILLIAMS GRANT FOREMAN MRS. FRANK LUCAS BAXTER TAYLOR MRS. JOHN R. WILLIAMS MRS. T. B. FERGUSON E. E. DALE HARRY CAMPBELL MRS. EUGENE LAWSON DAN W. PEERY, Secretary BUILDING COMMITTEE JUDGE ROBERT L. WILLIAMS, Chairman JUDGE THOS. H. DOYLE, Vice Chairman JUDGE PHIL D. BREWER DAN W. PEERY JASPER SIPES W. A. LEDBETTER Wm. S. KEY

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OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING

(Description)

Building is built with a Georgia granite base & steps, Indiana limestone superstructure, plate glass in steel casements, Asphalt & gravel roof. Top floor has four galleries, two 35x80 & two 25x105 lighted entirely by sky & ceiling lights, day and night. Ground floor has auditorium to seat 400. Gallery for heavy museum pieces, newspaper stack-room, besides general toilets. 17x17 light courts to light upper halls and service rooms, also lower floors of the five stories of stacks, for library.

1st floor has large reading-room for library, reading room for newspapers, room for Patriotic Societies, Staff room, etc.

2nd floor has offices and work rooms for Historical Society Staff, room for each— Spanish American—World's-Civil War and Confederate War Veterans—Women's organizations, etc.

3rd floor and top floor mostly galleries for museum and pictures.

The construction is fire proof, reinforced concrete construction. Public floors are marble, Gallery floors parketry work—oak and walnut.

Trim is the finest of American walnut. Principal rooms and corridors, etc. beautifully decorated.

Building has automatic passenger and freight elevators and automatic book lifts for library and newspaper stacks. Building has elaborate heating and ventilating system, steam coming from heating plant of Capitol.

Each floor has electrically cooled drinking fountain.

Two block site; part of State Capitol Grounds; has been graded and terraced and all approach work done within the appropriation of $500,000.00.

Layton, Hicks and Forsyth—Architect. Holmboe Construction Co., Builders.

Yours truly, (Signed) EDWARD P. BOYD, Supervising Architect.

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SENATE BILL NO. 24

By Rice, Loofbourrow, Fidler, Kimerer, Rexroot, Austin, Ewing, Hill, Nesbitt and McDonald of the Senate; Leecraft, Snoddy, Graham, Moon, Campbell, Daniel, Cloyd, Stovall, Busey, Smith, Orner, Faulk, Skinner, Phillips, Strickland, Jones (Stephens), Wasson, Brown, Babb, Keenan, Roper, Mitchell, Hoover, Sears and Houston of the House.

AN ACT providing for the construction of a building to be located on the State Capitol Grounds in Oklahoma City to be used by the Oklahoma Historical Society, all organizations of all veteran soldiers and sailors and patriotic societies of the State of Oklahoma, said building to provide rooms for meetings and headquarters for all organizations of service men and auxiliary societies and associations in this State and for the use and occupancy of said building by the Oklahoma Historical Society, its library, museum, and other effects and property and for public meetings therein and its use for other public purposes, the construction of said building to be under the supervision of the State Board of Affairs and the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society, said building to be located on the State Capitol Grounds in accordance with the "Kessler Plan" and the architect's plans to be approved by the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society, and making appropriation for said purposes, and declaring an emergency.

The above is the title of the bill appropriating $500,000.00 from the Public Building Funds of the State for the construction of the Historical Building.

Approved by Governor W. J. Holloway and became the law March 1, 1929.

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PROGRAM

DEDICATION NEW BUILDING OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY NOVEMBER 15, 1930, 1:30 P. M.

HON. CHARLES F. COLCORD, President OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

JUDGE R. L. WILLIAMS, Presiding Music ------CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL BAND Invocation ------REV. J. J. METHVIN Address ------HON. WM. J. HOLLOWAY, GOVERNOR Address ------HON. WM. H. MURRAY, INCOMING GOVERNOR Accordion Number ------HON. SIDNEY SUGGS Address ------HON. FRANK H. GREER Address ------MISS ALICE ROBERTSON Address ------HON. THOMAS H. DOYLE Introduction ------CHAIRMAN Of PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES

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RESOLUTION

It is hereby resolved that it is the sense of the Historical Society of Oklahoma as expressed herein through its Board of Directors:

1. That the Society thank the Building Committee for the discharge of its duties in the manifold phases of the erection of the Historical Building. They exercised an intelligence that shall ever be gratifying in their selection of the style and character of building that was constructed; they discharged, with the utmost diligence, their duties of supervision of the construction work. Every dollar appropriated was honestly and with commendable business judgment expended. This noble edifice in its stability and eternal beauty attests how well the Building Committee did its work.

2. That the Historical Society thank Mr. Edward P. Boyd, the supervising architect, for his good and faithful service. He wrought with an understanding and ever vigilant care, and, so to speak, was the eyes of the Building Committee. His inflexible honesty, his ripe experience and learning were here exemplified in the building of this temple. 3. That to the Holmboe Construction Company, who did the building work, we express our very keen appreciation and our thanks. This company did in very truth a work of excellence in every detail. It shall be an enduring testimonial of master craftsmanship.

4. The architects of the Historical Building were Layton, Hicks & Forsyth. This firm drew the plans and specifications and supervised all construction work. It was they who worked out the plans, both as to utility and to the general and detailed arrangements of each column and arch and balustrade and lintel. In its noble design, its gracefulness of proportions, its simple stateliness, it is a work of the beautiful.

To its architects full credit is given for a work faithfully and gloriously executed.

Committee on Resolutions:

JUDGE BAXTER TAYLOR, Chairman, MRS. FRANK KORN, GEN. CHARLES F. BARRETT, MRS. FRANK LUCAS, JUDGE THOS. A. EDWARDS, CHARLES F. COLCORD.

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EDITORIAL WHAT IS HISTORY?

Page 365

From the address of William H. Murray at the dedication of the Historical Society Building, Nov. 15, 1930.

"What is history? Napoleon said history was fables agreed upon. History is a record of acts and deeds and achievements of a people. Too often it is taken to mean a chronology of officers. The knowledge of the code of morals, of degree of intelligence is of greater value. The nearer history gets to the people, the greater is its benefits to the people. What is the purpose of knowing history? Of what value is it? None unless it can be used to indicate the future. Confucius once said: Learn the past and you will know the future. The purpose of the study of history is that we may extract the philosophy of history, to determine whither we are drifting. It is easy enough to know we are moving. There are three conditions of civilization. One moves upward. One downward, and one moves rapidly but goes nowhere. No civilization ever stood still. It rests in the minds and hearts of the people. A citizenship which stands erect, in short who thinks most of name and character is safe."

AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

The Oklahoma Historical Society is an educational institution, as much so as any state school, and its ambitions to serve the entire people, not alone the students who are enrolled in the schools. This institution is more especially intended for the students of history, archaeology and ethnology. We have collected here a library of books, pamphlets and rare manuscript for the use of those interested in the study of the history of Oklahoma, which includes also the history of the Five Civilized Tribes, as well as the traditions and the known history of the many other tribes of Indians

Page 366 that now constitute a part of the citizenship of Oklahoma. This collection constitutes an historical library that is invaluable to the student, whether he be a writer, a student in the schools of the state or a private citizen in the search of historical knowledge.

Our wonderful collection of Oklahoma Newspapers is another source of history of the state. The student will get a more comprehensive idea of any event of historical importance if he can read the contemporary newspaper accounts written by those who had first hand information. These newspaper stories give us the very atmosphere surrounding the subject written about, and the student of history can get a much clearer and fuller view of his subject than by reading the account written by the research historian. In fact every student can be his own research historian. We have in our newspaper archives more than 10,000 bound volumes of newspapers— including Cherokee papers published in Georgia before the treaty party of the Indians came west. Among other rare papers pertaining to Oklahoma and the Southwest are five volumes of the "Cheyenne Transporter," published at Old Darlington (Fort Reno) from 1880 to 1886—and hundreds of other papers of interest to the student of history. These papers are classified chronologically and listed alphabetically in the paper files and are accessible to those who are interested.

We have in our Indian Historical Museum now in its permanent home in the South gallery on the third floor of the building, more relics, curios, pictures and historical mementos of the Indians, and especially those of the Five Civilized Tribes, than can be found in any other museum west of the Mississippi. But this is not the entire museum; in the north gallery in the historical museum is a collection that pertains to the white settlement and to pioneer American history. While there are now many rare and valuable pictures, documents and relics, and this will no doubt be added to as historical matter is collected for this department. In the east gallery is being assembled a fine collection of prehistoric matter. The Society has specialized along this line and has made much original research, partly through the aid of the Smithsonian

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Institution at Washington. Some of the more recent archaeologic discoveries have not yet been placed on exhibition, waiting for suitable cases in which to properly display them. There is also down in the large basement room on the south end of the building many reminders of the old frontier life, chief among which is the old stage coach used in the days before automobiles and railroads were known. All these things are history visualized. It gives the student a better idea of past civilization than he could ever gain from reading alone.

But what is the use to tell more about this great institution—it belongs to the people of Oklahoma and it is the earnest wish of those in charge that they shall visit the new building and take advantage of the opportunities here afforded in the study of history and kindred subjects.

D. W. P.

THE HOUSE OF HISTORY

(Editorial Tulsa World.)

A land without memories is a country without pride, and a country without pride in its history is merely a region of degradation. Oklahoma, in the sense of origin and of history, is a country, a land, an empire. Its present formal status as a state does not fully express its strange, romantic, rapid, vivid development, its distinctions above those of any other state. Oklahoma was routed for a great destiny along a wonderful way. It is much more than a state; it is the meeting place of epochs and races and aspirations.

Dedication of the Oklahoma Historical Society building at the capital was an event far out of the ordinary. Few states have any such buildings, and the creation of such a center in the twenty-third year of statehood is in itself a notable achievement. This enterprise is primarily the work of the Historical society, founded by the pioneers themselves in their years of toil and struggle. It is highly gratifying that pioneers remain and that they have dedicated their own building in which they have assembled the evidences of the many periods and movements and migrations which go to make up our history. This history of ours moves in decades rather than cen-

Page 368 turies. So it comes that men and women who appeared when organized government was in the primary stage, or even before, have seen the successive stages of the pioneer, the formal settler, the establishment and disbanding of territories, the end of tribal nations and the coming of a mighty state are still active, and alert to all the interests of the present time. No other pioneers in all history have been so privileged. The assembling of relics of the successive periods and developments was not left to chance or to other generations. People who made history preserved it.

The occupancy of this fine structure should remind all of us that the pioneer period passed well ahead of the pioneers themselves. They have turned over to us an invaluable collection, but it is not complete. There are relics outside this building; they are in danger from loss or destruction. We have a house for all of them, and it is a center of patriotism, memory, history, education, a treasure house of sentiment and even of tradition. The articles in our storehouse are eloquent of the glamorous, swift years and their increasing meanings.

The collections in the historical building may appeal to antiquarians, scholars and writers as being divided into classes or epochs or eras, but to most of us it is all one glorious chapter. We may start with the aborigines, with the flamboyant and gainful Spaniards, the heroic French explorers, the fur traders and the plainsmen, the migrating tribes, the cattlemen and soldiers, the plains Indians or the participants in the unique openings, but we arrive at a common point of pride and admiration. Our people should identify themselves with this building and its inspiring treasures. If we cannot endow it with relics and evidences, we can take pride and sympathetic interest.

The occasion is one for thanks to the Historical society and the people who have brought on the historical sentimental center on the capitol grounds. The work has been in progress since the phase of general settlement began.

We wish to remind Tulsans and the people of the entire surrounding territory that the historical building is emphatically that of the entire state. The capital city is easy of access and the historical building is an added incentive for a visit. Any of us going to that vicinity should make it a point to go to the historical building. THE LEGEND OF THE BATTLE OF CLAREMORE MOUND

BY RACHEL CAROLINE EATON

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I This story is a composite of many sources. The wrap is authentic history based on the written records and on the hill which stands as the immutable background of this tragic encounter; the woof is fashioned of legends, traditions and fireside tales passed by word of mouth from generation to generation of each of the tribes that took part in the engagement; but the fabric woven of these elements is shot through with the memory was embroidered with the imagery of one whose childhood was spent under the shadow of the historic hill, the grassy slopes and rock-rimmed summit of which furnished a marvelous playground where romantic youth seeking adventure could salvage, with eager interest, such relics of a vanished culture as arrow heads, battered tomahawks, and bits of colored beads; could gather gorgeous wild flowers to lay with childish reverence on the grave of the great chief who gave his name to the Mound where he is said to have fallen fighting; or garner great handfuls of fragrant blood-red berries that ripened in such profusion on the site of the village of Pasuga in the time of the Strawberry Moon.

II

The battle of Claremore Mound was fought between the Osages and the Cherokees in the spring of 1818 during the season of wild strawberries called by the Indians "Strawberry Moon." This bloody engagement was the culmination of a long-standing feud between the two tribes of different stock and cultural background, which, to some extent, may account for its savage fierceness.

The Osages were among the most impressive and picturesque of the wild tribes living west of the Father of Waters.

On November 10, 1808, by a treaty with the United States concluded at Fort Clark, Kansas, near Kansas City, Missouri, the Osages ceded to the United States all their lands east of a line running due south from Fort Clark to Arkan-

Page 370 sas river, and also all of their lands west of Missouri river, the whole comprising the larger part of what is now the state of Missouri and the northern part of Arkansas. The territory remaining to them, all of the present state of Oklahoma north of Canadian and Arkansas rivers, was still further reduced by the provisions of treaties at Saint Louis, June 2, 1825; Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, January 11, 1839; and Canville, Kansas, September 29, 1865; and the limits of their reservation were established by Acts of Congress of July 15, 1870. This consisted (1906) of 1,470,058 acres.

The tribe numbered something like five thousand when, about 1800, the main body migrated to the valleys of the Grand and Verdigris in what is now eastern Oklahoma. Their two main villages in this region were Pasona or Black Dog's Town, near the present site of Claremore, and Pasuga at the foot of Claremore Mound where lived the hereditary war chief of the tribe called by the French and Osages Claremont and pronounced by the English Claremore. The Osages were hunters, living in the barbarous stage of development. While their village-sites were more or less permanent, their houses, built of a framework of poles covered with bark and rushes, were frail structures requiring repairs and restoration after each return from the buffalo hunt to which, at stated seasons of the year, big, little, old and young betook themselves, leaving their lodges deserted for weeks at a time.

They were people of fine physique, tall, straight, and of commanding appearance. According to the artist Catlin, who visited their villages in the early thirties of the nineteenth century and painted portraits of some of their chiefs, they ranged from six to seven feet in stature, and were well proportioned in body. Their dress was simple, consisting of leggings and moccasins; the body from the waist up was unclothed except for the buffalo-robe thrown over the shoulders to protect them from the most rigorous weather of winter.

The scalp clean shaven, and the bare body were painted with some degree of artistic taste. Long strands of beads and elk's teeth hung around the neck, bracelets decorated the arms, and a peculiar style of head-dress completed their costume.

With these giants of the prairie the French had been

Page 371 on the most friendly terms for many years; had established trading posts in their country to which the Indians brought furs to exchange for supplies of beads, silver ornaments of various kind, kettles, knives and firearms. As early as 1798 Pierre Chouteau of St. Louis had set up a trading post on the Grande River, which long remained a center of barter with the western Indians. A survival of this French influence is still to be found in such names as Chouteau, Salina, Sallisaw, Poteau and Verdigris.

Unlike the French, the Cherokees were not held in high regard by the Osages but were considered intruders, aliens, if not apostates whose strange ways and mediocre stature furnished targets for the pungent wit and dry sarcasm for which the "Big People" were noted.

A fragment of the most powerful and progressive mountain tribe of the Appalachian Highland was known as the Cherokee Nation; these western Cherokees had left home for various reasons and for more than a quarter of a century had drifted in by families or by groups of kin and located in settlements along the streams of the Arkansas and White Rivers until in 1817 they numbered between two and three thousand souls. In the east the Cherokees were a sedentary, agricultural people, hunting being only secondary. These families had brought with them from the east, some of the essential elements of civilization and their gardens, orchards and grain fields, together with their horses, hogs and cattle furnished them an abundant and assured subsistence. Nor were they illiterate. Had not their great Sequoyah given them an alphabet, himself teaching them its use in order that they might communicate with one another and with friends and kin in Georgia and Tennessee?

The naturalist, Thomas Nuttall, who visited this band in 1819, found them living in houses of logs or lumber, comfortable and furnished with a degree of good taste beyond that of most pioneer white settlers of the time. This he tells us in his "Journals of Travel in the Arkansas Territory."

These Cherokees for years were settlers without title to their homes, however, a status which had begun to disturb them greatly as time went on.

Not only did the Osages despise these Cherokees, but they looked upon them as intruders. Nor was the heavy hand

Page 372 of the "Big People" long in descending upon the hapless heads of the "alien people," as the Cherokees were considered by the wild plainsmen who made forays into the Cherokee settlement, stealing horses, carrying off captives and murdering in cold blood. The Cherokees retaliated in kind, even invading Osage territory. This border warfare continued for several years, making life hideous for all concerned.

Such was the state of affairs when in 1817 word reached the Osages that a treaty was pending between the United States Government and the Western Cherokees. The great Indian fighter, Andrew Jackson, representing the Federal Government, had charge of the negotiations and was pressing the Cherokees for a cession of land in Georgia in exchange for a tract* between the Arkansas and White Rivers in the Arkansas Territory, land which the Osages had ceded to the United States, but which they still claimed because, they said, the treaty had never been ratified in Washington. Regardless of all opposition the treaty was concluded July 8, 1817, which changed the status of the Arkansas band of Cherokee from settlers without title to their homes to that of the Cherokee Nation West.

The Osages, furious over the culmination of affairs, began a series of depredations calculated to show to all concerned what they thought of it.

A pathetic letter sent to the Governor of the Missouri Territory in 1817 by the old chief Tah-lun-tees-ky is the source of this information. It was written in Cherokee and translated by an interpreter. "We wish you to pity us, for the Osages are deaf to all we can say or do. They have stolen two of our best horses and killed two of our young men," he wrote, adding that the Cherokees had stood about all of this sort of thing they could endure. Something must be done about it. The rivers were running red with blood of the Cherokees. They, the Cherokees were going to the Osage country and get their horses, and while there would "do mischief" to those Indians. Would the Governor, when he heard of it, be pleased to remember "the piling up" of their provocations and not be too hard on the Cherokees? But week after week passed and still the Cherokees failed to make good their threat. On the other hand Osage raids into Cherokee country continued on a small scale through the

Page 373 fall and winter. The big coup, however, was being reserved for spring, when grass was plentiful and the corn-fed horses of the Cherokee would be turned out to graze at night. Moreover, a foray depriving the Cherokees of their horses at a critical period of their crops would desolate the country, prostrate the tribe, and drive them back to Georgia, leaving the Osages to recover their lost territory.

So the great drive was made. A hundred warriors are reported to have participated in it. Viewed by the Osages it was a huge success, a raid of unprecedented magnitude. While the Cherokees, weary from their farm work, slept the sleep of the just, the Osages collected and drove off all their best horses. It was done so deftly, with such silent precision, that not even the dogs were disturbed to give warning. The horses vanished between suns as if by magic, forty from one small neighborhood alone, leaving only a few of the poorer sort to be used in pursuit.

And so without let or hindrance the wily marauders drove their booty in triumph across the Six Bulls or Grand River and thence to safe pasturage in the vicinity of their own towns.

But, this once, the bold prairie warriors had overshot their mark, had reckoned without their host in relying upon the supine helplessness of their enemies. The Cherokees had their backs to the wall.

On awakening to the realization of their loss, the Cherokees determined on a prompt course of action. Too-an-tuh, their war chief, called a council of war and plans were laid for the long promised punitive expedition into the country of the marauders to recover their horses and chastise the enemy.

Preparations began without delay; guns and ammunition were made ready, hunting knives were sharpened, and a sufficient number of horses borrowed as mounts for the warriors from white renters who had not been molested and a strong coalition was formed with several other tribes unfriendly to the Osages.

To the women of the tribe fell the task of provisioning the little army. It was a simple task to prepare a sufficient quantity of kewees-tah, ancient war ration of the tribe and a diet admirably suited to such an undertaking. This was made by first parching grains of maize or corn in the ashes

Page 374 until they were brown and crisp, and then pounding them into meal in a mortar. Eaten dry by the handful or mixed with a little water it was a palatable, nutritious, and wholesome food. The war-party of six hundred fighting men and scouts that finally started on the march up the Arkansas to the Osage country was composed not only of Cherokees but of Choctaws, Shawnees, and warriors of other tribes which had suffered at the hands of the marauders. With them were eleven white men who also cherished grievances against the Osages. The trail of the Osages was easy to follow. "There was such a large herd of the stolen horses that a road was made as they went along," so well beaten out that there was small danger of losing it or of being misled by any strategy of the marauders. Approaching the villages of the Osages, the Cherokees had need of the utmost caution. Halting in the hollow of a little creek, they rested and waited for darkness to conceal their movements. Scouts returning reported that "all was clear." Resuming the advance they arrived by midnight at Black Dogs creek on the western bank of which stood the village of Pasona. Here all was silent and deserted. The Indians had gone on a buffalo-hunt.

Again taking up the trail of the horses which led northwestward and following it under cover of darkness the silent but determined Cherokees and their allies advanced toward Pasuga where the great warchief, Clermont, with his four wives and thirty- seven children, together with the rest of the village, slept on, all unconscious of the approaching disaster. A halt was called in the shelter of a grove of trees while scouts went forward to reconnoiter. Returning almost immediately, they reported that the horses were grazing just beyond the grove; herded by a few sleepy Osages. A sudden impetuous attack on the part of the Cherokees took these herdsmen utterly unaware, who, leaving their horses, took to their heels, running in mad haste toward the village to warn the sleeping inhabitants that the "foul fiends" were upon them. One, braver than the rest, stayed to try conclusions with the foe. Mounting his pony, at a single bound he dashed full-speed into the thick of the enemy, killing one man as he went. The next instant he fell mortally wounded, shouting

Page 375 the tribal war-cry with his last breath. So die brave warriors of every clime and creed and race.

Thus began the bloody massacre. Revenge was sweet to the suffering Cherokees whose blood was up at last. The sun, glancing over the eastern rim of the prairie, beheld a strange sight. The peaceful village of yesterday had become a shambles. The motley group of silent, serene, civilized red men who so calmly followed the trail the day before had been transformed into a mad melee of furies.

Through the panic-stricken herd of horses the avenging host charged, stampeding them in every direction to increase the disorder. On toward the village they swept where now reigned confusion worse confounded. The surprise was so complete as to demoralize the Osages from the start, causing them to give way at the approach of the Cherokees. Men, women and children fled in the greatest disorder, the latter hiding behind boulders, trees or underbrush while the warriors retreated up the hill where the rock-rimmed summit formed a natural rampart and the steep slopes gave every advantage for defensive fighting. Armed with bows and arrows and with guns, and occupying a strategic position, with the Cherokees exposed to their open fire, the Osages should have won the encounter by every token of Indian warfare. But this they failed to do. For the Cherokees, long accustomed to the use of firearms, were skilled marksmen, aiming their muskets with deadly precision, picking off any unwary Osage who exposed himself to their fire. Moreover, exasperated by continued loss of property, smarting from taunts of their inferiority, remembering friends and kinsmen murdered in cold blood, at last they found themselves worked up to a pitch of passion little short of madness.

Gone beserk with revenge and excitement, they charged madly up the slope, driving the Osages from every cover, until they had gained a foothold on the very summit and could thus come to a death-grip with the enemy. The Osages, stricken helpless with fear, threw away their empty guns, rushed headlong down the further slope, and plunged blindly into the seething current of the river, swollen from the spring rains and filled with floating driftwood. The weak and wounded perished. Those who reached the farther bank

Page 376 continued their flight to hide in the rocky ravines or in the scanty underbrush of the neighboring streams.

For a part of two days the Cherokees pursued the fugitives and, rejecting all overtures of peace, slew without mercy, or captured all who were overtaken. Scores of men, women, and children thus perished from the relentless fury of the foe, victims of one of the bloodiest Indian massacres of modern history.

Satisfied at last that their work was well done, the victorious Cherokees rounded up their horses and, driving them before them and leading their captives beside them, turned their faces homeward. Moving in triumphal procession, the battle-stained cavalcade followed the well-trodden trail of the stolen horses back to the Six Bulls and beyond to the settlement on the Arkansas and White Rivers, where a joyous welcome awaited them from anxious wives and children.

After the Cherokees were well on their way homeward, the remnant of the beaten Osages returned to repair their homes, reorganize the band and take up life again on the scene of the great disaster. One of their first acts was to bury their great and beloved war-chief who in the early part of the conflict fell mortally wounded near the southern rim of the hill. Here a shallow grave was made after the custom of the tribe and the body of the warrior laid reverently to rest near the place where he fell, after the ritual and according to the ceremonies of his people.

A cairn of white limestone, heaped above his body, rose as a fitting monument to the war leader of the great Osages, one of the most distinguished and picturesque of America's oboriginal peoples.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Sources American State Paper, Claims Vol. 1. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I and II, Catlin, George, Letters and Notes on the Manners and Customs of the North American Indians. James, Edwin. An Expedition Into the Rocky Mountains. Morse, Jedediah. Report of Secretary of War on Indian Affairs 1822. Niles Register Vol. XIII.

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Nuttall, Thomas, Journals of Travel in the Arkansas Territory, 1919. Owen, Narcissa, Memoirs of Washburn, Cephas. Remminiscence of the Indians. Wilkinson, Capt. James S., Journal of the Voyage Down the Arkansas 1806.

SECONDARY AUTHORITIES

1. Benedict, John D., History of Muskogee. 2. Buchanan and Dale, A History of Oklahoma. 3. Eaton, Rachel Caroline, John Ross and the Cherokee Indians. 4. Foreman, Grant, History of the Old Southwest. 5. Hill, Luther A., History of the State of Oklahoma. 6. Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokees, 19th Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 7. Royce, C. C., The Cherokee Nation of Indians, 5th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. SOME REMNANTS OF FRONTIER JOURNALISM

M. A. Ranck

Page 378

A RECORD OF PIONEER LIFE AND SPIRIT

On the outer edge of the last frontier of the Southwest less than forty years ago there was founded a small commonwealth which had the unique experience of being obliterated politically little more than a decade after its ambitious citizens were talking of setting up an independent republic. The spirit of its earliest citizens, their viewpoints, their role as boosters for the West, the ways in which they handled their local problems and enterprises are most interestingly recorded in a few surviving copies of their first newspaper.

At the time that Oklahoma became a state a reorganization of counties left one entirely from the map. This was Day County, comprising what is now the southern part of Ellis County and the northern half of old Roger Mills County.

Until April nineteenth of 1892 this was within the Indians' country; first the hunting ground of the early Plains Tribes, then a part of possessions of the Five Civilized Tribes until 1867, and then the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country, and for a time the range of the ranchmen's herds and horses. With the opening to settlement there began a more or less duel development; the gradual decline of the big cattle ranches and the settlement of homesteads and at the same time the increase of small cattle ranches, many in connection with the holding of "filed claims".

The northwest corner of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country was first designated as "E" County. Soon afterward it was named Day County and the location for a county seat was called Ioland. Here the first court house was built and county government was organized by the usual governor's appointees, chief among them, one Kirtley, county clerk. The ordinary political beginnings of a simple frontier settlement, it seems, but not so in the local annals of the time.

One day there gathered at Ioland about fifty aroused and determined citizens. A temporary mass organization was formed, the chairman appointed two men a committee to investigate the records of the county officers and gave them one hour in which to report. One hour was brief for such a duty, even on the frontier, so the committee limited the investiga-

Page 379 tion to a footing of the warrant book and reported. The county officers were then called before the assembled people and soon the sound of their wagons was heard in the distance as they drove toward the county line. The case for the settlement of the debt incurred by this misappropriation of funds was concluded in 1898.

The first elected county officers organized the county into commissioners' districts and provided for school districts. These proceedings were afterward reported in the county newspaper.

About the first of October, in 1893, there appeared on the south bank of the Canadian River a man, by name Smith, and his son, Harry, with an old Washington printing press. A safe crossing was considered doubtful so the two rode horse-back to Ioland, visited about several days, collected some news and returned across the river. Here in a thicket of brush they printed the first copy of the "Day County Tribune," the "official organ of Day County" and its first newspaper.

The second issue was dated at Ioland, October nineteenth, 1893. Issue seven of November twenty-third was dated at Grand. The first subscriber, the Probate Judge, Robert Alcorn, was recorded in the second issue. The third issue recorded eleven additional subscribers, chiefly county officials.

F. M. Smith, the paper's founder, was its editor and publisher for over a year. He was assisted by his son, termed associate editor. Nothing is known of these two men, whence they came or where they afterward followed the fortunes of the journalist, if they did. This small sheet for whose existence they were at first responsible and which recorded so much of the enterprising, boosting spirit of the citizens of the county kept much the same character through the six years of its life although it passed through the hands of at least ten other editors, owners and publishers, including several members of Judge Alcorn's family and a woman, Lizzie Mead.

The subscription price was always a dollar a year. Special rates and inducements were offered to subscribers who might wish to send a copy east to friends, for, in the words of the editor, ". . . by these means we advertise our county."

How much of interest to homesteaders was found in the two pages of the patent inside, including a young people's column, sections for women and the home, some national

Page 380 news, and advertisements one can guess. The outside pages included the local and personal news, commissioner's proceedings, the registration of ranch brands, and all other official county notices. Much space was usually given to articles featuring the great advantages of life in this developing frontier and boosting of local projects. These two outer pages were always enthusiastically alive with the spirit of the people in their frontier experiment. Many of the foremost settlers had come directly from the states east and north, some came from Texas, and a few had been in or near the region as cattlemen. Many were people of education and position in the homes they had left. Others were noteworthy for their patriotic enthusiasm as expressed by means of the newspaper.

The Tribune was scheduled to appear every Thursday, but sometimes was late. The mechanics of the enterprise once drew from the editor the confession:

"Invention and machinery may be a detriment to the working people but the printer of a country paper would not object to a little steam to run his paper through the press instead of grinding it through by hand. It is a good deal like turning a grind stone."

The second issue of the paper, dated October nineteenth, began items of local correspondence from the east side of the county;

"Turkey Creek Rumblings.—Everyone is busy. Turkey Creek is on a boom . . . As I promised to give a description of Turkey Creek this week, here goes. —She is a great big stream with broad and fertile valleys covered with luxuriant grasses, heavily timbered and dotted over with happy homes."

Several articles on agriculture described the varieties of soil, locations on which corn would do best, the advantages of raising broom-corn, the history of alfalfa and how to grow it, and such comments;

"Clover will grow here . . . Every homesteader in the county should have an orchard."

A lengthy article described the geography and resources of the county and ended— "With all these advantages and a good supply of stock water, it is really the cow man's paradise.

"The county finances are in good shape, in very much better condition than any other county in the C and A coun-

Page 381 try. We have a straight-forward, honest, and efficient set of county officials who have taken hold of county affairs, and who are determined to put the county where it properly belongs, in the front rank. To those who wish to make themselves pleasant homes or those who have small lots of stock that are crowded for grass can certainly and profitably make a beneficial change by coming to this county.

"Crops of all kinds were excellent this year, the best fields of corn making an average of forty bushels per acre, oats about the same, wheat heavy and of good quality, sorghum extry good. Melons, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, and goober peas do as well as could be desired . . .

"Ioland is the county seat and is situated one half mile north of the Canadian River on a pretty table land commanding a beautiful view of the surrounding country. It has a store, hotel, court house, and several residences, also a tri-weekly mail route via Grand Postoffice to Higgins, Texas, and a weekly route to Carmargo, 'D' County."

An editorial further emphasized,—"RESOURCES."

"Our county is rich in resources, there being abundance of grass only waiting to be converted into beef for market, timber waiting to furnish shelter and warmth for multitudes, and land only awaiting the hand of the husbandman to fill his granaries and till. Deer, turkey, bear, and prairie chickens can be found to supply his larder."

Just after the issuance of the second copy of the Tribune the county seat was moved from Ioland to Grand by a process typical of frontier action. After some delay over a petition some citizens and officials became impatient. So, two of them, the judge and the clerk, loaded the county records and other properties into a wagon and drove away to Grand.

The newspaper moved also, apparently about the same time and records the story of the county seat removal or theft as it is still described by some old-time residents.

"On Monday, the thirteenth (November, 1893) the county officials together with all county effects were moved from Ioland to Grand near the center of the county where a large tent was awaiting occupancy in a fine grove of timber, and was soon converted into a court house. On Tuesday and Wednesday the townsite was surveyed and platted and Saturday at ten o'clock several selected their lots and are mak-

Page 382 ing preparations to build at once. Sealed bids will be received up to the twenty-fifth for a court house which will be built immediately."

This same issue of the Tribune became eloquent over the advantages of the new county seat site.

"Grand is destined to be a city within a few years. It is located in the center of the population and near the center of the county. Its water supply cannot be overestimated. There are several springs located about forty-five feet above the town which runs a stream two feet wide by four inches, pure and soft. Anyone can see that Grand has natural water works which excell any in Oklahoma. There is no getting out of order, no limit to the supply of water. It is always running. It doesn't cost the city fifty or a hundred thousand dollars per year either . . . .

"In two short months a quiet farm will be transformed into a thriving city of over one hundred inhabitants, but unlike most cities we will continue to grow . . . ."

This new location had been known as Robinson Springs for some time past and its natural advantages had been evident to cattlemen, some of whom had wintered there. Just when the name, Grand, was acquired is not certain. The only settler near the springs was Adam Walck who had homesteaded there.

The same issue also published an article urging the opening of a county road from Grand to Cheyenne.

"If said road should be opened the benefits to Day County and the traveling public will soon pay the expense of opening. We would then have a direct road with Greer County on the south and Texas immigration would reach us . . . ."

And this same issue, remarkable for the outburst of enthusiastic advertising of county and newly founded town contained other articles as;

"ATTENTION!" "To cattlemen . . . . It is not yet too late to come to Day County and look out a location where there is fine winter grass, shelter from the storms and stock water." . . .

"Come to Day County for happy homes! For good water, free water, and pure water, come to Grand . . . ."

"Wanted, a lot of high average citizens to settle in the

Page 383 town of Grand, and to locate in Day County who are energetic, thorough-going people, and in favor of schools, law, order, morality, progress, and all other ennobling attributes...." And the self assurance and confidence in the destiny of the new commonwealth reached the stage of protest against lack of recognition abroad;

"Citizens of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Country Demand Recogition.

"Wanted: to let Oklahoma proper know that the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Country will in the course of human events when it becomes necessary, demand some little recognition of the Public patronage that falls on our side of the line .... We think the time has come that we be recognized as a part of Oklahoma and not a mere dependency."

And the same little sheet, twenty by thirteen inches, which found room on its two pages for so much expression of the people's belief in the frontier venture also found space for personal and other news. It was recorded that there was talk of starting a bank. The "Day County Townsite Company" met "for business of special importance."

"Adam Walck moved into his new residence. It has three rooms and a pantry, is comfortable, convenient, and will be supplied with water from the springs."

And the telling comment; "The sound of saw and hammer are heard in the land."

The issue of December seventh, less than a month after the moving of the county seat, reported;

"Work has commenced on the court house."

"The saw mill has moved in and will be ready for work by Monday."

"H. E. Downing, treasurer, has a store building 14x26 feet under construction."

"John Price subscribed for the Tribune and had it sent to a friend and his mother in Ohio."

"We extend our thanks to Mr. H. E. Downing and Shannon McCray (County Attorney) for the valuable assistance rendered the Tribune in the way of editorials."

The Commissioners' Proceedings of July 3, 1893, were reported in full.

A lengthy article urged again the advantages of a bank.

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A brief comment gives some light on progress in settlement;

"People seem to have just realized that there is such a county as Day in Oklahoma judging from the unusual rush of immigration to Day County. Should this continue it would be but a short time until every quarter section would be taken."

And the long boosting editorials end poetically; "Come! Come! where the earth glows with the colors of civilization; the banks of the rippling streams are enameled with the richest grasses; the birds of spring find their delight in the woodlands; while brilliant flowers decorate the hills and valleys, and the God of fortune opens his bountiful treasury to the poor and downtrodden."

The last issue before the year's end, December 21, reported the completion of the County Attorney's residence, urged again the founding of a bank, and announced that a term of district court was to be demanded. The front page was almost covered by an article beginning:

GRAND

"On the banks of the Canadian River In the center of a beautiful valley There has sprung up a lovely city— The pride of this fair county . . . .

"She will in the near future rival any city in Oklahoma for her greatness. She is peopled by a high class of moral citizens easily distinguished from the common run of mortality by their intelligence, push, and enterprise, a characteristic of every true westerner.

"It is their intention to make Grand the manufacturing center of Oklahoma, and a seat of learning rivaled by none . . . ."

The next issue of the Tribune did not appear until January fourth, of 1894, perhaps due to the holiday season. No reason was given. There were very special messages to the home seekers:

"Day County, Queen of western Oklahoma, offers a safe haven and extends a cordial invitation to the poor and homeless."

"O, you downtrodden horney-handed sons of toil! Rise

Page 385 up! Take Mary and the children, go out to western Oklahoma, Day County, get you a home at $1.50 per acre and five years to pay it in; throw off the shackles of being a tenant before it is too late."

The chief article of this issue recalls something of the self-sufficient and self- determining spirit of some other frontiers, the free State of Franklin in the eastern mountains, the so-called Free State of Ochiltree.

REBELLION IN OKLAHOMA

"The time is now ripe for the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country to rebel and demand recognition; to throw off the yoke which tyrants and demagogues have been forcing upon us. We have been imposed on and done great injustice by old Oklahoma, and now demand a recognition of our rights which they have got to respect or something will 'drap.' Since the opening of our country old Oklahoma has considered and treated us as a mere dependency to furnish employment and to be ruled by egotistic non- entities from their own ranks. As a free and independent people we are simply following the first impulse of all enlightened nations when they are being forced into the narrow confines of monarchy by rebelling, and as a result we will establish a proud Republic here in the C and A Country that will be fawned and courted by old Oklahoma ere many years have elapsed.

"It is a well known fact that we possess talent inferior to none in old Oklahoma. Two Districts have been formed, and we are going to ask and demand as a courtesy due us the appointment of a man from our country to the office of District Judge . . . ."

The spring brought added interest in agriculture and the Tribune furnished articles by a graduate of the Kansas Agriculture College on alfalfa. In these April issues were also printed instructions for the Round-up of the Woodward District, which still included a large territory and indicated that the cattleman's reign was not yet a story of the past.

"The round-up will commence on May 5, at Dead Man's Creek on the Washita River, with the foremen of the various ranches as superintendents, and will start up the river to its head, thence up the North Canadian River to the ranch of Hunt and Pryor, then outfits will divide, going up Wolf Creek

Page 386 to the state line, the other up Beaver Creek to Beaver City; thence north to Cimmarron River to Perry's ranch; thence down the river, to the mouth of George Creek."

The county seat removal was the chief subject of controversy in Day County until the territorial legislature legalized the change early in the year of 1895. Meanwhile the Tribune from time to time carried the local story and printed a summary of the story May 24, 1894.

"The question as to the location of our county seat has for the past four months caused much anxiety among a number of citizens and the county officers. From the fact that the Tribune has been neutral in the matter, our family disturbance has not reached far from home; but now that it is seemingly settled we shall expose the facts for others to observe and profit by.

"The reservation set aside in Day County for a county seat and named Ioland, truly, is not a desirable place for a small town, yet it was entered upon and used for a county seat for nearly two years. On the thirteenth of last November, however, the Board of County Commissioners ordered the county officers to vacate Ioland and take the county records to Grand where the officers and records now are. "Some people in the east side of the county thought it was wrong and raised a kick as soon as they heard of the move; another would join in, and so on, until they became excited. C. P. Allen and Thos. L. Black, et al, as citizens and tax payers of Day County petitioned the district court praying for an order to be issued restraining the county commissioners and all other county officers from transacting the county business or discharging the duties of their offices, or keeping of said offices at the so- called county seat of Grand or any other place in Day County, except the true, legal county seat of Ioland, etc.

"Judge McAtee heard the petition at Arapahoe, 'G' County where he issued a temporary restraining order and summoned the Day County officers to appear at Ioland on the seventh of May for a hearing, but owing to the high water the court was delayed at Cheyenne, which prevented the court's convening in Day County on the seventh and defendants were resummoned to appear for a hearing May tenth, between the seventh and tenth defendants met the court at

Page 387

Cheyenne and argued the case which resulted in a decision of the court that the law favors the defendants; that the Secretary of the Interior did not obey the law locating Ioland so far from the center of the county and that Ioland was no more than Grand is now—a temporary county seat, etc."

The chief local disturbance thus settled the Tribune turned its attention in the next issue's comments and news to the frankness and optimism characteristic of those days;

"Day County is surely filled up with the best class of citizens in the world, as there is not enough meanness done in the county to get a court. People in the east would not believe that wild and wooley Day County hasn't cases to court but once a year, while they are two years behind in court in some eastern counties."

"We have heard it rumored recently that the county commissioners at their next meeting will let the contract for a jail. If this is actually the intention of the commissioners the Tribune will coil up and get "pison." We venture to say there are not two tax payers in the county that would be willing to set the county back $800 or $1000 for a jail—something that wouldn't be needed but about once a year .... We feel confident that upon consideration of jail expenses the commissioners will not undo in a minute what they have been eighteen months building up—a par basis."

"Day County needs one hundred more families to settle up its fertile valleys and pasture lands."

"Everybody has plenty of garden for their own use and then some."

"Are wild currants ripe?—If you had seen that mob of women in the woods this week you'd think so." "The Canadian River is booming. A 'header' came down four feet high."

"We were disappointed in getting our paper this week, which throws this issue late."

A reprint of the call for a Homestead Convention is followed by the comment:

"Now just see if the Republicans don't want to adopt resolutions for Dennis Flynn at the Homestead Convention at Watonga, July 18th."

This same issue of May 30, 1894, reported:

Page 388

"This section of the country is beginning to realize a balance on the credit side of Loss and Gain."

And it summarized the history of the county thus far:

"The organization of Day County marked its first epoch, during which plunder, theft, and finally bankruptcy occurred. The important events of the second epoch were the dethroning of King Kirtley and ejecting of his Lords, replenishing the treasury and a county seat fray. Epoch third begins with an era of good feeling."

—M. A. RANCK.

Berkeley, California. GENERAL JOHN NICKS AND HIS WIFE, SARAH PERKINS NICKS.

CAROLYN THOMAS FOREMAN

Page 389

General John Nicks, one of the most outstanding pioneers of Oklahoma was a soldier in two wars, a legislator, United States Prosecuting Attorney, and man of affairs while his wife Sarah was the first woman to hold an appointment from the United States government in the state of Oklahoma. Their names are found in archives of the War Department, Indian Office, writings of life on the frontier and in contemporary newspapers.1

John Nicks was a native of North Carolina born during the Revolution, and according to the First Census of the United States compiled in 1790 there was a "free white male of 16 years and upwards" of his name in Hillsborough District, Wake County, North Carolina. There was a Joseph Nicks of the same district and county who may have been his father or brother. The name John Nicks is also recorded in Salsbury District, Guilford County but there is a family tradition that the subject of this sketch was a resident of Hillsborough District.2

Nicks moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana soon after the Louisiana Purchase but returned to North Carolina within four or five years when he was appointed an officer of the United States Army and received a captain's commission in the Third Infantry July 1, 1808. He served long and arduous years in the army before coming west. The first letter from him preserved in the War Department was written at Fort Norfolk, Virginia, March 4, 1811, and he again wrote

1Facts concerning the military career of General Nicks were secured by the writer through an exhaustive research of the archives of the Old Files Division, Adjutant General's Office, War Department, Washington, D. C.

Personal reminiscences of Nicks and his wife were furnished by the courtesy of Dr. Collier Cobb, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Cobb's wife is a granddughter of Mrs. Nicks Gibson. Mr. J. F. Weaver, of Portland, Maine, formerly of Fort Smith, contributed some interesting recollections while Miss D. B. Johnson of Fort Smith, through her interest and untiring inquiry of old residents furnished many details.

2Heads of Families. First Census of the United States. 1790. State of North Carolina, pp. 102, 106, 154. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

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the department the same year asking to be appointed assistant military agent at Fort Hampton, N. C. since he was about to relieve Capt. John McClelland in command of that post.3 While at Beaufort he received from the Secretary of War $200 for bounties and premiums for recruits.

Gen. James Wilkinson wrote from Mobile April 26, 1813, to Jim Armstrong, Secretary of War and his letter is followed by a postscript signed "J. N." [John Nicks] which relates "Pass of Haun off Dauphine Island, May 15th, 1813. The Troops are now reduced at several posts in this district to five days provisions—The failure of the contractors is too manifest & too perilous to the service to be excused." This is only one of a long chapter of complaints and protests as to the criminal neglect of the troops stationed along the Gulf Coast.

Under date of April 25, 1813 Gen. James Wilkinson wrote from Gun Boat No. 5, Mobile Bay—General Orders, P. C. S. "The Troops will march on Thursday morning with Twenty four rounds of Cartridges and four Flints per Man; the former to be two thirds of Buck Shot; the men to carry three days provisions, their Knapsacks, Camp Kettles, Tent poles and axes. The Officers are to take with them their Blankets & Bear Skins with a shift of Linnen only neither Trunk, Chest, Chair, Cot or Table will be permitted to accompany this movement. The Artillery, Ammunition, Qr. Masters Stores, Baggage &c. of the Detachment is to be dispatched for Bon Secour River on Wednesday Morning on board the Chalons in charge of Captn. Nicks & his Company. The whole will be secured under Tarpaulins. The Captain will receive further orders for his government from the General, and as the Land Transport is deficient the General hopes and expects the Officers will on the march, dispense with every Tent which may not be absolutely necessary to protect them against bad weather . . ."4

Under a General Order of May 10, 1813, from Portage of Bon Secour issued by General Wilkinson, Captain Nicks was relieved from the command of that place by Captain Kennedy and was ordered as follows: "Captn. Nicks will

3AGO. OFD. Letters Received 1814-1815.

4AGO. OFD. Genl. Ja. Wilkinson U. S. A. Copies of his orders at Pass Christian & Mobile & vicinity Apl. & May, 1813.

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tomorrow remove from Point Mobile with his company. The Oxen are to be driven to the Point, Captn. Nicks will embark a Wagon and Geers with his company on board the Barge and one of the Scows . . ."

The next January Gen. Thomas Flournoy, Commanding 7th Military District wrote Secretary of War Armstrong, from New Orleans that he had "appointed Capt. John Nicks to perform the duties of Asst. Adjt. Genl. till the sense of the president can be known. It is my wish that he should be confirmed in the appointment." This appointment was evidently confirmed and Nicks from New Orleans, Feb. 7, 1814, inquired of the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office as to his duties in making post returns, which he subsequently sent for the months of February, March, April, and May. From Madisonville [Louisiana, on Chefonte River] the next month General Flournoy notified the War Department that "Having ordered Major Nicks to take command of the 7th Infy . . . The disposable part of the 7th Infantry, will in two or three days be in quarters at the Ship Yard, Tchifonta5 near this place . . ." Major Nicks reported to the War Department as follows: "Camp Schifonta July 5, 1814. Sir, I have the honor to receive my letter of promotion to a Majority in the 7th Regiment Infantry, & agreeably to a General Order of the 26th ultimo arrived here on the 4th inst. & took command of that part of the Regiment encamped at this place . . ."

Major Nicks, refusing to exchange regiments with Capt. Carey Nicholas, wrote the Adjutant General from New Orleans, December 5, 1814 "I have taken this direct mode to inform the department of my decided disapprobation . . . I have commanded the 7th Regt. for some time, I believe it equal to any in service; & with which I have taken considerable trouble . . . I hope thro your office, should any proposition, in relation to this subject, be made calculated to operate or effect me, to communicate this letter to the Honbl. the Secretary of the Department of War . . ."6

The War of 1812 was now over; the treaty with Great Britain had been agreed upon and the Battle of New Orleans

5Tchefuncta, a post office in St. Tammany Parish, La.

6This Seventh Regiment was the organization that came to Fort Gibson in 1824, served here for seventeen years and left its indelible impression on the history of Oklahoma. Page 392 had passed into history. The distinguished governor of Louisiana, William C. C. Claiborne wrote Secretary of War Monroe from New Orleans, March 16, 1815, a letter which he marked "Private!" "Great is the change, which the return of peace has already made in this Capital. Our Harbour is again without much canvas; the Levee is crowded with cotton, Tobacco and other articles of exportation—The Merchant seems delighted with the prospect before him, and the agriculturists in the high price for his produce finds new inducements to Industry.

"There will doubtless be individuals who will take exceptions to the conditions of the Treaty—But in the present state of the world, it seems to me we could not have expected to have sheathed the sword upon better terms.

"It is presumable that the Army will speedily be placed on the peace establishment, and in which event, you will excuse me for expressing a solicitude, that among the officers retained, may be those very deserving officers, Col. Wm. Mackae of the Artillerists and Majr. Nicks of the 7th Reg. of Infantry . . . Major Nicks is a young man of great promise, with the advantage of an accomplished education and a conduct in life which commands the greatest respect & esteem . . ."

Major Nicks also wrote James Monroe, Secretary of War on this subject from "Camp 4 miles below New Orleans. March 20th, 1815. Sir. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th. Dec. 1814, by which I am notified of a promotion to a Majority in the 7th Regt. of Infantry, to take rank as such from the 9th day of Oct. 1813.

"I have therefore to inform you that I have accepted the promotion, & moreover, that it is not my desire to relinquish at present that profession to which I have devoted almost seven years—. . ."

That Major Nicks was eager to remain in the Army is proved by the letter he wrote Major General Andrew Jackson, Commanding the Southern Division at Nashville, Tennessee, June 26, 1815, from "Barracks, New Orleans. I presume that there will be vacancies occasioned by the resignation of officers retained on the peace establishment which are to be filled from the supernumerary officers now in service.

"I have been devoted to the profession of arms almost

Page 393 seven years—I have relinquished the most lively civil prospects to become this Soldier—I am therefore yet an applicant and wish to be retained in the service—The late extraordinary reduction of the army has been so great that all the good could not be saved, and I do not consider myself injured by becoming one of the supernumerary, officers. I will accept of a Captaincy, holding my rank as such from the date of my first appointment, with the Brevet rank of Major—You have seen the Regiment which I have the honor to command, you are well acquainted with my humble pretensions and should you think they will comport with the good of the service and give me your immediate influence it will be acknowledged. If retained I should wish to be attached to the South division."

The poverty of the country and wretched state of the army at that time are indicated by a document preserved among the Jackson Papers7 in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. This is a letter to "His Ex. Major Genl. Jackson, Nashville (T)" from George T. Ross, Colonel of the 44th Infantry, written at New Orleans, July 17, 1815. "Sir Enclosed is a correspondence that has taken place between the Quarter- Master Genl., the head of the Ordinance Department & myself; nothing but necessity could induce my giving the order for really we have lived for six weeks upon scraps we could pick up & some old refuse wood secured at the Powder Magazine Barracks; The Troops in the Garrison at one time in danger of not having their victuals cooked as per report of Major Nicks. The Citizens having refused to sell but for cash—We have now funds for Sixty days to come before which all arrangements relative to the Military peace establishment will have gone into effect."

Major Nicks was honorably discharged from the army June 15, 1815 and he writes from the Indian Agency at Natchitoches, Concordia, Louisiana, December 29, 1815 to, "The Honble. James Monroe, Secretary of State, Washington City—Sir, I have applied thro my friends for the appointment of Indian Agent at Natchitoches which is at present vacant by the death of the late incumbent Major Thomas Gates.

"I have the honor also to address a letter directly to you Sir, upon this matter, lest the vacancy should be filled before

7Vol. 36, No. 3997—1815-June 8-July 18.

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an application as above shall have reached the city—I have served in the Army of the United States more than seven years—five of which as a Captain in the 3rd and more than the two last a Major in & commanding the 7th Regiment stationed in New Orleans.

"Since the reduction of the Army I being disbanded in this State, I have been engaged in the practice of the Law, having been appointed by the State of Louisiana attorney for the commonwealth in the 7th Judicial district near Natchitoches where the Indian agency is now vacant.

"After my pretentions shall have been laid before the Honble. The Secretary of State should it comport with the views of the government, that appointment would in some measure reward a disbanded officer."

Major Nicks was re-instated in the Army December 2, 1815, and assigned to the 8th Infantry as a captain with the brevet of major; His letter of acceptance was sent from Concordia, Louisiana, January 24, 1816. He states that he had learned of his appointment through the press and that he will repair to St. Louis, Missouri Territory, the headquarters of the 8th Regiment. On June 1 of that year he was promoted to a majority and transferred to his favorite regiment the 7th Infantry. Major Nicks served as a member of a court for the trial of Col. R. C. Nicholas and Cap. Wm. O. Allen of the Artillery Corps in September, 1816.

The year 1817 Major Nicks is located in the East by a letter of Gen. S. B. Mitchell, Governor of Georgia written at Creek Agency, October 7, 1817, to Gen. E. P. Gaines at Fort Montgomery: "On my way here I saw Major Nix (sic) on his way to Fort Hawkins from Fort Scott,8 and he assured me, the Seminoles had absolutely refused any satisfaction for their aggressions notwithstanding your positive demand. I therefore presume it is your intention to occupy Fort Scott with such a force as to enable you thence, to compel them to a more reasonable course of conduct . . ."

Major Nicks was confined to his bed for over a month with an attack of bilious fever in November, 1817, and was not able to attend to his duties. He was still at Fort Scott

8Fort Hawkins, Ga. on the Ocmulgee River, opposite Macon. Fort Scott, Ga. near the mouth of Flint River. Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register . . . of the United States Army. (Washington, 1903), Vol. ii p. 507 and 543.

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in June, 1818, being a member of the court martial which tried and acquitted Col. David Brearley9 who afterward served as Creek Agent near Fort Gibson.

June 24, 1818, Lt. Col. Arbuckle, commanding the 7th Infantry at Fort Scott designated five officers for recruiting service with Major Nicks as superintendent, and the next month Gen. Edmund P. Gaines at St. Stephens, Alabama Territory, informed General Jackson that he had ordered Major Nicks with five other officers of the 7th to establish a recruiting rendezvous in Philadelphia, to secure recruits for the war with the Seminole Indians. Nicks reports his arrival in Philadelphia on August 23.

From Washington, September 3, Nicks sent an estimate for bounties, premiums, and contingent expenses for four hundred men amounting to $4,200 to Gen. D. Parker, Adjutant and Inspector General, and on September 30, he notified Col. George E. Mitchel at Baltimore that he had "established a Recruiting Rendezvous at Fredrick Town, Maryland . . ."

Andrew Jackson's aggressive policy of occupation of strongholds in Florida, inaugurated during the Seminole War was continued after the close of that war and Major Nicks, who was again in the South in January, 1819, notified General Gaines, that the contractors had failed to supply rations and he had ordered an officer to New Orleans to make purchases. He had meat at Fort Gadsden, East Florida, to do until February 15. He was issuing half rations of flour; the other posts were almost destitute and would be dependent on corn to be got from Fort Gaines unless supplies arrive soon.

During this time Major Nicks was also greatly concerned over the non-arrival of the sloop Coquette, Captain Porter, which left Fort Gadsden on December 24, 1818, with a small supply of provision for the relief of St. Marks, Florida. He ordered out parties from Fort Gadsden and St. Marks to examine the coast as far as the Ocklockney River. On January 15 he was able to notify General Gaines of the safe arrival of the sloop which had passed the mouth of the St. Marks River on the 3d in a fog and had been blown on a sand bar where she remained some time, the crew being six days without water.

9American State Papers, "Military Affairs," Vol. ii, p. 110.

Page 396

Conditions were getting worse at Fort Gadsden and Fort Scott, their bread ration being supplied with corn from the quarter master's store and Capt. Spencer had not returned from New Orleans or reported since he left the post on December 15th last.

This was a fertile source of trouble and suffering for troops throughout this period and soldiers were frequently in desperate straits for want of food and fuel. Gen. Gaines by his aid-de-camp Lieutenant Burch wrote Nicks on Jan. 28, 1819, from Headquarters, Fernandina, E. F. approving measures he had taken to prevent suffering owing to the contractor having failed to supply rations at the different posts under Nicks' command.

The following month, still distressed by a lack of supplies and having no word from the contractors or quarter-master, Nicks notifies Gen. Gaines and also reports: "My Indian spies ordered to Mickasuky returned a few days past without any satisfactory result, having advanced no further than Taleshatche, where they met & returned with the chief of that village, who is about to bring in his people—It is however my believe that there are but few, if any, Indians & Negroes at that place & I have again required a few strait men to repair thither and ascertain the fact & will immediately report the same . . ."

Nicks writes Arbuckle, commanding the 7th Military Department at Fort Gaines, on Feb. 24, 1819, that the schooner Maria, Captain Sullivan, is now in the river on her way to Fort Gadsden with a cargo of provisions purchased in New Orleans by Captain Joel Spencer, Asst. Dept. Qr. Mr. Gen. Captain Sullivan had touched at Pensacola and reported that "700 Spanish troops have arrived and that the Spanish flag is now flying in that place and at the Fortress of the Barancas; . . ." It was also understood by the Captain that a command would proceed to this place for the purpose of occupying Fort Gadsden.

"The Comg. Officer here has not received any instructions calculated to meet such an arrangement, and this post will be maintained until further orders."

Nicks was ordered by Arbuckle to give Major Fanning all the assistance necessary to remove his command from St. Marks to Fort Gadsden and he was advised to employ as many vessels as might be necessary. As for Fort Gadsden ". . . it

Page 397 is not to be given up except by order of the President of the United States . . ."

According to Nicks the Spanish force destined to garrison Fort Marks was to have sailed from Pensacola on February 27th and their object was to demolish the post and then proceed to Fort Gadsden.

Nicks reports that he has "received advices per Express from St. Marks under date of the 11th that a Spanish force of three hundred men under the command of the Governor of Pensacola had arrived and that the Governor gives us every facility with regard to the transportation of the United States troops and to this Post—One vessel will be sufficient as the greater part of our troops will march by land and will be expected here about the 20th instsant. Major Nicks sent a vessel to St. Marks which enabled Major Fanning to convey to Fort Gadsden every thing at the Spanish post belonging to the United States.

On March 20, 1819, Lt. Col. Arbuckle orders Major Nicks and two other officers to repair without delay to a court martial "to be holden at" Fernandina. Nicks was at St. Marys the next May, and while there he had an offer to transfer to the 8th Infantry, but refused to exchange with Maj. John N. McIntosh. On the first of June, Nicks was promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th Infantry.

Col. Nicks arrived at Fort Hawkins, Georgia on June 22, 1819, from St. Marys. He was to remain there until further orders when he would in all probability relieve Col. Brearley in the recruiting service. He suggests that the regiment is very small at that time and that it is his wish to remain some little time in a civilized society and that any order that will accomplish that object will be thankfully received. He was ordered to attend the General Court Martial in session at Fort Scott but hopes this will not frustrate any arrangements that General Gaines may see fit to grant him service in a civilized community after the long period he has spent on the frontier.

On August 15, 1819, General Gaines orders Nicks to relieve Colonel David Brearley in the superintendency of recruiting service for the 7th Infantry at Trenton, N. J.

In the first part of September Col. Nicks is in command of his regiment at Fort Gadsden but later in the month he

Page 398 is at Fort Hawkins where he is to remain until the detail for a general court martial is known.

On the twenty-third Nicks is detailed to the command of the Western Section of the 7th Military Department with Hd. Qrs. at Fort Scott in place of Col. Arbuckle and he is given leave to visit St. Marys or any other part of Georgia until his promotion is officially announced. On the 29th he set out for Fort Scott with Col. Arbuckle.

By direction of Col. Nicks the adjutant of the 7th Regiment writes Gen. Gaines a full account of the situation at Fort Scott, in Georgia. Nicks has been confined to his bed more than four weeks with bilious fever and is not sufficiently recovered to write. The troops have been for some time unusually sickly which is attributed to the ". . . extraordinary dry weather, which has filled the atmosphere in an unusual degree with the exhalations of marsh miasmata; and to this it may be added that the flour which the troops have been compelled to use, is of the very worst kind;. . ." A new supply has arrived at Fort Gadsden, but the water in the Appalachicola is so low that it cannot be transported. He writes that "the troops . . . are in a tolerable state of appearance & discipline, the Magazine has been repaired and is said to be safe, the Craft or boats are undergoing repair . . . "It may not be improper to state that since the report has obtained general and extensive circulation, on the Appalacicola that the Spanish King has refused to ratify the treaty, and that the Spaniards will remain in the possession of the Floridas, that the Indians have evidently assumed a new character, and in some instances where an opportunity has afforded—their native feelings which are no doubt unfriendly, have almost burst into direct insult and individual hostility."

The Adjutant General's office at Augusta on December 4, notified Nicks at Fort Scott: "It had been deemed advisable to send the detachment of the 4th and 7th now at Traders Hill,10 to the Headquarters of their respective Regiments . . ." and Captain Bee was returning to Fort Scott by the most direct route through the lower part of Georgia, without regard to roads. Nicks is ordered to inform himself of their movements by means of Indian runners, sent in that direction, at proper intervals and to render them all the assistance in his

10Traders Hill, Ga. on St. Mary's River.

Page 399

power. He is also advised to take prompt and effectual means for the supply of provisions for the troops as well as forage for the pack horses.

Lt. Daniel E. Burch writes from "Hd.Qrs. Augusta, Ga., Dec. 7, 1819. Sir. I am instructed by Major General Gaines to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 23rd ult . . . and to express his satisfaction at receiving a report exhibiting so full a view of the state of the service at the Post under your command . . ."

Major Nicks was not only troubled by the shortage of food for his troops but he complains that an estimate for clothing forwarded by Col. Arbuckle the previous autumn has been ignored. In consequence of a number of recruits having joined the regiment who are without a proper supply of clothing he is transmitting an estimate and urges that the uniforms be sent with the least possible delay.

After thirteen years in the service of his country, Lt. Col. Nicks was honorably discharged June 8, 1821. He was recommended for appointment as sutler at Fort Jesup, on Red River that year, but on Sept. 28, 1821 he was appointed sutler at Fort Smith and followed his regiment to a new and wilder frontier in Arkansas.11

After he took up his residence at Fort Smith he was elected to the Third Territorial Legislature of Arkansas and represented Crawford County in the House of Representatives from. October, 1823, and was re-elected to the Fourth Legislature serving from October 3d to November 3d, 1825.12

Upon the establishment of Cantonment Gibson in April, 1824, Col. Nicks moved with the 7th Infantry as sutler at the new post. During his service at Fort Smith, Col. Nicks became acquainted with Miss Sarah Price Perkins and they were married, July 13, 1824 in Crawford County, Arkansas Territory, by the Reverend William F. Vaill, who was the head of Union Mission on Grand River in the Osage country.13 Washington Irving states that Col. Nicks was fifty years old at the time of his marriage.

Miss Perkins was the daughter of Elisha Perkins of Bed-

11Register of Post Suttlers. Adjutant General's office, Old Records Division, p. 16.

12Fay Hempstead, Pictorial History of Arkansas, (St. Louis and New York, 1894) , p. 1198.

13Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Aug. 3, 1824, p. 3, col. 1.

Page 400

ford County, Virginia. While she and her brother Constantine were children they were taken to Arkansas Territory by their cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Moore of Chelsea, Virginia. Mr. Moore had received warrants for land for his service in the Revolution. The Perkins family is said to have been in Virginia, since 1641 and their, claim to a Russian origin seems plausible as they bore the Russian names of Constantine, Peter, and Nicholas.

Mrs. Nicks bore her husband two children, Eliza Perkins Nicks, who was born at Fort Gibson, April 19, 1826, and John Quinten Nicks, who was probably born in 1828.

That Nicks and his partner John Rogers did a prosperous business is evidenced by the fact that the steamboat Superior, 100 tons, Captain Charadon, arrived from New Orleans, May 30, 1826 with a large keel boat in tow, loaded with stores for them at Cantonment Gibson. They also conducted a trading store at Fort Smith and the steamboat Highland Laddie, Captain McCallum, "19 days from New Orleans," brought a full cargo in May, 1827, principally for General Nicks, Sutler at Cantonment Gibson. Washington Irving states that Nicks had amassed $20,000.14

The 4th of July was celebrated at Fort Gibson with a banquet at which thirteen toasts were drunk. Many men still celebrated in this section responded to toasts; among them Colonel Nicks, Captain Nathaniel Pryor, Captain Pierce M. Butler, John Dillard, and Col. A. P. Chouteau. Life was very monotonous at this western post but there were a few diversions, which included a race track at Fort Gibson. Colonel Chouteau had a private track at his baronial estate on Grand River where races were run and he entertained the army officers lavishly.

Poker parties were frequent and betting was high. On one occasion Colonel Nicks returning home after two or three nights of prolonged playing, attempting to crawl through a window into his bed room was commanded to throw up his hands. The valliant Sarah was sitting up in bed with a gun levelled on her husband and she demanded that he explain his conduct in sneaking into her room like a thief.

Marquis James in his fascinating book The Raven, a

14Journals of Washington Irving The Bibliophile Society, (Boston, MCMXIXX), Vol. III, p. 169. Page 401

Biography of Sam Houston, quotes Washington Irving who wrote: "Old Genl. Nix used to say God made him two drinks scant."15

Drinking was indulged in to a large extent although there was a constant effort to keep liquor from being brought into the neighborhood of the cantonment. Private soldiers were given severe punishments when intoxicated and the records of these affairs in the War Department tell of a man being stood on the head of a barrel with a board hung around his neck, marked 'Whiskey Seller,' and with an empty bottle in each hand. The men were fined and sentenced to hard labor but these punishments did not have much effect on the soldiers who had little to occupy their time and so fell into evil habits.

The year 1827 saw the completion of Cantonment Gibson with comfortable quarters for officers and ample room to garrison a regiment. A military road sixteen feet wide from Gibson to Fort Smith, a distance of fifty-six miles, was finished. When the mail route was extended west from Crawford County a post office was established at Cantonment Gibson, February 21, 1827 and Nicks was appointed post master. This was the second post office in the present State of Oklahoma, Miller Court House, the first having been started September 5, 1824.

General Nicks was not only a prominent citizen but a very busy man with many interests during these years. When the garrison was removed from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson Nicks and Rogers were put in charge of the buildings at the abandoned post and of the public flat boat and held responsible for their preservation and the operation of the ferry for the military.16

President John Quincy Adams appointed Nicks (March 27, 1827), brigadier general of the Militia of Arkansas to fill the position left vacant by the death of William Bradford who died at Fort Towson, October 20, 1826 where he had served as sutler.

When Lovely County, Arkansas was organized in October, 1827, the Legislature appointed a commission to locate the county seat. John Nicks of Nicks Township was one of the

15Journal of Washington Irving, Note book No. 6, New York Public Library.

16Office of Indian Affairs. Retired Classified Files. 1827 Choctaw West. Arbuckle to Major McClelland, Feb. 9, 1827.

Page 402

three commissioners and Nicksville17 on the west side of Sallisaw Creek was selected. The town was thirteen miles above the mouth of the creek and was evidently named for General Nicks. A post office was located there April 25, 1828 but was discontinued October 2, 1829 and the group of log cabins that comprised the town became the first home of Dwight Mission when it was established in 1830. Governor Izard wrote the Secretary of War, Feb. 27, 1828 that General Nicks had not received his commission and that it was important for him to enter on his duties on account of the unsettled state of the Western Frontier.

Sam Houston's arrival at Cantonment Gibson in May, 1829, after his sensational departure from Tennessee, aroused much interest and the wives of the officers envied ". . . not for the first time in their lonely lives, plump and pleasing Sallie Nicks, the sutler's wife, who served the visitor with refreshments."18

After a visit to the East Sam Houston started west with a large stock of goods in 1830 and he applied to General Eaton for the position of sutler at Fort Gibson, saying he understood General Nicks was to be removed. When Houston reached the Verdigris River he learned that Nicks was not to be dismissed; being disgruntled because of charges against him that he had not been honest in his bid on rations for the Indians who were to be removed west, he wrote the Secretary of War that he would not have the post of sutler if it were offered him.19

Houston also notified Colonel Arbuckle, at Fort Gibson, July 21, 1830, of the large stock of liquor he was bringing to the Cherokee Nation and said it would all be stored with General Nicks, except one barrel of whisky, subject to orders of the Government.20

An Act of Congress of March 3, 1831 appropriated $2,562.08 to protect John Nicks against loss of that amount which he had advanced to Col. David Brearley, Indian agent for the

17Arkansas Gazette, Dec. 11, 1827, p. 1, col. 2; Grant Foreman, Indians & Pioneers (New Haven, 1930), p. 257.

18Marquis James, The Raven a Biography of Sam Houston (Indianapolis, 1929), p. 110.

19Grant Foreman, Indians & Pioneers, (New Haven 1930), p. 284.

20Grant Foreman, Pioneer Days in the Early Southwest (Cleveland, 1926), pp. 189-190.

Page 403

emigrating Creeks, Brearley having given Nicks a draft upon the War Department which was protested for non-payment.

July 28, 1831, Peter A. Carns and W. Duval wrote to the President of the United States stating that "the conduct of Coln. Mathew Arbuckle Com. 7 Infy and John Nicks . . . Has been highly censurable if not criminal, . . . as Coln. Arbuckle had been guilty of elegal acts in the ceezure of a large quantity of goods aledging the ceizure grew out of there being in the store some Brandy and wine . . ." and that he had permitted Nicks to introduce large quantities of Whiskey for three years. "We beg leave further to represent to your Excenely that the said John Nicks is a Habitual drunkard and this fact has been known to Coln. Arbuckle for the las three years . . ." They name Col. A. P. Chouteau, Gen. John Campbell, Major Love, and John W. Flowers to vouch for their statements.21

That no action had been taken in the matter is shown by a letter from Carns to General McComb, from Baltimore, Aug. 19, 1831. It appears that a copy of the charges was to be sent to General Arbuckle and Nicks, and Carns threatens to place the evidence before Congress "at its next cession should you decide on the answer .... without giving us time to put in our testomoney to the charges."22

Not receiving any satisfaction from the President or the commanding general of the army Carns next applies to Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, threatening that he will attempt to get Congress to, appoint a committee to receive testimony against the parties accused unless he would order an inquiry.23

Carn's charges resulted from the fact that General Arbuckle had seized a large shipment of liquor belonging to him which he was selling to the Indians.

These charges were not destined to worry General Nicks as he was attacked with "pneumonia synochoides" and died at Cantonment Gibson after an illness of ten days on December 31, 1831. His funeral was held the day following and the Protestant Episcopal service was read after which he was interred with full military honors due his rank24

Josiah H. Shinn in his interesting Pioneers and Makers

21Carns and Duval to Andrew Jackson, AGO. ORD. S. 1831.

22Ibid.

23Ibid.

24Arkansas Gazette, Jan. 11, 1832, p. 3, col. 5.

Page 404

of Arkansas writes that "General Nicks was one of the strong characters of early Arkansas history. . . and was noted for his strong common sense and sterling courage."25

Col. Matthews Arbuckle reported to the Adjutant General the death of General Nicks and inclosed Order No. 2. "Head Quarters 7th Inf. Cantonment Gibson, Jan. 2, 1832. In consequence of the death of General John Nicks, Sutler to B. C. G. F. and K. Companies of the 7th Infantry, S. P. Nicks is appointed to suttle to the above named companies, until the pleasure of the Honble. the Secretary of War is known. By order of Col. Arbuckle." In his accompanying letter he stated: ". . . this appointment I much regret, was rendered indespensably necessary in consequence of the death of Genl. John Nicks—late sutler at this post, who died on the 31st ult. and I do not doubt it will meet the approbation of the War Department, that his widow may hold this appointment a sufficient time to dispose of the goods on hand (supposed to have cost about Ten Thousand Dollars). This object it is believed can be accomplished by the 1st of July next."

By this appointment Sarah Nicks becomes the first woman to hold a position under the United States Government as well as the first business woman in the State of Oklahoma. This distinction means much when it is considered that in her day fair ladies swooned on the slightest provocation when they had never dreamed of voting or of succeeding to their husband's seat in Congress; when indeed, they led a very quiet, retired existence.

There are records to prove that Mrs. Nicks was a charmer and so distinguished a writer and traveler as Washington Irving recounts that more than one officer at the Cantonment paid ardent court to her. One quartermaster serenaded her so often and so vigorously that he disturbed the sleep of persons in the post. Gen. William Clark, as well as Colonel Arbuckle, was fascinated by the young widow, and an attorney of the name of Lewis, who possessed only a militia title of major, also aspired to the favor of Mrs. Nicks and caused the officers of the Regular Army to unite against him.

Col. Robert Stuart Gibson, merchant, succeeded General Nicks as post master at Fort Gibson and he won the heart of Mrs. Nicks also. The Arkansas Gazette of December 20, 1835

25Little Rock. (1908), p. 254.

Page 405

contains the announcement of his marriage to "Mrs. Sally Nicks, relict of the late General John Nicks, at the residence of Major B[enjamin] Moore, of Crawford County, on the 8th instant."

Three children were born from this marriage: Robert Stuart, Irene, who died at the age of four years and Mary Ann Stuart. Mary Ann married Major Richard Caswell Gatlin of the U. S. Army. He was later a Brigadier General in the Confederate service. Gatlin served for many years as an officer in the 7th Infantry while it was stationed in army posts now in the State of Oklahoma.

Colonel Gibson was born in 1800 and died at the age of forty-five. The Arkansas Intelligencer26 announced Sarah P. Gibson as administrator of the estate of her late husband and thus extended her experience and reputation as a business woman.

Mrs. Gibson passed the remaining years of her life in Fort Smith. Her son John Q. Nicks was sent to an eastern university at the age of eighteen. She took her daughter, Mary Ann Gibson east to attend the classical school of Dr. Brooks at Baltimore. The journey from Arkansas was made by way of New York. Not having heard from her gay young son for many weeks Mrs. Gibson advertised in the personal columns of the New York papers and John, being in the city and reading the notice, appeared at the hotel where his mother was staying, the same evening.

When fourteen years of age Mrs. Gibson's daughter Eliza Perkins Nicks married Col. S. Lewis Griffith of Little Rock who was twenty-five. Mrs. Griffith often related to relatives that she had no recollection of any but a married life. She had many of her mother's characteristics and lived until Feb. 10, 1913 when she died in Little Rock. Her slaves all remained with her after the Civil War and when they became too old to work she provided homes for them and gave each one a small income. Mrs. Nicks- Gibson still lives in the memory of a few old inhabitants of Fort Smith impressed by her strong personality. She became quite stout in later years and her walk down Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith, followed by a Negro servant, had something of the appearance of a royal progress. Very dignified, serenely waving her fan, she

26March 29, 1845, p. 3, col. 5.

Page 406

bowed politely to all; never displaying hauteur, although very much a grande dame. At her death in 1862 Mrs. Nicks-Gibson was buried in the National Cemetery at Fort Smith where she sleeps beside the grave of her son John who died in 1861. The carved marble monument which marked her grave was broken by a falling limb of a tree during a storm and has been replaced by a government stone similar to those provided to mark the graves of United States soldiers among whom this western heroine spent her life. Muskogee, Oklahoma.

A HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS

BY HUGH T. CUNNINGHAM

Page 407

III "The Protest" (Continued from September)

Despite the grievous oppression of the white man, the Cherokees had a deep and abiding faith that an omniscient God would guide their destinies in the course of justice. On July 11, 1830, Chief Ross made a passionate address to his people, telling of the innumerable ways in which the white man had violated his honor in dealing with the Cherokees. He enumerated their grievances at length, but ended by saying, "Confiding in the superintending care of a kind Providence we should not despair even should we for a season be plunged into the cells of Georgia prisons. Means for our deliverance may yet be found. Let us not forget the circumstance in Holy Writ of the safe passage of the children of Israel through the crystal walls of the Red Sea and the fate of their wicked pursuers; let our faith in the unsearchable mysteries of an omnipotent and all-wise Being be unshaken; for in the appearance of impossibilites there is still hope1."

Two of the biggest factors working for the removal of the Cherokees after 1828 were the discovery of gold in the mountains of northern Georgia, whetting the already keen spirit of Caucasian avarice, and the election of Andrew Jackson as president of the United States. Jackson, famous for his antipathy of the Indians, gave Georgia his complete support in bringing about the expulsion of the Cherokees, although a strong force of the warriors of that tribe had served under him in the war against the Creeks and in the epochal battle of New Orleans.

By 1832 the Cherokees were determined to keep the land and homes of their fathers. When all other efforts had failed, a delegation headed by Ross went to Washington in 1832 and again in 1834 to use every possible influence for amelioration of the hard condition in which the Cherokees found themselves. They suggested allotment of their lands

1Benedict, Muskogee and Northeastern, Oklahoma, I, 57 ff.

Page 408

in severalty with citizenship for all tribesmen and the sale of all surplus lands, and offered a number of other plans, but at all times Jackson was firm in his statement that the only possible way out for all concerned was immediate removal of the Indians. The annuity promised from the government by a treaty of long standing was no longer paid, so there was not a sufficiency of funds to support the tribal schools. In every conceivable way the Cherokees were made to understand that the United States would do nothing in their behalf.2

Although almost all of the Cherokees remaining east of the Mississippi were personally opposed to removal at the beginning of this agitation, some of them began to conclude that all opposition was futile. A few of these were called by Andrew Ross for the purpose of seeing what could be done in the way of securing a favorable treaty. In due course of time, a treaty was negotiated and signed by the pro-removal group June 19, 1834, providing for westward emigration. This treaty was not ratified by the Senate, Chief John Ross having not only made a personal protest, but also filed a written protest which is said to have been signed by 13,000 Cherokees. The chief and his followers then presented a memorial to Congress which, "while stating their case plainly and candidly, was yet a model of dignity and self-restraint3."

The document signed in 1834 is known as the Ridge treaty, as the leader of the faction was Major John Ridge, a Cherokee who acted as sincerely as did Ross or any other leader, for what he thought was the best. His right-hand men were Elias Boudinot, editor of The Cherokee Phoenix, and Stand Watie, Boudinot's brother. All three were destined to play a large part in Cherokee history. When the Ross contingent learned of the treaty, which was to be ratified by the council of the Nation before it became valid, they rejected the clause giving them, among other grants, $3,250,000, and they refused to sign the treaty unless $20,000,000 were given. The United States Senate balked, so the Cherokee Council unanimously refused to approve the Ridge treaty.

On the twenty-ninth of December, 1835, a new treaty

2Thoburn, History of Oklahoma, I, 99 ff. 3Thoburn, op. cit. pp. 100f.

Page 409

was promulgated, tolling the death-knell of Cherokee peace and freedom. The Treaty of New Echota was signed by a commission of Federal representatives and a group of Cherokees who had no official permission to act. At a mass meeting of the tribe, which had a population of more than 17,000, there were only 500 men, women, and children present, so the tribe was not speaking as a unit and the whole tribe was not being represented. The treaty relinquished all lands east of the Mississippi in return for $5,000,000 and a joint interest in the Indian Territory reservation of the Western Cherokees and an additional tract of land in what is now southeastern Kansas. The cost of moving was to be borne by the government, and food and provisions for one year for the entire tribe were to be furnished. Improvements on all lands held by individual Cherokees were to be recompensed. An effort was made to allow certain educated Cherokees to remain and become citizens, but Jackson expressly commanded that this condition be stricken from the treaty. The document met with bitter protest from the whole Nation, but the United States Senate ratified it, and the Treaty of New Echota was officially proclaimed May 23, 1836. In-numerable protests were made by the wronged people, but the federal government pledged its support to the state of Georgia in forcibly removing the Cherokees from its bounds.4

After he had signed the treaty, Major Ridge was accused of doing so to promote his own ambitions to be principal chief of the reunited tribe in the west. He is said to have repudiated this charge with these words: "You say John Ridge was moved by a selfish ambition when he signed that treaty? It is not so. John Ridge signed his own death warrant when he signed that treaty, and no one knows it better than he knew it when he wrote his name on that paper. John Ridge may not die today or tomorrow; he may not be killed while the Cherokees remain in this country, nor yet on the road to their new country west of the Mississippi; but, sooner or later, he will have to yield his life as the penalty for signing that treaty. John Ridge has not acted blindly, for he sees plainly that his people cannot hope to stand against the white men in their present situation. By moving to the west, they may in time so learn the ways of civilization as to enable

4Thoburn and Holcomb, A History of Oklahoma, pp. 47f.

Page 410

them to sustain themselves in competition with the white men. Let it not be said that John Ridge was actuated by motives for personal ambition; he had acted for what he believed to be the best interests of his people5."

When agitation for removal was at its height, the problem became the question of the hour in the United States: people all over the country were extremely interested as to the possible outcome, and the newspapers were full of references to the Cherokees. The individual states and every department in the government united in pledging to the Cherokees a country which should be theirs and theirs only forever, and in offering not only protection from war, trespass, and intrusion, but complete autonomy and unquestioned ownership of the new lands, under letters patent signed by the president, if they would move.

The government officials, both civil and military, sent into the Nation to arrange for the removal of the Cherokees, soon found their task not only delicate but extremely unpleasant as well. Some of these men wrote letters describing the existing conditions in the Nation which were scarcely less pointed than the protests of Ross. Indeed, the head of the treaty party, Major Ridge himself, was driven to writing to President Jackson and entering a vigorous protest against the excesses of land grabbers and speculators who were overrunning the Cherokee country and subjecting the Cherokee people to every variety of indignity and abuse.

By the terms of the treaty, the Indians were to be allowed two years in which to remove to the west. General J. E. Wool was placed in command of the military forces stationed in the Nation to enforce the terms of the treaty and to prevent any possible opposition. Vague rumors gained currency to the effect that the Cherokees were conspiring to rebel, and a force of Tennessee militia was summoned, only to discover that the story was a baseless fabrication. General Wool asked to be relieved of his command, and was succeeded by Col. William Lindsay, who was ordered to arrest John Ross and to turn him over to the civil authorities if he gave further evidence of opposing the enforcement of the treaty. John M. Mason, a young man sent into the country as a confidential agent of the Secretary of War, wrote in September, 1837, that

5Thoburn, op. cit. p. 104.

Page 411

the whole Cherokee people, with the exception of 300 who belonged to the Treaty party, were a unit in supporting Ross and his policy of opposition.

The end of Andrew Jackson's reign in the White House and the accession of Martin Van Buren to the presidential chair seemed to augur favorably for the Cherokees, as the new executive expressed a willingness to postpone the enforced removal. At this juncture, however, Governor Gilmer of Georgia interposed with a threat that there would be violent conflict between the military forces of that state and those of the federal government if the treaty were not promptly enforced. The affair attracted a great deal of attention in Congress, and among those who denounced the palpable injustice of the Treaty of New Echota in scathing terms were personages no less than Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Henry A. Wise, and David Crockett. The Cherokees sent their final protesting memorial to Congress in the spring of 1838, only to have it tabled by vote of the Senate.

General Winfield Scott was ordered to take command of the troops in the Cherokee country and to superintend the preparations for expulsion. Immediately after his arrival he issued a proclamation calling upon the Cherokee people to abide by the terms of the treaty and to enroll themselves for removal. Chief Ross, finding that the new president was determined to enforce the document, then proposed a new treaty; in reply, he was told that, although the government was willing to construe with the utmost liberality the treaty already effected, it could not consider the negotiation of any substitute for it. Having thus exhausted every means of peaceable resistance, most of the Cherokees still in the east bowed to the inevitable and gave up all hope of remaining in their old homes.6

With approximately 7,000 troops of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, General Scott began to assemble the Cherokees for the journey. Declares Thoburn, "The story of the eviction and exile of the Cherokees is not a pleasant one for a white man to read, must less to write. As James Mooney truthfully comments, 'Even the much-sung exile of the Acadians falls far behind it in its sum of death and misery."7

6Thoburn, op. cit. pp. 108 ff. 7Ibid. p. 110.

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Under General Scott's orders, the troops were divided into small detachments to search every hill and valley, every cabin and home, for Cherokees who were supposed to be hiding. As fast as they were caught, they were driven like animals into stockaded enclosures, to be held until the caravans could be organized to make the long journey. Most of the tribesmen submitted quietly, though with evident reluctance, but a few offered resistance, and were dealt with violently. In the footsteps of the soldiers came the looting rabble. In many cases, as the exiled red men, leaving their homes and beloved mountains, and the resting-places of their fathers, turned to look for a last time at their humble cabins, they beheld them in flames, while their stock was being driven away by the despoilers.

About 6,000 Cherokees started west during the summer of 1836. For the most part they made the journey by boat, under the supervision of army officers, down the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers to the far side of the Mississippi, finishing the trip to the Indian Territory overland. The Cherokee Council, realizing that much of the great sickness and suffering was due to the effect of traveling in the hottest part of the year, asked General Scott that they be allowed to remove in the fall. The petition was granted, so the remainder of the tribe, about 13,000 people, set out late in the autumn. There were 645 wagons, in which the aged, the infirm, and the smaller children rode with the baggage, while all the rest walked or rode horseback.8

There were thirteen detachments in the emigrant train, and each required from 100 to 200 days to make the trip. It was estimated that the removal would cost $600,000, and that amount was set aside from the $6,500,000 given the Cherokees by the treaty of 1835. The cost of eviction per capita was $66.24, so Captain Page of General Scott's army paid John Ross, as "superintending agent of the Cherokee Nation for Cherokee removal," the sum of $776,393.98.9

Since it is impossible to state accurately the death toll of the expulsion, it is estimated most conservatively that about 4,000 deaths occurred. Hundreds died in the detention camps even before removal started. Some of the stories of

8Thoburn, opp. 111 ff. 9Starr, History of the Cherokee Indians, pp 103f.

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the white men's cruelty are almost unbelievable; in overcoming the Indian's devotion to his native land, the soldiers resorted to treatment which amounted to nothing less than brutality. The Cherokees were not a nomadic people; on the contrary, they loved their fatherland with a fierce devotion born of all the ties of home and family. Thousands died, it is true, but thousands more of that proud race suffered untold mental and spiritual anguish impossible to describe. The Choctaws called the thousand-mile journey of their exile the "trail of tears," but the Cherokees had an even greater right to use the term. Larger than the other tribes, and forced to go a greater distance, they suffered more from disease, exposure, and hunger than did their brothers.10

Many of the soldiers required to drive the Cherokees out of Georgia found their position almost too repugnant. A Georgia volunteer, afterward a colonel in the Confederate service, said, "I fought through the Civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew."

General Wool himself found that his better nature revolted at the task of expulsion, and wrote at the time of the removal, "The whole scene since I have been in this country has been nothing but a heart-rending one, and such a one as I would be glad to get rid of as soon as circumstance will permit. Because I am firm and decided, do not believe I would be unjust. If I could (and I could not do them a greater kindness), I would remove every Indian tomorrow beyond the reach of the white men, who, like vultures, are watching, ready to pounce upon them and strip them of everything they have or expect to have from the Government. Nineteen-twentieths if not ninety-nine out of every hundred will go penniless to the West11."

After the main body of the Cherokees had arrived at their new reservation in the west, they had to cut down trees, build log cabins, and clear land for cultivation. Almost immediately they became a thriving, prosperous people, raising herds of live stock, including horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. They were encouraged in these pursuits by the government and the missionaries, but traders urged them to de-

10Thoburn, op. city. pp. 113 f. 11Thoburn, and Holcomb, A History of Oklahoma, p. 52.

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vote their efforts to hunting and trapping. The Cherokees even plied a thriving trade on the Mississippi River, having a fine steamboat as early as 1837.12

When the Cherokees from the east came to the western lands, they were warmly welcomed by their kinsmen, the Western Cherokees, who had been settled on their reservation for nearly ten years and who had a regularly organized government which they were eager that the newly arrived Eastern Cherokees should adopt. The tribal organization of the latter had been maintained throughout all of the trouble which they had experienced, and with John Ross at the head, their tribal council was disposed to insist that as the governing body of the major portion of the reunited Cherokee Nation, it should extend its authority and jurisdiction to supersede that of the western Cherokees A general national council was called for the purpose of adjusting this dispute but its efforts were fruitless, neither side yielding.

Feeling ran so high between the two divisions of the eastern branch that soon after the removal, Major Ridge, John Ridge, his son, and Elias Boudinot, "treaty" leaders, were assassinated, June 20, 1839. Major Ridge's words had been prophetic—he had really signed his own death warrant and had to yield his life as the penalty for signing the removal treaty. For a time civil war was imminent, with Chief Ross as leader of one faction, and Stand Watie, brother of Boudinot and another leader marked for assassination, as head of the other. Members of the Ridge party who had escaped death fled to the military authorities at Fort Gibson; John Ross' life was threatened in turn, and he was urged to flee, but he stood his ground, reiterating his innocence of complicity in the conspiracy. It is now known that he was not connected in any way with the plot.

The National Council adopted a decree that the signers of the removal treaty had outlawed themselves by their action, and declared the assassins guiltless of murder. In August another decree repudiated the Treaty of New Echota, and voiced again the tribe's claim to the eastern lands. Other acts were directed against the Ridge faction, but the United States government intervened and threatened to arrest John Ross for complicity in the Ridge slayings.13

12Wyatt and Rainey, Brief History of Oklahoma, p. 38. 13Thoburn, op. cit. pp. 128 ff.

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Meanwhile, the Old Settlers, or Western Cherokees, and the Ross, or National, party composed their differences, at first so irreconcilable. On July 12, 1839, a general convention was held, and after due deliberation a formal "act of union" was adopted, whereby the two branches were declared to be "one body politic, under the style and title of the Cherokee Nation," succeeding both of the tribal organizations. The act was signed by John Ross, principal chief, George Lowrey, president of the National Committee, Goingsnake, speaker of the Council, and thirteen others on behalf of the Eastern Cherokees; for the Old Settlers it was signed by John Looney, acting principal chief, George Guess, president of the Council, and fifteen others, bearing such picturesque names as Young Elders, Deer Track, Young Puppy, The Crying Buffalo, July, Soft Shell Turtle, and Jesse Bushyhead.

Another convention met at Tahlequah in September, composed mostly of Eastern Cherokees, and framed a new constitution, which was ratified by a convention of Old Settlers at Fort Gibson, June 26, 1840. The instrument was as remarkable as its predecessors in insuring a just government. Among the many interesting clauses are the following: "No person who denies the being of a God or future state of reward and punishment, shall hold any office in the civil department of this Nation. The free exercise of religious worship, and serving God without distinction, shall forever be enjoyed within the limits of this nation; provided, that this liberty of conscience shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this Nation." Rules for election of legislators and chiefs, amending the constitution, common holding of the lands of the Nation, and other questions were specifically dealt with. One of the features was suffrage for boys over eighteen years of age. For purposes of civil administration and the apportionment of legislators, the Cherokee Nation was divided into nine districts similar in size and organization to counties. They were called Canadian, Illinois, Sequoyah, Flint, Delaware, Goingsnake, Tahlequah, and Cooweescoowee, the last one being named in honor of John Ross, whose Cherokee name that was.14

From 1839 until 1898 the Cherokees enjoyed the

14Starr, op. cit. pp. 233f Page 416

strange anomaly of supporting a fully constitutional government with all the concomitant expenses of executive, legislative, judicial, and educational departments, without taxation! The United States promised an annuity of $3,000 in 1804, and in the treaty of 1835, $400,000 was sent out of the $5,000,000 for the eastern lands in three funds: $200,000 for general expenses, $50,000 for the care of orphans, and $150,000 for the promotion of education. Other funds were obtained by the occasional sale of surplus tribal lands. Extreme poverty was unknown, and individual efforts were often rewarded with great riches.15

The first newspaper published in Oklahoma was The Cherokee Advocate, which was established and conducted under the auspices of the tribal government. Its publication office was in Tahlequah, and the first number appeared Sept. 26, 1844. William P. Ross, a nephew of John Ross and an honor graduate of Princeton University, was its first editor, and James D. Wofford was translator. It was issued weekly and consisted of four seven-column pages, usually one in the Sequoyah text and the others in English. Later editors, both of whom were active in political affairs, were David Carter and James S. Vann. Publication of the newspaper was discontinued a few years before the beginning of the Civil War, because of lack of funds, but was reestablished in 1870, continuing until 1905. Like many another Cherokee institution, The Advocateexerted a profound influence upon the Cherokees as a people.16

Meanwhile dissension arose. The Old Settlers believed that the eastern branch was becoming too dictatorial in tribal affairs, and the easterners contended that they were the real Nation, while the westerners were merely an offshoot, so a wide split in the tribe occurred. The feud grew intense and the lives of the leaders were constantly in danger. In April, 1846, President James K. Polk sent a special message to Congress, discussing conditions in the Cherokee Nation, apparently from the point of view of Montford Stokes and General Arbuckle, the federal commissioners, and suggesting that the Cherokee Nation be divided. The Cherokee Advocate of May 28, 1846, contained an appeal to the Christian people

15Ibid. 16Thoburn, opp. cit. pp. 205 f.

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of the United States for prayers in behalf of the Cherokee Nation in its distracted and demoralized condition, and for their moral support in the efforts then being put forth for a settlement of intratribal difficulties. The plea was signed by Acting Principal Chief George Lowrey.

At last delegates of the three factions met for a council in Washington, and at length a new treaty was signed by them and the federal government. By its terms the land occupied by the Cherokee Nation was secured to the whole Cherokee people for their common use and benefit; all of the difficulties were declared to be adjusted and, as far as possible, "forgotten and forever buried in oblivion." For the most part, strife ceased and there was less hatred, but in some cases, certain Cherokees tried to maintain the feud down to Civil War times, when the parties again split, to a lesser degree, over the question of loyalty to the government of the United States.17According to the eminent historian, Dr. Annie Heloise Abel, the whole cause of the dissension between the Ridge and Ross parties, and later between the Old Settlers and the Eastern Cherokees, could be traced to the underhand means employed by the state and federal authorities to accomplish removal.18

With the settlement of the Indian Territory came Jesse Chisholm, a Cherokee halfbreed, who founded a number of trading posts all over the Indian country. Chisholm was not only a trader, but was also noted as a scout, guide, and interpreter. His name appears many times in accounts of the period, and he was one of the most colorful figures of his day. The famous Chisholm trail was established by him. Though he was a business man of great sagacity, his extreme generosity never permitted him to amass any wealth to speak of.

Periodically the Congress of the United States would take up the question of forming a territorial government out of the Indian nations. The first effort at organization was introduced in Congress in 1839, but no action was taken upon the matter. In February, 1854, Senator Robert W. Johnson of Arkansas introduced a bill in the upper house of Congress to create three territories to be called Chelokee, Muscogee,

17Abel, The American Indian as Slaveholder, p. 407. 18Ibid.

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and Chatah, with capitals at Tahlequah, the Creek Agency, and Doaksville, respectively. The object was to persuade the tribes to accept territorial organization so that later they might be formed into one large state. The Senate Committee of Territories made a favorable report on the bill, but it never came up for consideration.19

Probably the most important movement during the middle period between the coming to the Indian Territory and the Civil War was that for education. Even before Horace Mann began his labors in behalf of a public school system in such an educational center as the state of Massachusetts, the proposition for public schools of higher learning was brought up in the Cherokee Nation. The idea of public and higher schools for the Cherokees was advocated by the treaty of 1835. A superintendent of Education and eleven public schools were provided for by an act of council on November 16, 1841; the salary of public school teachers was to be thirty dollars per month. In 1843, $5,800 was set aside as running expenses for one year. Seven additional schools were created in 1843; the two school sessions were fixed at five months each, with a winter and summer vacation of one month each. The orphans were taken care of and provided an education by separate appropriations. In 1845, there were 655 Cherokee children—402 boys, 253 girls—in the Nation's eighteen schools. An examination board of three members was created on November 2, 1849. The national education movement continued to grow at an astonishing pace up to the Civil War, when, of course, progress of any sort was impossible.20

It was not until 1846 that the tribe found itself in a financial condition to establish the two schools of higher learning desired. A year later full regulations for the establishment and conduct of the two, schools were made by the National Council. Located near Tahlequah, the two buildings, constructed of native brick, were completed in 1850 and opened May 6 and 7, 1851. They were called the National Male Seminary and the National Female Seminary and were the first secular schools in Oklahoma. According to the institutions' catalogs, "The Seminaries, and in fact, all the schools, of the Cherokee Nation are supported by money,

19Thoburn, op. cit. p. 212. 20Starr, op. cit. pp. 225 ff.

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invested in United States registered stocks, from the sale of lands to the United States government. The interest alone of this investment is drawn and used for educational purposes. The boarders are charged a mere nominal sum as an addition to the school fund. The United States government renders no assistance to the Seminaries, Asylum or common schools of the Cherokee Nation, outside of paying interest on money borrowed from the nation."21

Some of the subjects taught would stagger many a college student in this day of advanced learning and educational ideas. Among the languages, students studied the works of Xenophon (the Anabasis), Thucydides, Livy, Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Caesar, Moliere, and Goethe—Greek, Latin, French, and German. Other courses included Mental Science, Natural Philosophy, Political Economy, Logic, Moral Philosophy, Criticism, Analytical Geometry, Surveying and Calculus, Mental Philosophy, and Astronomy. At the conclusion of a four-year course, the customary degrees were awarded. On the whole, the schools were equal to any colleges in the United States at that time. The first classes were graduated in 1855—twelve boys, including Joel Bryan Mayes, later principal chief, and twelve girls.

Because of lack of funds, and then because of the war and its destruction, the schools were discontinued after a few years until 1875, and the next class graduated in January, 1879. During the war the Male Seminary was used as a hospital, and as a national orphan asylum until its reopening. The Female Seminary was destroyed by fire in 1887 and rebuilt in 1889. Both of the schools operated until Oklahoma became a state in 1907, when there was no further need for tribal schools. Thereafter the buildings of the Female Seminary were occupied by the Northeastern State Normal School, and are still in use. After statehood the Male Seminary was reorganized as a co-educational school but was destroyed by fire in 1910.

The schools exerted an enormous influence upon the Nation. It is said that they were the pet scheme of Chief Ross, and that he began negotiations for their establishment in 1836. Despite the many benefits of the mission schools, there was inevitably a feeling of dependence among the Cherokees,

21Starr, opp. cit. pp. 231 ff.

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and the national seminaries took away much of it. According to Thoburn, "The more perfect development of an independent, self-reliant manhood and womanhood, which added much to the well-being and happiness of the Cherokee people, was the unquestioned result of the establishment and operation of the two seminaries."22

Echoing the undercurrent of national feeling in the United States, vague rumblings of the thunder of an approaching storm—the Civil War—came to disturb the peaceful horizon of the Cherokee Nation. The first trouble arose over the slavery question. Since the beginning of the century, refuge to fugitives and confusion of ownership had been occasions for innumerable disputes between the five tribes and the citizens of the southern states. After 1850 it became a matter of weighty importance whether or not the Fugitive Slave Laws was operative within the Indian Territory; and, when influenced apparently by Jefferson Davis, Attorney-General Cushing gave it as his opinion that it was, fresh controversies arose. Slaves belonging to the Indians were often enticed away by the abolitionists and even more frequently were seized by southern men under pretense of their being fugitives. In cases of this kind, the Indian slaveholders had little or no redress in the federal courts.23

The Missouri Compromise played an important part in the settling of the western lands. Since all the tribes were slaveholders, they had to settle south of 36' 30"; fortunately for scheming politicians and landgrabbers, the Cherokee lands extended a little distance north of the thirty-seventh parallel, and formed a "Cherokee strip" eagerly coveted by Kansas in later days. It was argued that this circumstance excluded slavery before it was organized as a territory, so the contention was not altogether consistent.

On the whole, however, slavery was encouraged both above and below the interdicted line, by white men living in the Territory, by licensed traders, and by missionaries. This was the case in the "Cherokee Neutral Land," out of which the southeastern counties of Kansas were illegitimately formed; the strip, 800,000 acres in extent, was an independent purchase by the Cherokees, and was not included in the ex-

22Op. cit. pp. 203 ff. 23Abel, op. cit. pp. 22 f.

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change or in the original scheme that forced their removal from Georgia. It is characterized by Professor Abel as "a subsequent concession to outraged justice."24 When war between the states finally did break out, the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes were placed in a position at once important and precarious. Both sides in the struggle realized that the tribes might be of great aid, and accordingly bid for their favor, but at the same time the Indians were not certain that they would have the protection of either in any case. "The failure of the United States Government," comments Miss Abel, "to give the Indians, in season, the necessary assurance that they would be protected, no matter what might happen, can not be too severely criticised. It indicated a very short-sighted policy . . ."25

Not long after the fall of Fort Sumter, the chief of the Nation let it be known that according to his best judgment the only course for the Cherokees was strict neutrality, and up to July, 1861, the majority of the members of the tribe endorsed Ross' policy. The Executive Council met the last of June and after a session of several days publicly and officially approved of the stand the principal chief had taken. There was, however, a remnant of the Ridge party of twenty-five years before, which wanted secession and loyalty to the Southern cause; to combat this element, an organization of fullbloods calling themselves "Pins," or the Keetoowah Society, sprang into being and flourished, even after the war. Several members of the organization are still living. In August Ross called a general meeting of the Cherokee people that they might express once and for all their true sentiments as to loyalty or secession. The meeting was attended by about 4,000 men, and was characterized by remarkable order and sobriety; the outcome was the ultimate secession of the Cherokee Nation.

John Ross still favored neutrality; in a dignified but moving address, he said in party, "The great object with me has been to have the Cherokee people harmonious and united in the full and free exercise and enjoyment of all their rights of person and property. Union is strength; dissension is weakness, misery, ruin. In time of peace, enjoy peace to-

24Ibid., p. 97. 25Ibid., p. 79.

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gether; in time of war, if war must come, fight together. As brothers live, as brothers die. While ready and willing to defend our firesides from the robber and murderer, let us not make war wantonly against the United or Confederate States, but avoid conflict with either, and remain strictly on our own soil." With the eloquence of a Cicero or a Webster, he presented his cause to his fellow-citizens, and ended by saying that if it were their wish to join the Confederacy, he would bend to their will, if an alliance could be obtained "upon terms honorable and advantageous to the Cherokee Nation."26

After Ross' stirring plea, the convention, under Joseph Vann, adopted a series of resolutions which, while indicating a friendship for the South, approved fully their chief's desire for neutrality. National spirit above party loyalty was urged; it was resolved that the Nation maintain the utmost faith in its chief, and that "we proclaim unwavering attachment to the Constitution and laws of the Cherokee Nation, and solemnly pledge ourselves to defend and support the same . . ."27 The South was particularly eager to win the support of the Indians. Acting on the authority of the Confederate government, Albert Pike came among the tribes trying to secure alliances, and David Hubbard, commissioner of Indian Affairs of the Confederate States, used every possible argument in favor of the Southern cause in trying to win Ross and the Cherokees to the Confederate side. In a letter to Ross in 1861, he said in part:

"I have determined to make a plain statement of the case for your consideration, which I think stands thus: If we succeed in the South—succeed in this controversy, and I have no doubt of the fact, for we are daily gaining friends among the powers of Europe, and our people are arming with unanimity scarcely ever seen in the world before—then your lands, your slaves, and your separate nationality are secured and made perpetual, and in addition nearly all your debts are in Southern bonds, and these we will also secure. If the North succeeds you will most certainly lose all. First your slaves they will take from you; that is one object of the war,

26Abel op. cit. p. 22. 27Ibid., pp. 23 ff.

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to enable them to abolish slavery in such manner and at such time as they choose. Another, and perhaps the chief cause, is to get upon your rich lands and settle their squatters who do not like to settle in slave states. They will settle upon your lands as fast as they choose, and the Northern people will force their Government to allow it. It is true they will allow your people small reserves—they give chiefs pretty large ones— but they will settle among you, overshadow you, and totally destroy the power of your chiefs and your nationality, and then trade your people out of the residue of their lands. Go North among the once powerful tribes of that country and see if you can find Indians living and enjoying power and property and liberty as do your people and the neighboring tribes from the South. If you can, then say I am a liar, and the Northern States have been better to the Indian than the Southern States. If you are obliged to admit the truth of what I say, then join us and preserve your people, their slaves, their vast possessions in land, and their nationality."28

The Cherokees must have seen the absurdity of Hubbard's position—his distorting of facts and shifting of responsibility for previous Indian wrongs from the shoulders of the southern states to those of a federal government made up entirely of northern states—for Chief Ross answered immediately that his people had implicit faith in the integrity of the United States and that they would attempt to remain neutral, believing themselves safe in any contingency.

"One cannot help wondering how Hubbard dared to say such things to the Indian exiles from Southern States and particularly to John Ross who like all of his tribe and of associated tribes was the victim of southern aggression and not any sense whatsoever of northern," declares Professor Abel.29 On the other hand, everything which Hubbard declared would come to pass if the North were successful actually has—the Cherokees lost their lands, their slaves, their separate nationality, and their wealth in bonds, and their own territory was overrun by whites. What would have been the case had the South been victorious in the struggle is a matter for conjecture and private opinion.

28Abel, op. cit. pp. 144 ff. 29Ibid., p. 146.

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Immediately upon seceding from the Union, the state of Texas passed an ordinance "to secure the friendship and cooperation of the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations," and appointed three men "to proceed to said nations and invite their prompt co-operation in the formation of a Southern Confederacy." James E. Harrison, one of the commissioners, reports on his attempts at negotiations with Chief Ross in these words: "A long conference was had with him, conducted by Mr. Harrison on the part of the commissioners, without, we fear, any good result. He was very diplomatic and cautious. His position is the same as that held by Mr. Lincoln in his inaugural; declares the Union not dissolved; ignores the Southern Government. The intelligence of the nation is not with him. Four-fifths, at least are against his views, as we learned from observation and good authorities. He, as we learned, had been urged by his people to call a council of the nation (he having the only constitutional authority to do so), to take into consideration the embarrassed condition of political affairs in the States, and to give some expression of their sentiments and sympathies. This he has persistently refused to do. His position in this is that of Sam Houston in Texas, and in all probability will share the same fate, if not a worse one. His people are already oppressed by a northern population letting a portion of territory purchased by them from the United States, to the exclusion of natives, and we are creditably informed that the Governors of some two or more, of the Western free-soil States have recommended their people emigrating to settle the Cherokee country. It is due Mr. John Ross, in this connection, to say that during our conference with him he frequently avowed his sympathy for the South and that, if Virginia and the other Border States seceded from the Government of the United States, his people would declare for the Southern government which might be formed."30

Prevailed upon by all the persuasive powers of Pike and Hubbard, the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes readily signed agreements with the Southern states, and the Creeks and Seminoles a little more reluctantly, but authorities of the Cherokee Nation attempted to maintain their neutral position for several months after the actual beginning of the war,

30Abel op. cit. pp. 88 ff.

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soon finding it impossible. As most of the Federal tribal agents were southerners and secessionists, the government was forced to send new northern men to take their places, but since most of the territory had already been seized by the Confederacy, the new agents did not dare go to their stations, and the payment of annuity funds due from the federal government was not made, so the Indians of Oklahoma felt they had been abandoned and forgotten by the "great white father" at Washington.

Although General Pike gave full power to the Cherokees to fight in any manner they desired, they did not intend to abuse this advantage to commit any of the atrocities common to certain other tribes. Immediately after the battle of Pea Ridge, the Cherokee National Council went on record as opposed to the conduct of some of the warring Indians, in this resolution: "Resolved, That in the opinion of the National Council the war now existing between the said United States and the Confederate States and their Indian allies should be conducted on the most humane principles which govern the usages of war among civilized nations and that it be and is earnestly recommended to the troops in the service of the Confederate States to avoid any acts toward captured or fallen foes that would be incompatible with such usages."31

Actual conflict between the Federal and Confederate forces in the Indian Territory began in the summer of 1862, when Col. William Weer invaded the Cherokee Nation with a number of federal troops from Kansas. The sortie was unsuccessful, mainly because of a lack of proper discipline among the officers, and soon retreated, but in October of the same year General James G. Blunt commanded a second federal invasion of the Nation. Fort Gibson was abandoned by the Confederates, and occupied by the Union troops, who made it their headquarters in the territory until the close of the war. The most important battle in the territory during the war was fought on Elk Creek, or Honey Springs, in the Creek Nation, not far from the present city of Muskogee. The result was a decisive victory for General Blunt and the Union forces, with the Confederates under Generals William Steele and Douglas Cooper retreating southward across the Canadian River.32

31Abel, Indian as Participant in the Civil War, pp. 32 f. 32Wyatt and Rainey, op. cit. pp. 56 ff.

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The war was bitterly partisan in the territory. Raiding parties from both sides scoured the country in the Cherokee and Creek Nations, destroying the property and driving off the stock of all who were on the opposite side, so that the whole country was laid waste. Disease and exposure caused hundreds of deaths among the rival camps, overcrowded and poorly equipped. There were no more important battles during the war, but General Stand Watie and a Confederate force of 2,000 men captured a federal supply train of 325 wagons, in the Cherokee Nation near the present town of Pryor. There was little fighting during the last six months of the war, but the Confederate forces of the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks did not surrender until three months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.33

By far the most prominent man in the war in the India Territory was Stand Watie, who won the rank of general in the Confederacy. Brave and fearless, with the same duty to principles that had guided his brother years before, he was at all times in active service. He commanded a large volunteer regiment of Creeks and Cherokees, and his excursions took him even into Missouri. "The Cvil War was one in which the Indians were not directly concerned and in which but few of them would have taken part had they not been subject to much persuasion," say Wyatt and Rainey, in A Brief History of Oklahoma. "It was disastrous to them in every way. Most of their property was destroyed and many of them lost their lives and, in the end, much of their land was also taken from them. Of course, all of their slaves were set free, but that was a small matter compared with the other losses sustained and with the hardships which they endured."34

IV "THE APPEAL TO THE GREAT SPIRIT"

It is difficult to imagine the terrible ruin in which the Civil War left the Cherokee Nation. "No one can fully appreciate," wrote J. Harlan, in his annual report as commissioner of Indian Affairs, "the wealth, content and comparative happiness the Cherokees enjoyed before the late rebellion, or

33Ibid. 34Ibid.

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very shortly after it was begun, unless he had been here and seen it (which was my case) and no man can believe more than half the want, misery, and destitution of the Cherokee people now. Blackened chimneys of fine houses are now all that is left, fences burned, and farms laid waste. The air of desolation and ruin envelops the whole country. None have wholly escaped. No man can pass through the country without seeing all that I have attempted to describe, and no man can fully appreciate it unless he has seen it.1

On July 14, 1865, elaborate resolutions were passed by the National Council and proclaimed, for the readmittance to citizenship of the greater part of the secessionists. All subscribing to an oath of fidelity to the Nation, were restored to full citizenship rights, except (1) all who were military officers above the rank of captain after March 1, 1865; (2) all who held the pretended offices of Principal Chief, members of the National Council, etc., in opposition to the true government of the Cherokee Nation, and (3) all who violated their parole as prisoners of war, or (4) whites married into the Nation who had joined the rebellion.2

Just as Harlan said, the end of the war left the Five Civilized Tribes in a pitiable plight. The homes of the people of the Cherokee and Creek Nations had been destroyed by the bitter factions, and domestic difficulties as well as those concerning relations with the United States government arose. In September, 1865, the first peace council after war was held at Fort Smith, Arkansas, with a number of tribes represented. The government tribal agents made four demands upon the Five Civilized Tribes, to all of which they were forced to accede: (1) they had to give up the surplus or unused lands of each nation to be opened for settlement by the tribes of Kansas or elsewhere; (2) they had to give full tribal rights and citizenship to the negroes who had been their slaves; (3) they had to guarantee rights-of-way for the construction of one east-west and one north-south railroad across the territory; and (4) they had to submit to a measure giving Congress power to establish a territorial government with an intertribal legislative council.

Naturally the tribes were bitterly opposed to these con-

1Starr, op. cit. p. 177. 2Abel, The Indians Under Reconstruction. pp.158 f.

Page 428

ditions; the various factions within each tribe grew so hostile that the council was adjourned to convene in Washington the following spring. In that city the Creek and Seminole tribes acceded willingly to all four demands, receiving the negroes into their tribes with a proportionate interest in all lands and tribal funds. Their reservations were greatly reduced in size. The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes opposed tribal rights for negroes and finally succeeded in limiting their land interest and giving them no share of tribal funds. As usual, the Cherokees were the last to give in, and did not sign a new treaty for many months. With the perspective afforded by more than half a century, there seems to be little doubt that the United States was using the Indians' alliance with the South as an excuse for slowly but surely taking all their lands and tribal rights from them.3

Upon the reorganization of the Cherokee Nation after the war, thirty-two public schools were provided for, beginning March 1, 1867. Two Negro schools were created. Ten schools were added in 1869, there were fifty-nine in 1871, sixty in 1872, and seventy-five in 1877. The number and efficiency of the public schools gradually grew until there were more than 120 at the dissolution of the Cherokee Nation. "The progress of the Cherokees was due to their excessive pride in their schools, which were never allowed to be under the supervision in any way of the educational authorities of the United States," declares Starr.4

It was a slow and arduous task to reconstruct the formerly thriving, prosperous Indian Territory—to rebuild the burnt dwellings, to till again the neglected fields, to repeople the little towns and villages. Difficult as it was, the Cherokee people and the other tribes set about to reach the prosperity they had enjoyed in the ante-bellum days. Steady progress in civil, industrial, and educational lines was a marked feature of the Cherokee Nation, and through the years they advanced until they came into the state of Oklahoma with a patriotic impulse and pride of state that equalled any race's.5

In 1871 the United States took the first steps to crush the governments of the Indian tribes. An act of Congress

3Wyatt and Rainey, op. cit. pp. 63 f. 4Op. cit. pp. 228 f. 5Ibid., p. 183.

Page 429 of that year reads in part, "That hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty; Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to invalidate or impair the obligation of any treaty heretofore lawfully made and ratified with any such Indian tribe."6

At once the strange contradiction of the legislation becomes evident. Less than one hundred years before, the same Congress had guaranteed that the Cherokees were to be considered as "a separate and independent Nation, with power as a body politic, and to be dealt with as one Nation deals with another," in no less than nineteen treaties. Yet, at the same time there were saying that no Indian Nation was to be recognized as such, the lawmakers of the United States in 1871 said that all former treaties with the Indian tribes were to remain in effect!

Later, however, the Supreme Court of the United States decided (Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock) that the federal government could ignore absolutely the provisions of Indian treaties whenever it was deemed necessary. There are now about 370 Indian treaties on the statute books of this country, each made with the faith of an Indian tribe and the word of the United States behind it, yet each amounting to little more than nothing at all. The reason for the treaty law is based on the theory that the government can not recognize an independent nation or sovereignty existing within the borders of its own territory. Since the passage of this act prohibiting treaties with Indian tribes, their affairs have been dealt with, more or less, by congressional enactment.

In 1873 a young man following the advice made famous by Horace Greeley, visited the Cherokee Nation among others in search for lost health. His name was J. H. Beadle; besides coming west for the salubrious effect of the journey, he undertook to depict in glowing terms the raw west for the benefit of the sophisticated east. He expresses great surprise at finding Indians of so many shades of red or white, and spoke of miscegenation and "White Cherokees" as if he had discovered

6Office of Indian Affairs, The American Indian and Government Administration, pp, 2 f.

Page 430

some new phenomenon of nature. He learned that the whites had always mingled to a greater extent with the Cherokees than with any other tribe, and that intermarriage was regarded by both peoples as wholly proper.

The exuberant young writer goes into several flights of high-sounding language describing the excellence and beauty of the Nation. In one passage he says, "We had a delightful rest of three days at the capital of the Cherokees (Tahlequah). The town reminds me of the better class of country villages in the interior of Indiana—not quite so well built, perhaps, but beautiful, with flower gardens, orchards, and cultivated grass plots. The place is rich in historic interest. For twenty years all books, papers and documents having relations to these people have been collected; and what With excursions, talks with the young people, and reading Indian literature, we had a season of novel enjoyment. The Cherokees represent the best history and the hope of the Indian race, as regards civilization, justice from the whites, and a future. If they are a failure, the race is doomed. They have been an organized nation, with Constitution, elected officers, and written laws for seventy years; and their first published records are of the most intense interest."7

Aside for his ramblings about color and cultivated grass plots, Beadle tells of a three- way split he obesrved among the Cherokees. One party, looked upon by the others as traitorous, favored the white settlement of Oklahoma after dividing some of the Indian lands among individual tribesmen; the second faction, known as the Ockmulkee Constitution party, favored sectionizing the land, giving each Indian his share and grants to the two railroads, and uniting all the tribes, under one governmnet of their own with American citizenship and local courts, but without territorial arrangement and white settlement, under the so-called Ockmulkee Constitution; the third party, by far the largest, wished no change in the conditions then existing.8

Between 1875 and 1880 all of the hitherto unused lands of the Cherokee strip were occupied by cattle ranges, with thousands of heads of Texas longhorns. Those were the days of the long-since vanished cowpuncher, of the annual roundups,

7Beadle, Five Years in the Territories, pp. 409 ff. 8Ibid., pp. 360 f.

Page 431

and of the always picturesque ranch life. There was always a certain amount of unrest among the Cherokees because of the lack of any settled policy or understanding between the federal government and the Cherokee authorities in regard to the leasing of grazing privileges, the system then in effect. Finally it became apparent to both sides that some species of tenure other than that of merely paying a headtax on the number of cattle held on such ranges would have to be devised. Meanwhile, cattlemen were learning some of the advantages of organization. The Texas Cattle Rangers' Association was the first of many groups to be organized. The advantages of meeting in convention concerning matters of common interest were soon made manifest to the cattlemen, and similar associations were formed in other parts of the west. In 1880, the Cherokee Nation levied a tax of $1.00 per head on all cattle held on the lands of the Outlet. The range cattlemen contended that this was exorbitant, and refused to pay; thereupon the Cherokee authorities threatened to have them expelled as intruders, but finally, in December, 1880, the Cherokee Council voted to reduce the headtax to forty cents each on grown stock and twenty-five cents each on yearlings. The movement for the forcible settlement of white emigrants in the Unassigned Lands also had a disquieting effect upon the range cattlemen, though as yet there had been no threat to locate on the lands of the Cherokee Outlet.9

A movement for the organization of the cattlemen of the strip began early in 1881, and the first convention of the united group was held at Caldwell, Kansas, March 16th of that year. That convocation was the beginning of the movement which culminated in the organization of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association two years later. Many matters of common interest Were brought up and settled by those pioneer ranchers, abut they turned their attention for the most part to opposing further settlement of the Indian Territory. Arrangements were also made for the registration of the cattle brands in use by the ranchmen, an important step in frontier ranching.

Although the Indians, especially the members of the Five Civilized Tribes, were and are law-abiding citizens, there was a great deal of lawlessness in the territorial days, for

9Thoburn, op. cit. II, 535.

Page 432

which a mere handful of men—mostly whites, but a few of that worst of all possible combinations, the individuals with a mixture of Indian, Caucasian, and Negro, combining the worst traits of all three—were responsible. Some of the most famous of those who operated in the Indian Territory, Missouri, and other parts of the Southwest, were Jesse James, Belle Starr, Henry Starr, the Younger borthers, Emmet Dalton, the Wycliffes, and other notorious individuals and families who have been the subjects of countless dime novels supposedly devoured by the younger generation. Violence, murder, train-robbing, and attendant evils were commonplaces when the outlaws went on their rampages. Balanced against that score were the thousands of happy, prosperous tribesmen who "kept the even tenor of their way." In spite of the progress being made by the Indian citizens of Oklahoma today, there are many members of the old generation of tribesmen who contend that the Indians on the whole were vastly better off between the years of 1855 and 1900.10

At length the time came when white settlement was no longer to be denied. Captain David Payne and his colonies and other agitating influences worked ceaselessly for settlement of the Territory, and hundreds of "boomers" invaded the Five Civilized Tribes' lands and attempted to set up their own homesteads. Every Oklahoman is familiar with the romantic incidents which followed: the first "Run," on April 22, 1889, one of the strangest but most characteristic events in American history; the founding of cities of 10,000, people overnight; the gradual organization of a territorial government, and the final opening of the remaining Indian lands.

In 1893 came the opening of the Cherokee Outlet for white settlement. This opening did not differ materially from those which had preceded it in 1889, 1891, and 1892: the same vast throngs gathered on the border of the "promised lands;" there was the same variety of equipment and preparation for the run, the same suppressed excitement as the eventful hour drew near, and when the signal was given, there was the same wild race to possess the wilderness lands which would be wild no more. But the homesteader, who had abided the time in good faith, found the despicable "sooner" ahead of him, having succeeded in winning by unfair methods the prize that

10Moorehead, The American Indian in the United States, p. 134.

Page 433 should have gone to the homesteaders. About 50,000 entered the strip from the vicinity of Arkansas City alone; vast crowds also gathered at Caldwell, Kiowa, Englewood, and other border towns. Seven new counties were carved out of the strip and were called K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q, but these titles gave way to Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble, and Pawnee.11

But now came the final blow to the Five Civilized Tribes' hopes of keeping their separate identity. The first thunderings of the approaching storm came in 1887, when Congress, under Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, passed the Dawes Severalty Act, providing for the allotment of Indian lands and the eventual citizenship of all Indians. By an act of March 3, 1893, Congress provided that the president should appoint three commissioners to enter into negotiations with each of the Five Civilized Tribes, for the purpose of doing away with the tribal title to the lands of the Indian Territory, either by cession or by allotment of the lands among the citizens of the tribes. The first commission consisted of Henry L. Dawes, Meredith H. Kidd of Indiana, and Archibald S. McKennon of Arkansas, and was known as the Dawes commission, from the name of its chairman.

As the Indians had repeatedly expressed their opposition to dissolution of the tribal governments, the commission was not received cordially. On June 26, 1895, the International Council of the Five Civilized Tribes met at Eufala to exchange views on the commissioners' propositions regarding dissolution and allotment. The result was another statement reaffirming their position on the question. One inspired Creek Demosthenes expostulated, "Egypt had its locusts, Asiatic countries their cholera, France had its Jacobins, England had the black plague, Memphis had the yellow fever, Texas had her Middle-of-the-Road Populists, the world had McKinley and prosperity, Kansas had its grasshoppers, but it was left for the unfortunate Indian Territory to be afflicted with the worst scourge of the nineteenth century, the Dawes Commission! When God, in the medieval days of His divine administration, first conceived the grand idea of building worlds, making governments, and creating judiciaries, He never contemplated the Dawes Commission. If He had, He would have

11Thoburn, op. cit. II, 721 f.

Page 434

shrunk with horror, quit His job, and left the world in chaos.12

Amusing as the speech may seem in this modern age, it was quite sincere, and mirrored exactly the sentiments of the Indian Territory. The Cherokees were particularly opposed to the commission. In 1895 the personnel and duties of the body were changed and enlarged; their demands grew more and more insistent, and in vain did the Cherokees call attention to their treaty of 1828, in which the United States guaranteed forever a permanent home for the Cherokees "that shall never, in all future time, be embarrassed by having extended around it the lines, or placed over it the jurisdiction of a Territory or a State, nor be pressed upon by the extension, in any way, of any of the limits of any existing Territory or State."13 On November 11, 1896, the International Council met at South McAlester and passed resolutions providing (1) that if compelled to dissolve their tribal governments, they would insist upon the prompt payment of all claims due from the United States under the treaties or other sources; (2) that they would insist that the United States pay each Indian $500 for giving up the tribal government; (3) that a sufficient portion of their tribal lands be set aside for the maintenance of their educational institutions under the Carlisle system; (4) that they would retain their tribal government as long as possible, twenty-five years at least; (5) that they would never consent to a territorial government or to a union with Oklahoma Territory, and (6) that when their tribal governments were abolished they would ask that the Indian Territory be admitted into the union as a separate state, and that the constitution of their proposed new state should contain a provision absolutely prohibiting the liquor traffic. The fact that not one of these requests, reasonable though they were, was granted, indicates the injustice of the Indian policy of the United States.14

During 1897 the tribes and commission conferred on a number of occasions. In August, a meeting was held in Tahlequah, and three full-bloods selected by the Cherokee Nation argued for hours against the injustice of the proposition.

12Benedict, op. cit. I, 141 f. 13Ibid., pp. 148-156. 14Ibid., p. 156 f.

Page 435

As these orators felt, so felt the Nation. Because of his advanced age and poor health, Chairman Dawes was unable to continue in active service, so Tams Bixby of Minnesota became acting head. Since Mr. Bixby was of the type which acts decisively and without hesitation, the commission soon began to aecomplish what it had started out to do.

The Dawes Commission now entered in earnest upon what was perhaps the most stupendous task ever assigned to any similar group: that of surveying, appraising, and dividing 20,000,000 acres of land equally according to value among 101,500 rightful heirs. First a roll was made showing the name, age, sex, and degree of Indian blood of each applicant. Some of the full-bloods who had the most perfect right to share in the tribal lands and moneys refused to enroll at all, and had to be sought out in their mountain homes, while hundreds of white people, mostly of the ignorant, shiftless class, tried in vain to prove that they or some of their ancestors had Indian blood. There were 200,000 claimants, but only about 90,000 were allotted.

In order to know that each Indian was receiving his rightful share of land, according to value, it was necessary for the commission to send out appraisers who were required to view every forty-acre tract of land in the Indian Territory and fix its relative value. The first satisfactory agreement which the commission was able to make was with the Choctaws and Chickasaws in what was called the Atoka Agreement, which was incorporated in the Curtis Act passed by Congress to become effective June 28, 1898. The agreement authorized the commission to make a roll of Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens legally entitled to share in the lands and moneys of the two tribes, and to appraise and allot their lands in severalty. The Curtis Act also authorized the commission to proceed with the enrollment of citizens and the allotment of lands of the other three tribes, which up to this time had not consented to any agreement. The Curtis Act (named from its author, the Kansas Senator and Vice President during the Hoover Administration, himself an Indian) was the most comprehensive piece of Indian legislation ever passed by Congress, as it provided not only for the enrollments of all Indian citizens but also for the final settlement of all tribal affairs by March 4, 1906.15

15Benedict, op. cit. I, 158 f.

Page 436

When the Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles saw that the United States government was determined to carry forward this work, regardless of any previous agreement with them, they were more inclined to deal with the commission, but they objected to putting certain provisions of the Curtis Act into force in their respective nations. The commission finally succeeded in making satisfactory agreements with the Creeks and Seminoles, and then with the Cherokees, containing slight modifications of the provisions of the act, the Creek agreement becoming a law on March 1, 1901, and that with the Cherokees on July 1, 1902. At last the members of the Five Civilized Tribes were declared citizens of the United States by act of Congress of March 3, 1901—in 1901, when even the Negroes had been citizens for thirty-five years!

The last chief of the Cherokees, William Charles Rogers, was elected in 1903. Under the provisions of the United States-Cherokee agreement made at Muskogee in 1902, this was the last election to be held in the Cherokee Nation, but he was retained as principal chief of the Cherokees until his death, in 1917, in order that he, as the properly authorized representative of the Nation, might sign the deeds transferring the title of the community lands of the Cherokee Nation to the individual allottees.16

Allotment of the lands induced hosts of grafters to the Indian Territory in the hope of swindling the red men out of their every possession. All sorts of fraudulent schemes were concocted to obtain the valuable oil, coal, gas, asphalt, and farming lands, and the timber-tracts, of the Five Civilized Tribes, until the better-class white citizens demanded that steps be taken to prevent such large-scale graft. Prominent among these was Hon. Grant Foreman, a Muskogee attorney and a great friend of the Indians, whose recent history of the Southwestern pioneers has just been published by the Yale University Press. Others were Miss Kate Barnard, the famous charity worker and "Joan of Arc of Oklahoma," who died early in 1930; Hon. M. L. Mott, attorney for, the Creek Nation Rev. J. S. Murrow, head of a large and successful mission at Atoka, Oklahoma, who published a pamphlet depicting the true conditions of the five tribes, and Charles H. Burke, representative in Congress from South Dakota, author of the

16Starr, op. cit. p. 263. Page 437

Burke Act and later commissioner of Indian Affairs. These citizens brought about many of the needed reforms.

Early in 1905 a movement was strongly advocated by prominent Indian Territory men in favor of creating a state out of the territory and of opposing the proposition of making one state out of the two territories. Meetings were held throughout the nations, and delegates were selected to attend a constitutional convention to be held in Muskogee. A committee was appointed beforehand to draw up a constitution, and eventually the convention adopted a body of laws for the proposed state of Sequoyah. As is of course well known, their plans went for naught because of the opposition of Roosevelt and Congress, but several facts came to light: leaders were being developed who later took important parts in bringing about eventual statehood, including Charles N. Haskell, the first governor of Oklahoma; the desire for statehood on the part of the five tribes was made evident, and the need for statehood was shown.17

Eventually the desired statehood was brought about, and the Cherokees had their part in its accomplishment, as nine members of the constitutional convention were of that tribe. From that time to the present, the Cherokees have gradually amalgamated with the white citizens until little remains of the great tribe in actuality but a glorious history and sad, beautiful traditions. In a way, the mingling has been beneficial to both races, for each has had much to gain from the other.

Most commendable was the part taken by members of the Cherokee tribe in the World War. When the call came for volunteers, hundreds responded, and some of the outstanding American soldiers of the whole conflict were from this tribe and others of the old five. An example of Cherokee service was that of Alfred G. Bailey, a sergeant who had fought under General Pershing in Mexico. He was killed in action in France, after having been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for creeping alone into the enemy's lines far in advance of his regiment, where, unaided, he killed two German machine-gunners and captured a third with his own gun!

Another example of the brilliant records made by members of the Five Civilized Tribes is that of Private Joseph

17Benedict, op cit. I, 227 f.

Page 438

Oklahombi, a full-blood Choctaw who now lives in Bismarck, Oklahoma. He received the Croix de Guerre from Marshal Petain of France for capturing 171 prisoners single- handed, storming a strongly held position containing more than fifty machine guns and a number of trench mortars, turning the captured guns on the enemy and holding the position for four days, in spite of constant barrage of large projectiles and gas shells, and crossing No Man's Land a number of times to obtain information concerning the enemy and to assist wounded comrades! There were approximately 10,000 members of the Red Cross, who made more than 100,000 garments and sent 500 Christmas boxes during the war.

Since the dissolution of the tribe, few figures as to education, health work, prosperity, and progress in general, dealing exclusively with the Cherokees, are available. As for health work: about 25,000 American Indians now have tuberculosis and 35,000 suffer from trachoma, an eye disease leading to blindness, both being regarded as the afflictions to which the race is least immune. The death rate was reduced from thirty- two to twenty-two per thousand per year in the seven years between 1913 and 1920, by means of hospitals and medical services of the United States and various home mission fields. The first Indian hospital was established in 1882, but only forty years later there were seventy-eight, with highly trained specialists in charge. This much concerning the Cherokees as a tribe is known: they do not need attention for tuberculosis and trachoma nearly so much as the great majority of other tribes do, having been noted from the beginning of American history for being singularly virile and sturdy.18

The total population of the Indian tribes in the United States in 1922 was about 341,000, an increase of 14,000 over the previous ten years, so it can hardly be said that Indians are a "vanishing race." Oklahoma has the largest Indian population, with 120,000, and Arizona is next with 43,000. Of the 120,000 Oklahoma Indians, 102,000 are members of the Five Civilized Tribes, including approximately 42,000 Cherokees, 26,000 Choctaws, 18,000 Creeks, 10,000 Chickasaws, and 3,000 Seminoles. The Indians have in the treasury of the

18Office of Indian Affairs, American Indian and Government Indian Administration, p. 8.

Page 439

United States approximately $25,000,000 of tribal funds, and they have on deposit in about 1,000 banks throughout the country nearly $25,000,000 of individual funds. The total Indian property of all kinds is valued at nearly one billion dollars.

Fate played a grim joke on the Cherokees. The richest producing oil field in North America is found in what once was part of the Cherokee Nation. These lands, barely worth even claiming at the time, were purchased by the Osages from the Cherokees at a price of $1.25 per acre. When the sale was consummated, in June, 1835, the Cherokees believed they were making a fine bargain, but to-day every Osage Indian receives about $10,000 per annum, with some families getting as much as $80,000. The Osage Indians are the richest group of people in the world, but the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes did not reserve the mineral rights to their lands when allotments were made, so some Indians have received tremendous royalties from oil production on their lands while others received only the profits of their own labors. Millions of barrels of oil have been produced on restricted allotments within the Five Civilized Tribes, but little profit has been realized by the Indians.

The records of individual Cherokees have loomed large in many fields of contemporary American history, in such widely varying ones as statesmanship, finance, humor, and professional baseball! Most famous of living Cherokees, is, needless to say, Will Rogers, Oklahoma's favorite son and the best known and best loved humorist of America. He it is who pokes fun at presidents, kings, and dictators, and makes them like it. Then comes Hon. Robert L. Owen, former senator from Oklahoma, once regarded as presidential timber, and a man who will go down in history as one of the authors of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Next comes Hon. W. W. Hastings, dean of the Oklahoma delegation in the House of Representatives, who has made a name for himself as one who stands only for the finest principles of government. Also well known is Hon. Houston B. Teehee, registrar of the United States Treasury under Woodrow Wilson during the World War. Since it was he who was responsible for the Liberty Loans and other financial measures of the war, it is believed

Page 440 that he signed his name to documents representing more money that ever came under the control of another man in the history of the world. The baseball representative is the famous Ben Tincup, the big league pitcher.

History ends with a peering into the future. Will there be any future for the Cherokee Nation? As a nation, no, for long since have the Cherokees sacrificed their nationality to make a more perfect whole of the great American people. But as Americans, yes— the Cherokees have a future, and a future not to be limited by the vain imaginings of finite minds.

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

1. ABEL, ANNIE HELOISE, PH. D. The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War. Cleveland, 1919. 2. ABEL, ANNIE HELOISE, PH. D. The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist. Cleveland, 1915. 3. ABEL, ANNIE HELOISE, PH. D. The American Indian Under Reconstruction. Cleveland, 1925. 4. ———The Americana. New York, 1906. 5. BEADLE, J. H. The Undeveloped West; or, Five Years in the Territories. Philadelphia, 1906. 6. BENEDICT, JOHN D. Muskogee and Northeastern Oklahoma. Chicago, 1922. Three volumes. 7. EVANS, CHARLES. Lights on Oklahoma History. Oklahoma City, 1920. 8. JONES, CHARLES COLCOCK. The History of Georgia. New York, 1883. 9. LALOR, JOHN JOSEPH, EDITOR. Cyclopaedia of Political Science. New York, 1904. Three volumes. 10. LINDQUIST, G. E. E. The Red Man in the United States. New York, 1923. 11. MOOREHEAD, WARREN K. The American Indian in the United States. Andover, Massachusetts, 1914. 12. OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. Bulletins 1-9, 11-15, 17-20. Washington, 1921- 1923. 13. PARKER, THOMAS VALENTINE. The Cherokee Indians. New York, 1907. 14. ———Proceedings in Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol Upon the Unveiling and Presentation of the Statue of Sequoyah by the State of Oklahoma. Washington, 1924. 15. STARR, ENTMET. History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore. Oklahoma City, 1922. 16. THOBURN, JOSEPH B. A Standard History of Oklahoma. Chicago,1916. Five Volumes. 17. WYATT, FRANK S., AND RAINEY, GEORGE. Brief History of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City, 1919. MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Page 441

NOVEMBER, 15, 1930

The adjourned meeting of the Board of Directors convened at 10:00 a. m. November 15, 1930, in the court room of the Industrial Commission at the Capitol, with the following members present: Mr. Charles F. Colcord, President, presiding; Gen. Chas. F. Barrett, Mr. Jasper Sipes, Judge W. A. Ledbetter, Judge Thos. H. Doyle, Mrs. Frank Lucas, Judge Phil. D. Brewer, Judge Baxter Taylor, Judge R. L. Williams, Judge Thos. A. Edwards, Mrs. Frank Korn, Col. A. N. Leecraft, Judge Wm. P. Thompson, Mrs. John R. Williams, Mrs. Emma Estill-Harbour, Mrs. Jessie R. Moore, Judge Harry Campbell and Dan W. Peery, the Secretary.

Judge Williams moved that the Board appoint a committee of three to take up with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs the matter of the transfer of the archives of the Five Civilized Tribes from the custody of the Superintendent in the Federal Building at Muskogee, Oklahoma, to the new Historial Building with the understanding that the Oklahoma Historical Society is to accept and receipt the custody of these archives as the agent of the Federal Government. Mrs. Korn seconded the motion which was carried.

The Chair appointed Judge R. L. Williams, chairman, Judge Thos. H. Doyle and Mr. Grant Foreman as members of this committee.

Judge Williams, Chairman of the Building Committee, for said committee, reported to the Board of Directors that in their judgment the Historical Building was completed in accordance with the contract and as contemplated in the act of the Legislature for the construction of the Building and recommended that the building be accepted. Motion was seconded.

Judge Taylor moved to amend by adding that this Board of Directors approve the report of the Building Committee and accept and receive the building as completed in accordance with the contract and that appropriate resolutions be drawn expressing and tendering the thanks of the Board of Directors to the Building Committee, the Architects, Layton, Hicks & Forsyth; the contractors, the Holmboe Construction Page 442

Company and to Edward P. Boyd, the superintendent of construction; and that this be put in proper form and be made a part of the permanent records of the Society. Mrs. Harbour seconded the amendment. The amendment was accepted and the motion as amended was carried.

Judge Williams moved that the question be divided and put first the question of approving the report of the Building Committee and accepting the building as completed under the contract and that we have a roll call, which was seconded and carried, and the roll call resulted in the following voting aye: Judge Thos. A. Edwards, Mrs. Emma Estill-Harbour, Mrs. Jessie R. Moore, Gen. Charles F. Barrett, Mr. Jasper Sipes, Mrs. Frank Korn, Judge W. A. Ledbetter, Judge Thos. H. Doyle, Col. A. N. Leecraft, Judge R. L. Williams, Mr. Charles F. Colcord, Mrs. Frank Lucas, Judge Phil. D. Brewer, Judge Baxter Taylor, Mrs. John R. Williams, Judge Wm. P. Thompson, and Judge Harry Campbell, and there being no opposition to the motion it was carried and the building was accepted.

General Barren moved that a committee of three be appointed to draw up resolutions of respect for the splendid work of the Building Committee and that these resolutions be published in Chronicles of Oklahoma and given to the press. Motion was seconded.

Judge Williams moved to amend by adding that a committee on resolutions be appointed, which amendment was accepted and the motion, as amended, was carried and the Chair appointed the following committee: Judge Baxter Taylor, Mrs. Frank Korn, Gen. Chas. F. Barrett, Mrs. Frank Lucas and Judge Edwards, with Mr. Colcord.

Mrs. Moore moved that the Governor be invited to be present at the meeting. Motion was seconded and carried and Judge Taylor was asked to wait upon the Governor.

Judge Williams read a letter from Mr. Grant Foreman, and presented to the Board a copy of an article on the Legend of the Keetoowah Society, written by Mr. Levi B. Gritts, and moved that the Secretary be directed to write a letter to Mr. Gritts thanking him for the article and also write a letter to Mr. Foreman thanking him for securing the article. Motion was seconded and carried.

The Governor having appeared, General Barrett moved that the routine business be dispensed with and that the

Page 443 report of the Building Committee be presented to the Governor for his approval or rejection. Motion was seconded and carried and the Governor voted aye on the acceptance of the report of the Building Committee. The Governor made a short talk, eulogizing the Building Committee for the splendid work they had done in securing for the State such a magnificent building to house the Historical Society, and asked to be excused from further attendance on account of official engagements. BOOK REVIEWS

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THE RANGE CATTLE INDUSTRY; by Edward Everett Dale; University of Oklahoma Press, $4.00.

The cow country and the cowboy have furnished material for many books. Most of the novels in this field are interesting; some are even good interpretations of certain phases of ranch life. But the novelist has never yet been able to show what the cattle industry is. He never finds romance in that—probably never suspected it was there. Doubtless many people who read the fiction of the ranch life and its vicissitudes have wondered if there is any real cattle business—wondered if the cowboy just rides his cow pony looking for some chance to become a hero in a movie or possibly saves a stampeding herd from a high canyon wall and—marries the rancher's daughter.

Recently certain carefully trained historians have turned their attention to the cattle industry itself. This subject is technical and doubtless only the man who has experienced ranch life and at the same time has historical judgment will ever be able to write accurately and interestingly. The author of THE RANGE CATTLE INDUSTRY has all qualifications for writing the history of the ranch cattle industry. His work is pioneer in the field and should open the study to other students who are prepared to write on this subject matter, however, the amateur will do well to mature his training before attempting to spread his wings. There will be but few rivals for honors.

This volume briefly traces the cattle industry to the late sixties and then carries it in more detail from that point to the present day. It has long been known that Texas is a great cattle producing area but the economic study of why and how has been omitted by the average writer. The northern drives and their attending results are adequately treated. The northern drives helped to fill the northern plains and later the feed pens of the corn producing states with cattle. People of the eastern states could afford to buy beef now that millions of cattle were available. Standards of living were thereby affected.

The capital invested in the cattle industry came in many instances from the pockets of European financiers. The

Page 445 ultimate result of this was that many large ranches came to be owned by European syndicates. Moreover, the immense production of beef drove English and Scotch stock raisers to become alarmed at the importation of American beef. Even, one is told, that European standards of living were thereby affected. While many made huge profits others lost. The public generally heard of profits rather than losses.

The Government after the Civil War was greatly concerned with the Indian problem. The reservation system and cattle industry developed together. They were interdependent. The large acreage of the Indian Territory and public lands within the boundaries of Oklahoma developed large ranches. This cattle industry dependent upon grass and railroads had no little to do with the future development of the Indian Territory, Oklahoma and the Southwest generally—the Northwest too.

The ramifications of the range cattle industry affected, and were affected by, army posts, gold discoveries, Indians, Eastern and European capital, whims and fancies of individuals, the land policy of the Government, railroads, barb wire, and windmills—in short the cattle business was a fundamental part of Big Business.

Maps and illustrations in this publication tell as much as the printed page. They add much to value of the book. Statistics in the body of the text, as well as in footnotes, convey to the reader—without the usual bore of statistics—the steady rise of the industry until it reached the gigantic business that it was in the eighties then to suffer fluctuation for a period of years and eventually to attain a fair degree of stabilization.

The author closes with suggestions concerning the cattle industry of the future. The absolute need of scientific investigation and the application of business methods must govern the industry. The business of cattle raising is not yet void of romance but the heyday of the cowboy with the mongrel herds of Texas long horns has passed. It is now being stripped of hazards to investors—as much as any capitalistic enterprise can be. The "one family ranch" in the dry areas seems to be the solution for settling more consistently the land question that has so long troubled the "nester" and cattle men.

A review would not be complete without mention of the

Page 446 extensive bibliography. The carefully chosen sources listed in the bibliography speak for the amount of work the author has done to bring together the latest contribution on the range cattle industry.

The University of Oklahoma Press should be congratulated upon its securing this work for publication. Moreover, the Press should be congratulated on the book itself. It is well printed, beautifully illustrated and bound and should afford satisfaction to the book lover, the average reader, the student, scientific historian, and the modern cattle man.

M. L. WARDELL.

FRONTIER TRAILS: The Autobiography of Frank M. Canton; Edited by Edward Everett Dale; Houghton Mifflin Co. $3.00. The autobiography of General Frank M. Canton well merits the name "Frontier Trails." One cannot imagine a better title. General Canton spent his life on the frontier. When life in one area became too tame he would move on to places where to live was an art especially if one were a peace officer.

The introductory paragraph of the author's foreword is one of the best summaries ever written:

"I have served more than fifty years as an officer on the Western frontier. My chief duty has been to protect the good citizens from the bad men who infested the border settlements in the early days. In this capacity I have worked from the Rio Grande to the Red River in Texas, and from there to the Yukon in Alaska. My experiences have included about everything in the line of outlaw fighting. I have had to deal with the Mexican Greaser, the Indian, and all classes of white criminals, such as train robbers, stage robbers, horse thieves, and cattle thieves."

General Canton was born in Virginia in 1849. When a child, his parents removed to Texas where Indians, cattle and broad plains constituted the landscape. Fort Worth was then a small town but the largest to which young Canton could go. From points near Fort Worth herds of cattle were collected for the northern drives across the Indian Territory to Kansas towns. With Burk Burnett, "then a young, lively cowboy," in charge of a herd, Canton, seventeen years old,

Page 447 and a few other men drove fifteen hundred head of cattle to Abilene. This experience was so interesting to young Canton that he joined another outfit driving cattle farther north—to North Platte, Nebraska. In the fall of 1870 he was back in Texas.

Within eight yearss (1878) life had become monotonous and Canton went to the Northwest—still a cowboy. Here in his travels he took occasion to visit the site of the Custer Massacre. Canton viewed the affair somewhat differently from most observers. He remarks "according to the Indian custom I would call it a fair fight." The prosaic historian may have cause to wonder about this.

Once in Wyoming Canton began his activities as field inspector for the Wyoming Stock Raisers Association. He soon learned that to live here in such a capacity demanded a clear head, steady nerves and the usual equipment which cattle thieves fear. In 1882 Johnson County, Wyoming, elected him sheriff. His position allowed no vacations. Bad Indians who would not stay on reservations gave excitement enough when cattle thieves hid out. Canton proved to be as good at managing Indians as in capturing cattle rustlers. His story of the "Johnson County War" is quite a different version from that found in other volumes. The publication of "Frontier Trails" is justified even by this one chapter. His part as a cattleman in this "war" was similar to that of other cattlemen. They were exonerated of all charges in the courts but came out of the episode "flat broke." A brief try at business, in 1893, in Nebraska City, convinced Canton that town life was not his calling. The next year he went to Oklahoma. While the opening of Oklahoma brought thousands of good citizens, it also brought the usual quota of outlaws found on the frontier. For four or five years Canton as Deputy United States Marshal, with other peace officers, sought to make Oklahoma a safe place for banks, express trains, and good citizens.

The discovery of gold in Alaska created a paradise for outlaws and a demand for peace officers. The call of the North could not be resisted and Canton soon found himself in the coldest country where the hottest fights occurred. Here he met Rex Beach. They became great friends and their experiences made excellent material for some of Rex Beach's

Page 448 famous stories. Suffering from snow-blindness, Canton returned to the States—to Oklahoma.

The frontier had almost passed yet certain sections of Oklahoma afforded excitement and Canton was soon riding after the few outlaws as vigorously as ever. Statehood came. C. N. Haskell was elected Governor and seeking an Adjutant General, he chose General Canton. Here the fascinating autobiography ends. What might have been written after this date is a loss to history. Yet Oklahoma history is much richer with the relating of General Canton's life to this period. The Oklahoman who does not read "Frontier Trails" will miss a great story of a great builder of the State and Nation.

The story as a whole is well told. The critic will look in vain for spots where interest lags. There is no egotism; singly a thrilling life modestly portrayed. But with all this the book is the result of the careful work of the editor, Dr. Edward Everett Dale of the University of Oklahoma. To take five thick note books of penciled manuscript and put them into a typed copy ready for the publisher is a task which can be appreciated only by those who have had experience with such work. The editing of the original manuscript and preparing it for the public reflects the careful training of a literary historian.

READINGS IN OKLAHOMA HISTORY. Edward Everett Dale and Jesse Lee Rader. Row, Peterson and Company, Evanston, Illinois.

The remarkable richness of Oklahoma history is well set forth by the selections published in the present volume. One may wonder why accounts from the pen of Columbia and Cortes find space here. But the wondering ceases when it is realized that Spain laid down first principles in dealing with the problem of the Indian. More, these selections call attention to the fact that for over two centuries and a half before coming to present Oklahoma, the Five Civilized tribes, to say nothing of the Osage, Apache, and Comanche, had Spanish contacts. For the later period the leading sources have been consulted both to show the historical currents surrounding Oklahoma and those which moved across the region. Thus we

Page 449 find excerpts from Vaca, Coronado, La Salle, the treaties of San Lorenzo and Louisiana Purchase Treaty, and illuminating accounts from the nineteenth century explorers: Pike, Nuttal, Irving, Latrobe, Marcy, and others.

In Chapters V-X a wide range of selections give a well balanced view of the various tribes of Oklahoma before and after their removal. The descriptions of Adair, Meigs, McKenny and others portray the Five Civilized Tribes in their original homes while the various treaties are set out to show the Cherokee Removal and other similar events. The situation in Oklahoma is well represented by, for example, a description of the Indian Territory in 1834 and the publication of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw constitutions. The Civil War period and the coming of the Plains Indians are accounted for by a significant body of documents.

Chapters XI-XV dealing with the white penetration into the state; the relation of the ranchmen to the Indian lands, the Boomers and the various Openings, the division of the territory into Oklahoma and Indian Territories present a remarkable group of papers. Among these are Dr. Dale's own resume of the Ranch Cattle Industry in Oklahoma; George Duffield's Diary, Indian Agents' reports, General Pope's Report, Biography of Captain Payne, The Organic Act, the Pawnee, Kickapoo, Wichita, Kiowa-Comanche agreements; Journal of the General Council of the Indian Territory, Laws of the Indians against the government throws light or by careful selection and well thought-out organization, the chief features of the period up to Statehood.

The history of Oklahoma since statehood is likewise characterized by documents which show that the authors are conscious of more than mere political events. Indeed, the whole cultural fabric of the state finds representation here. The Atoka agreement, the Curtis Act, the Enabling Act, and a political survey of Oklahoma to 1930 by the Tulsa Tribune are set off by contributions that illustrate the varied economic, social and educational development of Oklahoma. Agriculture, petroleum, natural gas, manufacturing, are considered individually with other developments while synthetic surveys appear in the governors' reports and in the Bell Telephone survey of the state in its Economic Survey. Materials of educational growth among the Indians, in the Missions, the

Page 450 public schools, and institutions of higher learning are dealt with in such a way as to reveal the rise of Education in Oklahoma and to present the basic documents in the history of that subject.

Surveyed as a whole the present volume exhibits noteworthy features. Chief among these is the publication here for the first time of rare and valuable materials. The Drinker Manuscript describes New Orleans in 1811; a series of claims of the Indians against the government throws light on Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama in the 1830's; the originals of Stand Watie and Boudinot illuminate local conditions and link Oklahoma with the old Southeast; the Journal of Alexander Posey gives valuable details of Oklahoma conditions in the early 1900's. These materials important in themselves are vastly more so in calling attention to the rare Manuscript Collection of the University of Oklahoma of which they are representative. Moreover, this excellent feature of the book is added to by collecting therein known materials widely scattered and difficult of access.

Finally, this volume must also be regarded as a source book for the study of the American Indian as well as local state history. Indeed, this predominating feature of the volume calls attention especially to the fact that no major study concerning American Indian history can be carried on without consulting collections in Oklahoma.

No one who boasts an interest in Southwestern history can afford to be without this study. The authors themselves are to be congratulated for this achievement, one requiring a profound understanding of Oklahoma history, great patience in collecting, and wisdom in organization. The chief criticism is that the book lacks an index, a defect that will be corrected, likely, in subsequent issues.

ALFRED B. THOMAS, Department of History University of Oklahoma

A TRAVELER IN INDIAN TERRITORY, THE JOURNAL OF ETHAN ALLEN HITCHCOCK. Edited by Grant Foreman, $5.00.

During the decade between 1830 and 1840 about sixty thousand Indians from the Five Civilized Tribes were re-

Page 451

moved from east of the Mississippi to what is now Oklahoma. For their maintenance on the removal journey and a year after arrival at their destination contracts were made with individuals and companies. Charges of numerous frauds growing out of these contracts having reached the authorities at Washington, Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock was sent to investigate. From November 1841 to March 1842 he spent in this country visiting in the order named the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians.

In making official inquiries, being deeply interested in the Indians themselves, he recorded information and impressions received from and about, and observation made by him as to, the Indians and country, in a series of note books until he had filled nine diaries, which he took home with him. His official reports of corruption and fraud discovered by him were received by the authorities in Washington but never brought to the attention of Congress. These personal diaries after reposing for nearly ninety years among his private papers came to light two or three years ago through research made by Mr. Grant Foreman. The then owner of these papers, Mrs. W. A. Croffut, the niece of General Hitchcock's widow (he afterwards became a Major General of volunteers during the Civil War on the Union side), permitted Mr. Foreman to read and study them. Realizing the greatest importance of same as a part of the early history of Indian Territory and Oklahoma, he immediately sought and obtained permission from her for their publication.

Major Hitchcock reaching the village of Fort Smith on November 21, 1841, observed the construction of the second fort at that place. Two days later he entered the Cherokee Nation, traveling over the old military road from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson. Arriving on the 25th he lodged at a tavern called McDermot's Hotel for several days, meeting army officers at the post and making inquiries about the Indians. On the last day of November he arrived at Tahlequah, the Cherokee Council being in session. He described in an entertaining manner the appearance of the village, the prominent Cherokee people with whom he came in contact, the homes where he stayed, sessions of the Council and different committees thereof. The proceedings were conducted in an orderly business-like manner. After about ten days he returned

Page 452 to Fort Smith for important mail but was back at Tahlequah on December 19th.

From there he proceeded to the Cherokee settlements on Beattie's Prairie, at Spavinaw and the Grand Saline. After an absence of more than six weeks he was again at Fort Gibson, on January 16th. Later he visited the dense Creek settlements in the vicinity of what is now Eufaula, referring to same as North Fork Village, about which he devoted many pages in describing Creek customs, dances, ceremonials and traditions. Thence he proceeded through the Seminole settlements into the Chickasaw country. After visits on Blue River and at the village of Boggy Depot he traveled to Doaksville and Fort Towson. Day after day he recorded impressions of the country and people visited by him, describing their dress, their views as to their condition and surroundings, and their accounts of experiences on their removal journey and treatments received at the hands of the agents.

Mr. Foreman has edited this journal and appended 134 foot-notes and also added an appendix of 30 pages made up of a number of interesting letters written by Major Hitchcock from Indian Territory to the Secretary of War, in which some interesting and valuable information as to the country and Indians is given. There is also a map and index. The book is well made by the Torch Press, a publishing house that specializes in high-class historical publications. It is made of 100 per cent. rag paper, a book that will endure as a historical book should.

From Major Hitchcock, who was a grandson of General Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga fame, and an army officer of note and distinction and a man of letters and culture, we have his testimony as an eye witness as to affairs and conditions prevailing in Indian Territory in that early period. There is a foreword by Dr. John R. Swanton of the Bureau of American Ethnology, our greatest authority on the Southern Indians. He concludes by saying: "The Hitchcock documents must henceforth be placed side of those by Bartram, Swan, and Hawkins among the original sources essential to an intelligent understanding of primitive (Creek) conditions. They yield to other authorities only in the one point of age. Mr. Foreman has therefore performed a ser-

Page 453 vice to ethnologists as well as to historians in giving this diary a publicity richly deserved and all too long delayed."

This is not the first essay toward the unfolding of Oklahoma history on the part of Mr. Foreman. In 1926 "Pioneer Days in the Early Southwest," published by Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, Ohio; and in 1930 "Indians and Pioneers," by the Yale University Press, both of which have greatly contributed to the development of Oklahoma History, came to the public. Now we have this third book within a period of less than five years, which is published on his own financial account. The members of the Oklahoma Historical Society and those devoted to research in Oklahoma history are greatly indebted to Mr. Foreman for these efforts on his part.

R. L. WILLIAMS. NECROLOGY

Page 454

FRANK C. HUBBARD

Near the close of the Civil War, on November 24, 1864, in the village of New London, Indiana, to Woodson B. Hubbard and Anna Eliza Reece Hubbard, members of the Society of Friends, was born a son named by them Frank C. He attended a Quaker school at New London, and later the public schools at Kokomo, Indiana, and while still a child accompanied his parents on their removal to Carthage, Missouri. He was a practical, industrious youth with a wholesome appreciation of the value of time and opportunity, and early decided to learn a trade; with this objective he entered the office of a newspaper in Carthage where he acquired the training and skill of a printer that was to become an important factor in his future life.

He afterwards entered Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, where he defrayed part of his expenses by his own industry; in this undertaking his newspaper training stood him in good part when he started the Drury Mirror, the college paper of that school. Outside of his school hours he devoted his best energies to the operation of this paper so that it not only aided him in a modest way financially in making his way through the school, but on his graduation on June 16, 1887, the Mirror was so firmly established that it has continued in operation to the present day. The summer of his graduation he and his brothers and a classmate came adventuring into the Indian Territory; attracted by the prodigal expanse of grass billowing over the prairies, they came to Afton and spent the summer cutting prairie grass, curing it, and shipping the hay to market. After the hay season Frank went to work on the Chieftainat Vinita and later in the year when the Cherokee council was in session at Tahlequah, he was sent by his paper to cover that source of news. On one of his trips there on the stage from Gibson Station, he met Mr. Joseph Sondheimer, and asked him about the prospects for establishing a newspaper at Muskogee. Mr. Sondheimer told Frank that Dr. Leo E. Bennett who was running the Indian Journal at Eufaula wished to remove to Muskogee and needed a newspaper man to operate the paper he hoped to establish there. He later introduced Frank to Dr. Bennett, and there began a friendship of these three men that endured through their lives and figured prominently in the development of Muskogee. Mr. Sohdheimer then sold to Bennett and Hubbard a tract of land on the corner of Main Street and Okmulgee Avenue and they afterward purchased a small strip adjoining, from Frederick B. Severs. On this they erected a two story frame building to house their newspaper which became known as the Phoenix Building. And on Thursday, February 23, 1888, appeared the first issue of the Muskogee Phoenix, bearing the names of Leo E. Bennett as manager and Frank C. Hubbard as assistant. This association continued for many years and the paper published by these

Page 455 two men exercised a tremendous influence on the growth and character of Eastern Oklahoma.

On the nineteenth day of March, 1888, Mr. Hubbard was one of a little group of newspaper men who met in Muskogee to organize the Indian Territory Press Association; he served as a member of the committee on constitution and by-laws and Dr. Bennett was elected president. When Congress provided for the United States Court to be held in Indian Territory, the second floor of the Phoenix building was the only room available for the purpose and the first white man's civil court in the present Oklahoma was organized here in April, 1889, with Judge James M. Shackleford presiding.

In those days Muskogee was a little village, but it possessed the only bank in the territory, the First National, now the oldest bank in Oklahoma. With true pioneering instinct arid as a portent of the important part he was to take in the progress and enterprise of the community in which he lived, Mr. Hubbard became a stockholder in this bank March 16, 1893; on June 12, 1897 he was made a director and was elected vice-president January 14, 1902. A the bank grew and expanded to keep pace with the demands of the rapidly growing city of Muskogee, Mr. Hubbard's interest in this institution and its enlarged field of usefulness brought his talents and sound judgment increasingly into service and June 30, 1908 he was elected president and served until March 1, 1911, from which date until January 15, 1912 he was chairman of the board. He was also one of the organizers and the president of the First National Bank of Haskell, Oklahoma, up until the time of his death. Mr. Hubbard's public services were varied and important and performed with satisfaction to the public and distinction to him. He was appointed postmaster at Muskogee and served from July 11, 1892 to March, 1895. On October 16, 1897 he was appointed by United States Marshal Leo E. Bennett his chief deputy and served in that position until July 1, 1903. On the eleventh of that month he was commissioned by the Secretary of the Interior as executive commissioner of the Indian Territory Exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to be held the next year. After his appointment he addressed himself to raising the funds required of the Indian Territory, and succeeded in securing the $25,000 necessary to receive from Congress an equal amount for our exhibit at St. Louis. Largely as a result of his efforts, Indian Territory had one of the most interesting exhibits at that exposition; an exhibit that did much to attract attention of visitors to the resources of this territory and swell the tide of emigration in this direction.

Less than two years later, Mr. Hubbard was induced to head the Republican city ticket; on April 8, 1906 he was elected mayor of Muskogee and gave the city a high class business administration. With the approach of statehood he was the nominee of the Republican party for Congress from his district, in which however a Democrat was elected. Mr. Hubbard was admitted to the bar in the United States Court at Muskogee though he never practiced law. He was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. And as a final benediction to a busy and useful life Mr. Hubbard was united in marriage on March 2,

Page 456

1925, to Miss Harriett Miller, member of an old and well known family of Muskogee.

His death occurred on October 23, 1930.

Mr. Hubbard was essentially a good and valuable citizen. Interested in the welfare of his community and his fellow citizens, he gave cheerfully of his time and labor to help others. Modest and unassuming, he devoted his best efforts to his undertakings with no thought of personal aggrandizement. Charitable and tolerant of the shortcomings of others, candid, honest and truthful, he had the confidence of every one. Possessed of a wholesome sense of humor, a genial disposition and good will toward his associates, Mr. Hubbard endeared himself to all who knew him and made for himself an enduring place in the hearts of a large circle of friends, and acquaintances.

Frank Hubbard and other pioneers like him have placed the present generation of Muskogee and Oklahoma under obligations but little realized, and it is proper that we make acknowledgement of that debt. He and his kind made this a decent community in which to live; they helped to establish and maintain law and order, culture and progress, and attract a desirable element of citizens who have made Muskogee the attractive city it is. And the City of Muskogee, the State of Oklahoma, now and always will bear the impress of the vision, the faithful public service, the enterprise and the every day example of private and business integrity of the pioneer, Frank C. Hubbard.

GRANT FOREMAN.

JUDGE GEORGE A. SPAULDING

A member of the Carter County Bar Association passed away on Sunday, July 13, 1930, and was interred in the Rosehill Cemetery on the afternoon of July 14, after having spent a long and useful life, not only as an attorney, but as a patriotic citizen, devoting his life to the best interests of the community in which he lived and of the Presbyterian Church of which he was a member.

He left surviving him, the following children:

H. C. Spaulding of Kansas City, Missouri, Clerk of the United States Court there, Mrs. F. D. Taffe and son, George of Idabel and Mrs. Lawrence S. Smith of Oklahoma City, Mrs. Mark Kirkpatrick and her son, Mark Kirkpatrick and Miss Margaret Spaulding of Ardmore, also two sons, Verne Spaulding of Long Beach, California, and G. A. Spaulding, Jr., of Joplin, Missouri.

Judge Spaulding was born in Warren County, New York, March 14, 1855, and was a son of George W. and Sarah A. Spaulding. He was educated in the public schools, and was an alumni of Mechanicsville College, New York, and also held a commercial college degree.

He had a complete family tree, showing that his ancestors were of the Colonial families of Massachusetts. Edward Spaulding, the first, founded the family near Braintree, Massachusetts about 1630. He was from Lincolnshire, England and the line of direct descent from him down

Page 457 to our deceased brother included Andrew the first and second, James the first and second, Jonathan, and then Alva, the father of George W. Spaulding, who was the father of George E. Spaulding. Practically all of his antecedents engaged in the lumber and mercantile business and were respected citizens of their communities.

His mother died November 5, 1858, leaving him as her only surviving issue. His father again married and later our brother departed from New York for the West and located at Phillipsburg, Kansas, where he engaged in the mercantile business. While there he was elected Clerk of the District Court, holding that office from 1881 to 1885. During his incumbency in office he studied law and was admitted to the bar, engaging actively in the practice until 1896, when he moved to Van Buren, Arkansas, where he remained about six months and then located at Poteau in the Indian territory. While a resident there he was appointed postmaster, but after a few months resigned and was succeeded by his wife who held the office for four years. He served for a while as Deputy Marshal at Antlers, taking this out doors position on account of his health, but was later appointed United States Commissioner and maintained an office at Poteau until 1898, when he was transferred to Goodwater and later removed to Garvin, and continued to hold the office until Statehood. During the nine years he served as commissioner, no criticism was made by anyone of the way he conducted his office. While a resident of Garvin he was instrumental in securing the location of the Choctaw Lumber and Veneer Company and its allied interests, one of the largest concerns within the state, of which he was a stockholder and attorney. He was one of the organizers of the bank at Garvin and director of the First State Bank at Idabel. While he was a resident of Kansas he was a delegate to every Republican state convention from 1880 to 1896, and in 1892 he was a delegate to the National Convention at Minneapolis. He was nominated for judge of the seventeenth Kansas District in 1892, but was defeated.

In 1917 Judge Spaulding removed to Ardmore where he resided until his death. He engaged in the practice of the law, and in April, 1919 was again appointed United States Commissioner at Ardmore, by Judge Robert L. Williams, of the Eastern District of Oklahoma, which office he held until his death. While living in Ardmore he formed a partnership with Judge John B. Ogden, who was later elected District Judge of Carter County, which dissolved the partnership. He was known to be a partisan Republican, but because of his long experience and attention to business, and the universal satisfaction he gave while first serving as United States Commissioner he was appointed commissioner by Judge Williams, a Democrat, and no complaint was ever made against Judge Spaulding in his conduct of the office, which he held the remainder of his life, and the members of the bar were so well satisfied with Judge Spaulding no criticism was ever made against Judge Williams for making the appointment.

Be it resolved, that on the death of Judge Spaulding the Bar of Oklahoma lost a valuable member who always conformed strictly to the ethics of his profession, who gave faithful and energetic service to his

Page 458 clients, and was loyal to his friends. His whole life was a fine example of what may be accomplished by any young man by diligent efforts. His devotion to his profession and his church was the admiration of his friends. His exemplary life and loyalty to his family and church might well be emulated by other members of our profession.

Be it further resolved that a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this court and also furnished to members of his family.

W. R. JOHNSON. Wm. HUTCHINSON, T. B. ORR.

The above resolutions were presented in the United States Court of the Eastern District of Oklahoma sitting at Ardmore on October 15, 1930, Judge R. L. Williams presiding; who ordered that the resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the court, and directed that a copy of said resolutions be furnished to the Historical Society of the State of Oklahoma.

JOHN RICHARD McCALLA

John Richard McCalla, Jr., son of John R., and Mary Luella (Burns) McCalla, born in Harris County, Georgia, March 18, 1880. The McCallas, who were Scotch, came to Georgia from South Carolina, and the Burns family who settled in Georgia at an early date, were also Scotch. When John R. McCalla, Jr., and his younger brother Marvin Hilliard McCalla were quite small his father removed from Georgia to Alabama, settling at Roxana in Lee County, where he engaged in farming and the mercantile business. Later he removed to Auburn, Alabama, and placed the two boys in school at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, where John R., Jr., graduated at the age of seventeen. He then read law under the Hon. Thomas L. Bulger at Dadeville, Alabama, and removed to Newnan, Georgia, where he was admitted to the bar by the Hon. Sampson W. Harris, Judge of the Superior Court, Coweta Circuit, on June 21, 1902, and on June 23, 1902, took the oath as an attorney. He was at first associated in the practice of the law with Col. W. G. Post and then with Col. W. C. Wright, who is now a member of Congress from Georgia. In 1903 he removed from Newnan, Georgia, to Marietta, Indian Territory, where he engaged in the practice of the law. On February 8, 1907, he was married to Miss Vera Ritchie at Marietta, Indian Territory. He died on May 8, 1912, in Tucumcari, New Mexico, where he had gone on account of his health, and was buried at Marietta, Oklahoma, but his home at that time was at Chickasha, Oklahoma.

In 1907 he was elected as a member of the Legislature of Oklahoma from Love County, and in 1908 re-elected. In 1909 he removed to Chickasha, Oklahoma, where he was actively engaged in the practice of the law until his health failed. He is survived by his wife and his only

Page 459 brother Marvin Hilliard McCalla, the former residing at Marietta, Oklahoma, and the latter at Phoenix, Arizona.

He was a brave, brilliant, honest lawyer, and worthy citizen and loyal friend.

R. L. W.

JOHN EMERY SATER

John Emery Sater, son of Oliver Sater and his wife Marie Sater, nee Foster, born March 30, 1852, near Cincinnatti in Hamilton County, Ohio. Married to Laura Ann Jones May 30, 1878. Removed to Indiana, then to Kansas and later to Payne County, Oklahoma, where he was appointed the first surveyor of said county. Died in El Paso, Texas, on May 10, 1922, where he is buried. His wife and the following children survive him: Datus E. Sater, Stillwater, Oklahoma, William Earl Sater, Stockton, California, and Joseph Emery Sater, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Educated in the common schools of Ohio and at Oberlin College in said state where he graduated.

JAMES ORVAL HALL.

James Orval Hall, born at Ringold, Georgia, January 25th, 1846, died at Vinita, Oklahoma, December 15th, 1927. Married to Mary E. Davis of Walker County, Georgia, September 2, 1868. Four children, two boys and two girls, were born. Mary E. Hall, his wife, died April 2, 1913. Later he was married to Elizabeth Little, who survives him. His daughters: Mrs. Thos. H. Owen of Oklahoma City, Miss Jane Patton Hall, of Vinita, survive him, but two sons died before reaching their majority. Survived by one sister, Ida Hall Miller of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Two nieces, Mrs. E. L. Orr of Oklahoma City, and Mrs. Archibald Fortune of Lafayette, Georgia, also survive him. His father, Joseph C. Hall, born September 16th, 1818, died January 12th, 1901. His mother, Louisana Weir Hall, born August 18, 1823, died in 1902.

James Orval Hall entered the Confederate Army in August prior to his fifteenth birthday in January. Captured when the army was in front of Atlanta, taken to Rock Island, Illinois, where he was held in the Federal prison thirteen months. He was a member of Company E, Third Confederate Regiment, Wheelers Brigate of Braggs Army. He joined the Masonic Lodge during his 21st year at Chickamauga, Georgia, and was a 32nd degree Mason at the time of his death.

He and his wife moved to the Indian Territory during the winter of 1868, and settled near Vinita in the Cherokee Nation. Charter member of the Masonic Lodge organized in Vihita, one of the first masonic lodges organized in the Indian Territory. Engaged extensively in the banking and live stock business, a stockholder and participated in the organization of National Banks at Vinita, Miami, Prior, Chelsea, Claremore, Tulsa and Grove, and engaged extensively in the cattle business in the Indian Territory and in Texas. At the time of his death he owned a ranch, stocked with blooded cattle in Callahan and Coleman Counties, Texas.

Page 460

CYRUS SAMUEL LEEPER.

Cyrus Samuel Leeper, born in Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri, August 6, 1865, son of James and Elizabeth (Graves) Leeper, his father being of German descent and mother of Irish descent; the father being born in Chariton County Missouri, and his mother in Kentucky. Leaving the farm at an early age, having received short terms of country schooling for three or four years, he came to Texas and became a journeyman printer, working on the Fort Worth Record. In 1885 he became manager of a lumber yard at Bells, Grayson County, Texas, for Waples Brothers; later became manager of a lumber yard at Davis, Indian Territory, for Waples Painter Company; after a short period he entered the lumber business on his own account at Sulphur, Indian Territory, and later formed a partnership with his brother James D. Leeper opening up yards at Maysville, Hickory, Oklahoma City (Capitol Hill) and Stratford. He was a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, representing District No. 96, Murray County being a part of said District. On account of his health he removed to El Paso, Texas, where he died on October 17, 1916. On April 19, 1899, he was married to Miss Eva I. Cobb, who was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, who with two children, Gardner Leeper and Augusta Louisa Leeper, survive him. A Methodist, Democrat, Mason and Elk.

JESSE ALBERT BAKER.

Jesse Albert Baker, born May 9, 1853 at Pinelog, Bartow County, Georgia, son of Jesse and Parthenia (Moss) Baker. His paternal Grandfather, Charles Baker, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His paternal grandmother was Nellie (Goodwin) Baker. Brothers, James M. Baker, John B. Baker, William C. Baker, Thomas H. Baker, Charles D. Baker, Augustus C. Baker; Sisters: Ann Baker, Elenor E. Baker, Parthenia V. Baker, Frances C. Baker, Nancy M. Baker, Mary J. Baker and Lucy Baker. He completed his academic schooling at the University of Virginia, where he graduated, and then took a law course at the Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. Admitted to the bar in 1876. Member of Kappa Alpha Greek letter fraternity. An Episcopalian and a Democrat. Removed from Georgia to Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1892, where for a time he was city attorney. Located at Lawton when the Comanche Reservation was opened for white settlement. Afterwards removed to the Seminole country locating at Wewoka, where he resided until his death on July 26, 1925. Assistant Chief Clerk of the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1905. Member of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, representing District No. 81 comprising the Seminole Nation and a part of the Creek Nation. Before removing from Georgia he was active in politics and public affairs, at one time being Clerk of the Judiciary Committee of the Georgia State Senate. His ancestors were of English descent. Married Miss Jeannie Bacon, a relative of the late United States Senator A. O. Bacon of Georgia in 1875, who with the following children survive

Page 461 him, George Meriweather Baker and Lucy Bacon Baker, all of whom reside at Wewoka, Oklahoma.

CLEMENT VANN ROGERS

Clement Vann Rogers, born at the Baptist Mission in Going-Snake District, Indian Territory, January 11, 1839, and died October 28, 1911, buried in the Chelsea Cemetery. Son of Robert and Sallie (Vann) Rogers. Educated in the Baptist Mission School and the Cherokee Male Seminary. Married Mary A. Schrimsher, October 12, 1859, who died May 28, 1890. The following children were born to them who survive, Mrs. Sallie C. McSpadden, wife of J. T. McSpadden, Chelsea, Oklahoma, and Mr. Will Rogers. of Beverly Hills, California. Three other children died during infancy and the following to-wit: Robert Martin Rogers, born April 15, 1866, died April 13, 1881; Maud Rogers, born November 28, 1871, married to C. L. Lane and died May 15, 1925; Mary Rogers, born May 31, 1873, married first to Matthew Yocum and second to Frank Stine, died July 25, 1909. Martin Robert Rogers and Mrs. C. L. Lane are buried at Chelsea, and Mrs. Stine is buried at Oolagah. Elected in 1878 and served a term as Judge of Cooweescoowee District. In 1880 elected Senator from the same district, holding the office for three terms. In 1893 appointed by President Cleveland as one of a commission of three to appraise the improvements of white settlers in the Cherokee Nation. In 1898 and 1899 served as a member of a commission from the Cherokee Nation to present matters before the Dawes Commission. On January 11, 1907, Rogers County was named in his honor by the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, on his sixty-eighth birthday. He was a member of said convention from District No. 64, Rogers County being a part of said district.

RESOLUTIONS IN MEMORY OF ROBINSON McMILLAN

On the banks of Blue Creek, in Giles County near Pulaski, Tennessee, on the 25th day of March, 1857, Robinson McMillan was born. He was the son of Franklin P. and Jane (Robinson) McMillan, both likewise natives of Tennessee, where they maintained their home until death. His fathers lineage is traced back to sturdy Irish origin, while that of his mother is of English. The early ancestors of both parents were colonial settlers of Virginia, Judge McMillan's great-grandfather having been a soldier in the Revolution. Other representatives of his family served under Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812; judge McMillan's father was a confederate soldier and under the command of General Forest, he rendered service on behalf of the Confederacy.

During this war Robinson McMillan was a youth of tender years, yet he remembered of hearing the guns of war at Murfreesboro and Franklin. He saw General Dodge in command at Pulaski, and all but witnessed the execution by him of that gallant southern youth, Sam Davis. He experienced and lived through the days of reconstruction, and

Page 462 there was impressed upon his youthful mind, never to be forgotten the value and importance of well regulated constitutional government, ordained and established by the consent of the governed. No one held more dearly and sacred the history, customs and traditions of the south than Judge McMillan, and yet no one had greater respect for and loyalty to the Union.

Judge McMillan obtained his early education in the schools of Tennessee, having attended the Academy at Cornersville, a school conducted by one of those sturdy Scotchmen, who believed in discipline and work. After obtaining a teacher's certificate, he moved to Wilson county and began teaching in an old abandoned store building, and when this burned down the patrons, desiring to retain him, furnished the material and labor to build a commodious building, afterwards known as Hamiltons School House, situated about 15 miles east of Nashville. He took such a personal interest in the students, assisting them in their work, joining with them in their debates, and entering into their games, that he won their respect and confidence, and his life was such as to be an inspiration to them.

He subsequently took an academic and law course at Cumberland University at Lebanon, occupying the old offices of Sam Houston. In his practices of the law, he was associated with Judge J. S. Oribble and Judge Robert Centroll, both of whom were eminent jurists of that state. From his association and training, as well as his natural inclination, he looked upon the practice of the law as a performance of a sacred and solemn duty, and believed in a strict observance of rules pertaining to its ethics. He enjoyed a good practice at Lebanon, but on account of the ill health of his wife he removed to the Indian Territory in 1902, located at Pauls Valley.

Before coming to the Indian Territory, he had taken an active interest in state and national politics, having been a member of the Tennessee Legislature in 1891-2, and in 1896 a Presidential elector during the campaign by Hon. William J. Bryan for the Presidency of the United States. On the election of Oklahoma into Statehood, Judge McMillan was elected judge of 14th judicial District of Oklahoma, comprised of Murray, Garvin, McClain and Cleveland counties, changing his residence to Norman, being re-elected in 1910, holding the office until 1914, when he was not a candidate to succeed himself. He at all times was of Democratic faith and loyal to his party. In 1915, he was appointed assistant attorney general of the State of Oklahoma under the Hon. S. P. Freeling, holding the position until in 1919. He was subsequently, in 1920, appointed by the Hon. Robert L. Williams, Judge of the United States Court for the Eastern district of Oklahoma, Referee in Bankruptcy for the Ardmore Division, which office he held until his death. He was a zealous worker, and while on the district bench disposed of more than 8,000 cases, keeping up with his docket, although he had one of the largest districts in the state. His decisions on the district bench and as Referee in Bankruptcy, while evidencing a thorough knowledge of the law and judicial acumen, yet were tempered with mercy and justice.

In the year 1883 was solemnized the marriage of Judge McMillan

Page 463 and Miss Josie Heughey of Nashville, Tennessee. She is a lineal descendant of the Blount family that furnished Tennessee with two of its governors, and whose name has been linked with history from the days of William the Conqueror. Judge and Mrs. McMillan became the parents of two sons and three daughters. The two sons, Murray and Charles, died soon after graduating from Cumberland University. The three daughters are living, viz.: Inez, who is the wife of T. C. Gibson, lives at Ardmore, Oklahoma; Mary Taylor, who is the wife of Bob Taylor, lives at Quawpaw, Oklahoma; and Bessie Kolb, wife of Irby Kolb, lives at Duncan, Oklahoma. Judge McMillan died on the 21st day of October, 1929, at Ardmore, Oklahoma where he had lived since being appointed Referee, in 1920, and was buried at Norman, Oklahoma, where he resided after as District Judge.

He was a student, a scholar, loved nature and worshipped God. It can be truthfully said of him.

"That he held honesty of conscience above honesty of purse; that be turned aside without ostentation to aid the weak, and treasured ideals more than raw ambition; tracked no man to his undeserved hurt, and pursued no woman to her tears."

Now, therefore, be it resolved by this bar, of which he was a member, that in the death of Judge Robinson McMillan, we have lost one of our most highly respected and worthy members; that his death is a loss to this State and Nation; and that our sympathy be extended to his good wife and family to whom he was so loyal and devoted.

RUTHERFORD BRETT, J. B. MOORE, STEPHEN A. GEORGE,

Committee.