The Army Officer Corps, Federal Indian Policy and Native Sovereignty, 1862-1878
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by SHAREOK repository UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE SHERMAN’S LIEUTENANTS: THE ARMY OFFICER CORPS, FEDERAL INDIAN POLICY AND NATIVE SOVEREIGNTY, 1862-1878 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By CATHARINE ROHINI DIAS FRANKLIN Norman, Oklahoma 2010 SHERMAN’S LIEUTENANTS: THE ARMY OFFICER CORPS, FEDERAL INDIAN POLICY AND NATIVE SOVEREIGNTY, 1862-1878 A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY ________________________________ Dr. Gary Clayton Anderson, Chair ________________________________ Dr. Susan C. Vehik ________________________________ Dr. Joshua A. Piker ________________________________ Dr. Albert L. Hurtado _______________________________ Dr. Sterling D. Evans © Copyright by CATHARINE ROHINI DIAS FRANKLIN 2010 All Rights Reserved. For Sean ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have always wondered what it would be like to write acknowledgements. Now that I am writing them, I am reminded of something that my parents used to joke about a long time ago. I hope my parents react to these acknowledgements in the same way that Grandpa Phil and Grandma Mollie reacted to my parents’ movie about the Bronx. For all others mentioned here, I hope that these acknowledgements adequately express my thanks. This dissertation could have been finished without the help of a substantial fellowship from the United States Army Center of Military History, but at great personal expense to the author, and without the scholarly assurances that come with external grants. Receiving this award was a terrific honor (and felt a bit like winning the lottery). I would like to thank Dr. Richard Stewart, Dr. Jeffrey Clarke, and Dr. Mark Bradley for supporting this project. I am especially grateful to Dr. William A. Dobak for his willingness to share research material, offer helpful critiques and suggestions, and find obscure references—all at lightning-fast speed. Several archivists lent me their time, patience, and knowledge. Susan Klein at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library provided invaluable assistance, as well as Mary Beth Linne at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.; Jeanne Ode and the research staff at the South Dakota State Historical Society; Ruth Bauer Anderson at the Minnesota Historical Society; Shari Stelling at the State Historical Society of Iowa; and Molly Kruckenberg, Jodie Foley, Ellie Arguimbau, and Brian Shovers at the Montana Historical Society. Research materials were also provided by the United States Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, the Southwest iv Collections at Texas Tech University, the Center for American History in Austin, Bowdoin College, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the Western History Collection at the University of Oklahoma. When I was an undergraduate at the City College of New York, Susan Besse set me off on the road to graduate school. Through her fellowship program, I got to travel to the Montana Historical Society. There I found primary sources that would become the foundation for this manuscript. I will never forget waking up to that first sunrise in North Dakota (or that first breakfast in the dining car of the Empire Builder). Thanks tons to the faculty of the English Department at City, including Geraldine Murphy, Steven Urkowitz, Harold Veeser, Fred Reynolds, Joshua Wilner, Mikhal Dekel, Michele Wallace, and Gordon Thompson. They started it all. Professor Barbara M. Fisher, more than anybody, taught me how to write, analyze, and “go to the literature.” At the University of Oklahoma, Robert Griswold, Warren Metcalf, Sandie Holguin, and other faculty members were, literally, there when I needed them. Thanks to them, graduate school was a good “nest” to live in. Rhonda George, Barbara Million, and rest of the administrative staff provided crucial support. Rhonda took envelopes full of receipts (and a Rosie the Riveter lunch box, on one occasion) and turned them into reimbursements with her sleight-of-hand and good humor. At OU, I was fortunate to receive a Hudson Fellowship that allowed me to start archival research as soon as I got to Oklahoma, as well as other research and travel grants that diminished the burdens associated with long-term research. Gary Clayton Anderson, my dissertation advisor, gave me a long rein with which to research and write and consistently sent me out of his office with exhortations of “Go v to it!” Robert Shalhope and David Levy helped shape the initial stages of this project. Joshua Piker offered thoughtful and patient advice to my questions and laments. Albert Hurtado and Susan Vehik agreed graciously to round out my committee, and I am happy to have their assistance. Ray Canoy presented me with intellectual challenges in the realm of modern German history, and his rigorous critiques helped this dissertation in invisible but important ways. And Tash Smith and Daniel Flaherty helped with footnotes and formatting respectively. In addition to them, Ariana, Sunu, Michele, Emily, and Larry and Leta made seven years of exile more than tolerable—they made them pretty damn good. Sterling Evans and Carol L. Higham introduced me to broader avenues of inquiry about so many things, including the borderlands, the matter of who was marginalizing who, and ‘native nations as empire.’ I am incredibly grateful for Sterling’s presence on the committee. Terry Rugeley never failed to mollify my uncertainties and always had the right answers to my questions. Finally, William W. Savage Jr. looked out for me, let me vent, and always made me laugh. Outside of school, Tammy Walker and Stephen Raney mentored me and did everything they could to make sure that my military service and graduate school requirements co-existed peacefully. Pamela and Bruce Byers and the noble steeds of Gallery Farm helped me to not go crazy and to achieve big goals outside of graduate school. The same goes to Carl Rath and Wes Despain for giving me the opportunity to play the bassoon again. I will always be grateful to Angela Colbert Martin, who was there for me when my parents couldn’t be. (And thanks to her husband Steve for bringing her to the barren vi wilds of Oklahoma). Patrick Bottiger kept me on my toes and made me feel useful by devouring lots of homemade spaghetti and meatballs. He is a true friend— one of the best a girl could ask for. Patti Jo Lynn King was my ally in the salt mine and my source for cultural context. She offered pointed critiques and suggestions for everything I wrote. She was always there in a pinch and always up for pie and coffee or a night out. Someday, when I am older than dirt, I should hope to be as cool as she is. Thanks for everything, sister. Both of my brothers, Nicholas and Alexi (my anonymous benefactor), were generous philanthropists and trusted advisors throughout. I am so happy to have such a good sister in Jacquie. The last two and a half years of school were a lot easier knowing that she was at the other end of the phone line. Of course, it goes without saying that Daniel Striped Tiger is a credit to ginger mackerel tabbies everywhere. He is a terrible copyeditor but a fine confidant. Last but not least are my parents, Peter Eston Franklin and Lalina Dias Franklin. There is no doubt that they really are the best parents who ever lived. They excel at kvelling, guilting, reassuring, and loving. They have furnished my dreams about wild spaces for a long time. They bought an Appaloosa horse for the family when I was little and let me adopt my beautiful wolfy dog, Dixie, who accompanied me on long expeditions in the snow for nearly fifteen years. They put me on the train to Montana despite whatever worries they might have had about letting me go off to the wilderness all by myself. Their most important contribution to this project—unknown to any of us at the time—happened on a dark winter night when they took my brothers and me to see a film about a cavalryman and a community of Lakota Sioux. vii Sean Michael Dubose never got to read any of this. The memory of his constant encouragement, enthusiasm, and boundless love made it both easier and harder to finish. It is dedicated to him with my love in turn. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents ix List of Abbreviations x Abstract xi Preface 1 Chapter One: The Oyate and the Borderlands 13 Chapter Two: Alfred Sully and John Pope in the Northwest 37 Chapter Three: Benjamin Grierson at Fort Sill 62 Chapter Four: The Problem of the Black Hills 94 Chapter Five: The Lakota Nation, the US Army, and the Theft of Paha Sapa 137 Chapter Six: Oliver Otis Howard and the Nez Percés 173 Conclusion 203 Bibliography 210 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Letters Received LR Letters Sent LS Endorsements Sent ES Department of Dakota DoDak Department of the Northwest DoNW Department of the Platte DoPlatte Department of Texas DoTx Department of Columbia DoC Record Group RG Office of Indian Affairs OIA Assistant Adjutant General AAG Official Records OR x ABSTRACT My work focuses on army officers’ efforts to both conquer American Indians and answer to competing visions of political authorities and citizens who were divided over the “Indian question.” Although army officers served as representatives of federal power on the frontier, they were often limited both in their perceptions of Indians and the restrictions placed on them by federal, state, and territorial governments. The officer corps was able to use its authority and resources to advance the national goal of western settlement. However, its efforts to replace a native West with a white West were neither unified nor bereft of tension.