New Land, New Beginnings

Chapter 6 NewNew Land,Land, NewNew BeginningsBeginnings vSection 1: Balance of Power vSection 2: Adapting to Indian Territory Military posts began springing up west of the Mississippi River in the mid-1800s to maintain peace among the Native Americans, as some adapted to the changes and others didn’t. The U.S. Army also used the new forts to try to ease tensions between Mexico and Texas, the area to the south and west of Indian Territory. Both sides tried to draw the Plains Indians into their fight. Most forts were constructed with palisades, or walls made from tree trunks. Indian Territory had an abundance of Scrub Oak trees. They could be put together quickly and were usually accompanied by earthworks. Fort Coffee was built on the Arkansas River as an entry post for the Choctaw as well as to stop illegal whiskey from entering the territory. It later became the Fort Coffee Academy, a high school for the tribe’s boys. The Choctaw would build a girl’s academy two years later. The Osage continued to be a problem, attacking other tribes, and now American traders and hunters. The Osage had killed 150 Kiowa at the Cutthroat Gap Massacre. These attacks brought a new urgency to the government’s plan for a peace treaty between the Plains Indians. In 1834 General Henry Leavenworth led an expedition of U.S. Army Dragoons, or armed Cavalry soldiers, designed to impress the Plains Indians with their military power and to secure a peace treaty. Among the soldiers was a lieutenant from Mississippi named Jefferson Davis, who would later become the president of the Confederate States of America. When Leavenworth was injured, he put Colonel Henry Dodge in command. Dodge managed to get several Plains Indian tribes to agree to journey to Fort Gibson in eastern Oklahoma for a conference. The Comanche, however, refused to go beyond the Cross Timbers. The next year, the Army built Camp Mason closer to the Plains. Camp Mason was near present-day Lexington. Representatives of the Plains tribes and the southeastern tribes signed a treaty there in 1835 protecting American travelers and traders and pledging to maintain intertribal peace. Major Richard Mason Fort Washita was built in 1842 near Durant. It protected the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes. In 1852, Capt. Randolph Marcy was ordered to establish Fort Arbuckle on the South Canadian River to protect traders and help maintain peace. A year later, it was relocated 30 miles southwest to the Washita River. In 1859, the Army opened Fort Cobb in Caddo County as a peace-keeping mission, using the military to prevent southwestern tribes from going to war against each other. It was an open fort, with each building facing the quadrangle (parade grounds). Camp Radziminski was a temporary outpost on the North Fork of the Red River to control raiding by the Kiowa and the Comanche. After the Civil War, more forts were constructed in the far west and in the Panhandle. Even though Oklahoma was being divided up among the Indians, it had never been surveyed. This caused confusion and led to conflicts. To survey land is to make a detailed map, including boundaries and elevation. In 1831, Rev. Isaac McCoy began to chart the territory of the Cherokee, Seneca, Ottawa, and Shawnee. Surveying all the land was completed by others in 1866. Political changes to the south and west began affecting Indian Territory. First, American settlers in Texas began to claim more land than they had been granted. Then, as required by Mexican law, they also refused to give up the use of slavery or to convert to Catholicism. In 1836, a rebellion began. The Mexican army under General Santa Anna attacked the old mission in San Antonio. After a 13-day siege, all of the more than 200 Texans were killed. But the rallying cry “Remember the Alamo” inspired others to fight on, and Texas won its independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. When Arkansas became a state in 1836 and Texas in 1845, more Indians were relocated. More than 10,000 Native Americans, including bands of Kickapoo, Iowa, Delaware, Sac and Fox, and Miami were moved to Indian Territory. Most Natives lost everything when they moved west. Their household goods and their livestock had been left behind. Many lost family members and tribal leaders on the Trail of Tears. When they arrived, there were no established towns and not much shelter. Most had to start their lives over. The U.S. broke nearly every treaty it signed. Promises made to the Natives were rarely kept. Dishonest traders stole food intended for the Indians and sold it elsewhere. The Creek even banned missionaries for years because they partly blamed the Christians for their problems. Food, clothing, and shelter were the first order of business for new arrivals from the east. Once their basic needs had been met, they began re-establishing governments as well as building farms, businesses, towns, and schools for the children. Tribal members who had voluntarily relocated earlier helped settle the newcomers. Some of the later arriving Indians had money and personal items; most were destitute, or suffering from extreme poverty. The Choctaw had ceded their Mississippi lands in 1830 in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. In Oklahoma, they adopted a new constitution that provided safeguards for human rights, or privileges believed to belong to all people. The first Choctaw school in Oklahoma was the Wheelock Academy in McCurtain County. Its purpose was to provide an advanced education, rather than simple vocational (work) skills. It also taught literacy, or the ability to read and write. The Academy started in Rock Church, the oldest church building in Oklahoma that is still in use. By 1837, the Choctaw were prospering, raising corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and cotton. There were mills on the Red River for cotton, grain, and lumber. A few Choctaw plantations even had African slaves. When the U.S. Army decommissioned Fort Towson, it became the Choctaw Nation’s new capital. They established the first Native American police force, known as the Light Horsemen. Unlike the heavily-armed militiamen, they carried only their saddles, two guns, and a small amount of beef jerky and parched corn. There were two groups of the Creek (Muscogee): the Lower Creek settled around Three Forks; the Upper Creek lived on the Canadian River. They rejoined under a single government at the National Council in 1839 and built their first Capitol Building at Okmulgee in 1867. The Creek quickly turned to farming, and even had plantations with slaves. The seal of the Muscogee Nation shows a plow and a sheaf of wheat, a reference to the prosperity that agriculture brought to the tribe. The Chickasaw at first lived among the Choctaw. They were required to pay an annuity, or yearly rental, on their lands. One of their first towns was Boggy Depot, named for its swamp-like environment. The Chickasaw town was an important stop on the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail from Memphis to San Francisco. The tribe was reluctant to settle anywhere west of the 98th Meridian. “Desperados” and hostile Plains tribes to the west often raided the Chickasaw lands. Desperados were outlaws. Still, they were able to raise cotton, wheat, oats, rye, and corn, which had a market in Texas. The Chickasaw grew tired of being tenants, and became a separate nation in 1855. Although Boggy Depot was now a Choctaw town, the Chickasaw built a new capital city called Tishomingo. When the Cherokee reunited in 1839, John Ross was re-elected as principal chief. Joseph Vann, of the Western Cherokee, was elected as the assistant chief. • Tahlequah was selected as the tribal capital. • They also established eleven primary schools and two secondary schools. • The Cherokee Advocate was the first newspaper in Indian Territory. The Cherokee were also merchants, operating sawmills, blacksmith shops, and trading posts. This mill near Tahlequah was built in 1838. The battle-weary Seminole experienced the greatest shock when they arrived in Oklahoma. The land was vastly different from Florida. They were expected to live among the Creek, but they refused. They would finally get their own land in 1856, but continued to struggle. Other, smaller tribes were relocated to The Leased District in southwestern Oklahoma, while others ended up in the northeast. Despite a few successful transitions, many of the Natives were broken and bitter..

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