About the Potawatomi Indian Tribe

About the Potawatomi Indian Tribe

According to Hiram W. Beckwith, the Potawatomi were the most populous tribe between the lakes and the Ohio, the Wabash and the Mississippi. Their debouch upon the plains of the Illinois has already been mentioned. This was about the year 1765. The confederacy among them, the Kickapoos and the Sacs and Foxes, resulted in the extermination of the old Illinois tribes, and after that extermination, the Kickapoos took possession of the country around Peoria and along the Vermilion river, the Potawatomi of eastern and northern Illinois, while the Sacs and Foxes went farther to the west. After the treaty of Greenville in 1795, the Potawatomi rapidly absorbed the ancient domain of the Miamis in northern Indiana, swiftly pressing them back to the Wabash, and usurping the major portion of the small lake region in the north end of the state. They had now become so haughty and insolent in their conduct as to refer to the Miamis as "their younger brothers," and the Miamis, by reason of their long wars, their commingling with the traders, and their acquisition of degenerate habits, were unable to drive them back. In 1810 and 1811, Tecumseh and the one-eyed Prophet were eagerly seeking an alliance with their treacherous chiefs. A demand was made] upon Tecumseh for the surrender of certain Potawatomi murderers and horse thieves who had invaded the Missouri region and committed depredations, but Tecumseh replied that he was unable to apprehend them, and that they had escaped to the Illinois country. The Potawatomi were now living in mixed villages west of the present sites of Logansport and Lafayette, and the southern limits of their domain extended as far down the Wabash as the outlet of Pine creek across the river from the present city of Attica.

The Potawatomi loved the remoteness and seclusion of the great prairie, and many of their divisions have been known as the "prairie" tribes. They seem to have lived for the most part in separate, roving bands, which divided "according to the abundance or scarcity of game, or the emergencies of war." Encouraged by the English, they joined in the terrible expeditions of the Shawnees and Miamis against the keel-boats on the Ohio, and against the settlements of Kentucky. They were inveterate horse-thieves. Riding for long distances across plain and prairie, through forests and across rivers, they suddenly swooped down on some isolated frontier cabin, perhaps murdering its helpless and defenseless inmates, taking away a child or a young girl, killing cattle or riding away the horses and disappearing in the wilderness as suddenly as they emerged from it. In the later days of Tecumseh's time, these parties of marauders generally consisted of from four or five, to twenty. They were still striking the white settlements of Kentucky, and even penetrated as far west as the outposts on the Missouri river. ]Their retreat after attack was made with the swiftness of the wind. Pursuit, if not made immediately, was futile. Traveling day and night, the murderous riders were lost in the great prairies and wildernesses of the north, and the Prophet was a sure protector. The savage chief, Turkey Foot, for whom two groves were named, in Benton and Newton Counties, Indiana, stealing horses in far away Missouri, murdered three or four of his pursuers and made good his escape to the great plains and swamps between the Wabash and Lake Michigan.

There was nothing romantic about the Potawatomi. They were real savages, and known to the French-Canadians as "Les Poux," or those who have lice, from which it may be inferred that they were not generally of cleanly habits. In general appearance they did not compare favorably with the Kickapoos of the Vermilion river. The Kickapoo warriors were generally tall and sinewy, while the Potawatomi were shorter and more thickly set, very dark and squalid. Numbers of the women of the Kickapoos were described as being lithe, "and many of them by no means lacking in beauty." The Potawatomi women were inclined to greasiness and obesity. The Potawatomi had little regard for their women. Polygamy was common among them when visited by the early missionaries. The warriors were always gamblers, playing heavily at their moccasin games and lacrosse.

About King Phillip's Relations with the English

ABOUT KING PHILIP'S RELATIONS WITH THE ENGLISH

Such was the daily life of Philip year after year, with but little change. Occasionally he met the palefaces in the woods or at his father's village. Now and then he went to Plymouth and traded with them. Several of them he considered to be his strong personal friends.

We have already seen how greatly interested he was in his boyhood days at the coming of the white men and how friendly he felt toward them at that time. He, his father, and the other Wampanoags continued to remain on friendly terms with the English, although several other Indian tribes did not.

Between the years 1628 and 1640 many white people settled forty or fifty miles north of Plymouth, in what is now Boston and Salem, and other cities and towns near Massachusetts Bay.

Others settled inland on the Connecticut River, near the present boundary line between Massachusetts and Connecticut, about seventy-five miles west from Mount Hope, the home of Philip. Others settled at Providence, and still others on the island of Rhode Island, fifteen to twenty miles south of Mount Hope.

The settlers on the Connecticut had trouble with the Pequots, a tribe of Indians living to the west of the Wampanoags, and in the war that followed, all the Pequots were killed. The whites also had trouble with the Narragansetts, who lived near Providence, outbreaks occurring every year or two for several years.

During these years Philip and his father did nothing to injure the settlers in any way. They refused to aid the other Indians in their wars with the English, preferring to remain faithful to their early treaty with the whites; and the whites remained on the most friendly terms with them.

Philip knew nothing of the Christian religion. Several attempts were made by the whites to convert the Indians to Christianity. In 1646, John Eliot translated the Bible into the Indian language, taught the Indians the English habits of industry and agriculture, and established near Boston two towns composed entirely of converted Indians.

At the same time, Thomas Mayhew preached to the Wampanoags on Martha's Vineyard, and there converted a great many. By the year 1675, four thousand Indians had been converted to Christianity.

But the missionaries were not successful with Philip and the Wampanoags at Mount Hope. They utterly refused to listen to the preachers. They preferred their former mode of life, and there were several good reasons for this preference, as they thought.

Philip noticed that many white men who called themselves Christians were in the habit of stealing from the red men, and cheating them whenever they could. He could not see that the Christian religion made them more happy, more honest, or better than he was.

Again, he noticed that, as soon as the Indians were converted, they left their former life and companions and joined themselves to the English. This tended to lessen the control of the chiefs over their tribes, and so reduced their power. Thus he saw that a great deal might be lost by changing his religion, or by urging his followers to change theirs.

Nevertheless, Massasoit and his sons remained strong friends to the Plymouth people until 1661, when Massasoit died, being about eighty years of age.[Pg 37]

Documented History of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico

THE DOCUMENTARY PERIOD of the PUEBLO INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO

commencing in 1598, and running up to the present time. Here we should be entitled to find, of course, ample and detailed documentary evidence. Two unfortunate occurrences, however, have contributed to destroy the records of the territory of New Mexico.

In the month of August, 1680, when the pueblo Indians rose in successful revolt against the Spanish rule, and captured the "villa" of Santa Fé, they brought the archives, ecclesiastical and civil, into the plaza, and made a bonfire of the entire pile. This was an act of barbarous warfare. But few papers escaped the general destruction; these were saved by Governor Don Antonio de Otermin, and sent to El Paso del Norte, where they are still supposed to remain. We are, therefore, as far as the period of 1598-1680 is concerned, almost exclusively reduced to general works like the "Teatro Mexicano" of Fray Augustin de Vetancurt, and to the collections of documents published at Mexico and at Madrid. That, nevertheless, some documents were saved, and subsequently carried back to Santa Fé, is proved by the fact that Mr. Louis Felsenthal, of this city, has recovered one, a copy of which it is hoped will appear in the Journal of the Institute in time.  Pueblo Indian Pictures Here

Subsequent to the return of the Spaniards, the archives ofp. 119 Santa Fé were kept in good order by its administrators, the last revision thereof being made by Governor Donaciano Vigil. In 1870, however, the man who then acted as Governor of the Territory, although otherwise of irreproachable character, permitted an act of vandalism almost without its parallel. The archives had accumulated in the palace to a vast extent: the original good order in which they were kept had been totally neglected during and since the war of secession; there was not even a custodian for them. So the head of the executive of this territory suffered its archives to be sold as waste paper, even sometimes used as kindling in the offices. Of the entire carefully nursed documentary treasures, the accumulation of 190 years, the Hon. Samuel Ellison, of this city (notwithstanding his feeble health), has been able to register about fifty bundles (legajos), whereas wagon-loads were scattered or sold for wrapping.

Many of the intelligent inhabitants attempted to save what they could, and there are some who succeeded to a limited extent; but of what yet remained in the palace, reduced to a sufficiently small bulk as not to be "in the way" any longer, even the valuable journals of Otermin and Vargas were considerably reduced through further decay.

This has been, in times of profound peace and in the nineteenth century, the fate of the archives of New Mexico.

Ever since, the legislature of the territory has been, in fact, utterly neglectful of its public documents. Each and every reminder in the shape of a petition has been disregarded, and only Governor L. Wallace has at last succeeded in having them overhauled. Hon. W. G. Ritch effected their removal to a suitable place, and it is to the acts of these gentlemen, and to the labor of love of Mr. Ellison, that we owe the preservation of what now remains.

What little documentary evidence has, therefore, been leftp. 120 at my disposal, contains, as might be supposed, meagre information concerning the pueblo of Pecos. The older church annals I have not been able to find, for those at the Plaza de Pecos date back only to 1862. Whither they have gone I am unable to tell, except that they are not at Santa Fé.

About the year 1628, through the action of Fray Francisco de Apodaca,  then Commissary-General of the Franciscan order in Mexico, religious life in this territory obtained a new impulse. Until then the work performed had been almost exclusively missionary work; the priests had (and still have) enormous districts to visit. Thus: that of the first priest of Pecos embraced from N. to S. a country of over 60 miles long, and 30 to 50 wide from E. to W. However, after Fray Gerónimo de Zarate Salmeron had addressed to his superior at Mexico his remarkable report in the year 1626, a new life began. It is therefore after 1629 that the large church at Pecos was erected, but I am as yet unable to give the exact dates. This church and the "convent" were both built by Indians, whom the fathers had taught to square timbers, to ornament them with simple friezes and scroll-work, and to make adobe in the manner now practised, namely, mixing straw with the clay and moulding it in boxes. They were also taught to grow wheat and oats, and their flocks increased. In addition to being a horticultural people they became herders, and the pueblo was prosperous. Its church was renowned as the finest in New Mexico. Whereas Santa Fé, in 1667, had butp. 121 250 inhabitants, Pecos, as late as 1680, sheltered 2,000 Indians.

Still, during this very time of comparative prosperity, a storm was brewing in New Mexico, from whose effects its sedentary Indians never recovered. This was the great rebellion of 1680. The Indians of Pecos claim to have remained neutral during that bloody massacre, and I am inclined to believe their statements. Nevertheless, it is a positive fact that, on the 10th of August of the aforesaid year, their priest, Fray Fernando de Velasco, was murdered and their church sacked. By whom, then, was it done? The reply is intimated by the place where the great bell was found, and by the events intervening between 1680 and 1692, when Diego de Vargas recaptured Santa Fé. It will be remembered that the bell was left on the slope of the high mesa towards the S.W., in the rocky and desolate gorge descending towards the pueblo San Cristóbal, the old home of the Tanos tribe. Father José Amanda Niel writes, about twenty-five or thirty years after the rebellion, that the Tanos secured the greatest part of the booty, among which were bells (campanas).That this bell was not carried to the high mesa by the Pecos I believe I have proved; its proximity to the Tanos village, and its actual position in the cañada leading towards the latter, shows that it was either to be carried down to it or carried up from it. If it is (as curp. 122rent report has it) the bell of Pecos, then it was a trophy which the Tanos secured when they, on the 10th of August, 1680, committed the atrocities at the pueblo of Pecos; and this would make it extremely probable, also, that the slaughter of Father Velasco was accompanied by that partial destruction of the buildings A and B, which I have described, and which appears to have been partly repaired by means of material taken from the church, and of adobe containing wheat-straw. This is rendered more likely by the events subsequent to the driving out of the Spaniards, and it does not appear that the Pecos Indians took any part even in their expulsion.

After the victorious aborigines had returned from their pursuit of Otermin, dissensions arose among them, and intertribal warfare, in conformity with their pristine condition, set in. The Pecos, aided by the Queres, made a violent onslaught on the Tanos, compelling them to abandon San Cristóbal and San Lázaro. This looks very much like an act of retaliation. During that time the Spaniards were not idle. In 1682, Governor Otermin penetrated as far as Cochiti,  but appears to have taken no notice of Pecos. In 1689, however, Don Domingo Gironza Petroz de Cruzate made a successful raid into New Mexico, in which raid the warriors of Pecos assisted him against the other tribes. In reward of their services he, on the 25th of September, 1689, after his return to El Paso del Norte, executed there the document a copy of which is hereto appended, and for which I am indebted to the kindness of my friend David J. Miller, Esq., chief clerk of the Surveyor General's Office at Santa Fé. It is a grant to the tribe of Pecos of all the lands one league north, south, east, and west from their pueblo ("una legua en cuadro"), therep. 123fore four square leagues, or 18,763-33/100 acres, to be therefore their joint and common property. When, therefore, in the afternoon of the 17th of October, 1692, Diego de Vargas Zapata, having recaptured Santa Fé from the Tanos who then held its ruins, moved upon Pecos, he was received by the whole tribe with demonstrations of joy  and the "capitan de la guerra" of the pueblo afterwards assisted him in subduing a second outbreak in 1694.

The result for the pueblos of the great revolt in New Mexico was a gradual diminution in the numbers of their inhabitants. It was the beginning of decline. The Tanos had been in some places nearly exterminated, and all the others more or less weakened. The distant Moqui, far off in Arizona, were the sole gainers by the occurrence, receiving accessions from fugitives of New Mexico. But it would be incorrect to attribute this weakening of the pueblos during that time to the warfare with the Spaniards, or to the latter's retaliatory measures after final triumph. Vargas was energetic in action, but not cruel. A few of those who had committed peculiar atrocities were executed, but the remnants of the pueblos were reestablished in their franchises and privileges as autonomous communities. It is the intertribal warfare, which commenced again as soon as the aborigines were left to themselves, and drouth accompanying the bitter and bloody feuds, which destroyed the pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley. The Pecos, isolated and therefore less exposed, suffered proportionatelyp. 124 less; still, their time was come also, though in a different way.

I have already stated that, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Utes introduced near the pueblo of Taos another branch of the great Shoshone stock,—the Comanches. This tribe soon expelled the Apaches,who  had not been exceedingly troublesome to the pueblos, and, a vigorous northern stock, became that fearful scourge of all the surrounding settlements, which they have continued to be for 150 years. Their efforts were mainly directed against the pueblo of Pecos, as the most south-easterly village exposed to their attacks. On one occasion the Comanches slaughtered all the "young men" of Pecos but one,—a blow from which the tribe never recovered. Thus, when the Indians of the Rio Grande rose in arms against the Mexicans in 1837, as has been so ably described by Mr. D. J. Miller,the Pecos did not take any part, for there were only eighteen adults left, huddled together in the northern wing of the huge building A, and watching the sacred embers in the face of slow, inevitable destruction.

Then, in the following year, 1838, an event took place which, simple and natural as it is, still illustrates forcibly the powerful link which the bond of language creates between distant Indian communities. The pueblos of Pecos and Jemez had been almost without intercourse for centuries; but in the year 1838, says Mariano Ruiz, the principal men of Jemez appeared in person on the site of Pecos and held a talk with its occupants. They had heard of the weakness of their brethren, of their forlorn condition, and now came to offer them a newp. 125 home within the walls of their own pueblo. The Pecos took the proposal under consideration, but were loth to leave the home where they had lived for so many centuries. In the following year "mountain fever" broke out among them, and only five adults remained alive. These, by joint indentures, sold the majority of the lands granted to them in 1689 by Cruzate. Another portion was left to Ruiz as "son of the tribe." In 1840 these five men, named respectively Antonio (gobernador, and still living at Jemez), Gregorio, Goya, Juan Domingo, and Francisco, appeared before Don Manuel Armijo, then Mexican governor of the territory, and declared to him their intention to abandon their home and to seek refuge among their kindred at Jemez. Soon after, the gobernador, thecapitan de la guerra and the cacique of Jemez, with several other Indians of that tribe, appeared at Pecos. The sacred embers disappeared, tradition being, according to the Hon. W. G. Ritch, Secretary of the Territory, that they were returned to Montezuma. The remnants of the tribe moved on with their chattels, and guided by their friends, to Jemez, where, in a few months, I hope to visit "the last of the Pecos."

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About Indian Schools and Churches

INDIAN SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES

"God, who hath made of one blood all nations of men and determined the bounds of their habitation, commandeth all men everywhere to repent."—Paul.

When Columbus landed on the shores of America, the Indians were the only people he found occupying this great continent. During the long period that has intervened, the Indian has furnished proof, that he possesses all the attributes which God has bestowed upon other members of the human family. He has shown that he has an intellect capable of development, that he is willing to receive instruction and that he is capable of performing any duty required of an American citizen.

Considerable patience however has had to be exercised both by the church in its effort to bring him under the saving influence of the gospel, and by the government in its effort to elevate him to the full standard of citizenship. Results are achieved slowly. His struggles have been many and difficult. He has needed counsel and encouragement at every advancing step.

In the former days, when the Indian supported his family by hunting, trapping and fishing, he moved about from
 place to place. This was finally checked in Indian Territory by the individual allotment of lands in 1904. He has thus been compelled by the force of circumstances, to change his mode of life. He has gradually discovered he can settle down on his own farm, improve it by the erection of good buildings, and either buy or make the implements he needs for cultivating the soil.

The great commission to the church to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," will not be completed until the American Indian and the Freedmen, who were his former slaves, have been brought under its uplifting influence.

The Presbyterian church throughout all its history has been the friend and patron of learning and inasmuch as the evangelistic work among the Indians and Freedmen, has been largely dependent on school work for permanent results, it began to establish schools among the Indians at a very early date. The work among the five civilized tribes was begun many years before they were transported from the southern states to Indian Territory. Some of these missionaries migrated with them and continued both their school and church work in the Territory. Rev. Alfred Wright, who organized the Presbyterian church at Wheelock in December 1832, and died there in 1853, after receiving 570 members into it, began his work as a missionary to the Choctaws in 1820.

The aim of the government in its educational work among the Indians, as elsewhere in the public schools of the country, has been mainly to make them intelligent citizens. The aim of the church, by making the Bible a daily textbook, is to make them happy and hopeful Christians, as well as citizens. In the early days there was great need for this
 educational work, and in the Presbyterian church it was carried forward by its foreign mission board, with wisdom, energy and success.

In 1861 the Presbyterian church had established and was maintaining six boarding schools with 800 pupils and six day schools among the Indians in the Territory. Two of these schools, Spencer and Wheelock Academies, were located in the southern part of the Choctaw Nation.

In 1840 the Presbytery of Indian was organized and in 1848 the Presbytery of the Creek Nation. In 1861 these included an enrollment of 16 churches with a communicant membership of 1,772.

EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WAR

At the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, all of these schools and churches were closed, and the next year the Presbyterian church became divided by the organization of the Southern Presbyterian church, under the corporate name, "The Presbyterian Church in the United States."

At the close of the war it was left to the Southern branch of the church to re-establish this school and church work in the Territory. It undertook to do this and carried parts of it alone for a number of years. The task however proved to be too great; the men and means were not available to re-open the boarding schools, and to supply the churches with ministers. The arrangement was accordingly made for the foreign mission board of the Presbyterian church, to resume its former work as fast as workers could be obtained.

In 1879, four ministers returned and opened six churches among the Choctaws, Creeks and Cherokees.

In 1882 Spencer Academy was re-opened at Nelson, by Rev. Oliver P. Starks, a native of Goshen, New York, who,
 for seventeen years previous to the Civil War, had been a missionary to the Choctaws, having his home at Goodland.

The Indian Mission school at Muskogee was also re-opened that year by Miss Rose Steed.

In the fall of 1883 the Presbytery of Indian Territory was re-established with a membership of 16 ministers, 11 churches, 385 communicants and 676 Sunday school scholars.

In 1884 Wheelock Academy was re-opened by Rev. John Edwards, who for a couple of years previous, had been located at Atoka. This was a return of Edwards to the educational work among the Choctaws. From 1851 to 1853 he served at Spencer Academy, north of Doaksville, and then from 1853 to 1861 had charge of Wheelock Academy, as the successor of Rev. Alfred Wright, its early founder.

In 1883 two teachers were sent, who opened a school among the Creek Freedmen at Muskogee, known as the "Pittsburgh Mission." A teacher was also sent to the Freedmen among the Seminoles.

After a few years the Pittsburgh Mission was transferred from Muskogee to Atoka, where it supplied a real want for a few years longer. In 1904 when adequate provision was first made for the Freedmen in the public schools of that town this mission was discontinued.

TRANSFER OF THE FREEDMEN'S WORK

During this same year, 1884, the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen, Pittsburgh, Pa., received the voluntary transfer from the Southern church of all the work it had developed at that date among the Choctaw Freedmen. This transfer was made in good spirit. The motive that prompted it was the conviction and belief the Presbyterian
 church could carry it forward more conveniently, aggressively and successfully.

The work that was transferred at this date consisted of Rev. Charles W. Stewart, Doaksville, and the following churches then under his pastoral care, namely: Oak Hill, Beaver Dam, Hebron, New Hope and St. Paul (Eagletown).

Parson Stewart had been licensed about 1867 and ordained a few years later. With a true missionary spirit he had gone into these various settlements and effected the organization of these churches among his people. During the next two years he added to his circuit two more churches, Mount Gilead at Lukfata and Forest, south of Wheelock, and occasionally visited one or two other places.

INDIANS MAKE PROGRESS TOWARDS CIVILIZATION

About the year 1880 the social and moral condition of the Indians in Indian Territory was described as follows:

"About thirty different languages are spoken by the Indians now in the territory. The population of the territory, though principally Indians, includes a lot of white men and negroes, amongst whom intermarriages are frequent. The society ranges from an untutored Indian, with a blanket for his dress and paganism for his religion, to men of collegiate education, who are manifesting their christian culture and training by their earnest advocacy of the christian faith.

"The Cherokees were the first to be brought under direct christian influence and they were probably in the lead of all the Indians on the continent in civilization, or practice of the useful arts and enjoyment of the common comforts of life."

"In 1890, the year following the opening of the first land in the territory to white settlers, the mission work in the territory was described as "very interesting and unique." The Indian population represented every grade of civilization. One might see the several stages of progress from the ignorant and superstitious blanketed Indian on the western reservations to the representatives of our advanced American culture among the five civilized nations. Our
 missionaries have labored long and successfully and the education, degree of civilization and prosperity enjoyed by the Indians are due principally, if not solely, to the efforts of consecrated men and women, who devoted their lives to this special work. Although their names may not be familiarly known among the churches, none have deserved more honorable mention than these faithful servants of the Master, who selected this particular field of effort for their life work."

"Events are moving rapidly in Indian Territory. Many new lines of railroad have been surveyed, and when they have been built, every part of the Territory will be easily accessible."

"A new judicial system with a complete code of laws has recently been provided, and with liberal provision for Indian citizenship and settlement of the land question it is safe to predict a speedy end to tribal government."

"This means the opening of a vast region to settlement, the establishment of churches and the thorough organization of every form of christian work. For this we must prepare and there is no time to lose. Our churches and schools must be multiplied and our brethren of the ministry must be fully reinforced by competent educated men trained for christian work. What the future has in store for the whole Territory was illustrated by the marvelous rush into and settlement of Oklahoma Territory during the last year."

"A wonderful transformation has taken place. The unbroken prairie of one year ago has been changed to cultivated fields. The tents of boomers have given place to well built homes and substantial blocks of brick and stone. Unorganized communities have now become members of a legally constituted commonwealth. Here are found all the elements of great progress and general prosperity and the future of Oklahoma Territory is full of great promise."

"Here the Presbyterian church has shown itself capable of wrestling with critical social problems and stands today as the leading denomination in missionary enterprise. Every county has its minister and many churches have been organized. Others are underway. With more ministers and liberal aid for the erection of churches the Presbyterian church will do for Oklahoma what it has done for Kansas and the Dakotas."

In 1886 the mission school work among the Indians was transferred from the care of the foreign to the home
 mission board. Those in charge of the school work of Spencer Academy at Nelson resigned that work and the school was closed.

In 1895 the Mission school work at Wheelock Academy was undertaken and continued thereafter by the Indian Agency, as a school for orphan children of the Indians.

WHEELOCK ACADEMY

Wheelock Academy for nearly four-score years was the most attractive social, educational and religious center in the southeast part of the Choctaw nation. It was located on the main trails running east and west and north and south. But when the Frisco railway came in 1902, it passed two miles south of it, and a half dozen flourishing towns were founded along its line.

There remain to mark this place of early historic interest the two mission school buildings, a strongly built stone church 30 by 50 feet, a two story parsonage and cemetery. The church is of the Gothic style of architecture, tastefully decorated inside and furnished with good pews and pulpit furniture.

About Opening the Indian Territory

OPENING OF INDIAN TERRITORY

                                                               The Choctaw Court House, Clear Creek.
                                                             Both buildings ceased to be used about 1899.

On April 22, 1889, 2,000,000 acres of the Creek and Seminole lands were opened to white settlers, and there occurred an ever memorable rush for lands and a race for homes. An area as large as the state of Maryland was settled in a day. On that first day the city of Guthrie was founded with a population of 8,000, a newspaper was issued and in a tent a bank was organized with a capital of $50,000. Oklahoma and other cities sprang up as if in a night.

On June 6, 1890, the west half of Indian Territory was created a new territory, called Oklahoma, with its capital at Guthrie, and with later additions it soon included 24,000,000 acres.

On June 16, 1906, President Roosevelt signed the enabling act, that admitted Oklahoma, including Oklahoma and Indian Territories, as a state, one year from that date. On November 6, 1906, occurred the election of members to the constitutional convention, that met at Guthrie January 1, 1907. The first legislature met there January 1, 1908. Two years later the capital was moved to Oklahoma City.

The growth, progress and advancement of the territory of Oklahoma during the sixteen years preceding statehood in 1907 has never been equaled in the history of the world, and in all probability will never be eclipsed. This was due to the mild and healthful climate of this region, and a previous knowledge of its great, but undeveloped agricultural and mineral resources. So great has been the flow of oil near Tulsa, in the north central part of the state, it has been necessary to store it there in an artificial lake or reservoir.

OKLAHOMA

The surface of Oklahoma consists of a gently undulating plain, that gradually ascends from an altitude of 511 feet at Valliant in the southeast to 1197 feet at Oklahoma City, and 1893 at Woodward, the county seat of Woodward county, in the northwest. The principal mountains are the Kiamichi in the southern part of Laflore county, and the Wichita, a forest reserve in Comanche and Swanson counties.

Previous to statehood Indian Territory was divided into 31 recording districts for court purposes. In 1902 when Garvin was founded it became the residence of the judge of the southeastern judicial or recording district, and a small court house was built there for the transaction of the public business. In 1907, when McCurtain county was established, Idabel was chosen as the county seat. The location of Oak Hill Academy proved to be one and a half miles east of the west line of McCurtain county. In 1910 the population of McCurtain county was 20,681, of Oklahoma City 64,205; and of the state of Oklahoma, 1,657,155.

CLEAR CREEK

During the period immediately preceding the incoming of the Hope and Ardmore Railroad in 1902, the most im
portant news and trading center, between Fort Towson and Wheelock, was called "Clear Creek." Clear Creek is a rustling, sparkling little stream of clear water that flows southward in a section of the country where most of the streams are sluggish and of a reddish hue. The Clear Creek post office was located in a little store building a short distance east of this stream and about three miles north of Red river.

A little log court house, for the administration of tribal justice among the Choctaws of that vicinity, a blacksmith shop and a Choctaw church were also located at this place. These varied interests gave to Clear Creek the importance of a miniature county seat until Valliant and Swink were founded.

OAK HILL

During this early period the oak covered ridge, extending several miles east of Clear Creek, was known as Oak Hill and the settlement in its vicinity was called by the same name.

When the first church (1869) and school (1876) were established among the Freedmen in this settlement, the same name was naturally given to both of them. It has adhered to them, amid all the changes that have occurred, since the first meetings were held at the home of Henry Crittenden in 1868.

VALLIANT

Valliant was founded in 1902, and was so named in honor of one of the surveyors of the Hope and Ardmore, a branch of the Frisco railway. It is located in the west end of McCurtain county eight miles north of Red river. It has now a population of 1,000 and a branch railroad running northward.

The country adjacent to the town consists of beautiful valleys and forests heavily set with timber, principally oak, walnut, ash and hickory, and with pine and cedar along the streams. The soil is a rich sandy loam, that is easily cultivated and gives promise of great agricultural and horticultural possibilities. It is in the center of the cotton belt and this staple is proving a very profitable one. The climate is healthful and the locality is unusually free from the prevalence of high winds.

About the Sioux Indian Tribes

ABOUT THE SIOUX TRIBES

       Under the family Gallatin makes four subdivisions, viz, the Winnebagos, the Sioux proper and the Assiniboins, the Minnetare group, and the Osages and southern kindred tribes. Gallatin speaks of the distribution of the family as follows: The Winnebagoes have their principal seats on the Fox River of Lake Michigan and towards the heads of the Rock River of the Mississippi; of the Dakota's proper, the Mendewahkantoan or “Gens du Lac” lived east of the Mississippi from Prairie du Chien north to Spirit Lake. The three others, Wahkpatoan, Wahkpakotoan and Sisitoans inhabit the country between the Mississippi and the St. Peters, and that on the southern tributaries of this river and on the headwaters of the Red River of Lake Winnipek. The three western tribes, the Yanktons, the Yanktoanans and the Tetons wander between the Mississippi and the Missouri, extending southerly to 43° of north latitude and some distance west of the Missouri, between 43° and 47° of latitude. 

112The “Cheyennes” are included in the family but are marked as doubtfully belonging here.

Owing to the fact that “Sioux”  (Sioux Photos Here)is a word of reproach and means snake or enemy, the term has been discarded by many later writers as a family designation, and “Dakota,” which signifies friend or ally, has been employed in its stead. The two words are, however, by no means properly synonymous. The term “Sioux” was used by Gallatin in a comprehensive or family sense and was applied to all the tribes collectively known to him to speak kindred dialects of a widespread language. It is in this sense only, as applied to the linguistic family, that the term is here employed. The term “Dahcota” (Dakota) was correctly applied by Gallatin to the Dakota tribes proper as distinguished from the other members of the linguistic family who are not Dakotas in a tribal sense. The use of the term with this signification should be perpetuated.

It is only recently that a definite decision has been reached respecting the relationship of the Catawba and Woccon, the latter an extinct tribe known to have been linguistically related to the Catawba. Gallatin thought that he was able to discern some affinities of the Catawban language with “Muskhogee and even with Choctaw,” though these were not sufficient to induce him to class them together. Mr. Gatschet was the first to call attention to the presence in the Catawba language of a considerable number of words having a Siouan affinity.

Recently Mr. Dorsey has made a critical examination of all the Catawba linguistic material available, which has been materially increased by the labors of Mr. Gatschet, and the result seems to justify its inclusion as one of the dialects of the widespread Siouan family.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

The pristine territory of this family was mainly in one body, the only exceptions being the habitats of the Biloxi, the Tutelo, the Catawba and Woccon.

Contrary to the popular opinion of the present day, the general trend of Siouan migration has been westward. In comparatively late prehistoric times, probably most of the Siouan tribes dwelt east of the Mississippi River.

The main Siouan territory extended from about 53° north in the Hudson Bay Company Territory, to about 33°, including a considerable part of the watershed of the Missouri River and that of the Upper Mississippi. It was bounded on the northwest, north, northeast, and for some distance on the east by Algonquian territory. South of 45° north the line ran eastward to Lake Michigan, as the Green Bay region belonged to the Winnebago.86

113It extended westward from Lake Michigan through Illinois, crossing the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien. At this point began the Algonquian territory (Sac, etc.) on the west side of the Mississippi, extending southward to the Missouri, and crossing that river it returned to the Mississippi at St. Louis. The Siouan tribes claimed all of the present States of Iowa and Missouri, except the parts occupied by Algonquian tribes. The dividing line between the two for a short distance below St. Louis was the Mississippi River. The line then ran west of Dunklin, New Madrid, and Pemiscot Counties, in Missouri, and Mississippi County and those parts of Craighead and Poinsett Counties, Arkansas, lying east of the St. Francis River. Once more the Mississippi became the eastern boundary, but in this case separating the Siouan from the Muskhogean territory. The Quapaw or Akansa were the most southerly tribe in the main Siouan territory. In 1673  they were east of the Mississippi. Joutel (1687) located two of their villages on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi one of the latter being on the east bank, in our present State of Mississippi, and the other being on the opposite side, in Arkansas. Shea says  that the Kaskaskias were found by De Soto in 1540 in latitude 36°, and that the Quapaw were higher up the Mississippi. But we know that the southeast corner of Missouri and the northeast corner of Arkansas, east of the St. Francis River, belonged to Algonquian tribes. A study of the map of Arkansas shows reason for believing that there may have been a slight overlapping of habitats, or a sort of debatable ground. At any rate it seems advisable to compromise, and assign the Quapaw and Osage (Siouan tribes) all of Arkansas up to about 36° north.

On the southwest of the Siouan family was the Southern Caddoan group, the boundary extending from the west side of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, nearly opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi, and running northwestwardly to the bend of Red River between Arkansas and Louisiana; thence northwest along the divide between the watersheds of the Arkansas and Red Rivers. In the northwest corner of Indian Territory the Osages came in contact with the Comanche (Shoshonean), and near the western boundary of Kansas the Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho (the two latter being recent Algonquian intruders?) barred the westward march of the Kansa or Kaw.

The Pawnee group of the Caddoan family in western Nebraska and northwestern Kansas separated the Ponka and Dakota on the north from the Kansa on the south, and the Omaha and other Siouan tribes on the east from Kiowa and other tribes on the west. The Omaha and cognate peoples occupied in Nebraska the lower part of the Platte River, most of the Elkhorn Valley, and the Ponka claimed the region watered by the Niobrara in northern Nebraska.

114There seems to be sufficient evidence for assigning to the Crows (Siouan) the northwest corner of Nebraska (i.e., that part north of the Kiowan and Caddoan habitats) and the southwest part of South Dakota (not claimed by Cheyenne), as well as the northern part of Wyoming and the southern part of Montana, where they met the Shoshonean stock.

The Biloxi habitat in 1699 was on the Pascogoula river  in the southeast corner of the present State of Mississippi. The Biloxi subsequently removed to Louisiana, where a few survivors were found by Mr. Gatschet in 1886.

The Tutelo habitat in 1671 was in Brunswick County, southern Virginia, and it probably included Lunenburgh and Mecklenburg Counties. The Earl of Bellomont (1699) says that the Shateras were “supposed to be the Toteros, on Big Sandy River, Virginia,” and Pownall, in his map of North America (1776), gives the Totteroy (i.e., Big Sandy) River. Subsequently to 1671 the Tutelo left Virginia and moved to North Carolina. They returned to Virginia (with the Sapona), joined the Nottaway and Meherrin, whom they and the Tuscarora followed into Pennsylvania in the last century; thence they went to New York, where they joined the Six Nations, with whom they removed to Grand River Reservation, Ontario, Canada, after the Revolutionary war. The last full-blood Tutelo died in 1870. For the important discovery of the Siouan affinity of the Tutelo language we are indebted to Mr. Hale.

The Catawba lived on the river of the same name on the northern boundary of South Carolina. Originally they were a powerful tribe, the leading people of South Carolina, and probably occupied a large part of the Carolinas. The Woccon were widely separated from kinsmen living in North Carolina in the fork of the Cotentnea and Neuse Rivers.

The Wateree, living just below the Catawba, were very probably of the same linguistic connection.

PRINCIPAL TRIBES.

I. Dakota.

(A) Santee: include Mde´-wa-kaⁿ-toⁿ-waⁿ (Spirit Lake village, Santee Reservation, Nebraska), and Wa-qpe´-ku-te (Leaf Shooters); some on Fort Peck Reservation, Montana.

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(B) Sisseton (Si-si´-toⁿ-waⁿ), on Sisseton Reservation, South Dakota, and part on Devil’s Lake Reservation, North Dakota.

(C) Wahpeton (Wa-qpe´-toⁿ-waⁿ, Wa-hpe-ton-wan); Leaf village. Some on Sisseton Reservation; most on Devil’s Lake Reservation.

(D) Yankton (I-hañk´-toⁿ-waⁿ), at Yankton Reservation, South Dakota.

(E) Yanktonnais (I-hañk´-toⁿ-waⁿ´-na); divided into Upper and Lower. Of the Upper Yanktonnais, there are some of the Cut-head band (Pa´-ba-ksa gens) on Devil’s Lake Reservation. Upper Yanktonnais, most are on Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota; Lower Yanktonnais, most are on Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota, some are on Standing Rock Reservation, and some on Fort Peck Reservation, Montana.

(F) Teton (Ti-toⁿ-waⁿ); some on Fort Peck Reservation, Montana.

(a) Brulé (Si-tcaⁿ´-xu); some are on Standing Rock Reservation. Most of the Upper Brulé (Highland Sitcaⁿxu) are on Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. Most of the Lower Brulé (Lowland Sitcaⁿxu) are on Lower Brulé Reservation, South Dakota.

(b) Sans Arcs (I-ta´-zip-tco´, Without Bows). Most are on Cheyenne Reservation. South Dakota; some on Standing Rock Reservation.

(c) Blackfeet (Si-ha´sa´-pa). Most are on Cheyenne Reservation; some on Standing Rock Reservation.

(d) Minneconjou (Mi´-ni-ko´-o-ju). Most are on Cheyenne Reservation, some are on Rosebud Reservation, and some on Standing Rock Reservation.

(e) Two Kettles (O-o´-he-noⁿ´-pa, Two Boilings), on Cheyenne Reservation.

(f) Ogalalla (O-gla´-la). Most on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota; some on Standing Rock Reservation. Wa-ża-ża (Wa-ja-ja, Wa-zha-zha), a gens of the Oglala (Pine Ridge Reservation); Loafers (Wa-glu-xe, In-breeders), a gens of the Oglala; most on Pine Ridge Reservation; some on Rosebud Reservation.

(g) Uncpapa (1862-’63), Uncapapa (1880-’81), (Huñ´-kpa-pa), on Standing Rock Reservation.

II. Assinaboin (Hohe, Dakota name); most in British North America; some on Fort Peck Reservation, Montana.

III. Omaha (U-maⁿ´-haⁿ), on Omaha Reservation, Nebraska.

IV. Ponca (formerly Ponka on maps; Ponka); 605 on Ponca Reservation, Indian Territory; 217 at Santee Agency, Nebraska

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V. Kaw ([K]aⁿ´-ze; the Kansa Indians); on the Kansas Reservation. Indian Territory.

VI. Osage; Big Osage (Pa-he´-tsi, Those on a Mountain); Little Osage (Those at the foot of the Mountain); Arkansas Band (
[S]an-ʇsu-ʞ¢iⁿ
, Dwellers in a Highland Grove), Osage Reservation, Indian Territory.

VII. Quapaw (
U-ʞa´-qpa
; Kwapa). A few are on the Quapaw Reserve, but about 200 are on the Osage Reserve, Oklahoma. (They are the Arkansa of early times.)

VIII. Iowa, on Great Nemaha Reserve, Kansas and Nebraska, and 86 on Sac and Fox Reserve, Indian Territory.

IX. Otoe (Wa-to´-qta-ta), on Otoe Reserve, Indian Territory.

X. Missouri or Missouria (Ni-u´-t’a-tci), on Otoe Reserve.

XI. Winnebago (Ho-tcañ´-ga-ra); most in Nebraska, on their reserve: some are in Wisconsin; some in Michigan, according to Dr. Reynolds.

XII. Mandan, on Fort Berthold Reserve, North Dakota.

XIII. Gros Ventres (a misleading name; syn. Minnetaree; Hi-da´-tsa); on the same reserve.

XIV. Crow (Absáruqe, Aubsároke, etc.), Crow Reserve, Montana.

XV. Tutelo (Ye-saⁿ´); among the Six Nations, Grand River Reserve, Province of Ontario, Canada.

XVI. Biloxi (Ta´-neks ha´-ya), part on the Red River, at Avoyelles, Louisiana; part in Indian Territory, among the Choctaw and Caddo.

XVII. Catawba.

XVIII. Woccon.

Population.—The present number of the Siouan family is about 43,400, of whom about 2,204 are in British North America, the rest being in the United States. Below is given the population of the tribes officially recognized, compiled chiefly from the Canadian Indian Report for 1888, the United States Indian Commissioner’s Report for 1889, and the United States Census Bulletin for 1890:

Dakota:
Mdewakantonwan and Wahpekute (Santee) on Santee Reserve, Nebraska		869
At Flandreau, Dakota		292
Santee at Devil’s Lake Agency		54
Sisseton and Wahpeton on Sisseton Reserve, South Dakota		1,522
Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Cuthead (Yanktonnais) at Devil’s Lake Reservation		857
Yankton:
On Yankton Reservation, South Dakota	1,725
At Devil’s Lake Agency	123
On Fort Peck Reservation, Montana	1,121
A few on Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota	10
A few on Lower Brulé Reservation, South Dakota	10
		2,989
117Yanktonnais:
Upper Yanktonnais on Standing Rock Reservation	1,786
Lower Yanktonnais on Crow Creek Reservation	1,058
At Standing Rock Agency	1,739
		4,583
Teton:
Brulé, Upper Brulé on Rosebud Reservation	3,245
On Devil’s Lake Reservation	2
Lower Brulé at Crow Creek and Lower Brulé Agency	1,026
Minneconjou (mostly) and Two Kettle, on Cheyenne River Reserve	2,823
Blackfeet on Standing Rock Reservation	545
Two Kettle on Rosebud Reservation	315
Oglala on Pine Ridge Reservation	4,552
Wajaja (Oglala gens) on Rosebud Reservation	1,825
Wagluxe (Oglala gens) on Rosebud Reservation	1,353
Uncapapa, on Standing Rock Reservation	571
Dakota at Carlisle, Lawrence, and Hampton schools	169
		16,426
Dakota in British North America (tribes not stated):
On Bird Tail Sioux Reserve, Birtle Agency, Northwest Territory	108
On Oak River Sioux Reserve, Birtle Agency	276
On Oak Lake Sioux Reserve, Birtle Agency	55
On Turtle Mountain Sioux Reserve, Birtle Agency	34
On Standing Buffalo Reserve, under Northwest Territory	184
Muscowpetung’s Agency:
White Cap Dakota (Moose Woods Reservation)	105
American Sioux (no reserve)	95
		857
Assinaboin:
On Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana	952
On Fort Peck Reservation, Montana	719
At Devil’s Lake Agency	2
The following are in British North America:
Pheasant Rump’s band, at Moose Mountain (of whom 6 at Missouri and 4 at Turtle Mountain)	69
Ocean Man’s band, at Moose Mountain (of whom 4 at Missouri)	68
The-man-who-took-the-coat’s band, at Indian Head (of whom 5 are at Milk River)	248
Bear’s Head band, Battleford Agency	227
Chee-pooste-quahn band, at Wolf Creek, Peace Hills Agency	128
Bear’s Paw band, at Morleyville	236
Chiniquy band, Reserve, at Sarcee Agency	134
Jacob’s band	227
		3,008
Omaha:
Omaha and Winnebago Agency, Nebraska	1,158
At Carlisle School, Pennsylvania	19
At Hampton School, Virginia	10
At Lawrence School, Kansas	10
		1,197
Ponka:
In Nebraska (under the Santee agent)	217
In Indian Territory (under the Ponka agent)	605
At Carlisle, Pennsylvania	1
At Lawrence, Kansas	24
		847
118Osage:
At Osage Agency, Indian Territory	1,509
At Carlisle, Pennsylvania	7
At Lawrence, Kansas	65
		1,581
Kansa or Kaw:
At Osage Agency, Indian Territory	198
At Carlisle, Pennsylvania	1
At Lawrence, Kansas	15
		214
Quapaw:
On Quapaw Reserve, Indian Territory	154
On Osage Reserve, Indian Territory	71
At Carlisle, Pennsylvania	3
At Lawrence, Kansas	4
		232
Iowa:
On Great Nemaha Reservation, Kansas	165
On Sac and Fox Reservation, Oklahoma	102
At Carlisle, Pennsylvania	1
At Lawrence, Kansas	5
		273
Oto and Missouri, in Indian Territory		358
Winnebago:
In Nebraska	1,215
In Wisconsin (1889)	930
At Carlisle, Pennsylvania	27
At Lawrence, Kansas	2
At Hampton, Virginia	10
		2,184
Mandan:
On Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota	251
At Hampton, Virginia	1
		252
Hidatsa, on Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota		522
Crow, on Crow Reservation, Montana		2,287
Tutelo, about a dozen mixed bloods on Grand River Reserve, Ontario, Canada, and a few more near Montreal (?), say, about		20
Biloxi:
In Louisiana, about	25
At Atoka, Indian Territory	1
		26
Catawba:
In York County, South Carolina, about	80
Scattered through North Carolina, about	40?