Slaughter further surmised, from personal observations, that the northern tribes would remain loyal to the United States. See his letter to Dole, June 15, 1861. Other people were of the same opinion, although, in early 1861, the various tribes had much to complain of, much to make them discontented and therefore very susceptible to bad influences. Some of the Miamis were preferring charges against Agent Clover for misapplication of funds and other things [Louis Lefontaine, etc. to Greenwood, January 13, 1861, Land Files, Osage River, 1860-1866]; the Kaws were suffering and R. S. Stevens slowly working out the details of his preposterous graft in the construction of houses for them [M. C. Dickey to Greenwood, February 26, 1861, General Files, Kansas, 1855-1862, D250, and same to same, March 1, 1861, ibid., D251]; the Shawnees were having the usual troubles over their tribal elections, Joseph White having recently been elected second chief in place of Eli Blackhoof [Robinson to Greenwood, February 19, 1861, Land Files, Shawnee, 1860-1865]; and then, even farther north, from among the Otoes, came additional complaints; for Agent Dennison, who by the way, became a secessionist and a defaulter [Dole to Thaddeus Stevens, May 26, 1862, Indian Office, Report Book, no. 12, pp. 388-386], was withholding annuities and an uprising was threatening in consequence [General Files, Otoe, 1856-1862].
[417] The alien influence extended itself even to the wild Indians of the Plains. On the sixth of August, 1861 [General Files, Pottawatomie, 1855-1861, B704], Branch reported bad news that he had received from Agent Ross regarding the hostile approach of these Indians and remarked,
I think there can be little doubt but what emissaries of the Rebels have been and are actively engaged in creating dissatisfaction against the government with every tribe of Indians that they dare approach on that subject.
As soon as I can get the business of this office in a shape so I can conveniently leave my office duties I propose visiting the most of the tribes under this superintendency with a view to reconciling them and enjoining peace....
Similarly Captain Elmer Otis from Fort Wise, August 27, 1861, and A. G. Boone from the Upper Arkansas Agency, September 7, 1861, reported the Texans’ tampering with the Kiowas [Land Files, Upper Arkansas, 1855-1865, O40, B772], who seem successfully to have resisted their threats and their blandishments. The Comanches of Texas were also approached but they fled rather than yield [Boone to Mix, October 19, 1861, ibid., B361]. They, however, importunately demanded a treaty from the United States government in return for their loyalty. They were poor, they said, and had lost their hunting-grounds. Boone made good use of them as scouts and spies against the Texans [Letter of December 14, 1861, ibid., B1006]. They were of the Comanches who had treated with Pike and who had solemnly pledged themselves, under duress and temporary excitement, to amity and allegiance. Secret agents from the South went also among the Blackfeet and Agent Thomas G. McCulloch sent an ex-employee of the American Fur Company, named Alexander Culbertson and married to the daughter of the Blackfeet chief, as a secret agent to counteract their influence [General Files, Central Superintendency, 1860-1862].
[418] Letter to Walker, July 18, 1861 [Official Records, first ser., vol. iii, 611].
[419] The scarcity of arms proved to be a serious matter. On the thirtieth of July, the assistant-quartermaster general, George W. Clark, telegraphed to Walker that arms had not yet arrived and that the Indians, encamped at the Old Choctaw Agency, were, in consequence, showing signs of discontent [Official Records, first ser., vol. iii, 620].
[420] Cooper probably spoke the truth, for the Choctaws and Chickasaws together had a population of twenty-three thousand.
In 1861, the Indian population of the Southern Superintendency was, as reported by Dole upon inquiry from Hon. J. S. Phelps of Missouri [John C. G. Kennedy, of the Census Office, to Dole, August 9, 1861]:
| Chickasaws | 5,000 | |
| Choctaws | 18,000 | |
| Cherokees | 21,000 | |
| Creeks | 13,550 | |
| Seminoles (of which 1,247 were males) | 2,267 |