The Indian Question

by Francis Amasa Walker

Considerable trouble has been for years caused by white settlers locating aggressively on lands belonging to these Indians, no effort for their extrusion having been thus far successful.

Kansas or Kaws.—These Indians are native to the country they occupy. They number at present five hundred and ninety-three: in 1860 they numbered eight hundred and three. Although they have a reservation of 80,640 acres of good land in the eastern part of the State, they are poor and improvident, and have in late years suffered much for want of the actual necessaries of life. They never were much disposed to labor, depending upon the chase for a living, in connection with the annuities due from government. They have been growing steadily poorer; and even now, in their straitened circumstances, and under the pressure of want, they show but little inclination to engage in agricultural pursuits, all attempts to induce them to work having measurably proved failures. Until quite recently they could not even be prevailed upon to have their children educated. One school is now in operation, with an attendance of about forty-five scholars. By the act of May 8, 1872, provision was made for the sale of all the lands owned by these Indians in Kansas, and for their removal to the Indian Territory. Provision was also made, by the act of June 5, 1872, for their settlement within the limits of a tract of land therein provided to be set apart for the Osages. Their lands in Kansas are now being appraised by commissioners appointed for the purpose, preparatory to their sale.

INDIAN TERRITORY.

The Indians at present located in the Indian Territory—an extensive district, bounded north by Kansas, east by Missouri and Arkansas, south by Texas, and west by the one hundredth meridian, designated by the commissioners appointed under act of Congress July 20, 1867, to establish peace with certain hostile tribes, as one of two great Territories (the other being, in the main, the present Territory of Dakota, west of the Missouri) upon which might be concentrated the great body of all the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains—are the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Senecas, Shawnees, Quapaws, Ottawas of Blanchard's Fork and Roche de Bœuf, Peorias, and confederated Kaskaskias, Weas and Piankeshaws, Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi, Osages, Kiowas, Comanches, the Arapahoes and Cheyennes of the south, the Wichitas and other affiliated bands, and a small band of Apaches long confederated with the Kiowas and Comanches.

Cherokees.—The Cherokees number, according to the census for 1872, furnished by their agent, 18,000. In the report for 1871 the agent estimated the number at 14,682, and stated that if the Cherokees remaining in North Carolina and other States were gathered into the nation, the population would then be 16,500. He does not now account for the large increase over the enumeration for 1871, which must be due to a gross error in one report or the other. The Cherokees occupy a reservation of 3,844,712 acres in the north-eastern part of the Territory, lying east of the 96° west longitude. They also own a strip about fifty miles wide adjoining Kansas on the south, and extending from the Arkansas River west to the 100° west longitude. By the treaty of 1866, however, the United States may settle friendly Indians within the limits of the latter tract; and when such settlements are made the rights of the Cherokees to the lands so occupied terminate, the lands thus disposed of to be paid for to the Cherokee nation at such price as may be agreed upon by the parties in interest, or as may be fixed by the President. That portion of country lying between the 96° west longitude on the east, the Arkansas River on the west and south, and the State of Kansas on the north, formerly owned by the Cherokees, has been sold to the Osages.

The Cherokees originally inhabited sections of country now embraced within the State of Georgia and portions of the States of Tennessee and North Carolina, and moved to their present location under the provisions of the treaties concluded with them in 1817 and 1835. They have their own written language, their national constitution and laws, their churches, schools, and academies, their judges and courts. They are emphatically an agricultural and stock-raising people, and perhaps of all the Indian tribes, great and small, are first in general intelligence, in the acquisition of wealth, in the knowledge of the useful arts, and in social and moral progress. The evidences of a real and substantial advancement in these respects are too clear to be questioned; and it is the more remarkable from the fact, that, but a few years since, they were, as a people, almost ruined by the ravages of civil war. Their dwellings consist of 500 frame-houses, and 3,500 log-houses. Of the principal crops, they have raised during the year 2,925,000 bushels of corn, 97,500 bushels of wheat, about the same quantity of oats, and 80,000 bushels of potatoes. Their stock consists of 16,000 horses, 75,000 cattle, 160,000 hogs, and 9,000 sheep. The individual wealth is estimated at $4,995,000.

By the latest reports, they had sixty schools in successful operation, all, with the exception of one managed by the Moravians, maintained out of the national school-fund, and having in attendance 2,133 scholars. Three of these schools are for the education of the freedmen living in the country. The orphans of the Cherokees have been heretofore provided for in private families, by means of the interest derived from certain funds invested for that purpose; but during the past year an orphan asylum has been established under an act of the National Council, where are now gathered fifty-four of this class. This school is designed ultimately to embrace in its operations all the orphans of the nation.

The Cherokees have no treaty-funds paid to them or expended for their benefit. They have, however, United-States and State bonds held in trust for them by the Secretary of the Interior, to the amount of $1,633,627.39; also a recognized claim on account of abstracted State bonds to the amount of $83,000, on which the interest is appropriated annually by Congress, making in all $1,716,627.39. This sum is divided under the following heads, viz., national fund, $1,008,285.07; school fund, $532,407.01; orphan fund, $175,935.31. The interest on these several sums is paid to the treasurer of the Cherokee nation, to be used under the direction of the National Council for the objects indicated by said heads.

Choctaws and Chickasaws.—These tribes are for certain national purposes confederated. The Choctaws, numbering 16,000, an increase of 1,000 on the enumeration for 1871, have a reservation of 6,688,000 acres in the south-eastern part of the Territory; and the Chickasaws, numbering 6,000, own a tract containing 4,377,600 acres adjoining the Choctaws on the west. These tribes originally inhabited the section of country now embraced within the State of Mississippi, and were removed to their present location in accordance with the terms of the treaties concluded with them, respectively, in 1820 and 1832. The remarks made respecting the language, laws, educational advantages, industrial pursuits, and advancement in the arts and customs of civilized life, of the Cherokees, will apply in the main to the Choctaws and Chickasaws. The Choctaws have 36 schools in operation, with an attendance of 819 scholars; the Chickasaws 11, with 379 scholars. The Choctaws, under the treaties of Nov. 16, 1805, Oct. 18, 1820, Jan. 20, 1825, and June 22, 1855, receive permanent annuities as follows: in money, $3,000; for support of government, education, and other beneficial purposes, $25,512.89; for support of light-horsemen, $600; and for iron and steel, $320. They also have United-States and State stocks, held in trust for them by the Secretary of the Interior, to the amount of $506,427.20, divided as follows: on account of "Choctaw general fund," $454,000; of "Choctaw school-fund," $52,427.20. The interest on these funds, and the annuities, &c., are turned over to the treasurer of the nation, and expended under the direction of the National Council in the manner and for the objects indicated in each case. The Chickasaws, under act of Feb. 25, 1799, and treaty of April 28, 1866, have a permanent annuity of $3,000. They also have United-States and State stocks, held in trust for them by the Secretary of the Interior, to the amount of $1,185,947.03⅔; $183,947.03⅔ thereof being a "national fund," and $2,000 a fund for "incompetents." The interest on these sums, and the item of $3,000 first referred to, are paid over to the treasurer of the nation, and disbursed by him, under the direction of the National Council, and for such objects as that body may determine.

Creeks.—The Creeks came originally from Alabama and Georgia. They numbered at the latest date of enumeration 12,295, and have a reservation of 3,215,495 acres in the eastern and central part of the Territory. They are not generally so far advanced as the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, but are making rapid progress, and will doubtless, in a few years, rank in all respects with their neighbors, the three tribes just named. The Creeks, by the latest reports, have 33 schools in operation; one of which is under the management of the Methodist Mission Society, and another supported by the Presbyterians. The number of scholars in all the schools is 760. These Indians have, under treaties of Aug. 7, 1790, June 16, 1802, Jan. 24, 1826, Aug. 7, 1856, and June 14, 1866, permanent annuities and interest on moneys uninvested as follows: in money, $68,258.40; for pay of blacksmiths and assistants, wagon-maker, wheelwright, iron and steel, $3,250; for assistance in agricultural operations, $2,000; and for education, $1,000. The Secretary of the Interior holds in trust for certain members of the tribe, known as "orphans," United-States and State bonds to the amount of $76,999.66, the interest on which sum is paid to those of said orphans who are alive, and to the representatives of those who have deceased.