Part 6 - Introduction

Map # 12
Land in Indian Territory
Map Indian Territory Riverssm.jpg (4544 bytes)

The Indian Territory to which the Southeast Indians emigrated starting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century was not a particularly hospitable section of the country. Little of it contained the good farm land that could be found east of the Mississippi.

Map # 13 1830-1855
Map12sm.jpg (4900 bytes)Most of the Indians arrived mal-nourished, sick, and poorly clothed although some did arrive with all their belongings in tact. But even the latter had to rebuild their lives both physically, emotionally, and culturally. In addition, often there was enmity between the Indians already living in the area, especially the Osage. These Indians appeared wild and strange to those from the "Five Civilized Tribes".

"Some half a dozzen Osage Indians made their appearance last morning at the council ground. Their heads were shaved & ornamented with feathers & they wore blankets primitive style. The Cherokees gathered around them & gazed at them with as much curiosity as if they had never seen an Indian."1

There also was enmity between members of their own tribe who had emigrated earlier. This was especially true of the old Cherokee settlers who had first arrived in the eighteen twenties, the "Treaty Party" of the Ridges which arrived in 1835, and the new settlers who did not arrive until the late eighteen thirties.

Map # 14 1855-1866
Map13sm.jpg (4696 bytes)Some tribes like the Chickasaw were forced to settle on Choctaw land and be governed by the Choctaw. Likewise the Seminoles were placed on Creek land.

From the time of the first emigration, the Indians were more often than not cheated by dishonest agents and contractors. They "lost" to contractors, soldiers, and speculators material possessions, monetary remunerations for their holdings, and even subsistence rations of food.2 Some of these items were stolen from them outright while others were taken from them by guile and promises. Often the rations were not delivered at all or were too spoiled to consume.3 Sometimes the locations of the depots were so remote from the emigrants' settlements that they could not access them.4 In addition, other treaty articles sometimes took years to arrive.5

Map # 15 1866-1889map14sm.jpg (4074 bytes)


As early as 1838, Austin J. Raines had issued a communique to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Harris about the "course of fraud and bribery [that was] unparalleled in the history of the frontier."6

On Sept 29th, 1841, General Ethan Allen Hitchcock wrote that he was on his way to Arkansas with an order appointing him a Commissioner for certain investigations etc.7 However, the Federal Government did not allow Hitchcock's reports of fraud and corruption to be made public and "lost" the reports from the official files.8

General Hitchcock was not an extremely popular man with the Federal Government. He did not hesitate to criticize them when he felt it appropriate. Although it is apparent throughout his diaries that he respected the Indians and their achievements, he felt that many of the government agent's reports were biased in the direction of "proving" that the Government had made the correct move in forcing the Indians to relocate.

"There is a great deal of humbug in the reports of the government Agents about the `astonishing progress' [of the Indians] although tis certain that they are very far removed from the primitive life."9

Not only were the Indians cheated, homeless, and hungry, But they, also, feared that the Federal Government would force them to move again. As stated by an observer in 1842.

"They say they have as yet received no guarantees from the government that they shall remain on these lands any longer than it may suit the convenience of the whites."10

The land that became known first as the Indian Territory and later as the state of Oklahoma was originally home of other Indians tribes. Initially, what has become the state of Oklahoma was, partially, a portion of the Arkansas Territory which Congress created on March 2, 1819.11 It was not until 1825 that the boundary of the Arkansas Territory was moved eastward from the 100th meridian to about the 94th.12 Both the Quapaw in 1818 and the Osage in 1825 ceded land to the United States. However, this did not guarantee amicable relations between the new emigrants and the Indians who had previously occupied the land. Feuds between the Indians from the southeast and those living in the territory had histories that predated the Removal.

The long standing feuds between the plains, prairie, and emigrating Indians helped the Federal Government justify the establishment of military posts in the area. Fort Gibson13, earlier known as Cantonment Gibson, became an important post in the history of the area.

Cantonment Gibson was critical in reducing some of the Indian feuds, attempting to curtail the flow of whiskey into the Indian Territory, and as a terminal point for many of the emigrating parties.

S. A Ferrall, in his book A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through The United States of America, warned that since the land which was designated to be the new home of the Southeast Indians was already the home of the warlike Osage, Pawnee, and others; these newcomers would be considered mere intruders and, thus, attacked.14 In addition, feuds already existed between the Cherokees and the Osages, and Ferrall predicted that the new proximity would only increase them.15

With the quantity of game ever decreasing, these prairie Indians resented having to compete for game with the newcomers.16

Ferrall stated that:

"The policy of the United States government is evidently to get the Indians to exterminate each other."17

Moreover the Indians from the southeast considered these others to be barbarians.

The Osage lived, dressed, and made their living in a very different manner than did the emigres. According to Catlin, the Osages "rejected everything of civilized customs".18 They dressed in tanned skins and the only apparel borrowed from the White man was the blanket which was substituted for buffalo robes. Even though Catlin painted the portrait of Clermont's wife "richly dressed in costly cloths of a civilized manufacture," he stated this was an anomaly.19 Their normal attire consisted of

"leggins of deer skins with a blanket or buffalo robe over their shoulders. The females, in addition, have short skirts and coverings for the breasts."20

It is unclear why in the above statement Catlin did not include the fact that the men wore breech clouts. There are many descriptions of that style of dress even as late as 1850.

"There was an Osage stopped here this afternoon. He was not troubled much with cloathing having nothing on but a breech clout. His hair was cut close to his scull excepting a scalp lock and was painted with Vermillion. His ears were slit and filled with beads."21

The Osage did not live in permanent structures as did the emigres, but lived in "wigwams built of barks and flags or reeds."22

As Washington Irving wrote in his journal in 1832:

"The Osages are true (?) Indians-Hunters-full ceremonies & superstitions- We are poor people say they-we cannot farm & our hunting is failing us-The pride of the Osages is broken."23

The basic dress of the prairie Indians was different than that of the emigrating Indians. An example is given by Grant Foreman in his book, The Advancing Frontier. This description was of an Indian conference in June of 1843 that was held at Tahlequah and to which twenty two tribes had responded.24 The Indians present had not only come to participate in the conference, but also, to observe it. The missionary, William Goode reported: "The whole number in attendance was estimated at three or four thousand."25

The following quotation is, also, from the Reverend Goode who was present at the conference and depicted the gathering.

"The assemblage presented a motley appearance, exhibiting every age, phase, and condition of Indian life of both sexes. The costume of the Indian tribes is greatly varied, from the richest and most genteel style of their white neighbors to the rudest and simplest form of savage dress. Hence an Indian gathering presents a singular and fantastic commingling of the tastes of the white and the red man. The most common dress of the half civilized is a calico hunting-shirt. Some wear pantaloons, some leggings; some with hats, some caps, some bareheaded; but more still with a handkerchief or shawl tied around the head in the form of a turban; some with boots or shoes, some moccasins, and many barefooted-males and females fantastically ornamented, especially about the head; some with rich plumes, some with more common, and many with the single quill of a fowl. Almost everyone is distinguished with some article of display; the ears and noses, especially of the ruder tribes, variously and profusely ornamented, and their faces, arms, and bodies painted according to the custom of their several tribes. They have a great passion for gay colors, especially for red. Sashes, shawls, and handkerchiefs are in great demand. Many very rich red blankets are used among them. The article of our apparel which they seem most to abominate is the hat or bonnet. Although compelled, when full-dressed, to conform to the usage of the whites in this respect, yet all, especially the females, seem greatly relieved when they can doff the head-dress, and in their own free and easy style, substitute a kerchief or shawl in its place. The dress of the Cherokees approaches more nearly to the white custom than that of most of the other tribes."26

Not only did Reverend Goode describe the conference, but he also depicted some of the prominent members of the various tribes in attendance.

"John Ross. He is a small, active man, apparently then fifty years of age; said to be one eight Cherokee, but with little or no appearance of the Indian."27

"Bushy-Head. He was a large, robust man, having the appearance of a well-fed Ohio farmer, with apparently no more of the Indian about him than Ross."28

"Wild Cat. He bore on his person a greater amount of silver ornament than any one present; broad silver bands upon his forehead and wrists, a string of silver plates, each in the form of a crescent, about eight inches in the curve, and one and a half broad, suspended one below another from the neck almost to the waist, besides a large profusion of smaller ornaments."29

"The only two tribes present that seemed to reject all affectation of resemblance to the whites, and fully to retain their primitive customs in dress and manners, were the Iowas and the Osages; both indigenous tribes and bearing a strong resemblance to each other; their dress consisted of the flap and blanket; the latter, in warm weather, thrown loosely down below the shoulders and arms, and at times laid aside entirely, leaving no covering to the person except the flap; heads and feet bare. Their heads are shaved to the crown; two small ridges of hair, erect and about an inch or less in hight, proceed angularly back from the crown, with a lock of long hair in the center. Both tribes paint profusely, especially the Iowas."30

"Their (Osages) fine person, loosely covered with a rich, red blanket, without the slightest apparent design of intentional immodesty, presented to my eye an interesting contrast with the motley frippery of others, who were endeavoring to combine the civilized with the savage in their outward man."31

Another man who traveled through the Indian Territory in the early years of the major emigrations was Josiah Gregg. He wrote of these frontier Indians:

"These frontier Indians for the most part live in cabins of logs, like those of our backwoods settlers; and many of them are undistinguishable, except in color, language, and to some degree in costume, from the poorer classes of their white neighbors. Even in dress and language the more civilized are fast conforming to the latter. In many families, especially of the Cherokee, the English tongue only is spoken; and great numbers of these, as well as of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, dress according to the American fashions; but the ruder portions of these, the most enlightened nations, as is also the case with nearly all of the northern tribes, wears the hunting-shirt, sometimes of buckskin, but now more commonly of calico, cotton, plaid or linsey. Instead of using hats, they wreathe about their heads a fancy-colored shawl or handkerchief. Neither do the women of these classes wear bonnets, but leave their heads exposed, or protected only with a shawl, somewhat after the manner of the Mexican females; to the lower classes of whom, indeed, the mixed-bloods of these Indians bear a strong resemblance. Their most usual dress is a short petticoat of cotton goods, or as frequently with the tribes of the north, a coarse red or blue broad-cloth."32 

"The remaining tribes, inhabiting the more northern frontier, as well as the Seminoles who are located among the Creeks, possess so few distinct or striking characteristics, and, indeed, are mostly so few in number, that a particular notice of them seems hardly to be required."33

Smallpox was a major decimeter of the Indian population even though efforts were made to vaccinate many of the Indians. It was contracted while on the way to the Indian territory and it quickly spread in camps and along the route.34

Even with the turmoil, deprivations, and problems that beset the new emigrants, Protestant Church schools were organized early by the missionaries who came to the Indian Territory. Some were organized even before the "forced" removals took place. The number of schools and how long they stayed in operation varied amongst the different "Five Civilized" Tribes. For example, as early as 1830, Dwight Mission was opened for the Cherokees and in 1832, Wheelock Seminary was opened for the Choctaw.35

Reverend William Goode, in 1844, described a typical uniform for male a student. These were supplied by the missionaries.

"The dress was uniform, consisting in Winter, of gray jeans roundabout and pants, seal-skin cap, brogan shoes, socks, handkerchiefs, etc., and, in Summer, of blue calico hunting-shirt, palmleaf hat, and other articles to correspond."36

The fabric called "Jean" was a twilled cotton cloth. A "roundabout" was a short jacket worn by young boys and sailors.37

A number of major events as well as factors that were beyond the control of the Indians would play important roles in their lives. These would hasten the annihilation of the Indian Territory and its transformation into the state of Oklahoma. From the beginning of the Indian territory, White traders, hunters, outlaws, and settlers tried to infiltrate Indian lands. Those tribes furthest from the boarder were less affected. There is much correspondence in various repositories that attest to the severity of the problem. The following specimen was written in 1874.

"The great number of intruders now in the territory of the five civilized tribes of Indians is a matter which has assumed great importance, & its importance is daily increasing."38

Tribal citizenship or adoption by a tribe of a White person differed between the tribes. In most cases, intermarriage allowed for tribal adoption but did not necessarily guarantee full tribal privileges.39 Once these White men became citizens of a particular tribe, they, officially, ceased to be citizens of the United States;40 However, this premise was contested in various court cases.41 This situation could become highly confusing because if the person was considered to be a United States citizen, he could not be tried by a court of any of the Indian nations.42 Who assumed jurisdiction of the courts in Indian Territory was critical in relation to which political body actually had authority in the Indian Territory. After the Civil War, the Federal Government exacted many secessions from the Indians. One of these was the establishment of a Federal Court in Indian Territory.43

The eventual extinction of tribal land and the substitution through individualization of the land by means of the enactment of the Dawes Commission left the way open for the proclamation that would turn the Indian Territory into the state of Oklahoma.

When the Commission was approved on March 3rd of 1893, section 16 states its mission:

"The President shall nominate and by and with advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint three Commissioners to enter into negotiations with the Cherokee Nation, the Choctaw Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation, the Seminole Nation, for the purpose of extinguishment of the national or tribal lands within the territory now held by any and all of such nations or tribes, either by cession of the same or some part thereof to the United States, or by the allotment and division of the same in severalty among the Indians of such nations and tribes aforesaid, or each of them, with the United States, with a view to such an adjustment, upon the basis of justice and equity as may, with the consent of such nations or tribes of Indians, so far as may be necessary, be requisite and suitable, to enable the ultimate erection of a State or States of the Union which shall embrace the lands within said Indian Territory."44

At the time, Charles Meserve wrote in reference to Indian Territory: "It is the white man who is omnipresent. The common Indian is well-nigh an alien in the land of his fathers."45 Charles M. Meserve, was sent in 1894 as a representative of the Indian Rights Association to investigate the situation in Indian territory. Meserve endorsed the plans of the Dawes Commission.46

Initially, the Dawes Commission had only the power to negotiate with the Indians. They were not imbued with the power "to bring about any results by force."47 However, as Senator Henry L. Dawes stated at the Lake Mohonk Indian Conference in October 1896 in speaking about the Indian Nations:

"It has been impressed upon them that the Congress of the United States is going to take this matter in hand if they do not choose to do it themselves."48

The Civil War, also, was a major factor in changing the destiny of the Indian nations in the Territory. Not only was much of the land left in ruins, but the fact that most of the Indians supported the Confederacy influenced the United States government in its later actions and attitude toward the Indians. At the termination of the war, it did not matter to the Federal Government that all of the nations did not uniformly support the Confederacy. According to Burton, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations were almost unanimous in their allegiance to the Confederacy while the Creek and Seminole Nations were fairly equally split. The supporters of Chief John Ross in the Cherokee Nation, however, tried to remain neutral. The old "Treaty" party supporters under Stand Watie sided with the Confederacy while supporters of the missionaries Evan and John Jones remained loyal to the Union.49

The choices of allegiance made by the individual Indians as well as that of the Nations was governed by various factors. Prominent among the considerations was the fact that the Confederate states wooed the Indians and promised them protection and security while the Federal Government virtually ignored them.50

In 1870, Milton Wellington Reynolds reported on the condition of the Indian territory:

"The war of the Rebellion left, in the summer of 1865, the various semi-civilized tribes of the Indian Territory in a deplorable condition. Three-fourths of the members of these tribes had joined their fortunes with the Southern Confederacy. True, they were forced into this alliance, partly by promises of better treaties than they had with the Government, and in part by coercion and force of arms employed by the South. The Government left them without protection from domestic violence and foreign invasion, which their treaties guaranteed to them. And when the emissaries of the Southern Confederacy failed to buy them with false promises, they were coerced and driven into an alliance with the South. Their territory lying chiefly west of Arkansas, their business relations with the Southern people having always been of the most friendly character and intermarriages quite frequent, themselves the holders of slaves, their sympathies were naturally with the South; yet had the Government offered them protection, they would have maintained....... strict neutrality between the contending parties. These Indians were dragged into the contest: They became full-blown rebels early in the fight.

"As a result of their course, their treaties became forfeited. They had to be reconstructed."51

However, once again, the lack of internal unity among the tribes as well as the lack of homogeneity in the allegiance of the five nations weakened all of them. With the Indian Territory being on the border of the confederacy and with confederate occupation of much of the territory, the tribes were left with little choice as to allegiance.52 Although the Indians owned Black slaves, the accounts do not site slavery as the issue.53

Even when the confederate army was not present in Indian Territory, guerilla warfare was wrecking havoc with the lives of the people.54

"Many houses were utterly emptied. (I lost almost all I had at home in the way of clothing: & many valuables which were in my trunk. Mother lost most of the little mementoes of her children......) The Chief's [Cherokees] house was burned to ashes: and the council houses in Tahlequah: several other houses, fired, were saved through the exertions of the inmates."55

Many of the families fled the territory. Those with southern sympathies fled to the south, and those with northern sympathies fled to the north. When they returned, many returned to nothing.

"As the months passed, there was a drifting back of the Indians, who were refugees in Texas and the southern part of the Indian Territory. Some of them had managed to keep, or acquire, a few cattle and horses, but most of them came back practically penniless. In almost every case, where the big plantations had been with their comfortable houses, [all] had been burned, and only heaps of ruins remained....."56

It was not only that the nations had to rebuild once again and that some individuals lost all their possessions, but it was the concessions that the federal government demanded of the Indian nations that eventually led to the extinction of the Indian Territory.        

The railroad corporations were pushing the Federal Government to grant them land in the Indian Territory. In 1866 Congress granted millions of acres in Indian Territory to railroad corporations contingent upon the extinction of the Indian Territory.57 Thus, many "Territory" bills were sent to congress during the 1870's to annihilate the Indian Territory.

In addition, the Federal Government was expanding the jurisdiction of federal Courts at the expense of those of the Indian nations; thus, reducing their sovereignty.58

By the 1880's the Federal government was not settling any more "friendly Indians" on the Unassigned lands.59 Thus, the lands were ripe for "take over" by White people.

The Indians as well as many White people fought the plan of the Federal Government to merge together the Oklahoma Territory and the Indian Territory in order to form the State of Oklahoma.

Land allotments were a bitter pill for the Indians to swallow. Some capitulated to the government while others tried to fight it. In a letter written in 1902, the situation was summed up by the writer, J. R. Ramsay:

"I think that _________think they are doing right in trying to hold onto the country which was given to them as they supposed to possess exclusively forever. I think this was the almost universal sentiment prevailing among them when I was last among them. But now the ruling powers seem to have adopted the sentiment that the land does not belong exclusively to the Indians but only allotments of land amounting in value to $300. for each individual to be selected from three grades of $5. $2.50 & $1.25 per acre & the balance to be sold to other citizens of the U. States. Thus giving the White people the privilege of coming & owning land among the Indians. We all know as well as the Indians do, that this means that in the course of time not far distant that all the Indian Territory will have become settled by the Whites & the Indians will then have no country."60 

During the eighteen seventies and eighties, there were rumbles in Congress about the ultimate fate of various Indian nations. These included discussions about citizenship, land grants and allotments, court jurisdiction, etc. The following quotation is from a letter written by Pleasant Porter in Washington D.C. to Mrs Robertson.

"It may not be amiss for me to say something in regard to the Indian question.....To make the Indian a citizen is very popular with a certain class of political philosophers....."61

The land allotment question was complicated by the fact that the Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles had been coerced into granting full citizenship to their former slaves at the end of the Civil War. The Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, also, allowed intermarried Whites to become tribal citizens.62

By the turn of the twentieth century, the governments and Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes had been or were about to be stripped of all their power, the majority of their land, the control of their educational system, etc. The Indians lived as citizens of Tribes that had lost their sovereignty. It was not until the beginning of the first quarter of the twentieth century that the Indian would become citizens of the United States.

While most of the people quoted in this section saw the Indians first hand and wrote about them in daily journals and notebooks, some information has been reported retrospectively. Unfortunately this information is not always accurate. Memories can easily be distorted especially if they are memories about one's childhood. Oral histories are particularly apt to be distorted even if the speaker is sure that he or she is speaking the "truth". However, these histories still can be extremely useful so long as the information is examined in context and against a lot of other information.

One extremely prolific source of information was gathered in 1937 and 1938 through a WPA project. Old time residents of Oklahoma were interviewed and asked a series of questions. These papers are known as the Indian-Pioneer Papers. 


1. Hitchcock, Diaries, Book 24 - Nov.21, 1841 - Jan.4, 1842, p. 101.

2. Grant Foreman Collection, box 24, folder 40, p. 427, "Letter from Austin J. Raines to Secretary of War Poinsett, Fort Smith, July 27, 1838." Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK. Originally from OIA Western Supt'y (Emig.) File R269-289. Forth Smith. R-289.

3. Grant Foreman Collection, box 24, folder 40, pp. 387. "Letter from Charles B. Penrose, Office of the Solicitor of the Treasury to Secretary of War Spencer, July 30, 1842." Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

4. Foreman Collection, box 23, folder 38, p. 687. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

5. Grant Foreman, Advancing the Frontier, p. 107.

6. Foreman Collection, box 24, folder 40, p. 427. "Letter from Raines to Secretary of War Poinsett" originally from OIA Western Supt'y file R268-289. Fort Smith. R-289.

7. Hitchcock, Diaries, book 23. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

8. Grant Foreman, A Traveler in Indian Territory, p. 8 Preface by John Swanton.

9. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Diaries, book 28, February 23-28, 1842, p. 62.

10. John D. Lang and Samuel Taylor, jun. Report of a Visit to Some of the Tribes of Indians Located West of the Mississippi River, p. 32. New York 1843.

11. Morris, Goins, & McReynolds, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, map 19.

12. Ibid., map 19.

13. It was established by a directive from General Scott on April 2, 1824. This information is from Brad Agnew's book Fort Gibson, p. 29.

14. Ferrall, A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles..... , p. 265.

15. Ibid., pp. 267-268.

16. Grant Foreman, Advancing the Frontier, p. 147.

17. Ferrall, A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles....., p. 267.

18. Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manner and Customs of the North American Indian, volume ll, p. 40, "letter number 38," Dover edition.

19. Ibid., p. 41.

20. Foreman Collection, box 17, item 15 "Journal of Union Mission" - 1821, p. 52. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

21. S. W. Woodhouse, A Naturalist in Indian Territory. The Journals of S. W. Woodhouse 1849-50, p. 148.

22. Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manner and Customs of the North American Indian, p. 40, "letter number 38."

23. Washington Irving, Journals and Notebooks, volume V, 1832-1859, p. 103.

24. William Henry Goode, Outposts of Zion, p. 67.

25. Ibid., p. 67.

26. Ibid., pp. 69-70.

27. Ibid., p. 72.

28. Ibid., p. 72.

29. Ibid., p. 73.

30. Ibid., 0. 80.

31. Ibid., p. 81.

32. Josiah Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, pp. 401-402.

33. Ibid., p. 411.

34. Foreman Collection, box 30, folder 59, p. 708. "Letter from Captain John Stuart to C. A. Harris, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

35. Foreman Collection, box 11, folder 11. protestant Church Schools Among Five Civilized Tribes. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

36. Goode, Outposts of Zion, p. 131.

37. Ellen J. Gehret, Rural Pennsylvania Clothing, glossary.

38. Foreman Collection, box 43, folder 93. letter from Indian Agent John B. Jones to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, E. P. Smith. Originally from OIA Cherokee I-1133. 1874. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

39. Jeffrey Burton, Indian Territory and the United States, p. 7.

40. Ibid,. p. 8.

41. Ibid., p. 10.

42. Ibid., 12.

43. Ibid., pp. 20-21.

44. Charles F. Meserve, The Dawes Commission and the Five Civilized tribes of Indian Territory, p. 6.

45. Ibid., p.12.

46. Kent Carter, Chronicles of Oklahoma, p. 177, "Deciding Who Can be Cherokee"

47. Charles F. Meserve, The Dawes Commission and the Five Civilized tribes of Indian Territory, p. 6.

48. Ibid., p. 43.

49. Jeffrey Burton, Indian Territory and the United States, p. 15.

50. Annie Heloise Abel, The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist, pp. 79 & 83.

51. Milton Wellington Reynolds, The Western Monthly, "The Indian Territory" November, 1870, p. 261.

52. Roy Gittinger, The Formation of the State of Oklahoma, , p. 68.

53. Ibid., p. 68.

54. Worcester Collection, letter from from D.D. Hitchcock to Mr. & Mrs William S. Robinson on November 25, 1863, p. 1. Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Tulsa, OK.

55. Ibid., p. 2.

56. Alice Robertson Collection, box 2, folder 6, McFarlin Library University of Tulsa.

57. William McLoughlin, After the Trail of Tears, P. 271.

58. Jeffrey Burton, Indian Territory and the United States, p. 253.

59. Ibid., p. 111.

60. Alice Robertson Collection, letter from J. R. Ramsey to Mrs. A.E.W. Robertson of June 10, 1902 from Delta, Pa. Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa.

61. Alice Robertson Collection, letter # 450 from Pleasant Porter, written February 21, 1879. Special Collections, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa.

62. Angie Debo, And Still the Waters Run, pp. 10-11.