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The Slaveholding Indians

  (1) As Slaveholder and Secessionist
  (2) As Participants in the Civil War
  (3) Under Reconstruction

Vol. I




[Illustration: INDIAN TERRITORY, 1861 [_From General Land Office_]]




  The American Indian as
  Slaveholder and Secessionist

  AN OMITTED CHAPTER IN
  THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE
  SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY


  BY ANNIE HELOISE ABEL, PH.D.


  THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
  CLEVELAND: 1915




  COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
  ANNIE HELOISE ABEL




TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER




CONTENTS


      PREFACE                                                         13

    I GENERAL SITUATION IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY, 1830-1860              17

   II INDIAN TERRITORY IN ITS RELATIONS WITH TEXAS AND ARKANSAS       63

  III THE CONFEDERACY IN NEGOTIATION WITH THE INDIAN TRIBES          127

   IV THE INDIAN NATIONS IN ALLIANCE WITH THE CONFEDERACY            207

      APPENDIX A--FORT SMITH PAPERS                                  285

      APPENDIX B--THE LEEPER OR WICHITA AGENCY PAPERS                329

      SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY                                          359

      INDEX                                                          369




ILLUSTRATIONS


  INDIAN TERRITORY, 1861                                  _Frontispiece_

  MAP SHOWING FREE <DW64> SETTLEMENTS IN THE CREEK COUNTRY             25

  PORTRAIT OF COLONEL DOWNING, CHEROKEE                               65

  PORTRAIT OF JOHN ROSS, PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE CHEROKEES            112

  PORTRAIT OF COLONEL ADAIR, CHEROKEE                                221

  MAP SHOWING THE RETREAT OF THE LOYAL INDIANS                       263

  FORT MCCULLOCH                                                     281




PREFACE


This volume is the first of a series of three dealing with the
slaveholding Indians as secessionists, as participants in the Civil War,
and as victims under reconstruction. The series deals with a phase of
American Civil War history which has heretofore been almost entirely
neglected or, where dealt with, either misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Perhaps the third and last volume will to many people be the most
interesting because it will show, in great detail, the enormous price that
the unfortunate Indian had to pay for having allowed himself to become a
secessionist and a soldier. Yet the suggestiveness of this first volume is
considerably larger than would appear at first glance. It has been
purposely given a sub-title, in order that the peculiar position of the
Indian, in 1861, may be brought out in strong relief. He was enough inside
the American Union to have something to say about secession and enough
outside of it to be approached diplomatically. It is well to note, indeed,
that Albert Pike negotiated the several Indian treaties that bound the
Indian nations in an alliance with the seceded states, under the authority
of the Confederate State Department, which was a decided advance upon
United States practice--an innovation, in fact, that marked the tremendous
importance that the Confederate government attached to the Indian
friendship. It was something that stood out in marked contrast to the
indifference manifested at the moment by the authorities at Washington;
for, while they were neglecting the Indian even to an extent that
amounted to actual dishonor, the Confederacy was offering him political
integrity and political equality and was establishing over his country,
not simply an empty wardship, but a bona fide protectorate.

Granting then that the negotiations of 1861 with the Indian nations
constitute a phase of southern diplomatic history, it may be well to
consider to what Indian participation in the Civil War amounted. It was a
circumstance that was interesting rather than significant; and the
majority will have to admit that it was a circumstance that could not
possibly have materially affected the ultimate situation. It was the
Indian country, rather than the Indian owner, that the Confederacy wanted
to be sure of possessing; for Indian Territory occupied a position of
strategic importance, from both the economic and the military point of
view. The possession of it was absolutely necessary for the political and
