Grant Foreman • The Five Civilized Tribes

Many of the Creek Indians were thoroughly demoralized for sometime after removal. "The nation was divided into two parties, each rivaling the other in animosity and bitter hatred, excited with jealousy and discord, and requiring great exertions on the part of the government officers to prevent bloodshed and bring about an amicable understanding." Drunkenness, carousals and gambling by both sexes were common in public places; prostitution and poverty abounded and the former was so general as to cause several portions of the nation to acquire a notorious fame;⁠1 religion was scoffed at and efforts to introduce schools and promote education were vain. Against this background there stands out the figure of their leader, Opothleyaholo, who, immediately on their arrival in the West in 1837, urged General Arbuckle to secure a good teacher for them.

Governor Stokes, who sympathized with the Indians in their troubles, voiced their complaints in interesting letters to Washington. He said the McIntosh Creeks on the Arkansas were doing better than those on the Canadian.

". . . Most of those who are wealthy are making good crops; but many of them have or think they have cause for dissatisfaction by some of the regulations of Government. — In a Report which I made in 1834, I stated what was a fact, that the Garrison of Fort Gibson was considered by the Creeks and Cherokees and the Osages and Delawares as their inland market, where they could readily sell their pigs, their lambs, their poultry, their eggs, their venison hams, their Bear meat, their butter, their melons and fruit. — p164 They were pleased with the market; and it encouraged them to raise the articles purchased by the wives of the officers and soldiers of the Garrison. Thousands of dollars worth of these articles were annually sold, and the proceeds laid out in necessaries. By a late Military order, this traffic is totally suppressed. The stores at the Garrison are forbidden to buy or sell to an Indian to the amount of one cent. — If these Indians could be made sensible of the policy or necessity of these restrictions, they might be better satisfied. — They apply to me for an explanation, but I can give none. Both the Creeks and Cherokees think it hard and unfriendly that here in their own Country they are denied the benefit of a convenient market, when at the same time the people of Arkansas are coming daily with their waggon loads of all sort of marketing, and purchasing in return whatever they think proper. — If there is any good cause for these restrictions, I confess it has escaped my notice. . . . There are many Wealthy Cherokees settled in this country; The Ridges, the Vanns, Judge Martin, the Adairs, the McDaniels, McKeys, the Coodies, the Rogers's and many others who live as the Whites do. They buy their sugar and coffee by the bag; and when they come to the Garrison to buy their groceries and table ware, and kitchen utensils, they bring their Jersey Waggons and Carry-alls, to take home their purchases. These people are displeased at not being allowed to buy what they consider necessary. — The county traders do not deal in the heavy groceries of Sugar, Coffee, Tobacco &c and therefore by the late regulation, the most wealthy and reputable portion of Indians are cut off from necessary supplies."⁠2

The Creeks were trying to increase their meager herds of stock, but they were harassed by their neighbors, the Osage, who would raise no stock of their own; to keep from starving they even killed and ate that given them by the Government to propagate herds, besides killing large numbers of animals belonging to the Creeks and Cherokee. The condition of the Osage had become pitiable in the extreme; they knew not how to change from the life of the hunter to that of the agriculturalist such as the immigrant Indians led; their annuities were exhausted, their crops had failed, their game was destroyed by the inroads of immigrant hunters, and they were in a state of starvation.⁠3

The condition of this tribe is well described by Governor Stokes p165 in a communication to the secretary of war:

"Osages — When you cast your eye over the map of the immensely extensive and valuable country obtained from this nation, for the accomodation of the Emigrants from East of the Mississippi and without which cession the Emigrants could not have been provided with a country, you will readily perceive that every principle of Justice and Equity demands from the Government of the United States, that this people should not be abandoned and driven to the condition of robbers and perhaps shortly annihilated. Their annuities of $8500 dolls. was never sufficient to buy a blanket for each family, after paying their outfit for hunting on the great Western Prairies, where they are compelled to go three times a year in order to procure subsistence for their families. Upwards of three fourths of their annuity will cease this year by limitation. The greater part of their nation are now actually in a starving condition, — The recent death of their Principal Chief, Clermont, will cause their turbulent warriors to go to War before winter with the Pawnees, Kioways, and other tribes of the great Prairie, with whom they have been at peace ever since our late Treaties. — In the year 1833, Maj. F. W. Armstrong who was a good man, with the aid of Genl. Arbuckle, Genl. Dodge, Col. Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1806: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register. Chouteau and myself made a good Treaty with the Osages, which would have preserved that nation from the ruin that now threatens them. — President Jackson rejected this Treaty; But in the very sentence of rejection, he says that something shall shortly be done for 'them.' — Nothing has been done."⁠4

The Government since 1831 had been promising to remove the Osage and thus put a stop to their depredations, and to compensate the emigrants for their losses; but as nothing was done to redeem that promise, the Creeks, now driven almost to desperation by the starving Osage, notified General Arbuckle that they would make no more appeals to the Government, but would themselves take up arms against the Indians who had been running through their settlements, stealing and killing their stock, and Arbuckle warned the war department that the Creeks were on the point of making their threat good.⁠5

At last in October, 1838, Capt. William Armstrong and Gen. Matthew Arbuckle were commissioned to hold a treaty with the Creeks p166 to adjust claims for the great losses sustained by them in their enforced removal. The conference began in October at Fort Gibson, but adjourned from time to time until November 23, when the treaty was agreed to and signed.⁠6 An adjournment was then taken to January 1, 1839, to "enable the secretary to make out a copy of the accounts presented, and at which time it was expected from information received, the Osages would be in from their fall hunt."

As all the Osage chiefs did not appear at the post on the day appointed, runners were sent of the notify those who were absent and the meeting was adjourned. On Sunday, January 6, a sufficient number of chiefs having arrived, the next day was appointed to hold the council. After several meetings and adjournments, the Osage treaty was agreed to and signed on January 11.⁠7 The principal features of the treaty were those by which they agreed to remove from the Creek and Cherokee land to their own in the present Kansas, and the agreement of the Government to pay $30,000.00 for depredations committed by them on their neighbor tribes and white people.

In the spring of 1839 General Arbuckle ordered Lieut. G. N. Bowman with his company of dragoons to Clermont's town, to demand the surrender of horses stolen from the Creeks and Cherokee and to notify the Osage that they would not be permitted to raise another crop of corn on the Verdigris River; and that they would be required to leave the country at once, except those who were down with smallpox, who were to be allowed to remain with their attendants until their recovery.⁠8

Directly after the arrival of the emigrant Creeks Eneah Micco died in 1837 near Fort Gibson, but his place as chief of the Lower Creeks was filled by the competent Roley McIntosh, who had been serving p167 as chief of the faction removed under the Treaty of 1826. Creek Agent Logan made repeated efforts to induce the chiefs of the Upper and Lower towns to meet in council, compose their differences and unite the tribe. Twice they agreed to do so and twice failed to keep their promise. But on February 17, 1839 the much desired meeting was held.⁠9 It was attended by 1,500 warriors, nearly 1,000 of whom represented the Upper towns and the remainder were from the Lower towns. The meeting was described as a very interesting one. After certain rites and ceremonies, the several chiefs delivered their speeches with great oratorical effect and good feeling seemed to rest on the gathering. Colonel Logan addressed the meeting and his remarks were interpreted by Gen. Chilly McIntosh. The next year the united tribe began the erection of a tribal council house where representatives of the whole tribe met annually to transact business for all the people.

"And now," reported the somewhat too optimistic Agent Logan, "the ill feelings and jealousy which existed between the two parties, the Upper and Lower towns, and which at one time threatened to terminate in bloodshed, are entirely removed, and the most sincere friendship exists among them; their old established rule and custom of each party holding their own general council, and in all cases acting independent of each other, has been done away; the whole nation at present being represented in one general council by the chiefs of the different towns, Roley McIntosh, the chief of the Lower towns or the McIntosh party, presiding as the acknowledged chief of the united towns, and the whole Creek Nation. This council meets annually, and revises and passes such laws as affect the interests of the nation at large. Before it, individuals present their claims and receive redress for grievances; its general character is that of a court of justice; its decisions are however imperative, and from it there is no appeal; the laws passed by it remain in force for a year, at which time, if they are discovered to be inefficacious, they are repealed or abolished altogether."

A drought had cut their crops by half, but the happiness and general welfare of the Nation had been greatly promoted by a law of the last general council, suppressing the sale and use of all ardent spirits in the Creek country. In spite of all the precaution and vigilance of the p168 military at forts Gibson and Smith whisky in large quantities was at all times introduced into the Indian country and there was not an assemblage of the Indians met for the transaction of business, but large numbers of them could be seen beastly intoxicated. So much so, that it was a difficult matter to do any business in consequence of the chiefs indulging in the use of whisky equally as much as the common Indians. "The benefits of it have already become visible; heretofore scarcely a night passed but what was heard the yells and whoops of drunken Indians — now all is quiet, and there is every probability of that bane of the Indian, whisky, being fully abolished from the use of the inhabitants of the Creek Nation."⁠10

The Government had promised to furnish the Creeks four mills to grind their grain but Logan reported that only one, a horse-power mill, had been provided, and he asked that the promise to the Indians be kept. The Indians complained, too that the government had paid them paper money that was not good, and that some of the goods issued to them was rotten. When Maj. Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1817: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1817: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

Ethan Allen Hitchcock visited them in February, 1842, on his official tour of inspection, Opothleyaholo and other chiefs met him in council. They detailed to him many grievances growing out of their enforced removal from Alabama, and the failure of the Government to adjust their claims as promised them at the time of removal and afterward.⁠11

On his return to Washington the then Colonel Hitchcock gave the following frank advice to the secretary of war, who probably added it to his store of resentment against the fearless investigator: "I have only to repeat what I have already stated in former reports, that it is extremely unfortunate that any circumstances should leave the Indians under a sense of wrong from a non-compliance on our part with promises to them. They have but little else of importance to think of than the circumstances growing out of their intercourse with us, and promises either should not be made or strictly fulfilled, for the Indians dwell upon them and cling to them with great tenacity."⁠12

During the next few years after the partial reunion of the tribe, it p169 was reported that in spite of the bitter feeling between the Upper and Lower towns, the Creeks were adjusting themselves to their new surroundings and improving in the character of their farming, houses and ordinary comforts. Some of them owned a considerable number of slaves they had brought with them, who aided in the cultivation of extensive corn fields. They tried to kill a missionary who had been preaching abolition. The Indians were suspicious of the motives of all white people and resentful of the efforts of the missionaries to turn them from their cherished tribal customs; their busk, dancing, ball-plays, racing — these things they were told, should be abandoned, and they were afraid the missionaries would try to rob them of what was an essential part of their life. They could not understand why they should quit drinking whisky at the behest of the white people when other white people drank and got drunk and brought whisky to the Indians so that they, too, might get drunk, and the missionaries and government did not stop them. "Go teach your white men," they said, "who cheat and lie and get drunk before you come to us." Many of them felt that the presence of missionaries was a violation of the promise made them that upon their removal to the west there would be no further interference with them by white people.

However, some of them observed the benefit of schools in the Cherokee and Choctaw nations, and asked for similar opportunities. They had no constitution or code of laws as had the Cherokee and Choctaw, though their chiefs met in council and passed laws and regulations from time to time. They were regarded as far behind those tribes in education, but, on the other hand, they were the most industrious of the emigrant tribes, as well as the most warlike. Their land was fertile and the most of the corn used at Fort Gibson was furnished by them. They had 40,000 bushels of corn to sell in 1838, the only tribe that had a surplus that year. Under treaty stipulations with the Government they had been furnished blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and wagon wrights. During this period they were afflicted with an epidemic of smallpox, which swept through the Indian tribes with much loss of life, but their progress was not seriously interrupted.

By 1841 a few schools had been established and fourteen boys were being educated at the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky. There were as yet no missionaries in the tribe, though two or three natives preached occasionally. The Creeks were slowly improving the form and substance p170 of their laws, which were well observed by the people. When Agent Logan filed his final report in June, 1842, he gave an encouraging picture of his charges. Largely through his influence the two somewhat united factions entered in a more or less tentative way upon this new era in their history with promise of improvement:

"The late emigrants or what is termed the upper Creeks, although much dissatisfied for a length of time after their removal to their new homes, owing mainly to their sufferings from sickness and the great mortality that prevailed among them, are now a happy and contented people, and are much in advance of the lower Creeks (or early emigrants) in the variety, quality, and quantity of their agricultural products, as well as in the management of their farms. They have larger and better stocks of domestic animals; they are likewise much in advance of the lower Creeks in domestic or household manufactures. They make quantities of cotton cloth from the raw material, planted and cultivated upon their own farms. They have also several useful mechanics among them — such as carpenters, wheelwrights, loom makers, smiths, &c.; In short I know of no people on this continent who are more happy and contented, or who enjoy a greater plenty than these people do of all the necessaries of life; and I do not hesitate to say that the present growing crop, if it meets with no disaster until it arrives at maturity, will equal three times the amount that may be required for home consumption."⁠13

The Creeks held their preëminence as growers of corn with substantial surplus nearly every year. A number of them on the Canadian River engaged to a considerable extent in the raising of rice, a branch of agriculture they had learned in their former homes in the southern states. Of this grain they produced a surplus that for a number of years they carried to Arkansas and the Choctaw Nation, where it found a ready market.⁠14 They were accumulating better stocks of horses, cattle and hogs, and erecting comfortable log cabins. Owning their country in common some of them adhered to the old custom of cultivating large tracts of land by the combined efforts of the towns, under the direction of their chiefs; though many others worked their fields separately. In 1843 Agent Dawson reported that on Canadian p171 River the Creeks had a field three miles wide by eight long , which was a solid mass of growing corn and was worked by a number of towns in common.⁠15 They raised also quantities of sweet potatoes, beans, peas, melons, and peaches, besides their cotton and rice.

The New England and New York Meetings of Friends sent John D. Lang and Samuel Taylor, Jr., on a tour of the Indian tribes in 1842. In the autumn they visited the Creeks and Benjamin Marshall told them that every family in the Nation would raise produce enough that season to supply their wants throughout the year.

"They are fast improving in agriculture and domestic manufactures and in their manner of living. They expect soon to manufacture all the material for their own clothing. Many of them live in comfortable houses, and dress like white people; but others still wear the blanket, and are much given to dissipation. . . . They have lately passed severe laws to prohibit the vending of ardent spirits among them, and those who have been opposed to the laws have seen the good effects of them and become satisfied. Many of the slaves and Indians appear sober and religious. Some of the slaves are approved preachers and hold meetings regular on first-days. We attended one of these meetings, which was conducted in a moderate and becoming manner. It was composed of Indians and slaves and their masters; their minister was an uneducated slave. All seemed interested in the meeting, and several much affected, even to tears. A slave-holder told us that he was willing his slaves should go to these meetings for it made them better men and women. The Creeks have long been slave holders, and appear insensible on the subject of this great evil. . . . A few days previous to our arriving here, about 200 slaves ran away from their masters. They belonged in the Creek and Cherokee nations. This caused great excitement, and a posse was sent after them from both nations."⁠16

Logan found that part of the Creek Nation located on the Arkansas River flooded with whisky, and the people retrograding instead of improving. Their crops, he said, consisted of corn, sweet and Irish potatoes, yams, melons, pumpkins, and squashes. And some wheat, rice, and cotton were raised. "But little spinning and weaving is done by the Lower Creeks, or those living in the vicinity of the Arkansas. This p172 indolent feeling is to be greatly attributed to the quantity of whisky consumed by them, and also to their dependence upon the annuity, though this is bound to exist, in a greater or less degree, among any people who have anything else to depend upon besides their own resources."

The Author's Notes:

1 Logan to Medill, November 9, 1847, Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1847.

5 Arbuckle to Jones, April 16, 1838, AGO, ORD; idem, OIA, Western Superintendency, A 378.

7 Ibid.; Kappler, op. cit., 389. The Osage chief Belle Oiseau (Beautiful Bird) came to Fort Gibson with twenty-one of his people in December and agreed to bring in sixty chiefs and braves on January 1.

8 AGO, ORD. Western Division, Fort Gibson Letter Book, 6, p9. White intruders were making trouble also and on January 2, 1839 General Arbuckle ordered Lieut. Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1831: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1831: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

L. B. Northrup with his command to a settlement on the north side of the Arkansas River called Sodom; he was to camp there and send out parties to search the white men living on the Arkansas River whom the Creeks wished removed and bring them in to the Fort (AGO, ORD, Fort Gibson Letter Book III).

10 Logan to Armstrong, September 30, 1841, Report of commissioner of Indian affairs, 1841.

12 Hitchcock to secretary of war, May 28, 1842, May 28, 1842,º Hitchcock manuscripts, Library of Congress. See also A Traveler in Indian Territory.

13 Logan to Armstrong, June 30, 1842. Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1842.

14 Reports of commissioner of Indian affairs, 1843 and 1846. Well cleaned rice could be bought on the Canadian River at a low price (ibid., for 1846).

16 Report of A Visit to some of the Tribes of Indians Located west of the Mississippi River, by John D. Lang and Samuel Taylor, Jr. (Providence, 1843).

[ Creek ]

p163 Chapter eleven
Efforts to Unite the Tribe

The Author's Notes:

[ Creek ]

p163 Chapter eleven Efforts to Unite the Tribe

The Author's Notes:

p163 Chapter eleven
Efforts to Unite the Tribe