Grant Foreman • The Five Civilized Tribes

The vicinity of Fort Towson was selected for Spencer Academy because in that thickly settled region bordering on the Red River, the people were more concerned with education than in any other part of the Choctaw Nation. The committee met at Doaksville and selected a site about ten miles north of the Fort on the military road which ran from that post to Fort Smith. The place combined the advantages of an elevated situation with good soil and a fine spring of water. Plans were prepared, contracts were let, and construction of the buildings began in 1842. The school was opened February 1, 1844⁠1 and the Choctaw p61 people were very proud of it. It was built to accommodate 100 boys who were to board at the school and receive instruction in manual training as well as in book learning.⁠2 The trustees arranged at first to admit sixty students, one from each company in the nation and by the end of February, fifty-seven of that number had been received. Later forty more were invited, to be selected from the districts according to their population and they had all presented themselves by May 1.

With increasing zeal in the pursuit of learning the Choctaw people continued to establish schools. For those living on Arkansas River two schools were established: the old garrison buildings at the abandoned Fort Coffee were provided for their repair, for the erection of other buildings suitable for school purposes, and the whole under the management of Methodist missionaries, was called Fort Coffee Academy.⁠3 p62 It was opened February 9, 1844⁠4 as a boys' manual training school, and sixty acres of land adjoining was cleared and enclosed as a farm in connection with the school.⁠5 A girls' school called New Hope was established five or six miles southeast of Fort Coffee and one mile east of the Choctaw agency.

The pupils who attended Fort Coffee Academy presented certificates signed by the chiefs and trustees of the three districts.

"In a few days we had received thirty pupils into the school to be clothed, fed, and taught. . . . The lads came dressed in the prevailing fashions, having generally shirts, pants, and calico hunting shirts; a few had shoes and moccasins, but the majority with bare feet. Not more than two or three wore hats; the balance were either entirely bareheaded or had a cotton handkerchief twisted around the head, making a sort of turban. According to Indian taste they all had long hair, and a few of them wore it braided.

"Our first work after their arrival was to wash and clothe them; we had entire suits prepared in advance for them. The coat and pants were of Kentucky jeans; good stout shoes, seal-skin caps, white shirts of stout cloth, and cotton handkerchiefs completed the outfit. We had a tub of water for ablutions; then Mr. P. armed with stout shears, soon reduced their hair to our notions of taste and comfort. . . . One little fellow, about eight years old, had come a distance of 120 miles. When dressed warmly and neatly, in new clothing, he manifested great delight with his improved circumstances; but just in the dusk of the evening, he was seen standing behind the dining-room weeping most bitterly. When asked through an interpreter, the cause of his troubles, he replied that he 'had good pants, good jacket, good shoes and cap, p63 and was much glad, but he had no blanket to wrap himself in, and thought that lying upon the ground without a blanket he would be cold.' We took him into the dormitories and explained to him the mysteries of a bedstead, with its mattress, pillows, sheets, and blankets; and, pointing to the particular one upon which he should sleep, we left him with his eyes sparkling and his face beaming with happiness."⁠6

Other schools later established were Chuahla Female Seminary at Pine Ridge, one mile from Doaksville, opened in 1845, under the superintendence of Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury and attended by thirty-five pupils. Partly destroyed by a tornado⁠7 it was closed for eight months, but after reconstruction school work was resumed. Iyahnubbee, a female seminary in charge of Rev. Cyrus Byington, located near Eagle Town on the east side of the Mountain Fork River, not far from the Arkansas line, was commenced December 14, 1844, and accommodated fifty pupils. Norfolk School opened in February, 1846, five miles northwest of Wheelock Academy, with thirty-five pupils. In this school the pupils were reported as especially proficient in singing. Koonsha Female Academy located near Goodwater in Pushmataha District began operations May 1, 1844 in charge of Rev. Ebenezer Hotchkin with thirteen pupils, but later accommodated fifty. By 1846 they reported three academies, besides several small schools for boys and five seminaries p64 for the instruction of girls, all under the management of the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches.

While the school fund seemed considerable, it was insufficient to care for more than 500 or one-tenth of the Choctaw children and the applications always greatly exceeded the number that could be accommodated; the duties of selection became delicate and the trustees often found it difficult to refuse urgent requests of persons beyond the proper age. The tribal council appointed four trustees, one Choctaw from each district, and one, the Choctaw agent, to supervise the schools and select the pupils for admission. The missionary societies were requested to report to the trustees annually concerning the conduct of the schools and the expenditure of the tribal funds entrusted to them.

The miracle of recuperation and improvement of the Choctaw people impressed observant members of the tribe and one of the most intelligent of them, George W. Harkins, living at Fort Towson undertook in June, 1845 to describe it to his uncle Greenwood Leflore who had remained in Mississippi:

"Peace and harmony reigns among the Choctaw people. Political strife that was existing between the different leading men of the Nation while in Mississippi — I am happy to say all hostile feelings are buried, and they are united as a band of brothers in trying to promote the interest and happiness of their people.

"The Choctaws are progressing and are certainly making great strides towards civilization. The Choctaw people if let alone by the United States govt in the course of twenty years there will be found in the Nation as intelligent men and women as can be found in your highly refined state of Miss. The Choctaws are beginning to appreciate and see the importance of having their children educated. . . . great numbers have embraced the Christian religion. There is places of worship in nearly all the neighborhoods of this district. While I am now writing I see from my window immense numbers traveling the road to the meeting house 2 miles distant. If you were here you would take them to be Mississippians from their manners and dress. . . .

"The greatest evil we have to contend with is whiskey. Bordering on the Arkansas and Texas line there are a host of grog shops and the larger portion of them kept by your refined civilized brothers from the State of Mississippi. They follow the Indians like buzzards. All the murders and ravishments that are committed in the Nation generally originates from drinking frolicks. . . . Some 8 or 10 murderers running p65 at large in Mushulatubbe district. The civil officers of that district are afraid to execute the laws. Nat Folsom is the chief of that district — he is not worth his weight in coon skins; the fact is the larger portion of the people of that district are the dregs or the last leavings of the Choctaw people. When such men as John McKinney gets to be chief you may know good men are scarce. Col. Thomas Leflore makes an excellent chief; he has energy and firmness about him; he keeps very good order and regulation in this district. . . . The election for chief will take place in Pushmatahaw district the second Wednesday in next July. The candidates for chief are Nitter cachy, James McCoy, and Eyarchahopia. Old Nit is now chief and I think will be elected. He is the smartest full-blood I have ever seen; his feelings are changed entirely for the better; you know he was very hostile while in the old nation towards civilizing the Choctaws.

"Our election for chief will not come on in this district until in July, 1846 — the same time in Mushulatubbe. We have a Senate and house of representatives and meet once a year. Our representatives are elected yearly and the senators every two years. One member is allowed for one thousand souls. I would send you a copy of our laws but we have no correct copy at this time. There is men selected to revise, correct, and put it into proper form, and so soon as that is done we intend to have them printed, then I will send you a copy by the first chance."

The Choctaw people demonstrated their pride and interest in their schools on occasions such as the final examinations of the pupils at Spencer in July, 1846, when many parents came to witness the achievements of their children.

"Our examinations came off the day before yesterday, Tuesday, much to the satisfaction of all parties. The evening before a great many people had arrived, besides the trustees, the chiefs and head men; and during the morning they kept coming in from all directions, almost every one leading another horse for one of the boys to ride home; so that at dinner we had above 150 guests. We had killed, the afternoon before, a beef, three hogs, and two sheep, which together with a moderate quantity of bacon, had nearly all disappeared the next evening. There were a number of gentlemen and some ladies from Doaksville and Fort Towson present; among others Col. Pitchlynn's two daughters, and sister-in‑law. Capt. Jones also, who you may be aware is one of p66 our trustees, a very intelligent man, and of polished manners, and a partner of Mr. Heald, brought his family along in a very handsome coach — the only thing of the kind I have yet seen in the nation. Our exercises commenced about 7½ o'clock, and continued, with about an hour's recess for dinner, until about three. The schoolroom, which however is intolerably small, was crowded all the time, but not a fourth part of the people were in at once that would have been had our accommodations been better.⁠8

"The classes first examined belonged to Mr. Dwight's⁠9 department, whose sole duty since I came has been to teach the English language to those who cannot speak it. As we have had no books suitable for this, it has required great labour on the part of the teachers; and the examination which was a sample of the daily teaching, was conducted simply by giving the names of various objects in Choctaw, and requiring from the scholars the English; repeating short sentences in Choctaw, and requiring a translation in English, and some conversation. . ."

This was followed by the examination of classes in reading, writing, and arithmetic, geography, natural philosophy, United States history, algebra, Latin reader; "after which I examined one boy in Horace, who had been reciting to me since I came. Occasionally between classes we had a speech or two from some boys previously appointed to prepare, which tended somewhat to vary the exercises, and add to their interest. All at the close appeared pleased, and freely expressed their approbation." After the examinations were concluded the people assembled under the trees to hear Mr. Ramsey address them on the subject of education and the plans for the next session of the school. His talk was then interpreted by Mr. Dwight for the benefit of those who did not understand English. The exercises were then closed by a prayer delivered by Rev. John H. Carr, Methodist missionary.

"Col. Harkins, one of the trustees, then rose, and after making a few remarks in Choctaw, invited Col. Leflore, the chief of this district, p67 to address the people. He was followed by Col. Fisher, the chief of the upper or Arkansas district; and he by Mr. McKinney, one of our trustees, who is also Maj. Armstrong's interpreter. After which Capt. Hudson gave a speech, which I learned from Mr. Dwight was a very good one indeed; he is a very able, strong-minded Indian, was instructed in Mr. Kingsbury's school in the Old Nation, and though not a professor of religion, is one of the very warmest supporters of the school and of temperance. He spoke with real Indian energy and eloquence of gesture. Mr. McKinney appeared to be also a good speaker. All these speeches were in Choctaw, and of course unintelligible to me. Their general drift, as I learned from Mr. Dwight, was to show the advantages of education, and to enlist the feelings of all in behalf of the schools; and as addressed to the boys, recommending diligence and obedience, &c.

"Col. Harkins closed with a few remarks, and the company began to scatter, and such a scattering — the saddling of horses, and running hither and thither, and shaking of hands and packing of saddle-bags you never saw, or rather I never saw; and in less than two hours, though it was after four o'clock considerably when they finished speaking, there were scarcely twenty students and strangers together, and it appeared truly desolate. They seemed nearly all determined to start off, if they could only go five or six miles, and camp out, which by the way is the common custom."

The next day the writer, Mr. James B. Ramsey, superintendent of Spencer Academy,

went down to Mr. Kingsbury's, to the examination of his school; this you are aware is a girl's school, and close by Doaksville. The examination commenced between 8 and 9 o'clock; I, in company with Mr. Bissel and Dwight arrived a little while after they had commenced, and was much pleased with the promptness and correctness with which they answered the questions proposed to them. Indeed I believe that no company of white girls could have stood an examination better. It was a cheering sight, to see nearly fifty of these girls, thus trained up under religious influences, and growing in useful knowledge, and a large number of their fathers and mothers present, looking on and listening with countenances of deep and lively interest. . . . Specimens were then shown of their work in plain and fancy needlework, some of which were very pretty.

"After the examination, which occupied some three hours or more, p68 we had a series of speeches from the chiefs and trustees and other head men. . . . Col. Folsom, one of their principal men, gave a good speech in English, rather broken indeed, but not the less interesting. He urged the girls not to forget the things they had learned at school, as too many he was sorry to say, had gone back to the habits of their forefathers, and thrown all they had been taught behind their backs."

The efforts of these people justly inspired the following appreciation and prophecy:

"The Choctaw, who have earned for themselves so much credit by the establishment of schools in their own country, and who have bestowed so liberally of the tribal means to the great cause of education, continue to press forward in their noble course. The example they set to other tribes is worth more than the expenditure; and the improvement socially, morally, and religiously among themselves is priceless; it cannot be estimated. Their policy in this particular will be an enduring monument to their forecast, and at some future time they will receive as they well deserve, the gratitude of those that will profit by their example. This people are sowing in other respects the seeds of prosperity. I have samples of cotton and woolen cloth (linsey) manufactured by them, that make very good ordinary clothing, and such as I have often seen worn in Pennsylvania. They have shown an improvement in their legislative body, a sagacity and sense of justice infinitely creditable."⁠10

The commissioner's reference is to a change in their constitution by the Choctaw people in 1843 so that their legislature, instead of one, was composed of two bodies called collectively the General Council.⁠11

"The cause of this change" said Superintendent Armstrong, "is worthy of notice. The nation is divided into three districts, one of which contains more than half the entire populace. Experience satisfied them that the interests of the two smaller districts were likely to suffer in the general council, from the prepondering influence of the larger one. To remedy therefore an actual practical inconvenience, a new body p69 was organized, somewhat resembling the Congress of the United States in its structure. What is chiefly remarkable in this, is the fact that the most populous district, which could have prevented the change, had the wisdom to foresee the bad consequence that might result from resistance, by arousing local and hereditary prejudices."

"At the annuity payments may be seen full-blooded Indians in the fanciful dress of their tribe, either as captains, calling to the pay-tables persons enrolled under them, from registers in their own hand-writing, or as traders, referring to their ledgers or memorandum-books in settlements with debtors or creditors. Different trading stands exhibit large quantities of cloths manufactured by Choctaw women; and more than half the Indians are clothed in fabrics made in their own families. Before any part of the annuities are paid, enough is taken from them to support, during the spring months, for farming purposes, eleven blacksmith-shops over and above those furnished by the government, besides moneys required for other purposes of a public character. The disposition of these sums is managed by the auditor and treasurer of each district, under the direction of the general council, to which they are obliged to render a strict account."⁠12

Before the change, the laws of the Choctaw Nation were enacted by a legislative council of forty members; under the new form the joint concurrence of their two houses was necessary to the passage of all laws. They had four chiefs, one for each of the three Choctaw districts and one for the Chickasaw district; a majority of the chiefs could veto a measure enacted by the legislature, which in turn could be overcome by a two‑thirds vote of the law-makers; judges were to be elected, and trial by jury was guaranteed to every citizen. In 1850, at the session of the general council, a change was made in their judicial system. Instead of a local judge for each district, one circuit judge was appointed for the entire nation, who traveled about and once every three months held court in each of the four districts. These districts were divided into counties, each of which had a judge for an inferior court, which had cognizance of minor offences, and all cases where the amount involved did not exceed fifty dollars. Cases tried in the county courts could be appealed to the circuit courts and from p70 the circuit to the national court, which was composed of one supreme and three associate judges. The judges of the supreme and district courts were elected by the council, the former for four and the latter for two years; the judges of the county courts were elected by the people.⁠13 The supreme court sat once in six months at the council-house of the nation.⁠14

The education of their children continued a paramount consideration with the Choctaw. In September, 1849, the school facilities not keeping pace with the demand, a largely attended meeting was held in Mushulatubbe district on Arkansas River, where speeches were made by the chiefs, captains and other principal men, urging the parents to establish neighborhood schools; holding up for their encouragement the accomplishments in other parts of the nation; urging them to work harder and raise more corn that they might be able to build schools and pay their teachers.

Armstrong Academy⁠15 was located near the center of Blue County, two miles south of the road leading from Fort Towson to Fort Washita, fifty-five miles west of the former and thirty east of the latter. It was near the dividing ridge between the waters of Blue and Boggy rivers. The buildings were not completed in time, and the school did not begin operations until December 2, 1845. A farm of fifty acres was connected with the school, on which the boys worked when not attending their classes.⁠16 Rev. Ramsey D. Potts was superintendent and Rev. P. P. Brown, teacher.⁠17

The progress achieved by the Choctaw people in the first two decades of their residence in the West is indicated by the establishing of a newspaper in their nation. The Choctaw Telegraph, edited by Daniel Folsom, a Choctaw Indian, and published by D. G. Ball at Doaksville, made its appearances intelligent autumn of 1848. It had a brief career and was followed by the Choctaw Intelligencer in the summer of 1850. Like its predecessor it was published weekly at Doaksville and was printed in English and Choctaw. D. D. Alsobrook was publisher, and J. P. Kingsbury and J. R. Dwight were the editors.

p71 By permission of the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, about 7,000 Choctaw Indians remained in Mississippi after the larger part of the tribe emigrated west; but the citizens of Alabama and Mississippi demanded their removal. The laws and treatment by the white people were bringing the Choctaw every year into a more deplorable state, and the Government made repeated efforts to get them away. On March 3, 1843, the secretary of war made a contract with Alexander Anderson to remove them by water from Vicksburg to Fort Coffee, but the Indians refused to go on boats and the contract was cancelled. Another was made September 4 of the next year, with Anderson, Cobb, Forrester, and Pickens. But the Indians still refused to remove until they could receive the script to which they were entitled from the Government for their land. The failure of the Government to provide this script on time entailed considerable delay and loss both to the Indians and the contractors. Others refused to leave without their oxen and horses and only 550 were removed that year.⁠18 In April, 1845, emigration was renewed when 1,280 of these people passed through Southern Arkansas to join their brothers in Indian Territory; and the next year a thousand more came;⁠19 this latter was a community of Choctaw people who were peculiarly fortunate in their condition and were not at all like the destitute members of the tribe. Many years before, one of their number named Toblee Chubbee p72 became converted to the Christian religion and exerted all the influence of a man of strong character to the uplift of his people. He converted them to Christianity, induced them to live sober, industrious lives, to abandon the habits of Indians and live like the better class of white people. Most of them had comfortable homes and it was with difficulty they were induced to emigrate; in fact, they would not consider moving until they had seen some of their western brothers and heard their accounts of schools and churches and other improvements in the West.⁠20 When they did go, they not only had more property, but were altogether superior in appearance to any other Indians in Mississippi. Unfortunately, the change was not at first a happy one, for they suffered many deaths and much from disease.⁠21

"Of these, 360 were of the Shuk‑hu-nat‑chee band; formerly settled on a stream of that name, flowing into the Tombigbee; 425 were Mogolushas, chiefly from Neshoba county, Mississippi; 650 were Sixtowns, from the southern section of Mississippi and Louisiana; and the rest were from the country watered by the Big Black and Pearl rivers. About half the entire number settled on the Arkansas, and the remainder on the waters of Red River. The different parties vary considerably in their habits and character. Some are sober, industrious, p73 thrifty, and anxious to improve their condition. Others, again, are indolent, improvident, and intemperate. To the first class the Shuk-hu-nat-chee, with but few exceptions, belong. They are, in general, decently and comfortably clothed; about one third of them are members of religious societies, and nearly all have provided themselves with cabins and fields, making this year, notwithstanding the usual acclimatory sickness, respectable crops of corn.

"The Mogollushas differ widely from the Shuk-hu-nat-ches. They have always been regarded as improvident, turbulent, and reckless. Many of them had, on their arrival, large sums of money, derived from the sale of land script. These spent most of their time in drinking and fighting, to the infinite annoyance of the more peaceable and well disposed of their neighbors. Their means, however, soon gave out, and, I understand, about half of them have shown a disposition to labor.

"The Sixtowns are said to be, with the exception of one or two small bands, the most ignorant of the Choctaw race. They have, hitherto, been more strongly attached to the customs of their ancestors, and more obstinately opposed to innovation, than any other portion of the tribe. They are not so quarrelsome as the Mogolushas, and not so industrious as the Shuk-hu-nat-chees. Prior to their emigration, they led wandering lives, ranging over a considerable scope of country, and seldom remaining long in one place. It was, therefore, supposed that the greater part would return to their former haunts. It is said, however, that not a single family has gone back. On the contrary, they bid fair to make very good settlers. A portion of those included under the head of Six-towns are better known as Bay Indians. These came up the Washita [Ouachita of Arkansas] in April last, and settled in the southeastern corner of the Choctaw country. They have intermarried with the French, and adopted, in a great degree, their manners and peculiarities. I have not seen them, but understand that in dress and appearance they resemble the lower classes of the creole population of Louisiana. Considering their mode of life and peculiar condition, it is rather remarkable that, apart from the Bay Indians, who are a distinct body in many respects different from the others, there are no half-breeds among the Sixtown emigrants.

"The Bay Indians and other Sixtowns, who came about the same time, arrived too late to plant corn this year. Those who came in January last, and in the spring of 1846, are said to be doing tolerably p74 well. The other emigrants that removed during the last year generally resemble the Mogollushas in their character and habits. They did not reach this country until long after the usual planting season."⁠22

The party of Sixtowns Indians who arrived in April 1846 came through Southern Arkansas. A. M. M. Upshaw went to the state line and brought them to the home of Chief Thomas Leflore. The contractors, wrote Upshaw from Doaksville, had "got all the waggons except one and a good many of the Indians this side of the line, but Col. Jack Johnson" who had stopped three-fourth of a mile east of the line made the Indians take all their baggage back to where he was. They remained here for three days camped near a grocery, most of them drunk; "they sold there blankets, guns, and every thing they could to get whisky; the women got drunk; in fact they were the most awful set of Indians I ever saw, and Col. Johnson is certainly to blame for it all." Upshaw said the contractors were quarrelling and all was confusion. The sordid scheme of Johnson, said the agent, was to keep the Indians drunk in Arkansas until the contractors had exhausted their resources, when he would bring them into the Choctaw Nation and demand pay for rescuing them and completing their emigration.⁠23

Several hundred Choctaw came yearly for the next few years. On their arrival they set about building homes and adjusting themselves to their new surroundings; but it was said that these people who had been living with the whites in Mississippi were greatly addicted to drunkenness and whisky shops multiplied along the Arkansas line. Many of their children died from whooping cough. However in 1847 the Choctaw settlements on Red River produced 1,000 bales of cotton for shipment besides a surplus of corn.⁠24 But this year the Choctaw in p75 common with the Chickasaw and Creeks complained much of the wandering Kickapoo who stole their horses and killed their cattle.⁠25

Two years later 547 more Choctaw removed from Mississippi to their new home in the West.⁠26 Most of them settled in Mushulatubbe District where they built cabins and planted corn. These emigrants brought the cholera into the nation, resulting in the closing of Fort Coffee Academy and New Hope Seminary April 19, 1849.

Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1828: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

Jefferson Davis, then a United States senator, was among those still determined to expel the remnants of those aboriginal owners of the soil. From the senate chamber he addressed a letter to the commissioner of Indian affairs, forwarding with his approval a letter written by D. N. Haley, who had long been active in efforts to remove the Indians, and who had engaged in securing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830: "It is an object of great importance to us that the Choctaws should be removed and prevented from returning and I commend the proposition to your favorable consideration."⁠27

George S. Gaines, a tried and trusted friend of the Choctaw Indians, was then in Washington vainly trying to secure compensation due him nearly twenty years for conducting an exploring party of Choctaw Indians to the West.⁠28 One hundred of his Choctaw friends residing in and about Jasper and Newton counties, Mississippi, appealed to Gaines, saying: "Our tribe has been woefully imposed upon of late. We have had our habitations torn down and burned; our fences destroyed, cattle turned into our fields & we ourselves have been scourged, manacled, fettered and otherwise personally abused, until by such treatment some of our best men have died. These are the acts of those persons who profess to be agents of the Government to procure our removal to Arkansas & who cheat us out of all they can, by the use of fraud, duplicity, and even violence." They asked Gaines to aid them in securing removal agents whom they could trust.⁠29

A few small parties, aggregating four or five hundred, were got under way from the southern part of Mississippi during the winter and spring of 1850. Ineffectual efforts were continued through the p76 spring and summer, but the extreme heat and cholera made the work difficult and caused great suffering among the Indians. After much sickness and many deaths among the emigrants, survivors wandered back to their old homes in Mississippi. Their agent, Douglas Cooper, attributed their sickness to their manner of living and to the stupid policy of issuing to them beef to last them two, and sometimes as much as six weeks, when it was almost certain to spoil on their hands. "The Indians gormandize for a short time, aided by numerous friends and acquaintances and then have to subsist themselves. If they did not eat up the beef, no doubt it would spoil on their hands, although they have salt issued. You know the improvidence of these people. It is rare they take the trouble to save their meat by salting."⁠30

Among the recent arrivals in the Choctaw Nation was a party of Catawba Indians who left South Carolina in December, 1851, and after six had died on the way, the surviving nineteen reached the Choctaw agency in February following. They were peaceable and ineffective people and begged to be admitted into the Choctaw Nation.⁠31 They had recently made similar application to the Chickasaw Nation, and had been refused. On November 9, 1853, the Choctaw council passed the necessary legislation admitting to the tribe as members the following Catawba Indians: William Morrison, Thomas Morrison, Sarah Jane Morrison, Molly Redhead, Betsey Heart, Rebecca Heart, Phillip Keggo, and the infant child of Phillip Keggo and Cynthia Keggo, Rosey Ayers, Betsey Ayers, Julianna Ayers, Mary Ayers, Sopronia Ayers, and Sally Ayers.⁠32

In the spring of 1853, another party of Choctaw numbering 383 emigrated to the West, but becoming homesick and dissatisfied with the change, more than two‑thirds of them wandered back to Mississippi. Emigrants who arrived in 1854 also returned to Mississippi because of the disastrous drought of the two preceding years.

The Author's Notes:

1 Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1844; McKinney to Armstrong, August 29, 1844. OIA, "School file" A 1718. Spencer Academy was named for John Spencer, secretary of war from 1841 to 1843, who donated to the school a valuable bell weighing 250 pounds. The buildings first erected were constructed of hewn pine logs with shingle roofs; there was a storehouse, a smokehouse with room for ten tons of bacon; farmer's and workmen's houses, springhouse twelve by fifteen feet paved with stones; a servants' house and a dormitory, the latter named Jones Hall. Superintendent McKinney was assisted by William Wilson, principal, and Reuben Wright and Jonathan E. Dwight, assistant teachers, the latter an educated Choctaw who acted as interpreter. George C. Farquhar was in charge of farming operations (Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1844). Oliver P. Stark, a graduate of Princeton, was the principal teacher in 1846.

The school was visited in 1847 by P. P. Brown who remained a week and gave an interesting account of it:

"As you approach the Institution from the south," he said, "the first building met with is a good sized stable and shed, about 200 yards from the dwelling houses. Entering the large yard on the north side of the farm, before you stand two large two-story frame buildings painted white. Pitchlynn Hall is on the right, is occupied on the lower floor by Rev. Mr. Ramsey, the Superintendent, and one of the teachers; the upper story by part of the boys.

"Jones Hall is on the left, is occupied by the principal teacher, with another portion of the pupils. Passing into the square formed by the buildings, on the extreme left you see the school house; it is built of logs, one story high, divided into one large school room and two small recitation rooms. On the north side of the square fronting to the south, stands Armstrong Hall, of the same size and form as the other; occupied on the lower floor by the primary teacher, and the Institution carpenter; on the second floor by the remainder of the boys, principally the smaller ones.

"On the right or east side of the square, is a two story building, occupied by the steward and family, and some female helpers. In the rear of this, the dining room attached to which is the kitchen, bakery, and 'Ton Fuller' [ta‑fu‑la, food made of crushed corn] room. To the east of Pitchlynn Hall, and a little back, stand the store room, smoke house, and a lodging room for hired help. The three halls have large piazzas extending the whole length, which renders them very pleasant and agreable" (The Indian Advocate (Louisville, Ky.) September, 1847).

2 In 1846 the management of this school was entrusted to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Reuben Wright, former acting superintendent, then resigned (Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1846).

"When we came to Fort Coffee which is on the Choctaw side of the river, it had begun to grow dark one evening. It was then occupied as the Mission premises and boarding school, under the care of the Methodist church. The buildings were old log houses on the top of a bold bluff, and the river bends itself around its foot. The boat was bringing stores for the mission and her shrill whistle brought out the teacher, and twenty or thirty Indian lads and they came running down the hill.

"It was a romantic spot, and a scene which a painter would love to sketch. The cone-shaped hill bearing stately trees on its sides, those weather beaten block houses on its summit; Indian boys scattered here and there, their dusky features revealed by the torch light, and the river laving its rocky foundation. That fort once grinning with cannon through its port holes; that hill once bristling with infantry, now serving a better purpose, and now a far better defense for the tribe than when armed men were quartered there; for now it is fostering an army of teachers, and men who will be friends of education and religion" (Augustus W. Loomis, Scenes in the Indian Country, 34).

The Rev. William H. Goode was the first superintendent at Fort Coffee Academy, assisted by Rev. Henry C. Benson. On August 12, 1850, Rev. John Harrell was appointed superintendent of this school and New Hope. He afterwards served as superintendent of Asbury mission, where he and his wife died in 1867; their remains rest in neglected graves in a cotton field near the site of that old school about two miles northeast of Eufaula, Oklahoma.

"The large two-story house occupied by Miss Bennett and Miss Slate & the girls under their charge, was entirely carried away, except the lower floor & the walls & sleepers to which it was nailed. . . . Seventeen persons were in the house at the time of the disaster and yet, wonderful to relate, a hand unseen preserved the life of every individual; and the injuries sustained were few, & in most cases so slight as not to be regarded. . . . Miss Bennett was attempting in vain to close the front door of her room, when she heard a crash, saw the house parting at the corners, & expected it was coming down on her head. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground near to where the house had stood. . . . My son & his hired man had just time to escape from the house in which they were, when it was levelled to the ground; and amid trees falling in every direction, and the fragments of broken buildings, which were hurled through the air with great violence, they were as by a miracle preserved from harm, except a few slight injuries. . ."

Friends from Doaksville, Fort Towson, and Spencer Academy quickly responded with aid for the sufferers and assisted in repairing the buildings (Kingsbury to Rutherford, March 29, 1848, OIA, "School File" R 343, Choctaw Agency).

8 Letter from Rev. James B. Ramsey, July 16, 1846, in The Foreign Missionary Chronicle, XIV (October, 1846), 289.

9 Jonathan E. Dwight was the name given to a Choctaw youth who lived in the family of Amos Smith Jr., his teacher at Yale College in 1836. Smith and Professor Silliman of the same school wrote letters to Indian officials commending him highly for his moral character and studious habits, though he had much difficulty in mastering the English language (Ellsworth to commissioner of Indian affairs, October 13, 1837, OIA "School File — Ellsworth").

10 Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1844. There were now 12,419 Choctaw people in the West (ibid.), thousands having died during the emigration and within the first two or three years after.

11 Ibid., for 1843. While they had only one legislative body the smallest of the three districts complained that it was overshadowed by the largest one. "To silence this discontent the strong district had the good sense and good feeling to agree that the legislature or council should consist of two bodies, in which each of the districts should be represented in its corporate capacity" (ibid., for 1844).

16 Capt. Robert M. Jones was trustee and Col. Silas D. Fisher chief of this district.

18 Ibid., for 1844 and 1845. White speculators exercised their influence over the Indians and agents and secured their script at a fraction of its value (ibid., for 1847).

19 Said to have been 1786 (ibid., for 1846); see also ibid. for 1851. Toblee Chubbee's band left Vicksburg on the afternoon of Friday, May 22, in the steamer New Hampshire. They encountered low water in the Arkansas River fifteen miles above Little Rock, immediately below "Free Nigger's Bend." Here they landed part of their cargo on May 28, and continued up the river but on June 3 the boat struck a snag and sank near the bank below Titsworth's Landing in McLean's Bottoms. The conductor of the party, J. B. Luce, then secured twelve ox-wagons and oxen to carry the Indians and their personal effects. It was with the greatest difficulty the party was removed to the south side of the river as a violent storm prevailed, and the white ferrymen abandoned the boat . . . . . . but the Indians took their places and the crossing was effected. After several days of preparation the march was begun, but the ground was so soft from recent heavy rains that the wagons repeatedly mired down. One required eight yoke of oxen to extricate it. They finally reached and crossed the Poteau River at Phil's ferry on June 10 and camped at the western edge of Ring's Prairie (J. B. Luce to William Armstrong, June 3 and June 10, 1846, OIA, "Choctaw Emigration" File A 2058).

20 When Superintendent Armstrong went to Mississippi to further emigration of the Choctaw remaining there, he took with him a delegation from that tribe living west of the Mississippi to present the inducements of life in their new home. Among them was the doughty old chief Nitakechi of Pushmataha District, who contracted pleurisy from which he died November 22, 1845, in Lauderdale County, Mississippi (Arkansas Intelligencer, December 27, 1845, p2, col. 1).

21 "Nothing is allowed them by government for medicines or medical attendance. . . . They leave against their own inclination, at the solicitation of the government. On the route, when they seldom need it, medical aid is furnished; but after their arrival, when sickness is inevitable, they get none. By affording very little asistance,º many lives might be saved. Besides health and strength are more essential during the first year after their removal than at any subsequent period, as they have their cabins to build, farms to open, and others labors to perform, incident to a change of residence" (William Armstrong in House Executive Document No. 4, Twenty-ninth Congress, second session, 268). "The United States could not confer a greater boon upon the Indians than by holding out encouragement in some way for the location of scientific physicians among them. Thousands die for want of proper medical advice and medicine" (Agent Douglas H. Cooper in Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1853).

22 Report of Samuel M. Rutherford, acting superintendent of Western Territory: with Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1847. In May, 1849 Rutherford was removed and John Drennan appointed in his place as Choctaw agent and acting superintendent of the Western Territory.

23 Upshaw to Armstrong, April 30, 1846, OIA, "I. T. Misc. Upshaw." Two parties of Choctaw emigrants arrived at Fort Coffee in March 1847 on the steamers Nathan Hale, Cotton Plant and Arkansas No. 5 (Arkansas Intelligencer, March 20, 1847, p2, col. 1). A few weeks later the engineer of the steamer Alert was swimming in company with his pet bear; becoming too frolicsome the pet drowned his master (ibid., June 19, 1847, p2, col. 1).

24 Ibid. The Chickasaw Indians furnished most of the supplies used at Fort Washita (Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1847).

25 Ibid., for 1847. This year on September 24 occurred the death of their leader David Folsom, who was born January 25, 1791.

26 U. S. Senate Executive document No. 1, Thirty-first Congress first session p948.

[ Choctaw ]

p60 Chapter four
Institutions Take Form

The Author's Notes:

[ Choctaw ]

p60 Chapter four Institutions Take Form

The Author's Notes:

p60 Chapter four
Institutions Take Form