The Seminole Indians in Indian Territory. The Seminole Indians were removed to Indian Territory en masse in the late eighteen thirties and early eighteen forties. First by the treaty of Payne's Landing (May 9, 1832) and then by other treaties, the Seminoles were coerced to agree to occupy land with the Creeks when they removed to the Indian Territory. In order to receive any annuity, they had to agree to receive it through the Creeks. This was an anathema to them.1 In addition, the Seminoles were afraid to settle with the Creeks for fear that the latter would steal their free-born Negroes and slaves.2 By 1842, most of the Seminoles had removed or had been forcibly removed, as captives from the second Seminole War, to Indian Territory. They had no rifles, axes, plows, etc. These implements and tools they had been told by the Commanding Officers in Florida to leave behind since new ones would be given to them when they reached Indian Territory.3 Most of the parties's destination was Fort Gibson. From there, they were supposed to move to their own lands. However, the Creeks had chosen the choicest lands; and even if these had been available, the Seminoles were afraid to move especially without implements to take care of themselves. Thus, they stayed near Fort Gibson on Cherokee land. By 1845, the majority had moved to their allotted territory in the Creek nation.4 Even by 1843, the Federal government had not fulfilled its promises to equip them so that they could become self sufficient.5 "The Seminoles have no annuities, however, and unless the Government takes pity on their destitution, and having removed them here, does all it can for them, they must become extinct."6 "The Seminoles are in a deplorable condition, without home or country, without money, without rations, without habits of life adapted to this climate, and to their present situation."7 Thomas L. Judge, who was an Indian Agent at the Seminole sub Agency in 1843, wrote to T. Hartly Crawford, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in March informing him about the need for supplies for the Seminoles and asking for his aid. "The late Emigrants are generally destitute of axes, Hoes, very few of them having received any, & none on hand; and from the number of due bills produced for linsey signed by the late commissary there is a great deficiency in the issue of this artical [sic] and the Indians are anxious to be supplied. I have written to the Superintendent on these matters, but from some cause have heard nothing, from him."8 Opinions varied as to the conditions of the Seminoles. It is probable that these differing view points depended, in part, on the nature of the location and the profession of the observers. From Judge's various letters of 1843, it seems that he felt that the Seminoles who emigrated early were well established while the late emigrants were in dire need of supplies even though some had been able to plant corn and construct cabins. He, also, stated that the Seminoles wanted a school and that there were enough children to warrant one.9 In a letter to Armstrong in June of 1843, he described their domestic arrangements. ".....I was necessarily brought in Contact with all the late Emigrants, together with many of the old who came to meet their friends.....The issue of Corn & salt, at the different depots, introduced me to a number of their domicals, [domiciles] which gave me the opportunity of noticeing there domestick arrangements, and in every instance, there Cabbins where [were] Clean and Comfortable and content seemed to be manifest in all their Countenances....They have quiet [quite] long fields of Corn, and the ground [is] in good order; they have likewise planted large Crops of rice; there prospects for the ensuing Crop has a very favourable appearance; the new Emigrants notwithstanding the difficulties they have had to Contend with for want of hoes &c, & there late arrival; a number of them have got in several acres of Corn. They told me they had so much work on hand they Could not take time to go to the Council."10 Likewise, N. Sayre Harris, while reporting on the deplorable condition of the Seminole's camp near Fort Gibson, also described some more prosperous Seminoles who lived in the Canadian Fork. of the former, he stated: "Rode to the Seminole camp, half a mile from Fort Gibson; found 200 of the most miserable looking men, women and children I had seen anywhere...."11 "The Seminoles, who have settled in the Canadian Fork raise corn and rice; have 1000 blacks among them slaves for the most part, who pay a small tribute to their master, say two to three bushels of corn, or when they raise stock a beef or two."12 The despondency of the Seminoles was similar to that of the Chickasaws in that neither of the tribes wanted to live under the yoke of another tribe. Unrest, distrust, and despondency characterized the feelings of the Seminoles. In 1845 another treaty between the Creeks and the Seminoles was orchestrated by the Federal Government. This treaty, through rhetoric, hoped to ease the contention between the two nations and remove the Seminoles from land belonging to other tribes. Article 1 stipulated that the Seminoles could have their own laws but they had to bow to the Creek council on which they were represented. Article 3 addressed the property disputes especially in the area of Negro slaves and freemen. This article gave the President of the United States the right to settle all disputes that arose prior to the ratification of the treaty. However, this article did not prevent the problems of slave ownership from continuing, and this issue continued to be one of contention. Article 5 stated that only those Seminoles that resided on Creek land for a defined period of time would be able to benefit from annuities, etc. It excluded those Seminoles who lived in Florida from the stipulated time frame, but it stated that those who resided in Florida had a twelve month period to remove to Creek country or they would not be entitled to any benefits.13 The treaty did benefit the Seminoles in the fact that it did give them some self government even though it was restricted by the Creek Council. Grant Foreman stated that due to this action their morale was improved as were their living conditions and their propagation of food.14 By 1847 the inhabitants of the largest settlement, the area between the North Canadian and the Little River, had produced a surplus of produce.15 By the late eighteen forties there were twenty-five self governing Seminole towns in the Creek Country. It was inevitable that a conflict of power would arise between the government of the towns and that of the Creek council.16 To add to all the confusion, the Federal Government was still trying to remove the last Seminoles from Florida. Education was not a priority among the Seminoles. The first school run by the Presbyterians opened in 1849 with Reverend John Lilley at the head. Prior to that John Bemo, a young Seminole preacher, had tried to run a school.17 According to the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1858, Foreman reported in The Five Civilized Tribes that: "By 1854 it was reported that the Seminoles were beginning to lay aside their Indian dress in favor of that of the white man."18 The term "Indian dress" always presents a problem for interpretation. In this instance it probably referred to a description found in S. J. Woodhouse's journal written during the period of 1849 and 1850. "They are real Indians [and] most of the men go about in their shirt tales and britch clout."19 The type of dress worn by the individual Seminoles could possibly have been influenced by how long they had resided in the Indian Territory in contrast to how long they had been forced to hide out in Florida. During the period of the eighteen fifties, more Seminoles were removed from Florida to the Indian Territory either willingly or through being captured.20 These included Billy Bow-legs in 1858.21 Periodically "Western" Seminoles were sent to Florida to try to influence those Seminoles to emigrate to Indian Territory. In 1856, the Federal Government in order to try to mitigate the situation of tension in the Creek Nation, drew up another Treaty between the Creeks and the Seminoles (those in the East and West). The preamble to the treated stated: "Whereas the United States desire by providing the Seminoles remaining in Florida with a comfortable home west of the Mississippi River, and by making a liberal and generous provision for their welfare, to include them to emigrate and become one people with their brethren already west, and also to afford to all the Seminoles the means of education and civilization, and the blessings of a regular civil government..."22 Article 1 of the treaty granted to the Seminoles their own territory separate from the Creeks. Article 8 stated that the Seminoles had to remove to their new country. The United States obliged themselves to pay the Seminoles the expense of re-establishing themselves and setting up schools, etc. Article 9 stated that the Government would remove "comfortably" those Seminoles who remained in Florida and would give them subsistence during removal and for twelve months there after. This article, also, provided for the distribution of: ".....one rifle-gun, if he shall not already possess one; with two blankets, a supply of powder and lead, a hunting-shirt, one pair of shoes, one and a half yards of strouding, and ten pounds of tobacco; and each woman, youth, and child with a blanket, pair of shoes and other necessary articles of comfortable clothing, and to expend for them in improvements, after they shall all remove, the sum of twenty thousand dollars. And to encourage the Seminoles to devote themselves to the cultivation of the soil, and become a sober, settled, industrious, and independent people, the United Stated do further agree to expend three thousand dollars in the purchase of ploughs and other agricultural implements, axes, seeds, looms, cards, and wheels; the same to be proportionately distributed among those now west, and those who shall emigrate from Florida."23 The number of Western Seminoles had decreased tremendously; many had died and many who moved to their new western territory were harassed by roving tribes of wild Indians. These Seminoles did not remain long in their new homes. In addition, the government did not pay the promised funds because the Florida Seminoles had not emigrated yet. Those in the west wanted to build up their population. Thus the Western Seminoles agreed to help the Federal troops find and emigrate the Florida Seminoles.24 It was not until 1859 that a new agency building was erected in the Seminole Country.25 However, a school had been erected in the Seminole Nation circa 1856. Even Alligator, "a former foe of not only the white man but all his ways, so much desires schools now, that he sends his (the band's) young children to the mission school".26 This school was closed at the outbreak of the Civil War and reopened in 1870. Another school had been opened in 1866.27 No sooner had the Seminoles begun to establish themselves in their own territory than they were forced to flee due to the Civil War. At the end of the war, their new territory was taken away from them and a much smaller piece substituted for it. This was accomplished by the Treaty of 1866. This treaty was, in part, a reaction to the treaty that the Seminoles had made with the Confederate States on August 1st, 1861.28 However, the Seminoles did not readily agree to join the Confederacy and even opposed, initially, a treaty with the Confederacy.29 Even though the Seminoles tried to show to the Federal Government that many of their members had been loyal to it30, it did not seem to have a bearing on the treaty. Some of the stipulations in the treaty called for a freeing of the slaves and a granting to them the rights of citizenship.31 Article 3 forced the Seminoles to cede their designated country to the Federal Government and accept a smaller tract. The Government, then, agreed to pay the Seminoles one hundred thousand dollars in the following manner: "Thirty thousand dollars shall be paid to enable the Seminoles to occupy, restore, and improve their farms, and to make their nation independent and self-sustaining, and shall be distributed for that purpose under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior; twenty thousand dollars shall be paid in like manner for the purpose of purchasing agricultural implements, seeds, cows, and other stock; fifteen thousand dollars shall be paid for the erection of a mill suitable to accommodate said nation of Indians......."32 After the war, the Seminoles started to rebuild their lives. According to the Seminole agent, George W. Reynolds, by 1867, the Seminoles had begun to recover from the disruption and horrors of the war and resume the economic advances that they had perpetuated before the war.33 One man remembered stories that must have been told to him about that time period. He was not born until 1876. His parents emigrated to Indian territory from Florida in 1858 or 1859. "The United States government issued food and clothing to the Seminole Indians after the close of the war [civil war] as they had very little to live on, no homes or anything left to start life all over again."34 In 1885 John F. Brown became chief of the Seminole Nation. According to McReynolds, he was a different kind of chief. Before him, many of the chiefs were illiterate. Brown had been involved, officially, in the political affairs of the Seminoles since the treaty of 1855. Brown was one-half Seminole; his father having been a White man and a physician.35 The Seminoles never seemed to have a chance to establish themselves. They continued to be moved into Indian Territory until the Civil War. Their habitations changed many times during the time period when the settlers first arrived in the early eighteen forties. The Dawes Commission, would exact another change to their lives.36 There is no indication in the literature that the Seminoles in Indian Territory dressed any differently than did the members of the other tribes. W. O. Tuggle in his diary of 1879 recorded a conversation that he had: "good morning Bro Factor! Tell me about Bro John Jumper & yr people. You remember at Jefferson Texas you were his interpreter." "Yes, I remember & you were the Secty of the Convention. Well, Bro John is still preaching. I am pastor of a church & preach some at other churches." "How many Seminoles are there now?" "They are about like the Creeks I suppose, & have schools & are improving in civilization" "Yes, we have schools & the people are getting on very well & learning the ways of the white men."37 The lack of descriptions about the daily life of the Seminoles in Indian Territory during the mid to late part of the nineteenth century is significant. Granted that their isolation and/or mixture with the Creeks for many years did not give travelers much chance to write specifically about them. However, the lack of identification of them as wearing unusual or different clothes makes an important statement itself because historically the unusual or unexpected is reported whereas the common place is not. 3. Edwin C. McReynolds, The Seminoles, pp. 228-229; Grant Foreman Collection, Thomas L. Judge to Major William Armstrong July 14, 1843, Box 32, folder 65, pp. 480. Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK 10. Grant Foreman Collection, box 32, file 65, pp. 474-475. Letter from Judge to Armstrong of June 17, 1843.Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK. 11. N. Sayre Harris, "Journal of a Tour in The Indian Territory", Oklahoma Chronicles, vol X, no. 11, June, 1932, p. 234. 17. Grant Foreman Collection, box 11, folder 11, "Protestant Church Schools Among the Five Civilized Tribes", p. 6. 21. Grant Foreman Collection, box 32, folder 56, p. 652 from a letter written by Elias Rector, Superintendent of Indian Affairs to Honorable Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, May 9, 1858.Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK. |