The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War

By Annie Heloise Abel, Ph.D.

Professor of History, Smith College

1919

IX. THE REMOVAL OF THE REFUGEES TO THE SAC AND FOX AGENCY

General Blunt's decision to restore the Indian refugees in Kansas to
their own country precipitated a word war of disagreeable significance
between the civil and military authorities. The numbers of the
refugees had been very greatly augmented in the course of the summer,
notwithstanding the fact that so large a proportion of the men had
joined the Indian Expedition. It is true they had not all stayed with
it. The retrograde movement of Colonel Salomon and his failure later
on to obey Blunt's order to the letter[548] that he should return
to the support of the Indians had disheartened them and many of the
enlisted braves had deserted the ranks, as chance offered, and had
strayed back to their families in the refugee camps of southern
Kansas.[549]

[Footnote 548: Blunt to Caleb Smith, November 21, 1862 [Indian Office
General Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862, I 860].]

[Footnote 549: One of the first notices of their desertion was the
following:

"We are getting along well, very well. The Indians seem happy and
contented, and seemingly get enough to eat and wear. At least I hear
no complaint. For the last two or three days the Indian soldiers have
been stragling back, until now there are some three or four hundred
in, and they are still coming. I held a council with them to-day to
try and find out why they are here. But they don't seem to have any
idea themselves. All I could learn was that Old George started and the
rest followed. The Col. it seems told them to go some where else. I
shall send an express to Col. Furness in the morning to find out if
possible what it means. It seems to me it will not do to give the
provisions purchased for the women and children to the soldiers....

"The soldiers look clean and hearty, and complain of being
treated like dogs, starved etc, which I must say their looks
belie...."--GEO.A. CUTLER to Wm. G. Coffin, August 13, 1862,
Ibid.]

Then the numbers had been augmented in other ways. The Quapaws, who
had been early driven from their homes and once restored,[550] had
left them again when they found that their country had been denuded of
all its portable resources. It was exposed to inroads of many sorts.
Even the Federal army preyed upon it and, as all the able-bodied male
Quapaws were gradually drawn into that army, there was no way of
defending it. Its inhabitants, therefore, returned as exiles to the
country around about Leroy.[551]

It was much the same with near neighbors of the Quapaws, with the
Senecas and the Seneca-Shawnees. These Indians had been induced to
accept one payment of their annuities from the Confederate agent[552]
but had later repented their digression from the old allegiance to
the United States and had solicited its protection in order that they
might remain true. Some of them stayed with Agent Elder near Fort
Scott,[553] others moved northward and lived upon the charity of the
Shawnees near Lawrence.[554] But those Shawnees were doomed themselves
to be depredated upon, especially that group of them known as Black
Bob's Band, a band that had been assigned a settlement in Johnson

[Footnote 550: Coffin to Elder, August 9, 1862; Coffin to Mix, August
16, 1862, Indian Office General Files, _Neosho_, C 1745 of 1862.]

[Footnote 551: Some of the Quapaws that went to Leroy were not _bona
fide_ refugees. Elder reported them as lured thither by the idea
of getting fed [Elder to Dole, July 9, 1862, Ibid., E 114 of
1862].]

[Footnote 552: Coffin to Dole, May 31, 1862, Indian Office General
Files, _Neosho_.]

[Footnote 553: Coffin to Mix, July 30, 1862, Ibid., C 1732 of
1862.]

[Footnote 554: J.J. Lawler to Mix, August 2, 1862, Ibid.,
_Shawnee_, 1855-1862; Abbott to Branch, July 26, 1862,
Ibid. Some of the Senecas, about one hundred twenty-three, went
as far as Wyandot City. For them and their relief, the Senecas in
New York interceded. See Chief John Melton to Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, September 2, 1862, Ibid., _Neosho_, H 541; Mix to
Coffin, September 11, 1862, Indian Office _Letter Book_, no. 69,
99.]

County, adjoining the Missouri border.[555] In August[556] and again
in the first week of September[557] guerrillas under Quantrill,[558]
crossed over the line and raided the Black Bob lands, robbing the
Indians of practically everything they possessed, their clothing,
their household goods, their saddles, their ponies, their provisions,
and driving the original owners quite away. They fired upon them as
they fled and committed atrocities upon the helpless ones who lagged
behind. They then raided Olathe.[559] Somewhat earlier, guerrillas
had similarly devastated the Kansas Agency, although not to the same
extent.[560] The Black Bob Shawnees found a refuge in the western part
of the tribal reserve.[561]

[Footnote 555: This group of Shawnee refugees must be distinguished
from the so-called _Absentee Shawnees_, who also became refugees.
The Shawnees had been very much molested and disturbed during the
period of border strife following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska
Bill. Black Bob's Band was then exceedingly desirous of going south to
dwell with the Seneca-Shawnees [Rector to Greenwood, January 6, 1860,
enclosing Dorn to Greenwood, December 30, 1859, Indian Office General
Files, _Neosho_, R 463 of 1860]. The Absentee Shawnees had
taken refuge in Indian Territory prior to the war, but were expelled
immediately after it began. They obtained supplies for a time from the
Wichita Agent and lived as refugees on Walnut Creek [Paschal Fish and
other Shawnee delegates to Cooley, December 5, 1865, Indian Office
Land Files, _Shawnee_, 1860-1865]. Later on, they seem, at least
some of them, to have gone up to the Shawnee Reserve [Dole to Coffin,
July 27, 1863, Indian Office _Letter Book_, no. 71, 195; Dole
to Usher, July 27, 1863, Ibid., _Report Book_, no. 13,
208-209].]

[Footnote 556: H.B. Branch to Dole, June 19, 1863, enclosing
various letters from Agent Abbott, Indian Office General Files,
_Shawnee_, 1863-1875, B 343.]

[Footnote 557: Branch to Dole, October 3, 1862, transmitting
letter from Abbott to Branch, September 25, 1862, Ibid.,
_Shawnee_, 1855-1862, B 1583.]

[Footnote 558: Connelley, _Quantrill and the Border Wars_, 269,
says that, from' August 15, 1863, the Confederate government was
directly responsible for the work of Quantrill. From that day, the
guerrillas were regular Confederate soldiers. They were not generally
regarded as such, however; for, in November, 1863, Price was trying
to prevail upon Quantrill and his men to come into the regular army
[_Official Records_, vol. liii, supplement, 907-908].]

[Footnote 559: Governor Robinson issued a proclamation, on the
occasion of this emergency for volunteers against guerrillas.]

[Footnote 560: Farnsworth to Dole, July 23, 1862 [Indian Office
General Files, _Kansas_, 1855-1862, F 386].]

[Footnote 561: Letter of Agent Abbott, June 5, 1863, Ibid.,
_Shawnee_, 1863-1875, B 343.]

Some Wyandot Indians, who before the war had sought and found homes
among the Senecas,[562] were robbed of everything they possessed by
secessionist Indians,[563] who would not, however, permit them to go
in search of relief northward.[564] When all efforts to induce them to
throw in their lot with the Confederacy proved unavailing, the strict
watch over them was somewhat relaxed and they eventually managed to
make their escape. They, too, fled into Kansas. And so did about one
hundred Delawares, who had been making their homes in the Cherokee
country. In the spring of 1862, they had begun to return destitute to
the old reservation[565] but seem not to have been counted refugees
until much later in the year.[566] The Delaware Reservation on the
northern bank of the Kansas River and very near to Missouri was
peculiarly exposed

[Footnote 562: Indian Office General Files, _Neosho_, I 81 of
1860.]

[Footnote 563: Lawrence and others, Wyandots, to Dole, December 23,
1862, ibid., Land Files, _Shawnee_, 1860-1865, L 12 of 1862. This
letter was answered January 20, 1863, and, on the same day, Coffin was
instructed to relieve their distress.]

[Footnote 564: "Being personally acquainted with the condition of the
Wyandots ... would here state, that a portion of them are living among
the Senecas bordering on the Cherokee Country, and they are in a
suffering condition. The rebel portion of the Senecas and Cherokees
have robbed them of all of their ponies, and in fact all the property
they had, and will not allow them to leave to come to Wyandott, which
is about 2 hundred miles in distance, and their friends in Wyandott
are unable to relieve them (on account of the rebel forces) without
protection of our armies. The Wyandotts that are here are anxious to
go and relieve their friends, and would respectfully request that they
be allowed to form into a military company and be mustered into Gov'nt
service and go with the expedition south to relieve their friends and
assist in reclaiming the rebel Indians. A few of the Wyandotts are in
service ... They are all very anxious to be transferred into a company
by themselves for the purpose above stated...."--CHARLES MOORE to
Dole, February 9, 1862, Indian Office Special Files, no. 201, D 576.]

[Footnote 565: Johnson to Dole, April 2, 1862, Indian Office General
Files, _Delaware_, 1862-1866.]

[Footnote 566: Johnson to Dole, November 5, 1862, ibid., _Southern
Superintendency_, 1859-1862.]

to ravages, horses and cattle being frequently stolen.[567] For that
reason and because so much urged thereto by Agent Johnson,[568] who
was himself anxious for service, the Delawares were unusually eager to
enlist.

The Osages had been induced by Ritchie and others to join the Indian
Expedition or to serve as independent scouts.[569] Their families,
consequently, found it safe and convenient to become refugees.[570]
In July, they formed much the larger part of some five hundred from
Elder's agency, who sought succor at Leroy. That did not deter the
Osages, however, from offering a temporary abiding-place, within their
huge reserve, to the homeless Creeks under Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la.[571]

[Footnote 567: Johnson to Dole, May 28, 1862, Indian Office General
Files, _Delaware_, I 667 of 1862.]

[Footnote 568: Johnson wished to retain his agency and also hold a
commission as colonel of volunteers, Department of the Interior,
_Register of Letters Received_, no. 4, pp. 214, 357. James H.
Lane endorsed his request and it was granted.]

[Footnote 569: The Osages rendered occasionally some good service.
They and the Comanches plundered the Chickasaws very considerably
[Holmes Colbert to N.G. Taylor, April 14, 1868, Indian Office
Consolidated Files, _Chickasaw_, C 716 of 1868. See also Office
letter to Osage treaty commissioners, May 4, 1868]. In October, the
Osage force advanced as far as Iola and then retreated [Henning to
Blunt, October 11, 1862, _Official Records_, vol. xiii, 726].
Soon after that they were mustered out and in a very disgruntled
condition. They claimed that the government had used them very badly
and had never paid them anything [Henning to Chipman, November 13,
1862, Ibid., 790]. They knew little of the discipline of war
and left the army whenever they had a mind to.]

[Footnote 570: The Osages joined the Indian Expedition only upon
condition that their families would be supported during their absence
[Coffin to Dole, June 4, 1862, Indian Office Consolidated Files,
_Neosho_, C 1662 of 1862]. The families were soon destitute.
Coffin ordered Elder to minister to them at Leroy; but he seems to
have distrusted the southern superintendent and to have preferred to
keep aloof from him. Coffin then appointed a man named John Harris as
special Osage agent [Coffin to Dole, July 7, 1862, Ibid., C
1710]. Elder tried to circumvent Coffin's plans for the distribution
of cattle [Coffin to Elder, July 16, 1862, ibid., C 1717] and Coffin
lodged a general charge of neglect of duty against him [Coffin to
Dole, July 19, 1862, Ibid.].]

[Footnote 571: The invitation was extended by White Hair and Charles
Mograin [Coffin to Dole, November 16, 1862, Ibid., C 1904].
Coffin was anxious for (cont.)]

During the summer the wretched condition of the Indian refugees
had, thanks to fresh air, sunlight, and fair weather, been much
ameliorated. Disease had obtained so vast a start that the medical
service, had it been first-class, which it certainly was not, would
otherwise have proved totally inadequate. The physicians in attendance
claimed to have from five to eight thousand patients,[572] yet one
of them, Dr. S.D. Coffin, found it possible to be often and for
relatively long periods absent from his post. Of this the senior
physician, Dr. William Kile, made complaint [573] and that
circumstance marked the beginning of a serious estrangement between
him and Superintendent Coffin.[574]

In August, General Blunt announced his intention of returning the
Indian families to their homes.[575] He was convinced that some of the
employees of the Indian Office and of the Interior Department were
personally profiting by the distribution of supplies to the refugees
and that they were conniving with citizens of Kansas in perpetrating
a gigantic fraud against the government. The circumstances of the
refugees had been well aired

[Footnote 571: (cont.) Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la who had been rather
obstreperous, to accept [Coffin to Dole, November 14, 1862, Indian
Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862].]

[Footnote 572: Dr. S.D. Coffin, to Dole, July 5, 1862, ibid., General
Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862; J.C. Carter to Dole July
22, 1862, ibid.]

[Footnote 573: Kile to Dole, ibid.]

[Footnote 574: The estrangement resulted in the retirement of Kile
from the service. In September, Dr. Kile asked for a leave of absence.
Shortly afterwards, Secretary Smith instructed Charles E. Mix, the
acting commissioner, that the services of Kile were no longer
needed, since the superintendent could attend to the purchasing and
distributing of supplies [Smith to Mix, September 22, 1862, Indian
Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862]. Mix
promptly informed Kile that his resignation was accepted [Mix to Kile,
September 22, 1862, ibid., Letter Book, no. 69, p. 133].]

[Footnote 575: "Orders have been given by General Blunt for the Indian
Expedition to go South soon; he says the families of the Indians may
go. They wish to do so but no provision is made for their
subsistence or conveyance. We wish immediate instructions in this
particular."--Carruth to Coffin, August 29, 1862, ibid., General
Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862.]

in Congress, first in connection with a Senate resolution for their
relief.[576] On July fifth, Congress had passed an act suspending
annuity appropriations to the tribes in hostility to the United States
government and authorizing the president to expend, at discretion,
those same annuities in behalf of the refugees.[577] At once, the
number[578] of refugees increased and white men rushed forward to
obtain contracts for furnishing supplies.

There was a failure of the corn crop in southern Kansas that year and
Dr. Kile, appreciating certain facts, that the Indian pony is dear,
as is the Arabian horse, to his master, that the Indian ponies were
pretty numerous in spite of the decimation of the past winter, and
that they would have to be fed upon corn, advised a return to Indian
Territory before the cold weather should set in.[579] He communicated
with Blunt[580] and found Blunt of the same opinion, so also
Cutler[581] and Coleman.[582] Contrariwise was Superintendent
Coffin,[583] whose view of the case was strengthened by E.H. Carruth,
H.W. Martin,[584] and A.C. Ellithorpe.[585]

[Footnote 576: _U.S. Congressional Globe_, 37th congress, second
session, part i, 815, 849, 875, 891, 940.]

[Footnote 577: _U.S. Statutes at Large_, vol. xii, 528.]

[Footnote 578: In October, Coffin put the number of refugees,
inclusive of the Cherokees on Drywood Creek, at almost seven thousand
five hundred [Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_ 1862,
p. 137] and asked for sixty-nine thousand dollars for their support
during the third quarter of 1862 [Coffin to Mix, September 16,
1862, Indian Office General Files, _Southern Superintendency_,
1859-1862].]

[Footnote 579: Kile to Dole, July 25, 1862, Ibid.]

[Footnote 580: Kile to Blunt, September 2, 1862, Ibid.]

[Footnote 581: Cutler to Coffin, September 30, 1862, Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, 139.]

[Footnote 582: Coleman to Coffin, September 30, 1862, Ibid.,
141.]

[Footnote 583: Coffin to Mix, August 30, 1862, Indian Office General
Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862: same to same,
September 13, 1862, Ibid.]

[Footnote 584: Carruth and Martin to Coffin, September 28, 1862,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862, 167.]

[Footnote 585: "In replying to the several interrogatorys contained in
your letter of the 11th inst, I shall base my answer entirely upon my
own (cont.)]

In the contest that ensued between the military and civil authorities
or between Blunt and Coffin,[586] Coffin triumphed, although Blunt
made no concealment of his

[Footnote 585: (cont.) observations and experience, obtained during a
six months campaign with the Indians, and in the Creek and Cherokee
countries. Taking a deep interest in the welfare of these loyal
refugee Indians, who have sacrificed _all_, rather than fight
against our Flag, I shall be cautious and advise no policy but that
which will insure their safe restoration to their homes.

"The important question in your letter and that which embodies the
whole subject matter is the following--'Would it be safe in the
present condition of the country to restore the southern refugee
Indians now in southern Kansas, the women and children, the old,
feeble and infirm to their homes in the Indian country?'

"I answer--It would not be safe to take the women and children to the
Creek or Cherokee countries this fall for the following reasons, 1st
The corn and vegetable crop north of the Arkansas River will not
afford them subsistence for a single month. The excessive drouth has
almost completely destroyed it, and what little would have matured is
laid waste by the frequent foraging parties of our own Army, or those
of the Rebels.

"The amount of Military force necessary to restore and safely protect
this people in their homes would far exceed what is at present at the
disposal of the Department of Kansas; and should they be removed to
the Indian country, and our forces again be compelled to fall back for
the protection of Missouri or Kansas, it would again involve their
precipitate flight, or insure their total destruction.

"Again--the effectiveness of our troops would be materially embarased
by the presence of such a vast number of timid and helpless
creatures--I base my judgment upon the following facts--viz.:

"The expedition which I have been with during the summer, exploring
this country, consisted of three Brigades but containing actually only
about 6 thousand men. We routed, captured, and pursued the fragments
of several Rebel commands, driving them south of the Arkansas River,
opposite to, and in the vicinity of Fort Gibson. This done, we found
the whole of Western Arkansas alive, and the numerous rebel squads
were at once reinforced from the guerila parties of Missouri,
Arkansas, Texas, and the various rebel Indian tribes, until they now
number a force of from 30 to 40 thousand strong, under the command of
Pike, Drew, McIntosh, Rains, Stand Watie and others, ready to contest
the passage of the Arkansas River at any point and in fact capable of
crossing to the north side of the river and possessing the country we
have twice passed over. Why did our command fall back? Simply because
we had not force sufficient to cross the Arkansas River and maintain
our position and because we were to remote from our dipo of supplies.

"The Creek country west of the Verdigris River is almost destitute
(cont.)]

[Footnote 586: A dispute between Blunt and Coffin had been going on
for some time. In August, Coffin wrote to Mix that "The contrariness
and (cont.)]

suspicions of graft and peculation[587] and the moment, following the
defeat of the Confederates at old Fort Wayne, seemed rather auspicious
for the return of the refugees. In reality, it was not, however; for
the Federals were far from possessing Indian Territory and they had no
force that they could devote to it exclusively.

[Footnote 585: (cont.) of forage for man or beast, owing to the
drouth--Hence to remove these families would involve to the gov't
great additional expense, not only to subsist but to protect
them--Where they are they need no military protection and food is
abundant.

"You will bear in mind that a large portion of the Indian country is
south of the Arkansas River and is at present the stronghold of the
Rebels. Many portions of it mountainous and rugged, affording secure
retreats that will require a powerful army to dislodge."--A.C.
ELLITHORPE to Coffin, September 12, 1862, Indian Office General Files,
_Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862.]

[Footnote 586: (cont.) interference manifested by the military
authorities in the Indian Country towards those who are having
charge of the Indians within the Cherokee Nation is so annoying and
embarrassing that it has become unpleasant, difficult, and almost
impossible for them to attend to the duties of their official
capacities with success. If the Military would only make it
their business to rid the Indian Territory of Rebels instead of
intermeddling with the affairs of the Interior Department or those
connected with or acting for the same, the Refugee Indians in
Kansas might have long since been enabled to return to their homes
..."--Indian Office General Files, _Southern Superintendency_,
1863-1864, C 466.]

[Footnote 587: It was not long before the Indians were complaining
of the very things that General Blunt suspected. For instance, in
December, the Delawares begged President Lincoln to remove Agent
Johnson because of his peculations and ungovernable temper. They also
asked that the store of Thomas Carney and Co. be ordered away from
their reservation. The latter request had been made before, the
Delawares believing that Leavenworth and Lawrence were sufficiently
near for them to trade independently [Indian Office General Files,
_Delaware_, 1862-1866]. Coffin made a contract with Stettaner
Bros. November 29, 1862, and Dole confirmed it by letter, December 13,
1862 [ibid., _Southern Superintendency_, 1863-1864]. Secretary
Smith was not very well satisfied with the Stettaner bids. They were
too indefinite [Ibid., 1859-1862, 1837]. Nevertheless, Dole,
who was none too scrupulous himself, recommended their acceptance
[Dole to Smith, December 11, 1862]. Number 201 of Indian Office
_Special Files_ is especially rich in matter relating to
transactions of Stettaner Bros., Carney and Stevens, and Perry
Fuller, so also are the files of the Indian Division of the Interior
Department, and also, to some extent, the House Files in the Capitol
Building at Washington, D.C.]

Aside from pointing out the military inadequacy, Coffin had chiefly
argued that provisions could easily be obtained where the refugees
then were; but his opposition to Blunt's suggestion was considerably
vitiated by recommendations of his own, soon given, for the removal of
the refugees to the Sac and Fox Agency upon the plea that they could
not be supported much longer to advantage in southern Kansas. The
drouth was the main reason given; but, as Kile had very truly said,
the settlers were getting pretty tired of the Indian exiles, whose
habits were filthy and who were extremely prodigal in their use of
timber. The Sac and Fox Agency was headquarters for the Sacs and Foxes
of Mississippi, for the Ottawas, and for the confederated Chippewas
and Munsees. C.C. Hutchinson was the agent there and there Perry
Fuller, Robert S. Stevens, and other sharpers had their base of
operations.

The removal northward was undertaken in October and consummated in a
little less than two months; but at an expense that was enormous and
in spite of great unwillingness on the part of most of the Indians,
who naturally objected to so greatly lengthening the distance between
them and their own homes.[588] The refugees were distributed in tribal
groups rather generally over the reserves included within the Sac and
Fox Agency. At the request of Agent Elder, the Ottawas consented to
accommodate the Seneca-Shawnees and the Quapaws, although not without
expressing their fears that the dances and carousals of the Quapaws
would demoralize their young men[589] and, finally, not without
insisting upon a mutual agreement that no

[Footnote 588: Coffin to Dole, November 14, 1862, Ibid., Indian
Office General Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862.]

[Footnote 589: C.C. Hutchinson to Dole, August 21, 1863, Indian Office
General Files, _Ottawa_, 1863-1872, D 236.]

spirituous liquors should be brought within the limits of their
Reserve under any circumstances whatsoever.[590] The Creeks, Choctaws,
and Chickasaws found a lodgment on the Sac and Fox Reservation and the
Seminoles fairly close at hand, at Neosho Falls. That was as far north
as they could be induced to go.

Of the Cherokees, more needs to be said for they were not so easily
disposed of. At various times during the past summer, Cherokees,
opposed to, not identified with, or not enthusiastic in the
Confederate cause, had escaped from Indian Territory and had collected
on the Neutral Lands. Every Confederate reverse or Federal triumph,
no matter how slight, had proved a signal for flight. By October, the
Cherokee refugees on the Neutral Lands were reported to be nearly two
thousand in number, which, allowing for some exaggeration for the sake
of getting a larger portion of relief, was a goodly section of the
tribal population.[591] At the end of October, Superintendent Coffin
paid them a visit and urged them to remove to the Sac and Fox Agency,
whither the majority of their comrades in distress were at that very
moment going.[592] The Cherokees refused; for General Blunt had given
them his word that, if he were successful in penetrating the Indian
Territory, they should at once go home.[593] Not long after Coffin's
departure, their camp on Drywood

[Footnote 590: J.T. Jones to Dole, December 30, 1862, Indian Office
General Files, _Sac and Fox_, 1862-1866. The precautions proved
of little value. Whiskey was procured by both the hosts and their
guests and great disorders resulted. Agent Hutchinson did his best
to have the refugees removed, but, in his absence, the Ottawas were
prevailed upon by Agent Elder to extend their hospitality for a while
longer.]

[Footnote 591: Commissioner of Indian Affairs, _Report_, 1862,
137.]

[Footnote 592:--Ibid., 1863, 175.]

[Footnote 593: Coffin to Dole, November 10, 1862, enclosing copies of
a correspondence between him and a committee of the Cherokee refugees,
October 31, 1862, Indian Office General Files, _Cherokee_,
1859-1865, C 1892.]

Creek, about twelve miles south of Fort Scott, was raided by
guerrillas;[594] but even that had no effect upon their determination
to remain. The Neutral Lands, although greatly intruded upon by white
people, were legally their own and they declined to budge from them at
the instance of Superintendent Coffin.

Arrangements were undertaken for supplying the Cherokee refugees with
material relief;[595] but scarcely had anything been done to that end
when, to Coffin's utter surprise, as he said, the military authorities
"took forcible possession of them" and had them all conveyed to
Neosho, Missouri, presumably out of his reach. But Coffin would
not release his hold and detailed the new Cherokee agent, James
Harlan,[596] and Special Agent A.G. Proctor to follow them there.

John Ross, his family, and a few friends were, meanwhile, constituting
another kind of refugee in the eastern part of the United States.[597]
and were criticized by some

[Footnote 594: Coffin to Dole, November 14, 1862, Indian Office
General Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862.]

[Footnote 595: Coffin to Mix, August 31, 1863, Indian Office General
Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1863-1864, C 466. A.M. Jordan,
who acted as commissary to the Cherokees at Camp Drywood, reported to
Dole, December 6, 1862, that he was feeding about a thousand who were
then there [ibid., _Cherokee_, I 847 of 1862].]

[Footnote 596: Charles W. Chatterton, of Springfield, Illinois, who
had been appointed Cherokee agent in the place of John Crawford,
removed [Dole to Coffin, March 18, 1862, ibid., _Letter Book_,
no. 67 pp. 492-493] had died, August 31, at the Sac and Fox Agency
[Hutchinson to Mix September 1, 1862, Ibid., General Files,
_Cherokee_, H 538 of 1862]; [Coffin to Dole, September 13,
1862, Ibid., C 1827: W.H. Herndon to Dole, November 15, 1862,
Ibid., H 605]. Harlan was not regularly commissioned as
Cherokee agent until January, 1863 [Coffin to Dole, April 7, 1863,
Ibid., C 143 of 1863; Harlan to Dole, January 26, 1863,
Ibid., H 37 of 1863].]

[Footnote 597: John Ross asked help for his own family and for the
families of various relations, thirty-four persons in all. He wanted
five hundred dollars for each person [Ross to Dole, October 13, 1862,
Ibid., R 1857 of 1862]. Later, he asked for seventeen thousand
dollars, likewise for maintenance [Ross to Dole, November 19, 1862,
Ibid.]. The beginning of the next year, he notified the
department that some of his party were about to return home (cont.)]

of their opponents for living in too sumptuous a manner.[598]

The removal, under military supervision, of the Cherokee refugees,
had some justification in various facts, Blunt's firm conviction that
Coffin and his instigators or abettors were exploiting the Indian
service, that the refugees at Leroy were not being properly cared for,
and that those on the Neutral Lands had put themselves directly under
the protection of the army.[599] His then was the responsibility. When
planning his second Indian Expedition, Blunt had discovered that the
Indian men were not at all inclined to accompany it unless they could
have some stronger guarantee than any yet given that their families
would be well looked after in their absence. They had returned from
the first expedition to find their women and children and aged men,
sick, ill-fed, and unhappy.

It was with knowledge of such things and with the hope that they would
soon be put a stop to and their repetition prevented by a return of
the refugees to Indian Territory, that John Ross, in October, made a
personal appeal to President Lincoln and interceded with him to send
a military force down, sufficient to over-awe the Confederates and to
take actual possession

[Footnote 597: (cont.) [Ibid., R 14 of 1863] and requested that
transportation from Leavenworth and supplies be furnished them [Indian
Office General Files, _Cherokee_, R 13 of 1863]. Dole informed
Coffin that the request should be granted [see Office letter of
January 6, 1863] and continued forwarding to John Ross his share of
the former remittance [Indian Office _Letter Book_, no. 69, 503].
To make the monetary allowance to John Ross, Cherokee chief, the
Chickasaw funds were drawn upon [Second Auditor, E.B. Trench, to Dole,
June 19, 1863, Ibid., General Files, _Cherokee_, A 202 of
1863; Office letter of June 20, 1863].]

[Footnote 598: Ross and others to Dole, July 29, 1864 [Ibid.,
General Files, _Cherokee_, 1859-1865, R 360]; Secretary of the
Interior to Ross, August 25, 1864 [Ibid., I 651]; John Ross
and Evan Jones to Dole, August 26, 1864 [Ibid., R 378]; Office
letter of October 14, 1864; Coffin's letter of July 8, 1864.]

[Footnote 599: Blunt to Smith, November 21, 1862.]

of the land. Lincoln's sympathies and sense of justice were
immediately aroused and he inquired of General Curtis, in the
field, as to the practicability of occupying "the Cherokee country
consistently with the public service."[600] Curtis evaded the direct
issue, which was the Federal obligation to protect its wards, by
boasting that he had just driven the enemy into the Indian Territory
"and beyond" and by doubting "the expediency of occupying ground so
remote from supplies."[601]

General Blunt's force continued to hold the northeastern part of the
Cherokee country until the end of October when it fell back, crossed
the line, and moved along the Bentonville road in order to meet its
supply train from Fort Scott.[602] Blunt's division finally took its
stand on Prairie Creek[603] and, on the twelfth of November, made its
main camp on Lindsay's prairie, near the Indian boundary.[604] The
rout of Cooper at Fort Wayne had shaken the faith of many Indians in
the invincibility of the Confederate arms. They had disbanded and gone
home, declaring "their purpose to join the Federal troops the first
opportunity" that presented itself.[605] To secure them and to
reconnoitre once more, Colonel Phillips had started out near the
beginning of November and, from the third to the fifth, had made his
way down through the Cherokee Nation, by way of Tahlequah and Park
Hill, to Webber's Falls on the Arkansas.[606] His return was by

[Footnote 600: Lincoln to Curtis, October 10, 1862, _Official
Records_, vol. xiii, 723.]

[Footnote 601: Curtis to Lincoln, October 10, 1862, Ibid.]

[Footnote 602: Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. i,
376-377.]

[Footnote 603:--Ibid., 379.]

[Footnote 604:--Ibid., 380; Bishop, _Loyalty on the
Frontier_, 56.]

[Footnote 605: Blunt to Schofield, November 9, 1862, _Official
Records_, vol. xiii, 785.]

[Footnote 606: H.W. Martin to Coffin, December 20, 1862, Indian Office
General Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862, C 1950.]

Dwight's Mission. His view of the country through which he passed must
have been discouraging.[607] There was little to subsist upon and the
few Indians lingering there were in a deplorable state of deprivation,
little food, little clothing[608] and it was winter-time.

So desolate and abandoned did the Cherokee country appear that General
Blunt considered it would be easily possible to hold it with his
Indian force alone, three regiments, yet he said no more about the
immediate return of the refugees,[609] but issued an order for their
removal to Neosho. The wisdom of his action might well be questioned
since the expense of supporting them there would be immeasurably
greater than in Kansas[610] unless, indeed, the military authorities
intended to assume the entire charge of them.[611] Special Agent
Martin regarded some talk that was rife of letting them forage upon
the impoverished people of Missouri as

[Footnote 607: It was not discouraging to Blunt, however. His letter
referring to it was even sanguine [_Official Records_, vol. xiii,
785-786].]

[Footnote 608: Martin to Coffin, December 20, 1862.]

[Footnote 609: The Interior Department considered it, however, and
consulted with the War Department as late as the twenty-sixth. See
_Register of Letters Received_, vol. D., p. 155.]

[Footnote 610: Coffin to Henning, December 28, 1862, Indian Office
Consolidated Files, _Cherokee_, C 17 of 1863.]

[Footnote 611: Coffin's letter to Dole of December 20 [Indian Office
General Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1859-1862, C 1950]
would imply that the superintendent expected that to be the case. He
said, having reference to Martin's report, "... The statement of facts
which he makes, from all the information I have from other sources, I
have no doubt are strictly true and will no doubt meet your serious
consideration.

"If the Programme as fixed up by the Military Officers, and which I
learn Dr. Gillpatrick is the bearer to your city and the solicitor
general to procure its adoption is carried out, the Indian Department,
superintendent, and agents may all be dispensed with. The proposition
reminds me of the Fable of the Wolves and the Shepherds, the wolves
represented to the shepherds that it was very expensive keeping dogs
to guard the sheep, which was wholly unnecessary; that if they would
kill off the dogs, they, the wolves, would protect the sheep without
any compensation whatever."]

sheer humbug. The army was not doing that and why should the
defenceless Indians be expected to do it. As it was, they seem to
have been reduced to plundering in Kansas.[612] On the whole, it
is difficult to explain Blunt's plan for the concentration of the
Cherokee refugees at Neosho, since there were, at the time, many
indications that Hindman was considering another advance and an
invasion of southwest Missouri.

The November operations of the Federals in northeastern Arkansas
were directed toward arresting Hindman's progress, if progress were
contemplated. Meanwhile, Phillips with detachments of his Indian
brigade was continuing his reconnoissances and, when word came that
Stand Watie had ventured north of the Arkansas, Blunt sent him to
compel a recrossing.[613] Stand Watie's exploit was undoubtedly
a preliminary to a general Confederate plan for the recovery of
northwestern Arkansas and the Indian Territory, a plan, which Blunt,
vigorous and aggressive, was determined to circumvent. In the action
at Cane Hill,[614] the latter part of November, and in the Battle of
Prairie Grove,[615] December seventh, the mettle of the Federals was
put to a severe test which it stood successfully and Blunt's cardinal
purpose was fully accomplished.[616] In both engagements, the Indians
played a part and played it

[Footnote 612: These Indians must have been the ones referred to in
Richard C. Vaughn's letter to Colonel W.D. Wood, December i, 1862
[_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 796].]

[Footnote 613: Britton, _Civil War on the Border_, vol. i, p.
382.]

[Footnote 614:--Ibid., vol. i, chapter xxix.]

[Footnote 615:--Ibid., vol. i, chapter xxx; _Official
Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 66-82, 82-158, vol. liii, supplement,
458-461, 866, 867; Livermore, _The Story of the Civil War_, part
iii, bk. 1, 84-85.]

[Footnote 616: One opinion is to the effect that the result of
the Battle of Prairie Grove, Fayetteville, or Illinois Creek, was
virtually to end the war north of the Arkansas River [Ibid., p.
85; _Official Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 82]. (cont.)]

conspicuously and well, the northern regiments so well,[617] indeed,
that shortly afterwards two additional ones, the Fourth and the Fifth,
were projected.[618] Towards the end of the year, Phillips, whom Blunt
had sent upon another excursion into Indian Territory,[619] could
report

[Footnote 616: (cont.) Bishop wrote, "After the battle of Prairie
Grove, and the gradual retrogression of the Army of the Frontier into
Missouri, Fayetteville was still held as a military post, and those of
us who remained there were given to understand that the place would
not be abandoned ... The demoralized enemy had fallen back to Little
Rock, with the exception of weak nomadic forces that, like Stygian
ghosts, wandered up and down the Arkansas from Dardanelle to Fort
Smith...." [_Loyalty on the Frontier_, 205]. Schofield was of
the opinion, however, that the Battle of Prairie Grove was a hard-won
victory. "Blunt and Herron were badly beaten in detail, and owed
their escape to a false report of my arrival with re-enforcements."
[_Official Records_, vol. xxii, part ii, p. 6].]

[Footnote 617: And yet it was only a short time previously that Major
A.C. Ellithorpe, commanding the First Regiment Indian Home Guards, had
had cause to complain seriously of the Creeks of that regiment. On
November 7, he wrote from Camp Bowen that Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la was
enticing the Indians away from the performance of their duties. "You
will now perceive that we are on the border of the Indian country and
a very large portion of the Indians are now scouting through their own
Territory. What I now desire is that every man who was enlisted as a
soldier shall at once return to his command by the way of Fort Scott
unless otherwise ordered by competent authority...." [Indian Office
Land Files, _Southern Superintendency_, 1855-1870, C 1933].
Coffin, as usual, appeared as an apologist for the Indians and
attempted to exonerate Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la from all blame [Letter to
Dole, December 3, 1862, Ibid.]. He called the aged chief, "that
noble old Roman of the Indians," and the chief himself protested
against the injustice and untruth of Ellithrope's accusation
[Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la to Coffin, November 24, 1862, Ibid.].]

[Footnote 618: Officers for these two regiments were appointed by the
president, December 26, 1862, and ordered to report to Blunt, who, in
turn ordered them to report to Phillips. When the officers arrived in
Indian Territory, they found no such regiments as the Fourth and Fifth
Indian [_U.S. Senate Report_, 41st congress, third session, no.
359]. They never did materialize as a matter of fact; but the officers
did duty, nevertheless, and were regularly mustered out of the service
in 1863. In 1864, Congress passed an act for the adjudication of their
claim for salary [_U.S. Statutes at Large_, vol. xiii, 413]. It
is rather surprising that the regiments were not organized; inasmuch
as many new recruits were constantly presenting themselves.]

[Footnote 619: Phillips to Blunt, December 25, 1862 [_Official
Records_, vol. xxii, part i, 873-874].]

that Stand Watie and Cooper had been pushed considerably below
the Arkansas, that many of the buildings at Fort Davis had been
demolished,[620] that one of the Creek regiments was about to retire
from the Confederate service, and that the Choctaws, once so deeply
committed, were wavering in their allegiance to the South.[621]

[Footnote 620: The buildings at Fort Davis were burnt, and
deliberately, by Phillips's orders. [See his own admission,
Ibid., part ii, 56, 62].]

[Footnote 621: Blunt to Weed, December 30, 1862, Ibid., part i,
168.]