Part 19

Owing to the sickness which prevailed among the troops, the command, on reaching the river Washita, about one hundred and eighty miles west of Fort Gibson, was so much reduced as to render a re-organization of the companies necessary. Colonel Dodge accordingly, out of the effective force, formed six companies, each forty-two strong, and, under instructions from General Leavenworth, continued his march to the Pawnee village, situated on a branch of the Red river. Here Colonel Dodge held a council with the Camanches, the Pawnees, (or Toyaslas,) the Kiowas, and the deputation of Indians which accompanied him, amounting in all to about two thousand persons. He explained the object of the expedition, and was instrumental in bringing about a friendly intercourse between several hostile tribes. He also obtained the surrender of the son of a Mr. Martin, an American citizen, who had been murdered by the Indians, and of a black boy captured by them. A more particular account of the interview between Colonel Dodge and the assembled tribes will be found in the journal of the expedition, annexed to this report.

After delivering the two Indian girls to their parents, Colonel Dodge, accompanied by several of the chiefs of the Camanches, Pawnees, and Kiowas, returned with his command to Fort Gibson, whence the regiment proceeded to take up the positions previously fixed on. Four companies, under Colonel Dodge, marched to Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri; three companies, under Lieutenant-colonel Kearney, to the Des Moines; and three, under Major Mason, to a point on the Arkansas, about eighty miles above Fort Gibson. These companies have arrived at their destinations, and are engaged in preparing their winter quarters.

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

_Operations under the Indian Department during the year 1834._

Measures have been adopted for the execution of the several treaties with the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Appalachicolas, Quapaws, the united bands of Otoes and Missourias of the river Platte, and the four confederated bands of Pawnees of the Platte and the Loup Fork, all of which were ratified at the last session of Congress. Preparatory steps have also been taken for the removal of the Creeks and Seminoles, and it is expected that a considerable portion of those tribes will be removed beyond the Mississippi during the ensuing season, and find a happier home in the domains set apart for their residence, under the guaranty of the United States.

In pursuance of instructions from the department, General William Marshall, Indian agent for the Miamies, opened a negotiation recently with the chiefs of that tribe, for the purchase of their land in the State of Indiana. He has succeeded in procuring from them a cession of two hundred thousand acres, on terms advantageous to themselves and the United States. It may be considered the precursor to a total cession of their remaining land in that State, and their consequent emigration to the western territory; a result desirable in many respects, especially connected with advantages to a portion of our citizens, and doubly gratifying from its being compatible with the best interests of the tribe.

The alteration proposed by a resolution of the Senate at the last session of Congress, in the boundaries of the land granted by the Chicago treaty of 1833 to the united nation of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatamie Indians, has received their assent under certain modifications, specified in their agreement of the 1st of October last.

No material alteration has taken place during the past year in the condition of the Cherokees. The question of emigration finds them still divided, and a considerable portion appear to be insensible of the manifest benefits accruing from its adoption. Without tolerable unanimity, it is impossible to proceed with it advantageously to all parties interested in the general issue. In the mean time, the division has engendered much malignancy, and the opposing parties appear to evince a rancour bordering on hostility. Occasionally their animosity has broken out into acts of violence, and, in one instance, resulted in the death of a very meritorious and much regretted individual. On his return from their National Council at Red Clay, in August last, where the question of emigration was agitated in a tumultuous and excited meeting, John Walker, jun. one of their leading men friendly to its adoption, was waylaid and shot. The necessary orders for the arrest of the assassins were promptly issued by Governor Carroll, the present executive of Tennessee. Several persons are now in confinement on a charge of having taken part in the murder. Should the occasion call for it, the military will be ordered out for the protection of those who decide on emigration, and of the emigrating officers of the government engaged in this hazardous and responsible service.

A negotiation has been commenced by Governor Lucas, of Ohio, with the band of Wyandots in that State, for a cession of their remaining land, and their removal to the west of the Mississippi; and recent communications furnish strong grounds of belief that under his judicious management it will be eventually brought to a successful close.

The expedition to the far West, under the command of General Leavenworth, undertaken in compliance with orders from the War Department, for the objects therein detailed, proceeded on its route through regions almost unknown, and amid difficulties of the most perplexing nature. In consequence of the death of that brave and lamented officer while in the performance of duty, the command devolved on Colonel Dodge, who returned with the expedition to Fort Gibson, bringing along a number of the chiefs of the Pawnee and Kioway Indians,--bold and warlike tribes, who have entertained no very friendly feelings towards our citizens, between whom and them there had hitherto been but little intercourse. These tribes being borderers on the newly occupied Indian territories, it became imperative to repress their hostile disposition, under the guaranty of the United States to afford adequate protection to the emigrating Indians.

With the view of establishing pacific relations between these and other tribes, a general council was held under the auspices of Colonel Dodge and Major F. W. Armstrong, which resulted in mutual engagements of peace and friendship, fortified by proper intimations on the part of those officers, on behalf of their government, of support to the injured, and punishment to aggressors.

At the general council, impressive speeches were delivered by several chiefs of the Creek, Cherokee, Osage, and Choctaw tribes. In their addresses to the warlike chiefs then assembled, they took occasion substantially to observe, "that their people had opened their ears to the advice which had been given to them, and adopted the habits of the white man, and that by so doing they had become peaceful, prosperous, and happy; that they had relinquished the chase, and cultivated the earth, and that by becoming agricultural they lived in peace, and in the enjoyment of abundance; and that the same inestimable benefits would assuredly await all the tribes who would walk in the same path."

The duties and services of the commissioners west have closed by the expiration of their commission, according to the provisions of the act under which they were appointed. Great benefit has resulted to the various tribes by virtue of their mission. Important treaties were concluded by them, existing divisions were healed, difficulties that threatened collision were settled, and a spirit of peace and conciliation was infused among the Indians through their instrumentality.

There is little mention to be made of Indian hostilities during the past year: they have been few, and those not of an aggravated nature. A steady and onward course is observable among the Indian tribes towards the grand point of civilization. Their long imputed indomitable spirit of revenge, and their eager thirst for war, have undergone a sensible change in the process of meliorating circumstances. The happiest consequences may be anticipated from extending the means of tuition among their young people, from the introduction of mechanical arts into the different tribes, and from the increased attention bestowed on agricultural pursuits, under the patronage of government, throughout the territories of emigration; nor can the gratuitous but useful labours of the missionary, and the inculcation of the pure doctrines of Christianity, be overlooked in the enumeration of means that are conducing to the great end so precious in the sight of the philanthropist, and so dear to the finest sympathies of our nature--the transformation from the cold and barren confines of savage life to the sunny and fertile regions of civilization and religion.

INDIAN SCHOOLS.

The annual donation to the Baptist General Convention is 2,000 dol.; to the American Board of Foreign Missions, 2,200 dol.; to the Roman Catholic Church, 1,300 dol.; to the Methodist Episcopal Church, 400 dol. Other donations are made, upon representations entitled to favourable consideration.

The number of Indian children receiving instruction at the different schools is eighteen hundred. Exclusively of these, there are one hundred and fifty-six Indian scholars at the Choctaw academy in Kentucky, the expense of whose education is defrayed from funds appropriated by the Indians themselves, under treaty provisions with different tribes for this particular object. The flourishing condition of this academy furnishes the best evidence of the sound views and philanthropic motives of those with whom it originated, and leaves the question of Indian improvement in letters and morals upon the social basis no longer doubtful.

_Statement, showing the number of Indian Schools, where established, by whom, the number of teachers and pupils, and the amount allowed by the Government._

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Names of tribes. | By whom established. | No. of |No. of |Amount | | | |teachers.|pupils.|allowed.| |---------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |Mohegan, Connecticut,| | 1 | 22 | 500 | |[6]Senecas, New York,|Baptist Gen'l Convention, | 4 | 140 | 200 | |Tuscaroras, do. | do. do. | 2 | 71 | | |[6]Ottawas, Michigan | do. do. | 3 | 40 | 450 | | Territory | | | | | |Chippewas, do. | do. do. | 3 | 48 | | |[6]Cherokees, North | do. do. | 2 | 21 | 600 | | Carolina, | | | | | |Menomonies, Michigan,|Protestant Episcl. Church,| 5 | 66 | 500 | |Winnebagoes, do. ) | | | | | |Menomonies, do. } |Catholic Church, | 3 | 150 | 1000 | |Ottawas, do. ) | | | | | |Shawanees west of |Methodist Episcl. Church, | 3 | 27 | | | Mississippi, | | | | | |Delawares, do. | do. do. | 2 | 23 | | |Peorias, do. | do. do. | 2 | 18 | | |Kickapoos, do. | do. do. | 2 | 70 | | |Cherokees, do. |Baptist Gen'l Convention, | 2 | 25 | | |[7]Creeks, do. | do. do. | 4 | | | | | |--------------------------| | | | 38 | 721 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The Convention also support one district school among the Ottawas and Cherokees, and three among the Senecas.

[7] Two of these teachers are natives.

_Statement showing the amount and disposition of the funds provided by treaties for purposes of education._

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Tribes. |Date of treaty.| Amount. |Disposition of the funds.| |--------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Miamies, |Oct. 23, 1826 | 2,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Pottawatamies, |Oct. 16, 1826 | 2,000 00| do. | |Do. |Sept. 20, 1828 | 1,000 00| do. | |Do. |Oct. 27, 1832 | 2,000 00| do. | |Winnebagoes, |Sept. 15, 1832 | 3,000 00|School, Prairie du Chien.| |Chippewas, |Sept. 24, 1819 | 1,000 00|Baptist Gen. Convention. | |Chippewas, } |Aug. 11, 1827 | 1,500 00|Protestant Epis. Church. | |Menomonies, &c.} | | | | |Menomonies, |Feb. 8, 1831 | 500 00| do. | |Sacs, Foxes, & others,|July 15, 1830 | 3,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Kickapoes, |Oct. 24, 1822 | 500 00|School in the nation. | |Shawanees & Delawa's, |Oct. 26, 1832 | 500 00| do. | |Choctaws, |Sept. 27, 1830 |12,500 00| do. | |Creeks, east, |Mar. 24, 1832 | 3,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Cherokees, west, |May 6, 1828 | 2,000 00|School in the nation. | |Floridas, |Sept. 18, 1823 | 1,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Creeks, |Feb. 14, 1833 | 1,000 00| do. | |Quapaws, |May 13, 1833 | 1,000 00|Not disposed of. | |Otoes and Missourias, |Sept. 21, 1833 | 500 00| do. | |Pawnees, |Oct. 9, 1833 | 1,000 00| do. | |Chickasaws, |May 24, 1834 | 3,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

These tables exhibit the number of teachers and pupils at the schools, of the condition of which reports have been received.

In all of them instruction is imparted in reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. At many of them the boys are initiated in branches of the mechanic arts, and cultivate the soil. At the Tuscarora station, in New York, tuition is imparted on the plan adopted for infant schools, and with marked success. The temperance society contains eighty members, the sabbath school thirty pupils, and fifty are united to the church. The children at the Mohegan school, in Connecticut, are employed on farms cultivated by natives: others of the youth of this band enter on board the ships in the whale fishery: and, as an indication of a spirit of enterprise and industry, the wish of some to cultivate the mulberry-tree, with a view to the establishment of a silk manufactory, may be cited.

The American Board of Foreign Missions propose to print at the Union station, in the Cherokee country west of the Mississippi, books in the languages of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Osages; and the Rev. Mr. M'Coy, under the auspices of the Baptist General Convention, has issued proposals for publishing a semi-monthly periodical at the Shawanee mission, three hundred miles west of St. Louis. Several books have been printed at this press in the languages of the different tribes. The object of Mr. M'Coy and his associates is to furnish historical sketches of past, and notices of present occurrences, including the transactions of the general government and of societies.

The Choctaw academy, in Kentucky, contains one hundred and fifty-six pupils; this number will be increased by fifteen Chickasaws, as the chiefs of that tribe have recently requested their education money might be expended at this institution. The inspectors, in their last report, represent the academy to be in a highly prosperous condition; the buildings erected to be upon a plan convenient and economical; the provision made for the comfort and health of the scholars to be liberal; and the care taken to promote their moral and intellectual advancement kind and parental. The buildings and school apparatus are valued at eight thousand dollars. The cost of winter clothing for each scholar is estimated at forty-six dollars and twenty-two cents, of the summer clothing at thirty-one dollars and eighty-six cents. This academy, conducted judiciously, will, at no distant day, send forth scholars competent to teach others, and thus accomplish the object of Congress, indicated by its legislation at the last session.

Upon the recommendation of two members of Congress, aid has been rendered to Morris B. Pierce, a Seneca, who is now at Thetford academy, Vermont, fitting himself to enter Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire.

* * * * *

_An Act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian Tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers._

SEC. 1. _Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled_, That all that part of the United States west of the Mississippi, and not within the States of Missouri and Louisiana, or the Territory of Arkansas, and also that part of the United States east of the Mississippi river, and not within any state to which the Indian title has not been extinguished, for the purposes of this act, be taken and deemed to be the Indian country.

SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That no person shall be permitted to trade with any of the Indians (in the Indian country) without a licence therefor from a superintendent of Indian affairs, or Indian agent or sub-agent, which licence shall be issued for a term not exceeding two years for the tribes east of the Mississippi, and not exceeding three years for the tribes west of that river: and the person applying for such licence shall give bond in a penal sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, with one or more sureties, to be approved by the person issuing the same, conditioned that such person will faithfully observe all the laws and regulations made for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and in no respect violate the same. And the superintendent of the district shall have power to revoke and cancel the same, whenever the person licensed shall, in his opinion, have transgressed any of the laws or regulations provided for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, or that it would be improper to permit him to remain in the Indian country; and no trade with the said tribes shall be carried on within their boundary, except at certain suitable and convenient places, to be designated from time to time by the superintendents, agents, and sub-agents, and to be inserted in the licence; and it shall be the duty of the persons granting or revoking such licences, forthwith to report the same to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for his approval or disapproval.

SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That any superintendent or agent may refuse an application for a licence to trade, if he is satisfied that the applicant is a person of bad character, or that it would be improper to permit him to reside in the Indian country, or if a licence previously granted to such applicant has been revoked, or a forfeiture of his bond decreed. But an appeal may be had from the agent or the superintendent, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and the President of the United States shall be authorized, whenever in his opinion the public interest may require the same, to prohibit the introduction of goods, or of any particular article, into the country belonging to any Indian tribe, and to direct all licences to trade with such tribe to be revoked, and all applications therefor to be rejected; and no trader to any other tribe shall, so long as such prohibition may continue, trade with any Indians of or for the tribe against which such prohibition is issued.

SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That any person other than an Indian who shall attempt to reside in the Indian country as a trader, or to introduce goods, or to trade therein without such licence, shall forfeit all merchandize offered for sale to the Indians, or found in his possession, and shall moreover forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars.

SEC. 5. _And be it further enacted_, That no licence to trade with the Indians shall be granted to any persons except citizens of the United States: Provided, That the President shall be authorized to allow the employment of foreign boatmen and interpreters, under such regulations as he may prescribe.

SEC. 6. _And be it further enacted_, That if a foreigner shall go into the Indian country without a passport from the War Department, the superintendent, agent, or sub-agent of Indian affairs, or from the officer of the United States commanding the nearest military post on the frontiers, or shall remain intentionally therein after the expiration of such passport, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars; and such passport shall express the object of such person, the time he is allowed to remain, and the route he is to travel.

SEC. 7. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person other than an Indian shall, within the Indian country, purchase or receive of any Indian, in the way of barter, trade, or pledge, a gun, trap, or other article commonly used in hunting, any instrument of husbandry or cooking utensils of the kind commonly obtained by the Indians in their intercourse with the white people, or any other article of clothing except skins or furs, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars.

SEC. 8. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person other than an Indian, shall, within the limits of any tribe with whom the United States shall have existing treaties, hunt, or trap, or take and destroy, any peltries or game, except for subsistence, in the Indian country, such person shall forfeit the sum of five hundred dollars, and forfeit all the traps, guns, and ammunition in his possession, used or procured to be used for that purpose, and peltries so taken.

SEC. 9. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person shall drive, or otherwise convey, any stock of horses, mules, or cattle, to range and feed on any land belonging to an Indian or Indian tribe without the consent of such tribe, such person shall forfeit the sum of one dollar for each animal of such stock.

SEC. 10. _And be it further enacted_, That the superintendent of Indian affairs, and Indian agents and sub-agents, shall have authority to remove from the Indian country all persons found therein contrary to law; and the President of the United States is authorized to direct the military force to be employed in such removal.

SEC. 11. _And be it further enacted_, That if any person shall make a settlement on any lands belonging, secured, or granted by treaty with the United States to any Indian tribe, or shall survey or shall attempt to survey such lands, or designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such offender shall forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars. And it shall, moreover, be lawful for the President of the United States to take such measures, and to employ such military force, as he may judge necessary to remove from the lands as aforesaid any such person as aforesaid.

SEC. 12. _And be it further enacted_, That no purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance of lands, or of any title or claim thereto, from an Indian nation or tribe of Indians, shall be of any validity in law or equity, unless the same be made by treaty or convention entered into pursuant to the constitution. And if any person, not employed under the authority of the United States, shall attempt to negotiate such treaty or convention, directly or indirectly, to treat with any such nation or tribe of Indians for the title or purchase of any lands by them held or claimed, such person shall forfeit and pay one thousand dollars: _Provided, nevertheless_, That it shall be lawful for the agent or agents of any state who may be present at any treaty held with Indians under the authority of the United States, in the presence and with the approbation of the commissioner or commissioners of the United States appointed to hold the same, to propose to and adjust with the Indians the compensation to be made for their claim to lands within such state which shall be extinguished by treaty.

SEC. 13. _And be it further enacted_, That if any citizen, or other person residing within the United States or the territory thereof, shall send any talk, speech, message, or letter to any Indian nation, tribe, chief, or individual, with an intent to produce a contravention or infraction of any treaty or other law of the United States, or to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the United States, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of two thousand dollars.