The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War Part 27

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 pa.s.sage 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 dest.i.tute 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 a.s.sist 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 dest.i.tute.

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 circ.u.mvent 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-cla.s.s, 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 circ.u.mstance 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.sed 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 furnis.h.i.+ng 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.: