INDIANS. 



373 



INDIANS, WESTERN. The population west 

 of the United States, inhabiting that vast region 

 known as territories, consists, with few excep- 

 tions, of Indians in various stages of civilization. 

 Some, in naked savage bands, adorned with 

 paint and feathers, armed with the tomahawk 

 and scalping knife, roam the wilderness. Others 

 differing from the planter or farmer only in their 

 tawny complexion, possess cultivated lands, 

 flocks, and herds. 



The number of these Indians in direct con- 

 nection with the Government of the United 

 States is 239,506 souls, seven-twelfths of whom 

 are females. 



The large tribes of Cherokees, Ohickasaws, 

 and Choctaws, occupy lands in the south- 

 western part of the United States. These lands 

 are west of Arkansas and north of Texas, and 

 being within the limits of the southern super- 

 intendency, and under the supervision of agents 

 who sympathized with the Government of the 

 Confederate States, all intercourse was suspend- 

 ed by them with the agents of the United 

 States. After the 4th of March, when a new 

 administration had been inaugurated, the super- 

 intendent and agents were removed, and others 

 appointed to discharge their duties. These new 

 officers were unable to reach their posts, or to 

 hold any intercourse with the tribes under their 

 charge. The superintendent and some of the 

 agents of the southern superintendency united 

 with the Confederate States, and incited the 

 Indians to acts of hostility. At the same time 

 they claimed to exercise the same authority by 

 virtue of commissions from the Confederate 

 Government. These influences upon the In- 

 dians were sufficient to induce a portion of 

 them to renounce the authority of the United 

 States, and acknowledge the Confederate States. 

 A treaty was ratified by the Confederate Con- 

 gress with the Choctaws, by which two dele- 

 gates from that nation received the privilege to 

 sit in the Congress. Sampson Folsom and East- 

 man Loman were the delegates. Two regiments 

 were raised and joined the Confederate army, 

 and a third was organized during 1861. The 

 hostile attitude assumed by some portions of 

 the above-mentioned tribes was produced, it 

 was supposed, by the threats of emissaries sent 

 among them. A large proportion of these tribes 

 are in comfortable circumstances ; one very far 

 advanced in the arts of civilization, and many of 

 them are slaveholders. This last circumstance, 

 the lack of information relative to the purposes 

 of the new administration, the surrender of the 

 posts in their vicinity, and the withdrawal of the 

 Federal troops, are sufficient reasons to explain 

 a change of allegiance on the part of any of 

 them. Among the first to yield to such in- 

 fluences were the Choctaws and Chickasaws ; 

 amongst the last were the Cherokees, at the 

 head of whom is John Ross, who resisted these 

 movements as long as it was in his power. The 

 following is his proclamation of neutrality: 



I, John Ross, principal Chief, hereby issue this my 

 proclamation to the people of the Cherokee Nation, re- 



minding them of the obligations arising under their 

 treaties with the United States, and urging them to 

 the faithful observance of said treaties, and peace and 

 friendship towards the people of all the States. The 

 better to attain these important ends, I earnestly im- 

 press on all my fellow-citizens the propriety of attend- 

 ing to their ordinary avocations, and to abstain from 

 political discussions of the events transpiring in the 

 States, and from partisan demonstrations in regard to 

 the same. 



They should not be alarmed with false reports, 

 thrown into circulation by designing men, but cultivate 

 harmony among themselves, and observe good faith 

 and strict neutrality between the States threatened 

 with civil war. \V f ith these means alone can the 

 Cherokee people hope to maintain their own rights 

 unimpaired, and have their own soil and firesides spar- 

 ed from the hateful effects of devastating war. There 

 has not been a declaration of war between the oppos- 

 ing parties, and the conflict may yet be avoided with 

 a compromise or a peaceable separation. The peculiar 

 circumstances of their condition admonish the Chero- 

 kees to the exercise of prudence in regard to a state of 

 affairs to the existence of which they nave in no way 

 contributed, and they should avoid the performance of 

 any act, or the adoption of any policy, calculated to 

 destroy or endanger their territorial and civil rights. 

 With an honest adherence to this course, they can 

 give no just cause for aggression or invasion, nor any 

 pretence for making their country the scene of mili- 

 tary oppression, and will be in a situation to claim all 

 their rights in the final adjustment that will take place 

 between the several States. 



For these reasons I earnestly urge on the Cherokee 

 people the importance of non-interference with the 

 people of the States, and the observance of unswerving 

 neutrality between them ; trusting that God will not 

 only keep from our own borders the desolation of war, 

 but that He will, in His infinite mercy and honor, stay 

 its ravages among the brotherhood of the States. 



Given under mv hand at the Executive office at Park 

 Hill, this 17th day of May, 1861. JOHN ROSS, 



Principal Chief. 



The number of the Cherokee nation is 22,000, 

 among whom 30 schools are established. The 

 number of the Choctaws is about 18,000, and 

 that of the Chickasaws 5,000. Among the 

 Choctaws there are numerous schools and 

 churches; the proportion is about the same 

 with the Chickasaws. 



Notwithstanding the position taken by the 

 Chief Ross, yet the unfavorable course of af- 

 fairs connected with the Federal military move- 

 ments in Missouri, and the activity of the 

 Confederate agents, so strengthened the party 

 in favor of an alliance with the Confederate 

 States that Ross was overborne by their pres- 

 sure. On the 20th of August he called the 

 Council together at Tahlequah, and sent in a 

 message recommending a severance of their 

 connection with the Federal Government, and 

 an alliance with the Confederate Government. 

 The Council approved of these recommenda- 

 tions, and appointed commissioners to make a 

 treaty of alliance. At the time of this change 

 of views on the part of the Chief and Council, 

 the Confederate Commissioners had made prop- 

 ositions offering to assume the payment of the 

 regular annuity which the Cherokees had 

 hitherto received from the United States, and 

 which they now feared would be lost by an al- 

 liance with the Confederacy; threats of an in- 

 vasion from Arkansas and Texas were also 



