Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Indian Removal Policy

-- White settlers believed that Indians stood in the way of their progress

-- 1820's Isaac McCoy, Baptist minister, believed that Indians would like to live in Kansas

presented this idea to Sec. Of War Calhoun

-- William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs negotiated treaties (agreements) with the Kansa and Osage Indians

to insure move of Indians Congress passes the Indian Removal Act of 1830
promised the land in Oklahoma for "as long as the grass grows and the rivers run"
which was until 1906

Trail of tears -- forced marches to insure move of Indians

Five civilized tribes

Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, Seminole

Cherokee adopt republican form of gov’t.

John Ross Cherokee leader

1/8 Cherokee

Have written language (Sequoya)

Link to Cherokee site

Take U.S. to court to keep lands

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

The Cherokee went to the Supreme Court again in 1831. This time they based their appeal on an 1830 Georgia law which prohibited whites from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state. The state legislature had written this law to justify removing white missionaries who were helping the Indians resist removal. The court this time decided in favor of the Cherokee. It stated that the Cherokee had the right to self-government, and declared Georgia's extension of state law over them to be unconstitutional. The state of Georgia refused to abide by the Court decision, however, and President Jackson refused to enforce the law.
Chief Justice John Marshall rule in favor of the Indians
President Andrew Jackson " He’s made his decision, now let’s see him enforce it"

First group of 3000 began in summer of 1838 by boat up the Tenn. river
14,000 waited in prison camps and traveled during the winter of 1838-1839 forced there by 7000 U.S. Troops
one third to one fourth died on the trail 3000 to 4000 deaths
Conducted using U.S. Troops

between 1825 and 1850, 25 tribes of Indians were removed or forced to move by settlers, and cavalry
70,000 Indians give up their homes

Cherokee Indians of Georgia

Shawnee and Delaware Indians of Missouri

-- Also Ottawa, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, Miami, New York, and Quapaw

-- Indians did not like the climate or environment of Kansas

Settlers and Governmental officials cheated the Indians out of blankets, food, clothing, and shelter

Resale to whites or pocket money

-- Indians fought among themselves and took advantage of each other

Missionaries from different tribes tried to "civilize" the Indians

-- teach them the white mans way and to abandon their own way of life

Osage Mission tried to teach Christianity to the Indians

"Mission Neosho" the first Indian mission in Kansas

even before Indian Removal Act 1824

1831 -- Shawnee Baptist Mission was started by Johnston Lykins

Jotham Meeker brought the first printing press to Kansas

Prints the first book in Kansas

Ottawa Indian Laws

Ottawa University develop later at mission

-- Started Shawnee Sun (Siwinowe Kesibwi) a newspaper

-- moved to Ottawa Indians near

Franklin County

Printing hymnals, scriptures, and newspaper

1832 -- Shawnee Methodist Mission in Wyandotte County (1839) moved to Johnson County

Run by Thomas Johnson until it closed in 1862

Johnson County Organized in 1855. County seat, Olathe. Named for Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Methodist minister, who in 1829 established a mission among the Shawnee Indians, about eight miles southwest of Kansas City. Mr. Johnson took the pro-slavery side of politics, and was a member of the first territorial council. He was, when the war came on, a faithful union man. He then lived in Missouri, and become obnoxious to the bushwhackers, they sacked his house, and he was shot and killed, in January 1865.

Other missions started by

-- Society of Friends (Quakers) among the Shawnee Indians;

-- Presbyterian mission for the Iowa, Sac, and Fox Indians in Doniphan County and among the Kickapoo Indians

-- Protestant Missionary the Moravians (United Brethren) among the Munsee Indians near Wyandotte

Catholic Missionaries among the Potawattomi (Saint Mary's) and Osage (St. Phillips) near Topeka

Potawatomi Baptist Manual Labor School, just south of the Kansas River near present-day Topeka

Federal Government would pay $50 to $75 per student enrolled at the missions

Some of the missions were moderately successful in developing friendships with the Indians

However the Indians did not want their children to learn the "white mans" way of life

Staunch resistance

Indians tribes Removed from Kansas

As the white man moved west the Indians were threatened with loosing their land

Whites claim the Indians were not making economic use of their lands in Kansas

1854 Tribes started giving up their land to move on to other land in Indian Territory

By 1870 most of the tribes had been removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) complete removal was accomplished by 1881

Indian Wars In Kansas

With the settlers and railroads moving west they created problems for the Indians

Whites were crossing Indian lands, hunting and taking from Indian resources

1864 -- Colonel John M. Chivington

"Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians," he said. "Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice." He ordered the attack.

his troops massacred a camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians (Sand Creek Massacre) eastern Colorado

Chief Black Kettle and

Chief White Antelope

flew an American flag and a white flag and thought they were under military protection

750 troops killed 300 Indians

White Antelope's scrotum had been cut off, later to be used as a tobacco pouch.

225 were women and children

bodies were mutilated

10 soldiers died

-- Indians in Kansas retaliated by attacking along the Smoky Hill and Santa Fe Trails and the Solomon and Saline River Valleys

Several attempts at Peace

Maj. Edward Wynkoop – Peace commissioner

Little Arkansas Treaty- Indians accept reservations south of the Arkansas River

Agree to leave white travelers alone

In return, Indians receive Annuities

Payments from the government

Cash, homes, farms, agricultural implements, food, blankets, and clothing

Peace short lived

Government building more Forts to protect white travelers -- Dodge, Hays, and Wallace

1867 -- Major campaign launched against the Indians

Lead by Major Winfield Scott Hancock

also fighting Lt. Col. George A. Custer and the Seventh Cavalry

(scout for troops was James Butler Hickok "Wild Bill")

surprise attack did not work

1400 troops were supposed to scare the Indians.

Peace attempt at Medicine Lodge 1867

still some fighting

Indians complain whites taking land promised to the Indian

Sand Creek only two years ago

Again agreed to move to reservations

October 1868 General Philip Sheridan

attacks the Cheyenne in the winter – Indians would find it harder to resist

November 1868 Lt. Col. Custer and the 19th Volunteer Regiment defeated the Cheyenne Indians "The Battle of the Washita"

800 troopers attack Black Kettle’s camp of 51 lodges before dawn on the 27^th in a foot of snow

Custer reports 100 Indians killed and 21 of his own killed (Black Kettle dies)

Most of his losses were caused by other Indian tribes coming to Black Kettle’s aid

Custer orders the slaughter of 800 pony and mules belonging to the Indians

Torches the lodges and all winter food and clothing

serves to break the Indian resistance

Indians upset about the number of Buffalos being killed by the railroad and whites

William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody killed 3000 in eight months period -- meat used to feed railroad workers

Buffalo face mass extermination after Great hunts by rich and visiting royalty and railroad

Last major problems in 1878 when a band of northern Cheyenne led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf left their reservation to travel to their aboriginal homeland in Montana

Dull Knife Little Wolf

several battles near Scott City

Battle Canyon

Made it across Kansas

Had to kill several settlers and take their horses

captured and placed on reservations

Indians today in Kansas

1990 census statistics 2,477,574 persons

17,800 Indians in Kansas

2000 census statistics 2,688,418 persons

about 27,000

Four reservations in Kansas

Kickapoo near Brown County

Potawattomi in Jackson County

Iowa in Brown and Doniphan County

Sac and Fox in Brown County