REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. [Mr. COOLEY having resigned as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Hon. L. V. BOGY succeeded to the position November 1, 1866.] ABSTRACT OF RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED IN REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. Early attention needed to certain treaties pending in the Senate. Provisions should be made for treaty arrangements with remaining bands of Santee Sioux in northeastern Dakota. Arrangements, by legislation or otherwise, for settlement of Wyandott difficulties. Revision of system of trade and licenses. Appropriation of a fund for rescuing and restoring captives to their homes. Appropriation of a fund for securing memorials of Indians. Revision of laws relating to depredations. Appropriation for surveys for allotments to Indians. Special appropriations for education in several superintendencies. Increased appropriations in several superintendencies, as Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Office Indian Affairs, October 22, 1866. SIR: In presenting my second annual report, I follow the practice of previous years, of bringing to the attention of the department such topics connected with the Indian service as are of general interest, before proceeding to particulars relative to the various superintendencies and their subordinate agen cies. It may not be deemed improper to state at the outset that it would be very agreeable, and that much labor could be saved, if it were possible, consistent with a fair resumé of the business of the year, for these annual reports to be abridged; but I have not been able to see how this can be done. It does not seem a great task to attend to the business of directing the management of about three hundred thousand Indians; but when it is considered that those Indians are scattered over a continent, and divided into more than two hundred tribes, in charge of fourteen superintendents and some seventy agents, whose frequent reports and quarterly accounts are to be examined and adjusted; that no general rules can be adopted for the guidance of those officers, for the reason that the people under their charge are so different in habits, customs, manners, and organization, varying from the civilized and educated Cherokee and Choctaw to the miserable lizard-eaters of Arizona; and that this office is called upon to protect the Indian, whether under treaty stipulations or roaming at will over his wild hunting-grounds, from abuse by unscrupulous whites, while at the same time it must concede every reasonable privilege to the spirit of enterprise and adventure which is pouring its hardy population into the western country; when these things are considered, the task assigned to this bureau will not seem so light as it is sometimes thought. I will endeavor, however, to be as brief as possible consistent with justice to the subjects embraced in the report. The labors of the office have been very much increased during the past year from various causes, nearly all having their origin in the patent fact that the white population is rapidly crowding westward upon the Indians, either in the search for farming lands or for the precious minerals; and the people who have held these lands are compelled to give way before the advancing tide. If they are wandering bands, subsisting upon game or the products of the forest, they must submit to see their resources grow yearly less as the white population advances; while, if they have become so far civilized as to be willing to till the soil, a class of settlers too often gathers around them who regard but little the rights of the red men. As the years move forward, these difficulties continually increase. It is the law of nature and of the progress of mankind, and its operations cannot be stayed. To endeavor to regulate its movement to some extent is the endeavor of this office, and we may claim to be reasonably successful, when the difficulties in the way are considered. Occupying the chief place among the events of the year, one subject presents itself first for consideration, to wit, that of INDIAN TREATIES. The year 1866 will be memorable as one in which a large number of very important treaties have been ratified by the government and gone into effect, most of them having been concluded within the year; and inasmuch as several of these treaties have been concluded in this city after long negotiations, the labors of the office have been very much increased, while, for several months, the halls of the department building have been filled with delegates from the various tribes, comprising all classes, from the educated and intelligent men representing the nations in the Indian country south of Kansas, to the Chip pewas of the far north, near the British line, to whose lands the greed for gold is leading large numbers of enterprising whites. A brief review of these treaties may not prove uninteresting, and will serve for future reference. TREATIES MADE IN 1865 AND PREVIOUS THERETO. Arapahoes and Cheyennes: Concluded with these confederated tribes October. 14, 1865, by General Sanborn, General Harney, Superintendent Murphy, Colonel Carson, Colonel Bent, Agent Leavenworth, and James Steele, commissioners appointed by the President of the United States; ratification advised May 22, 1866, with an amendment. Has been sent to the Indians for their assent to the amendment. These tribes, by the treaty of Fort Wise, in 1860, ceded a very large tract of land in Colorado, reserving a tract upon the Arkansas, where their payments were to be made, and large expenditures were in progress for their permanent benefit. A considerable portion of the tribes, however, never joined in or consented to that treaty, and when the Sioux of the plains and of Dakota broke out into hostility, many of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes joined them, there being large bands of their people living in the Sioux country, not parties to the treaty referred to. There is no occasion to repeat here the story of the loss of life and damage to property caused by attacks upon the overland routes, nor of the exasperation of the people of Colorado, which culminated in the attack, by a regiment of volunteers of that Territory, under Colonel Chivington, upon a band of these Indians who had come in to an appointed rendezvous at the call of the governor and were determined to keep the peace, and the murder of a large number of them and dispersion of the remainder. It was felt that the government had been disgraced by this affair, and that the Indians had just cause for feeling aggrieved, and the commissioners were authorized to tender ample reparation for their losses. The Indians were unwilling to return to their reservation, in Colorado, and other arrangements became necessary in their behalf. By the treaty concluded with them they cede all right or claim to any lands formerly held by them, and accept a reservation bounded by the Arkansas river and Red creek, and a line drawn northwardly from the head of the latter stream to the Arkansas, agreeing to concentrate upon any part of that tract of land when required by the government to do so. It may be remarked in regard to this location that the commissioners evidently contemplated arrangements to be made with other tribes, since by far the largest portion of the reservation lies within the lands of the Osages and Cherokees; while the Indians, in agreeing not to approach within ten miles of the route to Santa Fé, cut themselves off from a considerable portion of the remainder of the tract. The question of location is still further complicated by the nature of the amendment made by the Senate, which provides that their reservation shall not be in Kansas, and some difficulty is apprehended in settling this very important point. The Indians agree to peace with the whites and with other tribes, and to abstain from all depredations. They are allowed, until a permanent reservation is set apart for them, to range the country between the Arkansas and Platte, but are not to approach within ten miles of the travelled routes. The government agrees to expend for their benefit, for forty years, twenty dollars per head until they go upon a permanent reservation, and forty dollars per head after that time; and that the arrears of their annuities under former treaties shall be paid. It is also provided, especially to heal the wounds caused by the Chivington affair, that donations of land shall be secured to the widows and orphans of those who were killed, and that the property taken from them shall be liberally paid for. Their numbers are estimated at 2,800 until a census is taken. All other treaties are abrogated, and the reservation in Colorado becomes the property of the United States. The Apaches, who have heretofore been allied to the Kiowas and Comanches, were, by treaty concluded October 17, 1865, separated from those tribes and confederated with the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, and accept the provisions of their treaty, their numbers being estimated at until a census is taken. This treaty was ratified at the same time with that of their new allies. As is generally the case with the Indian tribes who engage in treaty stipulations, there is a small portion of the Cheyennes, composed mostly of wild and reckless young men, whom the chiefs are unable to control, and who show a disposition to continue hostilities and depredations, but there is good reason to hope that they will be brought to reason and good behavior. Kincas and Comanches: Treaty concluded with these tribes by the same commissioners, October 18, 1865; ratification advised May 22, 1866, and proclaimed May 26, 1866. By the energetic efforts of their agent, Colonel Leavenworth, these tribes had been influenced to avoid hostilities, and, with the exception of a few outlying parties and bands ranging the great plains on the borders of New Mexico, had been peaceably disposed towards the whites. They were induced to come in to the appointed rendezvous on the Little Arkan-as, in October, 1865, and there agreed to the terms of a treaty, by which they were to yield all claim to occupancy of any land in Kansas, New Mexico, or Colorado, and assigned, as a range of country in which to obtain their subsistence by the chase until a permanent reservation should be given to them, a wide district lying in northwestern Texas and the Indian country. They make the same pledges of peace and good behavior as the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, &c., and the government agrees to expend for their benefit, for forty years, the sum of ten dollars per head per year until they concentrate upon a reservation, and fifteen dollars thereafter. Their numbers are fixed at 4,000 until a census shall be taken. As the district assigned to these Indians is all in Texas or the Indian country, special arrangements must be eventually made with the parties owning the lands, when these tribes are required to concentrate in one locality. Osages: Concluded with them September 29, 1865, by Commissioner Cooley and Superintendent Sells; ratification advised by the Senate, with amendments, and amendments sent to them by their agent, Mr. Snow, early in September for their assent. The amendments make no material change, and were accepted by the Indians September 21, 1866. This treaty is one of great importance, as by it the Indians cede a large quantity of valuable land which the settlers in Kansas have for some time desired to possess, while its sale makes a handsome provision for the wants of the Indians. The treaty, in the first place cedes to the United States a tract about thirty miles in width, from east to west from the east end of the Osage lands, and adjoining the Cherokee neutral lands which have been placed in market. Until the settlement of the location of the southwest corner of this tract, its precise area cannot be stated, but it will probably be not less than 960,000 acres. For this the government is to pay $300,000, the interest of which, at five per cent., is for the present to be used for the benefit of the Indians. The land is to be regularly surveyed and sold at public sale. After the government has been reimbursed the cost of the land and of the survey and sale, the balance realized is to be used by the government as a fund for the civilization of Indians generally-a most beneficent provision, which is thus happily secured. Besides the tract above mentioned, the Osages cede to the government, in trust, a tract twenty miles in width along the whole northern side of their remaining reservation. This land, being about two hundred and thirty miles by twenty, or 2,944,000 acres, is to be surveyed and sold as other public lands, and the avails invested, at five per cent. interest, for the benefit of the Indians-eighty thousand dollars of the amount being specially set apart as a school fund. Provisions are made for lands to be reserved for their mission school, and the Indians are to remove within their diminished reserve within six months from the ratification of the treaty. It is also provided that if future arrangements shall be made for removing the tribe entirely from Kansas into the Indian country, one-half of the proceeds of their lands may be devoted to the purchase of their new home in that region. Dakota or Sioux Indians: Nine treaties concluded last year with as many bands of Sioux, by the commission appointed by the President, consisting of Governor Edmunds, Superintendent Taylor, General Curtis, General Sibley, Rev. H. W. Reed, and Orrin Guernsey, were submitted to the Senate, and their ratification advised March 5, 1866, and the treaties were proclaimed March 17, 1866. Below is appended a list of the bands thus treated with, with the esti mated number of persons belonging to each band: Two Kettles.... Lower Brulés. Oncpapas.. Minneconjous. Upper Yanctonnais. Ogallallas.... Blackfeet Sioux.. 1,200 persons. 1,200 persons. 1, 800 persons. 2,220 persons. 2, 100 persons. 1, 680 persons. 2, 400 persons. 2, 100 persons. 1, 320 persons. Total.... 16, 020 persons. The nine treaties above referred to are all of the same tenor, and establish peace with the various tribes of Sioux of Dakota, with whom hostilities had continued for two or three years, at great cost to the government. The Indians agree to abstain from all hostilities with the whites and with other tribes, and in case of differences with other tribes to submit them to the arbitration of the government; to allow the establishment of routes of travel through their country, and to place no obstacles in the way of any of their people who may be disposed to turn to the pursuit of agriculture for a living. The government, in view of the fact that the buffalo and other game, by means of which these nomadic tribes subsist, are being driven from the country by the whites who traverse it, agrees to pay the Indians, at different points, in goods adapted for their use, at the rate of about fifteen dollars per head per annum, and whenever any of them will settle down to the cultivation of the soil, to increase this amount to twenty-five dollars per head; and when one hundred lodges shall concentrate for that purpose, an agency to be established for them and a farmer employed to instruct them. These treaties were made in the fall of 1865, and the Indians, in spite of the great suffering from cold and want of food, endured during the very severe winter of 1865-'66, and consequent temptation to plunder to procure the absolute necessaries of life, faithfully kept the peace. In several of the bands, some of the chiefs stated their intention to plant corn at various places, and portions of two or three bands have come in at Crow creek, (abandoned by the Santee Sioux,) and at the Yancton reservation, and seem disposed to make a fair attempt to abandon their wandering mode of life. It may properly be stated here that, on the occasion of the visit of the commissioners to the Upper Missouri during the last summer, they were met by several chiefs of the Yanctonnais who were not present at the treaty of the previous year, and who affixed their signatures to a copy of the treaty, in testimony of their satisfaction with its provisions. It may reasonably be hoped that, by careful and judicious management of these tribes, and a scrupulous fulfilment of the stipulations of the treaties made with them, no further occasion will arise for expensive military expeditions to be employed in compelling them to keep the peace. Nes Percés: Concluded June 9, 1863; ratification advised by the Senate, with an amendment, which awaits the action of the Indians. The ratification of this treaty has been delayed for several years for various reasons, partly arising from successive changes in the superintendent of Indian affairs in Idaho, whose varying opinions upon the subject of the treaty have caused doubts in the minds of senators. A later treaty had been made, but on careful consideration of the subject it was deemed advisable to carry into effect that of 1863. The Nes Percés claimed title to a very large district of country comprised in what are now organized as Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, but principally within the latter territory, and already a large white population is pressing upon them in the search for gold. They are peaceable, industrious and friendly, and, altogether, one of the most promising of the tribes west of the Rocky mountains, having profited largely by the labors of missionaries among them. By the treaty now ratified, they cede all their lands except a reservation defined by certain natural boundaries, and agree to remove to this reservation within one year. Where they have improvements upon lands outside of it, such improvements are to be appraised and paid for. The tillable lands are to be surveyed into tracts of twenty acres, and allotted to such Indians as desire to hold lands in severalty. government is to continue the annuities due under former treaties, and in addition, pay the tribe, or expend for them, for certain specific purposes having their improvement in view, the sum of $262,500, and a moderate sum is devoted to houses and salaries for chiefs. The right of way is secured for roads through the reservation, and the government undertakes to reserve all important springs and watering places for public use. The Klamaths and Modocs and Yahooskin Snakes: Concluded October 14, |
