The Four Treaties of 1866

 

Treaties of 1866 all signed in Fort Smith, Arkansas

Frequently, one hears many people make reference to the Treaty of 1866, and this is sometimes referred to as if there was one single treaty that covered all of the Five Tribes and their relation to the United States after the Civil War. All of the five tribes had signed treaties with the Confederates and all had units that had actually fought for the south during the Civil War.

As a result the Federal government told the Five Nations that all previous treaties were null and void and new treaties had to be signed with the United States, going forward. Three of the nations signed their owned individual treaty with the United States meanwhile, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation signed the same treaty together.

. Of interest to the descendants of Freedmen from those nations - the people previously enslaved in those nations, one of the issues addressed in each of the treaties was the aboloshing black chattel slavery practiced in those tribes. 

Nation                                             Date Signed               Date Ratified

Seminole Nation                              March 21, 1866          July 19, 1866
Choctaw & Chickasaw Nations       April 28, 1866             June 28, 1866  
Cherokee Nation                              July 19, 1866             July 27, 1866

Creek Nation                                    June 14, 1866            July 19, 1866

Each treaty had their own language, addressing unique aspects of their relations with the Federal government. 


Portions of each treaty and the ending of slavery:
 
Cherokee Nation - Article 9 of the Cherokee Treaty of 1866 states:  
   Article 9 The Cherokee Nation having, voluntarily, in February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by an act of the national council, forever abolished slavery, hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their nation otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, in accordance with laws applicable to all the members of said tribe alike. They further agree that all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as all free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and are now residents therein, or who may return within six months, and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees:  Provided, That owners of slaves so emancipated in the Cherokee Nation shall never receive any compensation or pay for the slaves so emancipated.

Choctaw & Chickasaw Nation - Article 3 of the treaty of 1866 states:
Article 2. The Choctaws and Chickasaws hereby covenant and agree that henceforth neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of crime whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, in accordance with laws applicable to all members of the particular nation, shall ever exist in said nations. 


Creek Nation - Article 2 of the Treaty of 1866 states:
The Creeks hereby covenant and agree that henceforth neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted in accordance with laws applicable to all members of said tribe, shall ever exist in said nation; and inasmuch as there are among the Creeks many persons of African descent, who have no interest in the soil, it is stipulated that hereafter these persons lawfully residing in said Creek country under their laws and usages, or who have been thus residing in said country, and may return within one year from the ratification of this treaty, and their descendants and such others of the same race as may be permitted by the laws of the said nation to settle within the limits of the jurisdiction of the Creek Nation as citizens [thereof,] shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of native citizens, including an equal interest in the soil and national funds, and the laws of the said nation shall be equally binding upon and give equal protection to all such persons, and all others, of whatsoever race or color, who may be adopted as citizens or members of said tribe.

Seminole Nation - Article 2 of the Treaty of 1866 states:
The Seminole Nation covenant that henceforth in said nation slavery shall not exist, nor involuntary servitude, except for and in punishment of crime, whereof the offending party shall first have been duly convicted in accordance with law, applicable to all the members of said nation. And inasmuch as there are among the Seminoles many persons of African descent and blood, who have no interest or property in the soil, and no recognized civil rights it is stipulated that hereafter these persons and their descendants, and such other of the same race as shall be permitted by said nation to settle there, shall have and enjoy all the rights of native citizens, and the laws of said nation shall be equally binding upon all persons of whatever race or color, who may be adopted as citizens or members of said tribe.

These are dates to remember, as they refer to the official time in which slavery ended in each nation. Many former slaveholders fought to keep their human chattel in bondage, and the years after the war were challenging to many of the freed people. However, by the mid 1880s a new life would take shape as the Freedmen of Indian Territory forged new lives on the Western Frontier.

 

Freedmen Schools in the Cherokee Nation 1869 - 1907

 

In 2008 I had the privelege of speaking with Dr. James McCullough a professor at the University of North Iowa. He had for several years  taken a strong interest in a topic that had caught his attention. That was the education of Freedmen in the Cheokee Nation. At that time, researcher Terry Ligon and I were publishing a small journal known as Voices of Indian Territory. 

Dr. McCullough reached out to me, as he became interested in sharing some of his own research about the Cherokee Colored High School, and offered to share with me, some of his work. I was delighted, and the result was that in the Spring/Summer issue of 2008, his work was published. The article was quite extensive, and in addition to his work on the Cherokee Colored High School were some additional pieces of information pertaining to education of Freedmen in the Cherokee Nation.

I shall be posting much of this information on the blog in future weeks sharing his work about Freedmen education in the Cherokee Nation. In thi issue, I shall share a list by District of the old Freedmen schools, now long forgotten. 

As an educator and as a Freedmen researcher, I have deep appreciation for Dr. James McCullough, and his  sharing this information with me.  It is time now to bring Dr. McCulloug's  work forward to a larger community of Cherokee researchers.

Cherokee Nation Freedmen Scochools by District 1860's - 1907

Compiled by Dr. James McCullough, North Iowa State University

1860s:
Fourteen Mile Creek (Spring 1869) Tahlequah District
Tahlequah (Spring 1869 - Fall 1907) Tahliquah Distict
Fort Gibson (Spring 1869 - Fall 1907 Illinois District

1870s
Four Mile Branch (Fall 1874 - Fall 1907) Tahlequah District

Grant (Fall 1874 - Fall 18960 Talequah District
Vann's Valley (Fall 1874 - Spring 1885) Saline District
Four Mile Branch (Spring 1877 - Spring 18780 Illinois District
Lightening Creek (Spring 1877 - Spring 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Sand Town (Spring 1877 - Fall 1907) Illinois District

Greenleaf (Fall 1878 - Fall 1907) Illiois District
Island Ford (Spring  1878 - Fall 1907) Delaware District

1880's
Flat Rock (Fall 1880 - Spring 1892) Cooweescoowee District
Goose Neck(Fall 1880 - Fall - 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Timbuctoo (Fall 1882 - Fall 1887 (Sequoyah District)
Big Creek (Fall 1882 - Fall 1887) Cooweescoowee District
Lone Cedar (Fall 1882 - Fall 1885) Sequyah District
Moore (Fall 1883 - Fall 1907) Delaware District
Stooping Elm (Spring 1883 - Spring 1890) Canadian District
Green (Spring 1885 - Fall 1885) Illinois District
Lynnch's Prairie (Fall 1885 - Fall 1907) Saline District
Redland (Fall 1886 - Fall 1907) Sequoyah District
Hickory Creek (Fall 1888 - Fall 1907) Cooweescoowee District

1890's
Brushy Creek (Fall 1892 - Fall 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Vinita (Spring 1894 - Fall 1907) Delaware District
Flint Ridge (Fall 1896 - Fall 1907) Tahlequah District
Watie (Spring 1897 - Fall 1907) Illinois District

1900s
Pleasant Hill (Spring 1901 - Fall 1907) Tahlequah District
Sanders (Spring 1903 - Fall 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Elliot (Spring 1904 - Fall 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Upper Big Creek (Fall 1904 - Fall 1906) Cooweescoowee District
Vian (Fall 1904 - Fall 1907) Illinois District
St. Stehpan (Fall 1904 - Fall 1907) Sequoyah District
Lower Big Creek (Fall 1905 - Spring 1906) Cooweescoowee District

Melton (Fall 1905 - Fall 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Pine Mountain (Fall - Fall 1907) Sequoyah District
Panther Creek (Fall 1906 - Fall 1907) Cooweescoowee District
Big Creek Fall  (1907)  Cooweescoowee District
Booker (1907)  Cooweescoowee District
Daniels (1907)  Cooweescoowee District
Douglas (1907)  Sequoyah District
Flat Rock (1907)  Cooweescoowee District

Foreman (1907)  Cooweescoowee District
Hill (1907)  Cooweescoowee District
Mohawk (1907)  Cooweescoowee District

It is clear from Dr. McCullah's work that the Cherokee Freedmen Schools ended as Oklahoma statehood arrived, and after that time all education came under the jurisdiction of the new State of Oklahoma. Of course racial segregation would be strongly in place, and those schools once designated as tribal Freedmen schools were known from that time forward, simply as "Negro" schools and would remain so, until the 1960s, when the Civil Rights movement brought about a changein the educational system.

The identification of many of these Cherokee Freedmen schools identified by Dr. James McCullough are quite useful in the documentation of Cherokee Freedmen history as well as that of Oklahoma Freedmen as a whole. There is much more of McCullough's work to share that were published in Voices of Indian Territory, including detailed history of the Cherokee Colored High School as well. 

"Only God Could Seperate Us"

When reading the interviews of Freedmen seeking to have their names placed on the Dawes Roll, most interviews were simply factual data recorded about their lives. So when expressions of tenderness and emotion appear from these interviews it is enough to make one pause and appreciate who the Oklahoma Freedmen were. They were men, they were women, they were people who had emotions and between many dared to express their love for their life partner to anyone who would hear it.

Therefore, on this Valentine's Day, it is worthwhile to share two examples of the love and passion that people shared for each other.

Joe Davis, Vinita Oklahoma

Joe Davis and His Love for Belle

During the Dawes Commission period, Joe Davis appeared in front of the Dawes Commission to apply for himself and his family. The usual questions were asked of Joe Davis. He answered questions about his earlier life, about his life when enslaved, and whether he was enrolled on the 1880 authenticated Cherokee Roll. He was asked  if he was married, and when they married, and he produced a marriage certificate from 1876. He was asked if this was his first marriage:

Q. Was Bell Davis your first wife?
A. Yes sir, she was the only woman I ever loved in my life.
Q. You love her yet, do you?
A. I love her yet, still harder.

This kind of tenderness is rarely seen in Dawes interviews, particular since many of the commissioners were known to be harsh and hostile to the Freedmen being interviewed. But the love of this man for his wife must be noted, for love is the greatest of all virtues.


Rachel and King Kernal A Union that Endured for Eight Decades
Their grandson, Phillip A. Lewis was a Creek Freedman who lived in the Muskoge area most of his life. He had a remarkable life, and in the 1930s much of his life was captured in the Indian Pioneer Papers. One of the stories about his family history stood out when he expressed the love between his grandparents, Rachel and King Kernal was shared. He told his grandmother Rachel's  story the way he heard it as a child. Grandma Rachel's life with her husband began at a place of heartbreak and sorrow: a slave auction.

Rachel's story:
"When I was only a girl, I was taken to a slave market to be sold by a slave trader. Just before the sale, my attention was attracted by a very large young fellow in the crowd who seemed to never to be looking at anyone except me. Finally after working his way closer and closer to me, and the opportunity presented itself, he leaned over and whispered to me, 'If I persuade my master to buy you will you marry me?' As I looked up into his face, somehow, something made me say 'yes'. Without another word, he turned and dissappeard in the crowd.
  "He was gone. I was bewildered and lost in a haze of jumbled thoughts. Who was he? To come to me to come to me from among the people, the greatest number of people I had seen in my life."
   "Why had he said such words, received my answer and then disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as he had came. What did it all mean? I could not understand."
    "Then I saw him, head and shoulders taller than anyone else, making his way through the crowd in my direction, and as he came closer, I saw there was another man with him. They came near us and stopped, stood there together, looking in my direction, and after a short whispered conversation, they approached my master, and shortly, I was the property of a new master, who was the owner of the man to whom I had given the answer "yes", King Kernal.
     "Our master took King and Me" to his place, and we were married immediately thereafter, though in slavery, we were happy. Our master was kind not to separate us during slavery time, and after we were made free people, only God Could separate us."

Rachel and King Kernal would spend oaver 80 years of their lives together, with both passing away after the age of 100. King Kernal died in 1873 and was said to be 108 years old at the time. Rachel died twelve years later at the age of 103. Both had endured slavery, then the removal to the west in the 1830s, and in spite of the bondage under which most of their lives were spent--their bond of love was far greater than any restrictions of slavery.

* * * * *

These two stories are presented to reflect the basic humanity of the enslaved people, taken to the west, who were enslaved in five Indian Tribes, and later tasting a freed life in a territory that had become home.

Though the next century their children and grandchildren would be tossed aside and expelled, due to the contemporary biases of color the descendants of both families have a strong legacy of families founded in unbreakable love. Both of these two stories reflect the humanity of a people discarded but whose humanity still shines forth.

* * * * *     
  ".... but the greatest of these is love."
                                             1st Corinthians 6:20

New Chat Schedule for 2024

 

New ZOOM-chat schedule 
Afvummi Himona Na Yukpa - Happy New Year!

 
Beginning in January 2024 the twice-a-week history/genealogy chats will occur on the following days:

Sunday 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Friday   4:00 - 6:30 pm

The new schedule will accomodate people who cannot make the weekday chats, and the Friday chats will hopefully allow people who are working to join the chat later in the day.

Sunday chats will be open with no specified topics.

Friday chats will have a Topic of the day. The first half-hour will incorporate the Day's topic, and may occasionally be taped when unique documents are shared. The chat will then be opened up for general genealogical chatting.

Links to the weekly chat will be posted in the Facebook group, (Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Descendants) and also to those wishing to be on an email list.

Join us!

Labor Day Festivities in Black Oklahoma 1915

 

In 1915, the first of several events unfolded in Muskogee Oklahoma when the "Great Agricultural and Industrial Parade" unfolded at the fair grounds. The event occurred during the week of Labor Day from September 6th through 11th at the fair. One of the highlights of the event was a massive parade with dozens of find automobiles and horsemen parading through downtown Muskogee. on 2nd Street which was the heart of the black business community at that time. Each day there were horse races, in addition to automobile racing unfolding. For children there was much to amuse them with carnival rides and plenty of concessions to satisfy the crowds in attendance.

One of the organizers of the event was Herbert A. Clark, an accountant who had come to Oklahoma from his native Ohio, and worked as an accountant in addition to also having worked as a linotype operator, which was the primary macing used to set print. He resided on 3rd Street in Muskogee, only a block away from 2nd Street which for decades was the primary business distict of black Musskogee.

To promote the event it was also noted that much of the event was to have been captured on film, and it appears quite possibly the film maker was Solomon Sir Jones, who produced numerous films of Black Oklahoma. On one of his films an impressive parade was shown with a line of fine automobiles, and others reflecting riders on horseback as part of the parade.

Image from Muskogee Parade Capture by Solomon Sir Jones
Image Captured from Global Image Works

Parade of Automobiles from Solomon Sir Jones Film
Image Captured from Global Image Works

Marching Band in Oklahoma Parade
Source: Global Image Works

Another Glimpse of Oklahoma Parade
Source: Globel Image Works

That first Labor Day holiday event was the first of several state fair events that were hosted in Oklahoima. For the next several years the event to grew to become favorited "Negro State Fairs" in Oklhaoma.  At one time the state governor close the black schools so that black children could attend the "Negro State Fair" that was now celebrated later in the fall.

 
Source:  Muskogee Cimeter
Chronicling America

For many decades Freedmen from the Five Tribes attended similar events celebrating Freedom and emancipation, and those celebrations were held usually in early August, usually on or around August 4th.  Many Freedmen also attended events in Texas, and this is perhaps where the state fair concept emerged. Almost all of the events consisted of parades, music, competitions and exhibitions for the amusement of onlookers and visitors.

Today Labor Day is usually a family based holiday where individuals spend time with loved ones, placing food on the grill, and enjoying the day. The day usually marks the end of summer with schhols reopening, and that day off has often been the much needed and appreciated change of season day to mark not nolythe calendar change but also for the family and the community to celebrate themselves and their own accomplishments.

So we take this time to acknowledge that we are following a tradition of more than a century ago celebrated by our ancestors. Enjoy this day as our ancestors did. Celebrate your family, and you community as was done in days past.

"Yall as Free as I am."

Juneteenth and a Season of Freedom

We celebrated Juneteenth yesterday, which is a national holiday honoring the end of slavery and beginning of freedom in the United States for millions of people. However, for several thosand people just to the west, in Indian Territory, slavery continued. A full year after the Civil War the five slaverholding tribes finally abolished slavery by signing a treaty with the United States. Four different treaties were signed, with 3 tribes signing their own treaty--Cherokee, Creek and Seminole Nations. Choctaws and Chickasaws signed the same exact treaty, and at last slavery was abolished in Indian Territory.

There are not many stories written explaining how freedmen came to the various communities. However, years later a few of the formerly enslaved people referred to their experiences when freedom came to them. Below are a few of these memories shared in the 1930s when the WPA (Works Progress Administration) launched the Slave Narrative Project. Thankfully a few of the stories of Freedmen from the Five Tribes were also captured in that process.

Below are a few words documented by the project. Note that the final piece is the only reference made to freedom of an ancestor who was enslaved in the Choctaw Nation. It is a reference simply to my gr. gr. grandmother, and who had freed her. Though her own words are not there---the word "freed" is still there as part of our own family's story of freedom. 

Those enslaved in Indian Territory should never be forgotten. Though many were told that they were not worthy, and that their blood did not count--it needs to be said: It did count! They did count! And their history is there to find.

Although our ancestors were not freed on Juneteenth, we still celebrate the beginning of the end. It would take a full year in the territory and for many such as the Choctaw Freedmen, it would be 19 years before citizenship was finally given to them. 

* * * * *

 

~~Phyllis Pettit~~

Cherokee Nation

"But one day Old Master stay after he eat breakfast and when us negroes come in to eat, he say: 'After today I ain't your master any more. Yall as free as I am.' We just stand and look and don't know what to say about it."1

After while Pappy got a wagon and some oxen to drive for a white man who was coming to the Cherokee Nation because he had folks here. His name was Dave Mounts and he had a boy named John.

We come with them and stopped at Fort Gibson, where my own grand mammy was cooking for hte soldiers at the garrison. And I was named after her. She had a good Cherokee master. My mammy was born on his place.

We stayed with her about a week and then we moved out on Four Mile Creek. She died on Fourteen-Mile Creek about a year later. 

When we first went to Four Mile Creek we saw some negro women chopping wood and asked them who they worke for and I found out they didn't know they was free yet."

* * * * *

~~Charlotte Johnson White~~
Cherokee Nation

"Near as I ever know I was born in the year 1850 away back in dem hills east of Tahlequah; the Cherokees called it the Flint District and old master Ben Johnson lived somewheres about ten miles east of  theh big Indian town Tahlequah.

Never did know jest where his farm was and when de new towns of this country spring up, it make it dat much harder for me to figure out jest where he lived and where I was born."

...I hear about the slaves being free when maybe a hundred soldiers come to de house. Dey was a pretty sights settin' on their horses, and de men had on blue uniforms wid little caps. "All de slaves is free," one of de men said, and after dat, I jest told everybody, "I is a free Negro now and I ain't goin to work for nobdy."

A long time after de war is over and everybody is free of dey masters I get down to Muldrow (Okla) and dat's where I join de church. For 58 year I belong to the colored Baptists and I learn dat everybody ought to be good while dey is livin', so 's dey will have a better restin' place when dey die." 2

* * * * * 

 ~~Kiziah Love~~
Choctaw Nation

...I  married Isom Love, a slave of Sam Love, another full-blood Indian that lived on a a jining farm. We lived on Masater Frank's farm and Isom went back and forth to work fer his aster and I worked ever day fer mine. I don't 'spect we  could of done that way iffen we hadn't had Indian masters. They let us do a lot ike we pleased jest so we got our work done and didn't run off.

I was glad to be free. What did I do and say? Well, I just clapped my hands together and said thank Gof Almith, I'se free at last."3

* * * * * 

~~Sallie Walton~~
(Dawes Interview for Walton Family)

In 1899, my great grandparents from the Walton family appeared in front of the Dawes Commission to be interviewed. Basic information was collected, and a member of the Perry family was present and testified on behalf of my great grandmother Sallie. One sentence stood out for me, that referenced how freedom came to the Perry slaves. This is the only reference to freedom from family records. and they are shared here as well.

"The mother of Sallie Walton was freed under my sister Emeline Perry."4

Q. Was your sister a Choctaw?
A. Yes sir

* * * * * 

Clearly, a critical task awaits us---to find our freedom story!

 1 Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project, Administrative Files. 1936. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/mesn001/>
2 Ibid
3 Ibid
4 National Archives Publication M1301, Applications for Enrollment of the Five Civilized Tribes

Honoring Oklahoma Freedmen: Black History from Indian Territory

 

DAY 1: FREEDMEN HISTORY MONTH

Basic Genealogy & History For Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen

In 1906, the year before Oklahoma Statehood, the population of citizens from Indian Territory was published. These were individuals who had been present from the 1830s onward. Among the Five Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminoles) were several thousand blacks the eldest of whom had been brought to the Territory as slaves within those tribes. Their children and grandchildren lived within those nations until statehood, and were thoroughly documented over the decades from the Trail of Tears, to statehood in 1907.

Their story is often omitted when Oklahoma Black history is mentioned, often overtaken by stories of the Black Towns, the Tulsa Massacre, and the Civil Rights era. However, each day during February, a video will be posted here, honoring the 20,000 documented Freedmen of the Five Tribes. 

For reference, their numbers are being shared here.

Indian Tribal Freedmen Population in 1906:

Cherokee Freedmen 3982

Choctaw Freedmen 5254

Chickasaw Freedmen 4995

Creek Freedmen 5585

Seminole Freedmen 857 (+93 children born later)

                                  Total number of Freedmen from Indian Territory: 20, 766 

(Source of data: Muskogee Cimeter, Muskogee, I. T. January 4, 1906 p. 2)