Reconstruction Treaties facts for kids

On the eve of the American Civil War in 1861, many Indigenous peoples had been moved from the Southeast to Indian Territory, which is west of the Mississippi River. The tribes in the eastern part of Indian Territory, known as the Five Civilized Tribes, were like independent nations. They had their own governments, strong cultures, and laws that allowed slavery.

Before Europeans arrived, these tribes were often matriarchal, meaning women held important roles, especially in farming, which was their main way of life. Most tribes lived in large towns with planned streets and public areas. They were led by powerful chiefs and had well-organized armies.

By the mid-1800s, the United States Government started leasing land from tribes like the Choctaw and Chickasaw in the drier western part of Indian Territory. These leased lands were used to settle several Plains tribes who were nomadic, meaning they moved around a lot, and were known for their Horse culture. For example, the Comanche people lived in extended families and didn't form a "nation" until they were moved to Indian Territory.

When the Civil War began, the Union Army left Indian Territory. This left the Five Civilized Tribes open to attacks from Plains tribes. The Confederacy quickly stepped in to fill this gap. All of the Five Civilized Tribes and other nearby tribes signed agreements with the Confederacy. After the war, during the time called Reconstruction, the US Congress created the Southern Treaty Commission to make new treaties with the tribes that had sided with the Confederacy.

Civil War and Native American Tribes

Tribes During the War

The Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory strongly supported the Confederacy. They signed the Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws. However, the Cherokee Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and Seminole Nation had people fighting on both sides of the war.

Other tribes, including the Osage, Seneca, and Shawnee from the Neosho Agency, and the Quapaw Tribes, also signed treaties with the Confederacy.

During the Civil War, the Union Congress passed a law. This law allowed the President to stop payments to any tribe that was "at war" with the United States. It also said the President could declare that all treaties with such a tribe were canceled.

Rebuilding After the War

The term Reconstruction usually refers to the changes in the Southern United States after the Civil War. But in Indian Territory, Reconstruction lasted much longer. It led to new policies that affected tribes across the entire country.

The Southern Treaty Commission

As part of Reconstruction, the US President called for a "grand council." This meeting invited representatives from the Five Civilized Tribes and other tribes that had supported the Confederacy. Many other tribes from Kansas were also invited.

This council, called the Southern Treaty Commission, met in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Hundreds of Native Americans from dozens of tribes attended. Over the next few years, the commission negotiated new treaties with different tribes. These treaties led to more tribes being moved to Indian Territory. They also helped create what would become the Oklahoma Territory.

What the Commission Wanted

In September 1865, the Southern Treaty Commission, led by Dennis N. Cooley, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, met with delegates from the Five Civilized Tribes and other groups. Cooley told the tribes that because they joined the Confederacy, their old treaties were now worthless. New treaties would have to be made.

The main points of these new treaties would be:

• Ending slavery.
• Providing homes for the formerly enslaved people (called freedmen).
• Giving up some of their lands for other American Indian tribes to settle on.

The US Government also wanted all the nations and tribes in Indian Territory to form one combined government.

One important result of the meeting was an "agreement." This wasn't a final treaty, but it set the stage for the treaties signed the next year. In this agreement, the tribes promised to recognize the US government as having full power over them. They also agreed not to make any alliances or land deals with any other country or power. Any past actions where they had given up loyalty to the US were canceled.

The council took a break and met again in mid-1866.

New US Government Policies

The United States House Committee on Territories was formed in 1825. After the Civil War, this committee started discussing how to bring the Five Civilized Tribes back into the Union. They made two big decisions about how the US would deal with Native Americans:

• They decided that moving tribes (called Indian removal) wasn't working well. The new plan would be to encourage assimilation. This meant helping Native Americans adopt American ways of life. One part of this was to divide tribal land, which was owned by the whole tribe, into smaller pieces owned by individual tribal members.
• In 1871, Congress decided that the United States would no longer make formal treaties with Indian tribes. They stated that "No Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation."

Important Laws and Acts

These decisions were put into action over the next years through many "reconstruction treaties" and new laws. These included:

• The Indian Appropriations Act
• The Homestead Act, which set up a way for people to claim land, leading to land runs.
• The Dawes Act
• The Dawes Commission
• The Curtis Act of 1898, which extended the land division process to Indian Territory tribes and limited the power of tribal courts and governments.
• The Oklahoma Organic Act in 1890.
• The Five Civilized Tribe Act of April 26, 1906, which aimed to finalize the affairs of these tribes in Oklahoma.

Tribes and Confederate Treaties

When Union troops left Indian Territory, the Five Civilized Tribes were left without protection from attacks by Plains tribes. Generals Benjamin McCulloch and Albert Pike were put in charge of Indian Territory for the Confederacy. They offered protection to the tribes in the eastern part of the territory.

Why Tribes Signed Treaties

Tribes that signed treaties with the Confederacy were then left "without any treaty whatever or treaty obligations for protection by the United States." These tribes included:

• Five Civilized Tribes:

* Creek Nation - July 10, 1861 * Choctaw and Chickasaw - July 12, 1861 * Seminole - August 1, 1861 * Cherokee - October 7, 1861

• Other Tribes:

* Shawnees, Delawares, Wichitas, and related tribes living on "leased territories" (western Choctaw and Chickasaw lands) - August 12, 1861 * Comanches of the Prairie - August 12, 1861 * Osage - October 21, 1861 * Quapaw - October 4, 1861 * Senecas, and Senecas and Shawnee of the Neosho Agency - October 4, 1861

Who Was at the Treaty Meetings?

US Government Representatives

Brigadier General Bussey was in charge of the fort at Fort Smith. The US Government representatives included:

• Secretary of the Interior: James Harlan
• Commissioner of Indian Affairs: Dennis N. Cooley (who led the Commission)
• Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Superintendency: Elijah Sells
• Special Commissioner Ely S. Parker (a member of the Seneca Nation and later Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Ulysses S. Grant)
• Commissioner of the General Land Office: James M. Edmunds
• Thomas Wistar of Pennsylvania
• Major General William S. Harney, United States Army
• Major General Harron, United States Army
• Chief Clerk of the Indian Bureau: Mr. Mix (Secretary of the Commission)
• United States Agents for various tribes.

Tribal Representatives

Tribes represented included the Osage, Senecas, Seneca and Shawnee of the Neosho agency, Shawnee, Quapaw, and Wyandotts. From Kansas came the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Delawares, and Sacs and Foxes.

• Choctaw: Colonel RM Jones (President), JR Kingsbury (Secretary), David Birney
• Chickasaw: Colbert Carter (President), Lewis Johnson (Secretary), AG Griffith, (Maharda Colbert-Interpreter)
• Osage: Me-lo-tah-mo-ne, Wa-dah-ne-ga

Different Tribal Groups

Some tribes sent two groups of delegates: one representing a Southern group and another representing a Northern group. The US Government usually negotiated only with the Northern delegates.

• Cherokee:

* Northern: Led by John Ross (Cherokee chief) * Southern: Led by Elias Cornelius Boudinot (a Confederate Army colonel) and Stand Watie (a Confederate general).

• Muscogee (Creek):

* Northern: Mik-ko-hut-kee (Little White Chief), Sanford Berryman * Southern: Colonel Daniel N. McIntosh

• Seminole:

* Northern: John Chupco * Southern: John Brown

The Washington Treaties of 1866

Many of the Reconstruction Treaties were called "Treaty of Washington." These treaties replaced the old ones that were canceled when tribes sided with the Confederacy. Some tribes signed treaties at the Fort Smith conference. The Five Civilized Tribes agreed to draft treaties there, but the final treaties were signed in Washington, D.C., in 1866.

• Five Civilized Tribes:

* The Chickasaw and Choctaw signed the Chickasaw and Choctaw Treaty of Washington, made official on July 10, 1866. * Creek: August 11, 1866. * Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty of 1866: August 11, 1866. * Seminole treaty: Made official on August 16, 1866.

• Tribes on Leased Land of Choctaw and Chickasaw:

* Shawnees: October 14, 1868. * Delawares: August 10, 1866.

• Other Tribes:

* Osage: January 21, 1867. * Sac and Fox: 1867.

What the Treaties Included

All these treaties had similar points:

• Amnesty (forgiveness) for all crimes against the United States before the treaties.
• Promises of peace and friendship toward the United States.
• A statement that previous treaties were now void (canceled).
• The tribes recognized the US Government, its Constitution, and its laws as supreme.
• A clause saying no federal law could interfere with their tribal organization.
• Tribes would provide land in their areas for railroad (and sometimes telegraph) construction through Indian Territory.

Rights for Freed Slaves

Different tribes handled the rights of formerly enslaved people (freedmen) in different ways. The Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole treaties gave freedmen full rights as tribal members. However, the Choctaw and Chickasaw treaty gave freedmen a choice: either be adopted into their nations or be moved by the federal government to settle elsewhere. The Chickasaw refused to accept the freedmen into their nation, saying their nation was too small. Because of this, Chickasaw freedmen spent many years without being citizens of any country.

The Intertribal Council

The Intertribal Council later became the Territorial Legislature for Indian Territory, as described in the Oklahoma Organic Act. This act established Oklahoma and Indian Territories. Each tribe would have one representative, plus an extra representative for every one thousand tribal members. The superintendent of Indian affairs would lead the council.

Land Changes After the War

Choctaw and Chickasaw Lands

The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations had one Reconstruction Treaty, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty of Washington (1866). In this treaty, they sold land west of the 98th longitude to the United States for $300,000. Much of this land had been "leased" to the US Government before and was home to other Native American tribes.

Cherokee Land Changes

The Cherokee gave up their "Neutral Lands" in southeastern Kansas and the Cherokee Strip. These lands were to be sold to the highest bidder for at least $1.25 an acre. They also agreed to sell land to the Osage Nation and to let the federal government settle other tribes in the Cherokee Outlet. In return, the government would pay the Cherokee Nation.

Muscogee (Creek) Lands

The Creek gave up the western half of their lands to the Federal Government for $975,168, which was about $0.30 per acre.

Seminole Land Deals

The Seminole sold all their land in the western part of the territory to the Federal Government for $0.15 per acre. Then, the Seminole bought about 200,000 acres of land (which is now Seminole County, Oklahoma) from the Federal Government for $0.50 per acre. This land used to belong to the Creek.

Osage Nation's New Home

The Osage Nation originally came from the Ohio River valley in what is now Kentucky. After years of fighting with the Iroquois, they became powerful in the area between the Missouri and Red rivers. The Reconstruction era treaties gave a reason to move the Osage to an area in Oklahoma Territory.

With the 1865 Treaty with the Osage, the tribe sold a large amount of land in Kansas and Missouri to the US for $1.25 per acre. The Drum Creek Treaty of 1870 said that the rest of the Osage land in Kansas would be sold. The money from this sale would be used to move the tribe to the Cherokee Outlet. The Osage bought this land from the Cherokees, getting full ownership (called Fee simple title). This full ownership later gave them more independence when the State of Oklahoma was formed. The land they bought is now Osage County, Oklahoma.

Quapaw Agency Tribes Relocate

The tribes of the Quapaw Indian Agency include the Eastern Shawnee, Miami, Modoc, Ottawa, Peoria of the Illinois Confederation, Quapaw Tribe, Seneca and Cayuga of the Iroquois Confederacy, and Wyandotte, plus smaller groups.

These tribes were originally moved from California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and New York to Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas Territory in the 1820s and 1830s. The post-Civil War Treaties, negotiated by the Southern Treaty Commission, moved these tribes again. They were relocated to an area northeast of the Cherokee Nation, mainly in what are now Ottawa and Delaware Counties in Oklahoma. Many of these tribal governments are located in Miami, Oklahoma.