Samuel F. Tappan facts for kids
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Samuel Forster Tappan (born June 29, 1831 – died January 6, 1913) was an American journalist and military officer. He was a strong supporter of ending slavery and a champion for Native American rights. In 1867, he joined the Indian Peace Commission. This group worked to make peace with the Plains Indians. Tappan believed that Native American tribes should be able to govern themselves. He suggested that the government should let tribes use their own laws on reservations instead of military rules.
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Early Life and Family Background
Samuel Tappan grew up in Manchester, Massachusetts, near Boston. His family, the Tappans, was well-known in New England. Many of them were important people like religious leaders, politicians, and business owners. They were also known for helping others and fighting against slavery.
Sam Tappan went to a regular school. Then, he learned how to make furniture, like chairs, from his father. After that, he worked in a clothing store in Boston, which was owned by his uncle.
Fighting Against Slavery
While living in Boston, Tappan saw how difficult life was for people who had escaped slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 meant that escaped slaves could be caught and sent back to their owners. This made Tappan very upset. His family and other important people, like Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison, encouraged him to join the fight against slavery.
In May 1854, a man named Anthony Burns, who had escaped slavery, was captured in Boston. He was forced to return to the South. This event made many people in Boston, including Tappan, want to take action. It happened right after the Kansas–Nebraska Act was passed. This new law allowed people in new territories to decide if they wanted slavery or not.
When he was 23, Tappan joined a group of 29 settlers from New England. They moved to what became Lawrence, Kansas, in August 1854. They were part of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. This group wanted to make sure that people who were against slavery settled in Kansas. Their goal was to help Kansas become a free state, not a slave state.
Tappan also worked as a journalist. He wrote for famous newspapers like Horace Greeley's New York Tribune and the Boston Atlas. He reported on the early problems in the territory, especially the fights between people who supported slavery and those who wanted Kansas to be free. Tappan was very active in the anti-slavery movement. He even helped slaves escape to northern states through the Underground Railroad. In 1855, he helped rescue Jacob Branson during a short conflict called the Wakarusa War.
Tappan became very involved in Kansas politics. He traveled through southern and western Kansas, speaking about the free-state movement. He also helped smuggle weapons, sometimes called "Beecher's Bibles," to settlers who opposed slavery. Tappan played a role in several important meetings that helped shape Kansas's future. He was a clerk for the Topeka and Leavenworth constitutional conventions. He also helped at the Wyandotte convention in 1859.
In 1860, Tappan moved to what would become Denver, Colorado. He worked as a journalist for the Daily Herald. He also became involved in finding gold and other minerals. His cousins, Lewis N. Tappan and George H. Tappan, had already started a general store there. This store, Tappan & Co, served miners in several Colorado towns.
Civil War Service
When the American Civil War began in 1861, Tappan was asked to help recruit soldiers for the Union Army in Colorado. He was first made a captain. He was very good at finding new recruits in small mining towns like Black Hawk and Golden. Because of his success, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Colorado Infantry Regiment. He helped train the soldiers near Denver. Tappan was then put in charge of Fort Lyon.
Fighting in New Mexico
In March 1862, Tappan and his soldiers quickly moved to Fort Union National Monument in New Mexico. They were needed to fight against Confederate troops from Texas. Tappan took part in the Battle of Glorieta Pass on March 28, 1862. He was a key commander during the main fight that day. Even though he was in danger from enemy fire, he led his troops bravely.
Another part of the Union army, led by Major John Chivington, went around the Confederate lines. They attacked and destroyed the enemy's wagons and supplies. This action effectively ended the threat from the Confederate invaders.
After the battle, Tappan was the highest-ranking officer. Even though he was praised for his military skills, Tappan chose to step aside. He joined others in asking for Chivington to be promoted to Colonel. Chivington became Tappan's superior officer, which later caused some problems between them. Tappan also fought in the Battle of Peralta in April 1862. The Union troops chased the retreating Confederates back towards Texas. Tappan and the First Colorado stayed in New Mexico for several months.
Return to Colorado
In 1863, Chivington sent Tappan to command Fort Garland. This was a remote fort in southern Colorado, near the lands of the Ute people. While there, Tappan was asked to hunt down the Espinosa brothers, who were outlaws. Tappan hired a famous scout named Thomas Tate Tobin. Tobin tracked down and killed the brothers. Tappan even paid Tobin from his own money when the governor did not pay the full reward. Years later, Tappan tried to help Tobin when he was old and poor.
In 1864, Tappan's father died. After many requests, Tappan finally got his first leave from the war. He went home to Massachusetts to be with his family. Then, he traveled to Washington, D.C., where he had many important connections. He met with General Ulysses S. Grant and even visited Grant's army camp for several weeks.
Tappan returned to Colorado in November 1864. He was recovering from a broken foot at Fort Lyon. This was just two days before a terrible event happened. On November 29, 1864, soldiers under Colonel Chivington attacked a peaceful camp of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians at Sand Creek. The Indians believed they were safe under the protection of the fort. However, Chivington's troops attacked at dawn, killing 150-200 Indians.
Tappan was chosen to lead the military investigation into Colonel Chivington's actions at the Sand Creek massacre. The investigation found that Chivington's actions were wrong. The US Congress also investigated and strongly criticized Chivington. However, Chivington was never punished because he had already left the army. Tappan was later given the honorary rank of Colonel before he left the army at the end of the Civil War.
Native American Rights Work
Samuel Tappan worked to improve relations between Native Americans and the United States government. He was involved in many negotiations and treaties. While at Fort Garland, he spoke out against the enslavement of Navajos by other tribes and Mexicans. He wanted official support to stop this practice.
In 1867, President Andrew Johnson appointed Tappan to the Indian Peace Commission. This group included famous generals like William Tecumseh Sherman. The Commission worked to make treaties with many tribes in the Plains and Southwest from 1867 to 1868. In Kansas, they signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty with the Southern Plains tribes. Tappan and General Sherman also finalized the Treaty of Bosque Redondo in 1868. This treaty ended a difficult time for the Navajo people at the Bosque Redondo reservation.
During his time with the Commission, Tappan helped a young man named Henry Morton Stanley. Stanley later became a famous explorer in Africa. Tappan also became good friends with John Dare Howland, an artist and scout.
Tappan strongly protested the Washita Massacre in November 1868. In this event, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's soldiers attacked Chief Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne camp. Tappan was also a key member of Peter Cooper's United States Indian Commission, which started in 1869. He pushed for laws that would provide money and help promised to the Native Americans in the treaties. Tappan continued to fight for Native American rights throughout the 1870s. He supported President Ulysses S. Grant's peace policy. He believed that powerful business interests were trying to stop peace with Native Americans. He said these interests were responsible for terrible events, like the 1871 massacre of Eskiminzin's Apache band at Camp Grant, Arizona.
Later Life and Family
After the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867, Tappan adopted an orphaned Cheyenne girl. He named her Minnie Tappan. He arranged for Minnie to go to school in Boston. Later, when Tappan married Cora L.V. (Scott) Hatch Daniels and moved to Washington, D.C., Minnie lived with them and continued her studies. When Tappan and his wife moved to Pennsylvania, he arranged for Minnie to study at what is now Howard University. Sadly, she became ill and died in 1873. She was buried in a Boston cemetery.
After his work with the Indian Peace Commission, Tappan worked for Henry Villard's Oregon Steamship and Railway Company. He helped encourage people to move to Oregon. He traveled to Alaska and represented Oregon at a big exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. He also lived in California for a while.
In 1884, President Chester A. Arthur appointed Tappan to be the first superintendent of the Genoa Indian Industrial School in Genoa, Nebraska. This school was created to teach trades and educate Native American children. Tappan served in this role until President Grover Cleveland removed him.
Tappan's marriage to Cora, who was a spiritualist, writer, and also an abolitionist and Native American rights activist, ended in divorce. They did not have children together. Samuel Tappan spent his last years in Washington, D.C.. After he died, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
