Unassigned Lands facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Unassigned Lands
Homestead
Map of the Unassigned Lands—1885
Country	United States
State	Oklahoma
Counties	Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, Payne
Oklahoma Territory	May 2, 1890 – Organic Act
Area
• Total	1,887,796.47 acre (763,964.13 ha)
• Land	2,949 sq mi (7,640 km2)

The Unassigned Lands were a large area in the middle of what is now Oklahoma. This land was given to the United States by the Creek and Seminole Native American tribes after the American Civil War. No other tribes had been officially settled on this specific part of the land.

By 1883, the Unassigned Lands were surrounded by other Native American territories. To the north was the Cherokee Outlet, and to the east were several smaller reservations. The Chickasaw lands were to the south, and the Cheyenne-Arapaho reserve was to the west. This area covered about 1.8 million acres, which is roughly 2,949 square miles.

In 1889, the U.S. government decided to open these lands for settlement by people who were not Native Americans. This led to the famous Oklahoma Land Rush.

How the Land Became "Unassigned"

Early Treaties and Land Changes

Long before the Civil War, the Creek and Seminole tribes lived in the southeastern United States. The U.S. government wanted their lands, leading to treaties that moved them west.

In 1825, the Treaty of Indian Springs suggested the Creeks move west of the Mississippi River. There was some disagreement within the Creek nation about this treaty. Despite the issues, many Creeks were eventually moved.

A few years later, in 1833, the Creeks signed the Treaty of Okmulgee. This treaty officially gave up their lands in the east. It also described the new lands they would receive west of the Mississippi. These new lands were south of the Cherokee lands and bordered the Canadian River.

The Seminole tribe also faced pressure to move. In 1833, a treaty was signed for them to settle on a part of the Creek lands. Some Seminoles moved, but many resisted, leading to the Second Seminole War. After this war, most Seminoles moved to the Indian Territory, as the area was called.

In 1856, the Creek and Seminole tribes made a new agreement. This agreement gave the Seminoles a specific piece of Creek land. This land was located between the Canadian River and the North Fork of the Canadian River.

The Civil War and Its Impact

During the American Civil War, the Creek people were divided. Some supported the Confederacy, while others supported the Union. The Creek Council, which was controlled by the Lower Creek, signed a treaty with the Confederacy in 1861.

However, not all Creeks agreed with this decision. Many pro-Union Creeks, led by Opothleyahola, were forced to flee to Kansas during the winter of 1861–62. They suffered greatly during this journey.

When the Confederacy lost the Civil War, the United States made new treaties with the Native American nations that had supported the South. These tribes were forced to give up some of their lands as a penalty.

Under the 1866 Creek Treaty, the Creek nation agreed to give up the western part of their lands. The U.S. government wanted to use this land to settle other Native American tribes and formerly enslaved people (called freedmen). The Creeks were paid about $975,168 for this land.

The Seminoles had also supported the Confederacy, and they lost even more land. The 1866 Seminole Treaty required them to give up all their land. They received about $325,362 for it.

After these treaties, the Seminoles were the first tribe moved to the land the Creeks had given up. Other tribes, like the Absentee Shawnee, Citizen Band of Pottawatomi, Sac and Fox, Kickapoo, and Iowa, were also moved into different parts of this ceded land. The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes received the western end of the former Creek and Seminole lands.

Most of this central and western Indian Territory was already being leased by large cattle ranching companies for grazing.

The Push to Open the Land

The "Boomers" Campaign

Around 1879, a man named Elias Cornelius Boudinot started a campaign to open the "unoccupied" land to non-Native American settlers. He argued that some of the Five Civilized Tribes had given up all their rights to these lands after the Civil War.

Boudinot suggested that this area was now public land and called it the "Unassigned Lands" or "Oklahoma." His ideas gained a lot of attention.

To stop people from moving onto the land illegally, President Rutherford B. Hayes issued a warning in 1879. He said that entering this area, which was designated as "Indian's country," was forbidden.

However, it was too late. Many people, including land speculators and those looking for land, began to organize. They pushed for the land to be opened for settlement. Newspapers called these pro-settlement groups "Boomers." They followed Boudinot's lead and referred to the area as the Unassigned Lands or Oklahoma.

Early Attempts at Settlement

The Boomers organized trips, which they called "raids," into the Unassigned Lands. They would try to survey town sites, build homes, and plant crops. The United States government sent soldiers to round them up and force them to leave.

These "raids" continued for several years. The Boomers tried to get a legal decision about the status of the land. The government charged them under the Intercourse Act, which dealt with trade and relations with Native Americans.

In 1884, a court case called United States vs. Payne ruled that settling on the Unassigned Lands was not a criminal offense. However, the government did not accept this decision and continued to remove the settlers.

Finally, in 1889, the Creek Council's representative, General Pleasant Porter, agreed to give up all Creek claims to the remaining unassigned territory. The United States and the Creek nation officially agreed to this on January 31, 1889. The Creek nation received about $2,250,000 for their claims.

Settlement and Statehood

The Great Land Run

After the agreement with the Creek nation, a new law called the Springer Amendment was added to the Indian Appropriation Act of 1889. This law allowed the Unassigned Lands to be settled under the rules of the Homestead Act of 1862. However, it also said that people who had already settled there illegally (squatters) would not have special rights to the land.

Instead, the lands would be settled by a land run. All the people who had settled there illegally were rounded up and removed.

On April 22, 1889, the famous Run of '89 took place. More than 50,000 people rushed into the Unassigned Lands on the very first day. This included thousands of freedmen and descendants of enslaved people.

Overnight, "tent cities" appeared in places like Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie, and Stillwater. Stillwater was one of the first settlements.

Establishing Law and Order

At first, federal troops were in charge of keeping law and order. The closest courts were federal courts in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Despite the rapid settlement, the area was generally peaceful. Most disagreements over land were settled without violence, though some took many years to resolve.

The Organic Act of 1890 officially made the Unassigned Lands part of the new Oklahoma Territory. This act allowed local officials to be appointed to handle legal matters until elections could be held.

Later, the Curtis Act of 1898 changed how land was owned in Indian Territory. It divided the communal lands of the Five Civilized Tribes among individual families. Any extra land was declared "surplus" and could be sold to non-Native Americans.

Finally, in 1907, Oklahoma (which included both the former Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory) became the 46th state of the United States.

Images for kids

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  Map of the Unassigned Lands—1885