Indian Removal

1. Indian Removal

2. Questions to consider • How/Why did American Indians become dependant nations? • How did Indian Removal change the social, economic and political lives of American Indian nations • What role did enslaved Africans play in Removal and later in Oklahoma?

3. Previous Information • Indians during Colonial period • African resistance strategies • American Revolution • Pan Indian movement led by Tecumseh

4. Thomas Jefferson 1801-09 • Agrarian Tradition • Louisiana Purchase 1803 • Lewis & Clark Expedition 1804-1806 • American Expansion • First Treaties with the Osage

5. JamesMadison, 1809-17 • JamesMonroe, 1817-25 • John QuincyAdams, 1825-29 • Andrew Jackson, 1829-37 • American Hero of 1812 war and considered an enemy by many SE Indian nations

6. Supreme Court • In 1823 the Supreme Court handed down the Domestic Dependent Nations ruling that Indians could occupy lands within the United States, but could not hold title to those lands. This was because their "right of occupancy" was subordinate to the United States' "right of discovery." • In 1827 the Cherokee adopted a written constitution declaring themselves to be a sovereign nation. • The state of Georgia, however, did not recognize their sovereign status, but saw them as tenants living on state land.

7. 1831 The Cherokee went to the Supreme Court to appeal the 1830 Georgia law which prohibited whites from living in Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state. • The court this time decided in favor of the Cherokee in Worchester v. Georgia claiming that the Cherokee had the right to self-government, and declared Georgia's extension of state law over them to be unconstitutional. • The state of Georgia refused to abide by the Court decision, however, and President Jackson openly defied the court “let them gather troops to enforce this law”.

8. Indian Removal Act May 28, 1830 • Senate vote of 28 to 19 and the House 102 to 97 • The bill stemmed from Jackson's first State of the Union address (December 8, 1829), where Jackson set his priorities-to emphasize the sovereignty of states over the sovereignty of Indian nations, and removal of Indian nations to lands west of the Mississippi River. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That for the purposes of giving effect to the provisions of this act, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated.

9. John Ross Although the five Indian nations had made earlier attempts at resistance, many of their strategies were non-violent. One method was to adopt American practices such as large-scale farming, Western education, and slave-holding. This earned the nations the designation of the "Five Civilized Tribes." They adopted this policy of assimilation in an attempt to coexist with settlers and ward off hostility.

10. The 5 Southeastern Nations

11. First Seminole War 1817-1818 • Southern planters wanted to recapture slaves who had run away and joined the Seminoles. • US troops led by Andrew Jackson moved into Florida attacking Seminole villages and captured several Spanish settlements. • The war convinced Spain to abandon Florida, which was sold to the United States in 1819. • Continued conflict between American settlers and Seminoles 1819-1830

12. Seminole Removal • Payne's Landing Treaty • Colonel James Gadsden pushed for Seminole removal in 1832 in negotiations at Payne's Landing. • The tribe was not interested and anxious that former enslaved Africans who had runaway and joined their nation would be captured fearing if they left the security of Florida. • However, the increasing number of slave raids onto Seminole land made many seriously consider a voluntary move in exchange for lands far from American settlers

13. The Seminole toured the proposed lands on the Canadian River, in present-day Oklahoma. The group included six chiefs and Abraham, representing both head chief Micanopy and the “African” Seminoles.  They found the proposed lands colder than expected, in the heart of proposed Creek Country (history of conflict). A tornado cut a path of destruction through the area during the visit which shocked them. President Jackson was following through on his order to incorporate the Seminoles with the Creeks.

14. After returning to Florida the Seminole refuse to relocate. • The military moves into to use force, but on 28 December 1835 a detachment led by Bvt. Maj. Francis L. Dade was ambushed. Only 3 of this 110-man detachment • The US Army's response was a full-scale military campaign to force the Seminoles into removal. • For the first five years of a struggle described by one surgeon as an "inglorious, unthankful and hopeless war," the high incidence of fevers and diarrhea-like diseases necessitated an end to active campaigning during the summer months. • The Seminoles were thus able to devote the hottest months to planting and harvesting the crops that sustained them and their families through the balance of the year.

15. At the outset of war, the Indians numbered approximately 4,000. The various bands were loosely organized under Micanopy and Osceola. Other prominent leaders included Yaholoochee (Cloud), Emathla (King Philip), and Emathla's son Coacoochee (Wildcat Yaholoochee, or Cloud, painted from life by George Catlin, 1838. Smithsonian American Art Museum

16. Six Indian chiefs from the Second Seminole War. Clockwise from top left: Yaholoochee, or Cloud; Micanopy; Coa Hadjo; Holata Mico, or Billy Bowlegs; Emathla, or King Phillip; Thlocko Tustenuggee, or Tiger Tail. All color images by Catlin, 1838. Bowlegs photo circa 1852. Tiger Tail engraving, by Sprague, published in 1848. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Library of Congress, Florida Photographic Collection.

17. From a combined population of 4800 Indians, former slaves and descendants of runaway slaves, the Seminole forces had one thousand a warriors. • They faced 34,000 Floridians receiving national support, a struggling Army and reinforcements on the way. • Fortunately for the Seminoles, Florida had a problem: of its 34,000 residents, 16,000 were slaves. Many of whom began to openly support the removal resistance war.

18. Eleven commanding generals of the Second Seminole War, clockwise from top left, in chronological order: Duncan Clinch, Joseph Hernandez, Winfield Scott, Edmund Pendleton Gaines, Abraham Eustis, Richard Keith Call, Thomas Sydney Jesup, Zachary Taylor, William S. Harney, Walker K. Armistead, and in the center, William Jenkins Worth, who ended the war (below) and Andrew Jackson, the president who started it (above).

19. The U.S. Army failed to win a single engagement and faced ridicule from the English Press, Parliament, Congress, Florida residents and President Jackson who wrote that the conflict, "humiliating to our military character."General Scott and Gaines were called before a court of inquiry in Washington. Though the generals were cleared of wrongdoing, Scott was relieved of the Florida command. • The conflict with the Seminoles was responsible for almost 1,200 of the 1,500 deaths occurring in the Army between mid 1835 and the summer of 1842.

20. Over the summer and fall of 1836, while Congress debated and ridiculed the Army's failed tactics the Seminoles regrouped. For six months, officers failed almost entirely even to find the enemy. The Seminoles safely concealed deep in Florida planted crops, hunted game, and renewed family life in temporary camps and villages which gave them the advantage. "A Seminole Woman," 1838 oil painting by George Catlin. Smithsonian American Art Museum

21. In 1836, Seminole allies destroyed sugar mills and attacked the St. John's River plantations and encouraged slaves to join the growing violence against American settlers targeting slave owners.

22. General Jesup • Jesup was determined to correct the errors of his predecessors. From the start, he showed a clear understanding of the conflict, warning colleagues: • "This, you may be assured, is a negro, not an Indian war; and if it be not speedily put down, the south will feel the effects of it on their slave population before the end of the next season."

23. Jesup estimated between 480 and 800 "Indian and negro warriors -- the latter, perhaps, the more numerous." • The general took immediate aim at the blacks, reasoning that splitting them from the Indians would "weaken [the Indians]” • Florida citizens want all runaway slaves returned and pressure Jackson who in turn demands that the Army make this a part of any surrender or peace agreements • The Seminole reject a offer to cease fighting if all runaways were returned to their owners

24. The Seminole decide to reject agreement which leads to the bloodiest part of the war where the US army results to using bloodhounds, hanging all captives and calling for a war of extermination

25. The eight year war cost the US Army 2,000 men and cost the US government approximately $40 million. • Mainly Women, Children and elders were finally captured and relocated to Oklahoma . • The US Army committed atrocities including rape, torture and murder resulting in the death of over 50% of these captives • The Second Seminole War was not only the country's largest, most costly Indian war, it also featured the largest and most successful slave rebellion in U.S. history • Black warriors were present in nearly all of the major battles of the war

26. Choctaw • Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek • The Choctaw were to move in three groups, beginning in 1831 as a test case. • Fraud results in many deaths • The 1832 group had a better start, but was struck by cholera • It is estimated that there were 19,554 Choctaw before removal, of which 12,500 moved to Indian Territory, 2,500 died along the way, and 5000 to 6000 remained in Mississippi. • Most of those left in Mississippi were forced to move by the Federal government later in the century, but enough remained to form the Mississippi Band of Choctaw that was officially recognized as a tribe in 1945.

27. Cherokee • The Treaty of New Echota, signed by Ridge and members of the Treaty Party in 1835, gave Jackson the legal document he needed for removal • Among the few who spoke out against the ratification were Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, but it passed by a single vote. • In 1838 the United States began the removal to Oklahoma, fulfilling a promise the government made to Georgia in 1802. • Ordered to move on the Cherokee, General John Wool resigned his command in protest, delaying the action. His replacement, General Winfield Scott, arrived at New Echota on May 17, 1838 with 7000 men. • Early that summer General Scott and the United States Army began the invasion of the Cherokee Nation.

28. About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny").

29. Muskogee Removal • In 1832, Indian delegates signed a treaty giving up part of their lands in Alabama. •  Each Indian family received 320 acres and each chief 640 acres. The families could stay on their allotments or sell them and move west at government expense lands where they were promised autonomy. • Creek farms were burned and families physically forced from their land.  Homeless bands roamed the countryside, foraging to keep from starving, but refused to leave the neighborhood of their former homes.  Some of the displaced Indians lashed back by killing white settlers and destroying cabins, barns and crops.   • July 1836 of that year when about 2,500 Creeks, including several hundred warriors in chains, were marched on foot to Montgomery. • During the summer and winter of 1836-early 1837, over 14,000 Creeks made the three-month journey to Oklahoma, a trip of over 800 land miles and another 400 by water.  Most left with only what they could carry.  An observer was moved to write:

30. "Thousands of them are entirely destitute of shoes and many of them are almost naked, and but few of them have anything more on their persons than a light dress calculated only for the summer, or for a warm climate. In this destitute condition, they are wading in cold mud or are hurried on over the frozen ground... Many of them have in this way had their feet frost-bitten; and being unable to travel, fall in the rear of the main party... and are left on the road to await the ability or convenience of the contractors to assist them. Many... died on the road from exhaustion, and the maladies engendered by their treatment; and their relations and friends could do nothing more for them than cover them with boughs and bushes to keep off the vultures, which followed their route by thousands... for their drivers would not give them time to dig a grave and bury their dead.  The wolves, which also followed at no great distance, soon tore away so frail a covering, and scattered the bones in all directions."

31. Many Creeks had not emigrated. • To escape capture, they fled to the forests where officers found them "miserable and impoverished." • Others were hunted out of the Chickasaw Nation in Mississippi.   • Some, mostly children, were held by American Settlers in bondage as slaves • More than 3,500 Creeks died along this "Trail of Tears." •  Survivors arrived at their destination in pitiful condition and many died soon after.  

32. Chickasaw • Approximately 4,000 Chickasaws and 1,000 of their slaves were removed during the late 1830s and early 1840s. • They were the last of the five southeastern tribes to be removed and they settled within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation until 1855 • Friction grew between the two groups and the Chickasaws established an independent government and boundaries lines for their land immediately to the west of the Choctaws in south central Oklahoma. • Today, the Chickasaws have executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government that provide various social, economic, educational, and cultural services to over 35,000 tribal members.

33. Removal Regions • Indian Removal: Oklahoma • 5 Southeast Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Chickasaw, Muskogee(Creek) • Pacific Northwest: Nez Perce, Modoc • Great Plains: Cheyenne, Pawnee, • Great Lakes/East Coast: Delaware, Huron Shawnee, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk/Fox Southwest: Apache, Tonkawa, Kickapoo

35. Social/Cultural Changes • Matrilineal Societies • Tribal Council System • Religious significance of sacred sites

36. Economic Change • Subsistence Economy to Dependence • Emasculation of Men in Community • Focus on Agriculture difficult for many • Treaty commitments not realized • Starvation, illness

37. Political Change • Loss of Sovereignty and government appointed Chiefs • Civil War in Oklahoma

38. How/Why did American Indians become dependant nations? • How did Indian Removal change the social, economic and political lives of American Indian nations • What role did enslaved Africans play in Removal and later in Oklahoma?

39. Can we link these ideas to modern situations? • Federal Policies? • Military Strategies?