Indian Policy Reform Extract from President Chester Arthur's First Annual Message to Congress

Indian Policy Reform
Extract from President Chester Arthur's
First Annual Message to Congress

It has been easier to resort to convenient makeshifts for tiding over temporary difficulties than to grapple with the great permanent problem, and accordingly the easier course has almost invariably been pursued.

It was natural, at a time when the national territory seemed almost illimitable and contained many millions of acres far outside the bounds of civilized settlements, that a policy should have been initiated which more than aught else has been the fruitful source of our Indian complications.

I refer, of course, to the policy of dealing with the various Indian tribes as separate nationalities, of relegating them by treaty stipulations to the occupancy of immense reservations in the West, and of encouraging them to live a savage life, undisturbed by any earnest and well-directed efforts to bring them under the influences of civilization.

The unsatisfactory results which have sprung from this policy are becoming apparent to all.

As the white settlements have crowded the borders of the reservations, the Indians, sometimes contentedly and sometimes against their will, have been transferred to other hunting grounds, from which they have again been dislodged whenever their new-found homes have been desired by the adventurous settlers.

These removals and the frontier collisions by which they have often been preceded have led to frequent and disastrous conflicts between the races.

It is profitless to discuss here which of them has been chiefly responsible for the disturbances whose recital occupies so large a space upon the pages of our history.

We have to deal with the appalling fact that though thousands of lives have been sacrificed and hundreds of millions of dollars expended in the attempt to solve the Indian problem, it has until within the past few years seemed scarcely nearer a solution than it was half a century ago.

For the success of the efforts now making to introduce among the Indians the customs and pursuits of civilized life and gradually to absorb them into the mass of our citizens, sharing their rights and holden to their responsibilities, there is imperative need for legislative action.

My suggestions in that regard will be chiefly such as have been already called to the attention of Congress and have received to some extent its consideration.

First. I recommend the passage of an act making the laws of the various States and Territories applicable to the Indian reservations within their borders and extending the laws of the State of Arkansas to the portion of the Indian Territory not occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes.

The Indian should receive the protection of the law. He should be allowed to maintain in court his rights of person and property. He has repeatedly begged for this privilege. Its exercise would be very valuable to him in his progress toward civilization.

Second. Of even greater importance is a measure which has been frequently recommended by my predecessors in office, and in furtherance of which several bills have been from time to time introduced in both Houses of Congress. The enactment of a general law permitting the allotment in severalty, to such Indians, at least, as desire it, of a reasonable quantity of land secured to them by patent, and for their own protection made inalienable for twenty or twenty-five years, is demanded for their present welfare and their permanent advancement.

In return for such considerate action on the part of the Government, there is reason to believe that the Indians in large numbers would be persuaded to sever their tribal relations and to engage at once in agricultural pursuits. Many of them realize the fact that their hunting days are over and that it is now for their best interests to conform their manner of life to the new order of things. By no greater inducement than the assurance of permanent title to the soil can they be led to engage in the occupation of tilling it.

The well-attested reports of the their increasing interest in husbandry justify the hope and belief that the enactment of such a statute as I recommend would be at once attended with gratifying results. A resort to the allotment system would have a direct and powerful influence in dissolving the tribal bond, which is so prominent a feature of savage life, and which tends so strongly to perpetuate it.

Third. I advise a liberal appropriation for the support of Indian schools, because of my confident belief that such a course is consistent with the wisest economy. . . .

The Dawes Act

February 8, 1887
An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by . . . Congress . . . That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been . . . located upon any reservation created for their use . . . the President of the United States be . . . authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes . . . to be surveyed . . . and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:

To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;

To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section;

To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and

To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section . . .

The once proud Sioux found their free-roaming life destroyed, the buffalo gone, themselves confined to reservations dependent on Indian Agents for their existence. In a desperate attempt to return to the days of their glory, many sought salvation in a new mysticism preached by a Paiute shaman called Wovoka. Emissaries from the Sioux in South Dakota traveled to Nevada to hear his words. Wovoka called himself the Messiah and prophesied that the dead would soon join the living in a world in which the Indians could live in the old way surrounded by plentiful game. A tidal wave of new soil would cover the earth, bury the whites, and restore the prairie. To hasten the event, the Indians were to dance the Ghost Dance. Many dancers wore brightly colored shirts emblazoned with images of eagles and buffaloes. These "Ghost Shirts" they believed would protect them from the bluecoats' bullets. During the fall of 1890, the Ghost Dance spread through the Sioux villages of the Dakota reservations, revitalizing the Indians and bringing fear to the whites. A desperate Indian Agent at Pine Ridge wired his superiors in Washington, "Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. . . . We need protection and we need it now. The leaders should be arrested and confined at some military post until the matter is quieted, and this should be done now." The order went out to arrest Chief Sitting Bull at the Standing Rock Reservation. Sitting Bull was killed in the attempt on December 15. Chief Big Foot was next on the list.

When he heard of Sitting Bull's death, Big Foot led his people south to seek protection at the Pine Ridge Reservation. The army intercepted the band on December 28 and brought them to the edge of the Wounded Knee to camp. The next morning the chief, racked with pneumonia and dying, sat among his warriors and powwowed with the army officers. Suddenly the sound of a shot pierced the early morning gloom. Within seconds the charged atmosphere erupted as Indian braves scurried to retrieve their discarded rifles and troopers fired volley after volley into the Sioux camp. From the heights above, the army's Hotchkiss guns raked the Indian teepees with grapeshot. Clouds of gun smoke filled the air as men, women and children scrambled for their lives. Many ran for a ravine next to the camp only to be cut down in a withering cross fire.

When the smoke cleared and the shooting stopped, approximately 300 Sioux were dead, Big Foot among them. Twenty-five soldiers lost their lives. As the remaining troopers began the grim task of removing the dead, a blizzard swept in from the North. A few days later they returned to complete the job. Scattered fighting continued, but the massacre at Wounded Knee effectively squelched the Ghost Dance movement and ended the Indian Wars.

I was interpreting for General Forsyth just before the battle of Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890. The captured Indians had been ordered to give up their arms, but Big Foot replied that his people had no arms. Forsyth said to me, “Tell Big Foot he says the Indians have no arms, yet yesterday they were well armed when they surrendered. He is deceiving me. Tell him he need have no fear in giving up his arms, as I wish to treat him kindly.” Big Foot replied, “They have no guns, except such as you have found.” Forsyth declared, “You are lying to me in return for my kindness.”

During this time a medicine man, gaudily dressed and fantastically painted, executed the maneuvers of the ghost dance, raising and throwing dust into the air. He exclaimed “Ha! Ha!” as he did so, meaning he was about to do something terrible, and said, “I have lived long enough,” meaning he would fight until he died. Turning to the young warriors who were squatted together, he said “Do not fear, but let your hearts be strong. Many soldiers are about us and have many bullets, but I am assured their bullets cannot penetrate us. The prairie is large, and their bullets will fly over the prairies and will not come toward us. If they do come toward us, they will float away like dust in the air.” I turned to Major Whitside and said, “That man is making mischief,” and repeated what he had said. Whitside replied, “Go direct to Colonel Forsyth and tell him about it,” which I did.

Forsyth and I went to the circle of warriors where he told me to tell the medicine man to sit down and keep quiet, but he paid no attention to the order. Forsyth repeated the order. Big Foot's brother-in-law answered, “He will sit down when he gets around the circle.” When the medicine man came to the end of the circle, he squatted down. A cavalry sergeant exclaimed, “There goes an Indian with a gun under his blanket!” Forsyth ordered him to take the gun from the Indian, which he did. Whitside then said to me, “Tell the Indians it is necessary that they be searched one at a time.” The young warriors paid no attention to what I told them. I heard someone on my left exclaim, “Look out! Look out!” I saw five or six young warriors cast off their blankets and pull guns out from under them and brandish them in the air. One of the warriors shot into the soldiers, who were ordered to fire into the Indians. I looked in the direction of the medicine man. He or some other medicine man approached to within three or four feet of me with a long cheese knife, ground to a sharp point and raised to stab me. He stabbed me during the melee and nearly cut off my nose. I held him off until I could swing my rifle to hit him, which I did. I shot and killed him in self-defense.

“Troop K” was drawn up between the tents of the women and children and the main body of the Indians, who had been summoned to deliver their arms. The Indians began firing into “Troop K” to gain the canyon of Wounded Knee creek. In doing so they exposed their women and children to their own fire. Captain Wallace was killed at this time while standing in front of his troops. A bullet, striking him in the forehead, plowed away the top of his head. I started to pull off my nose, which was hung by the skin, but Lieutenant Guy Preston shouted, “My God Man! Don't do that! That can be saved.” He then led me away from the scene of the trouble.


Quanah Parker:

Comanches Adapt to Reservation Life²⁹
Quanah Parker was the last Chief of the Comanches and never lost a battle to the white man. His tribe roamed over the area where Pampas stands. He was never captured by the Army, but decided to surrender and lead his tribe into the white man's culture, only when he saw that there was no alternative.

His was the last tribe in the Staked Plains to come into the reservation system.

Quanah, meaning "fragrant," was born about 1850, son of Comanche Chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, a white girl who had been taken captive during the 1836 raid on Parker's Fort, Texas. Cynthia Ann Parker, along with her daughter Prairie Flower, was recaptured by whites during an 1860 raid on the Pease River in northwest Texas. She had spent 24 years among the Comanche, however, and thus never readjusted to living with the whites again. Ironically, Cynthia Ann's eldest son would adjust remarkably well to living among the white men. But first he would lead a bloody war against them.

A few years after his mother’s recapture, Quanah’s father died of an infected wound. Quanah's brother Pecos died of smallpox in 1863 and a few months later Prairie Flower died of influenza. Cynthia Ann starved herself to death mourning the loss of her two youngest children. Quanah, now an orphan, was taken in by one of his father's other wives, but she too later died.

Quanah was an outcast in his tribe being part white, a fact he did not know until after his mother had been returned to her white family. After his stepmother's death Quanah had to forage and fend for himself. He worked harder at being a proper Comanche warrior then most of the other boys. He excelled at hunting but still could not break the barrier of his mixed blood.

The Chieftainship is not hereditary; one must earn the right to be called chief. There are two qualifications. First, one must have an outstanding war record. Second, the candidate must show concern for his followers. Quanah excelled as a warrior but as a youth he did not prove to be always so generous with his followers. He did keep the best horses and lions share of the stolen booty for himself. He did provide well for his followers on the reservation in later years. Providing for his followers and the guests that came to visit, sometimes unannounced, necessitated Quanah to seek loans in the last years of his life.

Quanah fell in love with Weakeah but her father, Ekitaocup, forbid their marriage. The young couple eloped and spent several years out on the plains with a growing tribe of which Quanah was the leader. He was gaining a reputation as a fierce warrior and capable leader. Eventually Weakeah's father accepted the marriage and they were able to return to the Comanche Nation. Years later Ekitaocup accompanied Quanah to Fort Worth where he died in an accident. This accident almost killed Quanah too. It also almost ended his career.

Quanah joined the raiding parties of his father's old band and the band of his father-in-law. During one raid the leader, Bear's Ear, was killed. Usually after the leader was killed the raiders would become disoriented and cease the raid or scatter and loose their booty. Bear's Ear was killed after the raid while they were being pursued. The raiding party had reached the Red River. They had planned to cross the Red River farther west but with the death of Bear's Ear confusion ruled. Quanah shouted to the men to head north to the river where they crossed the river to safety. His actions saved the remainder of the raiding party and their stolen horses. This lead to his being accepted as a true leader. It gained him the right to speak openly in tribal council, something only the most noteworthy obtained.

A young medicine man named Eschiti led an attack on Adobe Walls, a trading post for buffalo hunters, in 1864. This attack was a miserable failure. Eschiti had told the warriors he had medicine to protect them from bullets. Eschiti's medicine proved false and several warriors were wounded. Quanah was among the wounded. Quanah was wounded while rescuing a fallen comrade, Howeah. Howeah later was recommended to replace Quanah as Chief of the Comanches by Quanah's opposition.

“Quanah Parker, prior to the reservation”—C.M. Bell

In 1867, a faction of the Comanche Nation, as well as other tribes, signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge with the American government. This treaty would confined the southern Plains Indians to a reservation in exchange for the government’s promise to clothe the Indians and turn them into farmers, in the imitation of the white settlers. Quanah and his Comanche faction, of whom his father had been chief, refused to accept the provisions of the treaty.

Knowing of past lies and deceptive treaties of the "white man", Quanah continued to lead and join raiding parties even after the signing of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge. In 1874, Colonel R. S. Mackenzie found Quanah's hidden encampment at Palo Duro Canyon. Leading a charge that scattered the tribes’ horses and people, Mackenzie succeeded in breaking many of the Comanches under the command of Quanah. It was another year before Quanah gave up.

Mackenzie sent Dr. Jacob J. Sturm, a physician and post interpreter, to solicit the Quahada's surrender. Dr. Sturm found Quanah, whom he called "a young man of much influence with his people," and pleaded his case.

According to oral tradition, Quanah was unsure of taking his tribe to the reservation. He climbed a mesa at Caon Blanco to meditate on his mother's life. She had been captured as a child and adapted to the Comanche way of life. She later was recaptured by the whites and taken back to her family. While sitting at the top he noticed a wolf below him. The wolf looked up at him, howled and then turned northeastward towards Fort Sill. Quanah then looked up to see an eagle gliding overhead; it too headed northeastward. Quanah took this to be a sign and led his people to Fort Sill and a new way of life.

Dr. Sturm then chose Quanah to be one of the messengers to Colonel Mackenzie. Quanah and the other messengers reached Fort Sill the evening of May 13, 1875. Within a few days Quanah had approached Mackenzie concerning the whereabouts of his mother. Mackenzie sent a letter to the quartermaster of Denison, Texas, asking about Cynthia Ann Parker and her daughter. He received two responses both stating that both mother and child were dead. This interest in his mother proved to be a bonus to Quanah. Mackenzie took an added interest in him and gave him special duties that aided his ascent up the ladder of power at Fort Sill.

Shortly after his arrival at Fort Sill, Mackenzie sent Quanah into the field to retrieve some runaways. Two months after leaving the reservation he returned with 21 runaways. He pleaded the case for the runaways asking for clemency. He made the whites happy by bringing in the runaways and made the runaways happy by keeping them out of prison. Thus started Quanah Parkers career in politics.

Reservation life required a complete societal change for the Comanches. Quanah desired to traveling the "white man's road," but he did it his way. He refused to give up polygamy and the spiritual tradition of using peyote, much to the reservation agents' chagrin.

Reservation agents being political appointees of the Federal Government, their main concern was to destroy all vestiges of Native American life and replace their culture with that of theirs. Never before in the history of the Comanche Nation had there been one central leader. Prior to reservation life every clan had their own chief. Actually two chiefs, one for peacetime and one for war. The white "overlords" were unable to accept this kind of political system and imposed a white political system on the Comanches. Quanah was chosen by the reservation agent to be the primary chief. Quanah proved to be influential not only with the Comanches but also with the Kiowa and Apaches with whom they shared the reservation.

In the North Plains the Ghost Dance cult was forming. Quanah scoffed at the Ghost Dance. Some Indians at the reservation did follow the Ghost Dance but most did not. There are several theories as to why Quanah did not follow the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dancers were told that their shirts made them impervious to bullets, the same thing Eschiti had told the Comanches prior to the battle at Adobe Walls. Others speculate that Quanah would not follow another's teachings because he wanted to be the leader. While still others simply state the ideals of the Plains Indians religious beliefs.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs was to supply the Comanches on the reservation with food, clothing, blankets and other necessities per the Treaty of Medicine Lodge. The Treaty also stated that the natives could hunt to supplement the supplies given by the government. The game was very scarce on the reservation and feelings towards the natives were very tense off of the reservation. The Comanches needed military escorts to go hunting off of the reservation. After one such hunting trip that had ended in failure, Quanah and his hunting party were accused of stealing horses. In defense Quanah pointed to the horses they rode showing their poor condition. If they had stolen horses they would have stolen horses in better shape then those they rode. Considering the Comanches knowledge of horseflesh this would have been true.

The Comanches began ranching. They started raising cattle. But they also had a problem with the ranchers in the area. Many ranchers from Texas would drive their cattle across the reservation to take their stock to market. The reservation consisted of 3,000,000 acres of land with a population of 3,000 Native Americans. Ranchers used the western section on their way to Dodge City. Because of the ranchers using the land the Bureau of Indian Affairs encouraged the Indians not to use the western section of the reservation.

Quanah saw this as an opportunity to provide for his people. He received a letter from the Indian Agent at the reservation; the letter recognized him as Chief of the Comanches. He would go out into the area where ranchers were seen driving their herds. He would approach the trail boss and show him the letter. He would offer advise as to where the good grass and water was and extract a payment in head of cattle. In this manner he provided extra food for those who followed him.

Quanah also leased out sections of "his" pasture to the Texas ranchers. This was not an actual lease. What he would do is care for the ranchers stock saying it was his own. The rancher would pay a nice sum of money to Quanah for this service. Quanah was paid $50 per month and his four employees were paid $25 per month.

The ranchers approached the Bureau of Indian Affairs with a proposal of leasing the western section of the reservation. At first Quanah was anti-lease. His profitable relationship with the ranchers lead to his conversion to being pro-lease. December 1884 saw the signing of the first lease agreement. The ranchers leased the land at $.06 per acre. The money received from this lease agreement was referred to as "grass money". The "grass money" was divided up equally amongst the Indians on the reservation, but held in trust by the Federal Government.

During the time of the lease agreements Quanah Parker flourished financially. Quanah was close friends with the ranchers. During their time leasing the rangeland the ranchers provided Quanah with an invaluable education, an education that he was to use later when dealing with the government concerning allotments.

In 1888 Quanah farmed 150 acres. In 1890 Quanah had 425 head of cattle, 200 hogs, 3 wagons, 1 buggy and 160 horses. Quanah was a celebrity, hosting several dignitaries of his time, including hosting a wolf hunt for President Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt understood the Indians. He understood why they fought so fiercely to save their land. Roosevelt was an outdoorsman and as such loved and respected nature. The hunting expedition with Quanah served as the avenue for Roosevelt being made aware of the plight of the Native American. This did prompt Roosevelt to veto the Stephens Bill to open the reservation to settlement. Several months later Roosevelt did sign the revised bill on June 5, 1906.

The Jerome Commission came to the reservation on September 19, 1892. The Jerome Commissions duty was to convince the Indians to sign a treaty allowing allotting of land. The allotments were to be 160 acres each, per the Dawes Act. The Treaty of Medicine Lodge had stated that when allotments occurred the lots were to be 320 acres each. According to The Treaty of Medicine Lodge allotting of the land was to happen in 1898. Quanah pointed this out in one of the meetings. He also started asking how much per acre were the Indians going to get for the land that was being opened up for settlement. An estimate of $2,000,000 had been given for the sum total of money the Indians would receive for the land. The following is an excerpt of this discussion between Quanah Parker and Commissioner Sayre:

Quanah Parker: How much per acre?

Mr. Sayre: I can not tell you.

Quanah Parker: How do you arrive at the number of million dollars if you do not know?

Mr. Sayre: We just guess at it.

Because of Quanah's line of questioning Commissioner Jerome had came up with some figures to give him the next day. But Quanah was onto another line of questioning, he started lobbying for an additional $500,000. Lone Wolf of the Kiowas expressed concern for the more impoverished and less educated of the reservation. Quanah agreed with Lone Wolf and went on to say:

There has been several statements as to the amount of money that we receive. It is a great deal of money to be paid each person, and if the Indian makes good use of it he can live like Tanananaka and myself. You look around you and see so many good faces, but they will take their money and buy whiskey. . . . We think we understand what the commission has said to us, but do not think the commission has understood what we have said. . . . This land is ours, just like your farm is yours; but for one reason we cannot hold on to ours, because on the right had is what you are trying to do and on the left hand is the Dawes bill.

Quanah had realized he could not stop the allotments, but he could postpone them. He knew he had two options. One, deal with the Jerome Commission or two let the Dawes Act dictate what happened. He chose to deal with the Jerome Commission. It took the Jerome Commission one month to accomplish getting the "signatures" they were after.

Quanah told the commission that as long as the Jerome Agreement was not ratified he would continue to see to the leasing of the grassland. The Jerome Agreement was ratified 1900. The version that passing the House in March 1900 gave each Indian 160 acres, but it did not guarantee them money for the remainder of the land. The Indian Rights Association lobbied against this bill. In a statement they condemned it by saying:

utterly destructive of that honor and good faith which should characterize our dealings with any people, and especially with one too weak to enforce their rights as against us by any other means than an appeal to our sense of justice.

This pressure lead to another version of the Jerome Agreement. This version gave each Indian 160 acres, an additional 480,000 acres of land to be held communally, and guaranteed the Indians would receive at least $500,000 of the $2,000,000 purchase price for the surplus land. This was the version of the Jerome Agreement that was ratified in 1900. Provisions were also made for the children that had been born during the time of the signing of the Jerome Agreement and its ratification.

Quanah never learned to read but he spoke three languages, Comanche, Spanish and English. Realizing that the only way for his people to survive was to acculturate he encouraged education. Ironically, his own children were not always in school. Lack of space in the schools kept them from attending regularly. In 1893, the Fort Sill Boarding School opened. The addition of this school afforded many children, Quanah's included, the opportunity for an education they would not have otherwise received.

Because of the lack of a school in his area Quanah had enrolled his son Kelsey in a white school in Cache. The residents of Cache protested an Indian in their school. Officially the reason given for Kelsey being denied access to the school was that he lived outside of the school district. So Quanah enrolled Kelsey in the Fort Sill School. Kelsey was not happy. Quanah said of the Indian school:

No like Indian school for my people. Indian boy go to Indian school, stay like Indian; go white school, he like white man. Me want white school so my children get educated like whites, be like whites.

“Quanah Parker, after to the reservation”—C.M. Bell

In 1908 Quanah offered a piece of his property to be used for a school. The reason for the proposed school was that many Indian and white children in the area where Quanah lived were not in any school district. This school never was built. Rumor was that Quanah's son, White Parker, was to be the teacher. Quanah wanted a white teacher; he felt that an Indian teacher would not speak English well enough to truly teach the children.

On December 4, 1910, Quanah re-interred his mother's remains. He had brought her body up from Texas to Oklahoma. During the ceremony he said:

Forty years ago my mother died. She captured by Comanches, nine years old. Love Indian and wild life so well no want to go back to white folks. All same people anyway, God say. I love my mother. I like my white people. Got great heart. I want my people to follow after white way, get educated, know work, make living when payments stop. I tell 'em they got to know how to pick cotton, plow corn. I want them know white man's God. Comanche may die today, tomorrow, ten years. When end comes then they all be together again. I want see my mother again then.

Quanah Parker died on February 23, 1911, and was buried next to his mother at Ft. Sill Military cemetery on Chiefs Knoll in Oklahoma. For his courage, integrity and tremendous insight, Quanah Parker's life tells the story of one of America's greatest leaders and a true hero.

Biographer Bill Neeley writes:

"Not only did Quanah pass within the span of a single lifetime from a Stone Age warrior to a statesman in the age of the Industrial Revolution, but he accepted the challenge and responsibility of leading the whole Comanche tribe on the difficult road toward their new existence."