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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary, 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:
Provided, That in case there is not sufficient land in any of said reservations to allot lands to each individual of the classes above named in quantities as above provided, the lands embraced in such reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each individual of each of said classes pro rata in accordance with the provisions of this act: And provided further, That where the treaty or act of Congress setting apart such reservation provides the allotment of lands in severalty in quantities in excess of those herein provided, the President, in making allotments upon such reservation, shall allot the lands to each individual Indian belonging thereon in quantity as specified in such treaty or act: And provided further, That when the lands allotted are only valuable for grazing purposes, an additional allotment of such grazing lands, in quantities as above provided, shall be made to each individual.
SEC. 2. That all allotments set apart under the provisions of this act shall be selected by the Indians, heads of families selecting for their minor children, and the agents shall select for each orphan child, and in such manner as to embrace the improvements of the Indians making the selection. where the improvements of two or more Indians have been made on the same legal subdivision of land, unless they shall otherwise agree, a provisional line may be run dividing said lands between them, and the amount to which each is entitled shall be equalized in the assignment of the remainder of the land to which they are entitled under his act: Provided, That if any one entitled to an allotment shall fail to make a selection within four years after the President shall direct that allotments may be made on a particular reservation, the Secretary of the Interior may direct the agent of such tribe or band, if such there be, and if there be no agent, then a special agent appointed for that purpose, to make a selection for such Indian, which selection shall be allotted as in cases where selections are made by the Indians, and patents shall issue in like manner.
SEC. 3. That the allotments provided for in this act shall be made by special agents appointed by the President for such purpose, and the agents in charge of the respective reservations on which the allotments are directed to be made, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may from time to time prescribe, and shall be certified by such agents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in duplicate, one copy to be retained in the Indian Office and the other to be transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior for his action, and to be deposited in the General Land Office.
SEC. 4. That where any Indian not residing upon a reservation, or for whose tribe no reservation has been provided by treaty, act of Congress, or executive order, shall make settlement upon any surveyed or unsurveyed lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated, he or she shall be entitled, upon application to the local land-office for the district in which the lands arc located, to have the same allotted to him or her, and to his or her children, in quantities and manner as provided in this act for Indians residing upon reservations; and when such settlement is made upon unsurveyed lands, the grant to such Indians shall be adjusted upon the survey of the lands so as to conform thereto; and patents shall be issued to them for such lands in the manner and with the restrictions as herein provided. And the fees to which the officers of such local land-office would have been entitled had such lands been entered under the general laws for the disposition of the public lands shall be paid to them, from any moneys in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, upon a statement of an account in their behalf for such fees by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a certification of such account to the Secretary of the Treasury by the Secretary of the Interior.
SEC. 5. That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in this act by the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause patents to issue therefor in the name of the allottees, which patents shall be of the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will hold the land thus allotted, for the period of twenty-five years, in trust for the sole use and benefit of the Indian to whom such allotment shall have been made, or, in case of his decease, of his heirs according to the laws of the State or Territory where such land is located, and that at the expiration of said period the United States will convey the same by patent to said Indian, or his heirs as aforesaid, in fee, discharged of said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever: Provided, That the President of the United States may in any case in his discretion extend the period. And if any conveyance shall be made of the lands set apart and allotted as herein provided, or any contract made touching the same, before the expiration of the time above mentioned, such conveyance or contract shall be absolutely null and void: Provided, That the law of descent and partition in force in the State or Territory where such lands are situate shall apply thereto after patents therefor have been executed and delivered, except as herein otherwise provided; and the laws of the State of Kansas regulating the descent and partition of real estate shall, so far as practicable, apply to all lands in the Indian Territory which may be allotted in severalty under the provisions of this act: And provided further, That at any time after lands have been allotted to all the Indians of any tribe as herein provided, or sooner if in the opinion of the President it shall be for the best interests of said tribe, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with such Indian tribe for the purchase and release by said tribe, in conformity with the treaty or statute under which such reservation is held, of such portions of its reservation not allotted as such tribe shall, from time to time, consent to sell, on such terms and conditions as shall be considered just and equitable between the United States and said tribe of Indians, which purchase shall not be complete until ratified by Congress, and the form and manner of executing such release prescribed by Congress: Provided however, That all lands adapted to agriculture, with or without irrigation so sold or released to the United States by any Indian tribe shall be held by the United States for the sale purpose of securing homes to actual settlers and shall be disposed of by the United States to actual and bona fide settlers only tracts not exceding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person, on such terms as Congress shall prescribe, subject to grants which Congress may make in aid of education: And provided further, That no patents shall issue therefor except to the person so taking the same as and homestead, or his heirs, and after the expiration of five years occupancy therof as such homestead; and any conveyance of said lands taken as a homestead, or any contract touching the same, or lieu thereon, created prior to the date of such patent, shall be null and void. And the sums agreed to be paid by the United States as purchase money for any portion of any such reservation shall be held in the Treasury of the United States for the sole use of the tribe or tribes Indians; to whom such reservations belonged; and the same, with interest thereon at three per cent per annum, shall be at all times subject to appropriation by Congress for the education and civilization of such tribe or tribes of Indians or the members thereof. The patents aforesaid shall be recorded in the General Land Office, and afterward delivered, free of charge, to the allottee entitled thereto. And if any religious society or other organization is now occupying any of the public lands to which this act is applicable, for religious or educational work among the Indians, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to confirm such occupation to such society or organization, in quantity not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in any one tract, so long as the same shall be so occupied, on such terms as he shall deem just; but nothing herein contained shall change or alter any claim of such society for religious or educational purposes heretofore granted by law. And hereafter in the employment of Indian police, or any other employees in the public service among any of the Indian tribes or bands affected by this act, and where Indians can perform the duties required, those Indians who have availed themselves of the provisions of this act and become citizens of the United States shall be preferred.
SEC. 6. That upon the completion of said allotments and the patenting of the lands to said allottees, each and every number of the respective bands or tribes of Indians to whom allotments have been made shall have the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the State or Territory in which they may reside; and no Territory shall pass or enforce any law denying any such Indian within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. And every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to whom allotments shall have been made under the provisions of this act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States who has voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizens, whether said Indian has been or not, by birth or otherwise, a member of any tribe of Indians within the territorial limits of the United States without in any manner affecting the right of any such Indian to tribal or other property.
SEC. 7. That in cases where the use of water for irrigation is necessary to render the lands within any Indian reservation available for agricultural purposes, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure a just and equal distribution thereof among the Indians residing upon any such reservation; and no oother appropriation or grant of water by any riparian proprietor shall permitted to the damage of any other riparian proprietor.
SEC. 8. That the provisions of this act shall not extend to the territory occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Osage, Miamies and Peorias, and Sacs and Foxes, in the Indian Territory, nor to any of the reservations of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians in the State of New York, nor to that strip of territory in the State of Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south added by executive order.
SEC. 9. That for the purpose of making the surveys and resurveys mentioned in section two of this act, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be repaid proportionately out of the proceeds of the sales of such land as may be acquired from the Indians under the provisions of this act.
SEC. 10. That nothing in this act contained shall be so canstrued to affect the right and power of Congress to grant the right of way through any lands granted to an Indian, or a tribe of Indians, for railroads or other highways, or telegraph lines, for the public use, or condemn such lands to public uses, upon making just compensation.
SEC. 11. That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to prevent the removal of the Southern Ute Indians from their present reservation in Southwestern Colorado to a new reservation by and with consent of a majority of the adult male members of said tribe.
Approved, February, 8, 1887.
When walking down a path through some woods . I saw a puddle of water ahead. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water and mud. As I reached the puddle, I was suddenly attacked! The attack was so unpredictable and from a source so totally unexpected. I was startled , although unhurt, despite having been struck four or five times already. I backed away a few feet and my attacker stopped its attack. Instead of attacking more, he hovered in the air on graceful butterfly wings in front of me. At first I was amused knowing no pysical harm could result from a butterfly attack. I took a step forward., he rammed me in the chest with his head and body, striking me with all his might, still to no avail. For a second time, I stepped back , again the attack stopped. Each time I moved forward. the attacker charged again. I was rammed in the chest over and over again. I wasn't sure what to do, other than to retreat a third time. I thought , it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. This time I stepped back futher than before to look the situation over. My attacker moved back also and landed on the ground. That's when in sadness I discovered the reason for of the attacks. He had a mate and she was dying. She was near the puddle where he landed. Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. As a tear came to my eye I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate as I am sure she had for him. He had taken it upon himself to attack me for his mate's sake, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her. Now that I knew why and what he was fighting for. I carefully and quitely made my way far around the puddle to the other side of the path. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself of the love for his mate and her safety justified my complete respect. I couldn't do anything other than assure the same protection to him that he gave his mate. He had truly earned those moments to be with the one he so dearly loved, undisturbed. I left them in peace for those last few moments. At a respected distance away from them I knelt and stood guard , determined that nothing would disturb their last sacred moment. After life left the body of this beautiful butterfly , its brave mate so gracefully hovered over her body , gently grasping and lifting her lifeless form ever so tenderly then flying into the woods to prepare for her a final resting place. Unknown |
Christopher Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, a half-hour before sunrise on August 3, 1492. His three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, carried 90 men. There were no priests along on the first voyage. The ships were tiny by modern standards; no larger than a tennis court, and less than 30 feet wide. The Santa Maria carried 40 men, the Pinta 26, the Nina 24. Only the Nina and Pinta returned to Spain. The crew was composed primarily of sailors from the Spanish port of Palos, recruited by the influential Pinzon brothers. Martin Alonzo Pinzon served as captain of the Pinta, with his brother Francisco as the ship's master. Another brother, Vincente, was captain of the Nina. Four brothers from the Nino family also signed on for the voyage. Juan Nino was the owner and master of the Nina. Four of the crewmen were not Spanish; one was Venetian, another Genoese, one was Portuguese and another Calabrian. Also aboard was Luis de Torres, a converted Jew who spoke Hebrew and Arabic. It was expected that he could interpret talks with the Great Khan of China. Rodrigo de Escobedo was secretary of the fleet and expected to correspond with royalty they met. Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia was aboard to watch expenditures and make sure the crown got its share of gold and jewels. Each ship had a surgeon. The year's worth of food included biscuits, beans, peas, dried fish, salt pork, live pigs, hens, almonds, figs and cheese.
As the ships left Palos on their shakedown cruise, they headed for the Canary Islands, 600 miles away. They took on provisions in the Canaries, and fixed the rudder on the Pinta. Then on September 6, 1492, they sailed into the unknown, but, they felt certain, toward China and Japan. The long sea watch began. Time was measured by the swing of the sun as it arced overhead, by the stars at night, and by the turn of the hourglass each half hour by the deck boy. Eight turns of the glass made up a "watch" for a sailor. The pious Columbus prayed using a book of hours in his cabin on the Santa Maria. On deck, the crew faithfully shared the ancient prayers: tierce at mid-morning, vespers in the afternoon, the singing of "Salve Regina" at sunset, and the compline at the close of the day.
At sunset on September 25, an excited sailor shouted "Land!" Others in the rigging said that they saw it, too. The crews sang the "Gloria" in thanksgiving, and kept nervous watch all night. The next morning they concluded that they had been wrong. The winds started to fade, and some of the crew started to become anxious. It was a long time since they had seen land, in terms of seamanship in the 15th century.
On October 1, the wind picked up, and the flotilla began to move smartly, making 142 nautical miles a day for five days. By October 10, there was still no sight of land, just a vast ocean. The captains of the individual vessels gathered on the Santa Maria to ask Columbus to turn back. Columbus compromised with the officers; they would sail on for three more days, and if no land was sighted, they would reverse course and return to Spain. At 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492, the lookout on the Pinta sighted land, "a white sand cliff gleaming in the moonlight on the western horizon." When daylight came, they edged closer to the island. Small boats were lowered from the three caravels, as natives gathered on the beach, naked and shy. Columbus and his officers came ashore, planting the royal flag of Ferdinand and Isabella, and gave thanks to God. They were on the island of Guanahani, but beginning a practice which would last for 500 years, they promptly ignored the name the islanders called their home and named the island San Salvador, then knelt in prayers of thanks to a God the islanders knew nothing about. Columbus believed that he had landed on an island off the coast of China, and called the people "Indios", or Indians. It is generally believed by scholars that Columbus landed on San Salvador (now called Watling Island), in what are now the Bahamas on October 12, although even this is disputed; the first landing may have been at Samana Cay, 65 miles south, or at one of nine other sites. Columbus traveled to Cuba on October 18; and on to Santo Domingo/Haiti by December 6. He never saw the mainland of North America.
On December 24, Christmas Eve, the sleepy helmsman gave the tiller of the flagship, the Santa Maria, to the ship's boy. The crew was exhausted after two nights of entertaining and trading with the local Taino and Arawak Indians (These Native Indians succumbed to European disease in a few short years and became extinct). The boy accidentally ran the ship aground on a coral reef off the north coast of Haiti. Attempts to free the Santa Maria failed, the planking opened, and the Admiral abandoned her for the Nina. Local Indians helped Columbus unload supplies, dismantle the ship's timbers and boards, and carry them to the Indian village, where the chief gave Columbus two of his biggest and best houses. The tiny settlement was named La Navidad on December 26, 1492. Thirty nine crewmen were left to maintain this, the first Spanish settlement in the New World.
The sacred council drum will be struck each day in your honor and the sacred eternal flame will continue burning in our heart as long as one drop of blood flows through our veins.
If the concept of Christianity in combination with American Indian spiritiallity makes you uncomfortable or offends there are many other sites on the Internet promoting an opposite view of Native religion which you may visit , we thank you for your visit and pray your path is peaceful.
Our foundation belief is that the Southeast American Indian religion & spirituality was & is compatible if not one in the same with Christianity
M. Van Buren, President. The Summer of 1837 is rendered memorable in Indian history by the visitation of one of those calamities which have so much reduced the Indian population, viz: the ravages of the small-pox, which then swept through the Missouri valley.
The disease was introduced among them from a steamboat, which ascended that river from the city of St. Louis, in July. On the 15th of that month the disease made its appearance in the village of the Mandans, great numbers of whom fell victims to it. Thence it spread rapidly over the entire country, and tribe after tribe was decimated by it.
The Mandans, among whom the pestilence commenced, are stated to have been reduced from an estimated population of 1600 souls to 125. The Minnetarees, or Gros Ventres, out of a population of 1000 persons, lost one-half their number. The Arickarees, numbering 3000, were reduced by this pestilence to 1500. The Crows, or Upsarokas, lost great numbers, and the survivors saved themselves by a rapid retreat to the mountains. The Assinaboins, a people roughly estimated at 9000, were swept off by hundreds. The Crees, living in the same region, and numbering 3000 souls, suffered in an equal degree. The disease appears at length to have exhausted its virulence on the Blackfeet and Bloods, a numerous and powerful genus of tribes. One thousand lodges are reported to have been desolated, and left standing, without a solitary inhabitant, on the tracts and prairies, once the residence of this proud and warlike race: a sad memorial of this dreadful scourge.
Visitors to these regions, during the year when this dread pestilence was raging there, represent the Indian country as being truly desolate. Women and children were met wandering about without protection, or seated near the graves of their husbands and parents, uttering pitiable lamentations. Howling dogs roamed about, seeking their masters.
It is reported that some of the Indians, after recovering from the disease, when they saw how it had disfigured their faces, threw themselves into the Missouri river.
Language, however forcible, fails to give an idea of the reality. On every side was desolation, and wrecks of mortality everywhere presented themselves to the view. Prominent among these was the tenantless wigwam: no longer did the curling smoke from its roof betoken a welcome, and its closed door gave sad evidence of the silence and darkness that reigned within. The prairie wolf sent up its dismal howl, as it preyed upon the decaying carcases; and the lonely traveller, as he rapidly passed through this scene of desolation and death, was frequently startled by the croaking of the raven, or the screams the vulture and falcon, from trees or crags commanding a view of these funereal scenes." Source: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, History of the Indian Tribes of the United States: Their Pres ent Condition and Prospects, and a Sketch of Their Ancient Status, 1857. Report of smallpox in 1837, pp. 486-7.
"As above mentioned, I moved to Kaposia, an Indian village sixmiles [sic] by the river below St. Paul, in the autumn of 1846. During the winter I was called to see several genuine cases of ague, and a much larger number of abnormal cases of paludal disease; and here I will state that this disease which used to be called bilious fever is much less regular in form in Minnesota than it was in Ohio when I practised there. Usually there is much less of what is called fever, that is of heat and arterial action and often the chill or sweating stage is scarcely perceptible; so that, though readily recognizable by persons familiar with it, even regular physicians who know it merely from description in books are very liable to mistake it from some other disease.
Since I have ceased to practice medicine I have seen several instances of this, two of which proved fatal, as appeared to me, in consequence of this mistake. The summer of 1847 also was unusually warm and cases of paludal disease were numerous, both among whites and Indians in the country near Fort Snelling.
The Dakotas suffered most because, like our British ancestors, for security against their enemies they made their villages in the midst of swamps, and also because they lacked food. Government usually gave them their flour and pork in the month of June, but that year it was withheld for a month or two, and many of them died in consequence. In health they could have subsisted on roots, chiefly of sagittaria, obtained from swamps, and on wild ducks, pigeons and fish. But the stomach of the sick rejected fish and pigeons; and it often happened that when a man, after wading in swamps for hours, returned with ducks, or a woman with roots, he or she would fall down in a chill. The food brought home was speedily prepared, but the bringer in a chill or fever was gone and appetite had returned some hungry child had eaten all the food.
I suppose a majority of the Indians were more or less affected with the disease, and about one in thirty died of it. Many more would have died but for food given them by their white neighbors, and probably four-fifths of those that died might have been saved by proper food and medicine. Subsequent summers were cooler, more healthy sites were selected for some of the villages the next year, and there was less of the disease, and subsequently but little.
Some years later these lower Sioux, as they were called, suffered severely from whooping cough in the spring and early summer. To the children who were brought to me soon after the attack I gave small doses of tartar emetic for the first two weeks, keeping their stomachs a little irritable so that when the cough came on severely they would vomit a little. Later in the disease when they became feverish or the stomach so irritable as to reject necessary food, I gave laxatives, and of those thus treated I think not one died. At other villages the mortality was considerable. I was taken to see the sick after more than twenty had died, out of a population of about 400. On examining the little sufferers it was manifest they were perishing for lack of nutriment; and on inquiry I found that the whole village had for some time been subsisting solely on fish, and whenever a paroxysm of coughing came on they vomited what had been eaten. Medicine could do but little for them, so I told the chief to call together his principal men, told them all to look at the sick children and gave them a severe scolding for letting the children starve. When they pleaded poverty as an excuse I told them to send all the young men immediately to hunt deer, and for the older ones to go to their traders and get corn, flour and sugar for the children. They did as I directed and very few died afterwards. Similar treatment was less successful when the disease prevailed in winter, because it was impossible to keep the patient comfortably warm. Yours truly, THOS. S. WILLIAMSON." Source: Thomas S. Williamson, "The Diseases of the Dakota Indians," Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal Vol. 4, 1874, pp. 418-9.
THE OLD SWIMMING HOLERed Wolf |
Paul points out that "if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21).
If our good works could save or even help to save us--then Christ died for nothing, and His sacrifice was useless and unnecessary! If we could save ourselves on the basis of our own goodness we wouldn't need a Savior. We would in fact be our own savior.
If the length of David¡¯s generation, Christ¡¯s generation, and those living today is 70-80 years (a 3000 year span), it would be reasonable to conclude that the generation Christ was talking about in the parable of the fig tree will also be 70-80 years in length. If the fig tree in this parable represents the nation of Israel, as many prophetic scholars believe, and the generation that is described has a lifespan of 70 to 80 years, then we see several strong indicators that the generation Christ was talking about has already been born. That would mean that the return of Jesus Christ to establish his reign for a thousand years is close at hand. The indicators we have seen include: the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948 (Isaiah 66:8), the Jerusalem controversy in the end times (Zechariah 12:1-3), preparations for rebuilding the Jewish Temple (Revelation 11:1,2), ongoing negotiations for a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians (Daniel 9:27)
A movement called Zionism encouraged the Jewish people to return to the ¡°Promised Land¡± and brought about the Balfour Declaration in 1917, a statement by Great Britain that supported a home for the Jewish people. After much negotiation and endorsement of a partition resolution by the United Nations in 1947, the rebirth of Israel (Isaiah 66:7-9) took place on May 15, 1948. Following a period of wars between the Jewish and Arab nations in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, peace negotiations have been ongoing and will continue until a covenant (Daniel 9:27) is confirmed between ¡°the prince that shall come¡± (Antichrist) and the nation of Israel.
One day there will be a generation of Christians that will escape the grip of death and be ushered into heaven, the ¡°final frontier¡± for believers. The generation that is ¡°left behind¡± will face the ruthless tyranny of a global dictatorship. The world stage is now being set for the closing act of this dispensation, and the climax of world history, Christ¡¯s return, is drawing near. As God¡¯s children, we may very well be the generation that is chosen to ¡°escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man¡± (Luke 21: 34-36). That possibility is certainly worth pondering!
This flag was flown in a colony of 160 Norsmen estabilshed in Vincland , ( probably Nova Scotia) by Leif Ericson's brother Thorfinn Karlsefui , in 1003 A.D.This land was descovered 3 years previously by Leif Ercson , son of Eric the Red when he was blown of course.Karlsefui and his follows remained about 3 years , his wife bore a son during this time.It is thought that the hostilities of the Native Indians drove them home in 1006 A.D.
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Nothing has been found as to why he did not remain in Indian Territory, but both his visit and return may have been connected to the activities of the Dawes Commission.
The Dawes Commission was created by Congress in 1893 for the purpose of privatizing tribal land west of the Mississippi. Each successful claimant of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole blood would be given a parcel of land then under tribal control. The land was offered in Indian Territory only. A board of commissioners began the process of receiving and approving applications, but the program was problem-riddled from the start as Indian ¡®wannabes¡± and opportunistic lawyers (often charging 50% commissions), filled the courts with fraudulent claims. Rules for eligibility changed without notice, and the under-staffed commission often kept poor records of each applicant.
Little attention was paid to the more than 1,000 Choctaw Indians living in Mississippi until 1897. Much of the land in Indian Territory had already been allocated and the Choctaw Tribal Council, based in Indian Territory, showed little interest in sharing this land or cash-in-lieu with their Mississippi cousins.
It was only in December 1900 that the commissioners paid a visit to Mississippi to take applications. From December through June of the following year they scheduled meetings and accepted applications at Hattiesburg, Carthage, Philadelphia, Decatur, and Meridian.
Jack Amos, along with more than 100 others, filed a claim when the Dawes Commission met at Decatur. But Jack Amos, along with other Mississippi Choctaws, was already disillusioned with the delay. In 1898 Congress passed the Curtis Act which allowed claimants to apply the provisions of Article 14 of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. So they tried a new tactic¡ªthey asked that they be granted the land, not in Indian Territory, but in Mississippi, AND on the rights given in Article 14 of Dancing Rabbit Creek. What followed was a class-action suit with the name of Jack Amos listed first in the petition to the courts.
Among other concerns, the Dawes Commission addressed the legitimacy of each claimant relative to the Article 14 of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830. This was the treaty that released two-thirds of central Mississippi into the hands of white settlers and sent most of the Mississippi Indians on a Trail of Tears to the western lands, later to become the state of Oklahoma. Article 14 of that treaty provided that any Choctaw head of household who remained in Mississippi would be granted a section of land. Any child over the age of 10 was granted a half-section of land and any child under the age of 10, a quarter of section of land. The Indian agent Rufus Ward appointed to process these claims failed to do so in most cases; therefore, few Choctaws Indians received these benefits.
(Rufus Ward failed to process more than 75 applications under the terms of the 14th Article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and was frequently intoxicated or absent from his station. He later told members of Congress that he thought he was doing what was intended of his position by disregarding these applications.)
The Dawes Commission began the process of determining how many Choctaw Indians were still residents of Mississippi, producing a census that came to be known as the McKennon Roll. Jack Amos was one of the first individuals from the Mississippi Choctaws who filed an application with the Dawes Commission in 1896 in order to receive a land grant, and which was largely ignored. It was at this time that Jack Amos, along with many other Mississippi Choctaws, contracted with attorneys Robert L Owen and Charles F. Winton to acquire land they had been denied under the terms of Article 14 of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.
This suit found its way into federal court as Jack Amos et al vs. The Choctaw Nation, U. S. Court of Central District of Indian Territory, No 158 (1897). During 1896 and 1897 Mr. Owen testified and lobbied the United States Congress on behalf of Jack Amos and the other Mississippi Indians named in the suit. Out of all the litigation on his behalf and the behalf of others, Jack Amos never received any compensation or land. He was promised land in the Indian Territory, but he refused to leave his beloved Mississippi.
The Civil War began in 1861 and it did not take long for Mississippi to become involved. Troops were called up for service all over the state. The newly formed Confederate States of America quickly made treaties with the Choctaw Nation, bringing this nation into the war on the side of the South. Both the Choctaw tribe in Indian Territory and in Mississippi began to raise units for service in the Civil War, and in 1861, Jack Amos, along with 200 other Mississippi Choctaws from Newton and Jasper Counties joined the Confederate Army. Jack served the Confederacy as a scout and interpreter between the Choctaws and Whites.
Jack Amos first enlisted in the 1st Choctaw Battalion, Mississippi Calvary under the command of Maj. J. W. Pearce. Recruitment and training camps were set up in Newton County and in Tangipahoa, Louisiana. During the course of the war, members of this unit, both White officers and Choctaw soldiers, were engaged with Union troops at Ponchatoula, Louisiana, and were taken captive. Some of the Choctaws and White officers escaped and returned to Newton County, others escaped into the Louisiana marshes and were never heard from again, while still others were captured, placed in the Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, and later paraded in New York City as prisoners-of-war. With many of their warriors lost or killed, the unit disbanded on May 8, 1863.
Jack Amos was among those who escaped the clash at Ponchatoula. All members still present, including Jack Amos, were transferred to Spann’s Battalion of Independent Scouts under the command of Maj. S. C. Spann. Jack remained with his unit until its surrender in Meridian, Mississippi, on May 9, 1865. After the war, his commanding officer, S. G. Spann, wrote for Confederate Veteran’s Magazine a compelling story about the role of this Choctaw unit in the Confederacy and how this man--Jack Amos--made such an impact as an individual under his command.
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