New-York tribune., 1901-10-07
" OUR LASTCANNIBAL TRIBE"
SOME CORRECTIONS OF STATEMENTS
CONCERNING INDIAN TRIBES IN
A RECENT MAGAZINE
ARTICLE.

'Harper's" of course and find among its at
tractive papers Of semi-historical character,
which I suggest carries with IT errors Of !
moment. In referring to them I at the dis /
advantage of relying wholly on memory of events |
and environment. being far the shores |
from papers. but believe, nevertheless, that |
the presentation shall make-wth all due respect |
10 what ought TO be for the preparation or such an
article the superior to information by the |
writer thereot-wiTl be substantially
The paper refer to bears the title OF Our Last
CannibaI Tribe" and was written by James |
Mooney, OF the Bureau of American Ethnology |
Smithsonian Institution. From such source its |
details ought to be correct. Mr.. Mooney gives /,
details of a blood covenant among older Indian |
tribes. which involved cannibalsrn, in relation to
prisoners, as one of its secret conditions. AS 10
the existence thereof I have nothing say. but |
to notable details, purportng to be the |
history OF the Tonkawas, Texas tribe, and the
last of our cannibals," according to Mr.. Mooney,
there is something to be said. By the way Mr.
Mooney gives date for the alleged attack by |
Union Indians the putatve cannibas.
The Tonkawas were located in the Wichita sec
tion OF the Indian Territory. it was understood
TO be in 1861 and the probable date Of the sup
posed massacre" reported by Dr. Sturm through
Mr.. Moody. The Wichita country is in
Southeastern Oklahoma.
I venture the statement that no body of Indians
organized into the Indian Home Guards
large body of Cherokees, Creeks and few Semi
noles and Choctaws called when enrolled
into the Union army. got as far to the South
west as the Wichita reservation. It would have
been almost impossible during the four years OF
Our most southery line the Arkansas
River at Fort Gibson. which, long distance east
of the wichtas, furthest Southwestern
post. I shall be very much surprised TO learn ii
Mr.. Moody produce any army report. from
Union records at least, which will show a fight OF
the character he describes as being made on one
side by Union" Indians.
That "Dr. Sturn' has forgotten Of the
essential facts seems certain. because of Union
Indians named assailng the Tonkawas, two
tribes had at the date no representative what
living within the Indian Territory. Another
was but fragment of tribe all OF whose mem
bers had been professed Christians for years, and
all OF them who lived IN the Indian Territory in
1s5l'65 civilized farmers and house dwellers
The first two tribes allude TO. and as named by
Mr.. Mooney the Delawares now merged with
the Cherokees) and the Kickapoos, who now live IN
Oklahoma All Of the first named were and are
Christian Indians. They lived for years before,
during and after the Civil War in what Is now the
State Of Kansas. lands located between the
cities OF Leavenworth and Lawrence. They were
then house dwellers and land cultivators OF their
kind small number-probably sixty or seventy
IN al-were different times employed as army
scouts. few may have been regularly enlisted
and others we're paid as army teamsters ana
laborers. but doubt very much II any of them
used within the Indian Territory itself;
and I served with them in army line and stan
and had far more than chance knowledge Of the
Union frontier forces. their composition and SER
vices I am on the safe side in making this state
ment The Delawares were not removed TO the
Indian Territory till some time in the seventies.
Again. as to the Shawnees and Kickapoos. The
main body OF both tribes lived in Kansas before.
during and after the Civil War Some OF the
Kansas Shawnees were probably enlisted, but IL so
they not used within the Indian Territory,
but the plains. where considerable cav
airy force was always employed in keeping open
communication with the mountain West and the
Pacific Coast But. to my personal knowledge
OF them at home all through the war.
They always peaceable and industrious, and
their reservation at least $50 miles direct
line from that OF the reported home Of the Tonka
was. The Kickapoos lived near AtchIson. Kan:
were kept rigidy confined their reservation and
were not accepted for soldier or any army service
left the parent tribe and fed TO Western Texas
and thence into Mexico. where they certainly were
during the secession rebellion Most OF those who
sble TO prove that the wilder ana alscohtered e[
kekAP3os any more fo than the asteutTTaI M t cot
| described. in so interesting manner IN the
Again We are told that the five civilized tribes
OF the Gndian) Territory were all shareholders
waite waite cherokee chief held a commission
but he was not the rst nor the only one Tho so so
they had long before abrogated such rank in the
old Indian sense, and had only elected rulers.
Stand) Waite a fullblooded Cherokee OF good
family who had college education, was a small
pie The real Confederate Indian leader was
came Confederate major-general. and died in the
The five civilized nations did not drift easily
into the rebellion; nor were all Of them slave
contrary is the fact. The seminoles were opposed
as people thereto. very few among them may
tribal ruling and feeling A majority OF both the
Cherokees and Creeks were non-saveholding. and
slavery itsef they We're. and stni are Free viii
Choctaws were also opposed TO slavery. The
Chickasaws removed from Mississippi They were
generally Shareholders when able to buy slaves.
The legislatures of the named nations
were under control Of pro-slavery men, and de-
elared, after some considerable effort by Albert
Pike, Confederate Indian Commissioner. and ex-
Arkansas in favor of the Confederaey. In the Creek
Nation, Mcintosh and his cabal led a rebellion
taw and Texas slavehoiders. defeated and drove
out and into Kansas during the winter Of 1s6i-'62
some three thousand or more Indians men. women
and children. and several hundred negroes mainly
| free persons There were a number of Cherokees
and M all but two score or so OF the seminoles be;
males were all enrolled as Home Guards and so
regiments, some portions OF which were undoubt-
| edly negroes. This was at least seven months be-
| teers organized and ten months before It
| finally mustered in as such regiment. had place
At this time the Confedcracy had two Indian
| Cherokee for home service which regiment came
over bodily to lines. and flag in the summer OF
Ross the CHIEF Executive Of the Cherokees. a and
my Inspection by order Of General Ban BInt and
know thereby that Pike, Rector Mcintosh & Co.
Indian government which. according to Mr.
Mooney "drifted easily into the Confederacy'
| ciety rites and horrors know nothing. think
reported as identled therewith and have herein
sG n Sr 1872 81 recall Of S6b The
Tribune and ''he Times Of your city will will give
that will the e sabee
thereto, Mr. MONEYS paper will bear reading; In