The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-01-31
REDMEN IN OFFICE.
Indians Who Have Filled Positions
of Importance.
The CherOkees Are the Most Ad-
vanced Tribe-Many Half-BlOOds
Now Employed by the Gov
ernment.

ernment.
An examination of the records of
the Indian Office shows that red MEN
have filed official positions of inn
portance with signal ability, says the
Washington Times. Indeed, the man
who first performed duties corre-
spending to those of the Indian COM
missioner of to-day was a full-blood-
ed Mohegan named Sampson Ocean.
He was born in 1923, and died in 1899,
and was ordained a minister of the
Gospel in 1859. While he never held
of the term, he had extensive charge
of Indian missions in colonial times,
thus occupying a position measur-
ably corresponding to that of COM
missioner of Indian affairs. He was
well educated, author of various
writings, and was well received on
the occasion of visit he paid to
England.
Perhaps the most conspicuous fig
ure among North American Indians
who have held official positions was
Tecumseh or Tecumtha. He was
born in 176S and killed at the battle
of the Thames in 1918. He held posi-
ton under the British crown of
brigadier general in command of a
British-Indian force of 1000, and was
a full-blooded Shawnee.
The Cherokee chief, Stand Waite,
born 1915, died 1877, had a slight
strain of white blood. He was a
colonel and afterwards brigadier
general in the confederate army,
commanding an Indian brigade of
two regiments and three batteries.
The Cherokees are said to rank the
highest to-day of the Indian tribes
in the United States. They were
originally one of the Five Nations of
the Atlantic coast, and had made
considerable Advancement in civiliza-
tion. Their native language is similar
to the Iroquois. Though retarded in
progress by their transfer, with
other Indians of the Five Nations, to
a desolate country, new and strange
to them, beyond the Mississippi, they
have advanced more rapidly than any
other tribe in this country. Sequel,
also called George Guess, full-blood-
ed Cherokee, invented for his people
an alphabet, simple, but complete, in
1924. With printed language this
tribe has developed a literature
peculiarly it's own. Most of the
Cherokees have received an English
education, the wealthier members of
the tribe sending their children to
the best eastern schools. Their
graceful native orators have been
heard on the floors of congress, and
newspapers edited by full-blooded
Indians are printed in English and
Cherokee.
Gen. Grants secretary and officer
of-staff during the civil war, Gen. Ely
S. Parker, was a Seneca Indian
Though not of pure blood), born in
1928, and educated as a civil engineer.
After the war he was made assist
ant adjutant general, and was pro-
NOTED, through various grades, to
brigadier general of the United
Staes army. He was commissioner
of Indian affairs 1S69-1S71.
A present employe of the United
States Indian office is Francis La
Omaha. Representative Curtis, Of
Kansas, is said to be one-quarter-
blood Kaw. Mr.. ]. N. B. Hewitt, of
the bureau of ethnology, is about
one-eighth Tuscarora; while DR..
Eastman, agency physician at Pine
Ridge, S. D., is three-quarter-bloo
Sioux or Dakota. 1t is the policy of
the Indian office to employ Indians
on the agencies and reservations as
far as possible. AS a consequence,
on every agency or reservation, there
are number of Indians employed by
the government as teamsters, assist
ant farmers, blacksmiths, and in
various similar capacities. In a few
cases there are Indians employed as
clerks, or in subordinate positions in
the schools.
Mexico furnishes the most con.
spicuous examples of Indians who
have risen TO high official position.
President Hidalgo, for whom one of
the leading states of Mexico is
named, and who is alluded to as the
George Washington of Mexico"
was said to be an Indian of full
blood, or nearly so. President
Juarez, the abraham Lincoln of
Mexico" was generally supposed to
be full-blooded Indian, and he Is
spoken of as such in Mexico. 1t is
said, however, that there is in him a
slight strain of white blood.
President Diaz, the present presi-
dent of Mexico, and one of the lead
ing figures in the history of the re-
public, is commonly supposed to be
nearly full-blooded Indian. Recent
search of the records in his case,
however, has revealed the fact that
he is fifteen thirty-seconds, or only
half Indian. He is called the
"Maker of Modern Mexico"
The Secret of Long Life
Consists in keeping all the main
organs of the body in healthy, reg