The Wilmington daily Republican., 1902-01-13
REDMEN IN OFFICE.
Indians Who Have Filled Positions
Of Importance.
The CherokeeH Are the Most Ad.
vanced Tribe-Many Hnlf-BlOOls
Now Employed by the Cow
ernment.

| An examination of the records of
the Indian office shows that red men
have filled official positions of i'm
portance with signal ability, says the
| Washington Times. Indeed, the man
who first performed duties CORE
| spending to those of the Indian COM
missioner of to-day was full-blood-
ed Mohegan named Sampson Ocean.
| He was born in l1a3, and died in 1872,
and was ordained a minister of the
Gospel in 1859. While he never held
an official position in the strict sense
of the term, he had extensive charge
of lndian missions in colonial times,
thus occupying position measur-
ably corresponding to that of com
missioner of Indian affairs. lie 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 wa.
born in 1T6S and killed at the battle
Of the Thames in 1913. lie held posi-
ton under the British crown of
brigadier general in command of
RritSh-Indan force Of 1000. and was
q ful!-booded Shawnee.
The Cherokee chief, Stand Waite,
,l ~,
strain of white blood lie was
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 civii2a-
tion. Their native language is similar
to the lrouuoiS. Though retarded in
progress by their transfer. with
other Indians of the Five Nations. to
drSnlatr country. new and strange
TO them, beyond the Mississippi, they
have advanced more rapidly than any
other tribe in this country. Sequoi,
also called George Guess, full-blood-
ed Cherokee, invented for his people
an ali i4hahet, simple, but complete in
1874, With printed language this
tribe has developed literature
peculiarly its own. Most Of the
Il,r..l-.,s.
education. he wealthicr 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 fulI-blooded
Indian, are printed in English and
Cherokee.
Gen. Grants secretary and officer
of-statf during The civil war. Gen. Ely
S. Parker, was a Seneca Indian
Nhougli not of pure hlood), born in
1925. and educated as a civil engineer.
After the war he was made assist
ant adiutant general, and was pro-
NOTED, through various grades, to
brigader general of the United
StacS army. He was commissioner
of Indian affairs ls69-ls7l.
A present employee Of the United
States Indian office is Francis la
Flesche, three quarter blood
Omaha. Representative Curtis, of
Kansas, is said to be cne-quarter-
blood kaw. Mr.. j. n. B. Hewitt, OF
the bureau Of cthnology, is about
onrcigh'h Tuscarora while DR..
Eastman, agency physician at Pine
Ridge, S. d., is Il e-quarter-bood
Sioux or Dakota. It 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 numler of Indians employed by
the government as teamSters, assist
ant farmers, blacksmiths, and in
various similar capacities. In few
eases thrr" 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 Ilidal~o, for whom one of
the leading states of Mexico is
named. and who is alluded to as the
"George Washington of Mexico"
was said 10 be an Indian of full
blood. or nearly So President
Juarrz, the "Ahraham Lincoln of
MeXiro,' was generally supposed to
be Il full-blooded Indian, and he is
spoken of as such in Mexico. 1t ia
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 a flll-hlooded Indian. Recent
search of the records in his case,
however, has revealed The rnct that
he iS fifteen thirtV-SepOuls pr onlv