The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-12
RED MEN OF ABILITY.
Many Important Offices Have Beel
 Filled By the Indians

Filled By the Indians
 Washington Times.
 An examination of the records of the Indian office shows that red men have filled official positions of importance with signal ability. Indeed, the man who first performed duties corresponding to those of the Indian Commissioner of today was a full-blooded Mohegan named Sampson Ocean.
 He was born in 172s and died in 17s2, and was ordained a minister of the gos- pei in 1759 While he never held an off, cial position in the strict sense of the missions in colonial times. thus occupying position measurably corresponding to that of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He was we'll educated. author of various occasion of a visit he paid to England.
 Perhaps the most conspicuous figure among the 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 1913. He held positions under the British crown
 as hrigadier 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 slight strain of
 white blood. He was a colonel and after ward brigadier general in the Confeder- ate army, commanding an Indian brigade of two regiments and three batteries. The today 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 civilization. Their native language i! similar to the Iroquois. Though retarded in progress by their transfer, with other Indians of the Five Nations, to a deso-
 late country. new and strange to them beyond the Mississippi. they have ad vanced more rapidly than any other tribe In this country. Sequel. also called George Guess, a full-bloded Cherokee, invented
 for his people an alphabet, simple. but
 guage. this tribe has developed a litera- ture peculiarly its own. Most of the Cherokees have received an Indian edu- cation, the wealthier members of tn, Eastern schools. Their graceful native orators have been heard on the floors ot Congress, and newspapers edited by full oiooued Indians are printed in English and Cherokee.
 General Grant's Secretary and officer ot stan during the civil war. General Ely | E. Parker. was a Seneca Indian (thougi not of pure blood), born in 1S-S and euu.
 cated as civil engineer. After the wal l he was made Assistant Adjutant General | and was promoted, through various | grades. to brigadier general of the Uni. ted States army. He was commander oi Indian affairs 1S60-1S1.
 A present employe of the United States Indian office is Francis La Fiesche. a | three-quarters blood Omaha. Represent tative Curtis of Kansas, is said to be a | one-quarter blood Kaw. J. N. B. Hew | lit of the Bureau of Ethnology is about one-eighth Tuscarora, while Dr. Eastman
 the agency physician at Pine Ridge, S. D., is a three-quarters blood Sioux. or Dakota. It is the policy of the Indian office to employ Indians on the agencies
 end reservations as far as possible Many 1 are employed as teamsters
 .siuent Diaz, the present President | or Mexico. and one of the leading figures
 in che history of the republic is com,
 monly supposed to be nearly a full-blood.