The Vinita weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1905, 1904-04-28
THE INDIANS
LOST MILLIONS
Why the Creeks and CherOkees
Will Not Vote the Repub-
liCan Ticket.

The price that the Greek Indians
must pay for having joined the Con-
fedracy in the civil war is twelve mill
lion dollars worth Of land. This page
Of Indian history is brought TO mind
by the rapid sale Of land by the Creek
freedmen 10 the whites. Il is an in
cident, too, in Indian history that
will have It's bearing on the future
voting Of the Indians.
In the early days Of the civil war,
both the Greek and the Cherokee gov.
ernments made alliances with the Con-
federacy. For natural reasons the
Indians were Southern sympathlzers.
They were Shareholders.
When the war closed, the United
States government declared the old
treaties abrogated by reason Of the
Confederate alliance, and new treaties
were made. This was IN 1866 One
one Of the provisions Of this treaty
was that the ex-slaves Of the Indians
should share equally with their ex-
masters In the tribal lands and annui-
ties. This was bitterly opposed by
a majority Of the Indians, but they
were forced to Il BY few Of their
leaders, who. signed the treaty with
the treaty commission.
III THIS treaty the negro interpreter
played an important part, aud had It
not been for him IL Is probable that
the treaty would never have been
made. They represented to the com
missloners that the Indians were WILL
ing 10 agree to matters pertaining 70
the negroes, always TO the benefit Of
the latter. and on the other hand rep
resented to the Indians that certain
provisions were not 80 rigid as they
afterward proved TO be, and thus the
treaty was signed.
The treaty las given 100 acres oi
land to each freedman, and there ars
1900 Of them, making 4 total Of s00,'
600 acres Of land, worth u million
dollars. This land was taken from
the Indians They opposed il ther
and oppose II now. In politics they
viii oppose the negro, and the party
that receives the negro vote viii los,
that Of tie Indian. The fact that the
freedman secured the best land is still
an Irritating subject to the Indian
In the ante-bellum days great planta
tions were scattered all over the Greek
country They we're owned by edu
Gated halfbreeds, who were wealthy
and owned many slaves They went
with the Confederacy, and IN the foul
years Of war their plantations were
ruined aud their houses burned. This
would not have deferred the auto
cratic landlords, but when they found
their ex-siayes settled on tie old plan
tations. claiming ownership and de
mandine equal rights and recognition
Il was too much. They refused TO &c
knowledge equality, and IN nearly
every instance left their old planta
tions aud went into new country ans
began over again. The negroes re
manned, and as their homes were On
these rich and cultivated lands. tibet
claimed and received allotments there
The stidhams Mclntoshes, Marshalls
Barnwells, Graysons and Porters ans
hundreds Of other Indian families los
magnificent land holdings IN that way
The Cherokee freedmen feceived thei
rights in The same way, and this, too
IN spite Of the fact that at the begin
ming Of the war they had declares
freedom for their slaves. Kansas Cit
Journal