REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

Office Indian Affairs, November 30, 1857.

SIR: The accompanying reports and statements from the several superintendents, agents and teachers furnish valuable and interesting information in regard to the condition and prospects of our various Indian tribes, and exhibit in detail the operations of this branch of the public service during the past year.

The New York Indians continue gradually to improve; they have generally adopted agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and, to a considerable extent, the habits and customs of their white brethren. A treaty recently entered into with the Tonawanda band of Senecas, should it receive the favorable consideration of the Senate, will, it is hoped, terminate the complicated and embarrassing difficulties which for some years have materially interfered with their happiness and wellfare.

The treaties of July 31, and August 2, 1855, with the several bands of Indians in Michigan, provided for a material change in their condition and relations. They were relieved from the obligation to remove west of the Mississippi river; secured limited but sufficient quantities of land, to be held in severalty, and were provided with ample means for educational purposes. Under the liberal legislation of the State they can attain to citizenship, and it is hoped that, by a discreet and judicious supervision of their affairs on the part of the general government, and such co-operation as may be requisite by the authorities of the State, aided by the kindness and benevolence of her citizens, they may soon be prepared for the enjoyment of that high privilege.

The treaty of 1854 with the Menomonees, and that of 1856 with the Stockbridges of Wisconsin, released those tribes from their engagements to emigrate west of the Mississippi, to which they were opposed, and located them in other positions within the State, where, it is hoped, they will improve and eventually become fitted for and invested with citizenship.

The small band of Oneidas, formerly of New York, remain in the vicinity of Green Bay, where they were placed by the treaty of 1837. They are advanced in civilization, and there is no good reason why they should not thrive and prosper, if the State authorities would rigidly prohibit the traffic with them in ardent spirits.

By the treaties of September 30, 1854, and February 22, 1855, the great Chippewa tribe, residing in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the nothern peninsula of Michigan, ceded nearly the whole of the lands owned by them to the government; there being set apart for the dif

ferent bands, however, a suitable number of reservations, limited in extent, where it should be the policy to concentrate and confine them, and every exertion used to induce them to adopt the habits and pursuits of civilized life.

As stated in the last annual report of my predecessor, we have no treaty arrangements with the Red Lake Chippewas and a few other scattered bands of Indians next to the British possessions, and in the valley of the Red River of the North. They are poor and need assistance, and it would be good policy to extinguish their title to lands in that region, and to locate them on a small reservation where they could be suitably and humanely provided for.

The other Indians in Minnesota consist of the various bands of the Dacotahs, or Sioux, and the Winnebagoes; the latter located in the southern portion of the Territory, and reported to be doing well. The agent is, however, of the opinion that their reservation is too large, and that it would contribute materially to their advancement to reduce it, and to assign them a limited quantity of land in severalty, so as to give them an idea of individual property, and a greater incentive to personal exertion and industry. The principal body of the Sioux consist of the four bands of Med-a-wah-kan-toans and Wahpah-coo-tahs, known as the lower or Mississippi Sioux, and the Wahpay-toans and Se-see toans, or upper Sioux These are located on two reservations set apart for them by the treaties of July and August, 1851, where strenuous efforts are being made to induce them to improve their habits and condition.

It was a small outlawed and reckless band of these Indians that committed the murders and outrages at the white settlement at Spirit Lake in March last, but who, on the requirement of the department, have since been severely punished by their brethren for their lawless and atrocious conduct; this having been determined to be a better course than to cause the chastisement to be inflicted by our troops.

A portion of the Indians embraced within the two agencies for the tribes on and in the vicinity of the upper and headwaters of the Missouri river have, within the past year, been severely scourged by the smallpox; as many as two thousand of them having, it is estimated, been carried off by that disease. Otherwise nothing of an unusual character has taken place among them. These Indians comprise eight different bands of restless and wandering Sioux, with the Arickarees, Gros Ventres, Mandans, Assinaboines, and Crows, all within the lower, and the Blackfeet who are within the upper agency. But small portions of the country occupied by them are suited for agricultural pursuits; and so long as the buffalo and other game within their reach afford them subsistence, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to break them of their wandering and unsettled habits. The agent reports that the Sioux to whom General Harney promised presents of clothing for their soldiers are very much dissatisfied with the noncompliance with that promise, and he recommends that Congress make provision for its fulfilment. An estimate for $200,000, to be placed at the disposal of the department for that purpose, was presented by your predecessor to Congress at the last session of that body, but no appropriation was made. Concurring in the propriety and import

ance of the measure, I respectfully recommend that the amount necessary to carry it out be appropriated.

Pursuant to the act of March 3, 1853, providing for negotiations with the Indians west of Missouri and Iowa, for the purpose of curing their assent to the settlement of citizens of the United States on their lands, and of extinguishing their title thereto, in whole or in part, treaties were made during the preceding administration with the Ottoes and Missourias, Omahas, Delawares, Shawnees, Ioways, Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri, Kickapoos, Miamies, and the united tribes of the Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weas and Piankeshaws. The title of these Indians was thus extinguished to all the lands owned and claimed by them, except such portions as were reserved for their future. homes; the lands so acquired for occupancy by our citizens in Kansas and Nebraska amounting to about 13,658,000 acres, and the lands retained for the use of the Indians to about 1,342,000 acres.

The lands ceded by the Delawares, except the strip known as the outlet, for which they were allowed a stipulated amount, and those acquired from the Ioways and the united tribes of Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weas and Piankeshaws, were to be, and have been, sold for their benefit. The amount realized for those of the Delawares is $1,054,943 71; for those of the Ioways, $184,437 85; and for those of the four united tribes, $335,350. From these amounts is to be deducted the cost of surveying and selling the lands, and the remainder in each case is required to be invested in safe and profitable stocks, except so much as the President may deem proper to be applied to relieve the temporary necessities of the Indians during the time of their becoming settled and established on their reservations. The interest derived from the investments is to be annually paid over to them, or judiciously applied for their benefit.

The treaty of January 31, 1855, with the Wyandott Indians residing at the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers, provided for their investment with citizenship, and a division of their tribal lands among them. This division, it is understood, has been made, and resulted in giving to each soul about forty acres. This measure, the agent reports, has been attended with good results, a spirit of improvement having manifested itself beyond anything of the kind previously known among the Wyandotts. My personal observation enables me to concur in the report of the agent.

During the past summer an important and necessary treaty was also made with the Pawnees, through the operation of which, should it be approved by the Senate, the department hopes to be able to place these restless and lawless Indians in a settled location, to control them there, and to adopt effective measures for securing their material improvement. There is the like necessity for a similar treaty with the Poncas, who inhabit and claim a region of country on the Missouri and L'eau qui Court or Running Water rivers.

No conventional arrangements have been entered into since the act of March 3, 1853, with the following tribes residing in Kansas, viz: the Pottawatomies, the Kansas or Kaws, the Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi, and the Osages. The policy of that act and the welfare,

if not the very existence of these Indians, require that new and different arrangements be made with them as soon as possible.

I concur fully with those of my predecessors who have stated that there have been too great and radical mistakes in our system of Indian policy-the assignment of an entirely too large body of land in common to the different tribes which have been relocated, and the payment of large money annuities for the cessions made by them; the first tending directly to prevent the Indians from acquiring settled habits and an idea of personal property and rights, which lie at the very foundation of all civilization; the second causing and fostering a feeling of dependence and habits of idleness, so fatally adverse to anything like physical and moral improvement. With regard to the Indians in Nebraska and Kansas especially, it is all important that these mistakes shall not be perpetuated or repeated. They are in a critical position. They have been saved as long as possible from the contact and pressure of white population, which has generally heretofore been regarded as fatal to the Indian. They are now becoming rapidly surrounded by such a population, full of enterprise and energy, and by which all the surplus lands, as far west as any of the border tribes reside, will necessarily soon be required for settlement. There is no place left where it is practicable to place these tribes separate and apart by themselves. Their destiny must be determined and worked out where they are. There they must advance and improve, and become fitted to take an active part in the ennobling struggles of civilization; or, remaining ignorant, imbecile and helpless, and acquiring only the fatal vices of civilized life, they must sink and perish, like thousands of their race before them. A solemn duty rests upon the government to do all in its power to save them from the latter fate, and there is no time to be lost in adopting all necessary measures to preserve, elevate, and advance them.

With large reservations of fertile and desirable land, entirely disproportioned to their wants for occupancy and support, it will be impossible, when surrounded by a dense white population, to protect them from constant disturbance, intrusion and spoliation by those on whom the obligations of law and justice rest but lightly; while their large annuities will subject them to the wiles and machinations of the inhuman trafficker in ardent spirits, the unprincipled gambler, and the greedy and avaricious trader and speculator. Their reservations should be restricted so as to contain only sufficient land to afford them a comfortable support by actual cultivation, and should be properly divided and assigned to them, with the obligation to remain upon and cultivate the same. The title should remain in the tribe, with the power reserved to the government, when any of them become sufficiently intelligent, sober and industrious, to grant them patents for the lands so assigned to them, but leaseable or alienable only to members of the tribe, until they become so far advanced as to be fitted for the enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of citizens of the United States. Their annuities should be taken and used for the erection of comfortable residences and requisite out-buildings, and otherwise in gradually improving their farms. Manual labor schools should be established, where they could learn how to conduct properly their agri

cultural pursuits, and especially where the boys could be educated as farmers, and the girls in housewifery and the dairy; and where also there could be imparted to both the rudiments of a plain and useful education. Mechanics' shops should also be established where necessary, and where as many of the boys as possible should be placed and trained to a knowledge of the mechanic arts suited to the condition. and wants of their people. It is, if possible, more important that the Indian should be taught to till the soil, and to labor in the mechanical shops, than to have even a common school education.

The adult Indians should be encouraged to cultivate the lands assigned to them, each to have the exclusive control, under the tribal right of his own possessions, and of the products of his own labor; and to encourage them to part with their children willingly to be instructed at the manual labor schools and in the mechanical shops, the surplus productions of the one or profits of the other should be divided among the parents of the children who aided to produce them. All these arrangements should be under the exclusive control of the department, as well as the annuities, so far as they can be withdrawn from that of the tribe, and applied to accomplish the objects mentioned.

No white person should be permitted to obtain any kind of possession or foothold within the limits of the reservations, nor even to enter them, except in the employ or by permission of the government, and none should be employed except such as would be actually necessary for the instruction of the Indians. Power should be conferred on the agents to eject summarily all intruders from the reservations. They should also be clothed with executive and judicial authority in matters pertaining to their agencies, and appeals from their decision be allowed to the superintendents, and thence to the department. But to carry out the system successfully, it would be necessary to relieve the Indians from the example of the worthless idlers and vagrants of the tribe, as well as those whose wild habits and roving dispositions would preclude them from settling down quietly and orderly. All such should be colonized by themselves in such positions as not to admit of much, if any, communication or intercourse with the settled portions of their tribes. For such colonies, places could be found somewhere about Bent's Fort and the heads of the Arkansas and Platte rivers.

This plan is applicable at present only to such Indians as those located in Nebraska and Kansas. The wilder tribes could not be brought at once within the entire system, as they could not at first brook the restraint and confinement. They must undergo a preliminary training, being gradually induced to abandon their nomadic and wandering habits and to settle down on larger reservations, where for a time they would have to be sustained until they could be influenced to make the necessary exertions to support themselves by cultivating the soil. The settlement of the questions arising under various treaties in which reservations have been granted in severalty to Indians in Kansas and Nebraska presents many difficulties which I know of no way of overcoming, except by Congress authorizing the department to sell the lands and to control the proceeds thereof in such manner as to render them effective for the assistance and benefit of the reservees.