Sunday, December 13, 2020

Still in Bondage After the Civil War in Choctaw & Chickasaw Nations

 "But to our sad disappointment the war is now apparently ceased and a general peace among the white and red man is agreed upon, and generally adhered to, by those two races, and yet our dear ones are still held and and tyrannized ever in a most cruel manner, by their former masters. Since the right of property in our race has been abolished by the US Government, the master have become brutal in their treatment of our color...."

   -Excerpt from letter written to the Freedmen's Bureau by former slave from Indian Territory-

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In October 1865 a full six months after the end of the Civil War, men who served in the Union Army and who fought for their freedom, found life to be challenging in those times.  Several turned to the Freedmen's Bureau Office in Washington DC for assistance.  Their goal was to get to their families and to begin their new lives as free people. But the letter which was eventually sent to Washington DC headquarters explained the problems that they encountered in Indian Territory.

The letter was a poignant and a sobering one, and clearly the basic desire for freedom and to make choices that affected one's life burned in the chest of all men, and women. The letter is a touching one and a true reminder that slavery, no matter where it occurred, was a horrific condition to impost upon others.  And after the conflict that brought slavery to an end, the lesson is that clearly slave holders tried to hold on to their free labor force as long as possible. This letter from Indian Territory reflects that time.

The letter was followed by the list of names of the men and their families still held in bondage. This list of names, is possibly the first list of names of enslaved people from Indian Territory, and because these families were still being held in bondage, it is a rare letter listing the names of people prior to their release from bondage among the  five slaveholding tribes.

 Most of the letter spoke of Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, but one of the signers was also from the Cherokee Nation as well. The men had served in the Union Army, including the Indian Home Guards, and the US Colored Troops.

State of Arkansas
City of Ft. Smith

                                                   October 12th, A.D. 1865
                                                    
To the Honorable O. Howard 
Superintendant of the Freedmen's Bureau
Washington D.C.

Sir:

We the petitioners would respectfully represent to your honor as follows: That at the commencement of the late rebellion, we resided in the Indian Country, and were held as slaves by the Chocktaw (sic) and Chickasaw Indians, In different locations in the Territory and during the progress of the War we made our respective escapes from bondage to the Freedom of the Federal lines, but left our wives and children, fathers and mothers and sisters behind still to endure the severity of their savage masters or "till sometimes as the fortunes of war should bring them relief" as we had hoped.

"But to our sad disappointment and regret, the war is now apparently the war is now apparently ceased and a general peace among the white and red man is agreed upon, and generally adhered to, by those two races, and yet our dear ones are still held and and tyrannized ever in a most cruel manner, by their former masters. Since the right of property in our race has been abolished by the US Government, the master have become brutal in their treatment of our color...."

Under the leadership of Daniel Loman from the Choctaw Nation their letter was directed to the Bureau headquarters. It should be pointed out that six months after the war ended, those once enslaved found themselves still in the struggle for freedom. It was apparent that slave holders were not too anxious to allow their former human chattel to have their hard earned and long desired for freedom. This letter penned in October--half a year after the war ended, it clearly illustrates that some were still being held in bondage.

The letter was followed with lists of the families of the men requesting assistance:


Signers of the Letter to the Bureau for Assistance

Signers of the letter: Buck Bushyhead, Watson Brown, Grundy Thompson, Wilson Thompson Isaac Kemp, Andres Chief Watkins, Ben Colbert, Randolph Gardner, Jerry Kemp, Henry Kemp, John Fisher

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Families needing release from bondage:

Family of Watson Brown (Interpreter) Wife Harriet Brown, Child Minny Brown
Family of Daniel Loman (Farmer) Wife Sophia, one child, Robert Loman. Also sister and four children. (Sister's name  Nancy Harrison, children's names Isaiah & Sary and Lisa & Buck
Family of Ben Colbert  Has mother and two brothers. Mother's name Rachel Colbert. Bors names July & Mobeal (sic) Colbert. One sister Nancy Colbert.
Family of Grundy Thompson (Blacksmith) Wife Rachael Thompson
Family of Hanson Thompson (Blacksmith) Five Children Mahaly, Henry Angeline, James and Rachel
Family of Wilson Thompson (Farmer) Wife Elizabeth, one child (Infant) Mother jane Thompson and two brothers William and Pompey Thompson
Family of Randolph Gardner (Boarding House Keeper) Mother 3, nieces, 1 nephew. Mother's name Tennessee Gardner. Nieces names Laury, Missa & Jane Gardner. Nephew's name John Gardner
Family of Isaac Kemp. Wife and one child. Wife's Name Susan. Child's name Elizabeth. Also a mother Frances Kemp and her children, 4 in number. Frances, Mary, Charles & Elijah Also a mother in law named Lucy Colbert, all reside in Chickasaw country, Chickasaw Nation.
Family of Jerry Kemp, (Blacksmith) Wife and 4 children. Wife's name Frances Kemp. Children's names Francis, Mary, Charles and Elijah
Family of Henry Kemp. Wife and 3 children. Wife's name Caledona. Children's names, Leroy and Leander and Infant
Family of John Fisher. Wife Ellen and child names Alexander. One sister named Emily Fisher. Two nieces named Isabella and Perly(?)  Fisher. Also Father and Mother names John & Nancy Kemp and their children Moses, Dickson, Betty Adeline. (?) and Francis Kemp. And a sister and her child Frances Kemp and her children Mariah and Iverson and Ben and Thomas and Johnny Kemp and infant.


Close up of  letter listing Indian Territory Still Being Held

It is not known when the families were finally released from bondage. But it is clear that similar to the lives of freed people in the deep south, those who were once enslaved in Indian Territory clearly had many challenges facing them. The act of reuniting with families was denied for many months after the war.

The following year, the five slave-holding tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Nations) each signed the Treaty of 1866, which officially abolished slavery in Indian Territory. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty was signed in July 1866.

Epilogue

Recent claims from the Chickasaw Nation today have stated that their enslaved people were freed right after the Civil War, however, the institution clearly continued for many months. Their own leaders did not abolish the peculiar institution until July of 1866 a full 15 months after the Civil War ended. However, their website states that slavery came to a "full and formal end" at the end of the Civil War. 

In 1866, the Chickasaw Nation signed the treaty that "fully and formally" abolished slavery, a year after the war ended, And, the nation also agreed to give citizenship to their former slaves. But they did not honor the treaty, and felt justified in denying citizenship to former slaves---yet they had no problem with holding them as human property. They signed a treaty in 1861 with the Confederate states, and fought for the south, and like many in the deep south, they were not eager to abide by the 13th amendment in the US that abolished slavery in the states. A since they were not in the United States, clearly slavery continued.  

Slavery was abolished by the signing of the Treaty of 1866, and it did not end in 1865 as stated on the website on Chickasaw.tv 

Sadly for the Freedmen, once freedom came, their place in the nation of their birth was discarded, and the position against this newly freed population who toiled for generations, was one of disdain, mistreatment and disenfranchisement. This anti-black policy holds till this day against the descendants of African Chickasaw people. They welcomed Africans as slaves with no rights, and once freed after generations of bondage---the same nation extended no rights of any kind nor assistance of any kind, to them when they were forced to abolish this institution of horror.

No voting rights,  no citizenship, no schools, no amenities, no assistance. This is their history and the stain upon their narrative.

The Freedmen in the Chickasaw nation  were, as scholar Daniel F. Littlefield pointed out, "a people without a country". They remained without a country until Oklahoma statehood in 1907.  

As slaves, they were never "forced" upon the Chickasaws, but clearly as freed people these African Chickasaws were discarded and ignored, while they practiced the Chickasaw culture, spoke the Chickasaw language and lived in the Chickasaw Nation---the land that was the only world that they knew.

And sadly this anti-black sentiment continues, towards the descendants of these African-Chickasaw people, while an effort is made to "soften" their history with mis-statements.

The claims of "blood" are often made to somehow justify their policies.

But if holding the slave holder's "blood" was the ticket to citizenship then 4 million African slaves in the US would have also been without a country. Citizenship should never be based on having the oppressor's blood. Such policy establishes a caste system, and places the stain on slavery upon the victims of the oppressors and banishes their descendants into a state of non-existence and alienation in perpetuity. 

Today one finds on Chickasaw.tv the following:


From the website of Chickasaw.tv

The statements above reflect incorrect facts about slavery in Indian Territory and in particular the Chickasaw Nation. Douglas Johnston, related to Cheadles on his mother's side, who were slave owners, would address the status of Freed African-Chickasaw more than 30 years after the post Civil War mistreatment began. The post-Civil War practice of keeping the Freedmen locked out of everything, from education, and rights had, in fact, become a Chickasaw tradition. Many struggle to analyze this practice of disdain, and many have chosen to study the history in many circles today.

In addition, there is a larger story, including telling the history of African tribal Freedmen from all of the slave-holding tribes. There is a rich history that deserves to be told. All of us are encouraged to seek and find and share these long forgotten stories and study their history and put it back on the historical landscape from which it comes.