Black, Red and Deadly by Arthur T Burton

Author:Arthur T Burton [Burton, Arthur T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Reference
ISBN: 9780890157985
Google: F-15AAAAMAAJ
Publisher: Eakin Press
Published: 1991-01-15T01:00:48+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Sam Sixkiller:

Indian Policeman Bar None

In 1871 the United States agents for the Five Civilized Tribes were headquartered individually with their tribes. The Cherokee agent had his offices in Tahlequah; the Choctaw and Chickasaw agent was located at Boggy Depot; the Creek agent was at Okmulgee; and the Seminole agent was at Wewoka. On July 1, 1874, the government ordered the consolidation of these agencies, and thereafter the United States Agency for the Five Civilized Tribes was known as Union Agency.

After two years of negotiation, the consolidated agency was finally located at Muskogee, and on or about January 1, 1876, the agent for the Five Civilized Tribes moved into a brand new Union Agency building. The choice of Muskogee as headquarters for these land-wealthy Native Americans was probably the decisive factor in Muskogee’s survival. (Currently the Five Civilized Tribes Museum is housed in the former Union Agency building in Muskogee.)

In February of 1880, Col. John Q. Tufts, United States agent for the Union Agency at Muskogee, I.T., organized a unit of Indian police to operate throughout the Five Civilized Nations. The authorization for the creation of these police forces at the various agencies within the United States was brought about by Congress in May 1878. The experiment was well under way by November 1878, with about one-third of the Indian agencies participating, and by 1880 there were Indian police forces at two-thirds of the agencies.

The biggest obstacle and the touchiest point was salary — eight dollars per month for officers and five for privates. However, Agent Tufts helped his recruits overcome this inadequacy by providing duty schedules which permitted his men to serve as guards for various coal mine companies and as special agents for the railroads. They also could draw expense money for removing “boomers” — or white intruders — on Indian lands.

In regard to the funding of the Union Agency police. Agent Leo E. Bennett, who would later become a federal marshal, made the following statement:

An Indian policeman, to perform his duty acceptably, must not only be a moral man and be courageous and faithful, but he must be a man of considerable discretion. This character of man is far from being a rarity among the Indians of this agency, yet it is not always possible to find in every locality one of this high character who is willing, or can afford to make the personal sacrifice of time and business interests necessary to the discharge of the duties of an Indian policeman at the pay allowed, $10 a month. Deputy United States marshals and all other peace officers are much better paid and their standard of morality and efficiency is not, as a rule, up to that of the Indian police . . . Besides, they should be properly armed with the best grade of Winchester rifles and Colts revolvers.

Agent Tufts’s organization of Indian policemen consisted of thirty members, one-third of which were Cherokees. Their duties were to preserve order, arrest thieves and violators of U.S. law, suppress the whiskey traffic, and execute the orders of the Indian agents.

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