After relocation, the Five Civilized Tribes settled into unfamiliar territory in Oklahoma. Gradually, however, they found their new home partitioned by the Americans.
The suffering of the five southeastern tribes did not end with their arrival at the designated Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The continuing effects of the Trail of Tears were felt for decades after the final group reached its point of exile. The legacy of their displacement led to social decay, rampant disease, alcoholism, internal civil strife, and a general sensation of betrayal that permeated throughout their societies. Even as they sought to rebuild, another shift in American policy threatened to take Indian lands away once again. The survivors of the forced migration westward would now have to endure the uncertainty of another infusion of white settlers into their land.
As a means of keeping track of the supplies and appropriations designated for the purpose of Indian relocation, the United States government commissioned an audit under the direction of Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock in 1841. Many in the government who were opposed to relocation and had heard of the conditions under which the native tribes were moved began to demand an account of the endeavor. Major Hitchcock’s investigation revealed that not only were the Indian tribes seriously undersupplied, but that many of the treaties ceding native land were by and large illegal—as the tribes themselves had originally insisted. The report was acknowledged by the American government but nonetheless ignored.
Upon their arrival in Oklahoma, the five tribes struggled to settle into unfamiliar territory. Not only did they have to contend with inadequate supplies, but they were also preyed upon by more hostile regional Indian groups. Reduced by famine, the weather, and the predations of new enemies, the former southeastern tribes were nonetheless resilient. They began to make a new life for themselves in their new domain. That life, however, would not be free of outside interference. Indian Territory was valuable land for many who sought to make a new life and soon the Indians had to contend with a growing population of white settlers. As eastern businesses expanded into the west to find new markets, Indian Territory was reorganized to make this expansion easier. Railroads cut through native lands in order to reach new opportunities to the west. Once again, the tribes were reorganized to make way for white expansion. With each subsequent land cession, the tribes were promised that they would be burdened no further. The territory itself was further partitioned with the creation of Kansas and Nebraska in 1854.
By 1861, the tribes confined within the shrinking borders of Indian Territory had become accustomed to their surroundings; even as those surroundings were rapidly absorbed. In 1862, the Homestead Act, which promised settlers title to any land that they could successfully occupy and cultivate within a five year time frame, had precipitated a massive land rush. More land grabs followed and as the United States was ripped apart by civil war, the situation within the remnants of Indian Territory became grim. When the Confederate government sought allies along its western border, it turned to the downtrodden tribes of the Indian Territory. Albert Pike was appointed to negotiate an alliance between the Five Civilized Tribes and the Confederate States of America. At first, many tribes balked at the prospect of joining with the Confederacy. However, after Pike promised the tribes that they would remain in possession of their land and reap the benefits of western expansion should the rebels succeed in their endeavors, they agreed to support the southern cause. For many, joining the Confederacy afforded the five tribes the protection of a new ally against the influx of white settlers. For some, however, this choice would plunge their tribe into its own internal conflict.
Source:
Mark C Carnes, Ed, U.S. History. (New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1996).
Norman A. Graebner, et al., A History of the United States: Vol. II. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970).
Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian. (New York: Checkmark Book, 2000).
