Kansas Native American Question.

[G.W. Strong]

In order to ask my question I thought I woudl tell a story.
My Great Great Grandfather was Dr. Charles Strong. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1828. He received his education in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen attended the academy at Springfield, Pennsylvania. Two years later he entered college at Girard, from which he was graduated in two years. He taught school in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. In 1849 turned his attention to medicine and studied at the Cleveland Eclectic Medical College, graduatingd in 1858. He was engaged in medical practice in Sangamon County, Illinois for about eight years. The only time he did not practice in Illinois was while he was in the army. During the Civil War Charles Strong was second assistant surgeon for the 130th (or possibly 30th) Illinois Infantry. After the war he returned to Illinois. Dr. Strong's health failed owing to the hardships of the war, and he moved West to Kansas in December, 1865, believing that he could hardly live three months. In his own words, "the gentle zephyrs and dry and healthy atmosphere of Kansas, the change of weather and diet, venison and prairie chicken, were a great help, in a month's time I began to gain strength and an appetite, and have not had a week's sickness since."

He is an important figure in the founding of Girard, Kansas and the establishment of Crawford County.
There are many intersting facts about his life and he was a great story teller. Omong his most famous storywas the one he often told about being captured by Indians. He was kept tied to a tree, probably for about six days, and fed `dog soup,' which was standard Indian fare. Otherwise, he was not mistreated. He finally escaped and the Indians were captured. A while later was able to obtain a photograph of the very indians who captured him when they showed up at a county fair. I have included a pcopy of the photograph below.

My queston is, what can be told of the indians. What tribe? What date would this be? Etc..

[St. George]

Cherokee - late 1860's.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[G.W. Strong]

I don't doubt you but, how can you tell? What are the signs?

[St. George]

Because the Cherokee were the tribe that 'owned' Crawford County and the surrounding environs...

Scouts Out!

[Pomona Pete]

Taking into account the time period and the location they are probably Osage.  Crawford county was part of the original Osage tribal area.  They were not relocated from that area until 1872.

[St. George]

Actually - Crawford County was originally part of the Cherokee Neutral Lands, land set aside for the Cherokee Nation to live after they were moved from their traditional homelands in the southeast.

However, the land was officially ceded to the United States in 1867.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Bugscuffle]

Keep it going guys!!! This is pretty entertaining as well as informative. Y'all are fighting over that piece of land as much as the Indians did.

[Pomona Pete]

Everyone enjoys a good argument, especially among we Native American folks.  I do agree that the land was deeded to the Cherokee folks but when they arrived they found it still occupied and it remained so until the final removal in 1872. I have a paragragh from the Kansas HistoricaI Society. 



The Osage began treaty-making with the United States in 1808, by the Osage Treaty and their first cession of lands in Missouri. This treaty created a buffer line between the Osage and new European-American settlers in the Missouri Territory and ceded 52,480,000 acres (212,400 km2) to the federal government. This 1808 treaty also provided for approval by the U.S. President for future land sales and cessions. In 1808 the Osage moved from their homelands on the Osage River to western Missouri. The major part of the tribe had moved to the Three-Forks region of what would become Oklahoma soon after the arrival of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This part of the tribe did not participate in negotiations for the treaty of 1808, but their assent was obtained in 1809.

The Osage occupied land in present-day Kansas and in Indian Territory which the US government later promised to the Cherokee and four other southeastern tribes. When the Cherokee arrived to find that the land was already occupied, many conflicts arose with the Osage over territory and resources.

Between the first treaty and 1825, the Osages ceded their traditional lands across Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to the US in the treaties of 1818 and 1825. In exchange they were to receive reservation lands and supplies to help them adapt to farming and a more settled culture. They were first moved onto a southeast Kansas reservation called the Osage Diminished Reserve, where the city of Independence, Kansas was later located. The first Osage reservation was a 50 by 150-mile (240 km) strip. White squatters were a frequent problem for the Osage. Subsequent treaties and laws through the 1860s further reduced the lands of the Osage. By a treaty in 1865 they ceded another 4 million acres (16,000 km2) and were facing the issue of eventual removal from Kansas to Indian Territory.

The Drum Creek Treaty was passed by Congress July 15, 1870 and ratified by the Osage at a meeting in Montgomery County, Kansas on September 10, 1870. It provided that the remainder of Osage land in Kansas be sold and the proceeds used to relocate the tribe to Indian Territory in the Cherokee Outlet. By their delays in agreeing to removal, the Osage benefited by the change in administration; they sold their lands to the "peace" administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, for which they received more money: $1.25 an acre rather than the 19 cents previously offered to them by the US.

The Osage were one of the few American Indian nations to buy their own reservation, and they retained more rights to the land and sovereignty as a result. The reservation, of 1,470,000 acres (5,900 km2),[15] is coterminous with present-day Osage County, Oklahoma in the north-central portion of the state between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Ponca City, Oklahoma.

[G.W. Strong]

Is there anything in the picture that suggests one nation or the other?

[Major 2]

The fellow seated to the right appears to be rather tall, perhaps the same may be be said the fellow seated behind him and across to his left. 

The Osage were noted for their tallness

[St. George]

No argument - I was addressing the timeline indicated at the beginning of the thread - nothing more.

The Osage involvement came 'after' the Cherokee Nation ceded - but the initial thread seemed to indicate that the 'capture' took place while the Cherokee were in possession.


*****

Crawford County, one of the eastern tier and the second north of the line separating Kansas and Oklahoma, is bounded on the north by Bourbon county; on the east by the State of Missouri; on the south by Cherokee county, and on the west by the counties of Neosho and Labette. It was created by the act of Feb. 13, 1867, and was named for Col. Samuel J. Crawford, at that time the governor of Kansas. The area of the county is 592 square miles. It is divided into nine townships, to-wit: Baker, Crawford, Grant, Lincoln, Osage, Sheridan, Sherman, Walnut and Washington. The general surface of the county is undulating, the water-courses flowing in three different directions. In the northeast Drywood, Bone and Coxes creeks flow northward to the Marmaton river; in the west Big and Little Walnut and Hickory creeks flow southwest to the Neosho; and in the southeast Lightning, Lime and Cow creeks flow southward, their waters finally reaching the Neosho.

Crawford county lies in the tract known as the "Neutral Lands" (q. v.), which were ceded by the Cherokee Nation to the United States by the treaty of July 19, 1866. Prior to that treaty some attempts were made by white men to settle within the territory.

Transcribed from volume I of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed May 2002 by Carolyn Ward.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Rube Burrows]

The fellow seated to the right appears to be rather tall, perhaps the same may be be said the fellow seated behind him and across to his left. 

The Osage were noted for their tallness

Not only tall but the seated one to the far right looks like he is not even Indian.....or halfbreed.

[GunClick Rick]

The hat on the table is the dead give away,they are Cherosagies~~

[GunClick Rick]

But look like Pawnee,see Pawnee county,Kansas

[Major 2]

The hat on the table is the dead give away,they are Cherosagies~~

under that reasoning ..."IF" it were a Guerra,  they be Awapaho 

[GunClick Rick]

ST.Goerge is gonna shoot me when i ain't lookin

[Guns Garrett]

The area where Girard is located, Crawford county, Kansas, was originally part of lands set aside in 1825 for the Osage.  In 1835 during Indian Removal, it was decided the extreme corner southeast of Kansas, 50 mile N-S, and 25 miles E-W, which encompassed the present Crawford and Cherokee counties, would be given over to the Cherokee.  The Osage retained their lands (for the time being) in a 50-mile wide strip from about the location of the present city of Chetopa, KS, extending west along the southern Kansas border to as far as present-day Dodge City.  In July 1866, this Cherokee land was ceded to the US, and a month later, the land was sold by the Sec. of the Interior to the "American Emigrant Company", a sale of which the legitimacy was controversial, and litigated for several years.
The city of Girard was established in late 1868, its first newspaper began published in 1869

The Osage ceded the eastern part of their lands (roughly the boundaries of present-day Labette and Neosho Counties) in 1868, but the tribe did not receive any promised payments until after 1871.  About this same time the Government began negotiations for the acquisition of the remaining Osage Land resulting in the Sturgis Treaty which after 2 years of hotly-contested debate between the Indian Bureau, Congress, and the Osage tribe, was finally agreed upon in 1870.  The two-year period between 1868 and 1870 was marked by violence and depradations by both sides, with settlers (including the Ingall's family of "Little House' fame)  "jumping the gun" rushing in and purchasing, or squatting ("homesteading") on land that had yet to be given over to the US.  Conflict between the Osage and whites was widespread throughout the area, and Federal troops were dispatched to keep the peace - mostly to protect the Indians.  

The Cherokee ceded their lands to the US with little conflict or incidents of hostility.  However, the transistion of the Osage land was more devisive and there are numerous accounts of conflict between the Osage and the whites during the 5-year period immediately after the Civil War.  Most likely, Dr. Strong referred to in the opening post was the "guest" of a band of angry Osage.  

http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2001autumn_linsenmayer.pdf
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/n/neutral_lands.html


.

[ChuckBurrows]

Based on not only the area but the clothing, hair styles, and physical features I'd be more inlined to go with Osage rather than Cherokee.

[Guns Garrett]

Our city borders on the Cherokee Nation to the south, and we have a large population of them in Coffeyville.  We have an annual Pow-Wow that brings dancers in from aroun the four-state (KS-MO-OK-AR) area.  Every one of them is likely to tell you that "Cherokees don't wear feathers in their hair"  They may wear one or two in a hat or turban (traditional headwear).  It was common among the Osage.

[Daniel Nighteyes]

Our city borders on the Cherokee Nation to the south, and we have a large population of them in Coffeyville.  We have an annual Pow-Wow that brings dancers in from aroun the four-state (KS-MO-OK-AR) area.  Every one of them is likely to tell you that "Cherokees don't wear feathers in their hair"  They may wear one or two in a hat or turban (traditional headwear).  It was common among the Osage.

As for the "feathers in their hair", I agree with Guns Garret. This is not something you'd likely find among the Indians of the Southeast.  The reasons are numerous, but not worthy of the additional space it would take to elaborate.

Now, as for the "tallness" factor, the Indians of the Southeast (Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, "Seminole") also had some very tall people in their midst. Speaking only for my Nation, Tuscaloosa ("Black Warrior", so named because of his dark complexion) was very tall.  As anyone who has met or shot with me will tell you, I stand six feet tall in my socks.  What they cannot  know or tell you is that I am the second-shortest of all my eleven male cousins.

Therefore, "tallness" simply isn't a deciding factor.

Regards,

-- Nighteyes (Mississippi Choctaw)