overnment, in the winter of 1862, was the fact that hundreds and thousands of their southern breth

s, comparable only to that of the Belgians in the Great European War of 1914, is one of the saddest to

ear Walnut Creek. In scattered lines, with hosts of stragglers, the enfeebled, the aged, the weary, and the sick, they had crossed the Cherokee Strip and the Osage Reservation and, heading steadily towards the northeast, had finally encamped on the outermost edge of

tly fatigued travellers encountered no obstacles in settling themselves do

ost sympathetic and, after relieving the necessities of the refugees as best they could, hurried on ahead, imparting the news, in their turn, to various white people whom they met. In due course it reached General Denver, still supervising affairs in Kansas, and William G. Coffin, the southern superintendent.165 It was the first time, since his appointment the spring b

curate as to some of its details, written by Superintendent Coffin to Dole, January 15,

st, had gone into the army [Dole to John S. Davis of New Albany, Indiana, April 5, 1862, Indian Office Letter Book, no. 68, p. 3

efly Creeks, were representative of nearly every on

at became really notorious as graft and peculation entered more and more into the reckoning. Apparently, all those who, in ever so slight a degree, handled the relief funds, except, perhaps, the army men, were interested in making the numbers appea

e Indians had trudged through it, over snow-covered, rocky, trailless places and desolate prairie, nigh three hundred miles. When they started out, they were not any too well provided with clothing; for they had departed in a

Affairs, Report, 1861, p. 151; 1862, pp. 137, 157; Indian Office Special Files, no. 201, Sout

furnished the first relief that

a fever and "his tent (to give it that name) was no larger than a small blanket stretched over a switch ridge pole, two feet from the ground, and did not reach it by a foot from the ground on either side of him." Campbell further said that the refugees were greatly in need of medical assistance. They were suffering "with inflammatory

As far as relief went, however, the supply was so out of proportion to the demand that there was never any time that spring when it could be said that they were fa

nth has been ordered to move to Humboldt, Allen Co. to give relief to Refugees encamped on Fall River. Lt. C

issioner of Indian Affairs,

ffin, January 26, 1862, Indian Office Special Files

partment, had similar experiences. According to him, the refugees were "in want of every necessary of life." That was his report the eleventh of February.171 On the fifteen

ergency. Secretary Smith authorized expenditure for relief in advance of congressional appropriation, but that simply incr

issioner of Indian Affairs,

the Indians immediately upon his arrival in Kansas

to Mix, February 10, 1862 [Indian Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 185

sery and suffering amongst them is beyond the power of any pen to portray, it must be seen to be realised-there are now here over two thousand men, women, and children entirely barefooted and more than that number that have not rags enough to hide their nakedness, many have died and they are constantly dying. I should think at a rough guess that from 12 to 15 hundred de

ficiency of the Federal never showed up more plainly, to the utter

ticular duty as special agent was to be the purchasing of supplies for the refugees177 and he at once visited their encampment in order the better to determine their requirements. His investigations more than corroborated the earlier accounts of their sufferings and privations and his appointment under the circumstances seemed fully justified, notwithstanding that on the surface of things it

ampment upon t

and they are feeding them a little...." See

o, from Edgar County; Coffin was from Indiana [In

n) Daily Conservativ

idated Files, Southern Superintendency, D 5

ups, chiefly of the sick and their friends, were scattered all along the way from Walnut Creek.179 Some of the very belated exiles were as far westward as the Arkansas, over a hundred miles distant. Obviously, the thing to do first was to get them all together in one place. There were reasons why the Ve

no precautions were taken against allowing unhygienic conditions to arise. The Indians themselves were much diseased. They had few opportunities for personal cleanliness and

ice Land Files, 1855-1870, Southe

d and were camped there in great destitution. Their chief

e settlement of the New York Indian Lands, see Abel, Indian Rese

ch arising from dead ponies, about two hundred of which were in the stream

narily high in normal times were just now exorbitant, and the relief funds very, very limited. No appropriation by Congress had yet been made although one had been applied for.183 The great disadvantage of the location was the presence of white settlers and they objected, as well they might, to the near proximity of the inevitable disease and filth and, strangely enough, more than an

15, 1862, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report, 1862, p. 136. Compa

Indian Affairs, Report, 1862, p. 153; Indian Office Specia

. Dole's letter to Smith, January 31, 1862, describing the destitution of the refugees, was rea

85 and indecision, and determined to go no farther. They complained bitterly of the treatment that they had received at the hands of Superintendent Coffin and of Agent Cutler

ude. There was mutiny seething, or something very li

28, 1862 [Indian Office Special Files, no. 20

cumstances, well and interestingly narrated in Stearns' Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, 106-108. He had been agent for the New England Relief Society in the year of the great drouth, 1860-1861 [Daily Conservative, October 26, 1861] and had had much to do with Lane, in whose interests he labored, and who had planned to make him a brigadier under himself as major-general [Stearns, 246, 251]. He became qua

1862-1871, C 1601 of 1862] seems to cast doubt upon the genuineness of some of the signatures attached

e, March 29, 1862 [Indian Office Land Files, Southern Superintendency, 1855-1870, O 43 of 1862] and two

y to the Catholic Mission, whith

val to the Sac and Fox reservation would mean the getting into closer and closer touch with Perry Fuller,189 the contractor, whose dealings in connection with the Indian refugees were to become matter, later on, of a notoriety truly disgraceful. Mistrust

ch was a scheme to induce the Indians to lodge complaint against the distributers of relief. One of the conspirators was a man who had studied law under Lane and who had wanted a position under Kile. Lane had used his influence in the man's behalf and the refusal of Coffin to assign him to a position was supposed to be the cause of all the trouble. Coffin learned that his enemies had

fore long and he recounted them to Dole in a letter of April 9,

hat his name is intimately used in the correspondence, relative to the affairs of the refugees, is in a letter from Kile to Dole, March 29, 1862 [Indian Office Cons

strong antagonistic feeling among the friends of Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la.190 Moreover, dissatisfaction against their agent steadily increased

this matter to Dole, April 20, 1862 [Indian Office

ruth, March 18, 1862 [Indian Offic

0, 1862 [ibid., General Files, Wichita, 1862-18