Alleged frauds on Creek Indians

Front matter

o V m,t»

C5th Congress, T Doc. No. 452. ] Ho. of Reps.

2^ Sessi07i. Executive.

Appendix

Regulations for certifying contracts under the Creek treaty of March

24, 1832.

War Department, November 28, 1833.

1st. All applications for certifying contracts under the above treaty, in order to procure the assent of the President to the conveyance, shall be made in writing, and shall be accompanied with the Avritten contract itself.

2d. If the payments are all made to the satisfaction of the Indian, and the fact is clearly established in the opinion of the approving agent, then an absolute deed from the Indian to the white person may be certified.

3d. But if the payments are not all made at the time the parties appear before the approving agent, then the contract must distinctly state the time and mode of payment, and the amount actually received.

4th. As a general rule, no contract will be approved unless a consideration equal, at least, to ^1 25 per acre is paid or secured to the owner.

5th. In all cases the agent will make such inquiry as may be in his power into the actual value of the tract ; and if he believes that such value is not paid or secured, he will not certify the contract.

6th. As, from representations recently received from one of the commissioners appointed to make the locations, it appears that many of the tracts are not so valuable as has been heretofore supposed, nor probably worth the minimum price fixed for the public lands, the President does not think it just thtit that sum should be actually paid in every case. When, therefore, a less sum is agreed upon between the parties, the approving agent will endeavor to ascertain the actual value of the tract ; and if he believes the amount agreed upon is a fair price, he will so certify; and his certificate will also contain a general description of the tract, agreeably to the best information he procures. In all cases arising under this section, the circumstances will be particularly examined by the President, whose decision will be made as may appear to be just.

7th. The agent shall in every case, where it is practicable, have an interview with the Indian, explain to him the transaction, and ascertain whether he understands and approves it, on a full consideration of the matter.

Sth. When, however, the Indian cannot appear before the approving agent, in such a case the clearest proof must be adduced of the nature of the transaction; and the return must show the proof, and must also state why the Indian was not present.

9th. No patent will be granted until the whole payments are completed.

10th. Copies of the contracts, to be furnished by the parties themselves, will be retained by the approving agent, and the originals will be transmitted to this Department for the consideration of the President.

llth. The approval of the agent will in no case be final, nor will the title of the grantee be valid until the President approves the same. Possession may, however, be taken of the tract as soon as the agent certifies the contract ; but, in such a case, the party will be liable to removal if the President should decline to approve the same.

12th. A contract for any tract may be certified as soon as a proper locating agent shall assign it to an individual Indian; still, however, it is to be observed, that if the President should not confirm such location, the whole proceeding, with relation to it, will be void.

13th. Tiie ceded territory must be so divided by the approving agents among themselves, that each may be confined in his operations within a given district, so that applications rejected by one agent may not be acted upon by another.

14th. The following is prescribed as the general form of the certificate, subject to such variations as circumstances may require :

I certify that I have examined the contract between A B, a Creek Indian, and C D, for the conveyance to the latter of [here describe the tract, agreeably to its designation on the plat of the township;] that the said A B has appeared before me, and, after the transaction was fully explained to him he approved the same. The sums stated to have been received by him were paid in my presence, (or were distinctly acknowledged by him, or were clearly proved to have been received, as the case may be.) I consider the price given, the full value of the land, and certify the contract for the consideration of the President of the United States.

Where the Indian is prevented by proper circumstances from appearing, then the certificate will be varied, so as to show those circumstances and the nature of the proof by which the payments are established.

Where the price agreed upon is less than Si 25 per acre, the agent will add to his certificate a statement that the " land is proved to my satisfaction to be of an inferior quality, (being sandy or marshy, or containing so many acres only which can be cultivated, or specifying any other facts which may have come to his knowledge, showing its quality,) and that I consider it worth only [liere insert the sum.]"

LEWIS CASS.

Approved, November 2S, 1S33

ANDREW JACKSON.

B.

Supplementary j^ei^u/ui?ons,in addition to those approved by the President Nove77iber 2S, 1833, for certifying contracts under the Creek treaty of March 2 1, 1S32.

War Department, December IS, 1833.

In consequence of a representation from one of the certifying agents that a construction would be put on the above regulations which would inevitably lead to the committing great frauds upon the Indians, in consequence of the facility of imposing on them, and the ease with which declarations or acknowledgments may be procured, the President is desirous of guarding against such a result as far as in his power, and of securing to every Indian the receipt of a just consideration for his property.

The following additional and explanatory regulations are therefore adopted :

1st. The payments required by the 2d article of the above regulations must be made in the presence of the approving agent, except in the very few cases where the Indian may be prevented by illness or inability from appearing before the agent. But such cases must be proved by the most unexceptionable evidence, as well as the payments made under them ; and the circumstances must be distinctly stated for the consideration of the President.

2d. The contract described in the 2d article of the above regulations must be entered into subsequent to the location of the reservation.

Sd. The form in the 14th article will be so varied as to omit the words " or were distinctly acknowledged by him, or were clearly proved to have been received, as the case may be ;" except in the cases described in the 1st article of these supplementary regulations, where the Indians are prevented by disability from personal attendance.

LEWIS CASS.

Approved, December IS, 1833.

ANDREW JACKSON.

C.

Supplementary regulations^ in addition to those approved hy the President November 28 a7)d December 18, 1833, ybr certifying contracts under Creek treaty of March 24, 1832.

War Department, il/«rcA 7, 1836.

No contracts under the Creek treaty will be certified or recertified after the receipt by the certifying agent of these instructions, except in the town to which the Indian reservee belongs. And for this purpose, the certifying agents will from time to time appoint days, by previous notice, on which they will attend in the public square of each town where contracts are to be approved. The certifying agents will, in the presence of the chiefs and other Indians, ascertain the identity of the Indian claiming the land, and such circumstances as may be necessary to show that the bargain is a just and fair one, well understood by the Indian, and that the payments have been made in a proper manner, and agreeably to the established regulations.

When, however, the reservee is disabled by sickness from appearing before the agent in the public square of the town, such agent may certify a contract after a personal interview with him at his residence, at which one or more chiefs shall be present, and at which his identity and the fairness of the bargain shall be ascertained.

Respectfully submitted for the consideration of the President.

LEWIS CASS.

Approved, March 7, 1836 :

ANDREW JACKSON.

D.

TucKABATCiiEE TowN, March 16, 1835.

We, whose names arc hereunto subscribed, being head chiefs of the Creek nation, humbly petition your intervention to stop fraud being practised upon our people. It has become notorious that we are daily having our lands stolen from us by designing white people.

The Indians living on the cast side of the nation have long since disposed of their lands, and are now following the agents in our section of country with a band of white speculators, clahning other Indian names, and having undisposed of lands certified to. This course of conduct has been introduced about twenty days ago, and has succeeded in getting all unsold lands, except such of the Indians as the agents are personally acquainted with. A number of our people have died since beinff located ; all such cases are stolen by living Indians, through the influence of white men. We believe, without your interference, justice will not be had. We pledge ourselves that every statement here made can be established by disinterested white people. During the last ten days we have no doubt of hundreds of Indian names having been stolen and certified to, when the right owners were at home and knew nothing of such contracts.

We now humbly beg for an investigation to be had, and for the white people making such purchases to be requested to produce the Indians before the agents, so that such Indian having a just right may have an opportunity of establishing his just claim. This course will bring round an opportunity of introducing correct proof. We find that such Indians as are stealing get but a small pittance in comparison to the fair value; for the lands are certified to any large prices, and the money immediately taken from them — telling the Indian that it is likely this contract will not be approved of.

W(; sincerely petition you to adopt some plan whereby justice may be had.

We will ever pray, &c. Your red brothers,

IIOPOTII-LO-IIOLO, his -f mark.

YOUNG KING, his + mark.

TUSKENEAIMIAII, his + mark.

LITTLE DOCTOR, his + mark.

FOSACTIE iMICCO, his + mark.

LATTA MICCO, his + mark.

OLD KING, liis + mark.

MICCO 0130 Y, his -f mark.

To the Honorable Secretary of Wah.

E.

CoosAWDA, March 23, 1S35.

Our dear Brotiiek: Wc, the undersigned, chiefs and headmen of the Creek tribe of Indians residing east of the Mississippi river, in general council assembled, deem it due to oursf^lves, to you, and to our people, to make known to you the situation in which some of us, and many of our people, have been placed, by frauds which have been practised upon us in the certification of contracts for land.

We iiad fondly hoped, sir, that after we had sold our territory to the United States, reservmg our humble homes, we should have been permitted to enjoy them unmolested ; or at least, if we should be compelled to sell them, the small pittance arising from the sale should belong to us and to our children. But, sir, in this we have been mistaken. We were informed by our great father, at the time we entered into the treaty by which we sold our country, that when we should sell our reservations, he would appoint men to superintend the sale of them who were too high-minded and honorable, and too far removed from vulgar prejudice and sordid attachment, to countenance, in the smallest degree, any frauds that might be attempted to be practised upon us; and in order to consummate this promise, you, sir, were selected as one of those men. We, sir, were pleased with your appointment, and yet esteem you as a man who desires to do us justice; but we must assure you, in the language of respectful friendship, that the course recently pursued at your office is such as meets our disapprobation, and is calculated to oppress and ruin some of our people. We write this, therefore, to you, not to censure you, but to apprize you of facts, which we are bound, in justice to ourselves, to communicate. The causes of our complaints are the following:

We learn that almost all the land in your certifying diL;trict has been sold, and what is not sold is protested ; that is, some person has purchased, and has not brought forward the reservees for certification. Now, sir, we assure you of the fact, that there has been at least one-third of the contracts for the sale of lands in the towns of Tuckabatchee, Thlobthlocco,or James Boy, Clewalla, Tallassee, and Otissee, that are fraudulent, and the land certified to the wrong Indian. There are also many other contracts of a similar character in other towns.

We wish not to be understood as charging you with having wilfully certified contracts to wrong Indians, although the voice of a part of the community cries out against you. We only wish to state these frauds do exist, and to excite you to vigilance and perseverance in detecting them. In what kind of predicament, sir, are we placed ? An Indian, sir, who has sold his land at the instance of some fiendish, designing scoundrel, comes before you, and claims the name of another Indian, to whom the land rightfully belongs. The money is forthwith given up to the purchaser, save that portion which was to be given to the Indian as a premium for his rascality.

In this way, sir, a few hundred dollars and four or five Indians could sell all the land hi the Creek purchase ; and we know, in this way, hundreds of contracts have been made. The homes which have been rendered valuable by the labor of our hands, are torn from us by a combination of designing speculators, who haunt your office, and who, like the man among the tombs, are so fierce that no one can pass that way. The helpless widow and orphan, the aged and infirm father, are alike the victims of their cupidity. Sir, we have borne with this oppression until forbearance has ceased to be a virtue, and we are determined to speak out, let the consequences be as they may. While we have been at home preparing something for our dependent families to subsist on, other Indians have sold our homes, our all, the only means for our support; and when we have applied to you for redress, what has most frequently been the result ? Why, sir, that you would inquire into it. You place the burden of proof upon us; you exclude the testimony of our people, the only persons who can know much satisfactorily in relation to our claims. We are required to prove a negative — that we have not been the persons who sold. All of which, v/e assert, is oppressive; and although we have the charity to believe that you do not design these things to injure us, yet we must state, if persisted in, they will work our destruction. But worse than all this, and more to be regretted, is the fact, through fear of the merciless horde who surround your office, our people cannot speak to you in defence of their just rights without subjecting themselves to punishment.

Sir, we again repeat that we believe you are inclined to do us justice, and, under this belief, we rest satisfied that you will adopt some speedy and efficient means of detecting and exposing to the world the base frauds which have been practised upon yourself and us ; and, in conclusion, we would humbly suggest that the deeds which have lately been certified by you (say within the last thirty or forty days) be retained, and that they undergo an investigation, and that hereafter the purchaser or his agent be required (as is done elsewhere) to take oath that he believes the Indian from whom he has purchased is the Indian located on the land sought to be purchased from him.

We have thought that the condition in which our people have been placed required that we talk thus plainly to you ; and in order more effectually to secure the protection desired, we have sent a communication similar to this to the President of the United States, our great father. We are, sir, vour red brothers,

HOPOETHYOHOLO,his x mark.

LITTLE DOCTOR, his x mark.

COSA FLXICO, his x mark.

TUS-TUN-x\UCKEE, his x mark.

AH-CHO-LOCK HADJO,his x mark.

COCHACK HADJO, his x mark.

AHCHULLY HADJO, his x mark.

TUSKENEAII HAH, his x mark.

COSATUTUN-NUCKEE, his x mark.

TUSCONO HADJO, his x mark.

OPOY FIXICO, his X mark.

MOMOTTO HADJO, his x mark.

WILLL\M McGILBRY, his x mark.

OHITCH FLXICO, his x mark.

NAHLOCK FIXICO, his x mark.

FOSUCH FIXICO, his x mark.

In presence of J. N. Brodnax and Barent Dubois.

N. B. One copy of the foregoing was sent to Dr. McHenry, to whom it was addressed, and another transmitted to the Commissioner of Indian Aflairs, through L. Tarrant, Esq.

F.

TucKABATCHEE, Mavcli 24, 1835.

^ Sir : On my arrival at Tallassee, and after I had left the council at Coosawda, the enclosed was put into my hands. I confess I was not pleased at the chiefs making me the medium of their comnumications in relation to the conduct of Dr. McHenry as certifying agent. I have always entertained the highest opinion of the integrity and honesty of Dr. McHenry; and that he has and will pursue a high-minded and honorable course is still my opinion. Yet, if the complaints of the Indians and common reports among the whites can be rehed on, frauds have been practised upon him to a great extent — perhaps to a much greater extent than they have been upon me ; but, with all the vigilance I have been enabled to use, they have to some extent been practised upon me ; and if the same number of contracts had been certified by me, I am not sure that frauds to a great extent might not have been practised upon me. I believe that there is an organized plan of operations to deceive the agents, and to introduce the wrong Indian to certify or approve contracts. I require purchasers or their agents buying Indian reservations, to swear that they believe the Indian they introduce is the identical one located on the land they are about to purchase ; but if any better plan can be adopted to prevent fraud in tlie sales of these lands than has already been made under the regulations adopted by the President for our government, I will most cheerfully submit to it. It is extremely difficult to get the parties again before the agent after a contract has been approved of, as the agents have no means to compel the attendance of witnesses when contracts have been impeached. Should the President suspend the approval of contracts, and institute some more efficient mode of detecting the frauds which have been committed, all the means in my power shall be aflbrded to detect frauds committed in my office by the purchasers of Indian reservations, or the Indians selling the same.

P'roni all that I could learn at the council, I have no doubt but the chiefs are anxious to send a delegation to Wasiiington, to enter into some arrangements with the Government in relation to then" emigrating beyond the Mississippi, and for other purposes.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

LEONARD TARRANT.

Elbert Herring, Esq.,

Office of Indian Affairs^ Washington. D. C.

G.

Columbus, (Georgia,) March 25, 1835.

Sir : Gen. J. W. A. Sanford gave me up his book on the 23d instant. There are but a few contracts remaining uncertified to on his books.

I wish you to retain the last packages of certified Creek contracts for a short time, for I have no doubt but the wrong Indian has been introduced and certified to in several instances. I have a number of certified contracts remaining in my own hands, which I shall investigate. I have never seen corruption carried on to such perfection in all my life before. A number of tlie land purchasers think it rather an honor than a dishonor to defraud an Indian out of his land ; and if the agent cannot detect the fraud in passing the contract, he cannot prescribe an oath which they wiU not take. I do not wish you to understand that all purchasers are so corrupt ; for I believe in many instances the purchaser has bought, as he believes, from the right Indian ; for you find them roving all over the country, assuming ditierent names, and selling lands which do not belong to them, and make it matter of speculation.

If the proper course is pursued this season by the emigrating agent, I think a thousand or fifteen hundred Indians will goto Arkansas.

My own opinion is, if the Government would pay off the annuity immediately, and insinuate to the head chiefs that it was the last that would be paid off here, they would emigrate in a mass. Very respectfully, vour obedient servant,

ROBERT W. McHENRY.

E. Herring, Esq.,

Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

H.

State of Alabama, Chambers County,

April S, 1835.

To the President of the United States :

Sir : We, the undersigned, citizens of the county of Chambers, in the State of Alabama, under existing circumstances, feel constrained, from a regard for ourselves, and for the principles of justice, to address you on the subject of the manner in which a portion of the Creek Indians east of the Mississippi river have been, and are now, deprived of their reservations. We are satisfied that the President would not permit those individuals to be thus deprived of the small pittance allowed them by the last treaty with our Government, by the artifice and intrigues of a combination of speculators, were he apprized that such was the f;ict. Our proximity to the office of one oi the certifying agents, which is located in this county, enables us to speak from observation and indisputable authority of the manner in which the Indians have been stri])ped of their small estate, by imposition practised on the agent, by introducing before him the improper Indian. Thus situated, a due respect for ourselves and the character of our comnuiuity, as well as a desire that justice should be done to the poorest and most humble individual, imperiously require that we should apprize you of the manner in which they have been treated, and request that you will exercise a prerogative most fortunately granted you iu the treaty with those people, of withholding your approval of all contracts made and certified to, since the commencement of the fraudulent practices before alluded to, which, from the best information in the possession of the undersigned, Avas about the 18th of February last.

It is not pretended that none of the contracts certified to by the agent for this district, since the aforesaid period, are fair and bona fide ; but it is asserted and believed, that the proportion which they bear to the great mass of those that are fraudulent and forged, is so small as to render the distinction of the latter class much more desirable than the preservation of the former. Since that period they have no hesitation in saying, that, by fraudulent and false representations to the agent, and personifying the true and proper holder of the location, by introducing another and totally different Indian, a most perfect system of swindling has been carried on, by which hundreds of these people have, within a few weeks past, been deprived, without their knowledge, and of course without their consent, of their homes, secured to them by the solemn obligations of a treaty. In this way many of the most valuable reservations in the Creek country have beencnrtified to, without any consideration whatever passing to the proper owner, and in fact none to any one, save the small bribe to tlie Indian who personates another ; for the same sum paid before the agent, so soon as the parties pass from his immediate presence, is taken from the Indian introduced, and made a fund for further and similar operations. Thus it has become, since the period before alluded to, a regular business, not more distinguished for its baseness and corruption than for the boldness with which it is carried into execution. Justice requires your interposition, to prevent the injury which these ignorant and helpless people must otherwise sustain.

There is a view of this matter which, apart from the injustice which it works to the Indians, renders your interference important to your memorialists. It is highly desirable that these people should emigrate as early as possible ; and it is very evident that their late treatment will have the effect of continuing them here much longer than they would otherwise remain. They have already in many instances (and it is no doubt a general feeling) declared their settled determination to remain until their father, the President, restores to them their homes. And they will do so until it is done, or their patience exhausted, their hopes vanquished, and their confidence in the justice of the Government totally destroyed. May not such a course of things drive some of these people into a state of desperation, fatal to the peace and safety of the community in which they may happen to live ?

Again, the title to land thus procured can never be settled and secured. It must be the source of endless litigation, in which the innocent, in all probability, will most frequently suffer. It must produce, for years to come, hi our community, a state of commotion and disquietude greatly to be deplored, and the consequences of which can be as easily imagined by yourself as detailed by your memorialists. The facts stated are susceptible of the clearest and most indisputable proof, should they be deemed of sufficient importance to attract your attention or justify an investigation. And your memorialists have taken the liberty, for reasons before stated, to suggest them, relying with the utmost confidence in the entire disposition oTthe President to do these people every justice in his power.

Lewis Mcintosh, H. T. Dawson, E. Henry,

George W. Gafford, Baxter Taylor, S. B. Robertson,

Carey Cox, Samuel Thompson, William Z. Croughton,

Charles Smith, John J. Dunn, A. F inlay,

T. M. Sims, W. W. Carlisle, S. W. Clements,

Elijah Ray, John J. Williams, D. M. Anderson,

John McQueen,

A. Deale, Eaton Boss, A. R. Beall, M. Phillips, John Farley, Henry Williamson, James T. I^ivingston, James M. Lyon, Nathaniel H. Greer, Green Lee HoUey,

Samuel R. Moss, Amos T. Moss, G. D. Ansley, James G. Jones, William Adkins, Edmund Hanby, Johnson Sawell, William Giddins, William H. House, E. Beler.