As an example of the earnest appeals which were repeatedly made by Confederate emissaries to the various Indian tribes to maintain the allegiance with the South the following address is quoted, copies of which were sent by special messengers to all the tribes mentioned. The author of the address, Mr. S. S. Scott, was appointed by Jefferson Davis as a special commissioner to the Indian tribes:
| "Confederate States of America, "War Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, "Richmond, Va., December 26, 1862. "To the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and All Other Indian Nations and Tribes Friendly to the Confederate States: "My Friends: I have just returned to Richmond, the capital of the Confederate states, from your beautiful country. To visit you I have traveled over six hundred miles in the last four months. The president of the Confederate states, one who loves you well, commanded me to make this journey, to see you at your homes, to converse with you face to face, in order that the Government might be placed in possession of certain and reliable information in regard to your wants and necessities, and the condition of your country. "During my stay in the Indian Territory, where I was treated by you with every kindness and courtesy, I had repeated talks with many of you. The facts obtained from you in those interviews have been treasured up in my memory, and shall be fully communicated to the Government. In the meantime, however, I desire to say a few additional words to you, and I trust you will give to them due consideration. "In the early part of the year 1861 Gen. Albert Pike, of Arkansas, was sent as a commissioner to your country to explain to you the facts in relation to the organization of the Confederate government, and to request you to extend to it the hand of peace and friendship. In pursuance of the authority with which he was invested, before the close of the year he concluded treaties with all of you. These treaties have since been properly ratified, and you thereby became the allies of the Confederate states. "The Government, in making these treaties with you, consulted your welfare and happiness as well as its own. By reference to them it will be perceived that every provision is marked by justice and liberality. Many rights and privileges are thereby extended to you which were persistently denied you under the ,old government. In short, by the terms of these treaties you are made to occupy a high and exalted position-one adapted to your civilization and advancement, and suited to your pride and independence of character. "You are allowed delegates in Congress whose exclusive duty consists in watching over and guarding your interests. "The establishment of courts in your midst is provided for, so that you are not compelled to go for justice to the tribunals of neighboring states, but can have it administered to you at home. "The payments of all moneys, whether due to you from the old government, or any of the states which composed it, is secured to you. "The peaceful and uninterrupted possession and enjoyment of your country forever is guaranteed to you, and the power of the Confederate government is pledged to assist you in defending it at all times and against all enemies. "From the character of these treaties it seems that the bond of friendship thus formed between the Confederate states and yourselves ought to endure forever, and such it is confidently believed will be the fact; for, in addition to the reasons already enumerated, there yet remain other and most potent ones why it should be so. "The people of the Confederate states are emphatically your friends and brothers. You are, in every sense of the word, southern. The South was the home of your fathers. It was within the shadow of her deep forests and by the side of her sparkling streams that they sported in their infancy and hunted deer and bear in their manhood, and it is in the bosom of her green valleys that their bones now lie buried. The territory which you now occupy, and which has been set apart for you and your children forever, is southern territory. Your language is southern; your habits, your manners, your customs are southern ; and your interests are all southern. "I have said your interests are all southern. Herein, the war, which is being waged upon the confederates by the northern states, directly affects you-affects you to the same extent that it does them. It is for your degradation and abasement, for the destruction of your property, for the overthrow of your institutions, as well as theirs. Slavery with you is as obnoxious to the fanaticism of the North as it is in the Confederate states, and could that government subjugate them and deprive them of their slaves, it would not be long in taking yours from you also. But this is not all. After having dispossessed you of your slaves, it would fasten upon your rich and fertile lands and distribute them among its surplus and poverty-stricken population who have been looking toward them with longing hearts for years. "A word now in regard to the fortunes of the war. Within the last two years many battles have been fought. Some of these were on a scale of the greatest magnitude. In all of them, away from water-courses, the Confederate troops, although greatly outnumbered, have uniformly proven victorious. Only a few days ago the Grand Army of the North was defeated, with a loss in killed and wounded of about twenty thousand men, at Fredericksburg, in this state, by-the Confederate forces under General Lee. There is but little doubt' that the results of the future battles will be similar in character to those of the past. The southern Indian is the fighting Indian; the southern white man is the. fighting white man, and they can never be subdued by northern arms. As well might a single individual attempt to stay the sweep of a prairie fire. "Some delays have now and then occurred in the fulfillment of certain of the promises made to you by the Confederate government. This could not be prevented. They were the result exclusively of. this great and `terrible war. Recollect this fact, should similar delays hereafter ensue. The Confederate government will comply strictly with all of its engagements to you. Bear this always in mind, and never suffer yourselves to doubt it. "In conclusion I will remark, that by a proper use of the facilities for advancement which the government of the Confederate states has placed within your reach, and under its fostering care and protection, inhabiting, as you do, a country healthful, finely watered, and possessed of every advantage of soil and climate, it will be easy for you in a few years to become powerful and prosperous nations. That you may energetically direct your efforts to the accomplishment of this great end, and that such efforts in connection with those of the Government in your behalf, may be crowned with success, is the earnest wish and full expectation of the President and people of the Confederate states. "Your friend, "S. S. Scott, Commissioner." |
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