Oklahoma Passage Telecourse of Oklahoma History #105 Civil War/Ethnic Diversity - Unit 1, Lesson 4

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. Now, in here, . is where I keep some very special family treasures. Now, you just wait till you save your money. Maybe I might be a little help on keeping this truck. Okay. Now, let's see. On this side, I think. Yeah. Made by Mr. Samuel Colt. This gun belonged to your great-great aunt, Jessica. Abraham's daughter? How come he had it? Well, that's a good story, Bo. And it has Jesse James in it and Bill Stalin. All kinds of outlaws and heroes. All right. And here are some other things that I want to show to test. Now, I'll close this. No.

Do you recognize anyone in that picture? Jessica Baton. Yes. She sure is beautiful. She sure had a big gun. And that Jesse James gave it to her. Let's think back how it was. Now, you remember that the Civil War had come to Park Hill where our family began its Oklahoma passage. And Abraham Benton, a Cherokee printer, had married Emma, the daughter of a captain of the drag goons, and they had had three children, John, Joseph, and Jessica. Did he get the gun from the dragon captain? It's drag goon, dummy, not dragon. Don't get ahead of me. The Civil War had split the Cherokees right down the center. Some of the men fought for the Confederate, some fought for the Union. And in our own family, Joseph Benton joined Colonel Wadey's Confederate regiment, and John Benton went north, and fought for the Union.

And Jessica? Jessica. Jessica was a teacher. She was fluent in French, and she loved the classics, especially Shakespeare. She had been educated at the famous Cherokee female seminary in Park Hill. Fear no more, the lightning flash, nor the all dreaded thunderstorm. That slander, censure rash, thou hast finished joy and moan. All lovers young, all lovers must consign to thee, and come to dust. That's all for today, class. Tomorrow we'll begin King Lear. Class dismissed. But there was war now, and the great seminary buildings were empty.

Their libraries and furnishings had been destroyed, and in the days to come, they would house only the pain of wounded and dying men. Dear Jessica, it's dawn as I write this letter. We're waiting for Stan Wadey to give the command before we charge down the hill. It's a strange feeling not knowing whether I'll be alive or dead when you get this letter. Somewhere across P Ridge, they're probably as a Union soldier who feels the same way. I wonder if it's John. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. The first battle is over.

I don't know if we won or lost. I can't imagine we won because there are so many dead. I've discovered something about the dead. Their cries continue long after life is gone. I've also discovered something about the living. Cruelty is easy. I've discovered to my horror that it seems to come naturally. I had always believed we were a civilized people, but now I'm not so sure. I heard war cries, and I saw men die. I've heard stories of soldiers scalping the dead and near dead. Stan Wadey knows.

He knows, and yet he looks the other way. I don't understand what is happening to us, but I suppose I'm glad to be alive. I hope all is well with you, Jessica. Give my love to mother and father. Love, Joseph. It wasn't long before the Union forces and Indian territory were too strong, and Stan Wadey and his men didn't receive what they had ordered. They didn't get their supplies. Their uniforms fell apart, but they fought on. Stan Wadey was made a brigadier general. He was the only Indian general in the Civil War. Who's this? Well, this is Park Hill after the Battle of P. Ridge. I don't recognize anyone.

They had such a hard time. They look so sad. Yes, well, most of the men were all fighting other men. The women and the elders were trying to keep things together. But every week there was a raid. What kind of raid? Well, the soldiers from either side would ride in and shoot what cows were left, or steal corn or grain, and whatever they could get their hands on. And Stan Wadey came several times, and he set fire to John Ross's big house. And they would kill any Ross man that didn't have sense enough to hide. And so the people who were there became so frightened of the fighting, and they were so hungry that they became refugees. They went to Texas, or they went to Kansas, but not Abraham.

Abraham and Emma and Jessica stayed. They raised what food they could, and cared for the homeless children, and tended the wounded and dying from both sides. It was about this time that something especially terrible happened. I don't know. Feeling better? God, any whiskey? Yes.

Water will have to do. Water will have to do. Water will have to do. Water will have to do.

Mother. Where are they? What do we got here? Mother, don't move or I'll shoot. Well, I bet you had never fired a gun in your life. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, missy. He's stuck for so long. Mama, oh God, please, no.

Abraham, the music. My dear Joseph, it is my sad duty to write you that our beloved mother has passed on to a better place. Last night, she died peacefully in her sleep. For the Benham family, the Civil War was a turning point, written in blood and anguish, so it was throughout the Indian territory, putting brother against brother, section against section, all set against a complete breakdown of governmental law and order. The Civil War also was a turning point in terms of larger events and trends. The old Southern cash crop economy supported by slavery was crushed. But more importantly, the future of the tribes as sovereign independent nations was forever altered as the federal government punished them for siding with the south. The resulting era of rapid change attracted new people, new cultures to the landscape of the future state.

To set the stage for this turning point is Dr. Bob Blackburn. The Civil War is the most important turning point, single most important event in our history, probably even more so than statehood itself. Because the Civil War is the turning point in Indian history. Up to 1861, the Indian territory had been one vast reservation, supposedly set aside forever for the Native American Indians in the West. The Civil War changed all of that and it turned out to be opening the floodgate for other peoples to come into the territory, including various ethnic groups. Well, the Civil War began, of course, 1861 in the East. Well, as soon as the first shots were fired, as soon as the Confederate government declared its independence in 1861, they sent delegates east, excuse me, west to the Indian territory

to deal with the five civilized tribes. And Albert Pike, as a diplomat of the Confederate Congress, came to the Indian territory and met with the tribal leaders of the five civilized tribes. Now, most people think, well, why would the Indians be involved in the Civil War? Most people are surprised that they were. But think about it, all of the five civilized tribes that come from the old south. The political leadership by the 1860s was made up of the mixed bloods, who were making a pretty good living from a southern cash crop economy. And so their economy was southern. They had slaves. They depended on southern commodity exports. Their culture that they had adapted from the white people around them was southern. And so Pike found a willingness to side with the Confederacy. And within a couple of months, Pike had signed treaties of alliance between the Confederacy and each of the five civilized tribes in 1861. And so the Indians had thrown in with a Confederacy. Well, immediately, the North pulled their troops out of the territory.

They pulled their troops out of four cob. They pulled troops out of Fort Gibson. And they pulled them back to abolitionist Kansas. The Confederate troops from Texas moved in immediately. The Indian tribes organized several Indian regiments. The Cherokees had two regiments organized with nothing but Cherokees. The Choctaws and Chickasaws organized a couple of regiments. There were seminars and creeks in Chickasaws as well, who were joining together in these Indian regiments. Well, the Indian troops together with some Texas troops that moved north out of Texas, joined and did battle with Union sympathizers among the Indians. The first battles occurred in the summer of 61 as a Potholeahola, a Union sympathizing creek full-blood led his forces north out of the creek nation and tried to get to Kansas and there was a series of running battles. Finally, the Confederates were victorious.

The Confederacy controlled the Indian territory in 1861. Well, they maintained that control fairly well for the next two years, until the spring of 63. In the spring of 63, the war began changing on all three fronts. In the east, President Davis, General Lee, had decided they had to try to end the war because their resources were diminishing. They invaded Pennsylvania in the summer of 63, defeated at Gettysburg. In the Western campaign, Grant Attack-Vicksburg took it in the summer of 63. The Union had control of the Arkansas River Valley in the Mississippi River Valley. Well, part of the strategy was for the Union to also take the Indian territory in 63. In April, they moved south and they took Fort Gibson, which was the pivotal control on the Arkansas River. Well, by June and July, the Confederacy decided they had to retake it to maintain control, just as they were moving in both the Western Theater on the Mississippi River and in the east.

In General Cooper, Douglas Cooper, who was Commander of the Confederate Forces in the Indian Territory, began gathering forces at Honey Springs, a small town in the Creek Nation. And as he amassed his men in Materiel, he had about 8,000 men, most of whom were Indians at the time, as he was gathering, and waiting for a contingent of Confederate regulars from force meth to march to meet them, and General Blunt, Commander of Union Forces in Arkansas, moved south to intercept Cooper's forces before they could be joined. The two armies met on the morning of July 17, 1863, just north of the small community of Honey Springs. The engagement began about 8 o'clock in the morning with skirmishers, and an artillery duel began about 9 o'clock, followed by hand-to-hand combat, the two armies clashing at Elk Creek, just north of Honey Springs. After an hour of hand-to-hand combat, a troop of Union sympathizer troops began moving into a fire flight between black troops of the Union side, and Texas troops on the Confederate side, and as the Indians moved into the field of battle,

one of the Union commanders sealed, get back, get back. The Confederate commander thought it was an order for retreat, retreat, and they charged, charged right into a volley of the black troops. The day he was basically one at that point, it was a Union victory. From that point on, the Union controlled the Arkansas River Valley, and the northern part of the Indian territory, pretty much dominated the Cherokee Nation, Creek Nation, Seminole Nation, the Confederacy control, the old chalked-on Chickasaw. Well, for the next two years there were battles and there were raids, but no decisive battles, and it was status quo when the war ended. Well, the consequences of the Civil War can go on and on with a physical and human destruction, but in a way, in terms of our larger history, the Civil War allowed the Federal Government to impose the Reconstruction Treaties of 1866. And this would impact the ethnic diversity of the state, because with the Reconstruction Treaties of 66,

the Federal Government forced the Indian nations to allow railroads through the territory. Up to the Civil War, even as railroads were built in Kansas West, and in Texas West, the Indian nations would not allow those railroads in to the Indian territory. Well, the Reconstruction Treaties changed all of that. The first tracks were laid in 1870-71. The first track in was the Katie track that would run north and south along the Old Texas Road. The Frisco built the Indian east and west as far west as what would become Suppolpa, Tulsi Town, Tulsi. With the railroads came economic development. And this is where we get into ethnic diversity. Because with the railroads building through the territory, this opened the resources of the territory. A man named J.J. McAllister, a Confederate veteran, knew about coal scenes in what would become the area around McAllister. He established a trading post, married a chick's soul woman, so he had property rights within the nation,

and he began exploiting the coal deposits around McAllister. It turned out to be a wonderful coal resource, first strip mining, then finally into shaft mining. But there were no laborers to work the mines, because the Indians did not want to go into the shafts. They weren't skilled miners, and by the time you go into shaft mining, you had to have people who knew how to do it. So the railroads, wanting to develop this coal resource, began recruiting Europeans. They sent agents to Europe. Starting in 1873 and 74, the first Europeans come into the territory. You have an influx from Northern Europe, the Welsh, English, Irish, Scots. You have Italians coming in from the Italian mines. You have Polish miners, Lithuanian miners, Carpathian Russians. You have people coming in from Belgium and France. All from 1873 to about 1907, as this mining frontier, boomed, attracting these miners from all over the world. Now, as each of these ethnic groups would come into the territory, they settled in pockets, coal towns.

And by being insulated away from the Indian population, treated as intruders almost, with permits to live their year by year, they settled in their little pockets. And because of that concentration, their ethnic diversity was stamped on the landscape. For example, the Carpathian Russians, who settled in their heartsworn area, would build a church with minarets and onion domes. Today, that church is still there in heartsworn. It's the only Russian Orthodox church in this region, and it's still there, a legacy of the influx of European miners. Well, the European immigration would continue. By 1896, there were over 1,000 foreign-born miners in the territory, 3,000. Later in the decade, by 1900, we would have more than 4,000 foreign-born miners by 1907, 8,000. And the influx of European immigrants would continue, moving into the cities, into the mining areas, onto the farming frontier during the land opening period.

By statehood, Oklahoma had a rich diversity of ethnic groups, who were expressing themselves in music, in dance, in religion, in schools. And that legacy is still there today with 3rd and 4th generation families. And so if you look around, if you examine our history, and why these people came in, where they settled, what influenced their settlement patterns, then you can see why that ethnic diversity was retained. Like the American nation itself, the Indian territory between 1865 and 1907, attracted wave after wave of diverse peoples, all looking for new opportunity. Until a degree, each group added to the melting pot, but in many ways, each group retained vestiges of their unique cultural and ethnic traditions, creating a vibrant, diverse society expressed through architecture, food, religion, song, and dance. The new immigrants may have provided stark contrasts, set against their native American host, but the largest ethnic group was the black community.

People of African descent have had a long history in Oklahoma, dating to Coronado's expedition in 1541. The first black settlers came with the five civilized tribes, who brought with them slaves, acquired from white neighbors in the old south. At the time of removal, many blacks had intermarried with Indians. Others were treated more like partners than slaves. The reconstruction treaties of 1866 removed the shackles of bondage and opened the door for tribal citizenship to the freed men, although racial conflict flared occasionally, especially among the Cherokee. Black Indians enjoyed opportunities in the territory, not shared by their fellow freed men in neighboring states. Dr. Newty Williams, a professor of history at Arkansas University, notes how many blacks found new roles to play in a changing world. The Indian Territory was really a haven, a kind of a magnet, especially for non-Indians.

Many European Americans was attracted because of jobs, and they could reside in the Indian Territory with passes. Others, of course, were uninvited guests, besides in a marriage and so forth. These were the outlaws. And certainly one of the most exciting phases of Oklahoma history or Indian Territory is the attempt to bring some semblance of law to that area for American citizen, understanding that the light horsemen of the Indian police did not have the authority or jurisdiction to arrest American citizens. So knowing this outlaws, of course, took to the Indian Territory, reg havoc in Texas, Kansas, and parts of Arkansas, and of course went back to that safe haven. This was the case until the man is associated with bringing law and order judge Isaac Charles Parker.

Roughly 1876 was appointed a federal judge at Fort Smith, and so doing, of course, he was a needed people who was familiar with the territory, people who could speak the dialect, and there was one other problem. That's being debated. Now, whether it is true or not, it does have some credibility. That is to say, the creeks and the seminars, especially, were really referred to as interior tribes. And they, because of their high animators with blinds or African Americans, were more sensitive and basically was a little skeptical of European Americans. You didn't have that problem with the Cherokees because they were closer to the border, in other words, they were closer to the border between Arkansas and the Indian Territory.

So one of the stories or one of the suggestions is that why not hire a blinds who could speak their languages did not have a credibility problem. And so we do know that very early on, perhaps as early as Parker's first year in 1876, that there indeed were like deputy marshals assigned to the court. And these were generally the field marshals, the people who had regular commissions and certainly was on the fee system. And their job was to go and arrest the lawbreakers within the territory. Eastern Oklahoma, during that time, was wooded, virgin territory, and of course it was, as we said before, a haven for those who broke the law. And so doing, of course, we have men like Bass Rees, Grant Johnson, Robert Fortune, Zieg Miller, Neely Factor, and others who wore the badge.

These men, of course, ironically arrested any lawbreaker, whether they were Native American, whether they were African American, European American. You might say it was a kind of democracy in action. But certainly, the man that is generally associated with longevity is Bass Rees. And I suppose most people are aware, more I should say, aware of Bass Rees than any of the other deputies. Simply because he was with the court from this inception, or since Park arranged from 1876 until statehood. He made the transition from the forcement of the enduring area and moved to Muscogee, where at statehood he was no longer appointed deputy, but he became a part of the Muscogee Police Department. Robert Fortune, who was the other gentleman, was very interesting and fascinating in his own right.

Once he finished his tenure with the court, and this is something that I've not been able to ascertain for certain. But in those days there were no law schools, or very few, at least in Oklahoma, after statehood. But somewhere between statehood and roughly the middle of the 1900s, meaning roughly in 1915, somewhere in there, Robert Fortune read law as it is put or phrased. And he passed the bar, and he set up practice in Chicochet, Oklahoma. From the Oklahoma Black Dispatch, we know that he was very involved with cases across the board during World War I. For example, he was associated with the case when the separate coach law was in effect.

A young lieutenant, who was African-American, was on his way to Forseal. Evidently, stopping in Chicochet, Oklahoma was removed. And of course, he was represented by Robert Fortune. By 1920, Attorney Fortune's wife had some health problems, and he moved to Arizona for that reason. And of course, he died in 1938. He also, of course, continued his law practice, one of his son, of course, formed a partnership with him as well. And this is one of those things that you wish you had, more substantiating evidence. But the same as though he continued his civil rights activities in Arizona, and also encouraged blogs to migrate from Oklahoma to Arizona. Evidently, the opportunity, and he felt that the opportunities in early Arizona was a lot better than those in Oklahoma.

But certainly, with his death, of course, he, three years before the war, meaning World War II, bringing a kind of a closing phase, closed an era, shall we say, because he was the oldest living black deputy that I know. The others died much earlier. Grant Johnson died. He was not reappointed, I think, in 1906. But he remained and you follow. And I have some, at least some evidence that he was still around until World War I. And I don't know how long he lived after that. But these men, collectively, certainly serve the purpose to bring law and all to Indian territory. Law enforcement was only one outlet for the talents and energies of blacks in the Indian territory.

Most were farmers, who, like their former Indian masters, tilled land along the river valleys, raised livestock, hunted, and lived lives largely on a subsistence level. When the allotment process was forced upon the five civilized tribes, these black freedmen claimed choice sections, usually near other blacks, creating black farming communities in each of the nations. As railroads reached these pockets of black farmers, all black towns, such as Bowley, Taft, and Rent Hesville, were established to market crops and livestock, sell manufactured goods, and provide services ranging from medicine to legal advice. In most cases, the new townspeople were recent immigrants from the old south, blacks who had accumulated capital and skills in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia. These black newcomers added to the cultural and political diversity already so evident. Black immigration from the old south increased even more with the land openings from 1889 to 191.

Black farming communities were established near Kingfisher, Arcadia, and Shawnee. Other blacks flocked to the cities of Guthrie and Oklahoma City, but the largest concentration of black immigrants was centered in the all-black town of Langston. The leading voice for that community's promise was Edwin McCabe. Professor Newt E. Williams follows the achievements of McCabe and his fellow boomers. Newspapers then would become very important. McCabe had learned the impact and the importance of Newspaper from his Kansas experience when the paper at Nicodemus, one of the earliest all-black towns in Kansas, was used to lure people in. I wouldn't say lure, attract them, it would be a better word. So this was a kind of promotionalism. Some people, meaning writers and historians, have really given the black newspaper a hard time about that because they say, these really are newspapers. I disagree with that. I think they were really newspapers, but certainly a function of early newspapers was to promote one's town, one area, one state.

So I think in that regard, they might have gone overboard and painted a picture, certainly that was a little more than it really was. But at this time, I think it was important to get people there and the opportunity, they did not exaggerate the possibility of the opportunity. So we find that McCabe, not only as a political animal, he seemed to also have ink in his blood as it were. So following McCabe, Lee, we find that most black towns, I wouldn't say most, I would say many black towns, also published a newspaper. And these newspapers serve as an attraction to inform people that these opportunities are there. The bully that was organized in 1903, I believe it was. Some people say it was on a dare.

I believe it was WH, a bully who was the president of the Fort Smith and Western Railroad. He argued positively for blacks. Given an opportunity, of course, they can govern themselves. And bully, of course, was the result of it. Other towns, of course, was simply because of an organized homestead company. But certainly, bully newspaper was reflective of the town. Redbud and some of the other towns were too small to support a newspaper. But one would be surprised that over the years that many of these towns that had newspapers, when you read their pages, which I've had an occasion and an opportunity to do, these editors were fearless. Most people are aware of Roscoe Dungee and his black dispatch that was organized in 1915. But there were other contemporaries of his, AJ Smedaman, who published a toss of star, roughly at the same time period.

In the case of Mr. Roscoe Dungee, coming to Oklahoma very early, the legacy of his father, who was a clergyman, was one who would project and hope for an opportunity, fair play, and so forth. Because he is the one man that people point to as the fearless fighters for civil rights for blacks in Oklahoma. Certainly, you could not write the history of Oklahoma. And certainly, the impacts of black will fall, spotlighting Mr. Dungee. He, from the pages of his newspapers as editorial, would take on the political establishment. But by the same, in true journalistic tradition, he would also test out the black community when they were not supporting black businesses, when they were not supporting their schools, when they were not supporting those things that make a community responsible. So responsibility certainly was high on Mr. Roscoe Dungee's list.

Mr. Editor, AJ Smedaman, from Tulsa, was also a man who was not as a staunch Republican as Mr. Dungee. It was Dungee with a bat in the world Republican. But AJ Smedaman was an interesting man in his own right, because he was perhaps thinking. And rightfully so, there was a movement among black people to not be so tight. In other words, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Let's look at what Party A has the Harvard Party B. And let's decide. And then we'll go with the one that's going to offer us the better deal, as so to speak. Well, AJ Smedaman in Tulsa was coming a master at that. And so that he is credited with what happened to the feet of one of the entrenched Republican administrations in Tulsa. Now, I don't, maybe 1910, I will go with 1910, that AJ Smedaman rallied the blacks with Fenn Tulsa. And of course, supported the Democrats, and they won the election.

That is important for several reasons. First of all, there's one of a few times that U.C. blacks deviating from the Republican Party foe. Second is that because now the Democrats, who have always accused the Republicans of being associated as a black party, now find themselves a certainly in Tulsa at this particular time, owing a debt of gratitude to the black community. And from that point, we start to see the appointment of black policemen. Black leaders, such as Edwin McCabe and Roscoe Dungee, certainly had high hopes for blacks in the new territory in state. Despite their efforts, those hopes were dashed on the rocks of political strife and rising racism. Determined to reduce the Republican Party's power after statehood, Democratic politicians assaulted blacks' rights to vote. And threatened by the rising prosperity and urban shift of blacks, white politicians even attacked black citizens' rights of freedom.

Schools and public places were segregated. Justice through the courts was denied. Adequate housing was withheld. And when legal barriers failed to maintain the status quo, violence was used for intimidation. Dr. Danny Govall noted Oklahoma historian cites the most violent of those outbursts, the Tulsa race riot of 1921. Like so much, you also know, Oklahoma's history of Tulsa race ride is a part of a larger phenomenon. There were a whole series of race riots nationwide in the years that immediately followed the First World War. If Tulsa has any distinction, it might be that it perhaps was the most violent and bloody race ride. It starts as a small thing, as most of these things do. In the case of the Tulsa episode, what happened was that a young white woman by the name of Sarah Page claimed that she had been physically assaulted on an elevator of all places in a public building by a young black man by the name of Dick Rowan. Rowan was arrested. There was talk, including on the front page, apparently of the Tulsa Tribune, that there would be a lynching of Dick Rowan that night.

Well, there had been similar lynchings in Tulsa before, in similar lynchings in other Oklahoma communities before. Blacks in some of those communities had learned to lessen and Muscogee quite recently. They had prevented a lynching by gathering at the Muscogee Courthouse to physically prevent whites from lynching a black inmate, hoping to do the same thing they gathered around the Tulsa County Courthouse that evening. The black guys who gathered were confronted by gathering white crowd. Words were hurled, insults were hurled, rocks were hurled, somebody fired a shot. And from that moment onward, there was what amounted not to a race ride, but to a race war. By the time that it had literally burned itself out to more than anything else, two or three days later, virtually all the black Tulsa lanes smoking ruins. The entire area had been overrun by whites, destroyed by whites. One of the most prosperous black communities in the United States had been physically devastated.

No one knows for sure what the death toll was, official estimates were, you know, a dozen, twenty, maybe thirty. There are those who say that the true number probably ran into the hundreds. But the result was clearly one of those violent episodes, one of the ugliest episodes in Oklahoma's history. The race riot and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920s certainly marked a low point for race relations in Oklahoma. Thereafter, we can trace a gradual course toward legal and social equality for all ethnic groups regardless of the color of their skin. That journey toward freedom has been marked by many mileposts, the struggle for desegregation of the schools during the 1950s, the sit-in movement for desegregation of public places during the 1960s, and the political victories of black leaders over the past thirty years. In hundreds of individual ways, the blacks of Oklahoma have earned a place in the sun only dreamed of by pioneers such as Edwin McCabe. Today, the ethnic diversity of Oklahoma is a matter of pride, expressed at celebration such as the Kalachi Festival in Prague, the Juneteenth Jazz Festival in Tulsa, the Greek Festival in Oklahoma City, and the Indian Exposition in Anodarko.

Certainly, there remain vestiges of racial and ethnic discrimination, maybe there always will be, but we've made great strides in overcoming the limitations of fear and hatred. Oklahoma has a colorful heritage of diverse peoples. The more we understand that heritage, the more we appreciate the values of each, the stronger we become as a people. Until next time, I'm your host Dean Lewis with Oklahoma Passage. Welcome to Oklahoma Passage.

Welcome to Oklahoma Passage. Welcome to Oklahoma Passage.

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