While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
An act of Congress of March
3, 1893, authorized the establishment of a
commission to negotiate agreements with each
of the Five Civilized Tribes that would
abolish the tribal governments and permit
the allotment of land to individual tribal
members. Former Senator Henry L. Dawes of
Massachusetts was appointed chairman of the
commission on November 1, 1893 and it was
commonly referred to thereafter as the Dawes
Commission. It reported to and received its
instructions from the Secretary of Interior.
Senator Dawes and the other commissioners
visited Indian Territory (basically what is
now the eastern half of Oklahoma) many times
to meet with tribal leaders but had no
success convincing them to negotiate
agreements. In 1895 Congress authorized a
survey of Indian Territory and in 1896 the
Dawes Commission was authorized to add names
to existing tribal rolls as a preliminary
step to allotment. The Commission received
more than 7500 applications for enrollment
and traveled throughout Indian Territory
conducting hearings.
Having failed to convince the tribal leaders
to negotiate, the Commission was authorized
by an act of Congress of June 28, 1898, to
proceed with enrollment and allotment
without tribal consent. This act, generally
know as the Curtis Act, also provided for
the termination of the tribal governments.
By 1902, each of the tribes had negotiated
and ratified an agreement which modified the
terms of the Curtis Act and became the basis
for enrollment and allotment.
The headquarters of the Dawes Commission was
generally at Muskogee in the Creek Nation
and land offices were opened within each
tribal nation. Numerous field parties were
sent out to survey and appraise land and
investigate applications for enrollment. The
Commission held hearings to settle contested
allotments and prepared patents and deeds
for allotted land. The Dawes Commission was
abolished by an act of Congress of March 3,
1905 and replaced by a single Commissioner
to the Five Civilized Tribes who supervised
the large staff involved with the completion
of enrollment and allotment. Tams Bixby, who
had been appointed to the Commission in 1897
and often served as acting chairman when
Senator Dawes was too ill to serve, was
appointed as the Commissioner. On July 1,
1907, J. George Wright replaced Bixby as
Commissioner and retained the
responsibilities of his former position of
Indian Inspector for Indian Territory which
included supervision of the Union Agency.
An act of Congress of August 1, 1914,
abolished the position of Commissioner to
the Five Civilized Tribes and made the
Superintendent of the newly created Five
Civilized Tribes Agency responsible for any
unfinished business of the Commissioner. The
records of the Dawes Commission and the
Commissioner became the property of the Five
Civilized Tribes Agency under the terms of
the act and were heavily used by the agency
staff to manage the affairs of individual
Indian allottees.
Some of the records of the Dawes Commission
are still in the custody of the Muskogee
Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Others have been
deposited with the Oklahoma Historical
Society in Oklahoma City under an act of
Congress of March 27, 1934.
