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76-595: In 1889, this territory was offered by the federal government to non-Native Americans for settlement in the Oklahoma Land Rush . The Treaty of Indian Springs , February 12, 1825, provided for a delegation of Creeks to visit the west in order that they may select any other territory, west of the Mississippi , on Red , Canadian , Arkansas , or Missouri Rivers to replace their lands in Georgia . A dispute arose between

152-632: A campaign, perhaps at the behest of one of his clients, the M–K–T Railroad , to open the land "unoccupied by any Indian" to settlement by non-Indians. He pointed out in a letter published in 1879 that four of the Five Civilized Tribes , unlike the Cherokee, had extinguished their complete title to the lands ceded following the Civil War and received full payment. He also said: Whatever may have been

228-564: A cardinal direction. A smoke hole enabled ventilation from a central hearth. During the hunting season or in warfare, they used the portable tipi. Like the Osage or Kansa, Iowa men traditionally shaved their heads and decorated them with deer hide. Like Great Plains tribes , they valued three feats during a battle. In prehistoric times, the Iowa emigrated from the Great Lakes region to present-day Iowa. In

304-511: A claim involved placing a stake with the claimant's name and place of entry at a U.S. land, one of which was located in Guthrie and the other in Kingfisher. The settler had to live on the claimed section of land for a five-year period and visibly improve it (including with buildings) before they could attain the title to the property. That period could be shortened to fourteen months if the settler paid

380-515: A council, agreeing that they would submit to state laws in order to stay on their lands. But, continued pressure from settlers and the state government resulted in the Creek ceding most of its lands in what became Alabama to the United States. By 1836, the entire Creek Tribe had been removed to Indian Territory. They had suffered armed conflict with settlers and effectively a civil war within the bands of

456-675: A decrease caused mainly by smallpox , to which they had no natural immunity . Their numbers were reduced to 500 by 1900. In 1960, 100 Iowa lived in Kansas and 100 in Oklahoma. By 1980 their population had recovered to 1,000 (of which only 20 spoke Iowa). In 1990 there were 1,700 people. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs , in 1995 there were 533 individuals living in the Iowa reservations of Kansas and 44 in Nebraska (Horton Agency), while 857 people lived in

532-706: A documentary film Lost Nation: The Ioway (2007; written and directed by Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle) was made, and followed by sequels 2 and 3. The Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska operates the Casino White Cloud at White Cloud, Kansas , on the Ioway Reservation . Jacob Keyes is the current tribal chairperson of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribes operates the Cimarron Casino in Perkins, Oklahoma, and

608-462: A hotel in Kansas due to poison found in his glass of milk. It is speculated that it was organized by cattlemen unhappy with the success of the Boomer Movement. William Couch was a former lieutenant under Payne. He did not possess the brash personality of his predecessor, but, he had a kindred personality and spoke with strength. He rigorously studied all treaties, court cases, and laws regarding

684-671: A legal opinion as to the status of the public lands, but the government, instead of charging them for illegal settlement of Indian land, charged them only under the Intercourse Act . Finally, in United States vs. Payne in 1884, the United States District Court at Topeka , Kansas ruled that settling on the Unassigned Lands was not a criminal offense. The government refused to accept the decision and continued to raid

760-605: A number of Iowa moved to Indian Territory preferring to live in the older community village way of life. The new reservation was located in Lincoln , Payne and Logan counties in the Indian Territory . However, despite their efforts to block allotment, their lands were divided anyway. Today the Iowa Reservation in Nebraska and Kansas is approximately 2,100 acres (8.5 km ) in size, and has more than 150 residents. In 2007,

836-585: A pair of costumed mascots also named "Boomer" and "Sooner" as well. Captain David L. Payne took advantage of the boomer movement to occupy and create the Oklahoma Territory. He and other enthusiasts created the Oklahoma Colony, allowing settlers to join with the fee of a minimum of one dollar. Then once settled in the Oklahoma Territory they organized themselves as a town-site company that sold lots of land from

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912-626: A posse of his United States deputy marshals . Most land disputes were settled without bloodshed, although a few took years to resolve. The passage of the Organic Act of 1890 by the United States Congress , signed by 23rd President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901, served 1889-1893), incorporated the former western Unassigned Lands into the newly organized federal Oklahoma Territory , (which endured 17 years until 46th statehood in 1907 ). Under

988-555: A price of $ 1.25 per acre. Guthrie, Oklahoma City , Kingfisher, El Reno , Norman , and Stillwater were six of the townsites established in 1889. They were designated as county seats. Guthrie was named capital of the Territory and later was capital of the state of Oklahoma for a brief period. Oklahoma City was designated as the permanent capital of the state. On April 23, Oklahoma City contained more than 12,000 people. Within an hour of land being opened, 2,500 settlers occupied lands in

1064-599: A range of $ 2–25 depending on the demand of the Boomer Movement . Cattlemen, afraid that these boomers would take their land, worked alongside the military to keep them out. Settlers thought it their right to occupy the lands as they had purchased it with cash and by doing so, their title was invested in the U.S. government . Even so, the military was at constant work to arrest the boomers unlawfully on Indian Territory, although they were generally released without having to go to trial. On November 28, 1884, Payne met his end at

1140-580: A semi- nomadic people who had adopted horses for hunting, but they also had an agricultural lifestyle similar to the tribes inhabiting the Eastern woodlands . They planted maize and manufactured alum pipes, which they traded along with furs with the French colonizers. Historically, their houses included bark lodges ( chakiruthan ), tipis , and at times, earth lodges —oven-shaped buildings covered with earth for protection from extremes of temperature and oriented to

1216-628: A strategy to increase land ownership and development by signing the Homestead Act into law. It was intended to open western lands to allow people to settle on what the government considered to be "idle" tracts of land. The majority of occupants in Indian Territory (which became most of present-day Oklahoma) belonged to the so-called Five Civilized Tribes : the Cherokee , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek , and Seminole , who had been forcibly removed in

1292-583: A township that they initially named Lisbon, but would later be called Kingfisher. Iowa tribe The Iowa , also known as Ioway , and the Bah-Kho-Je or Báxoje ( English : grey snow; Chiwere : Báxoje ich'é), are a Native American Siouan people. Today, they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes , the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska . The Iowa, Missouria , and Otoe tribes were all once part of

1368-521: Is Bah-Kho-Je , pronounced [b̥aꜜxodʒɛ] (alternate spellings: pahotcha , pahucha , báxoje ), which translates to "grey snow". Báxoje has been incorrectly translated as "dusted faces" or "dusty nose". The state of Iowa , where they once lived, was named after this tribe. Their name has been applied to other locations, such as Iowa County , Iowa City and the Iowa River . Their estimated 1760 population of 1,100 dropped to 800 and by 1804,

1444-492: The Cherokee Nation as a community with its own boundaries, and that Georgia residents could not enter their lands without consent of the Cherokee. Chief John Ross believed that removal was inevitable and worked to gain the best deal possible from the federal government. Opponents gained a new treaty, but by the end of the 1830s, most of the tribe was forced to remove to Indian Territory, accompanied by US military forces. By

1520-592: The Creek and Seminole native peoples. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of the Canadian , Cleveland , Kingfisher , Logan , Oklahoma , and Payne counties of the present-day U.S. state of Oklahoma . The land run started at high noon (12:00 pm) on April 22, 1889. An estimated 50,000 thousands of people were lined up at the start, seeking to gain a piece of the available two million acres (8,100 km ). The Unassigned Lands were considered some of

1596-620: The Everglades in Florida, where the military sought to hunt them down. Many were captured and sent to Indian Territory in chains. Osceola surrendered and died in prison. The war and removal reduced their population by 40%. The Seminole in the Everglades never surrendered and their descendants today comprise two federally recognized tribes in the state. According to the 1859 census, 2,254 Seminole remained in Florida. The US also relocated tribes here from

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1672-595: The Ho-Chunk people , and they are all Chiwere language -speaking peoples. They left their ancestral homelands in Southern Wisconsin for Eastern Iowa , a state that bears their name. In 1837, the Iowa were moved from Iowa to reservations in Brown County , Kansas , and Richardson County , Nebraska . Bands of Iowa moved to Indian Territory in the late 19th century and settled south of Perkins, Oklahoma , to become

1748-678: The Lower Creek Council , which signed the treaty, and the Upper Creek Council , which objected. The dispute led to the killing of General William McIntosh , the chief of the Lower Creeks, and left the treaty in doubt. Despite that, the Creeks were relocated to the west. On February 14, 1833, the Treaty of Okmulgee was signed at Fort Gibson . In it the Creeks finally agreed to cede their lands in

1824-603: The Oklahoma Organic Act was passed creating the Oklahoma Territory . This act included the Panhandle of Oklahoma within the territory. It also allowed for central governments and designated Guthrie as the territory's capital. With the signal of troops to cross into the territory, over a dozen Santa Fe trains pulled into Oklahoma Territory, but most migrants traveled on horseback, in wagons, and on foot. Establishing

1900-646: The Seminole were the first tribe relocated to the ceded Creek land. Several tribes of Eastern Indians were also moved to the eastern end of the ceded Creek land. The Absentee Shawnee and Citizen Band of Pottawatomi shared a reserve; also, the Sac and Fox . Later, the Kickapoo were moved in and, lastly, the Iowa . The combined Cheyenne Arapaho tribe was given the western end of the Creek and Seminole land, along with some land ceded from

1976-611: The Wyandot , Cheyenne , Arapaho , Wichita , and other smaller tribes had been removed from surrounding states and reassigned to Indian Territory. With the end of the Civil War , land hungry people sought land in the West. White Americans pressed their legislators to open the Indian Territory. Certain Native Americans like Elias C. Boudinot encouraged other Native Americans to participate in

2052-544: The 16th President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, served 1861-1865), had earlier signed the famous Homestead Act of 1862 during the American Civil War which allowed settlers to claim lots of up to 160 acres (0.65 km ), provided that they lived on the land and improved it for several years. During the mid-19th century, the time when the American Civil War was at its peak, President Abraham Lincoln developed

2128-686: The 16th century, they moved from the Mississippi River to the Great Plains, and possibly then separated from the Ho-Chunk tribe. From the 15th to 18th centuries, they lived in the Red Pipestone Quarry region ( Minnesota ). In the early 19th century, the Iowa had reached the banks of the Platte River , where in 1804 Lewis and Clark visited their settlements. There they engaged in trading with

2204-636: The 1830s from their traditional territories in the Southeast. The government passed an Act called the Dawes Severality (or Dawes Act ) in 1887 that aimed to extinguish communal tribal holdings. It proposed that the tribes' communal lands be allocated to heads of households by 160-acre plots, to encourage them to adopt subsistence farming. A stated aim of the Act was to enhance assimilation of tribal members to mainstream European-American practices. It markedly reduced

2280-577: The Confederacy cost them much more land than it did the Creeks. Article 3 of the Seminole Treaty, ratified July 19, 1866, required that the Seminoles cede and convey to the United States their entire domain ... [for] ... the sum of three hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-two ($ 325,362) dollars, said purchase being at the rate of fifteen cents per acre ($ 37.07/km). By the same treaty,

2356-565: The French and local tribes, thanks to their advantageous situation regarding the alum deposits. Between 1820 and 1840, the Iowa ceded their Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri lands to the U.S. government . By 1837 most were relocated to a reservation along the Kansas-Nebraska border, led by their chief Chief Mahaska ( Mew-hew-she-kaw , "White Cloud"; archaic Ioway Maxúshga pronounced [mõxuʃꜜkɐ] ; contemporary Maxúhga ). They surrendered

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2432-589: The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma. The Ioway tribe is also known as the Báxoje tribe. Their name has been said to come from the Sioux ayuhwa ("sleepy ones."). Early European explorers often adopted the names of tribes from the ethnonyms which other tribes gave them, not understanding that these differed from what the peoples called themselves. Thus, ayuhwa is not an Ioway word. The word Ioway comes from Dakotan ayuxbe via French aiouez . Their autonym (their name for themselves)

2508-779: The Little Platte territory in Missouri in 1836. Other Missouri lands had been ceded in 1824. In 1837 they settled in a strip of land in Kansas, south of the Big Nemaha River, along with the Sauk and the Meskwaki , tribes with which they had long had friendly relations (though speaking unrelated Algonquian languages ). Some 45 Iowa fought in the American Civil War in the Union Army , among them Chief James White Cloud, grandson of Mahaska . In 1883

2584-598: The Oklahoma Iowa Tribe (Shawnee Agency), amounting to a total of 2,934 people. According to the 2000 census, 1,451 people identified as full-blood Iowa, 76 were of mixed-Indian descent, 688 of mixed-race descent, and 43 of mixed-race and tribe descent, amounting to 2,258 people. The Iowa have had customs similar to those of the other Siouan-speaking tribes of the Great Plains , such as the Omaha, Ponca and Osage . They were

2660-645: The Oklahoma Territory, the five main Native American Tribes had to sign agreements with the US government that they would no longer practice slavery, and if they continued, they would be exempted from their land by the United States. During the Land Rush, it was a growing belief within the African American community that this opening of free land was their opportunity to create communities of their very own, without

2736-447: The Oklahoma Territory. President Rutherford B. Hayes warned these early agitators for settlement (who came to be known as " boomers " in figurative reference to the loudness of their demands) against moving into the Indian lands. He ordered the military to use force to ensure this. A number of the people who participated in the run entered the unoccupied land early and hid there until the legal time of entry to lay quick claim to some of

2812-438: The Oklahoma land issue in order to present logical and concise boomer claims. He had led unsuccessful movements into Indian Territory, but under military and legal pressure the Oklahoma movement stagnated. It was rebooted with the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad line across the middle of Indian Territory from Arkansas City, Kansas , to Gainesville, Texas . Certain that the lands would be opened to settlement shortly after

2888-431: The Seminole and Creek Nations in exchange for 2,370,414.62 acres of unassigned land. A section giving the president the authority to open the land to settlement was added. African Americans had been trying to find communities they could settle without the worries of racism against them. When the Land Rush took place, black families had been building their own way of life and culture since the Reconstruction era . Even in

2964-421: The amount of land owned by the tribes, because the government declared as 'surplus' any lands left over after distribution, and made them available for sale to non-Native Americans. The settlers were also allowed to take up the subdivided land in many places. However, the Dawes Act was not enforced on the five tribes that were considered civilized since they were later exempted. The exemption was to take effect until

3040-410: The best unoccupied public land in the United States. The Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 was passed and signed into law with an amendment by U.S. Representative (congressman) William McKendree Springer (1836-1903), ( Republican of Illinois ) that authorized 23rd President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901, served 1889-1893), to open the two million acres (8,100 km ) of the western portion of

3116-413: The bill to Congress, it faced opposition from state representatives George T. Barnes of Georgia, Charles E. Hooker of Mississippi, and Colonel G.W. Harkins of the Chickasaw Nation. They opposed it because the U.S. government had promised the land to the Indian Nations living there and the government did not have the right to open up land in the territory to settlement. The Springer Oklahoma Bill, which

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3192-400: The black family did enthuse many to continue to move to the Oklahoma Territory. These movements did become townships, such as Kingfisher . After the passage of the Indian Appropriation Bill, President Benjamin Harrison made the declaration that on April 22, 1889, at 12 o'clock noon that the Unassigned Land in Indian Territory would be open for settlement. At the time of the opening, which

3268-445: The congressional act, local officials were appointed to handle civil and criminal matters until elections were held. Under the later Curtis Act of 1898, the communal lands of the Five Civilized Tribes in the adjacent Indian Territory to the east, were allocated to registered heads of households, thus extinguishing tribal title. The federal government declared any excess lands as "surplus" and allowed sale to non-Native Americans. In 1907,

3344-450: The construction of the railroad was completed in the spring of 1887, the Oklahoma movement again slowed down. By December 1887 the inaction of Congress reignited the movement behind Couch's leadership. After a conference of boomers was held in Kansas, the conference sent delegates Sydney Clarke , Samuel Crocker , and Couch to Washington to promote the passage of an act to open Oklahoma lands for settlement. After Couch and company presented

3420-483: The day that the government had set aside for the settlement, the crowd in the Oklahoma settlement land was overwhelming. When the signal for the process of land registration was raised, thousands of people rushed across the border as the Oklahoma land rush began. Approximately fifty thousand people; young and old, men and women rushed to try their luck in acquiring the 12,000 land tracts that were available. The removal of Native Americans to Indian Territory started after

3496-482: The desire of the United States to locate other Indians and freedmen thereon, the Creeks hereby cede and convey to the United States, to be sold to and used as homes for such other civilized Indians as the United States may choose to settle thereon ... the west half of their entire domain ... [for] ... the sum of thirty (30) cents per acre ($ 74.13/km), amounting to nine hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and sixty-eight dollars ... The Seminoles' active support of

3572-424: The desire or intention of the United States Government in 1866 to locate Indians and negroes upon these lands, it is certain that no such desire or intention exists in 1879. The Negro since that date, has become a citizen of the United States, and Congress has recently enacted laws which practically forbid the removal of any more Indians into the Territory. He suggested that the area was now Public Land and suggested

3648-422: The east and the Plains Tribes on the west. By the end of the day (April 22, 1889), both Oklahoma City and Guthrie had become cities of around 10,000 people each. As Harper's Weekly reported: At twelve o'clock on Monday, April 22d, the resident population of Guthrie was nothing; before sundown it was at least ten thousand. In that time streets had been laid out, town lots staked off, and steps taken toward

3724-422: The east. Article 2 of the 1833 treaty defined the land chosen under the 1825 treaty as being west and south of the Cherokee lands and bordering the Canadian River on the south and what was then the Mexican border on the west. In the Seminole Treaty signed March 28, 1833, but not ratified, the Seminole agreed to settle on the Little River portion of the Creek lands in Indian Territory. Some Seminole moved but

3800-468: The effort to welcome westward expansion. From 1870 to 1879, thirty-three bills were introduced in Congress to open the territory for settlement. Legislation was passed by Congress in 1866 that permitted railroads to be laid in sections of 40 miles (64 km) on either sides of the Indian Territory. The two companies in charge of creating these railroads were the Atlantic and Pacific (A&P). Their contracts were eventually rescinded due to not finishing

3876-407: The election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1828. He believed that Indian Removal from the Southeast was needed to extinguish Native American land claims and enable development by European Americans in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, which still had numerous Native Americans occupying their territories. President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. The Choctaw were

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3952-551: The end of 1838, most of the Cherokee tribe had been fully removed from the Southeast. Those who remained became state and federal citizens without tribal standing. Of the 18,000 who traveled west from 1835 to 1838, about 4,000 died on what became known as the Trail of Tears . The Chickasaw elected to leave their lands freely and did not suffer like the Cherokee tribe. The tribe had adopted some European-American practices: gaining some formal education for their children, building churches, and farming. They struggled with encroachment by

4028-449: The first tribe to concede to removal in 1830. They agreed to give up their land and move to the designated Indian Territory. The main portions of the Choctaw tribe moved to Indian Territory from 1830 to 1833, with the promise that they would be granted autonomy and receive annuities to aid in resettlement. Many died on the long journey to the new territory. The Creek were the next tribe to move to Indian Territory. In 1829 they had held

4104-559: The formation of a municipal government. Many settlers immediately started improving their new land or stood in line waiting to file their claims. Children sold creek water to homesteaders waiting in line for five cents a cup, while other children gathered buffalo dung to provide fuel for cooking. By the second week, new settlers had opened schools; children were taught by volunteers paid by pupils' parents until regular school districts could be established. Within one month, Oklahoma City had five banks and six newspapers. On May 2, 1890,

4180-415: The governor of the Oklahoma Territory. This would make it easier for black families to settle within the region during the land rush. This plan failed, as there seemed to be less and less excitement of immigrating to the new land, and instead McCabe had to settle to being a treasurer in Logan County of Oklahoma. The attempts of people like Eagleson and McCabe were not completely futile as their support of

4256-431: The influence of racism. Their intentions were to make Oklahoma a state just for them. One organization that took advantage of this movement was the Oklahoma Immigration Organization owned by W. L. Eagleson. Eagleson spread the announcement of recolonization to the black community throughout the United States, especially focused in the South. One attempt to make Oklahoma a black state was to appoint Edward Preston McCabe as

4332-412: The most choice homesteads. These people came to be identified as " Sooners ". This led to hundreds of legal contests that were decided first at local land offices and eventually by the U.S. Department of the Interior . Arguments included what constituted the "legal time of entry". The settlers who entered the territory at the legally appointed time are sometimes known as " boomers ", although confusingly,

4408-474: The names "Unassigned Lands" and "Oklahoma" for the district. In an attempt to prevent encroachment, President Rutherford B. Hayes issued a proclamation on April 26, 1879, forbidding trespass into the area which Territory is designated, organized, and described by treaties and laws of the United States and by executive authorities as the Indian's country ... It was too late. Almost immediately speculators and landless citizens began organizing and agitating for

4484-404: The new State of Oklahoma (the merger of the full Indian Territory and former Oklahoma Territory areas) was admitted as the 46th state in the American Union. Land Rush of 1889 The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land run into the Unassigned Lands of the former western portion of the federal Indian Territory , which had decades earlier since the 1830s been assigned to

4560-412: The north. The divisions within the Creek people continued up through the Civil War . The Council, then under control of the Lower Creek, signed a treaty of support with the Confederacy on July 10, 1861. Creek support for the South was not unanimous, however. After a series of armed confrontations, Opothleyahola 's pro-Union Creeks, belonging mostly to the Upper Creek, were driven into Kansas during

4636-463: The opening of the land to settlement. The newspapers generally referred to these pro-settlement forces as Boomers and followed Boudinot's lead in referring to the area as the Unassigned Lands or Oklahoma. The Boomers planned excursions, which they called raids, into the area and surveyed townsites, built homes, and planted crops. The United States sent troops to round them up and expel them. The raids continued for several years. The Boomers tried to get

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4712-453: The other tribes. Most of the former Creek and Seminole land, as was true for the rest of central and western Indian Territory, was already leased from the Indian tribes for grazing by large cattle ranching companies. During the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty negotiations of 1866, the Principal Chief of the Choctaws, Allen Wright, coined the term Oklahoma and suggested it as the name for all of Indian Territory. In about 1879, Elias C. Boudinot began

4788-468: The projects in the agreed time. Railroad companies that came after them took it as their responsibility to finish the project, and saw a way to strengthen their contracts by introducing the movement of settlement in the Indian Territory. The railroads employed people such as C. C. Carpenter to spread false information in newspapers of the Indian Territory being open to settlement through Congress's Homestead Acts. Both black and white migrants began to move to

4864-552: The provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862. The amendment, however, denied the settlers their squatter's rights . The lands were to be settled by a land run . The original settlers were rounded up and expelled. On April 22, 1889, the Oklahoma lands were settled by what would later be called the Run of '89 . Over 50,000 people entered on the first day, among them several thousand freedmen and descendants of slaves. Tent cities were erected overnight at Oklahoma City , Kingfisher , El Reno , Norman , Guthrie and Stillwater , which

4940-476: The remaining Indian Territory (established in 1834 with a much greater allotment set aside for the southeastern native tribes of extensive lands of the previous Louisiana Purchase of 1803 , west of the Mississippi River ), during the administration of 7th President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845, served 1829-1837). The additional land opening being authorized by Congress also included the adjacent western Unassigned Lands for settlement. A quarter-century earlier,

5016-418: The rest retreated within Florida. The US tried again to remove them, resulting in the Second Seminole War . After the Second War, most of the Seminole moved to the Indian Territory. A treaty between the Creek and the Seminole tribes, ratified August 16, 1856 by the US Senate, gave the Seminole the agreed-upon tract of Creek land between the Canadian River on the south and the North Fork of the Canadian River on

5092-458: The squatters. Finally General Pleasant Porter , the Creek Council's delegate to Washington, offered to relinquish all Creek claims to that part of the ceded territory which remained unassigned. On January 31, 1889, the United States and the Creek agreed to quit any claims to title of the land. The Creek received approximately $ 2,250,000. The Springer Amendment was immediately added to the Indian Appropriation Act of 1889 to authorize settlement under

5168-496: The state government of Mississippi. Beginning in 1832 they signed a collection of treaties with the US, and gained some better terms than the other tribes. They left for Indian Territory in the winter of 1837–38 and paid the Choctaw to be able to settle on some of their lands. The Seminole Tribe was tricked into signing a removal treaty and the Seminole War is what followed. This was the bloodiest and costliest Indian war in United States history. Chief Osceola and his tribe hid in

5244-432: The term also refers to those who campaigned for the opening of the lands, led by David L. Payne . The University of Oklahoma 's fight song, " Boomer Sooner ", derives from these two names. The school "mascot" is a replica of a 19th-century covered wagon, called the " Sooner Schooner ." When the OU football team scores, the Sooner Schooner is pulled across the field by a pair of ponies named "Boomer" and "Sooner.” There are

5320-416: The tribe. The Cherokee were the third tribe to be removed to Indian Territory. Tribal leaders Chief John Ross , and other high-ranking families worked to keep their lands, challenging Georgia state actions against them. They were upheld by the US Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia , which said that Georgia had no authority over them. But President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling that recognized

5396-448: The upper Midwest. After the Indian Wars on the Great Plains, the US also relocated some western tribes to Indian Territory. The Quapaw and Seneca were placed in Northeast Oklahoma with the Cherokee. By 1845 they were joined by the Shawnee , Delaware (Lenape), and Kickapoo . After Texas was admitted into the Union in 1846, the US forced removal of the Caddo , Kiowa , and parts of the Comanche tribes in Indian Territory. By 1880,

5472-451: The winter of 1861–62. They suffered a huge loss of life, as did their limited number of Seminole allies under Halleck Tustenuggee . When the Confederacy lost the Civil War, the United States forced the Creek nation into a new treaty, and forced them to cede some lands in compensation for having supported the wrong side. Under Article 3 of the 1866 Creek Treaty, the Creek agreed to cede the western portion of their lands In compliance with

5548-452: The year 1902, when the household heads of the five “civilized” tribes were to take 160-acre plots. After the Civil War, the other Indian tribes that had been relocated to the Territory had been assigned approximately one half of the total landmass occupied by the five tribes. The five tribes had allied with the Confederacy and were forced to give up some of the Indian lands. On April 22, 1889,

5624-470: Was indicated by gunshot, the line of people on horse and in wagons dispersed into a kaleidoscope of motion and dust and oxen and wagons. The chase for land was frenzied and much chaos and disorder ensued. The rush did not last long, and by the end of the day nearly two million acres of land had been claimed. By the end of the year, 62,000 settlers lived in the Unassigned Lands located between the Five Tribes on

5700-617: Was proposed by Illinois representative William M. Springer, was meant to use the Homestead Act to open the lands for settlement. Arguments over the payment for the lands continued until the legislative session ended and the bill was not passed. In December, Couch presented the Springer Oklahoma Bill to Congress again, which led to the passage of the Indian Appropriation Bill. With this bill, Congress paid $ 1,912,952.02 to

5776-596: Was the first of the settlements. Federal troops of the United States Army provided law enforcement; the closest criminal and civil jurisdictions were the federal courts of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas , with its courthouse centered in the border town to the east of Fort Smith, Arkansas . Despite that, the district and territory was generally peaceful with its longtime infamous federal judge Isaac C. Parker (1838-1896), and

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