OCR Text |
Show 16 The Southern Utes cans. From then until the American take-over in 1846, the Mexican government at Santa Fe generally was at war with the Utes, who, mounted on good horses and with firearms, raided the Taos Valley and the frontier around Abiquiu.fi The military leaders of the United States, realizing that the Utes might possibly present a threat to their lines of supply and communication, sent William Gilpin to confer with the Utes in August, 1846, within a month after the conquest of New Mexico. Gilpin encouraged sixty, Ute leaders to accompany him to Santa Fe to confer with the military authorities there. These Ute leaders were mainly from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, especially from the San Luis Valley, and after a conference with Col. Alexander W. Doniphan, they agreed to remain peaceful.7 On December 30, 1849, the first treaty between the Utes and the United States was signed at Abiquiu, the frontier town on the Chama River north of the town of Espanola. This treaty was arranged largely by the great Indian agent, James S. Calhoun.8 The Utes recognized the sovereignty of the United States and agreed not to depart from their accustomed territory without permission. The Utes also agreed to perpetual peace and friendship with the United States, to abide by United States law, and to permit citizens of the United States government to establish military posts and agencies in their country. Quizia-chigiate signed as principal chief and twenty-seven other Utes signed as subordinate chiefs. After the twenty-eight Ute leaders expressed an "utter aversion to labor," Agent Calhoun promised that the United States would help take care of the Utes to the amount of $5,000 per year. No boundaries of the Ute territory were defined in this treaty.9 The following year (1850) the United States government opened an agency for the Utes at Taos, New Mexico. John Greiner was the first agent (1851-53), but the United States failed to provide the necessary money and the agency had to close. It was reopened in December, 6 Paul Horgan, Great River, 2 vols., (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1954), II, 717. 7 Wilson Rockwell, The Utes: A Forgotten People, (Denver: Sage Books, 1956), p. 64. 8 James W. Covington, "Relations Between the Ute Indians and the United States Government, 1848-1900'" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation in History, University of Oklahoma, 1949), pp. 25-6 passim. 9 For a complete treatment of Agent Calhoun, see Annie Heloise Abel, ed., The Official Correspondence of James S. Calhoun, while Indian Agent at Santa Fe and Superintendent of Indians Affairs in New Mexico (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915). For the texts of treaties with Indians, see Charles J. Kappler, ed., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, (2 vols.; Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903-38) â- the Treaty of 1849 with the Utes is in II, 585-86. |