OCR Text |
Show teen acres, purchased by their own money, eighty of which are culti-vated. The~ar gent recommends that a school be provided for them. I S i I A i i S NOT EMBRACED TX AifY AGENCY. I In addition to the Indiausmentioued in the foregoing surnmaq-, there are others to be noticed as not being under the care of an agent of the depsrtmeut, of whom principally are the Cherokees in North Carolina and the adjacent States of Georgia and Tennessee, numbering about t\ro thonsai~db, eing those who decided to remain and become citizens, aben the nmin body of the Cherokee-people removed west in 1838. Having suffered much during the late war, and being in an impover-ished condition, they have since desired to be brought under the imme-diate charge of the government as its wards. With a view to this, Congress, by law, approved July 27,1868 enacted that the Secretary of the Interior thereafter should cause the dommissioner of Indiau AfEairs to take the same supervisory charge of them as of other tribes of In-dians. Nothing, however, bas been done in the matter more than to i send out a special a.gent to take a general census of the people, and to make pa.yment of interest money on a per capita fund set apart for the I benefit of such as were enrolled, and their descendants, in 1838, under i act of Congress of the 29th of July of that year, a report from whom has been recently received, which will be found bererrith, numbered 152. These Indians have no reservation, and such as have lands or property bold the same, as citizei~sa, nd, with the exception of the fund referred to, they haTe no claim upon the government. If they are to be brought nuder tho supervision of this bureau, as in the case of ot.her Indians, and it is intended they shall be, provided with an agent to reside with them, and to be furnished with means for their support and improve-ment, I do not see how these objects can be accomplished without further legislation and an appropriation of money therefor. A large nouiber, it. is said, are desirous of emigrating to the west, and have en-rolled for that purpose. Whether this be really the case is perhaps questionable, and can only be satisfactorily ascertained through the agency of some one authorized by the government to visit them, and learn their wishes in this respect. I suggest that Congress be asked to authorize the appointment of a special agent for these Cherokees. Be-sides t,l~eseth ere are the Seminoles in Florida, a fragment of the tribe now living in the Indian territory west. Tliey are estimated to num-ber om three hundred to five hundred, and have no land they can claim as their own. and receive nothine whatever from the eovern- ~~ ~ ~ . . ~ ~ ~. ntent. l.'re~luentr omplaints:lrr uinde L~ycitirensn gai~~t.ilt~ c nfo~r drpre-da r i c~c~o~nslu littcd, nu11 their re~oo\.%iIs i~skedf or. Theg might be in-duced to ioin their neonle weat if thev \rrre il~foru~eodt' tl~ca dvauralren to be gaiGed theredy, ind I renew t i e suggestions of this office scb-mitted in the annual report of 1867, that a special agent be sent to Florida to inauire into their condition and the ~ractiedbilitvo f their r~u o v atlo th; 11ati011w est. Tl~eToukurraysi~t~~ x nax sm, all band who utimber about one Iiontlrcd, entirely i'rirudly, sonw of tLeu serving as szouts to the militi~rvin that Ytatr. . ~ IOI I I I Ih i~r eso me eonsklrmrion shorru them, 2nd l)ro;ision nlatle to s ~ ithe~ir \~!,an~ts. l T1~1e.v properly should be estahlial~ed \virb tbc other sw;lll hands of Texas ludians n.110 vere years azo removed to the leased district. and are now embraced in thi Kiowa and IVicl~itan g r u ~ :b~u,t they object on the ground that fionle of the binds are hostile u)\vnrd$ thetu. illaakn 1ndiu1rs.-But littlo infi~rutation has been furnished to this |