Part 42 (1/2)

[Footnote 900: This is given upon the authority of Maxey [_Official Records_, vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 857]. It seems slightly at variance with Smith's own official statements. Smith would appear to have entertained a deep distrust of Cooper, whose promotion he did not regard as either ”wise or necessary” [Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 1102].]

[Footnote 901: Cooper to T.M. Scott, January, 1864 [Ibid., vol.

x.x.xiv, part ii, 859-862].]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FACSIMILE OF MONTHLY INSPECTION REPORT OF THE FIRST CREEK REGIMENT OF MOUNTED VOLUNTEERS.]

It seems a little strange that the Indians should so emphasize their national individualism at this particular time, inasmuch as six of them, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Caddo, professing to be still in strict alliance with the Southern States, had formed an Indian confederacy, had collectively re-a.s.serted their allegiance, pledged their continued support, and made reciprocal demands. All these things they had done in a joint, or general, council, which had been held at Armstrong Academy the previous November. Resolutions of the council, embodying the collective pledges and demands, were even at this very moment under consideration by President Davis and were having not a little to do with his att.i.tude toward the whole Maxey programme.

In the matter of army reorganization, Smith was prepared to concede to Maxey a large discretion.[902] The brigading that would most comfortably fit in with the nationalistic feelings of the Indians and, at the same time, accord, in spirit, with treaty obligations and also make it possible for Cooper to have a supreme command of the Indian forces in the field was that which Cooper himself advocated, the same that Boudinot took occasion, at this juncture, to urge upon President Davis.[903] It was a plan for three distinct Indian brigades, a Cherokee, a Creek-Seminole, and a Choctaw-Chickasaw. Maxey thought ”it would be a fine recruiting order,”[904] yet, notwithstanding, he gave his

[Footnote 902: _Official Records_, vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 917.]

[Footnote 903: Boudinot to Davis, January 4, 1864 [Ibid., vol.

liii, supplement, 920-921]. Boudinot also suggested other things, some good, some bad. He suggested, for instance, that Indian Territory be attached to Missouri and Price put in command. Seddon doubted if Price would care for the place [Ibid., 921].]

[Footnote 904:--Ibid., vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 858.]

preference for the two brigade plan.[905] The promotion of Cooper, implicit in the three brigade plan, was not at all pleasing to General Smith; for he thought of it as reflecting upon Steele, whom he loyally described as having ”labored conscientiously and faithfully in the discharge of his duties.”[906] With Steele removed from the scene[907]--and he was soon removed for he had been retained in the Indian country only that Maxey might have for a brief season the benefit of his experience[908]--the case was altered and Boudinot again pressed his point,[909] obtaining, finally, the a.s.surance of the War Department that so soon as the number of Indian regiments justified the organization of three brigades they should be formed.[910]

The formation of brigades was only one of the Indian demands that had emanated from the general council. Another was, the establishment of Indian Territory as a military department, an arrangement altogether inadvisable and for better reasons than the one reason that Davis offered when he addressed the united nations through their princ.i.p.al chiefs on the twenty-second of February.[911] Davis's reason was that

[Footnote 905: Maxey to Smith, January 15, 1864, _Official Records_, vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 875.]

[Footnote 906:--Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 1101-1102.]

[Footnote 907:--Ibid., vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 845, 848.]

[Footnote 908: So Smith explained [Ibid., 845], when Steele objected to staying in the Indian Territory in a subordinate capacity [Ibid., vol. xxii, part ii, 1108]. Steele was transferred to the District of Texas [Ibid., vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 961]. The withdrawal of Steele left Cooper the ranking officer and the person on whom such a command, if created, would fall [Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 968-969].]

[Footnote 909: Boudinot to Davis, February 11, 1864, Ibid., 968.]

[Footnote 910: Seddon to Davis, February 22, 1864, Ibid., 968-969.]

[Footnote 911: Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Confederacy_, vol. i, 477-479; _Official Records_, vol. x.x.xiv, part iii, 824-825. Davis addressed the chiefs and not the delegation that had brought the resolutions [Ibid., vol. liii, supplement, 1030-1031]. John Jumper, Seminole princ.i.p.al chief, was a member of the delegation.]

as a separate department Indian Territory could not count upon the protection of the forces belonging to the Trans-Mississippi Department that was a.s.sured to her while she remained one of its integral parts.

A distinct military district she should certainly be.

When Davis wrote, the ambition of Cooper had, in a measure, been satisfied; for he had been put in command of all ”the Indian troops in the Trans-Mississippi Department on the borders of Arkansas.”[912] It was by no means all he wanted or all that he felt himself ent.i.tled to and he soon let it be known that such was the state of affairs. He tried to presume upon the fact that his commission as superintendent of Indian affairs had issued from the government, although never actually delivered to him, and, in virtue of it, he was in military command.[913] The quietus came from General Smith, who informed Cooper that his new command and he himself were under Maxey.[914]

It was hoped that prospective Indian brigades would be a powerful incentive to Indian enlistment and so they proved. Moreover, much was expected in that direction from the rea.s.sembling of the general council at Armstrong Academy, and much had to be; for the times were critical. Maxey's position was not likely to be a sinecure. As a friend wrote him,

Northern Texas and the Indian Department have been neglected so long that they have become the most difficult and the most responsible commands in the Trans-Mississippi Department. I tremble for you. A great name is in store for you or you fall into the rank of failures; the latter may be your

[Footnote 912: _Official Records_, vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 848; Special Orders of the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, 1864, _Confederate Records_, no. 7, p. 15.]

[Footnote 913: Cooper to Davis, February 29, 1864, _Official Records_, vol. x.x.xiv, part ii, 1007.]

[Footnote 914:--Ibid., 1008.]

fate, and might be the fate of any man, even after an entire and perfect devotion of all one's time and talent, for want of the proper means. In military matters these things are never considered. Success is the only criterion--a good rule, upon the whole, though in many instances it works great injustice. Good and deserving men fall, and accidental heroes rise in the scale, kicking their less fortunate brothers from the platform.[915]