User:Ophitke38/Black Beaver

Black Beaver was a Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indian scout who played an influential role in the development of the western United States.

Black Beaver was born in 1806 at what is now Belleville, Illinois. His Delaware name, Suck-tum-mah-kway, means Black Beaver. Black Beaver began trapping and trading beaver pelts as a teenager. During his life he saw the Pacific Ocean seven times as well as New York City and Washington.

In his 1859 guide book “The Prairie Traveler,” Randolph Marcy wrote that Black Beaver “had visited nearly every point of interest within the limits of our unsettled territory. He had set his traps and spread his blanket upon the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia; and his wanderings had led him south to the Colorado and Gila, and thence to the shores of the Pacific in Southern California. His life had been that of a veritable cosmopolite, filled with scenes of intense and startling interest, bold and reckless adventure. He was with me two seasons in the capacity of guide, and I always found him perfectly reliable, brave, and competent. His reputation as a resolute, determined, and fearless warrior did not admit of question, yet I have never seen a man who wore his laurels with less vanity.

“The truth is,” Marcy added, “my friend Beaver was one of those few heroes who never sounded his own trumpet; yet no one that knows him ever presumed to question his courage.”

Black Beaver spoke fluent English, French, Spanish and about ten Indian languages, and was able to communicate with even more tribes through sign language. His skills became invaluable to white settlers and military expeditions. When Marcy escorted the first five hundred emigrants from Ft. Smith to California during the gold rush days of 1849, he engaged Black Beaver as his guide. On the way back, Black Beaver, anxious to return home, took a shortcut across the prairie that reduced the two month trip to two weeks. Thousands of future emigrants followed his California Trail west.

By 1860 Black Beaver was the wealthiest and most famous Lenape Indian in America, and was living comfortably at present-day Anadarko. But that was soon to change. In May of 1861, General W. H. Emory, stationed at Fort Arbuckle, learned that 6,000 Confederate troops were advancing toward him from Texas and Arkansas. He gathered the soldiers from Forts Washita, Cobb and Arbuckle near Minco, but to escape to Kansas across the open prairie he would need a guide.

All the other Indian guides turned him down because they knew the advancing rebels would punish them for aiding the Union troops. Desperate, Emory guaranteed Black Beaver the government would reimburse him for any losses, so he agreed to help. He scouted the approaching Confederate troops and provided information for Emory to capture their advance guard, the first prisoners captured during the Civil War. Black Beaver then guided over 800 Union soldiers, their prisoners, 200 teamsters, eighty wagons and 600 horses and mules in a mile-long train across 500 miles of open prairie to safety at Ft. Leavenworth on May 31 without the loss of a single man, horse or wagon.

Sure enough, the Confederate Army destroyed Black Beaver’s ranch and placed a bounty on his head that kept him in Kansas for the rest of the war. His losses were never fully compensated by the government.

After the war, Black Beaver and his friend Jesse Chisholm returned and converted Black Beaver’s escape route into what we now call the Chisholm Trail. Three million head of stray Texas cattle were herded to railheads in Kansas, from which they were shipped east to feed a hungry nation.

Black Beaver resettled at Anadarko, building the first brick home in the area. He had 300 acres of fenced and cultivated land as well as cattle, hogs and horses. He died at his home on May 8, 1880, and was buried on his ranch. In 1976 his grave was moved to Ft. Sill.

He was the first inductee in the American Indian Hall of Fame in Anadarko, which was only fitting because it is located on part of his ranch.

In the early 1800s, he was contracted by the US Government and was in nearly all of the Frontier transcontinental ex­peditions as the most intelligent and trusted scout. He was the interpreter at the conference with the Comanche, Kiowa and Wichita tribes, held by Colonel Richard Dodge on the Red River in 1834. During the Civil War, he escorted Federal troops to Kansas and was a guide for the destructions of Confederate railroad lines in the South. He witnessed the Medicine Lodge Treaty negotiations in 1867 and attended intertribal councils throughout the 1870s. Until the close of his days his services were invaluable and constantly required by the Government, the military and scientific explorers of the plains and the Rocky Mountains.

The following is an article on Black Beaver from The Anadarko Daily News of 5 and 6 August 2000 entitled, "Black Beaver Set a Good Example."

The Delaware Indians have always claimed to be the grandfathers of all other red men, and they are proud of the fact that they signed first treaty with William Penn. There is another fact that qualifies them in feeling superior, and that is that Black Beaver was a member of their tribe. This Indian who served the United States so faithfully helped to bring fame to several army officers and explorers who were fortunate to have him for a guide. He set a good example to his own people by the manner in which he conducted his affairs and the home he maintained. [As though other Delaware did not?! Editor].

It is probable that some members of the Delaware tribe were on their way west to make their home when Black Beaver was born at the present site of Belleville, Illinois in 1806.

When the Delawares were being removed and located on [the] White River in Arkansas they were left in a desperate state because white people stole almost all of their horses. In February, 1824, William Anderson, the head chief, Black Beaver, Natacoming and other Delawares sent a touching letter to General William Clark regarding their conditions.

Last summer a number of our people died for just for the want of something to live on ... We have got in a country where we do not find all as stated to us when we was asked to swap lands with you ... Father ... You know it is hard to go hungry, if you do not know it we poor Indians know it ... We are obliged to call on you once more for assistance in the name of God. ...

When Black Beaver was twenty-eight years of age he acted as interpreter he acted as interpreter for Colonel Richard Irvings Dodge at his conference with the Comanche, Kiowa and Wichita in 1834 on [the] upper Red River. Dodge wrote of him and his people: Of all the Indians, the Delawares seem to be the most addicted to these solitary wanderings, undertaken, in their case at least, from pure curiosity and love of adventure. Black Beaver, the friend and guide of General (then Captain) Marcy, was almost equally renowned for his wonderful journeys." Dodge was comparing Black Beaver with "John Conner head chief of the Delawares who was justly renowned as having a more minute and extensive personal knowledge of the North American continent than any had or probably will have."

In the celebrated Dragoon expedition of 1834, commanded by General Henry Leavenworth, there were thirty-two Indians, including six Delawares, among whom was Black Beaver, and from that time he was in almost constant demand as a guide and interpreter. In 1846, during the war with Mexico, a company of Delaware and thirty-five Shawnee Indians under Captain Black Beaver were mustered into the service on June 1, and discharged in August, although their time did not expire until December.

When Captain Randolph B. Marcy left Fort Smith on April 4, 1849, to escort five hundred emigrants to California, he was ordered to select the best route from the Arkansas town to Santa Fe and California. At Shawneetown where the road forked, the left being his trail, he engaged Black Beaver as guide and interpreter, and he proved to be a most useful man

He has traveled a great deal among the western and northern tribes of Indians, is well acquainted with their character and habits, and converses fluently with the Comanche and most of the other prairie tribes. He has spent five years in Oregon and California, two years among the Crow and Black Feet Indians. He has trapped beaver in the Gila, the Columbia, the Rio Grande, and the Pecos. He has crossed the Rocky Mountains at many different points and indeed is one of those men who are seldom met with except in the mountains

Captain Marcy became a noted pathfinder in the Southwest and much of his success was due to Black Beaver, upon whom he relied. Jesse Chisholm, Black Beaver, and other guides had been to California at at early date and they were regard with respect and their advice adopted   regarding routes to the far West.

The grace and rapidity with which Black Beaver carried on conversations with Indians of other tribes astonished Marcy. This was done by pantomime and the  Captain wrote that their facile postures would compare with the most accomplished performances of opera stars.

On the return trip Black Beaver was confident that he could lead the party from [the] Brazos River to Fort Smith, so the force took a course directly across the country, "making a most excellent road, which was traveled for several years afterward by California emigrants."

In 1852 Lt. A. W. Whipple had been informed that Black Beaver (Si-ki-to-ker) never forgot a place that he had seen even if many years had passed and if their horses strayed the Delawares could always find them

When the expedition arrived at Fort Arbuckle some of the men visited the log house of Black Beaver, where "under a single corridor, on a rough wooden settle, an Indian sat    cross-legged smoking his pipe, and awaiting his visitors in perfect tranquility. He was a meager-looking man of middle size, and his long black hair framed in a face that was clever, but which bore a melancholy expression of sickness and sorrow, though more than forty winters could have passed over it.

The arrival of visitors did not seem at all to disturb him, and his easy and unembarrassed manner showed that he was quite accustomed to speaking with whites. He spoke fluent English, French and Spanish and about eight Indian languages. A tempting offer was made to Black Beaver and immediately his eyes sparkled with their old fire, but he sadly replied:

Several times I have seen the Pacific Ocean at various points and have accompanied the Americans in three wars and I have brought home more scalps from my hunting expeditions than one of you could lif. I should like to see the salt water for the eighth time; But I am sick--you offer me more money than has ever been offered before--but I am sick...but if I die I should like to be buried by my own people."

No inducement could make him change his mind and the explorers decided that the idea that he might die on the way suggested to him by his wife who objected to his going. For three days the white men attempted to get Black Beaver away from the determination of the woman but at night she was able to counteract their influence, and all they got was advice from the canny guide.

From the Brazos Agency, Texas, on August 31, 1855, Special Agent G. W. Hill reported to R.S. Neighbors, special and supervising agent. that in obedience to his instructions in March, 1855, he had settled on the reservation seven hundred and ninety-two Indians. He also wrote that recent runners from the north of [the[ Red River reported that [the] Wichita chief informed him that through Black Beaver, guide and interpreter, at Fort Arbuckle, that arrangements were making to settle about two hundred Indians of four tribes there with the Wichitas.

The Delaware and Caddo Indians lived with the Wichitas at the time when they were permitted to select land in the Leased District for a new home on the north side of the Washita on Sugar Tree Creek. Matthew Leper, the new agent, made his first report September 26, 1860, and the description of the new home of Black Beaver shows the Indian to have been far in advance of his neighbors.

The best improvement found on the preserve is a private enterprise of Black Beaver, a Delaware Indian located here. He has a pretty good double log house, which two shed rooms in [the] rear, a porch in front and two fireplaces, and a field of forty-one and a half acres enclosed with good stake-and-rider fence, thirty-six and a half of which have been cultivated

When the Medicine Lodge Peace Council was held in the autumn of 1867, many prominent army officer4s, Indian agents, newspaper correspondents, and Indians were present. This council was called in an attempt to settle a war which had gone on for three years and was brought on by the Chivington massacre in Colorado. Black Beaver, then sixty-one years old, was present among many other noted Indians.

Colonel William B. Hazen of the agency had two hundred acres plowed in the Washita valley for thirty Delaware Indians belonging to his agency, and Agent Tatum had the tract fenced. Black Beaver was the only member of his tribe  who settled near the field, and as other Indians preferred to farm near the timber he wished to cultivate he whole tract, but Tatum thought it would be too much for him and he engaged a white man to farm forty acres on shares with the government. When he inspected the field in the he found that the white tenant had raised as many weeds on his part as Black Beaver had on the one hundred sixty acres he farmed. Tatum agreed to allow the Delaware to farm the whole acreage the following year. "He was a successful farmer, respected by all the Indians who knew him, and his influence with them was always good. He was a Christian, and tried to do what was right in the sight of God and towards his fellow-men."

Black Beaver built the first house at Anadarko; it was near the Washita and a short distance west of the Indian agency. When Pat Bruner went to Anadarko in 1871, he married Beaver's daughter, Mrs. Osborne, after her husband's tragic death. Jesse Sturm, a son of J. J. Sturm, married Mrs. Osborn's daughter Marie. In October, 1872, Captain Henry E. Alvord, special Indian commissioner, took a part of Plains Indians to Washington and New York. The delegation comprised Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Arapaho, Caddo, Wichita, Waco, Kichai, Tawacearo, and Delaware; the latter tribe was represented by Black Beaver.

According to the New York Herald, October 31, 1872, "The red men [were] on a tour to learn Fraternity and Christian Virtues." They lodged at the Grand Grand Central Hotel and Black Beaver was introduced as a former guide to Audubon.

In 1872, when Black Beaver was sixty-four years of age and too feeble to work for his living, he filed a claim with the government for the value of his property on the Washita river abandoned in the spring of 1861 and subsequently destroyed by the Confederacy. Payment had been promised him by Major Emory, Captain Delos B. Sacket and Lieutenant D. E. Stanley. The committee on Indian Affairs recommended only $5,000. less than a fourth of Black Beaver's claim.

In a letter written by Israel G. Vore about 1879 he said: Black Beaver will soon be 71 years old and has spent the greater portion of his life in the service of the officers of the United States civil and military. He served the United States under General s Honey, Marcy, Belknap, Emory Sacket, and Stanley and various other officers and Agents and Superintendents of Indian Affairs, as guide and interpreter--none of whom ever charged him with falsehood, or a dishonorable act."

Agent P. H. Hunt from Anadarko, on August 30, 1879, singled out Black Beaver as a prosperous citizen in his report: " Black Beaver, a Delaware, has 300 acres of land enclosed and fully cultivated and is the possessor of considerable stock, hogs, cattle, and horses."

In later life Black Beaver became a Baptist minister. As a farmer he always set a fine example to his tribesmen and other Indians. The late Mr. E. B. Johnson of Norman, Oklahoma, wrote to Grant Foreman regarding the Delaware: ..... I knew Black Beaver well--He was typically named as he was an unusually dark Indian--often came to Fether's on his journeys and said he was with Jesse Chisholm when he died--[he] lived among the Cado when they lived in what is now know an Paul's Valley--most of them lived in grass houses or teepees and when they were moved out to Sugar Creek he went with them, but often returned for his usual visit

On June 2, 1889, from the office of the Kiowa, Comanche & Wichita Agency, Anadarko, Indian Territory, Agent P. B. Hunt wrote to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington: .... On the 8th day of May, Black Beaver, a Delaware, and the most prominent of all the Indians belonging to the old Wichita Agency, died suddenly of heart disease, in the 72nd [74th] year of his age. He was many years ago a noted guide and acted in that capacity for Fremont, Auderbon [sic] and Marcy; had acquired a fair knowledge of English & delighted in speaking it, when occasion offered; was a good friend of the white man, had professed religion. had consented to two of his daughters marrying white men, & set his red brethern [sic] a good example by his untiring industry & earnest desire to follow the white man's road to the end. [A doubtful honor. Editor] His burial took place the day following his death, and more 150 persons showed the esteem in which he was held, by following the remains to their last earthly resting place. The coffin was borne Agency employees and other white residents and burial services were conducted by Delawares led by their Seminole preacher.

Black Beaver's grave, about half a mile west of the agency and a short distance southwest of his farm, is protected by the United States in a small reservation. Members of the Oklahoma State Historical Society, in its annual meeting at Chickasha in April, 1937, visited Black Beaver's grave and several other places closely associated with the celebrated Delaware.

Editor's Note: In 1976 Black Beaver's grave was moved to Fort Sill near Lawton and placed on the Chief's Knoll. A bust of Black Beaver is in the National Hall of Fame for Famous Indians, in Anadarko.

The following items are from Richard C. Adam's, Delaware Indians: A Brief History:

The saying is true that "the blood of the soldier makes the general great." It is the conscientious discharge of duty by the subordinates of an army, stating the principal more broadly, "that makes the efficient army." Black Beaver, the famous Delaware scout, is a most satisfactory example illustrative of this. His character, modest, faithful, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, and seemingly oblivious of any personal danger, places him on an exceeding high plane, worthy of imitation. He had the absolute confidence of those that he guided from danger to safety. He never served anyone that did not bear testimony to his zealous discharge of his duties. The following is a letter from Black Beaver to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:

DEAR SIR: I take the liberty of addressing my grievances to you and of respectfully asking your advice in a matter in which I am earnestly concerned, I would represent that I am an Indian, belonging to the Delaware tribe, that I have been in the employ of the Government all, or nearly all, the time since the commencement of the Mexican was. During the Mexican war I was captain of a company of Shawnee and Delawares in the United States Army. Since that time, up to the commencement of the last war, I have been employed as a guide or interpreter by the different commanding officers at the posts of Arbuckle and Fort Cobb, in the Indian Territory, and by superintendent and agents for the Indians in the vicinity of Fort Cobb and Arbuckle, as can be attested by General Marcy, Emory, Sturgis, Stanley, and Sacklitt, any or all of the military officers stationed at the aforementioned posts prior to the war, as also ex-Superintendent Rector, of Arkansas, and all of the United States Indian agents in that locality. I was at the post of Fort Arbuckle for about five years and the post of Fort Cobb one year immediately preceding the last war, and during that time had invested all of my means and earnings in cattle and hogs, and had, at the breaking out of the war. a large stock of cattle and hogs, as will be attested by some, if not all, of the aforementioned persons. In the spring of 1861 General Emory requested me to guide his command and also the combined commands from Fort Smith, Cobb, and Arbuckle to Fort Leavenworth, Kans., which I did, but hesitated about leaving my stock until General Emory assured me that I should be paid by the United States for my losses; and on that representation I complied with his request and came with his command to Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and remained here until the war ceased, when I visited my old place and found that my stock was killed, some having been destroyed by the wild Indians and some by the Southern army. About two years since I acquainted United States Indian Agent Shanklin with the facts and asked him to adopt measures for procuring my pay for me. He was agent for the Affiliated Bands of Indians in the southern superintendency, and I was at the time employed as interpreter under his direction. I have had no word from him in the matter and do not know whether he made any effort in my behalf or not. I therefore make this request at your hands, hoping that if it may not be in your power to give attention to such matters that you will advise me as to the best course to pursue to get my dues. I am now an old man (upward of 60 years old) and too feeble to earn a livelihood, and what is justly due me from the Government is all that I have to depend on in my old age. Most, if not all, of the officers before named are well acquainted with me and can vouch for the correctness of my statements. As to the extent and nature of my claim, I can furnish abundant proof, as many persons of my acquaintance before the war at at their old places. I would respectfully ask that you make inquiry of General Marcy or General Emory as to my character and claim, and that you would advise me as to the best course to pursue in the premises. I have never realized 1 cent from the property that I abandoned, and am now in need. I do not think that Agent Shanklin has made any effort whatever on my behalf, or if he has, it has been done in such an indirect manner that he has either accomplished nothing or has failed to advise me of the result. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, BLACK BEAVER, Address box 22, Baxter Springs, Kans. The COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS Washington, D. C.

Gen. W. H. Emory wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in reference to Black Beaver as follows:

WASHINGTON, JUNE 12, 1869. GENERAL: I have read carefully the letter of Black Beaver, the Delaware guide, dated Baxter Springs, Kans., June 3, 1869, and I hereby certify that it is every word true. And I exceedingly regret that the Government has so far neglected the claim of this worthy and patriotic man who has rendered such eminent and valuable service. When the war broke out I was in quasi command of the troops in the Indian country in the northern part of Texas that is to say, I was to take command and withdraw the troops only in case Arkansas passed the act of secession. She never passed that act before proceeding to actual hostilities and to the attempt to capture the troops stationed in the Indian country, so that when I got information of what was going on I was obliged to act without orders from the Government. Orders subsequently arrived, but not until long after the steps were taken which I now describe and in which Black Beaver rendered such splendid service. That step was to concentrate all the troops at Arbuckle and withdraw them en masse. Before the concentration could be effected, I learned from undoubted authority that 4,000 rebels from Texas were marching directly on me and that some 2,000 from Arkansas were moving to strike my flank This compelled me to seek, with my comparatively small command, the open prairie. To do this guides were essential, and, of all the Indians that the Government had been lavishing its bounty, Black Beaver was the only one that would consent to guide my column. He was living near Fort Arbuckle, in a comfortable house, surrounded by his family, with a small [farm] fairly well stocked with cattle and horses and a field of corn. All these he abandoned to serve the United States, with a full knowledge that in doing so his horses and cattle would be seized by the enemy, and his property destroyed, and such was the case, and Black Beaver has never returned to his home, and it is my belief, if he was now to return he would be murdered by the bad white ment who in 1861 instigated the Indians to go into rebellion against the United States and whom he so greatly offended by guiding my command through the prairie in safety to Fort Leavenworth. I need not say how invaluable was his service and great his sacrifice on that occasion. He was the first to warn me of the approach of the enemy and give me the information by which I was enabled to capture the enemy's advance guard, the first prisoners captured in the war. I can not too urgently press upon the honorable Commissioner the justice of this claim and the pressing necessity there is for doing something at once to relieve the wants of this aged and worthy man. I have the honor to be yours respectfully. W. H. EMORY Brevet Major-General, U.S. Army. Gen. E. S. Parker, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. I estimate Black Beaver's loss at about $5,000. W. H. EMORY

W. H. Emory, whose heart indorsement of the long delayed and eminently just claim of Black Beaver against the United States does him credit, was abreast of our foremost army officers in conspicuous and efficient service for many years. He felt when he penned that letter that his friend Beaver deserved well of the Reopublic, and no doubt greatly regretted the Government's neglect. He comprehended to its fullest extent the value, at personal sacrifice,  of the service rendered  his soldiers (and himself) in extracating them from very serious danger. If the Confederates had succeeded in capturing his command, their prestige would have greatly increased and the Federal cause proportionately injured. We can not now measure the value of the services of the veteran scout, but if disaster had befallen General Emory, several chapters relating to the civil war would have been differently written.

Marcy, Randolph B., The Prairie Traveler, http://library.untraveledroad.com/Ch/Marcy/Prairie/6/Black.htm