1865 – 2015: Remembering the Great Indian Council of 1865

Fort Smith National Historic Site commemorates the 150th anniversary of the 1865 Council. Representatives from 16 Indian Nations and Tribes, and the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs met at Fort Smith in September 1865 to reestablish formal post-Civil War relations between the groups and the U.S. Government. The Fort Smith Council provided the foundation for the new 1866 treaties that significantly altered conditions in Indian Territory and paved the way for Oklahoma statehood. Three special programs will take place that are free.

Symposium

Location: Fort Smith Museum of History (2nd floor Event Room)

10:30- Dr. William Corbett
Why the Fort Smith Council

11:45- Bethany Henry Rosenbaum: Park Ranger and PHD candidate
Law and Construction of African American Identity and Citizenship among Cherokee Nation

1:00- Dr. Bob Blackburn
The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory: A Turning Point in History

2:15- Dr. Daniel F. Littlefield
Treaties of 1866: Strategic Plans for Dismantling Tribes

3:30- Dr. Mary Jane Warde
When All Was Dark and Confusion: The Fort Smith Council and Reconciliation Among the Indian Territory nations

Tribal Exhibits
Location: Frisco Railroad Station

Learn who some of the Nations and Tribes were that attended the Council of 1865 and who they are today.

Freedmen in the Indian Territory

Location: Fort Smith National Historic Site Visitor Center

Omar Reed, Interpreter for Oklahoma Historical Society is presenting programs on the experiences of United States Colored Troop (USCT) soldiers and Freedmen who played a part in the 1865 Council. Programs will be in the 1st Jail at 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30.

Cultural Exhibits and Story Telling

Location: Frisco Railroad Station

Cultural Exhibits

Scheduled to attend are: Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and Quapaw Tribe. The Frisco Railroad Station will be open from 10-4.

Cherokee Storytelling

Cherokee Storyteller Troy Wayne Poteete tells in morning and afternoon:      

11:00 a.m.
Civil War in the Cherokee Dixieland: A true Tale of happenings in the South of the Cherokee Nation where Cherokee enjoyed a Gone with the Wind lifestyle. Poteete animates the life of the Cherokee Cavaliers and their belles, who peopled the grand plantations along the Arkansas River west of Ft. Smith in the southernmost district of the antebellum Cherokee Nation.  His telling is informed by a lifetime in that area among the children and grandchildren of Cherokee Civil War veterans. 

2:00 p.m.
Sam Houston with the Cherokees:   A runaway adopted by a Cherokee Chief and named “The Raven”, Houston became fluent in Cherokee language and culture before returning home and becoming Governor of Tennessee. He resigned that post and again took up residence with his adopted people in the Cherokee Nation. Houston took a Cherokee wife and advocated for his tribe in Washington D.C. in those little discussed years before he positioned himself in front of the Texas Revolution.

The Trail of Tears
Location: Frisco Railroad Station

3:30
Troy Wayne Poteete, Executive Director of the Trail of Tears Association, and Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, gives a Cherokee perspective on commemoration of the forced removal from the Southeastern states to present Northeastern OK. He discusses how the nine state chapters of the Trail of Tears Association partner with National Park Service Officials and Tribal governments to accurately interpret appropriately commemorate this sad chapter in our nation’s history.