Editing Indian Territory (section)

===Civil War and Reconstruction===
{{Main|Indian Territory in the American Civil War|Native Americans in the American Civil War |Choctaw in the American Civil War|Cherokee in the American Civil War|Reconstruction Treaties|Medicine Lodge Treaty|Cultural assimilation of Native Americans}}
At the beginning of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Indian Territory had been essentially reduced to the boundaries of the present-day U.S. state of [[Oklahoma]], and the primary residents of the territory were members of the Five Civilized Tribes or [[Plains tribes]] that had been relocated to the western part of the territory on land leased from the Five Civilized Tribes.  In 1861, the U.S. abandoned [[Fort Washita]], leaving the [[Chickasaw#American Civil War (1861)|Chickasaw]] and Choctaw Nations defenseless against the Plains tribes.  Later the same year, the [[Confederate States of America]] signed a [[Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws]]. Ultimately, the Five Civilized Tribes and other tribes that had been relocated to the area, signed treaties of friendship with the Confederacy.

During the Civil War, Congress gave the U.S. president the authority to, if a tribe was "in a state of actual hostility to the government of the United States... and, by proclamation, to declare all treaties with such tribe to be abrogated by such tribe"(25 USC Sec. 72).
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/25C3.txt |title=Act of Congress, R.S. Sec. 2080 derived from act July 5, 1862, ch. 135, Sec. 1, 12 Stat. 528. |access-date=2012-02-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317074540/http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/25C3.txt |archive-date=March 17, 2012 }}</ref>

Members of the Five Civilized Tribes, and others who had relocated to the Oklahoma section of Indian Territory, fought primarily on the side of the Confederacy during the [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War|American Civil War in Indian territory]].  Brigadier General [[Stand Watie]], a Confederate commander of the [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee Nation]], became the last Confederate general to surrender in the American Civil War, near the community of [[Doaksville]] on June 23, 1865. The [[Reconstruction Treaties]] signed at the end of the Civil War fundamentally changed the relationship between the tribes and the U.S. government.

The [[Reconstruction era]] played out differently in Indian Territory and for Native Americans than for the rest of the country. In 1862, Congress passed a law that allowed the president, by proclamation, to cancel treaties with Indian Nations siding with the Confederacy (25 USC 72).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/25C3.txt |title=Abrogation of treaties (25 USC Sec. 72) Codification R.S. Sec. 2080 derived from act July 5, 1862, ch. 135, Sec. 1, 12 Stat. 528. |access-date=2012-02-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317074540/http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/25C3.txt |archive-date=March 17, 2012 }}</ref>
The [[United States House Committee on Territories]] (created in 1825) was examining the effectiveness of the policy of Indian removal, which was after the war considered to be of limited effectiveness. It was decided that a new policy of [[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans#Americanization and assimilation (1857–1920)|Assimilation]] would be implemented.  To implement the new policy, the Southern Treaty Commission was created by Congress to write new treaties with the Tribes siding with the Confederacy.

[[File:Indian terr. 1890.svg|right|thumb|upright=1|The post-Civil War Indian Territory shaded in orange with its former western lands seized by the federal government (the future Oklahoma Territory), shaded in light orange, {{Circa|1890}}. The [[Oklahoma Panhandle|Panhandle]] is not shaded as it was a ''No Man's Land'' that was never ruled by any of the Five Tribes which governed the territory before the War.]]

After the Civil War the Southern Treaty Commission re-wrote treaties with tribes that sided with the Confederacy, reducing the territory of the Five Civilized Tribes and providing land to resettle Plains Native Americans and tribes of the mid-west.<ref>Pennington, William D. '''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'''. "Reconstruction Treaties." Retrieved February 16, 2012. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/R/RE001.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220113803/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/R/RE001.html|date=2014-02-20}}</ref> General components of replacement treaties signed in 1866 include:<ref name="Choctaw Chickasaw 1866"/>
* Abolition of slavery
* Amnesty for siding with Confederate States of America
* Agreement to legislation that Congress and the President "may deem necessary for the better administration of justice and the protection of the rights of person and property within the Indian territory."
* That the tribes grant right of way for rail roads authorized by Congress; A [[land patent]], or "first-title deed" to alternate sections of land adjacent to rail roads would be granted to the rail road upon completion of each 20 mile section of track and water stations
* That within each county, a quarter section of land be held in trust for the establishment of seats of justice therein, and also as many quarter-sections as the said legislative councils may deem proper for the permanent endowment of schools
* Provision for each man, woman, and child to receive 160 acres of land as an allotment. (The allotment policy was later codified on a national basis through the passage of The [[Dawes Act]], also called General Allotment Act, or Dawes Severalty Act of 1887)
* That a land patent, or "first-title deed" be issued as evidence of allotment, "issued by the President of the United States, and countersigned by the chief executive officer of the nation in which the land lies"
* That treaties and parts of treaties inconsistent with the replacement treaties to be null and void.

One component of assimilation would be the distribution of property held in-common by the tribe to individual members of the tribe.<ref>Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek: Hearings on H.R. 19213 Before the H. Subcomm. on Indian Affairs, at 24 (February 14, 1912) (statement of Hon. Byron P. Harrison) ("While the {1866 Treaty of Washington} contemplated the immediate allotment in severalty of the lands in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country, yet such allotment in severalty to anyone was never made under such treaty, and has only been consummated since the breaking up of the tribal organization and preparatory to the organization of the State of Oklahoma.")</ref>

The [[Medicine Lodge Treaty]] is the overall name given to three treaties signed in [[Medicine Lodge, Kansas]] between the U.S. government and southern Plains Indian tribes who would ultimately reside in the western part of Indian Territory (ultimately Oklahoma Territory). The first treaty was signed October 21, 1867, with the [[Kiowa]] and [[Comanche]] tribes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/kio0977.htm|title=Treaty with the Kiowa and Comanche, 1867 (15 Stats., 581) (Medicine Lodge Treaty #1)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126182821/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/kio0977.htm|archive-date=2011-11-26}}</ref>
The second, with the [[Plains Apache]], was signed the same day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/kio0982.htm|title=Treaty with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty #2), (15 Stats. 589)|access-date=2012-02-29|archive-date=2017-05-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530230852/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/kio0982.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The third treaty was signed with the [[Southern Cheyenne]] and [[Arapaho]] on October 28.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/che0984.htm|title=Treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty #3), (15 Stats. 593)|access-date=2012-02-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629043849/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/che0984.htm|archive-date=2009-06-29|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Another component of assimilation was homesteading. The [[Homestead Act of 1862]] was signed into law by President [[Abraham Lincoln]]. The Act gave an applicant [[freehold (law)|freehold]] [[Title (property)|title]] to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres (65 hectares or one-fourth [[Section (United States land surveying)|section]]) of undeveloped [[federal land]]. Within Indian Territory, as lands were removed from communal tribal ownership, a land patent (or first-title deed) was given to tribal members. The remaining land was sold on a first-come basis, typically by [[land run]], with settlers also receiving a land patent type deed. For these now former Indian lands, the [[United States General Land Office]] distributed the sales funds to the various tribal entities, according to previously negotiated terms.

It was in 1866 during treaty negotiations with the federal government on the use of the land, that Choctaw Nation Chief [[Allen Wright|Kiliahote]] suggested that Indian Territory be given the name ''Oklahoma,'' which derives from the [[Choctaw language|Choctaw]] phrase {{lang|cho|okla}}, 'people', and {{lang|cho|humma}}, translated as 'red'.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Choctaw Dictionary » Search Results » humma|url=https://www.webonary.org/byington-choctaw?s=humma&search=Search&key=&tax=-1&search_options_set=1&match_whole_words=1&displayAdvancedSearchName=0|access-date=2021-10-12|language=en-US}}</ref> He envisioned an all–American Indian state controlled by the tribes and overseen by the United States [[Bureau of Indian Affairs|Superintendent of Indian Affairs]]. ''Oklahoma'' later became the de facto name for [[Oklahoma Territory]], and it was officially approved in 1890, two years after that area was opened to white settlers.<ref name="Oklahoma's Name">{{cite web|title=Chronicles of Oklahoma|first=Muriel|last=Wright|publisher=Oklahoma State University|date=June 1936|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v014/v014p156.html|access-date=July 31, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013231154/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v014/v014p156.html |archive-date=October 13, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|year=2007|url=http://www.state.ok.us/osfdocs/stinfo2.html|title=Oklahoma State History and Information|website=A Look at Oklahoma|publisher=Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation|access-date=June 7, 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060729003635/http://www.state.ok.us/osfdocs/stinfo2.html|archive-date=July 29, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Merserve|first=John|year=1941|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v019/v019p314.html|title=Chief Allen Wright|website=Chronicles of Oklahoma|access-date=June 7, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507052851/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v019/v019p314.html|archive-date=May 7, 2006}}</ref>