A TREATY
Seminole Nation and the Confederate States of America
A TREATY of friendship made and concluded at the Seminole council-house, in
the Seminole Nation, west of Arkansas, on the first day of August, A.D. one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, between the Confederate States of America,
by Albert Pike, commissioner with plenary powers of the Confederate States, of
the one part, and the Seminole Nation of red men, by its chiefs, headmen, and
warriors in general council assembled, of the other part. The Congress of the
Confederate States of America having, by "An act for the protection of
certain Indian tribes," approved the twenty-first day of May, A.D. one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, offered to assume and accept the
protectorate of the several nations and tribes of Indians occupying the country
west of Arkansas and Missouri, and to recognize them as their wards, subject to
all the rights, privileges, and immunities, titles, and guarantees with each of
the said nations and tribes under treaties made with them by the United States
of America; and the Seminole Nation of red men having assented thereto upon
certain terms and conditions: Now, therefore, the said Confederate States of
America, by Albert Pike, their commissioner, appointed by the President, under
authority of the act
of Congress in their behalf, with plenary powers for these purposes, and the
Seminole Nation, in general council assembled, have agreed to the following
articles, that is to say:
ARTICLE I. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between the Confederate
States of America and all of their States and people and the Seminole Nation of
red men and all its towns and individuals.
ART. II. The Seminole Nation of red men acknowledges itself to be under the
protection of the Confederate States of America, and of no other power or
sovereign whatever, and doth hereby stipulate and agree with them that it will
not hereafter nor shall any of its towns or individuals, contract any alliance
or enter into any compact, treaty, or agreement with any individual State or
with a foreign power: Provided, That it may make such compacts and agreements
with neighboring nations and tribes of Indians for their mutual welfare and the
prevention of difficulties as may not be
contrary to this treaty or inconsistent with its obligations to the Confederate
States; and the said Confederate States do hereby assume and accept the said
protectorate, and recognize the said Seminole Nation as their ward; and by the
consent of the said Seminole Nation, now here freely
given, the country whereof it is proprietor in fee, as the same is hereinafter
defined, is annexed to the Confederate States, in the same manner and to the
same extent as it was annexed to the United States of America before that
Government was dissolved, with such modifications, however, of the terms of
annexation and upon such conditions as are hereinafter expressed, in addition to
all the rights, privileges, immunities, titles, and guarantees with or in favor
of the said nation under treaties made with it and under statutes of the United
States of America.
ART. III. The following shall constitute and remain the boundaries of the
Seminole country, viz: Beginning on the Canadian River a few miles east of the
ninety-seventh parallel of west longitude, where Ok-hai-ap-po, or Pond Creek,
empties into the same; thence due north to the North Fork of the Canadian;
thence up the said North Fork of the Canadian to the southern line of the
Cherokee country; thence with that line west to the one-hundredth parallel of
west longitude; thence south along said parallel of longitude to the Canadian
River, and thence down and with that river to
the place of beginning.
ART. IV. The Seminole Nation hereby gives its full, free, and unqualified assent
to those provisions of the act of Congress of the Confederate States of America
entitled "An act for the protection of certain Indian tribes,"
approved the twenty-first day of May, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one, whereby it was declared that all the reversionary and other interest,
right, title, and proprietorship of the United States in, unto, and over the
Indian country in which that of the said nation is included should pass to and
vest in the Confederate States; and whereby the
President of the Confederate States was authorized to take military possession
of all said country; and whereby all the laws of the United States, with the
exception thereinafter made, applicable to and in force in said country and not
inconsistent with the letter or spirit of any treaty stipulations entered into
with the Seminole Nation, among others were re-enacted, continued in force, and
declared to be in force in said country as laws and statutes of the said
Confederate States: Provided, however, And it is hereby agreed between the said
parties that whatever in the said laws of the United States contained is or may
be contrary to or inconsistent with any article or provision of this treaty is
to be of none effect henceforward, and shall upon the ratification hereof be
deemed and taken to have been repealed and annulled as of the present date; and
this assent, thus qualified and conditioned, shall relate to and be taken to
have been given upon the said day of the approval of the said act of Congress.
ART. V. The Confederate States of America do hereby solemnly guarantee to the
Seminole Nation, to be held by it to its own use and behoof in fee simple
forever, the lands included within the boundaries defined in the preceding
article of this treaty, to be held by the people of the said
nation in common, as they have heretofore been held, so long as grass shall grow
and water run, if the said nation shall so please, but with power of making
partition thereof and disposition of the same by laws of the nation duly
enacted; by which partition or sale title in fee simple absolute shall
vest in parceners and purchasers whenever it shall please the nation, of its own
free will and accord and without solicitation from any quarter, to do so; which
solicitation the Confederate States hereby solemnly agree never to use; and the
title and tenure hereby guaranteed to the said nation is and shall be subject to
no other conditions, reservations, or restrictions whatever than such as are
hereinafter specially expressed.
ART. VI. None of the said lands hereby guaranteed to the Seminole Nation shall
be sold, ceded, or otherwise disposed of to any foreign power, or to any state
or government whatever; and in case any such sale, cession, or disposition
should be made without the consent of the Confederate States,
all the said lands shall thereupon revert to the Confederate States.
ART. VII. It is further hereby agreed and stipulated that no part of the tract
of country hereinbefore guaranteed to the Seminole Nation, being the same
that was ceded to it by the treaty of the
seventh day of August, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, between
the United States of America and the Creek and Seminole Nations of Indians,
shall ever be sold or otherwise disposed of without the consent of both of said
nations being legally given.
ART. VIII. The Confederate States of America do hereby solemnly agree and bind
themselves that no State or Territory shall ever pass laws for the government of
the Seminole Nation; and that no portion of the country hereby guaranteed to it
shall ever be embraced or included within or
annexed to any Territory or province; nor shall any attempt ever be made, except
upon the free, voluntary, and unsolicited application of the said nation, to
erect the said country, by itself or with any other, into a State or any other
territorial or political organization, or to incorporate it into any State
previously created.
ART. IX. So far as may be compatible with the Constitution of the Confederate
States, and with the laws made, enacted, or adopted in conformity thereto,
regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes as the same are limited
and modified by this treaty, the Seminole Nation shall possess the otherwise
unrestricted right of self-government and full jurisdiction, judicial and
otherwise, over persons and property within its limits, excepting only such
white persons as are not, by birth, adoption, or otherwise, members of either
the Seminole or Creek Nation; and that there may be no doubt as to the meaning
of this exception it is hereby declared that every white person who, having
married a Seminole or Creek woman, resides in the said Seminole country, or who,
without intermarrying, is permanently domiciled therein with the consent of the
authorities of the nation and votes at elections, is to be deemed and taken as a
member of the said nation within the true intent and meaning of this article;
and that the exception contained in the laws for the punishment of offenses
committed in the Indian country, to the effect that they shall not extend or
apply to offenses committed by one Indian against the person and property of
another Indian, shall be so extended and enlarged by virtue of this article when
ratified, and without further legislation, as that none of said laws shall
extend or apply to any offense committed by any Indian or negro or mulatto, or
by any such white person, so by birth, adoption, or otherwise, a member of the
Seminole or Creek Nation against the person or property of any Indian, negro, or
mulatto, or any such white person, when
the same shall be committed within the limits of the said Seminole Nation as
hereinbefore defined; but all such persons shall be subject to the laws of the
Seminole Nation and to prosecution and trial before its tribunals, and to
punishment according to such laws in all respects like native members of the
said nation.
ART. X. All persons who are not members of either the Seminole or Creek Nation
found in the Seminole country as hereinbefore limited, shall be considered as
intruders and be removed and kept out of the same, either by the civil officers
of the nation, under the direction of the Executive, or
the general council, or by the agent of the Confederate States for the nation,
who shall be authorized to demand, if necessary, the aid of the military for
that purpose, with the following exceptions only; that is to say, such
individuals with their families as may be in the employment of the Government of
the Confederate States; all persons peaceably traveling or temporarily
sojourning in the country, or trading therein under license from the proper
authority; and such persons as may be permitted by the Seminoles or
Creeks, with the assent of the agent of the Confederate States, to reside within
their respective limits without becoming members of either of said tribes.
ART. XI. A tract of two sections of land, to be laid off under the direction of
the President of the Confederate States, and to include the site of the present
Seminole agency, whereon the public buildings of that agency have been erected,
is hereby reserved to the Confederate States and
not included in the guarantee of lands aforesaid, but shall be within the sole
and exclusive jurisdiction of the Confederate States, except as to members of
the Seminole or Creek Nation as above defined, all offenses committed by whom
thereon shall be punished by the laws and courts of the Seminole Nation whenever
they would be so punished if committed elsewhere in the nation: Provided, That
whenever the agency for the said nation shall be discontinued by the Confederate
States, and an agent no longer appointed, the said tract of two sections of land
shall pass to and vest
absolutely in the Seminole Nation in the same manner as its other lands, with
all the buildings that may be thereupon.
ART. XII. The Confederate States shall have the right to build, establish, and
maintain such forts and military posts, temporary or permanent, and to make and
maintain such military and post roads as the President may deem necessary in the
Seminole country; and the quantity of one mile square of land, including each
fort or post, shall be reserved to the Confederate States, and within their sole
and exclusive jurisdiction, so long as such fort or post is occupied; but no
greater quantity of land beyond one mile square shall be used or occupied, nor
any greater quantity of timber felled than of each is actually requisite; and if
in the establishment of such fort, post, or road, or of the agency, the property
of any individual member of the Seminole Nation, or any property of the nation
itself, other
than land, timber, stone, and earth, be taken, destroyed, or injured, just and
adequate compensation shall be made by the Confederate States.
ART. XIII. The Confederate States, or any company incorporated by them, or any
one of them, shall have the right of way for railroads or telegraph lines
through the Seminole country; but in the case of any incorporated company, it
shall have such right of way only upon such terms and payment of such amount to
the Seminole Nation as may be agreed upon between it and the National Council
thereof; or, in case of disagreement, by making full compensation, not only to
individual parties injured, but also to the nation for the right of way; all
damage and injury done to be ascertained and determined in such manner as the
President of the Confederate States shall direct. And the right of way granted
by said nation for any railroad shall be perpetual, or for such shorter term as
the same may be granted, in the same manner as if no reversion of their lands to
the Confederate States were provided for, in case of abandonment by them or of
extinction of their tribe.
ART. XIV. No person shall settle, farm, or raise stock within the limits of any
post or fort, or of the agency, except such as are or may be in the employment
of the Confederate States in some civil or military capacity, or such as, being
subject to the jurisdiction and laws of the Seminole Nation,
are permitted by the commanding officer of the post or fort or by the agent to
do so upon the reserve.
ART. XV. The Confederate States shall protect the Seminoles from domestic
strife, from hostile invasion, and from aggression by other Indians and white
persons not subject to the jurisdiction and laws of the Seminole Nation;
and from all injuries resulting from such invasion or aggression full indemnity
is hereby guaranteed to the party or parties injured out of the Treasury of the
Confederate States upon the same principle and according to the same rules upon
which white persons are entitled to indemnity for injuries or aggressions
committed upon them by Indians.
ART. XVI. No person shall hereafter be licensed to trade with the Seminoles
except by the agent and with the advice and consent of the National Council,
which advice and consent, however, shall not be necessary in the case of traders
now trading under license until the expiration of the year
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. Every licensed trader shall execute
bond to the Confederate States in such form and manner as was required by the
United States or as may be required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and no
appeal shall hereafter lie to any officer whatever from the decision of the
agent refusing license to any applicant.
ART. XVII. All persons licensed by the Confederate States to trade with the
Seminoles shall be required to pay to the authorities of the Seminole Nation a
moderate annual compensation for the land and timber used by them, the amount of
such compensation in each case to be assessed by the proper authorities of the
said Seminole Nation, subject to the approval of the Confederate States agent
therefor.
ART. XVIII. It is further hereby agreed that no license shall hereafter be
granted to any trader who is in arrear on account of any amount legally assessed
to be paid by him as compensation for land and timber used, and that any license
hereafter granted shall be revoked on failure or refusal to pay in due time the
amount that may be therefor legally assessed in any years. And when a renewal of
license is refused any trader he shall, nevertheless, be entitled, if he be not
a dangerous or improper person, to remain in the Seminole country such
reasonable length of time as may, in the opinion of the agent, be necessary for
the purpose of collecting such debts as may be due him, being during such time
under the protection of the laws of the Confederate States as a person peaceably
sojourning in the country.
ART. XIX. All restrictions or limitations heretofore imposed or existing by treaty, law, or regulation upon the right of any member of the Seminole
Nation freely to sell and dispose of to any person whatever any chattel or article of personal property whatever are hereby removed and annulled,
except such as the laws of the nation itself may have created.
ART. XX. An agent of the Confederate States and an interpreter shall continue to be appointed for the Seminole Nation, both of whom shall reside
at the agency; and whenever a vacancy shall occur in either of the said offices the authorities of the nation shall be con-suited as to the person
to be appointed to fill the same, and no one shall be appointed against whom they in good faith protest; and the agent may be removed on petition
and formal charges preferred by the constituted authorities of the nation, the President being satisfied upon investigation that there is sufficient
cause for such removal.
ART. XXI. The Seminole Nation may, by act of its legislative authorities, receive and incorporate in itself as members of the nation or permit to
settle and reside upon the national lands such Indians of any other tribe as to it may seem good, and may sell to such Indians portions of land, in
fee or by less estate, or lease them portions thereof for years or otherwise, and receive to its own use the price of such
sales or leases; and it alone shall determine who are members and citizens of the
nation entitled to vote at elections, hold office, or share in annuities or in the common lands: Provided, That when persons of another tribe shall
once have been received as members of the Seminole Nation they shall not be disfranchised or subjected to any other restrictions upon the right of
voting than such as shall apply to the Seminoles themselves. But no Indians other than Seminoles Creeks not now settled in the Seminole country shall
be permitted to come therein to reside without the consent or permission of the legislative authority of the nation.
ART. XXII. If any citizen of the Confederate States or any other persons not being permitted to do so by the authorities of said nation or
authorized by the terms of this treaty shall attempt to settle upon any lands of the Seminole Nation he shall forfeit the protection of the
Confederate States, and such punishment shall be inflicted upon him, not being cruel, unusual, or excessive, as may have been previously prescribed
by law of the nation.
ART. XXIII. No citizen or inhabitant of the Confederate States shall pasture stock on the lands of the Seminole Nation under the penalty of $1
per head for all so pastured, to be collected by the authorities of the nation; but their citizens shall be at liberty at all times, and whether
for business or pleasure, peaceably to travel the Seminole country and to drive their stock to market or otherwise through the same, and to halt such
reasonable time on the way as may be necessary to recruit their stock, such delay being in good faith for that purpose. It is also further agreed that
the members of the Seminole Nation shall have the same right of traveling, driving stock, and halting to recruit the same in any of the Confederate
States.
ART. XXIV. The officers and people of the Seminole and Creek Nations, respectively, shall have at all times the right of safe conduct through the
lands of each other; and the members or each nation shall have the right, freely and without seeking license or permission, to settle within the
country of the other, and shall thereupon be entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of members thereof, including the right of
voting at all elections and being deemed qualified to hold office, and
excepting only that no member of either nation shall be entitled to participate in any funds belonging to the other nation. Members of either
nation shall have the right to institute and prosecute suits in the courts of the other under such regulations as may from time to time be prescribed
by their respective Legislatures.
ART. XXV. Any person duly charged with a criminal offense against the laws of either the Seminole or Creek Nation and escaping into the jurisdiction
of the other shall be promptly surrendered upon the demand of the proper authority of the nation within whose jurisdiction the offense shall be
alleged to have been committed.
ART. XXVI. The Seminole Nation shall promptly apprehend and deliver up all persons accused of any crime against the laws of the Confederate States or
any State thereof who may be found within its limits, on demand of any proper officer of a State of the Confederate States; and the authorities of
each of said States shall in like manner deliver up, on demand of the executive authority of the Seminole Nation, any person subject to the
jurisdiction of the tribunals of such nation and accused of any crime against its laws.
ART. XXVII. In addition to so much and such parts of the acts of Congress of the United States enacted to regulate trade and intercourse with Indian
tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers as may have been re-enacted and continued in force by the Confederate States, and as are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this treaty, so much of the laws of the Confederate States as provide for the punishment of crimes amounting to
felony at common law or by statute against the laws, authority, or treaties of the Confederate States, and over which the courts of the Confederate
States have jurisdiction, including the counterfeiting the coin of the Confederate States or of the United States, or the securities of the
Confederate States, or in uttering counterfeit coin or securities, and so much of such laws as provides for the punishment of violators of neutrality
laws and resistance to the process of the Confederate States and all the acts of the Provisional Congress providing for the common defense and
welfare, so far as the same are not locally inapplicable, shall hereafter be in force in the Seminole country.
ART. XXVIII. Whenever any person who is a member of the Seminole Nation shall be indicted for any offense in any court in the Confederate States,
or in a State court, he shall be entitled as of common right to subpoena, and, if necessary, compulsory process for all such witnesses in his behalf
as his counsel may think material for his defense; and the costs of process for such witnesses and of service thereof, and the fees and mileage of such
witnesses, shall be paid by the Confederate States, being afterward made, if practicable, in the case of conviction, of the property of the accused.
And whenever the accused is not able to employ counsel, the court shall assign him one experienced counsel for his defense, who shall be paid by
the Confederate States a reasonable compensation for his services, to be fixed by the court and paid upon the certificate of the judge.
ART. XXIX. The provisions of all such acts of the Congress of the Confederate States as may now be in force, or as may hereafter be enacted
for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the Constitution in regard to the redelivery of fugitive slaves or fugitives from labor and
service, shall extend to and be in full force within the said Seminole Nation, and shall also apply to all cases of escape of fugitive slaves from
the said Seminole Nation into any other Indian nation or into one of the Confederate States, the obligation upon each such nation or State to
redeliver such slaves being in every case as complete as if they had escaped from another State, and the mode of procedure the same.
ART. XXX. Persons belonging to the Seminole Nation shall hereafter be competent witnesses in all cases, civil and criminal, in the courts of the
Confederate States, unless rendered incompetent from some other cause than their Indian blood or descent.
ART. XXXI. It is hereby further agreed by the Confederate States that all the members of the Seminole Nation, as hereinbefore defined, shall be
henceforward competent to take, hold, and pass, by purchase or descent, lands in any of the Confederate States heretofore or hereafter acquired by
them, and to sue and implead in any of the courts of each of the States in the same manner, and as fully and under the same terms and restrictions and
on the same conditions only, as citizens of another of the Confederate States can do.
ART. XXXII. Whenever regular courts of justice shall be established in the Seminole Nation the official acts of all its judicial officers shall have
the same effect, and be entitled to the like faith and credit everywhere, as the like acts of judicial officers of the same grade and jurisdiction in
any one of the Confederate States; and the proceedings of the courts and tribunals of the said nation, and copies of its laws
and judicial and other records, shall be authenticated like similar proceedings
of the courts of the Confederate States and the laws and office records of the same, and be entitled to the like faith and credit.
ART. XXXIII. It is hereby declared and agreed that the institution of slavery in the Seminole Nation is legal and has existed from time
immemorial; that slaves are taken and deemed to be personal property; that the title to slaves and other property having its origin in the said nation
shall be determined by the laws and customs thereof, and that the slaves and other personal property of every person domiciled in said nation shall
pass and be distributed at his or her death in accordance with the laws, usages, and customs of the said nation, which may be proved like foreign
laws, usages, and customs, and shall everywhere be held valid and binding within the scope of their operations.
ART. XXXIV. No ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation of contracts shall ever be enacted by the legislative authority of the
Seminole Nation to affect any other persons than its own people; nor shall any citizen of the Confederate States or member of any other Indian nation
or tribe be deprived of his property, or deprived or restrained of his liberty, or fine, penalty, or forfeiture be imposed on him in the said
country, except by the law of the land, nor without due process of the law;
nor shall any such citizen be in any way deprived of any of the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution of the Confederate States;
and it shall be within the province of the agent to prevent any infringement of such rights and of this article, if it should in any case
be necessary.
ART. XXXV. It is hereby further agreed that the Congress of the Confederate States shall establish and maintain post-offices at the most important
places in the Seminole Nation, and cause the mails to be regularly carried, at reasonable intervals, to and from the same, at the same rates of postage
and in the same manner as in the Confederate States.
ART. XXXVI. It is further agreed by the said Confederate States that the said Seminole Nation shall never be required or called upon to pay, in land
or otherwise, any part of the expenses of the present war, or of any war waged by or against the Confederate States.
ART. XXXVII. In order to enable the Creek and Seminole Nations to claim their rights and secure their interests without the intervention of counsel
or agents, and as they were originally one and the same people and are now entitled to reside in the country of each other, they shall be jointly
entitled to a Delegate to the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America, who shall serve for the term of two years, and be a
member of one of said nations, over twenty-one years of age, and laboring under no legal disability by the law of either nation; and each Delegate
shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as may be enjoyed by the Delegate from any Territory of the Confederate States to the said House
of Representatives. Each shall receive such pay and mileage as shall be fixed by the Congress of the Confederate States. The first election for
Delegate shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner as shall be prescribed by the agent of the Confederate States for
the Creeks, to whom returns of such election shad be made, and he shall declare the person having the greatest number of votes to be duly elected
and give him a certificate of election accordingly, which shall entitle him to his seat. For all subsequent elections the times,
places, and manner of holding them and ascertaining and certifying the result shall
be prescribed by law of the Confederate States.
ART. XXXVIII. It is hereby ascertained and agreed by and between the Confederate States and the Seminole Nation that the United States of
America, of which the Confederate States were hertofore a part, were, before the separation, indebted and still continue to be indebted to the
Seminole Nation in the following sums annually, and bound to the punctual payment thereof to them, on the thirteenth [thirtieth] day of December in
each year, that is to say: Perpetual annuities, amounting to the sum of $25,000, being the annual
interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on the two sums of $250,000
each, which were, by the eighth article of the treaty of the seventh day of August, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, to be invested by
the United States at that rate of interest, and the interest to be regularly paid over to the nation per capita as annuity, no part of which
was ever invested. And the sums of $3,000 for the support of schools, $2,000 for agricultural
assistance, and $2,200 for the support of smiths and smith shops among the Seminoles, which were by the same treaty to be paid annually for ten years
from and after the making of the said treaty. And it is hereby further ascertained and agreed that there was due to the
Seminole Nation from the United States of America, on the thirtieth day of December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty, on account of said
annual payments and the arrearages thereof, the sums following, that is to say: For arrearages of the said sum of $3,000 annually for the support of
schools, from the seventh day of August, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, until and including the payment for the thirtieth day of
December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty, $13,000. The sum of $2,000 for agricultural assistance and the sum of $2,200 for the
support of smiths and smith shops, both payable on the day last mentioned. And it not being desired by the Confederate States that the Seminole Nation
should continue to receive these annual sums from the Government of the United States, or otherwise have any further connection or communication
with that Government, and they being willing for the benefit and improvement of the Seminole people to extend the time during which the said
annual sums of $3,000 for the support of schools and of $2,200 for the support of smiths and smith shops shall be paid; therefore, the said
Confederate States of America do hereby assume the payment for the future of the above-recited annuity and annual payments, and do agree and bind
themselves regularly and punctually to pay the same in manner following, that is to say:
The said annuity or annual interest of $25,000 annually forever, commencing with the thirtieth day of December next, $5,000 thereof annually to the
treasurer of the nation, to be used and disbursed as the general council shall direct for governmental and other purposes, and the residue of
$20,000 annually per capita to all the individuals of the Seminole Nation, equally and share and share alike: Provided, That after the restoration of
peace and the establishment and recognition of the independence of the Confederate States, and if it be required by the general council of the
Seminole Nation, the capital sum of $500,000, on which the said annual interest is hereby provided to be paid, shall be invested by
the President in safe stocks, at their market value, bearing an annual interest of at least 6 per cent., so that the most advantageous investment
possible shall be made for the Seminole Nation; which stocks shall be thereafter held in trust for the Seminole people and the interest thereon
collected by the Confederate States and by them paid annually to the Seminoles, $5,000 in each year to the treasurer of the nation, to be
applied to such governmental and other purposes as the general council shall direct, and the whole residue per capita to all the individuals of
the nation. The said sum of $3,000 for the support of schools annually for twenty years from and after the making of this treaty, beginning with the
present year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and payable on the thirtieth day of December in each year, to be expended and
applied under the direction of the President of the Confederate States by the agent of the Seminoles.
The said sum of $2,200 for the support of smiths and smith shops annually for ten years from and after the making of this treaty, beginning with the
present year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and payable on the thirtieth day of December in each year, to be expended and
applied by or under the direction of the general council for the support of smiths and smith shops in the said nation.
The said sum of $2,000 for agricultural assistance annually for five years from and after the making of this treaty, beginning with the present year
of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and payable on the thirtieth day of December in each year, to be expended and applied, under
the direction of the President, in the way of agricultural assistance by
the agent of the Confederate States for the said nation. And the said Confederate States do also agree and bind themselves to
appropriate and pay, immediately after the complete ratification of this
treaty, the sum of $17,200, the aggregate of the sums which were so due anal payable as aforesaid on the thirtieth day of December, A.D. one
thousand eight hundred and sixty; the sums of $13,000 and $2,000, part thereof, to be expended and disbursed by the agent, under the direction of
the President, the former for the support of schools and the latter in the way of agricultural assistance, and the sum of $2,200, the residue thereof,
to be paid to the treasurer of the nation and applied by the general council to the support of smiths and smith shops: Provided, That the
President shall not be required to expend the whole of said sum of $13,000 at once, but shall apply the same judiciously from time to time and at such
times and in such sums as shall seem to him best calculated to diffuse the benefits of education and knowledge among the children of the Seminoles.
And it is further agreed by the Confederate States that they will also add to the said sum the further sum of $1,000, to be applied by the agent to
the erection of two additional school-houses at suitable points in the
Seminole country.
ART. XXXIX. It being alleged by the Seminole people that certain persons among them are entitled to compensation for the loss sustained by them by
being dispossessed of a large number of slaves about the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven by an illegal order of General Thomas S.
Jesup, and which were protected against the claims of the owners by order of that general, at Fort Gibson or elsewhere, for a long time, and until
they were delivered up to the United States sub-agent for the Seminoles about the first
of January, A.D. one thousand eight hundred
and forty-nine, by virtue of an order from the President, promulgated by the Secretary of War in an order dated fifth of August, one thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight, to be by the sub-agent delivered to the chiefs of
the Seminoles, who were to decide the right of property in and to said slaves; and that this was done by a decree of the general council of the
fifteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, by which decree all the slaves and their increase, having formerly belonged to King
Payne, were decided to belong to and to be under the control of Mieco Nut-cha-sa or Jem Jumper, the principal chief of the nation;
And it being also alleged by the Seminoles that the claims of the various owners of said slaves, so dispossessed of their property and deprived of
the use of the same for three years or more, were made out before and filed with Marcellus Du Val, the sub-agent for the Seminoles, prior to the fifth
of September, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four; And it being alleged by them that fifty of said negroes belonged to
Car-pit-cha Micco, now deceased; seven to Chilto, forty to Nelly Factor,
and thirty to Eliza Chopco, daughter of Billy Bowlegs; And it being also alleged by the Seminoles that they could never obtain any
consideration or hearing of or for these claims from the Government of the United States, not even at the time of making the treaty of the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, on account of the determination of Northern members of the Cabinet and of Congress not to
admit any right of property in slaves or pay any claim on account of the seizure or detention of slaves, even to foreign governments;
And the said negroes being alleged to have been illegally seized and detained without warrant of law or color of right, of war, or otherwise:
Therefore, it is hereby further agreed by and on the part of the Confederate States that the said claims shall, at the earliest convenient
season, be examined and investigated by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who shall do so under the direction of the Secretary of War, and subject to
an appeal to him, and from him to the President, in such manner as shall be just and liberal under the circumstances and after such lapse of time, and
shall adjudicate the same upon such principles as shall be just and equitable; and if it be upon such investigation ascertained and determined
that the slaves in question were illegally detained, then the Confederate States will pay to the several owners or their heirs within a reasonable
time such amounts of money as shall be determined to have been justly and equitably due to the said several owners for the loss of service of said
slaves during such times as they shall be found to have been so detained, according to the current value of such service in the Seminole country at
the time.
ART. XL. Whereas, during the war between the United States and the Seminoles, in Florida, in the years from one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six to one thousand eight hundred and forty -----, inclusive, the United States military authorities in Florida compelled July and Murray,
two slaves of Sally Factor, now deceased, to serve as interpreters, and retained them in such service and had them in possession for the space of
nearly or quite four years until both of them were killed--one by a soldier of the United States and the other by the hostile Seminoles--whereby the
owner lost both and their services for four years; but her claim for compensation could never obtain a hearing or consideration at the
hands of the United States, because to pay it would have been to admit the
legality of property in slaves, and therefore even an examination of it was refused at the making of the treaty of the year one thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six: Therefore, the Confederate States do hereby agree to pay to the heirs of the said Sally Factor, deceased, in full satisfaction for said
claim, the sum of $5,000 immediately after the ratification of this treaty.
ART. XLI. It being urged, with much reason, by the authorities of the Seminole Nation that the delegates, forty in number, who went with the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs to Florida in one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven to bring about the removal of the hostile Seminoles,
received but an insufficient compensation from the United States for their time and services in the payment of the sum of $900 each for four months'
absence from their homes; and the said Confederate States being desirous to leave no just and fair claim of the Seminoles, or any of them, unadjusted,
or any of their friends among the red men justly dissatisfied, it is therefore hereby agreed on the part of the Confederate States that they
will pay, upon the ratification of this treaty, to the principal chief, John Jumper, or Hin-i-ha Micco, for his services at that time and in
consideration of his loyalty at the present time, the sum of $500 for himself and the sum of $1,250 to be equally divided by him among five of
the principal men among the said delegates, and will also pay to him for each of the other thirty-four delegates the sum of $100 in full of all
their claims and in view of their present loyalty and good faith.
ART. XLII. It is hereby further agreed by the Confederate States that they will pay, upon the complete ratification of this treaty, to the principal
chief of the Seminole Nation, to be equally divided by him among the commissioners appointed by the general council and who have negotiated this
treaty, the sum of $500 by way of compensation for their time and services
therein.
ART. XLIII. To give the Seminoles full and entire assurance of the completeness of their title to their lands, the Confederate States hereby
agree that there shall be executed and delivered to the Seminole Nation letters patent of conveyance and assurance of the same, whereby the same
shall be guaranteed to them in fee simple forever, with power of disposition, in the language of Article IV of this treaty, under the great
seal of the Confederate States, and signed by the President, upon parchment, so that it may not decay or its letters fade.
ART. XLIV. A general amnesty of all past offenses against the laws of the United States and of the Confederate States, committed in the Indian
country before the signing of this treaty by any member of the Seminole Nation, as such membership is defined in this treaty, is hereby declared,
and all such persons, if any, whether convicted or not, imprisoned or at large, charged with any such offense, shall receive
from the President full and free pardon and be discharged.
ART. XLV. It is further agreed between the parties that all provisions of the treaties of the
Seminole Nation with the United States which secure a guarantee to the Seminole Nation, or individuals thereof, any rights or
privileges whatever, and the place whereof is not supplied by and which are
not contrary to the provisions of this treaty, and so far as the same are not obsolete or unnecessary, or repealed, annulled, changed,
or modified by subsequent treaties or laws, or by this treaty, are and
shall be continued in force as if made with the Confederate States.
ART. XLVI. This treaty shall take effect and be obligatory upon the contracting parties from the first of August, A.D. one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one, whenever it shall be ratified by the Provisional President and Congress, or the President and Senate of the Confederate States.
In perpetual testimony whereof the said Albert Pike, as commissioner with plenary powers, on the part of the Confederate States, doth now hereunto
set his hand and affix the seal of his arms, and the undersigned chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Seminole Nation, and commissioners with
plenary powers thereof, on the part of the Seminole Nation, do hereunto set their hands and affix their seals.
Done in duplicate at the place and upon the day in the year first aforesaid.
[SEAL.]
ALBERT PIKE,
Commissioner of the Confederate States of America
to the Indian Nations West of Arkansas.
John Jumper, principal chief of the Seminole Nation; Pas-co-fa, town chief;
George Cloud, town chief; Fos-hut-chi Tus-ti-nuk-ki, town chief;
Fos-hut-chi Ha-cho-chi, town chief; O-chi-si Cho-fo-to-a, town chief;
Tus-ti-nuk Co-cho-co-ni, town chief; Sa-to-a Hacho, town chief; Cho-fo-top
Hacho, town chief; Su-nuk Micco, town chief; Ta-co-sa Fic-si-co, town
chief; Hal-pa-ta, town chief; I-ma-thla, town chief.
Signed, sealed, and mutually delivered in our presence.
Wm. Quesenbury, secretary to the commissioner; E. Rector, superintendent of
Indian affairs for the Western Superintendency; Samuel M. Rutherford, agent
of the Confederate States for the Seminoles; James M. C. Smith, Charles B.
Johnson, W. Warren Johnson, W. L. Pike, W. H. Faulkner.
(To the Indian names are subjoined marks.)
SOURCE: United States War Department. THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 Volumes. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.
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