Indians VS the Klan: Indians 1, Klan 0

January 17th is the anniversary of one of my favorite bits of Southern history: the confrontation between Lumbee Indians and the KKK. I studied Indian law and some Native history in college, and it is to my shame that I never came across this account until just several years ago.

Why was this never a big story? Maybe because for conservatives, minorities expressing their 2nd Amendment Rights is a disturbing scenario; and maybe for liberals, the Indians don't perform the politically correct ritual of declaring debilitating "pain" or "trauma" caused by hate speech.


Give me a good courageous uprising any day. I love this story so much, I transcribed it from a copy of an article printed in the Raleigh Times just before the confrontation. Then I've included a couple other sources that hopefully complete the story.

Klan Rally Doubtful; Maxton Indians Arming
Raleigh Times Jan. 17, 1958
By Erv Parkins
Times Staff Writer

MAXTON- It was questionable whether Ku Klux Klansmen would hold their scheduled rally and cross burning aimed at halting racial mixing of white and redskins.

Bruce Roberts, editor of the Scottish Chief, weekly newspaper at Maxton, said Indians had indicated they would attend the rally en masse to "scalp the Klan" and pull some of the sheets off.

Maxton ministers have called on citizens to boycott the rally. Sheriff M.G. McCloud and Maxton Police Chief Bob Fisher indicated they had not had any trouble and said they did not know yet whether to expect any.

"You don't know when to expect trouble until it hits you," the sheriff said.

SBI Chief Walter Anderson said today he would not send his men to help police the rally unless law officials requested it.

The sheriff and Maxton police chief indicated they saw no need for such action. They said there had been no trouble.

Klansmen who burned two crosses elsewhere in Robeson County earlier this week announced they would meet outside Maxton tomorrow night for another cross burning as a "warning" to the Indians.

Hardware stores reported sales of guns and ammunition to the normally peaceful Croatans skyrocketed after the KKK announcement, and a spokesman for the Indians said they would "wipe out" the white-robed klansmen if they go ahead with the rally.

Some officials said feeling among the Indians, who make up about one-third of Robeson County's population, was so intense that the Klan demonstrated probably would be cancelled.

But a Klan leader, the Rev. James Cole of Marion S.C., told the United Press Thursday night he saw "no reason" why the rally should not be held as scheduled.

Police Chief Bob Fisher said his force would make every effort to prevent violence. "We have always had good race relations here and we don't intend to let any outside group stir up trouble with our Indians," he said.

According to the Lumbee tribe website... On a bitter cold January 18th evening in 1958, about 350 Lumbee tribal members gathered at Hayes Pond in Maxton to stop a Ku Klux Klan rally that had been called by John “Catfish” Cole. Only 50 of the predicted 5,000 Klansman showed for the rally whom Cole said would attend to put the Lumbee back in their place.

The Klan set up a generator to power a sound system and a single light bulb. When Cole stood to speak, it wasn’t long before tribal members, many armed, swarmed in, shooting out the light. With bullets flying, the Klansman ran, leaving vehicles, women and children behind.

Catfish Cole and James Martin were later indicted and arrested on charges. Cole was charged and convicted of inciting a riot and Martin was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and drunkenness. (from: www.lumbeetribe.com)

From the Fay Observer:

A few minutes before the rally was to begin, Sanford Locklear, who came up from Pembroke, began arguing with Cole. Words became shoves as tempers rose. Then the first shot was fired — a shotgun blast that shattered the only light in the field. That was enough for most of the Klansmen.

As dozens of Indians shot into the air, peppering the field with birdshot, dozens of Klansmen scattered into the woods. Cole was among them, leaving his wife, Carolyn, behind. In a panic, she drove their car into a ditch, where several Indians helped push her out. The state patrol, who had been waiting about a mile away, moved in when gunfire broke out. Sheriff McLeod, who later said he didn't want to be accused of defending the Klan by showing up early, helped find lost Klansmen in the bushes and directed them out of Robeson County.

Their foe routed, the victors began collecting spoils. Simeon Oxendine and Charlie Warriax snagged the large KKK banner from the flatbed truck. Others playfully donned some of the Klan robes left behind and fired their shotguns into the air. Oxendine and Warriax took their captured banner back to the VFW convention in Charlotte, where they posed for photographers from The Charlotte Observer. (from the Fay Observer website)

Christopher Arris Oakley, a historian at East Carolina University who specializes in local Native American History also covered this event in his article "When Carolina Indians Went on the Warpath": The Media, the Klan, and the Lumbees of North Carolina" (Southern Cultures - Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2008, pp. 55-84).

Confederate Indian Treaties: Promising more than it could deliver

Here are some excerpts from "The implementation of the Confederate Treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes" by Kenny A. Franks (The Chronicles of Oklahoma, volume LI, Number 1, Spring 1973). The article takes a close look at the efforts of Albert Pike to develop a sustainable policy toward tribes. Pike was a native of Massachusetts and Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.

In a period of federal expansion, pre-existing governments presented a problem for those who were inspired by manifest destiny. Therefore tribes had to be re-defined as a collection of individual wards of the state, rather than self-governing nations. In contrast, tribal sovereignty was more consistent with the Confederacy's views on States' rights (as long as you weren't a Cherokee living in the middle of Georgia, thanks to Andrew Jackson) but more practically, the recognition of tribal governmental power was a method of cementing an alliance on the sparsely populated but chaotic frontier.

Albert Pike, the man responsible for the success of the Confederate efforts to gain alliances with the Five Civilized Tribes, was fully devoted to the betterment of the South's Indian wards. In August, 1862, he forwarded an eleven-point program to President Jefferson Davis designed to carry forward the good relations which had been established with the Indians. (p21)

The treatment of the Indian troops and the supply system of the Confederate army also was discussed. Pike advocated the immediate dismissal of any officer who seized supplies en route to Indian Territory, and the direct shipment of all monies allocated to the Indians to the officials responsible for their distribution. ...Pike likewise prodded the Confederacy to honor claims for supplies which had already been provided by the Indians. (p22)

Thus the man who had done the most to gain Southern treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes proposed a program which was designed to ensure the success of the relationship. Just how much the Confederacy was to ignore Pike's advice can be seen in the early attempts at implementing the treaty stipulations. Though the programs outlined for Indian Territory were well organized and developed, they never were adequately initiated and maintained. All of the agreements called for the furnishing of Indian troops for the protection of Indian Territory. These troops were to be used exclusively with in the boundaries of Indian Territory and were not to be subject to service elsewhere.

The number of men to be raised varied among the tribes. The Creeks and Seminoles pledged a regiment of 10 companies; the Chickasaws and Choctaws were to furnish one regiment. The Cherokees not only agreed to the raising of one regiment, but also to the furnishing of two reserve companies. All of these troops were to be mounted, and their officers were to be elected from among the troops. The Confederacy was to assume the burden of equipping and paying the forces. These Indian troops were to be graded the same pay and allowances as all other Confederate forces. (p23)

The Confederacy next began to assimilate these forces into its military structure. The first military command of the Indian Territory was created on May 13, 1861, when Brigadier General Ben McCulloch was given the command of the district of Indian Territory... The nearly unanimous decision of the Federal Indian agents within Indian Territory to side with the Confederacy gave the self a nucleus on which to build inefficient agency system among the Five Civilized Tribes. (p24)

The Confederacy, by its own bureaucratic blundering and ineptness, failed to formulate a clear and concise program needed for the success of its efforts and Indian Territory. Had the South followed the suggestions of Pike's proposals, perhaps the confusion resulting from the attempts at creating an Indian policy would have been avoided. (p26)

Of all the civil functions promised in the Indian treaties, the one calling for the creation of a court system within Indian Territory was probably most widely hailed by the Indians. Because they had long experienced white man's laws as applied to the Indians on white man's ground, they were eager to have control over their own judicial system. ... These courts were to be regular district courts of the Confederacy with the exclusive power in criminal cases to try, condemned, and punish offenders who violated the law. They also were empowered to pronounce sentence and carryout execution. They were to exercise the same judicial power as any other district court system in the Confederacy. (p28)

The judiciary was given the full faith and credit of the judicial officers of the same grade and jurisdiction in any of the Confederate states. Thus was established for Indian Territory a workable judicial system based on the same rights and privileges as white citizens of the Confederacy, and on equal terms with other Southern states court systems.

... Extradition was provided not only among the Indian nations themselves, but also between the Indians and the other states of the Confederacy. These actions by the South of virtually ended all discrimination based on the Indian blood within the Confederate court system. ... Like the other civil services which the South attempted to establish inside Indian Territory, this one also failed.

... This inability of the Confederacy to fulfill his obligations to the Indians was blamed on the disturbed condition of the country. Whatever the reason, the question of the courts remained a course of dissatisfaction among the Indians throughout the war. ... The Indians were allowed to tax all licensed white traders of importing goods into Indian Territory. (p29)

To permit the Indians to participate fully in the government of the Confederacy, the Creeks and Seminoles were allowed jointly one representative in the House of Representatives. The Choctaws and Chickasaws were also allowed one representative to be elected alternately from either tribe, and the Cherokees were entitled to a single delegate. These representatives were to serve two year terms, had to be 21 years of age and under no legal disability. The Creek and Seminal delegate had to be a member of either nation. The Cherokee representative was required to be a native born citizen, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw member had to be a tribal member by birth either on the father's or mother's side. (p31)

The delegates were to ensure that the Indians would be able to secure the rights they were entitled to without the intervention of their agents. The delegates were allowed to propose in introduce measures for the benefit of the Indian nations. (p32)

Though the programs outlined for the country were well organized and developed, they were never adequately initiated and maintained. This difference in paper planning and actual execution was the result of many factors. Perhaps the most relevant of these was the continuing devastation of Indian Territory as the opposing armies in advanced and retreated across the country. The dislocation and confusion resulting from the military campaigns made it virtually impossible to establish a civil government with any degree of effectiveness. The Confederacy was hampered also by financial problems from the onset of the Civil War, and early in the conflict the money promised by the South became worthless. Apparently in its haste to gain the much desired Indian alliance, the Confederacy was guilty of promising much more than it could ever deliver. (p33)

Civil War and religion in Indian Country

This book gives is a real slice of Oklahoma rural culture and is worth promoting. The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma is one volume in the The Civilization of the American Indian Series. The book is a result of four years of fieldwork and brings to light an obscure and (sadly) disappearing facet of Oklahoma: that of native churches and their role in maintaining a traditional community. This is a fascinating book. Author Jack Schultz covers everything from traditional architecture, preservation of language, and theology.

Several passages relate to Seminole history during the Civil War era:

With the onset of the Civil War, federal troops that had been stationed in forts around Seminole territory were removed to protect the eastern states. Confederate forces soon took control of several of the abandoned forts. Whereas the federal government had virtually abandoned Indian Territory, the Confederates were willing to embrace the Indians. In 1861, a Confederate delegation negotiated a treaty wuth the Seminoles, promising better treatment than they had received thus far from the federal overnment. The principle cheif, John Jumper, and twelve band mekkos [traditional chiefs] endorsed it. A faction of the tribe, led by Billy Bowlegs and John Chupko, refused to sign, however. They and their followers and almost all of the Seminole freedmen left Seminole territory and went north to Kansas, enduring great harsdship along the way. Once in Kansas, these Seminoles enlisted in the Union Army. Jumper organized a Seminole battalion for the Confederate army.

All Seminoles endured the extreme difficulties of the the war: homes and property were destroyed; many Seminoles became refugees; sickness and starvation were widespread; casualties and destruction were great. Unfortunately, difficulties did not end with the war. Seminoles who had remained loyal to the federal government expected some reward for their pro-Union efforts but were assigned the same fate as those who had sided with the Confederates (with the exception of $50,000 divided among the loyalists for losses sustained during the war). The northern and southern Seminoles did not immediately reconcile their differences. for a time the tribe supported two principal chiefs: John Jumper for the Southern Seminoles and John Chupko for the northern Seminoles.
In 1866, the Seminoles signed a new treaty with the federal government... After 1866, the Seminoles and freedmen shared their government, their schools, and their land.

... In the years following the war, denominational boundaries continued to reflect the north-south cleavage. Presbyterian missions appealed to the norther Seminoles, and the Baptists attracted those Seminoles who had supported the Confederacy.

... Whereas the Presbyterians relied on specially trained outside missionaries, the Baptists relied on the more effective strategy of using native preachers. This was particularly true after the Civil War.

(Jack M. Schulz, The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1999. p37-38; 48,49.)

It is interesting how the WBTS provided the foundation for future denominational differences. I spent some time in Oklahoma Indian Country, both socially and professionally. I don't remember ever meeting any Seminoles that were Presbyterian. Most folks living within Native culture that I met were Baptist. I've been told that among the older generation, there are lots of old fellows who are called "medicine man" on Saturday, and then preach at church on Sunday. I love that. Unfortunately, this unique culture is quickly disappearing. Here is a related article at Southern Spaces.

I understand the detachment needed for an enthnographic work; but still, it is peculiar to see how neighbors just down the road- from my perspective- and their families, are studied like exotic specimens.

Speaking of Baptists, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma just recently elected its first American Indian president, the Reverend Emerson Falls (at right).

Native Genealogy in Oklahoma Territory

For our non Oklahoma friends- Who gets to be Indian in Oklahoma?

In 1885, Washington politicians and business leaders viewed the border of Indian Territory as a wall blocking expansion and personal profit. The Five Civilized Tribes (Seminole, Cherokee, Muskogee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw) had well established communities with schools, courts and complex governments, and thriving towns. In fact, literacy among the Cherokee was higher than among the whites. But these tribal governments were in the way.

The solution was a "big government" program in social engineering: forced assimilation of Indians into the American system by dividing tribal land into "allotments". Therefore, the Dawes Commission was charged with the assimilation, and began by determining who was on the tribal membership rolls and who was not. More than a hundred years later, the work of the commission is still controversial and disagreements remain about who was and is on The Rolls.

Today, The Rolls are a critical genealogy tool for people researching their Indian ancestry. Since it is a roster of ancestors, The Rolls are also used to determine one's eligibility for tribal citizenship (a digitized version can be found here). Interestingly, this process didn't assimilate tribes, but instead made them an organic part of Oklahoma state and local government.

The following is a video documentary on The Rolls and how they affected Indian society:

A Native American view of the Confederate flag

Charles Yow was the Senior Litigation Partner with Red Cloud Law Firm on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota. He was a Cherokee, a former Tribal Court judge and mediator, and directed the tribal attorney education program with the Oglala Lakota Bar Association. His area of expertise covers racial discrimination in government funded programs. Read his amazing statement on the Confederate flag…

"The Native American Heritage Initiative has as its foremost purpose the defense of American Indian civil rights and self determination. As Indians we have a unique perspective in, and on American history, the American War Between the States is one such instance.

If children of Cherokee heritage chose to recognize their ancestors who fought with the Confederate services in defense of the State of Alabama they deserve the right to do so... If we, as Indians, are part of the community, and it is highly offensive to us to dishonor our ancestors, then why are our concerns routinely ignored?

While some may seek to make this issue in Lawrence County into an issue of sensitivity seeking to turn the War Between the States into a black-white, slave-free issue, such can only be done if historical reality is ignored...

While slavery is wrong, those who seek to vilify the Confederacy for the cause of slavery ignore historical reality that the curse of slavery on all people of color throughout this country's history finds its roots in New England.

... the so called abolition movement was a response to newly available inexpensive Irish immigrant labor rather than a reaction of conscience..."

Read the full statement here

Read the tribute to Charles Yow on the Students & Teachers Against Racism website:

http://www.racismagainstindians.org/Tribute/index.htm