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The following is a collection of first person narratives of the Indian Territory culled from the Indian Pioneer Papers of the Oklahoma Historical Society. It was collected by interviewers from the WPA in the late nineteen thirties. This collection is by no means exhaustive. However, it does give remarkable insight into those early days in the territory and the people who put the "Indian" in Indian Territory.The originals of these documents lie at: OKGenWeb" The Cherokees began to think of joining the West Cherokees. They simply could endure no longer. Like everything, it took a leader, and Major Ridge, his son, John Ridge, and two nephews Elias Boudinot and Stan Watie became leaders. Of course, John Ross was the Chief and they all got to squabbling. Ross did not want to move his people, but by some hook or crook, Boudinot and Ridge signed a treaty to move, and claimed it was the will of the majority, but it was not, and the Government waited a little while and sent Gen. Scott and two or three thousand soldiers. The soldiers gathered them up, all up, and put them in camps.They hunted them and ran them down until they got all of them. Even before they were loaded in wagons, many of them got sick and died. They were all grief stricken they lost all on earth they had. White men even robbed their dead's graves to get their jewelry and other little trinkets."
Elizabeth Watts
(Interview by L.D. Wilson in 1937)
Background:
Diana Fletcher
Source:
Western History Collections,
University of Oklahoma Libraries