United States. Office of Indian Affairs

United States bureau with responsibility for Indian relations.

From the description of Letter, 1846. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122699812

Develops and implements, in cooperation with tribal governments, Native American organizations, other federal agencies, state & local governments, and other interested groups, economic, social, educational, and other programs for the benefit and advancement of Indian and Alaska native people. Established in 1824 within the War Dept., transferred to the Dept. of the Interior in 1849. Name changed to Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1947.

From the description of Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs [microform] : selected documents concerning the trading activities of F. J. Marshall and Albert Woodward, [1854-1855]. (Kansas State Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 55978395

The United States Indian Police was established by Congress in 1878 to keep order on Indian land, including Indian Territory in what would become Oklahoma. Charles La Flore or Le Flore was a famous Indian Police officer, who had a successful 13 career. He assisted in the capture of Creek Freedman Dick Glass, one of the most notorious Indian Territory outlaws.

From the description of United States Indian Police commission, 1890. (National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum). WorldCat record id: 61257726

Chief Pepeyah or Pe-Pe-Yah was a Potawatomi Chief in Paw Paw (Mich.) who received a land patent in 1839.

From the description of Collection, 1925,1940. (Clarke Historical Library). WorldCat record id: 45317382

Jacob Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Utah Territory from 1857-1860, arrived in Utah shortly after the Mountain Meadows Massacre of Sep 11, 1857. He identified 17 children who had survived the massacre and been sent to live with Mormon families. He arranged for the children to be returned to relatives in the East and embraced a policy of appeasement towards local Indian tribes, distributing gifts in large quantities to their communities.

In late 1858 John Cradlebaugh, United States Associate Justice for the District of Utah, initiated an investigation into the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He attempted to prosecute Mormon conspirators for the atrocity, and eventually accused Forney of official misconduct, alleging that Forney helped hide Mormon complicity in the attack and that Forney was embezelling government funds.

In 1860, after depositions in Washington and hearings in Utah relating to Cradlebaugh's accusations, Forney was dismissed from his post. Forney returned to Pennsylvania and is believed to have died during the Civil War. Cradlebaugh moved to Carson City and was elected Delegate to Congress for the new Territory of Nevada. During the Civil War, he served as a colonel in the Union Army and afterwards, settled in Eureka, Nevada, where he engaged in mining until his death in 1872.

From the description of United States Office of Indian Affairs papers relating to charges against Jacob Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Utah Territory, 1858-1860. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702179226

Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Jacob Forney was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Utah Territory in 1857 by President James Buchanan. Forney arrived in Utah in the fall of 1857 as federal troops arrived to enforce United States authority over the region. In his letters to the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, Forney remarked that the Indians in Utah were "in a very unsettled condition" when he arrived, and credited his policy of appeasement and gift distribution as preventing "serious difficulties" (1858 Nov 5).

Within a few years, however, Forney's actions came under scrutiny by the Office of Indian Affairs. The review occurred as part of a larger investigation by the federal government of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The Massacre, in which a party of Arkansas emigrants on their way to California were killed, occurred in southern Utah in September 1857, shortly before Forney's arrival in the territory. Investigating the circumstances of the massacre upon his arrival, Forney learned the whereabouts of 17 child survivors; the children had been distributed among Mormon families in the vicinity of the attack. After gathering the children, Forney, assisted by members of the United States Army, returned them to their families in the east.

Critics-- federal Judge John Cradlebaugh chief among them-- accused Forney of neglecting evidence of Mormon complicity in the Massacre and of financial misconduct. The Office of Indian Affairs began an official investigation into the charges laid against Forney in 1860, and held depositions in Washington as well as hearings in Utah. In mid-1860, Forney was dismissed from his post as Superintendent. Little is known about Forney's life following his dismissal. He is believed to have died in 1865.

Born in Circleville, Ohio, on February 22, 1819, John Cradlebaugh attended Kenyon College and studied law in Oxford, Ohio. After being admitted to the bar in 1840, he was appointed United States associate justice for the district of Utah on June 4, 1858. He arrived in the territory on November 1, and began active prosecution of those responsible for the violence in the region.

In March of 1859, Cradlebaugh held his first term of court at Provo, convening a grand jury to hear evidence of Mormon criminal activity. The jury failed to indict anyone. Cradlebaugh dismissed the jury and continued the investigation under his authority as sitting magistrate. Accompanied by a small detachment of United States troops and by a deputy marshal, Cradlebaugh visited the southern part of the territory, including Mountain Meadows. During this investigation, Cradlebaugh met Superintendent Forney returning from his own investigation of the site, accompanied by the surviving children of the massacre. The judge and his deputy marshal interviewed Indians and settlers in various encampments until the marshal and troops were recalled under instructions from the Department of War, effectively curtailing Cradlebaugh's investigation of the affair. Based on his observations and other evidence, Cradlebaugh concluded that Forney had abused the powers of his office. In September 1859, Cradlebaugh contacted the Office of Indian Affairs regarding his suspicions. His accusations launched the Office's official investigation into Forney's conduct, and led to Forney's dismissal.

Cradlebaugh was subsequently appointed to preside over a judicial district that included Carson Valley. He became a key actor in the creation of the Territory of Nevada, and was eventually elected delegate to Congress, serving from 1861 Dec 2 to 1863 Mar 3. During the Civil War, he enlisted as a Colonel in the Union Army. He was wounded at Vicksburg in May 1863, and was honorably discharged from the military in October 1863. He returned to Nevada, and settled in Eureka. He ran unsucessfully for United States Senator, and engaged in the mining industry until his death in 1873. Cradlebaugh was interred in Circleville, Ohio, in 1879.

From the guide to the United States Office of Indian Affairs papers relating to charges against Jacob Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Utah Territory, 1858-1860, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)