Note (return) — X. NEGOTIATIONS WITH UNION INDIANS

As if urged thereto by some influence malign or fate sinister, the loyal portion of two of the southern tribes, the Creeks and the Seminoles, took in April, 1862, a certain action that, all unbeknown to them, expedited the northern schemes for Indian undoing. The action referred to was tribal reörganization. Each of the two groups of refugees elected chiefs and headmen and notified the United States government that it was prepared to do business as a nation.646 The business in mind had to do with annuity payments647 and other dues but the Indian Office soon extended it to include treaty-making.