Note 671 — X. NEGOTIATIONS WITH UNION INDIANS
Reading edition
Footnote 671:
(return)
A treaty had been made with the Pottawatomies by W.W. Ross, their agent, November 15, 1861 [ibid., Pottawatomie, I 547 of 1862]. Its negotiation was so permeated by fraud that the Indians refused to let it stand [Dole to Smith, January 15, 1862]. At this time, 1863, Superintendent Branch, against whom charges of gambling, drunkenness, licentiousness, and misuse of annuity funds had been preferred by Agent Ross [Indian Office General Files, Pottawatomie, R 21 and 143 of 1863], was endeavoring to persuade Father De Smet to establish a Roman Catholic Mission on their Reserve. De Smet declined because of the exigencies of the war. His letter of January 5, 1863, has no file mark.