The Quapaw Indian Agency was a territory that included parts of the present-day Oklahoma counties of Ottawa and Delaware. Established in the late 1830s as part of lands allocated to the Cherokee Nation, this area was later leased by the federal government and known as the Leased District. The area that became known as the Quapaw Agency Lands contained 220,000 acres and was located in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma where that state adjoins Missouri and Kansas.
Contents
After the Civil War, the Cherokee were forced to cede the land and the US assigned it to several other tribes. This area was settled prior to 1874 by 24 Indian groups. These range from full Indian tribes down to the remnants of several larger Indian groups whose main body settled elsewhere.
The agency was disbanded in 1890 by the Oklahoma Organic Act, which was designed to extinguish tribal communal land claims. The land was attached to an Indian Territory prior to passage of the Dawes Act and distribution of plots to individual households. Another Indian reserve, the Miami Indian Agency based in Miami, Oklahoma was disbanded at the same time. All Native American claims were extinguished prior to Oklahoma's admission to statehood in the 20th century.
History
Among the tribes who were forcibly removed to these lands from east of the Mississippi River were people of the Algonquin and the Iroquois tribes. In the early colonial period, at the time of Samuel de Champlain, they were great enemies. Here also, plowing and harvesting their fields together and sharing each other's native ceremonials, was a tribe of the mighty Siouan nation, as well as one of the Lupuamian nation. Within the memories of their grandfathers, these old and powerful tribes had owned many hundreds of thousands of acres in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Since early territorial days of 1867, a federal Indian agency operated to manage the relationship between the federal government and these various tribes, supervising provision of annuities and supplies, for instance. But not all of the business handled by the agent was tribal business. The Indian Agent often found acted as a mediator in settling neighborhood and family disputes, as well.
Because the land was originally given to the Quapaw Tribe, this area was renamed in the 19th century as the Quapaw Agency Lands. Prior to this, it and other nearby areas had been known as the Neosho Indian Agency, the Shawnee Indian Agency, and the Seneca Indian Agency, representing major tribes settled in the area. The agency was originally located four miles west of Seneca, Missouri, and later moved to Wyandotte in the Indian Territory as the Native Americans were settled there.
In 1873, 153 surviving members of a Modoc band formerly headed by Captain Jack (Kintpuash), were relocated here from northern California after their defeat. Kintpuash was hanged, executed by the US Army for charges of war crimes. The Modoc were long colocated with the Shawnee on their reserve at what became known as the Quapaw Agency. The agency did not receive sufficient supplies and the Modoc suffered greatly in their first months.
In 1920, two agencies were established; the Seneca and Quapaw. In 1922 they were combined again and became the Quapaw Agency.
Due to the proximity of their reservations, there were many intermarriages among members of the tribes in this northeast area. Several tribes eventually merged their governments. Some of the individual listings below will lead the researcher to the federally recognized tribal names by which these nations are known today.
Primary Tribes
The Primary tribes of the Quapaw Indian Agency were: