COLONEL DICK
JOHNSON'S CHOCTAW ACADEMY:
A Forgotten
Educational Experiment.
MRS. SHELLEY D. ROUSE.
Less than a century ago, there was a
large and prosperous
school for the education of the sons of
the Southern Indians,
in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky.
It was at that time "the only
institution in the country under
the supervision of the war department of
the United States
excepting the military academy at West
Point;" it attracted the
attention of philanthropists, and was
visited by many interested
and curious travelers; it was under the
patronage of a Vice
President of the United States, and its
head-master for most of
its nearly twenty years of existence,
was a man of unusual parts,
who, though somewhat in advance of his
times, must have been
marked and respected by his generation.
Of this unique under-
taking there are but few and obscure
records. The recent dis-
covery of the correspondence of its
Superintendent, which since
his death nearly seventy years ago has
been undisturbed, sug-
gests an inquiry into its history.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, the Indians of
the southern tribes had become
discouraged with the results of
warfare with the white man; it was borne
in upon them that
the only way in which they could compete
with him and survive
was to become learned in his wisdom,
that they might "fight
the pale face with his own
medicine." In the treaties educational
provisos began to appear. A number of
mission-schools had
been established by the different
religious sects under direction
of the War office (for Indian affairs
were then very frankly of
that department), but the head men of
the nations had become
dissatisfied with the opportunities
afforded by these institutions.
The surroundings were those of
barbarism; the authority of the
teachers was weakened by the fact that
the parents were their
children's guardians, and they,
according to ancient custom, re-
quired no continued performance of duty;
attendance was much
(88)
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 89
interrupted by calls to hunt or to
fight, and even more often by
illness; for small-pox was everpresent,
"bilious fevers were prev-
alent in spring and summer," and
tubercular disorders were
showing themselves; efforts to fix
habits of industry and steady
purpose were rendered futile by such
environment. Even the
most sanguine teachers grew
disheartened; we find one of them
writing jubilantly to the Department at
Washington: "We are
keeping step in the march of
civilization; the Indian men and
boys are wearing Pantaloons;" but
his next letter reports sadly
enough that they cannot be restrained
from trading those same
pantaloons for firewater. Finally, in 1825, the Presbyterian
missionary to the Choctaws writes in
despair that Chief Mingo
Mushalatubbee had given his warriors
permission to fight and
kill for one month (the time limit being
no doubt the effect of
civilization), and that the schools in
the nation had been closed
owing to the drunkenness of the chief,
at whose house one of
them was maintained, and the
disreputable conduct of the teachers
of others "who had been driven from
the nation in fear of
their lives."
The next document in the yellowed
archives of the War
Department contains the germ of the
foundation to which we
refer. It is a communication from the
chiefs General Humming-
bird, Wishu-washano, Nilega, and John
Jones, wherein they state
that the Choctaw treaty of Dancing
Rabbit Creek concluded at
Washington in 1825, provided that $6,000
should be supplied
by the President annually for twenty
years "to the support of
schools in said nation." This fund,
as well as another arising
from the sale of certain lands reserved
in the treaty made at
Doak's Stand in 1820, the chiefs desired
applied to the education
of youths at some point distant from the
nation. For they de-
clared that although schools could be
maintained in the nation
by the expenditure of half as much
money, which money would
circulate among themselves, while the
daily example of the
students might be of benefit to their
brothers, nevertheless they
wished the flower of their young men to
be educated far from
the allurements and distractions of the
plains and the wigwams,
where they could not seek the protection
of their parents in idle-
ness, and where they could be surrounded
by the customs and
90 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
manners of civilized life. In
furtherance of this request, which
was acceded to by the government, their
agent, Colonel Ward,
wrote to his personal friend Colonel R.
M. Johnson, United States
Senator from Kentucky, and to the
Secretary of the Baptist
Board of Missions, which had a
flourishing Indian Department
with headquarters at Louisville.
The Honorable Richard Mentor Johnson was
a prominent
man in his day. Born at Bryant's Station
in 1781, he had some
schooling at Transylvania, became a
lawyer, a state legislator, a
member of Congress from 1807 to 1819; was unanimously
elected
a United States Senator in the latter
year, and served in that
capacity until he was made
Vice-President of the United States
with Van Buren from 1837 till 1841.
A man of great enthusiasm
and energy, indomitable physical
courage, with but few social
graces and little learning, he was more
politician than statesman;
yet was the author of several important
state papers, among
them the bill against Imprisonment for
Debt. In 1812 he raised
a regiment of cavalry, and having
hastened to the frontier, near
the outpost of Fort Wayne, Indiana, he
served under General
Harrison. At the battle of the Thames in
1813 occurred the
most picturesque incident in his career.
During the engagement,
he and old Colonel Whitley led a forlorn
hope against the Indian
allies ambushed in a swamp; there was a
tremendous melee;
everybody fell; Colonel Whitley dead;
warriors dead; Colonel
Johnson borne off the field, near dead,
with twenty-five wounds;
and the Kentucky pioneers, to the
battle-cry of "Remember the
Raisin," avenged their massacred
kinsmen by cutting razor strops
from the skin of a painted and
befeathered brave dead near by,
while the wailing Indians, retreating,
dragged away for burial
a mighty form in buckskins. Quickly the
tale went forth that
Colonel Johnson had killed the
warrior-priest Tecumseh; a leader
of great power and dignity, illimitable
influence with his people,
huge-bodied and able-minded, a
councillor and a prophet:- and
thus had broken the backbone of Indian
resistance in the north-
west. Long and spirited were the
discussions which ensued.
Collins says, after pages of reasons pro
and con, "It seems proba-
ble that Colonel Johnson did not kill
Tecumseh, that Adam King
may have done so, and that Colonel
Whitley did." However,
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 91
Whitley was dead, Adam King was
an obscure private soldier,
and the gallant young Colonel, who had
given his time, his talents,
his money and his blood for his country,
got full credit for put
ting an end to the dreaded chief, and,
nothing loth, became the
idol of his state. We have heard a very
old gentleman tell with
chuckles, of having listened to Colonel
Johnson, who, arrayed in
a bright-red waistcoat, with large tears
rolling down his cheeks.
was making stump speeches in which he
thrillingly related his
slaughter of Tecumseh; and we have read
a quaint letter in
which the Colonel discourses of his
attendance at a theatre party
in Washington to see the drama of
"The Death of Tecumseh";
whereat there was great cheering and a
mighty bowing to the
audience. And sure it is that there used
to be heard a rousing
campaign song in 1819 with the refrain
of:
"Tum ti iddy and a
Rumsey, Dumsey!
Colonel Johnson
Killed Tecumseh !"
Were it not for the records of his wise
plans and desires for
the permanent establishment of the southern tribes in a ter-
ritory of their own, "fixed upon a
Basis that can never be shaken
by the white people of the State in
whose limits they now
reside," it might appear that the
same spirit which moved the
Indians to eat the heart of a brave
enemy, caused them to select
Colonel Johnson as patron and protector.
The Baptist Board of Missions was
another valuable ally.
The Baptists had been the pioneers of
religion in Kentucky;
shepherded by "men of ardent piety,
untiring zeal, indomitable
energy of character, and vigorous and
well-balanced intellects
in every way fitted to the then state of
society in a wilderness
beset with every danger and privation,
they were the first min-
isters to the brave, daring and noble
spirits who settled and sub-
dued this country" and
notwithstanding various divisions and
defections, in 1825 their numbers
still retained in the state a
proporion of about one in twenty of its
inhabitants. Therefore,
it was deemed good policy to put this
popular denomination in
charge of the new venture. The names of
the members of the
92 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
School-Board and the Board of Visitors
which it appointed are
mentioned in many of the histories of
the time. They were:
Dr. Staughton, Secretary of the Baptist
Board at Washing-
ton; Wm. Suggett, who had commanded a
mounted battalion in
an engagement near Ft. Wayne when an
Indian chief of some
distinction was killed; Jacob Creath, a
famous preacher and
Indian fighter who because of a
"personal difficulty with an elder
about a negro trade," caused a
noted split in the church; Benja-
min Chambers, a distinguished soldier
and legislator; James
Fishback, D. D., one of the founders of
the Bible Society; Major
John T. Johnson, a brother of the
Colonel, a member of Con-
gress, a Judge of the Appellate Court,
who later became a con-
vert to Alexander Campbell's teachings
and a minister of the
Christian Church; Elder Barton Stone, to
whose virtues and the-
ological dissensions the old chroniclers
devote many pages; Gen-
eral David Thompson, legislator from
Scott County; Dr. Noal,
a legislator; and James F. Robinson, a
Governor of the State
and one of the incorporators of the town
of Covington. All
were conscientious men of position, and
of sturdy life and prin-
ciples, as well as veteran Indian
fighters.
To try now to revitalize their rugged
individualities is
like calling up spirits from the vast
deep, and well-nigh as
impossible.
It is less difficult, however, to
re-create the personality of
the true hero of the Choctaw Academy,
whom Colonel Johnson
heralds thus to the Indian Department:
"I have engaged a man
of uncommon merit. A scientific
character, with Globes." This
man, described as a "preacher of
the gospel, eminent for his
literary talents and attainments and his
amiable disposition; a
man of business, industrious in his
habits, dignified in his deport-
ment, and conciliatory in his
manners," was Thomas Henderson.
He was born in 1781 in Albemarle County,
Virginia, and was a
kinsman of Richard Henderson of
Transylvania Land Company
fame. Little is known of his life before
his second marriage,
but it is evident that he was a man of
liberal education, advanced
ideas, broad sympathies, and much
executive ability. He may
have come west as a surveyor, for it is
known that he surveyed
part of the territory of Missouri for
the government, and there
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw Academy. 93
are records of his surveys in the then
young town of Cincinnati.
That he was a philanthropist even in his
youth is proved by an
old deed which records his purchase, as
a trustee, of two hundred
acres of land on Green River, Kentucky,
and of his colonizing
there the negroes that were freed
"with their increase forever,"
by the will of one John White, of
Albemarle County, Virginia.
It is said that he had been an
Episcopalian in the latter State,
but we find that he was licensed to
perform marriages in Albe-
marle in 1807, having "proved his
ordination as a Baptist clergy-
man." Colonel Johnson says in 1825
that he had been "accus-
tomed to teaching for years of his
life;" where, or whom, we
have no record. At that date he was a
storekeeper and mer-
chant in Scott County, and being a
connection by marriage, was
also the confidential adviser and
manager of Colonel Johnson's
affairs while that gentleman was serving
his country in Washing-
ton. From the letters of the latter to
Mr. Henderson, and his
to the office of Indian affairs,
together with sundry documents
preserved in the congressional records,
we can construct the story
of the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky, the
memory of which
seems to have perished.
The request of the Indians for its
establishment having been
acceded to by the government, Colonel
Johnson proceeded to
make preparation. "The nation of
Choctaws," he writes in 1825,
"determined upon this measure
without my solicitation and with-
out my knowledge, but since they have
decided to send their chil-
dren here, I feel a deep interest for
them, and believe it will
benefit me to furnish them with every
accommodation of board-
ing and clothing, etc., etc., to make
them comfortable. No man
in the United States is better fitted
than I am for this business.
I have a house with three rooms 20x30
feet which I shall ap-
propriate exclusively to their
accommodation. Another house
with four rooms twenty feet square which
will do for a teacher
to live in; and one room for a school
room. The whole estab-
lishment will be within my fences so
that no time shall be lost."
In later letters there are directions
for "fixing up my hughed
[sic] log house for the Creeks" and
references to many other
building operations. The negro working
men were put to con-
struction of tables, benches, chairs,
"etc., etc."; the sewing women
94 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
to making sheets and shirts; books were
ordered from Philadel-
phia, tracts and Bibles from Washington,
stores were laid in,
and to quote the Colonel, "All is
Bustle."
The school was admirably situated at
Great Crossings, near
Blue Springs in Scott County, Kentucky,
seven miles from
Georgetown, and two miles off the pike;
where the old buffalo
trail leading from the far south to the
Ohio River crossed the
north fork of the Elkhorn, and near
Stamping Grounds, where
the herds had been wont to congregate
and stamp every blade of
grass from the surface of the earth.
"The country," says Mr.
Henderson, "is somewhat broken,
interspersed with hills, groves
and pleasant valleys; the water is
excellent and pure, the climate
mild, healthy and pleasing. In addition
to other circumstances
tending for healthful conditions in this
institution, it is located
within half a mile of the White Sulphur
fountain, one of the
best medicinal springs in the
West." In truth the sanitary con-
ditions must have been excellent, for
excepting the dread cholera
years when so many died, the health
reports contain few casual
ties; mentioning, "several with
colds but not serious," "two boys
sick with bad Risings," and some
from "gormandizing great
quantities of meat three times a
day." And this in spite of the
primitive administration of the medical
department which is sug-
gested when we find Colonel Johnson
trying "to get a doctor
and preacher combined" in order
that the Superintendent may
be sometimes relieved from his Sunday
preaching duties; and
from the fact that at one period it was
"successfully conducted
by Dr. Adam Nail, an Indian youth, who
had turned his atten-
tion to medicine; with the occasional
aid of other physicians."
A working plan for the school was
submitted by the Baptist
Board of Missions and approved by the
Secretary of War, Gov-
ernor Barbour. In addition to the
Choctaws, the Creeks agreed,
in 1826, to send twenty boys. The Pottawatamies, (referred
to
as "a powerful nation settled along
the waters of the Wabash
on lakes near the Canada line where
British talks and British
goods continually interrupt their peace
and our security,")
agreed to apply $2,000 per annum for as
many of their tribe as
that sum would support at the school.
The school having in-
creased in importance and favor with the
southern tribes, there
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 95
are notes during the ensuing years of
the presence of Miamis,
Foxes, Sacs, Chicagos, Quapaws, Prairie
du Cheius, Iowas,
Ottawas, Chippewas and Seminoles. There
was mention at first
of a scheme for "taking in a number
of white children from the
neighborhood to share the instruction
and to be treated in exactly
the same manner as the Indians,"
but the Kentuckians had no
great faith in the niceness of Colonel
Johnson's discrimination
in regard to the association of races,
and they must have de-
clined these ministrations, as there is
no further allusion to
the plan.
In 1831, Mr. Henderson writes that under
circumstances of
absolute necessity he is compelled to
make an appeal to the Hon-
orable Secretary of War, (John Eaton),
for the first time to
make an additional allowance to his
compensation as Superin-
tendent of this institution, stating
that when the school was
first organized with twenty-five youths
from the Choctaw tribe,
an allowance of $500 per annum having
been made the Superin-
tendent from the fund of $6,000 annually
for twenty years, he
was induced to take it "more from
principles of humanity aris-
ing from a deep solicitude to see the
condition of that unfortunate
people changed for the better than from
any pecuniary con-
sideration." "The prospect for an increase of
students at the
time," he explains, "was
entirely uncertain, indeed it was not
believed that it would be any better,
but on the contrary that
it would dwindle and come to nothing.
The school has increased
beyond all calculation, and has become
an institution of more
importance than we ever
contemplated. Additional students
only increased the labor, care and
anxiety of the Superintendent,
without any additional salary, for the
school fees of $10 each
over and above the twenty-five students
for which the provision
was made at first, are barely sufficient
to pay the assistant teach-
ers that the institution requires."
In other words, for six years
he had cared for five times the number
of students agreed upon
with no increase of pay, and had made no
request for it; this
seemed reasonable enough even to the
economical United States
Government, and he was allowed $800 with
$400 additional for
assistant teachers, which arrangement
continued until the clos-
ing of the school.
96 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The
first students, in pursuance of an unexpressed desire
that
this should be a higher-school for young aristocrats of the
plains,
were selected from those who had been a longer or
shorter
time at the schools of the nation; some from among the
best
scholars; others there were who from their age or "other
circumstances,"
could not be again received therein and it was
considered
on the whole, according to their agent, a relief to
be rid
of them. The list of their names resembles a roll-call
of
Congress for though we are occasionally cheered by such
local
touches as "Morris Tiger," "Charles Bushyhead," and
"Tomfula,"
most of them are Americanized into Benjamin Har-
rison,
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas H. Benton, and
so
resoundingly on.
They
travelled from the agency by means of rivers; some-
times
beginning the journey in large canoes lashed together, de-
barking
to steamboats at Louisville, thence to Cincinnati, and
completing
the journey on horseback; the horses being either
sent
back with returning scholars, or sold and the proceeds
turned
over to the governmental fund; they were usually accom-
panied
by a competent conductor, and, though rarely, were
sometimes
dispatched alone with an open letter to "all well-
disposed
people," asking that they be sped on their way and
kept
from strong drink.
The
regulations for the school's governance were had in
careful
detail from the war office. The clothing of the students
was a
uniform of mixed dark-grey, and of blue and white, and
is
thus prescribed in instructions:
1
Frock or rifle coat of domestic woolen cloth......... $12 00
Coat
(summer) of colored domestic cotton.......... 4
00
2 pair
Woolen Pantaloons to correspond with coat.... 8
00
2 pair
Cotton Pantaloons for summer coat............ 5
00
4 Shirts .........................................
... 4 00
4 pair Shoes or
Moccasins............................ 4 00
4 Neck Handkerchiefs
................................ 1 50
1 Black
Leather Stock ................................ 50
2 pair
Woolen Stockings for winter ................... 50
1 Hat
for dress wear ................................. 2 50
1 Cap of linen or cloth for common wear .............. 50
Total ........................................... $42 50
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 97
Their food, and "I feed them equal
to any good tavern,"
said Colonel Johnson, was according to a
bill of fare issued by
the Department: "Breakfast and
supper: Tea, or coffee, or
milk, and sugar, with bread and butter. Dinner:
Meat and
vegetables; salt meat twice a week, and
hominy when in sea-
son." The curriculum included
"reading, writing, arithmetic,
grammar, geography, practical surveying,
astronomy, and vocal
music." The books used were
Emerson's Readers, Pike's Arith-
metic, Kirkham's Grammar, the American
Spelling Books, 01-
ney's Geography, Tytler's History,
Blake's Philosophy, Colburn's
Algebra and Gibson's Surveying. There is
evidence of their
scholarship to this day; for their
Superintendent has kept several
letters from ex-pupils written in
beauiful, copperplate, eighteenth
century-looking hands, couched in waif
Johnsonian English, and
expressing their affection for Mr.
Henderson and their home-
sickness for Kentucky in quite touching
fashion. Some maps
carefully drawn and coloured which were
sent to the wise men
in Washington are extant; and numerous
compositions and ad-
dresses are preserved as exhibits among
the executive documents.
General Tipton writes in 1827, after a visit to Kentucky: "Ev-
erything about the establishment,
globes, maps, books, and instru-
ments are suited to the purpose, as well
as the dress and treat-
ment of the students; and the most
perfect harmony prevails
among them, removed from the bad example
of wild Indians
in their native revelry. There the
native talent can be cul-
tivated surrounded by the first families
of the West. They
receive occasional visits from gentlemen
of the first order be-
sides the superintending care of that
soldier and statesman,
Colonel Johnson. The discipline is such
as must be approved by
the entire community. Boys who have been
there but thirteen
months write and draw in a way that
would do credit to any
institution of white boys in the
country."
Mr. Henderson approached his work with
profound interest
and a solemn devotion of his powers. It
was a task of no little
difficulty and embarrassment; he was
never unhampered; he
could never complete his experiments
without interference from
the constantly changing officers of
Indian affairs: some of then
competent and conscientious men, some
otherwise. He was
Vol. XXV- 7.
98 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
responsible to the War Department of the
United States; to
Colonel Johnson; and to the Baptist
Board; while to the teach-
er's customary burden, -the pacification
of perturbed parents,
these being in his case, the wild Indian
Chiefs,- was added the
manipulation of political foes, wilier
and almost as wild.
The Department advised him that it was
important that he
should commence school at sunrise the
year round and finish
the day's duties at sundown, except on
Saturday, when it would
be proper for them to cease at noon. He
is admonished that
the "must on no account, even for a
day, unless ill, withdraw his
personal attention, as "it is hard
to delegate power, and the prin-
cipal must give his personal and
constant attention to his trust
in order to give it life and energy and
make it operative and
successful." The Board desired him
"to review the conduct of
the youths once a week, offering
approbation or censure, to give
frequent and affectionate lectures upon
the advantages of tem-
perance, mutual good will, respect for
parents, and upon all
other topics which an excellent morality
can embrace, especially
as to the truth and expedience of the
Christian religion. To
visit the children frequently at their
respective dwellings by night
and by day, to prevent disorders, and to
make them employ
their time properly." Colonel
Johnson tells him: "Have every-
thing like the Horses in Pharaoh's
Chariot and the building of
the temple of Solomon; and all you do
let it go on as a matter
of course without Bustle," and he
mentions that "when the school
reaches one hundred and fifty, the
Secretary of War intends to
have visitors examine the students, as
at West Point, which will
put us all to our trumps, but we can
show our hands to
advantage."
He had entire direction and management
of the business
affairs and domestic arrangement of the
institution besides de-
voting all his time during school hours
to the teaching of the
class of twenty-five, which, under the
Dancing Rabbit agreement,
evolved entirely upon him. The students
of astronomy, book-
keeping and surveying met in his house
every night during the
winter, excepting the Wednesdays of
alternate weeks, to spend
two hours in reviewing the studies of
the day under his inspection.
The only holidays were Christmas Day.
New Year's Day, Whit-
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 99
suntide, Fourth of July, and the 22nd of
February, on all of
which days the Superintendent must
carefully explain the rea-
sons for their observance; and one week
at the time of the annual
examination in June. It was directed
that Saturday afternoon
be spent by the boys in preparation of
rooms and clothes for
the Sabbath, and in the writing of
letters to friends and relatives
in the nation, for the best of which
letters prizes were awarded
every three months. What these prizes
were can be inferred
from Colonel Johnson: "I shall
without delay send you reward
Books as I did last year. There is no
society in the union where
I can get anything but Bibles and
Testaments, and it is this
winter difficult to get them."
There is also itemized on a bill
from McDaniel & Finnell "I
Bunyan's Holy War for Bour-
rassa." The Superintendent was
required by the Department
to "see that these letters would
produce a favorable impression
in the nation. The boys would as soon
write good letters as bad,
but if left to themselves, they make
complaints and tell lies in
order to get money and petting."
The Sabbath was to be made
a day of rest, interesting and
instructive, with Sunday-school and
preaching by the reverend
superintendent.
During the first years of the school,
when it increased so
rapidly and unexpectedly, there began to
be trouble about the
necessary assistant teachers. It was not
easy to get young men
of "consecration and worth" to
devote all of their time to the
young savages for $100 and $150 a year.
And in 1827 we find
Colonel Johnson writing that the
Government proposes that the
classes be held under the Lancasterian
plan;-a monitorial sys-
tem of instruction introduced by an
English educator, wherein
monitors chosen from the more advanced
scholars taught the
primary classes. This was successfully
adapted to the needs
of the school, and there is constant
reference in the letters to
the numerous lower-form teachers and
their Indian assistants.
It is interesting to note how many of
our so-called modern
improvements in education were worked
out by this school-
master of a past century, and how
scientifically, as well as pray-
erfully, they were applied to his
Indians. In order that "they
might become Pillars of Society",
he inaugurated the Lycurgus
court, its end being to promote
self-government; it consisted of
100 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
a judge, a jury, a sheriff; two lawyers
and a clerk. The grand
jury took notice of every kind of
misconduct during recess and
out of school hours, and at the regular
courts presentments were
made, every officer striving to copy the
proceedings of the com-
mon courts of justice. That "they
might become Ornaments",
there was the Napoleon Society, its
object being to instruct the
young men in "all the peculiarities
of etiquette, observed in polite
circles of society; and that the savage
breast might be soothed
according to poetic precedent, singing
societies and a native band
were organized. Mr. Henderson had been
warned in the begin-
ning that the studies of the young
chieftains were not to be in-
terrupted by any form of "menial
industry" except the making
of their own fires, and such exercises
as should be necessary
to health, recreation and
improvement," but in 1832 after the
school had endured for seven years, he
revolted suavely but
firmly against the continued creation of
"aboriginal Turvey drops",
and wrote to the Department that he had
wished for several
years to have shops connected with the
school, and to introduce
manual labour. "I have been led to
these reflections," he says,
"partly from the nature of the case
as it has been presented to
my own mind, and partly from having had
boys in the school
whose minds appeared turned more upon
some kind of work than
on their books; also from the discovery
of a considerable me-
chanical genius among them together with
a desire manifested by
some of the youths themselves to become
mechanicians. Let
such as discover a genius latent for
scholarship be permitted to
pursue a regular course of study to the
full extent, but I would
not deprive the most sprightly of an
opportunity to acquire some
mechanical art;" he here makes some
technical suggestions and
soothes the parsimony of the Government
by stating that the
mechanics engaged to instruct the boys
could be paid from the
proceeds of the shops, so that the
Department would be put
to no extra expense; and declares that
with this addition the
establishment would be doing more good
to the Indians than any
other in the Union. "Indeed,"
says the good man, allowing him-
self a little glorification, "I
flatter myself that they are deriving
more benefit from it now, than from any
source whatsoever. It
is impossible to express my feelings on
the occasions when I
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 101
have my students in full review and look
over the fine counte-
nances of many; the mind becomes
enlarged in anticipation that
from this institution and through the
instrumentality of my
labours, many are to return to their
people as so many torches
to enlighten their superstitious and
ignorant tribes with the glow
of science, of religion and of civilized
life! Nothing will afford
me more pleasure than to have your
advice and instruction and
to execute your order in all matters
pertaining to the improve-
ment and happiness of this ill-destined
race."
This letter was ignored by the
politicians then in charge of
Indian education, but a year later,
Bourrassa, a young Choctaw
chief, who, while studying law at
Georgetown College and being
educated at the school, having also been
for a year an under-
teacher there, addressed the Indian
agent, General Grover, in
what he calls the silent language of the
pen. He asked him to
use his influence to have two or three
shops joined to the school
for the benefit of some students and the
good of several tribes,
protesting against its being used solely
as a classical academy.
"Sir," he writes, "there
is no proper person to select the boys
that are come to this institution;
therefore there are some who
cannot learn their books, were they to
live as long as the man
of 969 years and study all the time, but
could a trade. There
are many who could have taken a common
education and a trade
in the same length of time they spend
generally in this academy.
It is for want of regular employment
that they are so prone to
practice their Indian habits, and it
would be mere folly to confine
them to their studies all the time for
we know that the Indian
boys are unbounded in their recreation,
their parents never re-
strict them." He declared that a
young man with a trade would
be of much more benefit to his people
than would be one with
a classical education alone, "for
the savage or wandering tribes
cannot support a school-master, but a
blacksmith would have easy
access to many tribes, for some Indians
have been known to travel
upwards of two hundred miles to get one
or two of their hunt-
ing utensils repaired. Almost any trade
will prove more ben-
eficial than a good education in the
first settling of a country;
it was not by pen and book that this
country was settled, but by
axe and plough. A young man with a trade
could support him-
102
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
self and family by it, and also be
employed by the Department
for his tribe to aid in this
colonization business which will help
or else prove the everlasting
destruction of the Indians; and
only their own young men can help them.
A blacksmith could
be of more service to a tribe than the
greatest professor in North
America, and your honour well knows that
an old Indian would
be more pleased to get a knife or a
tomahawk from his son than
ten well-ordered philosophical lectures
'which' he would say, 'do
not feed me nor clothe my children.' The
establishment of those
shops would check the laziness of the
Indian character and do
away with those waste times and Indian
plays which day by day
they follow closer than the devoted
followers of Bacchus did
him."
The Department took prompt cognizance of
this bit of native
special pleading, and Mr. Henderson's
plans and estimates hav-
ing been submitted and approved, the
shops were built and in-
struction begun. There was a wagon-shop,
a shoe-shop, and two
smith shops. Mr. Henderson says: "I
at first contemplated
more contracted buildings, but upon
advice of more enlightened
and practical men, I was encouraged to
put up buildings com-
fortable and large and to procure a full
supply of the best tools
in order to insure the object in view,
i. e., to make good me-
chanics in the shortest possible time of
the youths that might be
put to trades. I found great difficulty
in procuring skillful
workmen in the different mechanical
branches; of steady and
sober habits, calculated to fill their
stations with that dignity
which the nature of the case required,
but finally succeeded to
my entire satisfaction. It requires
three shoe and boot-makers,
three smiths, and two wagon-makers to
instruct each shop."
The Department having reminded the
Superintendent that
mechanical instruction was not the
primary object of the school,
and that no coercion was to be used to
make the boys go into
the shops, ordered regulations to be
made to prevent overwork
and undue severity on the part of the
principals; directed that
the latter be required to keep accounts
of the work done by each
boy and to present them at the end of
each month to the Super-
intendent for examination by him and by
the inspectors, who
would then distribute the proceeds among
the boys according
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 103
to the work done by them severally, and
in their relative capac-
ities; the cost of the tools and the pay
of the mechanics having
been deducted. The general direction of
the shops was to rest
with the Superintendent, who would be
allowed ten per cent of
the proceeds after having made the above
deductions, the per-
centage to be subtracted before the
division among the boys.
Quarterly reports were to be made by the
Superintendent to the
Department exhibiting the names and pay
of the mechanics,
names and amount of work done during the
quarter by each boy,
and the amount of money to be
distributed. And it was em-
phasized that every boy in the shops
must pursue the elementary
studies so far as to acquire a knowledge
of arithmetic.
The report of the inspectors in
November, 1833, states:
"We approve the plan of teaching
the boys the mechanic arts
as well as letters. We visited the
workshops and were pleased
with the plans of the buildings but far
more with the astonishing
proficiency of the boys in the several
branches of mechanism,
never having seen it surpassed if
equalled; the improvement of
some of the youths is rapid beyond
calculation; in the black-
smith, shoe, boot and wagon makers'
shops we saw industry,
attention and ingenuity displayed, and
pleasure beamed in the
countenances of all. We are convinced
that a tailor's, cabinet,-
and such other shops as the government's
wisdom directs should
be added. The Superintendent acted
wisely in expending double
the amount he at first expected for the
mechanical arrangements.
Mr. Henderson writes that the "deep
interest which the insti-
tution excites and almost daily invites
spectators of every class,
both foreigners and citizens, males and
females, to witness the
novelty of Indian reform, but no
department has excited more
admiration than the recent introduction
of workshops con-
necting practically the arts and
sciences, particularly for that
race of the human family which has so
long suffered the want
of both;" while a distinguished
visitor in 1834, in expressing
his approval of the flourishing school,
says, "If the chase is to
be abandoned and war cease to be a
favorite pursuit among
them, the mechanic arts should be
substituted. It is well known
that even the simplest artificer among
the Indians is looked upon
with some of the admiration felt for
their chiefs and warriors."
104 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
This reform having been so successfully
inaugurated, in
December, 1837, Mr. Henderson wrote to
Colonel Johnson as
to the advisability of introducing in
addition to the work shops,
a system calculated to instruct youths
in the business of agricul-
ture upon a small scale. "It could
be done by a proper man,"
he says, "without interruption to
regular studies, and would be
an important acquisition to the Indians.
I think if you could
get Mr. Harris, (the head of Indian
affairs at that time), who
seems a most excellent, practical man,
to take some interest in
the promotion of the plan, it would
result in much benefit to
the tribes." The Colonel responded
with enthusiasm that they
might cultivate eighteen or twenty
acres, as it would save him
expense and complaints of the neighbors
against the boys. He
advised that each one have "a
garden or truck patch of all the
vegetables, and a corn field, all
embraced," and thought that "the
boys would enter upon it with a spirit
to feast upon."
Both the gardens and the shops prospered
exceedingly for
years, and might have done so till the
end, had it not been for
the weakness of the government's
position in insisting upon
voluntary attendance; and this
notwithstanding the constant
complaints from the heads of the native
schools deploring the
changeableness, levity and idleness of
the Indians in regard
to any sort of steady work. In 1838, the
Department having had
occasion to see the error of its ruling,
issued an order making
work in the shops compulsory, as Mr.
Henderson had always
wished it to be. "Eight boys,"
directed Mr. Harris, "should be
employed in each of the four shops every
day under the super-
vision of trained men. The selection of
the boys should be
regulated by the number of boys from
each tribe, their natural
aptitudes and their acquired habits.
They might be permitted
to choose, so far as should be
consistent with having all the shops
filled. Each one should be required to
stay in the shops for two
years, and each one on entering should
be given five dollars, this
to include all those already enrolled.
But it was too late for
these wise and long-desired rules to be
effective. The mischief
had been done; there was sullen inertia
in the place of willing
apprenticeship, and the reports are
filled with complaints because
of the few enrollments, especially in
the much-demanded smith-
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 105
shop. In the report for October, 1838, twenty-two are listed as
learning trades; eight in the tailor's
shop, four in the smith-shop,
and two in the wagon-shop; this would
indicate more interest
in "pantaloons" than in
hunting utensils; but in 1839 there is
a letter from Chief Richardville, a
Miami, who orders his grand-
son Lewis Cass to be sent home at once.
so great is his in-
dignation that the boy should have been
put to the tailor's trade
when "he had intended to make him a
clerk in his mercantile
establishment !"
Nothing was accomplished without
friction, owing perhaps
to that which Mr. Henderson delicately
designates "the nature
of the case." It is well to examine
this allusive phrase, for it
was "full of a number of
things," first among them being the
fact that there were here collected
together, hundreds of miles
from their homes, a body of Indians
varying at times from a
hundred to two hundred; chief's sons,
for the most part, of ages
from ten or twenty odd years; some
arriving in a completely
savage state, others having a little
English and the rudiments of
education and training, all paying their
way, as they thought;
and all possessing parents with the
childlike credulity of the
average Indian; incapable of weighing
evidence, swayed by all
reports good or bad, but who had the
final word as to the dis-
position of their children. Occasionally
the boys, wearying of
constant employment and supervision, ran
off and after weeks
of tramping would present themselves,
hungry, ragged and dirty
before the guardians, saying:
"Behold how we are fed and
clothed at the Choctaw Academy!"
and straightway the govern-
ment would be besieged with demands for
the removal of Chief
So and So's sons from the Kentucky
school, with the reason,
"It is a base place. Did we not see
with our eyes?"
In the beginning, the complaint having
been made that they
received no word of their children so
far away from them and
so silent, special letter-writing
regulations were enforced at the
school, and the government established a
postoffice at Great
Crossings that the Indian boys' letters
might be mailed without
sending them several miles on horseback.
It also franked their
letters and added the duty of postmaster
to Mr. Henderson's
other cares. Soon a great hullabaloo
arose both in the nation
106 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and in the neighborhood, for the franked
letters were post-marked
"Paid" and the chiefs complained that they got so many that
they
were sure the boys were wasting the
educational fund in mail-
age, and some political appointees to
adjacent postoffices wrote
to Washington that Mr. Henderson was
making more money out
of the office than they could endure the
thought of. A stamp
of "Free" instead of
"Paid," indicating much more work than
pay for the postmaster alleviated the
pangs of the latter party.
but no one was ever sure whether that or
any other explanation
to the Indians was ever understood or
accepted; they pondered
these things in their hearts; and that
they and their sons had
long memories is proved by the way in
which the constant shift-
ing of the educational heads of the War
Department and the
contradictory orders emanating from
them, tended to weaken
the authority of the one unvarying
official of the school.
Colonel Johnson being always in public
life, his connection
with so unusual an undertaking offered
his political enemies a
shining mark. They averred, of course,
that he gave little and
got much, that it was a money-making
scheme entirely; and the
poor gentleman's rueful comments upon
this score are amusing.
When the shops were most flourishing, it
was the task of Mr.
Henderson to find a market for the
Indian-made goods; among
his personal letters are those of his
elder sons, who were mer-
chants in Louisiana and Mississippi,
offering to dispose of some
of the wagons made in the shops; being a
competent business man,
he must have had successful sales, for
all too soon arose the usual
aspersions that he and Colonel Johnson
were making money out
of the poor Indian, and there were
orders from Washington to
the effect that Mr. Henderson must be so
placed that he could
be protected from such attacks. Even the
farming experiment
was not unmaligned; it was averred that
Colonel Johnson's over-
seer was working Indians instead of
negroes, and there was a
futile attempt at scandal.
The discipline of the school seems to
have been efficient, and
the daily life remarkably regular and
harmonious, but the at-
tendance of pupils of such widely
diverging ages and of such
parallel stages of civilization produced
serious problems.
That the grown young men could not be
punished as small
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 107
boys, is manifested by a letter from
what was left of an assist-
ant teacher after he had attempted it
during Mr. Henderson's
absence. He declares it most
inexpedient, nay improper; es-
pecially as they were bigger than he
was. And he seems to have
been in position to know. There appears
to have been little
difficulty with the smaller boys aside
from the usual crimes:
window-breaking and clothes-destroying,
pilfering, breaking
bounds, and misbehaving at table, which
prove all boys brothers
under their skins.
Colonel Johnson, in a worried letter
concerning a breach
then under discussion, says: "Out
of every hundred, about ninety
boys have been as harmless as infant
children; about ten alone
have given you and me any trouble. Eight
or ten Choctaws in
two years have given more trouble than
all the rest in ten." Un-
fortunately this "trouble" was
of a particularly distressing na-
ture. The young would manage, though
very rarely, to get
whiskey; they would steal from their
beds after inspection at
night, trade their clothes, shoes, or
books and get it from un-
scrupulous people, -generally from "bad negroes" or from
such free negroes as could manage to
elude the "patterol" and
get access to the plantations. This
would make them utterly mad
and reckless, and they would raid the
negro women's quarters,
either openly "belching forth
profanity" and breaking down the
doors, when they would be overpowered
and the magistrates sent
for; or by steatlh, when they might be
received with hospitality,
which resulted in the negresses being
sold South; for the boys
were always quickly discovered, and
haled before the stricken
and horrified superintendent. As early
as 1828 the first dis-
graceful outbreak of a chief's son took
place. Mr. Henderson
promptly and solemnly dismissed him from
the school after a
public humiliation, and a report was
sent in full to the nation
and to Washington. This would seem to
have been the proper
and only course, especially as it was
commended by the authori-
ties, and applauded by the Indians, who
communicated their sor-
row and unqualified approval through
their agent; moreover,
there was no repetition of any like
disorder for many years.
But Colonel Johnson, whose Brick House
was kept by an
educated quadroon woman, decreed that
the knowledge of en-
108 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
suing cases should be "kept from
the Government, as it would
have a very bad effect and induce the
belief that the boys feared
neither God, nor devil, nor man."
In the light of events it would
seem to have been a serious error of
judgment not to have pur-
sued Mr. Henderson's straightforward
policy. For the young
reprobates, discovering that their
iniquity had been holden from
the eyes of the White Fathers in
Washington and the Red Chiefs
in the nation, waxed bold and malignant.
Those who had been
sent home made false statements to the
nation and to the agents,
and devoted their days to undermining
the usefulness of the
school of Kentucky. One, still at the
academy, who had been
admired and trusted, and given a chance
to redeem himself,
having first made an unsuccessful
attempt to start a general mu-
tiny, dared to write a letter of
positively fiendish ingenuity, so
enwrought is it of truth-tinctured
falsehood, to which he ap-
pended his own name, with the forged
signatures of twenty of
his companions, and dispatched it to
Washington. The fact
that Colonel Johnson promptly explained
the circumstances of
its composition, and that the trustees
wrote indignantly denying
the statements that it contained, did
not entirely dissipate the
doubts of the nation; nor was it
unproductive of misgivings in
the mind of the Secretary of War.
It is a relief to turn from these
subterranean matters to the
pleasant daily life of the school
proper, as it is written in con-
temporary letters of visitors and of the
boys themselves, and in
the reports of the trustees and the
Superintendent.
There was very little idle time for
mischief between six A.
M. and nine P. M., when the curfew rang.
The hours were em-
ployed in the arduous pursuits of the
three R's, the English lan-
guage and the "higher
branches." There were the singing so-
cieties, the band-practice, the
bandy-ball, the debating societies,-
they were great speechmakers and
debaters, -the shops, the
gardens, the devotional exercises, and
Adam Christi's temper-
ance societies, - all are described, and
it is remarked that "they
are very fond of dancing." Colonel
Johnson's returns from
the capital were always days of
festival; he would be met at
the gates of the estate by the marching
boys, banners flying,
band playing, and escorted to the grove,
where there would be
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 109
addresses of welcome and flourishes,
followed by copious liba-
tions of watermelon, or feasts of
roas'in' ears, or their season-
able equivalents. Sometimes certain larger boys who were
studying surveying, were allowed to go
out with responsible men
to assist in simple surveys. Sometimes there were hunting
parties in the woods; in summer they
would visit the Sulphur
Springs, (a fashionable resort owned by
the Vice President)
where the belles and beaux of the day
and the young chieftains
observed each other with mutual
interest. There were the annual
arrivals of scholars bringing news from
home, and the annual
farewells, exciting occasions, which
enabled the directors to re-
turn to the nation "the lazy, the
discontented, the vicious and
the educated;" then the students
were permitted to accompany
their comrades as far as the Frankfort
road. There were the
visitors; sometimes great lawgivers and
generals, who would be
entertained with pomp and circumstance
in the Colonel's man-
sion; sometimes, to the deep affliction
of Mr. Henderson and
Colonel Johnson, Choctaw or Cherokee
delegations came to ob-
serve the progress of their sons. Then
there was the great
week of music and decorations when the
annual examination
was celebrated, the exercises being held
on a woodland stage in
the beautiful grove where General
Lafayette had been entertained
by the people of Georgetown. There is an
account of a com-
mencement week (which was published in a
Kentucky news-
paper and written by one Pushmatsha, a
Choctaw, in which he
described the proceedings of and the
"good nature" of the au-
dience of seven hundred. We also have a
description of the one
held in 1832, three thousand visitors
being present, on which
occasion, a number of the spectators,
among them being the
Catholic priest, Father Drew, took part
in the catechising of the
students. We may read some of the fiery
orations then de-
livered and behold how little either
time or creed affects the
commencement essay of whatever colour or
clime. Listen to
Trahevne on history:-"Upon me a
youth of the forest de-
volves the arduous yet pleasing task of
addressing you. The
occasion is attended with the diffidence
of one who is speaking
not in his native vernacular, and of one
not in the habit of pub-
lic speaking. If I should expose my
ignorance and folly in this
110 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
presence, the exposure will be
manifested in a cause worthy
of a much greater sacrifice. * * *
* Sirs, when we view
the present situation of the Indians and
cast our eyes to some of
the enlightened nations of the earth, we
behold in our imagina-
tion the awful destruction which awaits
the aborigines of North
America. Cheated, destroyed, misled
since the white man first
trod their soil, they have here been
driven from the shores of
the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and
the next step will in-
evitably plunge them into the bowels of
the Pacific Ocean. The
Indians once stood lords of the
Continent, but the white man
brought him low; the Indians once called
this continent their
own, but they now call hardly a foot
their own. And such now
is their condition that many believe
they can never become en-
lightened or civilized and that in the
course of half a century
they will be extirpated. Be that as it
may, we, their sons, have
minds, bodies, hands, hearts; and so
long as the blood flows
through our hearts and hands we will
contend, if we be com-
petent, to evince to the world that the
Indian race is not obliter-
ated. If we fail in the attempt, we must
share the fate that
awaits our race; but if we prove
successful, may God smile upon
us and bless us! His the will to make
any nation happy or mis-
erable. I conclude by asking those who
are to be conspicuous
men in their various tribes, to
persevere and surmount the ob-
stacles of fame, and climb the hill of
science. May this wish
produce members who shall resemble
pillars of marble, strong,
polished, fit to decorate and support
the temple of union in which
our tribes shall hereafter assemble. May
we, when time shall
have done with us, rest in our graves in
tranquillity."
This one, by a small boy, if less grand
and gloomy, cer-
tainly exhibits a lively sense of the
expediency of morals.
On Stealing.
"I consider that stealing is one of
the lowest and most de-
graded habits a man can get into. At
first he will take small
things, and then larger till he steals
horses and large sums of
money. He will go from town to town, and
from city to city,
till he goes throughout the United
States and then he will turn
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw Academy. 111
out to be a robber, plundering and
murdering everyone that
passes, and sometimes not getting a cent
for his trouble.
"My young friends, if you steal you
will not be respectable,
and a person that steals will never be
contented; he will always
be uneasy, and therefore you had better
let stealing alone.
"No more at present.
"TIMOTHY WALKER."
The years 1832 to 1838 would seem to
mark the high
tide of the school's prosperity and good
results. The Choctaws
boasted of its being their enterprise
entirely, and there were
quarrels and cabals for the war office
to settle because the pow-
erful Cherokees were thought to be
getting more than their
legitimate number into the academy. One
document interests
us, as it is evidently referring to the
ancestors of Senator Owen
of Oklahoma, whose wonderful mother was
the granddaughter
of a Cherokee chief of this name. It
states that seven of the
family of John Ross, the principal chief
of the Cherokees, his
sons and his political friends had got
admission, and that all the
Cherokees were clamoring to go to the
school. In 1838, W.
Armstrong, acting superintendent of the
Western Territory,
writes the Department that "The
Choctaw Academy in Ken-
tucky has educated many of the most
prominent men in the In-
dian country. They are seen in their
councils taking the deep-
est interest in the welfare and
prosperity of their people." In
the next year, the same man complains in
bewilderment that he
cannot get the chiefs to let their sons
go; that in place of hold-
ing off a waiting list, that he cannot
keep up the number re-
quired. "Three of the most
prominent young men in the na-
tion," he says, "Colonel Joe
Harkins, Captain Robert Jones and
Pierre Juzan, who were all at the
academy, are bitter against it.
Peter Folsom, a young man naturally well
disposed, says he
could learn there nothing of any
importance. I am at loss for
an explanation of their attitude."
We, however, find an expla-
nation of the unspeakable cause in a
furious letter from Colonel
Johnson, written before they were
dismissed. "Whether I
leave black or white," he says,
"to keep my house in my ab-
sence, it is sacred by the Laws of the
Constitution as if I were
112 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
in it myself!" "You and the
magistrates", he reproaches, "were
not sufficiently severe." But no severity on their part could
have made up for the secret
half-measures in connection with
the youths' expulsion; and it is
edifying to note that while the
first offender of so many years back,
was never heard from
every individual mentioned by Captain
Armstrong as injuring
the institution, had been expelled from
the school quietly for
drunkenness and disorderly conduct. At
the instance of Colonel
Johnson and Mr. Henderson, the
Government ordered an in-
vestigation into the affairs and
condition of the school in 1841,
and matters were satisfactorily cleared
up.
But the times were out of joint. The
slanders of the evil
young chiefs were among the least of
several causes for the de-
cline of the institution. The chiefest
was that Mr. Henderson
was flagging. His frail constitution had
begun to break under
his multitudinous duties (one wonders
how he found time to at-
tend to his own affairs, to be widowed,
to remarry, and to add
six children to his numerous first
brood). Annoyed by unrea-
sonable concealments and complaints,
exhausted by myriad cares,
feeling it necessary to rear his growing
daughters in different
surroundings, and desiring time to
accumulate a possible inherit-
ance for a wife and children much
younger than himself, he be-
sought Colonel Johnson to release him
from his post at the In-
dian school; the Colonel replied in a
panic; though, he declared,
none but himself could keep the school
together at all, he was
involved in so many political webs that
he would be helpless
without Mr. Henderson's continued
superintendence; and he
adjured him by his loyalty to him, and
to his own humanitarian
principles, to continue his connection
with it. To this request Mr.
Henderson was constrained to accede,
providing that he be per-
mitted to spend half his time away,
Colonel Johnson agreeing to
engage a suitable man for
sub-superintendent during his absence.
His conditions were accepted, but the
difficulty lay in procuring
the man. Nobody with his patience,
courage, longsightedness
and deep scholarship could be found to
supply him. "It is
hard to delegate power", the
minister of war had said: and it
is; especially the power of the spirit.
While the work went on
very well after this change, it was then
that most unpleasant im-
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 113
broglios took place unreported; that
young men were returned
to the nation whose words fouled the
scholastic nest. The
new head of Indian affairs believed that
the Indians could be
served best by schools in their own
country; for the frontier was
moving westward, and Kentucky was in his
opinion too far out
of touch with the nations. Colonel
Johnson offered to wind up
the school in two years; Mr. Henderson
continued his position
upborne by his missionary conscience and
the feeling of duty
unshirked which are admirably displayed
in the following letter
to the Indian office, (dated September,
1839):
"It is a matter of deep regret that
the Indians cannot appre-
ciate the advantages of education more
highly than they do,
and that all our labour and toil to
cultivate the minds of their
children should be so little regarded by
them. It is true that
many prejudices have existed against the
school ever since it
was located in Kentucky; they have got
up from various quarters
under various circumstances and have
been managed with great
art and skill, to the injury of the
school; some by the boys them-
selves, who have become impatient and
tired of close applica-
tion to business or to study; some by
designing men in the na
tion, and others by enemies to Indian
reformation in the bosom
of our own country. With all these we
have had to struggle
and combat for thirteen or fourteen
years. As to the grounds
of complaint heretofore exhibited
against the school, we have
this gratification, that upon
investigation it has uniformly turned
out that they have arisen from the most
trivial circumstances,
and have been more ideal than real. If
the Indians of the North
or South are so prejudiced against the
school that they cannot
consent to send more boys, I am at loss
to ascertain upon what
grounds their objections are predicated;
for sure I am that the
great boast of talents and education
among the Choctaws and
Pottawatamies is of persons who have
been educated at this
school. We always expected that many,
like our own youths,
would make but little or no use of an
education after it was pro-
cured; moreover that many out of so
large a number would be
sent from the nations who had not
sufficient intellect to become
scholars, and that others who had, would
upon their return home,
fall back into their Indian customs and
habits, and soon forget
Vol. XXV-8.
114 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
what they had learned. I have regretted
to observe one unfa-
vourable trait in the Indian disposition
to do justice to this insti-
tuition i. e., that while they have been
disposed to speak in the
most unfavourable terms of a few whose
minds were not capable
of receiving instruction (and had on
that account to be sent
home) or of others who lacked moral courage to resist the
temptation of vice, and thereby rendered
themselves useless and
ridiculous after their return home, they
passed by unnoticed the
meritorious and the many who have done
credit to the school
and been an honour to the nation and
themselves. Although I
have been so often mortified at the
unreasonable complaints com-
ing from that part of the nation from
which I had reason to ex-
pect the most grateful acknowledgments,
yet I have had the
pleasing consolation on my part of
realizing the great and incal
culable advantages resulting from this
institution to the Indian
tribes. This school can boast of having
produced a greater num-
ber of the best scholars and mechanics,
of the best school teach-
ers, and accountants, as well as of the
best practical farmers and
merchants, than any other institution of
which I have knowledge.
A smith-shop is conducted in the Choctaw
nation by young men
from this institution, and I am told
that a boot and shoe shop is
managed profitably in the Pottawatamie
country by young men
who learned at this place. I received a
letter not long since from
one of the young men who was educated
here who informed me
that he was employed to teach a school
at $500 a year; from an-
other that he was acting as clerk on
good terms. I have also
heard from many others who are doing
well, but those of whom I
speak came to the school in a perfect
state of nature. I have also
been informed that many who became pious
at this school still
continue to conduct themselves in an
orderly and Christianlike
manner. Any information of this sort
must be highly gratifying
to one who has grown grey labouring to
improve the condition
of that devoted people. I have had the
honour of presiding over
this institution for the last fourteen
years as Superintendent, dur-
ing which time I have always entertained
the deepest solicitude
to impart every species of knowledge calculated to elevate the
Indian mind above that state of savage
degradation and supersti-
tious darkness under which they have
lain for so many ages
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw
Academy. 115
past. I have endeavored to sow the seeds
of piety and benevo-
lence, to lay the foundation of moral
rectitude, to cultivate social,
affectionate and brotherly temperament
of mind, to stamp upon
the young and all, the high reverence
and responsibility we owe
to the Creator. I have laboured
incessantly to show the evil
consequences of vice, and the end to
which it leads. I have en-
deavoured by every means to contrast
between good and bad
actions, and to show the difference
between good and bad men.
I have studied the most useful course of
education,- that which
I thought best suited to their
condition. This, I intend, shall
be my course so long as I shall have the
superintendence. Any
instructions you may be pleased to give
will be promptly obeyed."
Colonel Johnson proposed that Captain
Armstrong visit
the school upon his return from a
journey to Washington, that
he might make a report upon it to the
chiefs whose minds had
been poisoned by the lies of a few
thwarted libertine boys. If
favorable, it would have great weight
with the nation and con-
tinue to make the school useful for its
short remaining time.
He also decided upon the retention, as
its sub-superintendent,
of Colonel Peter H. Pytchlynn, a Choctaw
chief, whose education
for the most part had been received here
and who had been to
and from the school as escort for
arriving and departing scholars
and interpreter for visiting delegations
of chiefs. He believed
him to be competent and devoted to the
real interest of his people.
and knew that he possessed their entire
trust. Strangely enough,
this young man has been immortalized by
no less a personage
than Charles Dickens. The latter
encountered him when he was
traveling on the boat from Cincinnati to
Louisville in 1842, and
gives a most entertaining account of his
interview. Pytch-
lynn, who was no doubt a charter member
of the Napoleon So-
ciety, sent up his card; which tickled
Dickens' fancy immensely.
He described the chief's handsome person
and stately bearing,
his excellent English, which he had not
begun to learn until he
was a man grown, and their discussion of
literature,-(Cooper,
Scott) archaeology, history, hunting,
(when the chief laughed
at Dickens' little joke about not
damaging the buffaloes much)
and politics. Pytchlynn was returning
from Washington, and
Dickens asked his opinion of Congress.
He replied with a smile
116 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
that it lacked dignity in an Indian's
eyes. They spoke of the
recently completed gallery of portraits
of Indian chiefs by Mr.
Catlin, and our chief assured him that
his portrait was among
them, and afterwards sent Dickens a
lithographed copy of it,-
"very like, though scarcely
handsome enough," -which Dickens
carefully preserved as a memento of his
encounter with a
Choctaw Indian in America.
The school kept on its apparently
prosperous way, for even
at the height of the stormiest times,
affairs had gone smoothly
on the surface, and the board of
visitors reported the students
"in fine health and condition,
decently and comfortably clad,
seemingly attentive and industrious, and
so far as they knew
or believed, better satisfied than at
any former period when they
were called upon to make
report". Colonel Pytchlynn was
retained at a good salary, and
administered his duties satisfac-
torily until March 14, 1842, when he resigned in favor of a Mr.
Vanderslice, concerning whom we know
nothing save that he
had been in charge of schools in the
Indian country.
In May, 1842, the number of pupils had
greatly decreased
and no more were received; the attenion
of the Government and
of the nations being centered upon plans
for the foundation of
a school of similar aims and scope in
the Southwest Choctaw
territory, in furtherance of which
incipient steps had been taken.
This institution ceased to be a place of
education for Indian
youths in 1843. Of its final
disintegration and its closing scenes,
we have no account. Mr. Henderson, who
was then living at his
farm in Grant County near Crittenden,
died there shortly after,
in 1846. His soul must assuredly be with
the saints. His body
is under a modest shaft of marble in the
family burying ground
near the orchard of the old house, which
is now occupied by his
grandson. In the garret are some simple
desks and benches, a
handsome globe and surveying
instruments, some old school-
books and maps; and his great-grandchild
is sung to sleep with
a barbaric Indian lullaby. These appear
to be the sole relies in
Kentucky of Colonel Dick Johnson's once
famous Choctaw
Academy.
As for that distinguished man, Collins
mentions in 1844
that he had "retired to his farm in
Scott County, where he was
Colonel Dick Johnson's Choctaw Academy. 117
endeavoring to repair his private fortunes, which had been some- what impaired by a too liberal hospitality and by his absorption in his duties to his country." He died in Frankfort in 1850, and was buried in the beautiful cemetery on the hill near the spot where O'Hara and his comrades keep the bivouac of the dead. His monument is sculptured in extraordinary bas-reliefs purporting to image forth the scenes of the death of Tecumseh at the hands of the dashing Colonel, who is magnificent in bear- skin and Hessian boots. His Brick House, and the school buildings, the shops, which produced the articles which caused "the liveliest pleasure to gleam from the countenance of President Van Buren and the Secretary of War, General Cass," the dining hall capable of seating two hundred, where the young aborigines were sometimes wont to be "so evilly disposed as to throw stones and coffee" at each other, and cut up the table-cloths, and carry off the knives to go trading with,-all were destroyed by fire. Even the grove has dwindled from its former noble proportions; and the last vestige of the Indian school has vanished; both from the land, and from the memory of the Oldest Inhabitant. Let us hope that the results of its labors have been less evanescent; such effort on the part of teachers and of taught should survive as a little of the leaven of civilization. |
|
COLONEL DICK
JOHNSON'S CHOCTAW ACADEMY:
A Forgotten
Educational Experiment.
MRS. SHELLEY D. ROUSE.
Less than a century ago, there was a
large and prosperous
school for the education of the sons of
the Southern Indians,
in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky.
It was at that time "the only
institution in the country under
the supervision of the war department of
the United States
excepting the military academy at West
Point;" it attracted the
attention of philanthropists, and was
visited by many interested
and curious travelers; it was under the
patronage of a Vice
President of the United States, and its
head-master for most of
its nearly twenty years of existence,
was a man of unusual parts,
who, though somewhat in advance of his
times, must have been
marked and respected by his generation.
Of this unique under-
taking there are but few and obscure
records. The recent dis-
covery of the correspondence of its
Superintendent, which since
his death nearly seventy years ago has
been undisturbed, sug-
gests an inquiry into its history.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, the Indians of
the southern tribes had become
discouraged with the results of
warfare with the white man; it was borne
in upon them that
the only way in which they could compete
with him and survive
was to become learned in his wisdom,
that they might "fight
the pale face with his own
medicine." In the treaties educational
provisos began to appear. A number of
mission-schools had
been established by the different
religious sects under direction
of the War office (for Indian affairs
were then very frankly of
that department), but the head men of
the nations had become
dissatisfied with the opportunities
afforded by these institutions.
The surroundings were those of
barbarism; the authority of the
teachers was weakened by the fact that
the parents were their
children's guardians, and they,
according to ancient custom, re-
quired no continued performance of duty;
attendance was much
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