DISTURBED AS CONDITIONS had been in the Indian Territory in
the years immediately preceding the outbreak of the war, the
situation became even worse after the secession of the southern
states had actually begun and after it had become clear that
conflict was at hand. As early as February 7, 1861, the Choc-
taw council passed resolutions expressing their regret over the
growing quarrel between North and South and their hope
that the Union might be preserved. At the same time the
Choctaws declared their desire to join with the southern states
in case the Union should be dissolved, and they assured the
people of Texas and Arkansas that they desired to continue
friendly relations.

The Chickasaws also expressed their sympathy with the
South, but the remainder of the Five Civilized Tribes were con-
siderably divided. The Cherokees, bordered on one side by
the slave states of Arkansas and Missouri and on the other by
the free state of Kansas, were in a particularly vulnerable posi-
tion. Moreover, the bitter and long-standing quarrel between
the Ross and the Ridge-Boudinot parties made any unified ac-
tion virtually impossible. The Creeks were also torn by fac-
tions, and to a certain extent so were the Seminoles.

The Confederacy was early alive to the importance of secur-
ing an alliance with these five great tribes of Indians. It was

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