DURING THE WAR several intertribal councils had been held by
the various tribes of the Indian Territory in order to provide
for closer co-operation in carrying on the conflict and to estab-
lish a greater solidarity among the Indians as a whole. Such
councils had been held at Armstrong Academy in the Choctaw
country both in 1863 and 1864. In the spring of 1865 the
tribes determined to hold a grand council at some point farther
west, closer to the "prairie Indians," large numbers of whom, it
was hoped, could be induced to attend. The site first chosen
was Council Grove, a short distance west of where Oklahoma
City is now located, but fearing that the Federal army officers
had learned of their plans, the Indians changed the meeting
place to a point called Camp Napoleon on the Washita near
the site of the present town of Verden.

Here, on May 26, 1865, representatives of some twenty tribes
and bands met and formed an Indian confederation designed
to promote perpetual peace and friendly relations with each
other as well as to preserve intact the once powerful Indian
race and by united efforts to gain sufficient strength "to com-
mand respect and to assert and maintain our rights."

In June, following the grand council at Camp Napoleon, an-
other session was held at Armstrong Academy. Here the exec-
utives of the Five Civilized Tribes constituted themselves a
committee to extend a welcome to all tribes and bands and to
issue an urgent invitation to those Indians who were allied

-179-