Report-1852, August 26

Rev. Thomas Johnson’s report to Thomas Moseley, Jr. Indian Agent.

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August 26, 1852

Sir:

   In pursuance of your instructions, I respectfully submit the following as my annual report of the Indians under my charge.

   The past year, taking in view the interests of the institution in general cannot but be regarded as one of more than ordinary prosperity. As to the health of the school, we have a good report to render. Of the one hundred and six scholars who have been in attendance, besides laborers, &c., employed in the service of the institution, not one death, nor even a case of serious illness, has occurred. This merciful dispensation, considering the prevalence and fatality of the cholera and other diseases on every side of us in close proximity, is truly remarkable, and for which we desire to render grateful acknowledgements to the Great Author of all Good.

   For the more particular statistics of the school I beg leave to refer you to the accompanying document No. l, which contains, in detail, a11 the items of information required by the department. On the examination of that document, you will find that during the past year the Delawares have again sent their children to the school, and I hope will continue to do so.

   Our crop this season may be pronounced a good one, especially of hay, corn, and oats. The same may be said of the crops of the tribes adjacent, viz: Shawnees, Wyandots, and Delawares.

In riding by their plantations and observing their farm-houses, many of which are very neat and comfortable, and also their fields, laden with rich products, and promising an abundant supply of all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life, one can hardly be brought to believe but that they were the results of a higher degree of skill and industry than is generally attributed to the red man of the forest. This state of improvement, it is true, is not equally observable in all parts of those tribes. There are portions of each that still cling more or less to their heathenish manners and modes of life; most of these are intemperate and abandoned, and have but little respectability in their nation, and, indeed, their regeneration is quite hopeless. But the principal classes, those who compose the strength and body of each of their nations, and who wield the chief influence in their national councils, are those who have attained the state of improvement we have mentioned above. They are industrious, moral, and intelligent, and, to my mind, there seems to be nothing in the way of their taking a stand on equal ground with the whites in every department of competition, except it is in the shelter of a government, which, in point of social and political privileges, would afford the same precious boon to them as that enjoyed by our own cit1zons; and, until they are raised to an equality with tl1e whites in this regard, it is folly to suppose that they can ever hold a fair competition with them.

The ability to hold real estate, the safeguard of competent laws for the protection of property, and an eligibility for rising to public office and endowment, seem to be necessary stimulants among any people toen1ightened and prosperous state. Much more, then, are such institutions necessary among those who were lately untutored savages, and who have just broken off them the fetters of heathenism, and struggle into a state of civilization.

   I throw out these suggestions, hoping that they may not seem officious, but merely for the consideration of those to whom such matters more properly belong.

   The moral and religious condition of those tribes is still thought to be slowly on the advance for the better. Besides many new converts to the profession of christianity, the older professors are beginning to understand more perfectly the deeper principle of the christian system, and to settle down in the practice of a more uniform and consistent piety. The principal obstacle we find in the success of our missionary effort among a large portion of these tribes is their intemperance in the use of ardent spirits. Abandoned wretches among the white man have always been found sufficiently artful and corrupt to elude the laws, and deal out doses of physical and moral death to the unfortunate victims of their avarice.

   I am aware that the benevolent designs of the government in this regard have been manifested by the repeated enactments of very stringent laws. But these, to a great degree, have proved insufficient. If some step could still be taken to arrest this evil, it would be an achievement in behalf of the poor Indian, than which, perhaps, no other benefaction, within the power of the government, would have a more favorable bearing in the present condition and future prospects of the Indian race.

Respectfully submitted:
THOMAS JOHNSON,
Superintendent.

Thomas Moseley, Jr.,
Indian Agent.

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[Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1851, 1852, p. 371-373.]