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| Previous Section of the Timeline: Indian Manual Labor School, 1842-1847 | |
| 1848 | |
| 1848, January 1 | Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School, submits a 4th quarter ending December 31, 1847 report on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School to Wm. Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In it he notes, "I regret that I am not able to give you a more detailed account of the whole establishment, but as my appointment was confirmed too late in the fall for me to move my family to the Institution - I have only been able to spend part of the quarter at the place but expect to move early in the spring and hope in future to give fuller and more satisfactory reports." Read the report. |
| 1848, April 18 | Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School, submits a 1st quarter ending March 31, 1848 report on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School to Wm. Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The wagon and smith shops burnt down a few weeks earlier, with all the tools and a considerable amount of unfinished work. Also they had three or four cses of pneumonia, "a disease very prevalent among Indians during the winter." Read the report. |
| 1848, July 5 | Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School, submits a 2nd quarter ending June 30, 1848 report on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School to Wm. Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. among his points is, "We begin to think our farming operations are on rather too expensive a scale to be advantageous labor being very high in proportion to the price of product, and at the present time the grain raised on our farm would hardly pay the hire of the laborers. Many of the Indians whom we could formerly get to work on the farm are now engaged as teamsters on the Santa Fe trail [unintelligible word] getting much higher wages than we can afford to pay we therefore think it most prudent to curtail our farm for the present and convert a part of this land into meadow and pasture and cultivate no more than we can manage with the three or four regular hands with the assistance of the school boys in that portion of their time set apart for labor." Read the report. |
| 1848, August 17 | Thomas Johnson decided to organize a classical department in connection with the school. Read the report. |
| 1848, September 25 | Classical department organized in the manual labor school. It was undertaken as an experiment, and apparently proved a success. A number of young men and women from Missouri, having limited means, and yet desiring to enjoy the advantages of a classical school, were admitted to this department. |
| 1848, September 26 | Report of Richard Cummins to the superintendent of Indian affairs. He stated that the Shawnees had made the greatest progress of all the tribes on the border, some of their farms comparing with the best within the state line. A few of the more opulent ones held negro slaves. Almost every family was supplied with horses, oxen, cattle, hogs and sheep, and agricultural implements. They had raised an abundant crop of grains, and vegetables, made butter and cheese, and cultivated fruit. Their hunts were of little importance anymore, and the Indian hunter had about disappeared from the border tribes. A traveler passing through their country might fancy himself in a white settlement were it not for “the swarthy lineaments and strange language of the inhabitants.” Read the report. |
| 1848, October 1 | Bishop James O. Andrews passed through Fort Leavenworth on his way to the Fort Leavenworth Manual Labor School (the current Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site) and visited other missions in the vicinity. Covering several chapters in his book, Miscellanies, the Bishop espoused his, and by extension the Methodist Church (South), views about the work of missionaries to convert and educate the Indians. Read an excerpt. |
| 1848, October 6 | Thomas Johnson submitted a report of the condition of the manual labor school for the quarter ending September 30, 1848. The number of Delaware children for this quarter was thirty-one, fifteen boys and sixteen girls; of the other tribes there were thirty-one boys and twenty-three girls, making a total of eighty-five. They had been engaged in the usual work, but owing to the four weeks’ vacation in August they had not made as great progress as in some other quarters. Crops were only fair, and the meadows and pastures had suffered from the drought of the past two years. Due to the same cause the springs were failing rapidly and they had been compelled to haul water to keep the steam mill running for the past two months Note that this report references Johnosn as the superintendent of the Fort Leavenworth Indian Manual Labor School. Read the report. |
| 1848, October 10 | Grand convocation of Indian tribes held near Fort Leavenworth. Here the emigrant tribes rekindled the council fire of the ancient confederacy of the Northwest. The position of the Wyandots as keeper of the council fire was again confirmed and renewed. The board of missions in their annual report gave nineteen whites, twenty Indians and three colored members as belonging to the church society. The average number of scholars in the school for the past year was about eighty. There was one Sabbath school with one superintendent, eight teachers, 100 scholars and 200 volumes in the library. List of Methodist appointments to the Shawnees for 1848: Indian manual labor school, Thomas Johnson, T. Hurlburt; Western academy, N. Scarritt; Shawnee, L.B. Stateler. Mr. Stateler was also presiding elder of the Kansas river district. |
| 1848, December 7 | A Transcribed letter from Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Fort Leavenworth Manual Labor, discussing the contract for the Kansas school which had been signed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Johnson indicateds he is "ready to commence to prosecute the work with as much energy as practicable. But it will be necessary for me to have a copy of the contract which I hope you will forward to me at the earliest opportunity with any suggestions you may think proper to make about either the location, the buildings or the farm." Read the letter. |
| 1848, December 30 | Forth quarter report ending December 31, 1848, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Wm. Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "The schools are not yet quite as full this session as they have been at some former periods owing, probably in part to the other schools that have recently been established in the Indian country. The Kickapoos are making preparations to establish a school in their nation and consequently have taken all their children from us. The Delawares have two schools in operation the Wea's one, the Shawnees two etc. Another cause of the difficulty in keeping the school filled is this, that these Border Tribes are becoming quite an agricultural people, and as soon as their children are large enough they want their services on their farms, especially such as have been taught work at the manual labor schools." Read the report. |
| 1848 | List of appointments to the Indian Missions of the Methodist church for 1848: Kansas River district, L.B. Stateler, presiding elder; Indian manual-labor school, Thos. Johnson, T. Hurlburt.; Shawnee, L.B. Stateler; Delaware, B.H. Russell; Kickapoo, N.T. Shaler; Wyandot, J.T. Peery; Kansas, T. Johnson.; Western Academy, N. Scarritt. |
| 1849 | |
| 1849, January 25 | Thomas Harvey, Superintendent of Indian Affairs wrote to William Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, concerning disputes among the churches in the indian territory, and his opinion, "that the agitation of the subject will be a serious affair to the Indians; it is already prejudicing their moral and religious character... If it is practicable the sooner it is checked the better." Read the letter. |
| 1849, March 9 | Jotham Meeker spent about three hours at the manual labor school, critically examining the work with a view of putting some Ottawa children there. |
| 1849, March 26 | Meeker wrote to Thomas Johnson relative to sending thirteen Ottawa children to his school. |
| 1849, March 27 | Five boys from the Ottawa mission set out for the manual labor school for three years. They were Robert Merrill and Ephraim Robbins, Ottawa boys of Reverend Meekers, two boys of Shawbonidas, and one of Washkees. |
| 1849, May 19 | A part of Edwin Bryant’s company on its way to the Rocky Mountains visited Shawnee Methodist mission. The whole party consisted of 98 fighting men, 50 women, 46 wagons, and 350 cattle.Memory-1849, May 19 |
| 1849, July 2 | Second quarterly report ending June 30, 1849, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Wm. Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "During the first month of this quarter we had about as many children in school as we could accommodate, but the cholera making its appearance in the country just at the time of our spring vacation, many have been kept at home, and probably can not be got back till this epidemic has entirely disappeared. Some whole tribes of Indians have left their homes and moved back many miles from the settlements hoping in this way to escape the ravages of this alarming disease. The Indians however have had much less of the cholera among them than the white population in the state. I have heard of a few cases only among the Shawnees and Delawares. We cannot help but feel truly grateful to God for that protective care exercised over us at this institution during the prevalence of the cholera as we have not yet had one case in our large family of nearly 150 persons." Read the report. |
| 1849, September 8 | William Walker, who later became provisional governor of Nebraska territory, heard Thomas Johnson preach at the camp ground and thought him decidedly the best Indian preacher he had ever heard. |
| 1849, October 12 | Thomas Johnson sent his annual report to the commissioner of Indian affairs. He reported progress being made in spite of the cholera and other hindrances. He noticed an increasing desire for education, especially among the Shawnees who had become a working people. Two things, however, operated against them; first, the want of suitable laws for the protection of their person and property; and second, their disposition to move from place to place. Frequently after building a comfortable house, and by hard work improving a farm, they would take a notion that some new place would suit them better and move off to commence anew. The Reverend Johnson expressed his belief that the Indians never could be extensively improved as separate nations. He advocated the plan of giving the Indians land in severalty and eventually granting them citizenship with the whites. A small reservation in each tribe could be maintained for those who were not willing to live among civilized people. The hay and oats crops were fair, and also the different kinds of vegetables; the corn, however, was far below the average, due to the almost constant rains throughout the entire season. But having reduced the number of cattle and hogs, Mr. Johnson thought they would be able to winter the stock. The number of scholars of the different tribes and sexes were as follows: Delaware, males 15, females 17; Shawnee, males 25, females 14; Pottawatomie, males 12, females 1; Ottawa, males 7, females 4; Wyandot, males 9, females 3; Omaha, males 1, females 1; Peoria, males 3, females 1; Cherokee1 males 2; Kansas, males l; total 116. Adding 5 apprentices not included in the above gave a grand total of 121. Read the report. |
| 1849, October 19 | Jotham Meeker purchased lumber from the steam mill at the manual labor school for his mill wheels, etc. |
| 1849, October 24 | Meeker reported that brother Jones of the Ottawas took his girls and Pooler’s boys to the manual labor school, and Pahtee’s children to the Shawnee Baptist mission. This year John Thompson Peery was appointed to the Indian manual labor school to be associated in the work with Thomas Johnson. His special work was teaching, but he preached on the Sabbath, assisted in social meetings and rendered other services. Nathan Scarritt was returned as principal of Western academy. |
| 1849 | The issue of slavery among the Indians had apparently been relatively quiet since the Methodist Church split in 1844. This may be because many of the wealthy and influential members, including chiefs, were slave holders or sympatric to slavery. But as positions in the region hardened and perhaps because of the return of Thomas Johnson to the Indian mission in 1847, changed. The Missouri Conference of the Methodist Church, North appointed Thomas B. Markham and Paschal Fish missionaries to the Indians. Fish, a Shawnee, had been a local preacher in the southern church but switched to be active leader of the “northern” Shawnee. The north missionaries set about their duties and quickly ran into resistance, not the least from Johnson and his allies. Part of the goal voiced by Markham and Fish was to establish their own mission and school and to strip divert funding from Johnson’s enterprise to theirs. |
| 1850 | |
| 1850, April 18 | First quarterly report for 1850 on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Orlando Brown, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Read the report. |
| 1850, April 22 | James Captain, Charles Fish and John Fish wrote to Orlando Brown, Commissioner of Indian Affairs complaining that their opponents, the missionaries at the Shawnee Manual Labor School, “have so far succeeded, as to procure the official aid of the U.S. Agent, to carry out their mad schemes of proscription and oppression” to the Methodist church, north’s efforts. They stated Thomas Markham had appointed in response to eighty-five Shawnees’ request to the Methodist Church, North, for a missionary. They then listed a series of accusations against the Manual Labor School that would haunt it to its end: that it “has become an immense money-making concern. Its managers have become rich and powerful”; that it had grown beyond the controls of its Shawnee hosts; that the missionaries, though beginning poor had grown rich and gained valuable property; that even its location had been chosen, along the overland trails, for the purpose of making money form the profits of their shops and farms. As for the operations of the school, they asserted that though the facilities were large enough to accommodate nearly 500 students, they only averaged 60 or 70. Moreover the children were overworked, malnourished and ill cared for, relating the story of children sick, dying and buried with their parents being notified—told their child had died when they visited the school. They believed the only purpose for the school was “…by so doing it affords the only means by which their operations for money making can be perpetuated.” Lastly, they accused the were corrupt, bribing tribal chiefs and others to block their religious freedom and oppose an abolitionist cause. Realistically there is seed of truth in all these indictments, much of it are contradicted by independent reports by visitor and reasonable understanding of circumstances, with resorting to a cause of malicious intent. Regardless of its level of truth, these accusations resurface repeatedly in the remaining years of the school and the rumors of mistreatment, children’s deaths, and greed, coupled with an aversion of the slavery issue and the rising level of violence on the border region—and of course, the departure of the tribes to the Oklahoma Indian Territory—contributed to the decline and eventual closure. |
| 1850, May | The General conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met in St. Louis. This conference changed the boundaries of the Indian mission conference by transferring the part in present Kansas to the St. Louis conference, where it was attached to the Lexington district.This district was called the Indian Mission District. |
| 1850, May 6 | In a letter written to her friend, Julia Anne McBride of Paris, MO, Miss A. Archbold, a teacher at the school, describes her work, living conditions and her fellow teachers. Most importantly she expresses her views about her students and the Indian culture and experience from which they came. Her beneficent attitude may have been shared by most of her colleagues at the school and certainly among the policy makers in the church and the government who established the educational system. Its purpose in their eyes was to save the children, thorough Christian education and schooling, from a savage way of life that was particularly demeaning of women. Read the letter. |
| 1850, May 9 | Jotham Meeker writes: "Travel in my buggy to the Shawnee Meth. Mission. Meet a great many California emigrants." [Meeker Journal, v. 2, p. 159., MSS. Dept., K.S.H.S.] |
| 1850, July 3 | Second quarterly report for 1850 on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Orlando Brown, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "The number of children attending school during the first month of this quarter was the same as mentioned in my last report, but about the time of our spring vacation the measles and whooping cough made their appearance among the children, and has spread throughout the neighborhood; this has prevented them from coming in as promptly at the beginning of this session as usual." Read the report. |
| 1850, July 9 | Letter of John O. Wattles, correspondent of the New York Tribune, published, reporting that he had visited the Shawnee Methodist mission. He mentioned the three large brick buildings, one being used for the boarding house, one for the school, and the other “for a high school for whites from the States.” He also noted that Thomas Johnson, the superintendent, was a slave holder, and that one of the Shawnee chiefs who farmed on a large scale had most of his work done by slaves. Article-1850, July 9 |
| 1850, July | The annual report of the board of missions gave the number of students at the school as 120, the members of the society as twenty whites, five Indians and three colored. The Sabbath school had 80 scholars and 200 volumes in the library. The state of religion was reported as tolerably good. |
| 1850, August 12 | A letter from Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to L. Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs detail specific information regarding the contract with te Delaware tribe, the use of their schools funds and the building of a mill for the tribe. Read the letter. |
| 1850, October 2 | Third quarterly report ending September 30, 1850, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Attendance was fifty-five: 31 females and 24 males. Read the report. |
| 1850, December 31 | Fourth quarterly report ending December 31, 1850, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Attendance was 79: 40 females and 39 males. Four teachers were employed--two for the males and two for the females--who had the entire management of the scholars both in school and at work. Johnson also reported that "The health of the Institution continues good: we have had no case of sickness requiring the attention of a physician in the last three months." Read the report. |
| 1851 | |
| 1851, January 29 | J.T. Peery reported to the board of missions that the attendance at the manual labor school during the winter had been about eighty, although many more had obtained their outfits of winter clothing there. The children were taught spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar and geography. A part of each day, except the Sabbath, was devoted to some kind of manual labor. The pupils were required to be present at family worship twice a clay and to attend public worship on the Sabbath. The Sabbath school had over 100 scholars. Read the report. |
| 1851, April 15 | First quarter report ending March 31, 1851 on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to L. Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Attendence was 42 males and 39 females. He notes too, "We have had general good health in the Institution during the winter - indeed we have not had a death among the students, or among those employed here, for about three years: - for which we desire to be thankful to the Author of all good." Read the report. |
| 1851, May 1 | D.D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis, MO, under instructions from the commissioner of Indian affairs, made an examination of the manual labor school. |
| 1851, May 26 | Mr. Mitchell reported to the commissioner the results of his investigation. The attendance on the day of his visit was forty-three Indians and seven white scholars. In a separate room were twenty-eight white boys and girls, the children of frontier inhabitants, whose parents paid for their education. He found that a few Indian scholars of both sexes had made some progress in spelling and reading, and two boys understood the rudiments of arithmetic. He regretted to learn that but few boys ever acquired much knowledge of agriculture or the mechanical subjects, being due in part to the indisposition of the boys to do manual labor, and to some extent to the lack of zeal on the part of the instructor. When the boys reached the place where their labor and skill would be profitable their parents were not willing for them to work for a “bare and poor subsistence,” and the teachers were not so interested when they knew their pupils would be sure to leave when their labor became valuable. Mr. Mitchell also thought that the profits of the farm, which were great, should be used for the benefit of the Indian whose money was being expended, instead of going to enrich those who managed the institution. He understood that the superintendents never failed to make a fortune within four or five years. He especially thought that the Delawares had cause for complaint, finding but one small half-breed Delaware girl at the school. The teachers told him that they had no hope of ever being able to induce the Delawares to return to the school, attributing the cause to the jealous interference of rival missionaries. In conclusion Mr. Mitchell expressed his opinion that the money paid the missionary societies for the education of Indians could be better used for that purpose by the resident agent of the government, particularly as the societies had introduced politics into the Indian country. The political question growing out of the subject of slavery had scattered discord and contention among the border tribes and its evils were rapidly increasing, fostered as it was by some “misguided missionaries.” Read the report. |
| 1851, June 19 | Second quarterly report ending June 30, 1851on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Johnson notes, "...our annual vacation commences today, [and] will continue two months. The school has been in session ten months without any intermission. But we deem it proper to make out our Reports to the close of each Quarter of the fiscal year without any reference to the sessions and vacations of our school - as we have vacations only once a year." and an ineresting personal note: "You will perceive that the certificate of the Agent is not appended to the Report. The reason of this you will understand for you will doubtless have learned, before this page reaches you, that Col. Lee, our worthy agent was thrown from his horse on the 17th inst.+ died immediately." Read the report. |
| 1851, August 25 | Thomas Moseley, Jr., agent for the Kansas agency, informed the superintendent of Indian affairs that the Delawares for some cause unknown to him had refused to send their children to the manual labor school for a year, but he hoped with the aid of the school superintendent to get back some twenty or more. He also informed him that the Delaware mill built by the society as a “boon for their education fund,” was a complete wreck. The tribe was anxious to have it built, but the chiefs were indifferent. Read the report. |
| 1851, Sumner | Nathan Scarritt resigned his place as principal of the Western academy to devote himself exclusively to preaching to the Indians. |
| 1851, September 12 | Jotham Meeker sent his Indian boys, Robert and Ephraim, to the manual labor school together with those who attended the previous year and seven new ones, making in all twenty. |
| 1851, September 30 | Statement showing the condition of the Fort Leavenworth Indian manual labor school for the year ending September 30, 1851. Read the report. |
| 1851, October 1 | Third quarter report ending September 30, 1851 on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Here Johnson explains, "Our plan last year was,+ henceforth will be, to teach 10 months without any vacation - throwing the other 2 months all in our vacation - + so to arrange it that this may fall in the hottest+ most sickly part of the year." The purpose of this schedule appears to be a response to te Cholera epidemic ravaging the area: "Although sickness this season has prevailed+ is still prevailing to an unusual extent among the adjoining Tribes, still our number of scholars is uncommonly large for this particular season for generally they are very hard to be collected in, until late in the Fall. The present prospect is that we shall be unusually crowded with scholars this winter." Read the report. |
| 1851, December 27 | Receipt from Cyprien Chouteau to Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School and certified by Nathan Scarritt, for items purchased on behalf of the school. Read the receipt. |
| 1851, December 31 | Fourth quarter report ending December 31, 1851, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Read the report. |
| 1852 | |
| 1852, January | Receipt from Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to William Donaldson witnessed by John T. Perry certified by N. Scarritt for services of Negro servant on behalf of the school from 1 Jan to Dec 8, 1851. Read the receipt. |
| 1852, March 31 | First quarter report ending March 31, 1852, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Read the report. |
| 1852, May 31 | Jotham Meeker reported many people sick and dying with cholera at Westport and Kansas City. |
| 1852, June 24 | Meeker attended the examination at the manual labor school, and the next day started home in his wagon with ten Ottawa children. The roads were very bad. |
| 1852, June 28 | Letter of explanations of charges from Auditors Office of the Treasury Department by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Given the consistant exchange of questions and answers regarding expenditures, reports on attendence, and other such items, it is apparent that the Office of Indian Affairs kept a close accounting of the Indian schools, both on behalf of the government but also the Tribes' school funds. Read the letter. |
| 1852, June 30 | Second quarter report ending June 30, 1852, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Read the report. |
| 1852, August 26 | Thomas Johnson in his annual report regarded the year as one of more than ordinary importance. The health of the school had been good. Not a death had occurred among the 106 scholars or the laborers at the institution. This he considered remarkable considering the prevalence of cholera and other diseases in close proximity. The Delawares had again sent their children to the school. The crops were good especially those of hay, corn and oats. Mr. Johnson dwelt upon the improvements noticeable in the tribes with their comfortable farmhouses and fields promising abundant crops, and again expressed his belief that they should be allowed to hold real estate, and enjoy the privileges of citizenship along with the whites. The moral and religious condition of the tribes was slowly on the advance for the better. The chief obstacle to the success of the missionary was their intemperance in the use of drinks. “Abandoned wretches among the white men,” he stated, “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.” Read the report. |
| 1852, September 1 | Thomas Moseley, Jr., reported to Col. D.D. Mitchell that he had attended the annual examination in June at the manual labor school and the results were highly satisfactory. The children showed that they had been taught and managed by competent hands. The higher classes were learning geography, English grammar1 arithmetic, etc., and the other classes were in the elementary branches as writing, music, etc. He especially praised the teachers in the female department for the motherly care they manifested for the children at all times. Read the report. |
| 1852, September 30 | Third quarter report ending September 30, 1852, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "The total number of scholars for the quarter has been ninety one (91); a larger number, I believe, than we have ever had before at the same time of year. The number would have been still greater, had we not felt it our duty to decline taking any more from the Ottawa+ Wyandott tribes, in order that we might have room for a few more from the Delaware and Shawnee Nations, because we think they have preference claims on the Institution." Read the report. |
| 1852, October 12 | Move to establish territorial government to be known as Nebraska territory. An election for delegate to congress was held at the council house of the Wyandot nation. Abelard Guthrie received the entire vote polled by the Wyandots. |
| 1852, October 17 | D.D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian affairs, informed the commissioner of Indian affairs that the reports of the agents and missionaries of the border tribes were “colored in lights entirely too flattering.” From his personal observation little or no good had come from the humane efforts of the government and of pious individuals to hasten the civilization of the Indians. |
| 1852, October | The annual report to the board of missions listed three Indians, fifteen whites and three colored persons as belonging to the Fort Leavenworth manual labor school church, and 100 scholars in the Sabbath school |
| 1852, December 31 | Fourth quarter report ending December 31, 1852, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "We have had considerable sickness during the past quarter and one death, but we are so fortunate as to be able to report all well at present, for which we desire to thank a kind Providence." Read the report. |
| 1853 | |
| 1853, February 11 | Thomas Johnson informed the Reverend Meeker that the examination would be on the last Friday of the month, but that there would be no vacation. He should be pleased to have him there. |
| 1853, March 31 | First quarter report ending March 31, 1853, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "Though sickness has been so prevalent+ fatal among the adjacent tribes generally, yet I am happy to state that the last quarter has been one of unusual good health with the scholars, as there has not been a death, or a case of severe among them. For this distinguished blessing, as well as for all others, we desire to be thankful to the Author of all good." Read the report. |
| 1853, April 12 | J.T. Peery, presiding elder of the Kansas district, reported to the board of missions that the Fort Leavenworth manual labor school was perhaps never in a more prosperous condition. During the past winter the Shawnees suffered from sickness, and many died, making it necessary for the school to take a great many orphans. The school during the winter numbered about 100 scholars. Church membership statistics were the same—three Indians, fifteen whites and three colored persons, with 100 scholars in the Sabbath school. Read the report. |
| 1853, May 31 | N.H. Scruggs sold Thomas Johnson two negro girls for the sum of five hundred and fifty dollars. One of them was named Jane, age about eight years, and the other was named Mary, age about two and a half years. He warranted them to be sound in body and mind and to be slaves for life. |
| 1853, June 16-23 | The Pacific railroad exploring and surveying party under the leadership of Capt. J.W. Gunnison, encamped near Shawnee mission while collecting supplies for the expedition. Several days were spent in breaking in wild mules as no others could be obtained in a short time on account of the great demand for them by the emigrants going west. For the same reason they had difficulty in securing capable teamsters, and it was only by industrious drilling that the company was able to set out on June 23. Read the report. |
| 1853, July 26 | A railroad convention was held at the Wyandot council house. This convention organized a provisional government for Nebraska territory, electing William Walker provisional governor and nominating A. Guthrie as candidate for reelection as a delegate to congress. The convention expressed its preference for the great central railroad route. |
| 1853, June 30 | Second quarter report ending June 30, 1853, on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "During the quarter we were hindered for a short time by an attack of the measles, which though it swept through all most the entire school, was very mild and in no case proved fatal. With this exception the school has been remarkably healthy." Read the report. |
| 1853, August 1 | Governor Walker issued a proclamation for holding the election on the second Tuesday in October in the different precincts in the territory for a delegate to congress. |
| 1853, August 29 | A report on the activities of the Indian Manual Labor School, Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Major B.F. Robison U. S. Indian Agent. "In consequence of a great many orphan children whose parents died among the Shawnees having been left with out home or friends to care for them we permitted our school to be crowded more than we normally do during the winter season+ indeed the desire for education is growing every year among the surrounding tribes so that instead of having to go and hunt them up as we did in former years and persuaded them to come to school. They now come of their own accord and beg admittance. This is as it should be and gives us a much better opportunity to control them than we had before. The prospect is favorable for so many as we can take care of for the next session." Read the report. |
| 1853, August 30 | Jotham Meeker arrived at the manual labor school with eight Ottawa children. |
| 1853, September 6 | George W. Manypenny 1 commissioner of Indian affairs, and Thomas Johnson visited the Wyandots. |
| 1853, September 14 | John C. Fremont and his party arrived at Westport. They encamped near Westport and began active preparations for their expedition to the Far West. From several droves of mules Colonel Fremont selected a few for which nearly two prices were exacted by their owners. |
| 1853, September 20 | A bolting convention held at Kickapoo nominated Thomas Johnson as delegate to congress. He was said to have been put forward by the friends of Sen. D.R. Atchison, of Missouri. |
| 1853, September 22 | Fremont’s party made a trial start 1 encamping at the Methodist mission that night, and the next day proceeded to the Shawnee Baptist mission and encamped for the night. Colonel Fremont, becoming ill, returned to Westport. |
| 1853, October 11 | Election held for delegate to congress. William Walker wrote: “The priesthood of the M. E. church made unusual exertions to obtain a majority for their holy brother. Amidst the exertions of their obsequious tools it was apparent it was an up-hill piece of business in Wyandot.” |
| 1853, October 31 | Governor Walker conceded the election to Thomas Johnson. He considered it not surprising since Mr. Guthrie had only his personal friends to support him, while, as he said, Mr. Johnson had the whole power of the federal government, the active support of the commissioner of Indian affairs, the military, the Indian agents, missionaries, Indian traders, etc. A combined power that was irresistible. |
| 1853, November 7 | The returns of the election were canvassed. Thomas Johnson, receiving the majority of votes, was declared elected. |
| 1853, November 9 | Jotham Meeker started his Indian boy, Robert Merrill, to the manual labor school. |
| 1853, December | Thomas Johnson went to Washington. The annual report of the board of missions gave the average attendance at the school from 90 to 100. The children all appeared contented, well and happy. Read report. |
| 1854 | |
| 1854, January | Hadley D. Johnson of Iowa, who was also a candidate for delegate to congress from Nebraska territory, went to Washington in the interest of the organization of the territory. In the house of representatives, he found seated at a desk a “portly, dignified, elderly gentleman” who was introduced to him as the Rev. Thomas Johnson. Hadley’s representative friend from Iowa secured for him a seat also at a desk beside Thomas Johnson where they consulted together upon the pending legislation. But their legislative activities on the floor of the house was of short duration. Complaints having reached the speaker’s ears, he directed the principal doorkeeper to investigate. Hadley Johnson was respectfully asked to vacate his seat, and informed the doorkeeper that his neighbor was holding his seat by a right similar to his own, thereupon the two Johnsons were “relegated to the galleries,” much to the mortification of the Reverend Johnson. Both the Johnsons were interested in the organization of two territories, but could not agree upon the boundary line, Thomas Johnson holding out for the Platte river as the northern boundary of the Kansas territory. But when offered the two alternatives: the fortieth degree of north latitude or the defeat of the bill for that session, he consented to the fortieth degree as the boundary line. Read his account. |
| 1854, March 28 | Thomas Johnson returned from Washington. |
| 1854, April 5 | About one hundred Shawnees were called in council at their meeting house by the United States agent, to hear a proposition from the government relative to the purchase of their land. They chose a delegation of eight to proceed to Washington to make a treaty. |
| 1854, April 15 | The Independence (MO) Messenger recorded that the Rev. Thomas Johnson passed down the river the other day on the steamer Polar Star· on his way to Washington. It added, “He has Indians with him, and is negotiating treaties.” |
| 1854, April 24 | Jotham Meeker at the Ottawa mission wrote: “Learn that during all of last week great numbers of cattle have been passing every day. On yesterday morning about 1,000 left here. They continued passing all day. On last night between 2,200 and 2,300 loose cattle encamped within a mile of our house. Large droves still move onward through the day. About 1,500 more encamp this evening within a mile of us. We have heard of over 2,100 having passed and arrived today.” He reported they were bound for California. |
| 1854, May 10 | Treaty with the Shawnee Indians. The Indians ceded to the United States their land set apart for them by the treaty of 1825, excepting 200,000 acres to be selected as homes for their people. The treaty also granted to the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, three sections of land including the improvements of the Indian manual labor school, to be patented to the society or to such persons designated by it, upon the allowance of $10,000 by the society to the Shawnees for education of their children. Five acres including the meeting house and cemetery was also set apart to the Shawnee Methodist church. Read the treaty. |
| 1854, May 30 | Kansas and Nebraska bill was signed by President Pierce. |
| 1854, May | The General conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, meeting at Columbus, Ga., organized the work in Kansas into a separate conference known as the Kansas mission conference. |
| 1854, June 1 | Meeker recorded, “Emigrants arc squatting around us in great. numbers.” |
| 1854, June 8 | Richard Mendenhall, a Mission teacher at the Friends Shawnee Mission, wrote and article to the National Era entitled, Slavery now existing in Nebraska in which he condemns as a slaveholder and for polital role in crafting the Nebraska/Kansas Act and efforts to write a new treaty which would have the Shawnee and other tribes sell their Kansas lands. The article was picked up by other newspapers with editorials. Read the article, and comments. |
| 1854, June 9 | An abstract of the case of the Manual Labor School in the Shawnee Country, established by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1838 by Wm B. Waugh, Indian Office. A summary history of the establishment of the Indian Manual School from 1838 until 1844. Read the abstract. |
| 1854, June 29 | School closed for vacation. |
| 1854, July 5 | William H. Goode, a missionary with the Methodist Episcopal Church, North, distinctly anti-slavery, traveled to Kansas and in his later book recounts his experiences and opinions of the "Johnson's Mission." Read his account. |
| 1854, July 7 | Andrew H. Reeder took the oath of office as governor of Kansas territory. |
| 1854, July 14 | Thomas Johnson answered an anonymous document headed, “Reasons why the treaty recently concluded with the Shawnee Indians should not be ratified by the senate.” Mr. Johnson attempted to show that no favoritism was shown the Methodist church, South, with regard to the educational fund; and explained that he was present at the negotiation of the treaty at the request of both the Delaware and Shawnee delegations. With regard to partiality in securing the school, he stated that the improvements, having been made at a great expense, he considered it right to insure a clear title so that when it was not needed for an Indian school it could be used as a boarding school for the whites. As to his getting rich quick, he said that he had commenced life very poor and had been successful in gathering some property, and if it were necessary he would make a schedule showing how he got it. Read the rebuttal. |
| 1854, August 3 | A proposal for the continuation of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to George Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Johnson proposed changing the name from the Fort Leavenworth Indian Manual Labor School to the Shawnee Manual Labor School. Though students from other tribes would contine to be accepted on a limited basis, the main focus would be Shawnee childern, ages 8 to 16, taught "the various branches usually taught in English schools, and in addition to this, we will teach them to work, so far as we can without interfering with their studies, during the usual school hours." Read the proposal. An addenda of explanatory remarks was included. Read the remarks. |
| 1854, August 6 | A correspondent to the Boston Journal traveling in Kansas, wrote: “We passed the house of the Rev. Thomas Johnson, the present Atchison Proslavery delegate in congress. His house is beautifully situated and surrounded by extensive grounds, which appeared well cultivated. The wilderness here already begins to ‘blossom as the rose.’ It is slave labor, however, upon which he depends, for, in open violation of the law of 1820, he has for years owned and worked a large number of negroes.” |
| 1854, August 25 | A letter from Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Geo W. Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, reports that "...the Shawnee Council have requested that their school fund should be employed at this school, + as this was the only condition to be complied with to complete the contract with your Department I have called the school together under this new contract+ have given the Shawnees notice that they may send in any number of scholars they choose not exceeding seventy...." Read the letter. |
| 1854, August 27 | The report of the manual labor school submitted to the board of missions gave the attendance as follows: Shawnees, 49; Delawares, 19; Wyandots, 14; Ottawas, 23; total 105. The health of the school had been good and unusual interest had been shown in the work. Read the report. |
| 1854, August 28 | Jotham Meeker lodged at the manual labor school and conversed with Thomas Johnson about Indian treaties, schools, surveys, Kansas and Nebraska territories, etc. |
| 1854, August 31 | Jotham Meeker wrote to S. Peck, corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, informing him of conditions at the Shawnee Baptist mission and advising that the Baptists discontinue all labors at the Shawnee station. Read the letter. He recorded in his journal: “The summer is ended—never knew one so dry. There seems to be a general cry throughout the U. S. on account of the prolonged dry season. Corn and potato crops have almost everywhere failed…. The weather has been extremely warm for some six weeks, the mer. rising above blood heat almost every clay. Several days it has risen to 106, once to 110. On today it is to 104.” |
| 1854, September 5 | A letter from Geo W. Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to R. McClelland Secretary of the Interior forwarding transcribed comments on conditions for the continuation of the Indian Manual Labor School by Thomas Johnson, Superintendent Manual Labor School to Geo W. Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated Aug 25, 1854. Manypenny outlines the issues involved with the various missionary schools from different denominations service the tribes. The recent traties with INdian Tribes in Kansas and Missouri changes the relationships. Read the letter. Read the letter. |
| 1854, September 8 | Ten Ottawa children set out to attend the Indian manual labor school for ten months. |
| 1854, September 10 | A lengthy letter published in the Daily Republican, (Springfield, MA) accuses Thomas Johnson of being "One of the most determined bitter and unprincipled enemies to freedom in Kansas…." Read the letter. |
| 1854, September 15 | The first weekly newspaper in Kansas, the Leavenworth Kansas Weekly Herald, appeared. Type for the issue was set under an elm tree, on the levee, near Cherokee street. It was Proslavery in politics. |
| 1854, October 7 | Gov. A.H. Reeder arrived in the territory and established the executive office temporarily at Fort Leavenworth. |
| 1854, October 18 | Governor Reeder and his party passed the Shawnee mission on his way up to Union Town, Council Grove, Fort Riley and back to Fort Leavenworth. |
| 1854, October 23 | A letter to the Daily Sentinel of Milwaukee, detailing the treatment of Rev. Dr. Abraham Still, a Methodist Episcopal (North) missionary at Wakarusa Shawnee Indian Mission in eastern Kansas whose anti-slavery position resulted in him being expelled from Indian territory after the treaty of 1854. Thomas Johnson is names as an instigator of the end of Rev. Still's mission. Read the letter. |
| 1854, November 2 | Thomas Johnson wrote to the Reverend Meeker requesting that he have about 250 copies of hymns struck off. He told him that he had offered the governor one of the school buildings for the meeting of the legislature provided he could do no better. He understood that the new city of Leavenworth was anxious to have the legislature meet there. He also informed him that the surveyor general was at Leavenworth and expected to run the base line between the two territories during the winter. |
| 1854, November 10 | Governor Reeder issued a proclamation for the election of a delegate to congress to be held on November 29. |
| 1854, November 16 | Daniel Woodson, secretary of Kansas territory, wrote to his wife from Fort Leavenworth: “Gov. Reeder has determined to take up his headquarters this winter at the Shawnee mission, about thirty miles from here, and has written for quarters for me also at the same place. It is said to be a very pleasant place, well provided with comfortable buildings, under the charge of the Rev. Thos. Johnson, an old Virginian, and a particular friend of the Rev. Thos. Early of Lynchburg. Mr. Johnson has been out here about 25 years as a Missionary under the direction of the Methodist E. Church, and is a gentleman of the highest standing and character. I expect to be as pleasantly situated there as I can be in the absence of my dear wife and children.” |
| 1854, November 21 | A letter from R. McClelland Secretary of the Interior, Washington concurring with the funding of the Indian Manual Labor School to Geo W. Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. "The Shawnee Indians having expressed a desire that their school fund for the education of their children be disbursed to the Methodist Missionary Manual Labor School under the superintendency of the Revd. Thomas Johnson, you are authorized to pursue that course...." Read the letter. |
| 1854, November 24 | The executive offices were moved to Thomas Johnson’s house at Shawnee mission. |
| 1854, November 25 | Thomas Johnson, Cyprian Chouteau, and Davis Thayer were appointed judges of election in the seventeenth election district. Thomas Johnson informed the Reverend Meeker that he would take the three children that Pooler brought and four more if they were the right kind, and that the teachers wished Wolf’s children to be included in the number. He urged him to use his influence for Gen. J.W. Whitfield at the election on the 29th. |
| 1854, November 29 | Election of delegate to congress. |
| 1854, December 5 | J.W. Whitfield, the Proslavery candidate, was declared elected delegate to congress and received the certificate of election. |
| 1854 | In 1924, Belle Greene, daughter of Mission teachers Jesse and Mary Todd Greene, reminisced about the “Life at Shawnee Mission” for the Missouri Valley Historical Society. Among her memories were the dinning room procedures, and her impressions of an Indian camp meeting. Read the memory. |
| 1854 | This year the manual labor courses were discontinued, and only literary courses were given thereafter. |
| Next Section of the Timeline: Indian Manual Labor School, 1855-1865 |
