Day-by-Day / February 15, 1803

February 15, 1803

Pressing Indian affairs

Washington, DC Thomas Jefferson urges the War Department to negotiate for Native Nations’ land in the Illinois and Mississippi Territories before France assumes control of New Orleans and Louisiana.

Ball-play of the Choctaw—Ball Up (c. 1848)

by George Catlin (1796–1872)

A mass of Indians play on their village green

Oil on canvas, height: 65.4 cm (25.7 in); width: 81.2 cm (32 in). Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., Smithsonian American Art Museum.

By the time Catlin painted the Choctaw, they and several other nations had been removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma as per the 1830 Indian Removal Act. As part of Jefferson’s request to fund what is now known as the Lewis & Clark Expedition (see January 18, 1803), he proposed moving Indians to the west side of the Mississippi River to create a buffer between the United States and Spanish New Mexico.

Catlin’s Choctaw ball-play, the precursor to today’s milder lacrosse, simultaneously involved deep spiritual commitment and combative violence. Lacrosse was widely played throughout North America as early at 1100 AD.

Jefferson’s Plan for Indian Lands

Feb. 15. 1803.

Th:J. to Genl. Dearborne.

I have no doubt the arrival of the French at New Orleans will entirely stiffen the Indians against the sale of lands, I think the present moment critical to press for all we want immediately. viz. from

1. the Creeks, the residue of the Oakmulgee fork

2. the Cherokees Wafford’s settlement & the Southeastern road.

3. the Choctaws, their lands between the Yazoo & Missisipi.

4. the Kaskaskias & Piorias [Illinois Tribes], their lands between the Wabash & Missisipi.

5. the Kickapoos, Poughtewatamies [Potawatomies & Weauhs [Wea of the Miami] a settlement & extension of boundary.

the 4th. & 5th. to be charged on Govr. Harrison with instructions to lose no time.[1]Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0448. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 … Continue reading

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0448. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 529–530.]

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).