Audiobook: Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, December 1827

Because the US Constitution gives the power of relating to (and control over) Indian tribes to the federal government, Congress requires updates every year, and those reports are available to the public. In 1827, the Office of Indian Affairs was still under the War Department and did not publish the Superintendent’s report as a separate document. The advantage to this is that—unlike in later years when the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the individual reports from Indian agents was published separately—we can hear two of the diverse sides of the complicated story of the relationships of the various offices within the US government, various Native American tribes, and US citizens. The New York Public Library extracted these documents into a separate volume. The bibliographic information can be heard in Section 00. Keep in mind that these reports were written as argumentative or persuasive pieces. The reader should be alert to determine the problems about which they are arguing and their proposed solutions. Specific events and plans discussed in this report include military movements against and councils with the Winnebagos regarding violence against lead miners on Winnebago land and others, records regarding agreement with the Chickasaws for removal, and records regarding meetings with the Chocktaws and Creeks regarding removal. The Chickasaw chiefs who gave the talk in Section 21 were Tish-a Mingo, William M’Givery, Levi Colbert, Stimo-luct, Pus-ta-la-tubbee, and Ma-taash-to, and the witness was Pitman Colbert. The Choctaw chiefs who gave the talk in Section 24 were Wa Sha she mas tubbe; Hoop pa ya skit ta na; Red Dog; David Folsom; Tapena Homma; Greenwood Leflore; E, Yah, ho tubbee; Ah che lu luh; Mitlokachu; William Hay; Jerh Folsom; Holuhbee; Hok loon tubbee; Hoosh shi hoom ma; James Pickens; and Ook chauh Yah; and the secretaries were P. P. Pitchlynn and M. Foster, Jr. – Summary by stepheather