[Footnote 571:  (cont.) Opoeth-le-yo-ho-la who had been rather obstreperous, to accept [Coffin to Dole, November 14, 1862, Indian Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862].]

[Footnote 572:  Dr. S.D.  Coffin, to Dole, July 5, 1862, ibid., General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862; J.C.  Carter to Dole July 22, 1862, ibid.]

[Footnote 573:  Kile to Dole, ibid.]

[Footnote 574:  The estrangement resulted in the retirement of Kile from the service.  In September, Dr. Kile asked for a leave of absence.  Shortly afterwards, Secretary Smith instructed Charles E. Mix, the acting commissioner, that the services of Kile were no longer needed, since the superintendent could attend to the purchasing and distributing of supplies [Smith to Mix, September 22, 1862, Indian Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862].  Mix promptly informed Kile that his resignation was accepted [Mix to Kile, September 22, 1862, ibid., Letter Book, no. 69, p. 133].]

[Footnote 575:  “Orders have been given by General Blunt for the Indian Expedition to go South soon; he says the families of the Indians may go.  They wish to do so but no provision is made for their subsistence or conveyance.  We wish immediate instructions in this particular.”—­Carruth to Coffin, August 29, 1862, ibid., General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862.]

in Congress, first in connection with a Senate resolution for their relief.[576] On July fifth, Congress had passed an act suspending annuity appropriations to the tribes in hostility to the United States government and authorizing the president to expend, at discretion, those same annuities in behalf of the refugees.[577] At once, the number[578] of refugees increased and white men rushed forward to obtain contracts for furnishing supplies.

There was a failure of the corn crop in southern Kansas that year and Dr. Kile, appreciating certain facts, that the Indian pony is dear, as is the Arabian horse, to his master, that the Indian ponies were pretty numerous in spite of the decimation of the past winter, and that they would have to be fed upon corn, advised a return to Indian Territory before the cold weather should set in.[579] He communicated with Blunt[580] and found Blunt of the same opinion, so also Cutler[581] and Coleman.[582] Contrariwise was Superintendent Coffin,[583] whose view of the case was strengthened by E.H.  Carruth, H.W.  Martin,[584] and A.C.  Ellithorpe.[585]

[Footnote 576:  U.S.  Congressional Globe, 37th congress, second session, part i, 815, 849, 875, 891, 940.]

[Footnote 577:  U.S.  Statutes at Large, vol. xii, 528.]

[Footnote 578:  In October, Coffin put the number of refugees, inclusive of the Cherokees on Drywood Creek, at almost seven thousand five hundred [Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Report 1862, p. 137] and asked for sixty-nine thousand dollars for their support during the third quarter of 1862 [Coffin to Mix, September 16, 1862, Indian Office General Files, Southern Superintendency, 1859-1862].]