[Footnote 682:  Negotiations with the Shawnees had been undertaken in 1862.  In June, Black Bob, the chief of the Shawnees on the Big Blue Reserve in Johnson County, Kansas, protested against a treaty then before Congress.  He claimed it was a fraud (cont.)]

and the New York Indians.  He attempted one with the Kaws but failed.[683] The Osages, who had

[Footnote 682:  (cont.) [Telegram, A.H.  Baldwin to Dole, June 4, 1862, ibid., Shawnee, 1855-1862, B 1340 of 1862], which was the red man’s usual appraisement of the white man’s dealings.  A rough draft of another treaty seems to have been sent to Agent Abbott for the Shawnees on July 18 and another, substantially the same, December 29.  One of the matters that called for adjustment was the Shawnee contract with the Methodist Episcopal Church South, Dole affirming that “as the principal members of that corporation, and those who control it are now in rebellion against the U.S.  Government, the said contract is to be regarded as terminated....” [Indian Office Land Files, Shawnee, 1860-1865, I 865].  Usher’s letter to Dole of December 27, 1862 was the basis of the instruction.  Dole’s negotiations of 1863 were impeached as were all the previous, Black Bob and Paschal Fish, the first and second chiefs of the Chillicothe Band of Shawnees, leading the opposition.  Agent Abbott was charged with using questionable means for obtaining Indian approval [Ibid., General Files, Shawnee, 1863-1875].  Conditions at the Shawnee Agency had been in a bad state for a long time, since before the war.  Guerrilla attacks and threatened attacks had greatly disturbed domestic politics.  They had interfered with the regular tribal elections.

“Last fall (1862), owing to the constant disturbance on the border of Mo., the election was postponed from time to time, until the 12th of January.  Olathe had been sacked, Shawnee had been burned, and the members of the Black Bob settlement had been robbed and driven from their homes, and it had not been considered safe for any considerable number to congregate together from the fact that the Shawnees usually all come on horseback, and the bushwhackers having ample means to know what was going on, would take the opportunity to make a dash among them, and secure their horses.

“De Soto was designated as the place to hold the election it being some twenty miles from the border ...”—­Abbott to Dole, April 6, 1863, Ibid., Land Files, Shawnee, 1860-1865, A 158.  In the summer, the Shawnees made preparations for seeking a new home.  Their confidence in Abbott must have been by that time somewhat restored, since the prospecting delegation invited him to join it [ibid., Shawnee, A 755 of 1864].  A chief source of grievance against him and cause for distrust of him had reference to certain depredation claims of the Shawnees [Ibid., General Files, Shawnee, 1855-1862, I 801].]