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152
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
REMARKS ON THE INDIAN DEFICIENCY BILL, JUNE 9, 10, 1858 1 Mr. President, I have an amendment to offer which is very important to the security of the frontier of Texas: And be it further enacted, That the superintendent and agents within the superintendency of Texas shall be hereafter appointed in the same manner as other superintendents and agents are ap- pointed and confirmed; and the Witchita agency is hereby at- tached to the superintendency of Texas. I do not intend to make any statement unless it becomes neces- sary. In the first place, our agencies heretofore, have been tem- porary in their character and position throughout the country, and the same influence, as if they were appointed, like other agents, by nomination to, and confirmation by, the Senate. The Witchita agency is now within the limits of that portion of the country ceded by the Choctaws and Chickasaws for the purpose of a reservation, lying between the ninety-eighth and one hun- dredth degrees of west longitude. They are contiguous to, and immediately upon, the borders of Texas. They are bordered on· the east and north by the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations of Indians. The superintendency to which they have heretofore been attached, is at Fort Smith, entirely disconnected from these Indians. They have not had an agent residing amongst them. They are two hundred and fifty miles from the Texas superin- tendency; and though of different tribes, they are only about one hundred and thirty miles from the Texas superintendency. They have intercourse with our Indians, are intermarried with them, and they have no connection with the civilized tribes within the limits of the Indian country attached to the Arkansas superin- tendency. For that reason, it is thought best that they should be connected with our superintendency. It will, to be sure, increase the trouble of the superintendent, but it will add no perquisites to him, and will not be profitable; the effect will only be to enable him to exercise a control over those tribes which annoy us very much, and extend his influence and the influence of the Indians on the reservation of them, and be of great aid in preserving peace. There is no other object than this in the application that is made. For the information of the Senate, I will .say that my late colleague, General Rusk, applied to the Indian Department; and after the adjournment of the last Congress, he obtained an order from the Secretary of the Interior to attach these Indians to the
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