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Orlando Brown's Letter To William Medill

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A letter from William Bent to William Medill on Nov. 10th 1846 states that the “Agents and Subagents are absolutely necessary for the regulation and control of the various tribes of Indians above named. A very desirable effect might be produced upon the Indians by sending a delegation from each tribe to Washington.” Bent provides the numbers of souls and ledges of each of the tribes in New Mexico, totalling 36,950 people from ten different tribes. In later letters, when Calhoun writes to Orlando Brown regarding adding resources to the Indian office in Santa Fe, including more agents and subagents, Brown is unwilling to offer such resources. The lack of allocation of agents could have been due to the change in authority in Washington as opposed to personal preference; this theory seems unsustainable. Brown’s answer to this request for more ‘staff’ was that he needed more information from Calhoun regarding the Indian relations in order to process a special report of Congress with the special recommendations required for the adoption of the Native American policies and the agents to be allocated to this policy. Brown does make reference to the staff request stating that “it is essential to have a full …show more content…

Treaties with the Navajo (Sept. 1849), Pueblo (Nov. 1849), Utah (Jan 1850), Apache, Jiccarilles, Comanches and Mescaleroes (June 1850), specifying different requirements and articles. Calhoun was involved in the writing of treaties for the more Northern Tribes as well, as a consultant. His experience in the South West made him an expert, and his help was much appreciated by the Indian Office as can be seen from Orlando Brown’s letter of April 24th 1850. One of the advantages of these documents is that included alongside the letters themselves are the related correspondence, for example treaties were included where relevant and letters from other individuals that were being

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