"One of the disasters in our handling of the American Indians was the Trail of Tears, during which 46,000 members of the Five Civilized Tribes, which included the Cherokee, Creek and Seminole, over a number of years were removed from the Southern United States and marched to reserves in Oklahoma. Of the 13,000 Cherokee forced on the Trail of Tears, 5,000 died. The territory did not have the welcome mat out, as the Osage had gotten there first and were not happy with the interlopers.

Fort Gibson was established in 1824 in preparation for the tribes’ move into the territory, and the Seventh Cavalry was charged with keeping the Osage and Cherokee from fighting with each other. Fort Smith in Arkansas was considered too far away to control the fighting between American Indian tribes that was likely to take place.

The Fort Gibson we visited in Fort Gibson, Okla., was largely reconstructed during the Depression by the Works Projects Administration and was intended to be as close as possible to how it looked at the time. Rooms have furniture, cots, desks and other objects to give visitors some idea of what the original was like.

It would have been hard to find a worse place to build a fort. Col. Matthew Arbuckle built it on the east bank of the Grand River just above where the Verdigris and Arkansas rivers came together. The area was a bad one for disease, especially malaria, because it regularly flooded. In one period, more than 500 of the troops stationed there died from various diseases.

Fort Gibson served as a supply point for materials intended for the American Indians who arrived in the area, often at the point of starvation. "

Get the Story:
Wayne Anderson: Fort Gibson reveals U.S. treatment of American Indians (The Columbia Daily Tribune 10/24)