The history of Cleveland County, Oklahoma refers to the history of a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and the land on which it developed prior to 1907 statehood. Prior to European colonization, the land represented the edge of the domain of the Plains Indians. France and Spain both colonized and explored the area before it became part of the United States via the Louisiana Purchase. It became part of the territory of the United States and tribal land and eventually part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.
Before being claimed by a European power, the area of the present-day Cleveland County was on the eastern fringe of the Plains Indians domain. The Cross Timbers eco-region, which runs north to south across eastern Cleveland County, provides a natural boundary line of the Great Plains, and the Plains Indians are not known to have ventured into the Cross Timbers. The tribes that would have hunted in the area of the future Cleveland County consisted of the Comanche, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita tribes. In 1545, Andres do Campo and two other Spaniards were the possibly first known Europeans to enter what is now Cleveland County. Early explorers including do Campo, were held captive by the Kaw Indians in Kansas. They escaped and fled south paralleling present-day Interstate 35 in Oklahoma and likely crossed Cleveland County on their way back to New Spain.[1]
The Spanish explored parts of Oklahoma while it was part of New Spain but never ventured into what is now Cleveland County.[4] In 1800, in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso,[5]France acquired the territory back from Spain, although Spain continued to administer the region. For 38 years the area now known as Cleveland County was ruled by Spain.
Flag of France
In 1803, France sold Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million.[6] This became known as the Louisiana Purchase. After three years of French rule, what is now Cleveland County became part of the United States.
In August 1820, while returning from an exploratory journey to Pikes Peak (known as the Long-Bell Expedition), MajorStephen H. Long (1784–1864) traveled through future Cleveland County en route to Fort Smith, Arkansas.[9] Long noted in his journal that huge prairie dog towns existed in the vicinity, and elk, deer, and bear were numerous. Botanist Edwin James (1797–1861) accompanied Long on the expedition. James detailed this trip in his book From Pittsburgh To The Rocky Mountains.
In the autumn of 1832, Captain Jesse Bean (1784–1844) led a troop of U.S. Rangers (mounted militia) from Fort Gibson through present-day Cleveland County on an expedition to seek a settlement between the nearby Plains Indians and the newly resettled Five Civilized Tribes. They failed to make contact with any of the plains tribes. Bean and his men encamped on Bishop Creek in present Norman. While there they were nearly overrun by a herd of stampeding buffalo. Author Washington Irving (1783–1859) accompanied Bean on this trip and wrote of his experiences in his book A Tour On The Prairies.
In the summer of 1834, the First Dragoon Expedition (also known as the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition) passed through present-day Cleveland County. The expedition had just completed a parley with the Plains Indians in western Indian Territory. There they were successful in obtaining the release of a 9-year-old Texas boy that had been kidnapped in the spring. The expedition en route back to Fort Gibson crossed the Canadian River somewhere between present Norman and Lexington. Sergeant Hugh Evans recorded in his journal that there were large herds of buffalo on both sides of the Canadian. The dragoons remained in the area for a few days drying buffalo meat and awaiting the return of a courier that had been dispatched earlier. Artist George Catlin (1796–1872) accompanied this expedition.
Indian Territory 1834–1890
On June 30, 1834, Indian Territory, which included present-day Cleveland County, was officially created by the Congress.[11]
In May 1835, a detachment of dragoons from Fort Gibson established an outpost on Chouteau Creek in the area where Slaughterville is today, less than a mile south of Bryant Road on the west side of 84th Street. Called Camp Holmes (after LieutenantTheophilus H. Holmes 1804–1880) the outpost was to be used as a council grounds for talks between the U.S. Government Stokes Commission and Indian tribes from the southern plains. On August 24 or 25, 1835, a treaty was signed with the Comanche and Wichita tribes. Camp Holmes was also known as "Camp Mason" and "Mason's Fort" after MajorRichard B. Mason (1797–1850) who was the dragoon officer in charge of constructing the post.
Shortly after the Treaty of Camp Holmes was signed, the dragoons abandoned Camp Holmes. A trader by the name of Auguste P. Chouteau (1786–1838) set up a trading post on the site and conducted trade with the plains tribes. The site was known as Chouteau's Trading Post or "Chouteau's Fort". Chouteau died in 1838, at which time the trading post was abandoned.[12]
In 1839, Dr. Josiah Gregg (1806–1850) left Fort Smith, Arkansas, en route to Santa Fe in the Mexican state of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico with $25,000 worth of merchandise loaded in a number of wagons, a party of thirty men, and two cannons. He hoped to establish trade with the Mexicans. Gregg followed the Canadian River west and camped at Chouteau's abandoned post. Here he was met by 40 dragoons from Fort Gibson under the command of a Lieutenant Bowman. Bowman had orders to escort Gregg to the 100th meridian, which at that time was the boundary of the United States. Gregg wrote about his Santa Fe trading days in his two volume book Commerce Of The Prairies. Gregg followed the same route back to Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1840.
In the summer of 1843, Captain Nathan Boone (1781–1856), youngest son of Daniel Boone (1734–1820), on a reconnaissance mission of the Santa Fe Trail, North Central and Central Indian Territory, entered what is now Cleveland County while en route back to Fort Gibson. Boone and his troop of dragoons camped on Bell Creek in the Noble area, three-tenths of a mile east of U.S. 77 on Maguire Road. The next day Boone stopped by Chouteau's old abandoned post to rest his men and horses for an hour before proceeding east toward Fort Gibson.[13]
In the summer of 1845, an expedition under LieutenantJames W. Abert (1820–1897) left Bent's Fort, Colorado, to reconnoiter the U.S.-Mexico-Republic of Texas border. By October, Abert had made his way down the Canadian River to present day Cleveland County. Abert camped in the areas of Norman, Noble, and stopped by Chouteau's old trading post. Abert wrote of Chouteau's post: "A lofty gate-post was leaning mournfully over the ruins around, borne down by the weight of declining years and the ravages of time. Here we saw fragments of wagons which, by their age, showed that the place had long been deserted. There was the scarcely distinguishable road, in many places overgrown with weeds and shrubs. Some of our people, in the height of their enthusiasm, mounted the chimney, and unfurled the American handkerchief that it might float in the breeze. It was a grateful sight to all once more to meet certain vestiges of the white man." Chouteau's Post had been abandoned for seven years at this time. Abert and his men marched on to Fort Gibson.
The California Gold Rush prompted many emigrant trains headed west to seek their fortunes.[14]CaptainRandolph B. Marcy (1812–1887) was directed to take a wagon train west, and to make a trail to Santa Fe, New Mexico.[15] Marcy left Fort Smith, Arkansas in May 1849 following the course of the Canadian River. Marcy mainly stayed on the south side of the Canadian River, but there was a north branch of the California Road that stayed on the north side of the river from Eufaula to Chouteau's old trading post, and then crossed the Canadian there, rejoining the south branch of the road. At this time there were some Kichai Indians living in the vicinity of the old post. Marcy wrote a guide book for emigrants heading west called The Prairie Traveler that was full of maps, illustration, and itineraries.
In November 1858, Edward F. Beale (1822–1893) was surveying a proposed wagon road from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to the Colorado River and passed by Chisholm's Post. Beale writes of the place "I rode yesterday with Mr. Green up this stream for about three miles, and discovered on a small tributary of it the remains of old Choteau's trading post; looking among the ruins, I found a human skull, which I tied behind my saddle, and brought back to camp." Apparently at this time Chisholm was not doing business here as there is no mention of him. Beale referred to this area as Kichai Indian country, so it is probable that the tribe was still living in the neighborhood.[18]
The Seminoles loyal to the Confederates were led by Chief John Jumper. The confederate Seminoles formed the 1st Battalion Seminole Mounted Volunteers and the 1st Regiment Seminole Mounted Volunteers.
A Cherokee man by the name of Dave Blue built a trading post on Dave Blue Creek in present-day Norman, less than a mile south of Oklahoma State Highway 9 on 48th Avenue SE. He would employ Cherokee and Creek Indians to hunt buffalo and then ship the hides to Atoka to market.[24]
In 1871, the U.S. Land Office contracted with Theodore H. Barrett to survey a north–south route for a railroad west of the Indian Meridian. [132nd Ave.] A year later in November 1872, a survey crew led by Abner E. Norman came through the area stopping at a spring on Bishop Creek to camp overnight, less than a mile south of Lindsey Street on the west side of Classen Boulevard. Peeling the bark from a large elm tree, one of the men burned the words "Norman's Camp" into the trunk of the tree.
In 1885, the Kansas Southern Railway received permission to build a railroad from Arkansas City to Purcell over the route that Theodore H. Barrett had surveyed in 1871–72. Some railroad officials selected a 13+1⁄2-acre site 1+1⁄2 miles north of the spring at "Norman's Camp" [Area where Duffy St. crosses railroad tracks in Norman] as a station grounds and watering site. The line reached Norman Station as it was known then on April 15, 1885, and was completed at Purcell on April 26. At Purcell the railroad joined another line that was built by another railroad company that had started its line in Galveston. The Kansas Southern Railway was sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayAT&SF in 1899. In 1996, the AT&SF merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad making the Burlington Northern Santa Fe RailwayBNSF. The first passenger train came into Norman Station on June 13, 1887, headed northbound.
On December 19, 1890, the territorial legislature placed the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, stipulating that the town donate 40acres and raise $10,000 through bond sales.[25] In 1892, the school's first students enrolled.[25]
Oklahoma 1907-present
At 1907 statehood, Cleveland County had a population of 18,460.[2] The county's early economy was based on agriculture, with 371,640acres of farm land a year after statehood in 1907.[2]
By the 1920s, the University of Oklahoma campus had grown to 267acres and the population of the county's biggest city continued to grow, reaching 9,603 by 1930.[26]
In 1939, a new county courthouse was built to replace a 1906 building.[26]
The Cheyenne are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, and the Northern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese. The tribes merged in the early 19th century.
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign independent state. In general, the tribes ceded land they occupied in exchange for land grants in 1803. The concept of an Indian Territory was an outcome of the US federal government's 18th- and 19th-century policy of Indian removal. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), the policy of the US government was one of assimilation.
McClain County is a county located in south central Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,662. Its county seat is Purcell. The county was named for Charles M. McClain, an Oklahoma constitutional convention attendee.
Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa, was a Spanish citizen and later, became an American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, became a land owner, merchant, fur trader, United States Indian agent, and explorer. Lisa was among the founders, in St. Louis, of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company. Manuel Lisa gained respect through his trading among Native American tribes of the upper Missouri River region, such as the Teton Sioux, Omaha and Ponca.
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about 906 miles (1,458 km) long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about 47,700 square miles (124,000 km2).
The Unassigned Lands in Oklahoma were in the center of the lands ceded to the United States by the Creek (Muskogee) and Seminole Indians following the Civil War and on which no other tribes had been settled. By 1883 it was bounded by the Cherokee Outlet on the north, several relocated Indian reservations on the east, the Chickasaw lands on the south, and the Cheyenne-Arapaho reserve on the west. The area amounted to 1,887,796.47 acres.
Jesse Chisholm (Cherokee) was a Cherokee fur trader and merchant in the American West. He is known for having scouted and developed what became known as the Chisholm Trail, later used to drive cattle from Texas to railheads in Kansas in the post-Civil War period.
The Cimarron River extends 698 miles (1,123 km) across New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas. The headwaters flow from Johnson Mesa west of Folsom in northeastern New Mexico. Much of the river's length lies in Oklahoma, where it either borders or passes through eleven counties. There are no major cities along its route. The river enters the Oklahoma Panhandle near Kenton, Oklahoma, crosses the southeastern corner of Colorado into Kansas, reenters the Oklahoma Panhandle, reenters Kansas, and finally returns to Oklahoma where it joins the Arkansas River at Keystone Reservoir west of Tulsa, Oklahoma, its only impoundment. The Cimarron drains a basin that encompasses about 18,927 square miles (49,020 km2).
The Colorado War was an Indian War fought in 1864 and 1865 between the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and allied Brulé and Oglala Sioux peoples versus the U.S. army, Colorado militia, and white settlers in Colorado Territory and adjacent regions. The Kiowa and the Comanche played a minor role in actions that occurred in the southern part of the Territory along the Arkansas River. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux played the major role in actions that occurred north of the Arkansas River and along the South Platte River, the Great Platte River Road, and the eastern portion of the Overland Trail. The United States government and Colorado Territory authorities participated through the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment, often called the Colorado volunteers. The war was centered on the Colorado Eastern Plains, extending eastward into Kansas and Nebraska.
Comanche history is the story of the Native American (Indian) tribe which lived on the Great Plains of the present-day United States. In the 17th century the Eastern Shoshone people who became known as the Comanche migrated southward from Wyoming. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Comanche became the dominant tribe on the southern Great Plains. The Comanche are often characterized as "Lords of the Plains." They presided over a large area called Comancheria which they shared with allied tribes, the Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Wichita, and after 1840 the southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. Comanche power and their substantial wealth depended on horses, trading, and raiding. Adroit diplomacy was also a factor in maintaining their dominance and fending off enemies for more than a century. They subsisted on the bison herds of the Plains which they hunted for food and skins.
Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any other military post in the United States. It formed part of the north–south chain of forts that was intended to maintain peace on the frontier of the American West and to protect the southwestern border of the Louisiana Purchase. The fort succeeded in its peacekeeping mission for more than 50 years, as no massacres or battles occurred there.
Fort Osage was an early 19th-century factory trading post run by the United States Government in western Missouri on the American frontier; it was located in present-day Sibley, Missouri. The Treaty of Fort Clark, signed with certain members of the Osage Nation in 1808, called for the United States to establish Fort Osage as a trading post and to protect the Osage from tribal enemies.
The history of Oklahoma refers to the history of the state of Oklahoma and the land that the state now occupies. Areas of Oklahoma east of its panhandle were acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, while the Panhandle was not acquired until the U.S. land acquisitions following the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).
The Battle of Middle Boggy, also known as the 'Battle of Middle Boggy River or Battle of Middle Boggy Depot, took place on February 13, 1864 in Choctaw Indian Territory, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of what is now Allen in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. Advancing down the Dragoon Trail toward Fort Washita, Union Colonel William A. Phillips sent out an advance of approximately 350 men from the 14th Kansas Cavalry and two howitzers to attack a Confederate outpost guarding the Trail's crossing of Middle Boggy River. The Confederate force was led by Captain Jonathan Nail and composed of one company of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Cavalry, a detachment of the 20th Texas Cavalry and part of the Seminole Battalion of Mounted Rifles. The outpost was about 12 miles (19 km) from Muddy Boggy Depot, which was held by the Confederates. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture says that the battlefield was 15 miles northeast of the depot, whereas the battlefield marker says the distance was 12 miles. The Confederate force at the outpost, consisting of 90 poorly armed men, were caught off guard when Willetts attacked them. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Confederates held off the Union cavalry attack for approximately 30 minutes before retreating to the rest of Lt. Col. John Jumper's Seminole Battalion, who were not at the main skirmish. The Confederates retreated 45 miles (72 km) southwest down the Dragoon Trail. The Union advance continued south toward Ft. Washita the next day, but when the expected reinforcements did not arrive Philips' Expedition into Indian Territory stalled on February 15, near old Stonewall.
Auguste Pierre Chouteau was a member of the Chouteau fur-trading family who established trading posts in what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma.
During the American Civil War, most of what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma was designated as the Indian Territory. It served as an unorganized region that had been set aside specifically for Native American tribes and was occupied mostly by tribes which had been removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As part of the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Indian Territory was the scene of numerous skirmishes and seven officially recognized battles involving both Native American units allied with the Confederate States of America and Native Americans loyal to the United States government, as well as other Union and Confederate troops.
Matthew Arbuckle (1778–1851) was a career soldier in the US Army closely identified with the Indian Territory for the last thirty years of his life.
Enoch Steen was a United States military officer and western explorer. He joined the United States Army in 1832, serving at posts throughout the United States, including many remote locations in the west. During his military service, Steen explored parts of the western United States including large areas of southern New Mexico and southeastern Oregon. He served as the commander of several Union Army forts during the American Civil War. Today, there are landmarks in Oklahoma, Oregon, and New Mexico named in his honor; however, many of the place names are misspelled as Stein.
Joseph Bijeau, also known as Joseph Bijeau dit Bissonet and Joseph Bissonet, was among the earliest fur trappers of the Rocky Mountains. He was a guide for Stephen Harriman Long's expedition of the Great Plains in 1820. A fur trapper and hunter, he lived among the Pawnee people. He was able to communicate to a number of Native American tribes through his use of sign language as well as the Crow language, which was used among a number of western tribes. After Spain lost the Mexican territory, trappers like Bijeau moved to Taos where they could trap, trade, and travel east without the hostilities that they experienced in the western United States.
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