Conclusion

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the lands we call Oklahoma today became part of the United States. In 1825, the US federal government established the area as reservation lands for many Native nations. The reservation lands came to be known as Indian Territory, although the US Congress never issued official territorial status to the reserved lands. In 1890, the western portion of the lands, also the original homelands of Indigenous peoples, was reestablished by the federal government as Oklahoma Territory. In 1907, Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory officially became a single state, the state of Oklahoma.

FIG. 2.7

Steamer Heroine on the Red River, 1838

Steamer Heroine on the Red River, 1838, by Peter Rindlisbacher. The steamboat Heroine sank in the Red River in 1838. It was carrying supplies to the soldiers at Fort Towson. The steamboat was discovered and excavated beginning in 1990 and provides clues to the role of river transportation in Indian Territory.

Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Oklahoma serves as a place to examine the intersections of land, race, and identity. Native nations learned how to build successful trade and political networks through Native kinship alliances. Families like the Chouteaus integrated themselves into Native communities and participated in the global fur trade. From the mid-1700s to mid-1800s, the world experienced a rising demand for furs to be made into clothing and home furnishings. This drove a boom in the fur trade that significantly impacted Native nations in Louisiana Territory. The French were particularly interested in capitalizing on the fur trade, so they built relationships with Native nations in Louisiana Territory, including land that later became northeastern Oklahoma. Through these connections the French gained access to trapping in the area. The fruitful relationship between the Osages and their Chouteau trading partners led to the family’s deeply established relationship with the Osages and other tribes. When France withdrew from North America, power moved to the Spanish, though independent French trappers and traders remained. Marriage between Osage women and French men strengthened kinship ties and trade relationships.

Following the Louisiana Purchase, a US delegation visited Three Forks in November 1806. When Fort Gibson was established in 1824, the fur trade and kinship ties with the Chouteaus and their Native partners grew stronger. By the 1830s, the fur trade economy had declined, and the Five Tribes, consisting of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations, were forcibly removed to Indian Territory from their homelands in the southeastern United States.

Once Louisiana Territory, including Oklahoma, was incorporated into the United States, Indian Territory became the new home for the Five Tribes. Fort Gibson served as a significant military post during the forced relocation and settlement of the Five Tribes on lands that had once belonged to the Osages, Wichitas, and Caddos. All these communities were now competing for land and resources. The next chapter will examine the aftermath of the Louisiana Purchase and European exploration in Oklahoma. It will also trace the origins of the Five Tribes in the southeastern United States before the federal US government forced them to move west to Indian Territory.