Ken Martin,

Where can we find the original letter that you referenced in CHEROKEE CAVALIERS (1939), pp234, 307?

I found a reference to it in Angie Debo's "Southern Refugees of the Cherokee Nation", published in the SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, volume 35 number 4 (April 1932). Below is the relevant paragraph.

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"...For some time after the collapse of the Confederate government the destitute Indians were sustained by contributions of supplies from charitable citizens of Texas. As soon as Watie surrendered he opened negotiations with the Union generals for the benefit of the refugees; he commissioned William Penn Adair and James M. Bell to proceed to Shreveport, Louisiana, to make arrangements with the commander of the department in their behalf. ..."

Her two references:

1) James L. Butler to Stand Watie, July 13, 1865. MS. Correspondence between William Penn Adair and James M. Bell and Brigadier-General J. C. Veatch, July 19-20, 1865. Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, First Series, Vol. XLVIII, Part 2, pp. 1099, 1096, [implied also p1120].

2) Watie's commission to Bell and Adair, signed June 29, 1865. MS., University of Oklahoma.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v035/n4/contrib_DIVL3052.html

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I cannot find reference # 2 in my copy of the OFFICIAL RECORD.

Patti, prochette@Juno.com