P
writing system will also be adapted by other groups,
including the Ojibway, Montagnais, and Inuit.
Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock investigates
fraud in Indian Removals.
The U.S. government appoints Major Ethan Allen
Hitchcock to look into widespread allegations
that officials misappropriated money and supplies
intended for southeastern tribes during their Re-
moval to Indian Territory (see entry for MARCH
1839). Hitchcock finds that “bribery, perjury, and
forgery... and every conceivable subterfuge was
employed by designing white men.” The govern-
ment declines to make Hitchcock’s devastating
report public. (See also entry for 1844.)
George Catlin’s North American Indians is
published.
Painter George Catlin chronicles his eight-year
journey through Indian country (see entry for
1832) in The Manner, Customs, and Condition of
“I have been reproachfully des-
ignated the ‘Indian-loving Catlin.’
What of this? What have I to
answer?... I love a people who
have always made me welcome
to the best they had[,]... who
are honest without laws, who
have no jails and no poor-
houses[,]... who are free from
religious animosities[,]... who
never fought a battle with
white men except on their
own ground.... [A]nd Oh, how
I love a people who don’t live
for their love of money.”
—artist George Catlin on his
reputation as an “Indian lover”the North American Indians. The popular work con-
tains stories of his travels and approximately 300
engravings based on paintings and drawings of In-
dians he made from life.1842The Bagot Commission reviews Canadian
Indian policy.
The Bagot Commission begins its two-year inves-
tigation of Canada’s dealings with Indian peoples.
The commission will recommend that the govern-
ment develop programs to teach Indians to farm
using non-Indian methods, create schools for In-
dian children, and support religious instruction as a
means of assimilating Indians into white society.August 14The Second Seminole War ends.
After almost seven years of fighting, the United
States negotiates a peace that ends the U.S. Army’s
campaign against the Seminole (see entry for DE-
CEMBER 28, 1835). The army has compelled more
than 4,000 tribe members to move to western lands;
some 500, however, have eluded the troops by hid-
ing in the swamps of southern Florida. Because this
land is unattractive to whites, the United States
allows these Seminole to stay in the region rather
than continue its costly and seemingly unwinnable
war against them.1844The Cherokee Telegraph begins publication.
Established by the Cherokee Tribal Council, the
Cherokee Telegraph becomes the first Indian news-
paper in Indian Territory. Like its predecessor,
the Cherokee Phoenix (see entry for FEBRUARY 21,
1828), the newspaper publishes articles in Chero-
kee and in English. Its first editor, William Potter
Ross, envisions the Telegraph as a tool for encour-
aging tolerance among the tribe’s white neighbors