Nation. An angry Isparhechar then joins the sizable
faction of Creek traditionalists who demand that
the tribal government be disbanded and replaced
with one structured like a traditional Creek coun-
cil. When the Creek police are sent to break up a
meeting of Isparhechar’s followers, the officers are
shot. The conflict becomes known as the Green
Peach War because it began in an orchard of un-
ripened peaches.
Sent to track down the murderers, the Creek
militia chase Isparhechar and several hundred of
his followers to the Kiowa reservation. There U.S.
troops capture the traditionalists, who are first sent
to Fort Gibson but are later set free after Isparhechar
and Checote make peace with one another.
Women’s National Indian Association
lobbies for an assimilation program.
Led by Amelia Stone Quinton, an influential
advocate of temperance, the Women’s National
Indian Association demands in a petition that
Congress initiate a program for assimilating In-
dians into non-Indian society. The association,
composed largely of wealthy whites, endorses the
division of tribally held land into individually
owned allotments and the granting of citizenship
to Indians.
The Omaha Allotment Act is passed.
With the encouragement of anthropologist Alice
Fletcher, a faction of Omaha Indians lobby Con-
gress to divide their reservation into individually
owned allotments of land. Their efforts result in
the passage of the Omaha Allotment Act. Although
more assimilated than many tribes, the Omaha
soon fall victim to their inexperience in owning pri-
vate property. In time, two-thirds of the allotments
will fall into the hands of non-Indians.
October 24 to 26
The U.S. Navy destroys the Tlingit village
of Angoon.
The Tlingit of Angoon in southeast Alaska demand
a payment of 200 blankets from the Northwest
Trading Company. The goods are requested as
compensation for the accidental deaths of two
Tlingit men, including a shaman, who were killed
while working for the trading firm. E. C. Merri-
man, the U.S. naval officer in charge of keeping
peace in the region, meets with the Tlingit and
tells them that they have no right to demand any-
thing from whites. To punish them, he threatens
to shell their village if they do not pay him a fee of
400 blankets.
When the Tlingit refuse, Merriman orders his
men to demolish Angoon. Sailors fire a gatling gun
into the village and set nearly all of its buildings on
fire after looting the Tlingit’s possessions. Six chil-
dren die of smoke inhalation.
The destruction of Angoon is a disaster for
Tlingit, who will spend more than 10 years rebuild-
ing the village. Condemned by one congressman as
“the greatest outrage ever committed in the United
States upon any Indian tribe,” the incident con-
vinces the federal government to reorganize law
enforcement in Alaska. (See also entries for 1973
and for OCTOBER 24 TO 26, 1982.)DecemberNon-Indian philanthropists found the Indian
Rights Association.
With offices in Philadelphia, the Indian Rights
Association (IRA) is established to aid Native
Americans. The organization is the brainchild of
Herbert Welsh and Henry Panacoast, who attract
many prominent and wealthy Easterners—the so-
called Friends of the Indian—to their cause.
The IRA’s mission is to protect Indians from
the avarice of land-hungry whites until they can
be fully assimilated into mainstream non-Indian
culture. The tools the IRA advocates to assimi-
late Indians include non-Indian-style education,
U.S. citizenship, Christianity, and the allotment of
communal Indian lands into plots that individual
Indians can own as private property.
The IRA quickly emerges as one of the most
influential forces on U.S. Indian policy. The group
maintains a high profile by organizing speeches,