Chronology of American Indian History

1896

May 18

Talton v. Mayes exempts tribal governments
from upholding the Bill of Rights.
In the case of Talton v. Mayes, a Cherokee man
convicted of murder in tribal court appeals to the
Supreme Court on the grounds that the Cherokee
grand jury that brought him to trial consisted of only
five people, in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The Court finds that this is an inadequate basis for
appeal because the Bill of Rights does not apply to
tribal governments, which predated the Constitu-
tion. The principle established by the case—that
tribal governments are not required to extend the
rights guaranteed by the Constitution—will be ob-
served until the passage of the Indian Civil Rights
Act (see entry for APRIL 18, 1968).

August

The Klondike Gold Rush begins.
When gold is discovered in the Klondike region
of Canada, thousands of white prospectors begin
traveling north, flooding into the lands of Alaskan
Natives. Although most prospectors will have little
success, the luckiest involved in the Klondike Gold
Rush will mine more than $100 million over the
next decade. The Alaskan Natives will receive none
of this money because the U.S. government will not
give them mining grants for gold uncovered in their
ancestral territories. They will, however, suffer from
the presence of the miners, who indiscriminately
overrun their lands and routinely commit acts of
violence against them.

1897

Oil is discovered on the Osage reservation.
In 1895 the secretary of the interior granted a drill-
ing company a 10-year oil lease on the eastern half
of the Osage reservation in northern Indian Terri-
tory. Two years later, a test well finds oil under the

tribe’s land. The discovery will prompt the Osage

to insist on retaining mineral rights when their res-

ervation is allotted (see entry for 1906). (See also

entry for 1921.)

The Indiana Miami lose their Indian status.

In 1846 the Miami tribe was divided, when ap-

proximately one-third of the tribe’s members were

forced to leave Indiana and move west, first to

Kansas and later to Indian Territory. Acting on the

advice of officials in the Bureau of Indian Affairs,

the U.S. attorney general orders that the govern-

ment no longer recognize the Indiana Miami and

thereafter provide the benefits of tribal status only

to the Western Miami in Indian Territory. As a re-

sult of the order, the newly unrecognized Miami

will soon be driven from their Indiana homeland.

April 22

Louis Sockalexis begins his professional

baseball career.

A Penobscot from Old Town, Maine, Louis Sock-

alexis, joins the Cleveland Spiders professional

baseball team, becoming the first Indian player in

the major leagues. Enduring racial taunts from fans,

Sockalexis will play in the majors and minors until

1903, when his chronic problems with alcohol will

end his career. (See also entry for 1914.)

April 23

The Choctaw and Chickasaw sign the Atoka

Agreement.

Leaders of the Choctaw and Chickasaw end their

resistance to the allotment of their lands in Indian

Territory by signing the Atoka Agreement. With-

standing years of pressure to agree to Allotment,

however, has allowed them to strike a far better deal

with the United States than that offered most other

Indian allottees. With Americans clamoring for the

opening of Indian Territory to white settlement,

the Choctaw and Chickasaw are able to negotiate

for allotments of 320 acres—twice the size of those

given to Indians outside of Indian Territory by the