Superintendencies of Indian Affairs
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A Superintendent of Indian Affairs was a regional administrator who supervised groups of Indian Agents who worked directly with individual tribes. It was the responsibility of the Superintendent to see that the Indian Agents complied with official government policy. The records for Superintendencies exist in the National Archives and in the Bureau of Indian Affairs; additionally, copies may be available in other official record storage or research facilities.
The position of Superintendent was abolished in 1878, after which agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported directly to the Commissioner's Office in Washington, DC, at least until the BIA created Area Offices.
The Superintendencies, Listed Alphabetically
[edit]Indian Affairs were, previous to 1824, a division of the War Department before being repositioned as a division of the Department of the Interior. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, both under the War Department and Department of the Interior, occasionally filed correspondence under the name of the Superintendency even after it had ceased to operate.
Arizona Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1863; abolished 1873
- Tribes:Pima, Papago, Maricopa, Tame Apache, Papago, Yavapai, Walapai, Havasupai, Mojave, Yuma, Moqui Pueblo and Scattered Apache
Arkansas Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1819; abolished 1834; to Western Superintendency
- Tribes: Cherokee, Quapaw, Choctaw, Osage, Shawnee, Caddo and Delaware
- 1825-1826 Quapaw removed to Caddo or Red River Agency
- 1834 Indians west of Arkansas were placed under the new Western Superintendency (Cherokee, Choctaw, Quapaw and others) as Most Indians had been removed from Arkansas
California Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1852; abolished 1873
- Tribes: Concow (Konkau), Hupa, Kern River (Tubatulabal), Wikchamni, Nomelaki, Kings River, Fresno, Kawia, Kianamaras, Mattole, Nuimok, Noi-sas, Pit River, Pomo, Whilkut (Redwood), Saia, Salan Pomo (Potter), Tejon, Tule (Tularenos) Mono, Wailaki, Wappo, Yupu, Yuki, Yurok (Klamath River), Yokaia (Ukiah), and the several tribes of Mission Indians.
Central Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1851; abolished 1878; from St. Louis Superintendency
- Tribes: Delaware, Shawnee, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Kansa, Sauk and Fox (of Mississippi and Missouri), Iowa, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Ottawa, Munsee, Peoria, Wea, Kaskaskia, Piankeshaw, Miami, Oto, Missouri, Omaha, Pawnee, Ponca, Kowa, Apache (Kiowa-Apache), Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux and others
Colorado Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1861; abolished 1870
Dakota Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1861; discontinued 1870; reestablished 1877; abolished 1878; from part of Central Superintendency
- Bands of Sioux: Hunkpapa, Oglala, Yankton, Blackfee, Brule, Sisseton, Wahpeton, Yanktonai, San Arcs, Miniconjou, Two Kettles (Oohenonpa), Cut Head (Pabaska) and Santee
Florida Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1824; abolished 1834
- Tribes: Seminole
- Agency: Seminole or Florida
- Subagency: Apalachicola
Idaho Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1863; abolished 1870
- Tribes: Nez Perce, Shoshone, Bannock, Coeur d'Alene, Kutenai, Pend d'Oreille and Spokan
Iowa Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1838; abolished 1846; to St. Louis Superintendency
- Tribes Sac and Fox 1845 Sauk and Fox moved to the Osage River west of Missouri (now Kansas).
Michigan Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1805; abolished 1851; to Northern Superintendency
- Tribes: Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Menominee, Winnebago, Wyandot, Seneca, Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee and Ottawa of Maumee
- 1832-1834 The Six Nations of New York were attached to the Michigan Superintendency
Minnesota Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1849; abolished 1856; to Northern Superintendency
- Tribes: Sioux, Chippewa, Winnebago, Assiniboin and Mandan
Missouri Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1813; abolished 1848; duties transferred to St. Louis Superintendency after 1851
- Existing records would be filed with the correspondence of the War Department
Montana Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1864; abolished 1873
- Tribes: Blackfeet, Piegan, Blood (Kainah), Grosventre, Flathead, Kutenai, Pend d'Oreille, Crow, Assiniboin and Bands of Sioux
Nevada Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1861; abolished 1870
New Mexico Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1850; abolished 1874
- Tribes: Navajo, Southern Apache, Utah (Ute), Abiquiu (Ute and Jicarilla Apache), Conejos (Tabaquache Ute) Pueblo, Tucson (Pima, Papago, Maricopa and Apache), Cimarron (Jicarilla Apache and Moache Ute) and Mescalero
Northern Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1851; abolished 1876; from Michigan and Wisconsin Superintendencies
- Tribes: Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Menominee, Oneida, Stockbridge, Mackinac, Omaha, Pawnee, Otoe (Oto and Missouri Indians), Great Nemaha (Sauk and Fox of Missouri and Iowa) and Winnebago
1863 many of the Winnebago and Sioux Indians moved to Dakota Territory
Oregon Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1848; abolished 1873
- Tribes: Umpqua, Umatilla, Cayuse, Wallawalla, Wasco. Shoshoni (Snake), Kalapuya, Clackamas, Rogue River, Warm Springs, Shasta, Klamath, Modoc, Paiute, Tenion, Nez Perce, Molala, Yamel, Joshua, Sixes (Kwatami), Chastacosta, Chetco and Bannock
Southern Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1851; abolished 1870; from Western Superintendency
- Tribes: Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, Quapaw, Seneca and Mixed Band of Seneca and Shawnee, and Osage Indians of southern Kansas, Wichita and Kichai.
In 1859 Caddo, Anadarko, Waco Tonkawa, Hainai, Kichai, Tawakoni, Delaware, Shawnee and Comanche Indians were moved from Texas to Wichita Agency in Indian Territory
1861-1864 Indians loyal to U.S. fled to Kansas, after the Civil War the Indians began to return to Indian territory.
St. Louis Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1822; abolished 1851; to Central Superintendency
Utah Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1850; abolished 1870
- Tribes: Ute, Shoshoni, Bannock, Paiute and Washo
Washington Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1853; abolished 1874
- Tribes: Makah, Skokomish, Yakima, Colville, Puyallup, Tulalip, Nisqualli, Nez Perce, Flathead, Spokan, Pend d'Oreille, Cayuse, Paloos, Wallawalla, Quinaielt, Blackfeet, Chehalix, Chilkat, Chinook, Clackamas, Clallam, Lake, Klikitat, Coeur d'Alene, Cowlitz. Dwamish, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Quileute, Quaitso (Queet), Squaxon and Swinomish
Western Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1832; abolished 1851; to Southern Superintendency
- Tribes: Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Osage, Seneca and Mixed Band of Seneca and Shawnee, Quapaw, Seminole Chickasaw, Caddo, Kiowa Comanche and others
- 1839 Chickasaw moved west - Oklahoma
Wisconsin Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1836; abolished 1848; to Northern Superintendency
- Tribes: Sauk and Fox, Winnebago, Chippewa, Menominee, Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, Sioux and Iowa
Wyoming Superintendency
[edit]- Established 1869; abolished 1870
- Tribes: Eastern Shoshoni, Bannock, Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux
References
[edit]- Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. New York, New York: Clearwater Press, [1974].
- Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington [District of Columbia]: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981.
- Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–1880. National Archives Microcopy T1105.
- Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington, DC. Available online