Commerce in Oklahoma
The Civil War in Indian Territory
The Civil War brought devastation to Indian Territory. Small-scale guerilla warfare, thievery, and the flight of refugees destroyed crops and livestock. The Civil War ultimately divided and weakened Indian Territory, both physically and economically. The emancipation of enslaved people removed a source of labor. Cattle trails and railroads quickly cut through Indian Territory in the late 1860s and early 1870s, using the resources of the land but offering the tribal nations little benefit. Further conflict occurred as additional tribes were forced into the area, white settlers expanded, and Freedmen were granted land.
Battle of Honey Springs, from Harper’s Weekly (20655.63.364, Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Collection, OHS).
Cattle brought even more people through present-day Oklahoma. While herds in Indian Territory suffered during the Civil War, Texas ranchers saw a major increase in their livestock and began pushing herds from Texas to Kansas. Cowboys purchased supplies like clothing, medicine, and tobacco at trading posts and stores. By taking advantage of railroads and wagon trade routes, the stores could keep a stock of useful items, guaranteeing their profit. The herds of cattle moved at a leisurely pace and stopped often, providing ample opportunities for trade and sales. Where there are people, especially travelers, without a place to produce or make their own items nearby, there is a market. The cattle trails and development along them impacted the Indian Territory economy for twenty years, operating at their peak from 1866 to 1886.
Oklahoma cowboys (16566, Frederick S. Barde Collection, OHS).
As white settlers continued to push into the area, American Indian land ownership was forcibly changed. The General Allotment Act of 1887, along with several similar acts, divided tribal lands and designated individual owners of each portion. Over the next decade, the United States government passed additional acts to give themselves the ability to override tribal governments, squeezing the tribal nations into clearly defined portions of modern-day Oklahoma. Carved out between allotted spaces, the Unassigned Lands opened to settlers in one massive move: the Land Run of 1889. The population spike from this and later land openings would quickly lead to the establishment of the Oklahoma Territory and the beginnings of the statehood movement. The new settlers brought permanent changes to Oklahoma commerce.
Dawes Commission enrolling citizens in the field, Okmulgee, Indian Territory (15832, Aylesworth Album Collection, OHS).
