"At the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration nearly all the United States Indian agents in the Indian Territory were secessionists, and the moment the Southern States commenced passing ordinances of secession, these men exerted their influence to get the five tribes committed to the Confederate cause. Occupying territory south of the Arkansas River, and having the secessionists of Arkansas on the east and those of Texas on the south for neighbors, the Choctaws and Chickasaws offered no decided opposition to the scheme. With the Cherokees, the most powerful and most civilized tribes of the Indian Territory, it was different. Their chief, John Ross, was opposed to hasty action, and at first favored neutrality, and in the summer of 1861 issued a proclamation enjoining his people to observe a strictly neutral attitude during the war between the United States and the Southern States. In June, 1861, Albert Pike, a commissioner of the Confederate States, and Gen. Ben. McCulloch, commanding the Confederate forces in Western Arkansas and the Department of Indian Territory, visited Chief Ross, with the view of having him make a treaty with the Confederacy. But he declined to make a treaty, and in the conference expressed himself as wishing to occupy, if possible, a neutral position during the war. A majority of the Cherokees, nearly all of whom were full-bloods, were known as Pin Indians, and were opposed to the South." (_Battles and Leaders_, Vol. I., pp. 335-336.) After the battle of Wilson's Creek had been fought, General Lyon killed, and the Union army defeated, Chief Ross was easily convinced that the South would succeed, and entered into a treaty with the Confederate authorities. {82} [Illustration: GALLANT CHARGE ON OUTWORKS OF FORT DONELSON, FEBRUARY 13, 1862.] {83} CHAPTER IX. THE "MONITOR" AND THE "MERRIMAC." THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE "MONITOR" AND "MERRIMAC"--EFFECT UPON NAVAL ARMAMENTS OF THE WORLD--IDEA OF REVOLVING TOWER NOT ORIGINAL WITH ERICSSON--DESTRUCTION OF THE "CUMBERLAND"--PUBLIC EXCITEMENT AT PROSPECT OF AN ATTACK ON WASHINGTON--THE "MONITOR" SAILS FROM NEW YORK HARBOR MARCH 6TH--GREAT NAVAL BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS.