[14] Under the Intercourse Law of 1834, the Indian Territory had been annexed for judicial purposes to the western district of Arkansas. The Indians were much dissatisfied. They felt themselves entitled to a federal court of their own, a privilege the United States government persistently denied to them but one that the Confederate government readily granted. As matters stood, prior to the Civil War, the red men seemed always at the mercy of the white man's distorted conception of justice and were, perforce, quite beyond the reach of the boasted guaranties of theoretical Anglo-Saxon justice since the very location of the court precluded a trial by their peers of the vicinage. The journey to Arkansas, in those early days, was long and tiresome and expensive. Complications frequently arose and matters, difficult of adjustment, even under the best of circumstance. Among the Creeks and Seminoles, the status of the free negro was exceptionally high, partly due, with respect to the latter, to conditions growing out of the Second Seminole War. As already intimated, the Creeks had no aversion whatsoever to race mixtures and intermarriage between negroes and Indians was rather common. The half-breeds resulting from such unions were accepted as bona fide members of the tribe by the Indians in the distribution of annuities, but not by the United States courts--another source of difficulty and a very instructive one as well, particularly from the standpoint of reconstructionist exactions. Occasionally the presence of the free negro within the Indian country was a source of grave danger. The accompanying letters outline a case in point: HEAD QUARTERS 7TH. MIL: DEPT. FORT SMITH, March 5th. 1852. SIR: By direction of the Colonel commanding the Department I transmit herewith copies of a communication from George Folsom, Chief of the Pushmataha District, to Colonel Wilson Choctaw Agent and one from Colonel William Wilson Choctaw Agent to Brevet Major Holmes commanding Fort Washita asking aid from the Military force. As the letter from the Choctaw Agent is not sufficiently explicit as to what he wishes done by the Military authority the subject is referred to you, and if on investigation it be found that Military interference is necessary to enforce the intercourse law, prompt assistance will be rendered for the purposes therein specified, under the direction and in presence of the Choctaw Agent. Respectfully Yr Obt. Servt., FRANCIS N PAGE, Asst. Adjt. Genl. Colonel John Drennen, Superintendent W. T. _Inclosure_ CHOCTAW AGENCY, February 9th 1852 SIR: The enclosed copy of a letter from Colonel George Folsom Chief of Pushmataha District of the Choctaw Nation will put you in possession of the facts and reasons why I address you at this time.