After South Carolina passed her secession ordinance in Dec. 1860 there was a public attempt to excite the Choctaws and Chickasaws as a beginning hoping to bring in the other tribes afterwards. Many of the larger slaveholders (who are nearly all half breeds) had been gained before and Capt. R. M. Jones was the leader of the secessionists. The country was full of lies about the intentions of the new administration. The border papers in Arkansas & Texas republished from the New York & St. Louis papers a part of a sentence from Hon. W. H. Seward's speech at Chicago during the election campaign of 1860 to this effect "And Indian Territory south of Kansas must be vacated by the Indian" (These words do occur in the report of Mr. Seward's Chicago speech as published in New York Evening Post Weekly for I read it myself). This produced intense excitement of course and to add to the effect the Secessionist Journals charged that another prominent republican had proposed to drive the indians out of Indian Ter. in a speech in congress. "This" they were told "is the policy of the new administration. The abolitionists want your lands--we will protect you. Your only safety is to join the South." Again they were told "that the South must succeed in gaining their independence and the money of the indians being invested in the stocks of Southern states the stocks would be cancelled & the indians would lose their money unless they joined the south, if they did that the stocks would be reissued to the Confederate States for them." Their special commissioners Peter Folsom &c, who came to Washington to get the half million of dollars for claims, reported that they got along very well until they were asked if they had slaves after that they said they could do nothing. Sampson Folsom said however that he thought they would have succeeded had it not been for the attack on Sumpter--He said President Lincoln then told them "He would not give them a dollar until the close of the war." An interesting fact in relation to these commissioners is that they came to Washington by way of _Montgomery_ & were when they reached Washington probably all, except Judge Garland, secessionists. Thus all influences were in favor of the rebels--Where could the indians go for light--The former indian agent Cooper was a Col. in the rebel service. The oldest missionary who has undoubtedly more influence with the Choctaws than any other white man is an ardent secessionist believing firmly both in the right & in the final success of the rebel cause--He (Dr. Kingsbury) prays as earnestly & fervently for the success of the rebels as any one among us does for the success of the Union cause. The son of another, Mr. Hodgkin, is a captain in the rebel service--another Mr. Stark actively assisted in organizing a company acted as sec.