January 20, 1921
The Pawhuska Daily Capital
Microfilm Roll: MN00331
On this day in Osage country, an article was published about the recent death of Creek Indian, David M. Hodge, and his legacy.
David M. Hodge was a prominent member of the Creek Nation with a long list of accomplishments. During the Civil War he fought under the command of Albert Pike and by the end of the war was in command of his own regiment. After the war Hodge became a man of politics, first serving as chief interpreter and then as a statesman. While in the position of interpreter, Hodge, with the help of Rev. John Flemming, completed the “English-Muskogee (Creek) alphabet and dictionary” published in the late nineteenth century (Old Indian Leaders). As a statesman Hodge served for many years as the tribe’s delegate in Washington and is said to have “met and talked with every president since Andrew Jackson” (Old Indian Leaders).
Perhaps most notably, David M. Hodge, participated in much of the early legislation regarding Indian citizenship. For instance, he played a part in the negotiations and aftermath of the Treaty of 1866 and served on a commission of Creeks that directly negotiated with the Dawes Commission. Both the Treaty of 1866 and the controversial Dawes Act proved to be very important pieces of legislation in the process of American Indian citizenship–first of the Five Civilized Tribes and decades later when they served as the forerunners of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted citizenship to all American Indians.
Morgan M. Guzman
“Old Indian Leaders who Shaped Destiny of Red Men are Passing.” The Pawhuska Daily Capital. Jan. 20, 1921, p. 1. Microfilm roll number MN00331. Sequoyah National Research Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Further Reading
Debo, Angie. A History of the Creek Indians. Norman: Oklahoma University Press, 1941.
Pyne, John and Gloria Sesso. “Federal Indian Policy in the Gilded Age.” OAH Magazine of History 9, no. 3 (1995): 46-55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163031 Accessed March 12, 2018.
Roberts, Alaina E. “A Federal Court has Ruled Blood cannot Determine Tribal Citizenship. Here’s Why that Matters.” The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/09/07/a-federal-court-has-ruled-blood-cannot-determine-tribal-citizenship-heres-why-that-matters/?utm_term=.c92bee93dc38 Accessed March 13, 2018.
Saunt, Claudio. “The Paradox of Freedom: Tribal Sovereignty and Emancipation during the Reconstruction of Indian Territory.” The Journal of Southern History 70, no. 1 (2004): 63-94. Accessed March 12, 2018.
“Tribal, Muscogee (Creek) Nation Indian Territory.” Grove Oklahoma. http://www.cityofgroveok.gov/building/page/tribal-muscogee-creek-nation-indian-territory Accessed March 12, 2018.
