1883 – US INDIAN SERVICE RE: MAJOR JAMES McLAUGHLIN- NOTED INDIAN AGENT

Item Details

1883 four pages, folded sheet, each page is 7 ¾ x 9 ¾, consisting of letters copied (for files) on United States Indian Service printed at top (and crossed out). The letters all to General Armstrong are regarding the pending resignation and disposition of Maj. James McLaughlin.
First letter is from Dakota Mission, Oahe,Hughes Co. D.T. from Thomas Lawrence Riggs, second letter is  from Yankton Agency D.T.  by John Williamson and the last letter is from the Niobrara Mission from W. H. Hare.
James McLaughlin was a Canadian-American United States Indian agent and inspector, best known for having ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull in December 1890, which resulted in the chief's death and contributed to the Wounded Knee Massacre. Before this event, he was known for his positive relations with several tribes. McLaughlin obtained his United States citizenship in 1865. In 1871 he was hired by the commanding officer of Fort Totten, North Dakota, as a blacksmith and general overseer at the Devils Lake Indian Agency. He was promoted and transferred in 1881 to the larger Standing Rock Sioux Agency in the Dakotas, working there for many years, in an era of short-term political appointments, As the Department of the Army had oversight over Indian affairs, it frequently gave Indian agents military titles commensurate with their civil service status as government employees. McLaughlin appears as "Major" in his early years as Indian agent. After 1895, when he was promoted to Inspector for the Indian Department and the Department of the Interior, which had been given authority for Indian affairs, and thus is noted as Colonel afterwards. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1923, while still working. McLaughlin is buried in the town named for him, on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock reservation.
General Armstrong almost certainly refers to General Samuel Chapman Armstrong , who was a significant figure in the context of Native Americans, particularly through his involvement with the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia. He played a role in the lives of Native Americans through his educational initiatives at the Hampton Institute, aiming to equip them with skills for success, though these initiatives existed within a historical period marked by forced assimilation policies towards Indigenous peoples.  Armstrong believed in providing both general education and vocational training. He aimed to empower marginalized communities through this approach.  While Hampton's program for Native Americans distinguished itself, it also intensified the school's dependence on donors and exposed it to the increasing racism prevalent in American society. Academic training was publicly de-emphasized in favor of trade-school programs.  The period around 1883 saw the rise of government-funded Indian boarding schools, with the goal of forcibly assimilating Native American children into white society and suppressing their cultures. Hampton's program for Native Americans operated within this broader context, although Armstrong's approach to education aimed for broader advancement.  
Fine condition. na 777