Indian Agent - Indian Agents: Mid-late 19th Century

Indian Agents: Mid-late 19th Century

By 1850, many citizens had been calling for reform of the agents in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their wish had been granted when in 1869 the bureau created the civilian-controlled Board of Indian Commissioners. The board “never more deeply felt, that Indian agents should be appointed solely for merit and fitness for their work….and should be retained in the service when they prove themselves to be efficient and helpful by their character and moral influence.” This civilian run board was charged “with responsibility for supervising the disbursement of Indian appropriations” from state and federal government. However, the United States Army command was extremely dissatisfied of the transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the Department of War to the Department of the Interior by 1849, so they began to make public complaints about the corruptive nature of the civilian presence in the job of Indian agent. Despite its deeply felt convictions that its Indian agents were appointed and removed on merit, the civilian Board of Commissioners was frequently deemed corrupt, portrayed derogatorily in print and propaganda, and inadvertently assumed the scapegoat for the perceived inefficiency of Indian-White affairs: the Indian agent.

By the late 19th century, the job title of Indian agent began to change slightly in the wake of the recent attempts to “civilize” (forcibly assimilate) Native Americans into mainstream, white, American culture. Despite the public scorn for the agents, the Indian Office stated that the “chief duty of an agent is to induce his Indian to labor in civilized pursuits. To attain this end every possible influence should be brought to bear, and in proportion as it is attained…an agent is successful or unsuccessful.”

By the 1870s, the average Indian agent was primarily nominated by various Christian denominations due to the increase in civilization reforms to Indian-white affairs, especially over land. Part of the Christian message of reform, carried out by the Indian agents, demonstrated the pervasive thought of Native American land ownership of the late 19th century: civilization can only be possible when Indians cease communal living in favor for private ownership. Many citizens still held the activities of Indian agents in poor esteem, calling the agents themselves “unprincipled opportunists” and people of low quality.

• In the 1880 Instruction to Indian Agents, it states the job duties of the Indian agent is as follows:
  • See that Indian in one’s designated locality are not “idle for want of an opportunity to labor or of instructions as to how to go to work,” and
  • absolutely “no work must be given to white men which can be done by Indians”
  • See to it that the Native Americans under one’s jurisdiction can farm successfully and solely for the subsistence of their respective family
  • Enforce prohibition of liquor
  • Both provide and supervise the instruction of English education and industrial training for Native American children
  • Allow only Native Americans that have acquired a permit for leaving the reservation to do so (as permits were only irregularly granted)

And as of July 1884, Indian agents were to compile an annual report of his reservation for submission aimed at collecting the following information from Native American inhabitants: Indian name, English name, Relationship, Sex, and Name among other statistical information.