Western Superintendency of Indian Affairs

United States American Indian Research  Bureau of Indian Affairs  Superintendencies  Western Superintendency

History
The Western Superintendency of Indian Affairs operated from 1832-1851. When the Southern Superintendency was created in 1851, it took over the responsibilities of the Western Superintendency.

Records for Superintendencies exist in the National Archives and copies of many of them are also available in other research facilities.

Tribes
Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Osage, Seneca, Mixed Band of Seneca, Shawnee, Quapaw, Seminole, Chickasaw, Caddo, Kiowa, Comanche, and others

Agencies
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value (for the tribe and tribal members) were created by and maintained by the agencies.


 * Cherokee Agency
 * Chickasaw Agency
 * Choctaw (Southern) Agency
 * Comanche Agency
 * Creek Agency
 * Osage Agency
 * Wichita Agency

The Western Superintendency was responsible for the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Osage, Seneca, Seminole, Shawnee, and Quapaw Indians. It also included the Wichita, Comanche, Cherokee, and Creek Agencies and the Arkansas Superintendency. The Wichita Agency had responsibility for Wichita, Caddo, Anadarko, Waco, Tonkawa, Hanai, Kichai, Tawakoni, Delaware, Shawnee, and some of the Comanche Indians. The localities included are Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Superintendents
Francis W. Armstrong 1834, William Armstrong 1835, Samuel M. Rutherford 1847, John Drennen 1849

Records
Records of the Western Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 1832-1851 are included in the records of the Southern Superintendent at the National Archives. They have been microfilmed as their Microcopy Number M640. This set of microfilm of the records of the Southern Superintendency is also available at the and its family history centers.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Western Superintendency, 1832-1851, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the and its family history centers on their microfilm roll numbers 1,661,651 thru 1,661,654.