Choctaw Indian Agency (Oklahoma)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Choctaw, Chickasaw (after 1856)

History
The Choctaw Agency was established in 1825. Before 1825, the Choctaw Indians west of the Mississippi River had been assigned to the Red River or Caddo Agency. At the end of 1828, the agency reported that only eight Indians were under his supervision, since the main body of the Choctaws had not yet emigrated from their home country. From 1828 to 1831, the Choctaw Agency was reduced to a subagency under the Cherokee Agency.

In 1831, it again became a full agency, with headquarters on the Arkansas River above Fort Coffee, in what is now Oklahoma. From 1834 to 1837, it was known as the Southern Agency. In the mid-1850s, the agency was moved to Fort Towson on the Red River, in southeastern Oklahoma. In 1855, the Choctaw Agency took charge of the Chickasaw Indians and was then called the Choctaw and Chickasaw Agency.

During the Civil War, many Chickasaw and Choctaw joined the Confederacy. Those who remained loyal to the United States moved to Kansas, first at Leroy and then at the Sac &amp; Foc Agency. After the War, the agency was moved first to Scullyville in 1866, and then to Boggy Depot in 1867. In 1874, the Choctaw Agency, the Creek Agency, and the Seminole Agency were all consolidated with the Cherokee Agency to form the Union Agency.

Agents
William McClellan 1825, David McClellan 1829, Francis W. Armstrong 1831, William Armstrong 1835, Samuel M. Rutherford 1847, John Drennen 1849, William Wilson 1851, Douglas H. Cooper 1853, Isaac Coleman 1861, Martin W. Chollar 1866, Capt. George T. Olmsted 1869, Theophilus D. Griffith 1870, and Albert Parsons 1873.

Maps
Choctaw Nation Indian Territory Map of 1905 (My Genealogy Hound)

Records
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.

Letters received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Choctaw Agency, 1824-1876, have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M234, Rolls 169-196. Copies are available at the National Archives and at the FamilySearch Library and its family history centers (their ). One roll of this set, Roll 184, includes correspondence filed under the heading Choctaw [West], for the years 1825-1838.