Oklahoma Journeys

Week of January 26, 2008

Montfort Stokes Arrives in Indian Territory Feb. 5, 1833

Montfort Stokes was a person of many talents and accomplishments. He served in the American Navy during the Revolutionary War, was considered one of the first “American Heroes,” and was elected Governor of North Carolina. Yet, after all of that, Stokes noted that the most important stage of his life began when he reached Oklahoma. The story of Montfort Stokes this week on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

Because of the unique manner in which Oklahoma developed as a territory and state, the region established many ties to people all across the country. One such connection exists between a veteran of the Revolutionary War, dozens of Native American nations, North Carolina, and what is today, Oklahoma.

In 1776, with the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, sixteen-year old Montfort Stokes enlisted in the continental navy. Stokes along with the rest of his crew was captured by the British and spent several years in a dismal British prison ship. Although Stokes survived his ordeal, eleven hundred other prisoners in the ship perished. Following the end of the war Stokes moved up the agricultural ladder eventually owning his own plantation in North Carolina.

Over a period of years Stokes served as state clerk, university president, state representative, state senator and then governor of North Carolina. In 1832, Stokes suddenly gave up his successful career as a planter/politician to act as an Indian Agent to the thousands of Native Americans then being forced to relocate to Indian Territory. Although the position was a presidential appointment, it definitely was not a step up financially, and it required his immediate departure for the wilds of Ft. Gibson in the Indian Territory. Stokes headed up what became known as the Stokes Commission and it was his job to initiate peace talks between the native and immigrant tribes in the Indian Territory and negotiate the removal of the Osage.

It was in this week of 1833 that Montfort Stokes made his first appearance in Indian Territory, the land that would be his home for the rest of his life. Following his role as a commission head, Montfort Stokes took it upon himself to see to the welfare of native tribes in the Indian Territory. He subsequently served as Indian Agent to the Cherokees, Senecas, Shawnees, and Quapaws. In 1842, surrounded by long time friends from various tribes, Stokes passed away and was buried at Fort Gibson; he was eighty years old and is to date the only known veteran of the American Revolution buried in Oklahoma.

Historians still ponder over the motives causing Stokes to leave behind his luxurious life, choosing to serve instead in a dangerous frontier environment. For Stokes, however, he often stated that helping the various Native Nations was the greatest achievement of his life. Ft. Gibson, the headquarters of the Stokes Commission and the location of the Stokes’ gravesite, is one of the many state historical sites maintained and managed by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to the collection, preservation and sharing of our State’s past. I’m Michael Dean.