REPORT
OF
MR. WOOD'S VISIT
TO THE
CHOCTAW AND CHEROKEE MISSIONS.
1855.
BOSTON:
PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN, 42 CONGRESS STREET.
1855.
REPORT.
At the meeting of the Board held in Utica, New York, September,1855, the Prudential Committee submitted a special communication inreference to the Choctaw and Cherokee missions, in which they say:"Since the last meeting of the Board, it has seemed desirable thatone of the Secretaries should visit the Indian missions in the SouthWest, for the purpose of conferring fully and freely with them inreference to certain questions which have an important bearing upontheir work. Mr. Wood, therefore, was directed to perform this service;which he did in the spring of the present year. After his return toNew York, he drew up a report of this visit, and presented the sameto the Prudential Committee. It is deemed proper that this documentshould be laid before the Board at the earliest opportunity; and it isherewith submitted. The results obtained by this conference are highlysatisfactory to the Committee."
The report of Mr. Wood is in the following language:
To the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissionersfor Foreign Missions:
I have to report a visit made by me to the Choctaw and Cherokeemissions, in obedience to instructions contained in the followingresolutions adopted by you, March 6, 1855:
"Resolved, 1. That Mr. Wood be requested to repair to theChoctaw Nation, at his earliest convenience, with a viewto a fraternal conference with the brethren in that field in[Pg 4]respect to the difficulties and embarrassments whichhave grown out of the action of the Choctaw Council in thematter of the boarding schools, and also in respect to anyother question which may seem to require his attention.
"2. That, in case the spring meeting of the Choctaw missionshall not occur at a convenient time, he be authorized tocall a meeting at such time and place as he shall designate.
"3. That on his return from the Choctaw mission he berequested to confer with the brethren of the Cherokeemission, in regard to any matter that may appear to callfor his consideration, and that he be authorized to call ameeting for this purpose.
"4. That on arriving in New York he be instructed toprepare a report, suggesting such plans and measures forthe adoption of the Committee in reference to either ofthese missions as he may be able to recommend."
Leaving New York, March 19, and proceeding by the way of the Ohioand Mississippi rivers to Napoleon, thence up the White river,across to Little Rock, and through Arkansas to the Choctaw country,I arrived at Stockbridge, April 11. Including the portions of thedays occupied in passing from one station to another, I devoted threedays to Stockbridge, three to Wheelock, six to Pine Ridge, three toGood-water, and three to Spencer; the latter a station of the missionof the General Assembly's Board. Five days, with a call of a nightand half a day at Lenox,