At the breaking out of the late war, the U.S. troops stationed at Ft. Cobb, Wichitaw and Arbuckle, found themselves unable to cope with the Confederate troops from Texas, and determined to retreat Northward.

Concentrating near the reservation set apart from the Delawares in this territory they found themselves in the wilderness without supplies, no support nearer them than Ft. Worth, Kan., hundreds of miles up to the North, almost surrounded by hostile forces. Their condition was critical in the extreme.

They arrived near the residence of Black Beaver, Chief of the Delawares, a wealthy farmer who had accumulated valuable property.

Black Beaver volunteered to pilot them through 200 miles of wilderness through hostile forces.

Col. Adair, the delegate of the Cherokee Nation, was before the House Committee on Territories Jan. 21, and spoke for more than an hour in opposition to the bill establishing the Territorial Government of Oklahoma in the Indian Territory.

He argues that the proposition was in the interest of land speculators, and in violation of treaties and the decision of the Supreme Court, and read from the writings of Presidents Washington, Madison, Jefferson and Jackson and of Calhoun in support of treaty rights of Indians.