Editing Unassigned Lands (section)

==Indian era==
The [[Treaty of Indian Springs (1825)|Treaty of Indian Springs]], February 12, 1825, provided for a delegation of Creeks to visit the west in order that

<blockquote>they may select any other territory, west of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]], on [[Red River of the South|Red]], [[Canadian River|Canadian]], [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]], or [[Missouri River|Missouri]] Rivers{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}</blockquote>

to replace their lands in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. A dispute arose between the [[Lower Creek Council]], which signed the treaty, and the [[Upper Creek Council]], which objected. The dispute led to the killing of General [[William McIntosh]], the chief of the Lower Creeks, and left the treaty in doubt. Despite that, the Creeks were relocated to the west. On February 14, 1833, the Treaty of Okmulgee was signed at [[Fort Gibson, Oklahoma|Fort Gibson]]. In it the Creeks finally agreed to cede their lands in the east. Article 2 of the 1833 treaty defined the land chosen under the 1825 treaty as being west and south of the [[Cherokee]] lands and bordering the [[Canadian river|Canadian River]] on the south and what was then the [[Mexico|Mexican]] border on the west.

In the [[Seminole Treaty]] signed March 28, 1833, but not ratified, the Seminole agreed to settle on the Little River portion of the Creek lands in Indian Territory. Some Seminole moved but the rest retreated within Florida. The US tried again to remove them, resulting in the [[Second Seminole War]]. After the Second War, most of the Seminole moved to the Indian Territory. A treaty between the Creek and the Seminole tribes, ratified August 16, 1856 by the US Senate, gave the Seminole the agreed-upon tract of Creek land between the Canadian River on the south and the [[North Canadian River|North Fork of the Canadian River]] on the north.

The divisions within the Creek people continued up through the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. The Council, then under control of the Lower Creek, signed a treaty of support with the [[Confederate States|Confederacy]] on July 10, 1861. Creek support for the South was not unanimous, however. After a series of armed confrontations, [[Opothleyahola]]'s [[Union (American Civil War)|pro-Union]] Creeks, belonging mostly to the Upper Creek, were driven into [[Kansas]] during the winter of 1861–62. They suffered a huge loss of life, as did their limited number of  [[Seminole (tribe)|Seminole]] allies under [[Halleck Tustenuggee]].

When the Confederacy lost the Civil War, the United States forced the Creek nation into a new treaty, and forced them to cede some lands in compensation for having supported the wrong side. Under Article 3 of the 1866 Creek Treaty, the Creek agreed to cede the western portion of their lands

<blockquote>In compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other Indians and [[Freedman|freedmen]] thereon, the Creeks hereby cede and convey to the United States, to be sold to and used as homes for such other civilized Indians as the United States may choose to settle thereon ... the west half of their entire domain ... [for] ... the sum of thirty (30) cents per acre ($74.13/km<sup>2</sup>), amounting to nine hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and sixty-eight dollars ...</blockquote>

The Seminoles' active support of the Confederacy cost them much more land than it did the Creeks. Article 3 of the Seminole Treaty, ratified July 19, 1866, required that

<blockquote>the Seminoles cede and convey to the United States their entire domain ... [for] ... the sum of three hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-two ($325,362) dollars, said purchase being at the rate of fifteen cents per acre ($37.07/km<sup>2</sup>).</blockquote>

By the same treaty, the [[Seminole]] were the first tribe relocated to the ceded Creek land. Several tribes of Eastern Indians were also moved to the eastern end of the ceded Creek land. The [[Shawnee (tribe)|Absentee Shawnee]] and [[Pottawatomi|Citizen Band of Pottawatomi]] shared a reserve; also, the [[Sac and Fox Nation|Sac and Fox]]. Later, the [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]] were moved in and, lastly, the [[Iowa tribe|Iowa]]. The combined [[Cheyenne]] [[Arapaho]] tribe was given the western end of the Creek and Seminole land, along with some land ceded from the other tribes. Most of the former Creek and Seminole land, as was true for the rest of central and western Indian Territory, was already leased from the Indian tribes for grazing by large cattle ranching companies.