Editing Oklahoma Territory (section)

===William Couch and the opening===
[[Image:WLCouch1888.png|thumb|180px|left|Captain W.L. Couch in 1888]]
After Payne's death, his associate, [[William Couch|William L. Couch]], assumed the leadership role. Couch moved the Boomers into Indian Territory and founded [[Stillwater, Oklahoma|Camp Stillwater]] on December 12, 1884. President [[Chester A. Arthur|Chester Arthur]] sent a small detachment of troops to escort Couch out of the territory. When the soldiers arrived, 200 armed men met them and refused to move. After 600 troops arrived as reinforcements, the officers gave the Boomers the choice of leaving within 48 hours or being apprehended. After the Boomers refused to leave, the commanders moved their troops across the Kansas border and cut off Couch's supply lines. Soon their food was gone, and Couch and the other Boomers were escorted back to Kansas.

In response to Couch's claims that the federal government was discriminating against them, on March 3, 1885, Congress approved the [[Indian Appropriations Act]] of 1885. This act authorized negotiations for the cession of unoccupied lands belonging to the [[Muscogee|Creek]], the [[Seminole]], and the [[Cherokee]]. Couch stopped being a colonist and became a lobbyist.

Couch spent four years in Washington, D.C., trying to convince Congress to open the Oklahoma lands. Many Indians from the Five Civilized Tribes lobbied against Couch's actions. In January 1889, [[Pleasant Porter]] led a group of Muscogee (Creek) who offered to sell their unoccupied lands. Within weeks, they sold their "Unassigned Lands" to the United States. These lands embraced less than {{convert|3000000|acres|km2}} in the heart of Indian Territory.

On March 2, 1889, Congress passed an amendment to the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871, which provided for the creation of [[Homestead Acts|homestead]] settlements in the unassigned lands, to be known as ''Oklahoma Territory''. President [[Benjamin Harrison]] announced that the Oklahoma lands would be opened on April 22 via land run.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoig |first1=Stan |title=Land Run of 1889 |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=LA014. |website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |access-date=21 March 2022}}</ref>