Question

Which of the following was a reason why the US government asked the Five Tribes for a peace conference at Fort Smith in 1865?

Answer 1

The US government called the Five Tribes for a peace conference at Fort Smith in 1865 to ask the tribes to repudiate their treaties with the Confederacy.

The Fort Smith conference, convened on September 8, 1865, was an attempt to renegotiate the treaties between the US government and the tribes that had joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. The US representative, Dennis N. Cooley announced tribal delegates from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole that, as they had allied to the Confederates, they had forfeited all their rights and protection from the US government. As a consequence, the tribes’ properties were to be confiscated, unless certain conditions were discussed for a new treaty.

Answer 2

The reason why the U.S. government asked the Five Tribes for a peace conference at Fort Smith in 1865 was to ask the tribes to repudiate their treaties with the Confederacy (B), as it was informed to the tribal delegates that the treaties signed with the Union before the Civil War were no longer valid and they had to negotiate new ones with the United States. The conference did not go well because the tribal delegates refused the new treaty stipulations and disagreements between loyalists and secessionists Native Americans hampered negotiations.