This page was created by Hai In Jo. 

Enrolling as Cherokee Freedmen: Social Networks of Rejected Applicants

Wallace Roll (1890–1893)

John W. Wallace was instructed to make a roll of admitted and doubtful citizens that included Freedmen, Shawnees, and Delawares who were to receive the per capita distribution of $75,000 appropriated by Congress in October 1888. This was the first roll of Cherokee Freedmen authorized by the US government, who oversaw the enrollment of these freed people due to the Cherokee Nation’s reluctance to grant them per capita payments. The roll included “Authenticated Freedmen,” “Admitted” freedmen, those who died between 1883 and 1890, and “Free Negroes (before the Civil War)” associated with the tribe. Indian officials tried to obstruct this effort to enroll the Freedmen, and the Cherokees refused to accept the validity of the work.1 

During the enrollment process, the commission needed affidavits from witnesses who were Cherokee by blood or on the authenticated rolls. This was due to many Freedmen claimants being unable to recall exact dates of important events, and sometimes even unaware of the concept of the year or calendar system, rendering their testimony unreliable. Since many of the Freedmen and witnesses did not speak English, only Cherokee, Wallace had an interpreter to assist with the process.2  

The report was finished in June 1890. In the summer of 1893, a list was made including the names of 3,524 Freedmen. However, the Cherokee census from 1890 counted only 2,052 Freedmen, which was contested by the Freedmen. In the end, on March 18, 1895, the court decided to formally adopt the list from 1893, called the Wallace Roll, because it was faster than making a new census.3

The Cherokees repeatedly appealed to the Supreme Court against the legality of the Wallace Roll, and received permission to prove that it contained mistakes. Despite this, many Freedmen remained suspicious of the Cherokee authorities and their motives.4 Eventually, the Freedmen and the Cherokees compromised to have the Cherokee authenticated roll of 1880 considered final. They also agreed that the Freedmen and free Blacks should be enrolled for payments of annuities and other benefits. With this compromise, the Cherokees eliminated the Wallace Roll. The Freedmen ensured that the payments to both Cherokees and Freedmen would be a fair amount of $295.65. 

Footnotes

  1. Daniel F. Littlefield, The Cherokee Freedmen: From Emancipation to American Citizenship (Greenwood, 1978), 141.↵
  2. Littlefield, Cherokee Freedmen, 149.↵
  3. Littlefield, Cherokee Freedmen, 170.↵
  4. Littlefield, Cherokee Freedmen, 171.↵

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