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also see LeFlore Co. Ft Coffee Cemetery Methodist Church has considerable archives from that period and an archivest that will answer question by e-mail. [Sep 2001] GCAH (General Commission on Archives and History, The United Methodist Church) - http://www.gcah.orglocated near the Arkansas River; both New Hope & Ft Coffee were opened in 1845 and remained open until the CWar. - Lillie Darneal interview from Poteau News on the LeFlore co. site see http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v007/v007p260.html 28Fort Coffee Academy occupied the abandoned military post on the high bluff overlooking the Arkansas River. In March, 1843, Rev. William H. Goode was, appointed superintendent. The school was under the supervision of the Methodist Episcopal Church and five years after the garrison moved to Fort Smith the buildings were repaired and used as school and dwelling houses for the Indian pupils and missionaries. The old quarters had been built of hewed logs, had window shutters and doors of battens, stone chimneys and formed a square of a hundred feet to the side. The side facing the river was open and afforded a fine view. Henry C. Benson who wrote Life Among the Choctaws (Cincinnati, 1860) was the first teacher at Fort Coffee Academy. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v010/v010p219.html In 1834 at Swallow Rock, a few miles up the Arkansas from the Skullyville landing, and only five miles from the Agency, Fort Coffee was built, named after General John Coffee. It was beautifully located, with a wide view of the Arkansas both up and down the river. The fort was maintained, however, for only four years, when the garrison was removed, and a short time later the buildings were turned over to the Methodist Church for a boy's school - Fort Coffee Academy - which was operated until the Civil War. Some time during the War, the buildings were destroyed by fire. http://www.skullyville.com/skullhist.html A Sketch of the Life of Okah Tubbee, |