The Freedmen's School at Ft. Arbuckle

While researching the material for the book on the History of Ft. Arbuckle, I came across the reference to a school that was established at Ft. Arbuckle.  The first notation of this school was discovered in the Indian Pioneer Paper of Peter Hamilton, an early resident of Murray County, OK.  In his interview, Hamilton remarks:   “I attended school at Fort Arbuckle.  This was a school established for colored people and taught by Professor Ealy sent there by the Government.”

It has been widely reported that the first such school for freedmen was established in Berwyn, I.T. in the early 1890’s by Baptist missionaries.  This is obviously not true.  The school at Ft. Arbuckle was at least 20 years earlier that the one at Berwyn.  The school at Berwyn was run by the Baptist and may have been the first Baptist school for freedmen.

Peter Hamilton was born March 4, 1869 on Wild Horse Creek west of Ft. Arbuckle.  At this time there were still soldiers stationed at Ft. Arbuckle.  Ft. Sill was just in the first stages of being built.  In June of 1870 the garrison was permanently moved to Ft. Sill and the post shut down and the remaining buildings and land reverted back to the Chickasaw Nation.  The Chickasaws owned the land and it was held in common for all tribal members. 

Governor Cyrus Harris placed the buildings of the old fort up for auction.  The winning bid was $50.  The winner of the auction was a local rancher named Tom Grant, a white man married to an Indian woman.  There was a proviso in the terms of the sale of the buildings.  Grant had to allow a school for freedmen (ex-slaves) to be established in one of the old buildings.  There terms for the lease were to run for five years at which time control of the school building would revert back to Grant.  Governor Harris appropriated $2,500 for the renovation of the school and funds to maintain the school and students.

The Freedmen’s Board of the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA and the United States Government working jointly decided to establish a school at the recently vacated Ft. Arbuckle.  There was a very large population of black freedmen living in the area of Wild Horse Creek in the vicinity of the abandoned post.

Taylor Filmore “Tay” Ealy was a medical doctor and Presbyterian minister who began his career with seven years of service as a missionary. In 1874, at the age of 26, he and his wife, Mary Ramsey Ealy, were assigned to the government school for black children in Fort Arbuckle, Indian Territory. They worked there for about two years, until the school was transferred to the administration of the Baptists.

Ealy accepted the position but he was required to marry first.  He was about to be married so the qualifications were met.  After much preperation and the wedding ceremony, Tay and his new bride set out from Philadelphia for Indian Territory.  Arriving by train seven days later at Caddo, I.T., they prepared to make the sixty mile trip by stagecoach to Ft. Arbuckle. 

As they were getting on the stage in Caddo, a man approached them with a little "friendly advice" and said “I am a correspondent of an influential newspaper in Mississippi and I have heard it said by many people that if anybody went to teach those niggers in Ft. Arbuckle, they would kill him.”  Ealy’s reply was short and to the point “You tell them that I am not afraid to die and if they kill me there will be ten sent to take my place”.

Ealy was more than just another missionary in Indian Territory.  He was also a medical doctor trained at the University of Pennsylvania.  He would become a very valuable man in the wild country he was about to enter.

The Ealy's arrived safely at their new assignment and prepared to get the school into shape to accept children.  It was quickly discovered that the children were too scattered to have a day school.  Some of the children lived on the Canadian River with other living on the Red River to the south. The school district had a size of about 10,000 square miles.  It was decided that a boarding school was needed.

Several of the other buildings at Ft. Arbuckle were pressed into service with the blessing of Tom Grant the owner of the buildings.  There were several barracks remodled for girls and boys dormitories.  Another building was used for a kitchen and dining hall with another building used for the cooks quarters.

Local freedmen came to help repair the buildings.  Women volunteered to act as cooks and dish washers.  Others in the area donated fresh milk cows so the children could have milk with every meal.  Area farmers donated fresh pork, beef and wild game for their meals.

The students were of all ages.  The freedmen were forbidden to learn to read and write while slaves.  Many of the students were adults.  The age ranges ran from four to seventy years. many of the students were local farmers and ranchers who needed to read and write for their businesses.

In 1876, the Presbyterian and Baptist churches agreed to give the missionary work in the Chickasaw Nation to the Baptist Convention for for more effective management.  In 1876, the school closed and the Ealy's returned to Philadelphia.

As a result of a request from Alexander McSween, a Scottish lawyer who hoped to see Presbyterianism spread in his adopted state, the Ealys moved to the turbulent village of Lincoln, N.M., in 1878. The family now consisted not only of Taylor and Mary, but two small daughters, Pearl and Ruth. Their arrival on February 19 coincided with the violent outbreak of the Lincoln County War, precipitated by the recent murder of McSween's friend and business partner, John Henry Tunstall. One of Ealy's first acts, on February 21, was to conduct the young Englishman's funeral. Mary Ealy played the organ and William Bonney (Billy the Kid), an employee of Tunstall's, sang hymns.

Submitted by Dennis Muncrief, September 2002.