# The Indian Department (Circa 1830)



## retread (26 Oct 2006)

Okay...here's a bit of an oddball question that I am hoping someone out there has done some work on.  Prior to 1837 the "Indian Department" was an adjunct to the British Army.  "Indian Agents", as they were termed, received commissions, wore scarlet tunics and had distinctive buttons and devices on their uniforms denoting this branch of service.  They served in all the major colonial wars as liason officers between the Crown forces and First Nations allies.   After 1837 they became a civilian office of the government that laid the foundations for what we know today as Indian and Northern Affairs.  I am currently doing a bit of research to try and track down information on their uniforms during the last decade of their association with the military...say, 1825-1837.  Does anyone have any knowledge of this subject or ideas on where this information is likely to be found?


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## niner domestic (26 Oct 2006)

Retread, a few of people that might be able to help you:



Morgan Baillargeon
morgan.baillargeon@civilization.ca Curator of Ethnology, Plains (819) 776-8439 

Nadja Roby
nadja.roby@civilization.ca Native History Researcher (819) 776-8440 

Sylvia Mauro
sylvia.mauro@civilization.ca Reference Librarian (819) 776-8479 

Dr. Rhonda Hinther
rhonda.hinther@civilization.ca Curator, Western Canadian History (819) 776-7028 

Dr. Xavier Gélinas
xavier.gelinas@civilization.ca Curator, Canadian Political History (819) 776-8370


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## retread (26 Oct 2006)

niner domestic (chuckle):

I assume these folks are Museum of Civilization staff?  I had never thought to check them out as this is a military related query...however, it is one area of research that spills over into a number of subject fields so they just might be able to help.

Thanks ever so much.  

By the way, love your username.


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## niner domestic (26 Oct 2006)

Retread: Yes, they are and very friendly folk too!  

*just some trivia* Duncan Campbell Scott  (the poet) was perhaps the more famous of all agents, having worked his way up to director of Indian Affairs.


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## retread (26 Oct 2006)

niner,

Sir William Johnson might outdo him for fame.  There were certainly a number of characters in the Indian department.

I recently excavated Dr. Paul Darling's house just west of Orillia.  He was the Indian Department Surgeon posted to the Coldwater reserve when it was created in 1830.  When the reserve was resettled to Manitoulin Island in 1837, he moved with it.  On this site we found a die-stamped silver gilt copper alloy officer's button with an "I" as the cental device.  We believe it is an Indian Department button of 1830s vintage but we have been unable to find any documentation on uniforms of this time period.


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## niner domestic (26 Oct 2006)

Retread: Have you had a look around Six Nations? Joseph Brant was an Indan Department Officer(1770s), the museum there might bear some fruit.


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## retread (26 Oct 2006)

niner,

In the past my experience with the 6 Nations has been that their data and interest is specifically targeted to persons and events having a direct relationship of significance to their history (which is understandable).  I rather doubt they would have information on the time period in question, and even more unlikely for such mundane issues as equipage.  I may consider it as an option of last rsort...one never knows, I could get lucky.  Your thoughtful consideration of the problem is appreciated and I will retain the suggestion if none of the more likely suspects come up with anything.


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## niner domestic (26 Oct 2006)

Joseph Brant is one Six nations primary historical figures.  If any collection is going to yield any info about the Indian Department pre 1830 it'll be them.  

Come to think of it, I've seen buttons similar to what you are describing on a few of our button blankets - let me call our curator and see if I am recalling correctly and to see if they have any info.


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## retread (26 Oct 2006)

niner,

I realize that Joseph Brant is an important figure in the American Rev War period and in the UE settlemet history of Ontario...I'm just saying I am not convinced they would have much info on the Idian Department of the 19th C., especially minutae like uniform buttons.  I am not writing them off, just saying I will exhaust more fruitful lines of inquiry first.

Button blankets? You evidently work in an institution with some West Coast collections.


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## niner domestic (26 Oct 2006)

No retread, I don't work in a museum. I've been doing pro bono legal work with my FN to repatriate a number of artifacts and human remains that have ended up in the hands of museums and anthropologists.  The work has put me in contact with a number of researchers, curators and historians and once we had these items and persons returned we created a rather large collection.  Our burial rites are very specifc, so it's required an enormous amount of research to ensure the remains are dealt with properly - potlatches etc.


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## retread (26 Oct 2006)

I may want to pick your brains for ideas on how to return artifacts to local First Nations.  I operate as a consulting archaeologist in Ontario but I am not allowed to give things to the First Nations communities, nor do we have the ability to save their sites.


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## niner domestic (26 Oct 2006)

Sure Retread, glad to help out.  In the meantime you have a button that needs a uniform attached to it. Can you post a picture of it so I can pass it around to my contacts, they may have run across it and know where it belongs.


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## retread (26 Oct 2006)

niner,

I had the same notion today...but it will have to wait until I get back to the office Monday morning.


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## Bill Smy (27 Oct 2006)

Sir William Johnson, Sir John Johnson, Joseph Brant, John Butler, etc, were all history by the timeframe in which you're interested. But you might find some help here:

Allen, Robert S. British Indian Department and the Frontier in North America, 1755-1830 (Ottawa, 1975).

A search on the National Archives website results in 5,345 hits. Not all of them are relevant, of course, but a starting point for research.

http://search-recherche.collectionscanada.ca/archives/searchResults.jsp?FormName=MIKAN+Simple+Search&QueryText=Indian+department&Media=&PageNum=1&SortSpec=score+desc&QueryParser=lac_mikan&Language=eng&Sources=mikan&ResultCount=10


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## retread (27 Oct 2006)

Thanks Bill!

I have been through a few books and that may include that one.  I'll have to check my records.  Most secondary sources I have consulted on the Indian Department had very little on uniforms and when they did, they tended to talk about the Seven Years War and Rev War periods.  I will certainly check that book if it's not in the sources I have looked at.  I will also have a look at the National Archives per your suggestion.  Hopefully, I can whittle that list down a bit.

Cheers!


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