SEPTEMBER 3, 1907

TALOF HARJO (PLEASANT PORTER DIED—LAST PRINCIPAL CREEK CHIEF

Born on September 26, 1840, in present Wagoner County, Oklahoma (OK), Pleasant was educated at Tullahassee Presbyterian mission school. During the Civil War, Porter served as a Lieutenant in the Confederate First Creek Regiment. After the war, Porter became superintendent of Creek public schools and developed a national school system. From 1872 onward, he represented the Creek Nation in Washington, D.C., and, in 1897, chaired a Creek commission that negotiated with the Federal government on land allotment. After serving 12 years in the Creek national council, he stood for election as Principal Chief, losing in 1895, but winning in 1899 and again in 1903. However, with the Curtis Act of 1898 meaning an end to tribal governments in 1906, Porter helped organize, in 1905, an intertribal convention that drafted a constitution for a proposed Indian state of “Sequoyah.” Porter later helped organize in 1906, the Indian Central Railway. Porter died in Vinita, OK.

Source:  Dianna Everett, “Porter, Pleasant,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.  Retrieved 11/4/2023, Porter, Pleasant | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (okhistory.org)

Photo: John Downing Benedict, 1922. Public Domain.