Camp Napoleon Council

The Camp Napoleon Council was a meeting of Native American tribes in today's Oklahoma that resulted in an intertribal compact. The council took place at Cottonwood Camp on May 24, 1865 near present-day Verden in Grady County, Oklahoma.

By early 1865, the Civil War had turned decisively against the Confederate States of America. Until then the Confederates had provided military support to maintain the Indian Territory as a buffer between Texas and the United States. However, after 1864, the South had been forced withdrawn its military forces and supplies to defend its states west of the Mississippi River. Except for the Native American troops serving the Confederate Army under General Stand Watie, the shooting war was virtually over in the Indian Territory. Pro-Confederate Indians agreed that a council of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Prairie Indians, and the Plains Indians should be held to end intertribal hostilities and to negotiate terms for their return to the United States. The government of Texas was concerned about the security of its northern border, and wanted the tribes in the Indian Territory to continue to protect against Union incursions. They would send their own representatives (either Albert Pike or Douglas H. Cooper) to attend the council.

The council was scheduled to meet on May 14, 1865, at Council Grove (near present-day Oklahoma City). However, it was learned that Union troops planned to disrupt the meeting. The council was accordingly rescheduled to May 26, 1865 and relocated to Camp Napoleon. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture says the site of Camp Napoleon was on the Washita River, and covered the whole area of the present day city of Verden, after rumors of an impending Union attack on the original meeting.

The Native American tribes of the Indian Territory realized that the Confederacy could no longer fulfill its commitments to them. Therefore, the Camp Napoleon Council was called to draft an agreement to present a united front as they negotiated a return of their loyalty to the United States. Native American tribes further west, many of them also at war with the United States troops, were also invited to take part, and several of them did.

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