 Frontier fighters. Frontier fighters. Dramatically retracing the steps of those men and women of sterling character. Dauntless courage and high ideals in their desire to explore and settle the West. In 1866, the five civilized tribes signed treaties with the government. Scarcely had this momentous event been celebrated, then both United States citizens and certain members of Congress began to clamor that some of the lands of the Indian territory be open to white settlement. In that same year, 1866, there arrived in Washington representatives of the five civilized tribes to lay before the great white father their bill of wrongs. Said their spokesman to President Andrew Johnson, Oh great white father, soon the red men in Oklahoma will be as clouds before the winds of the storm. Driven into the cavern of the setting sun, there will be seen no more because of the white man's greed. The white brother is a hungry brother, and he would swallow up all the lands of the earth. The red man of the five civilized tribes hold their lands in common, so has always been. Now the white man says, give chief warrior, squaw and papusa farm, a farm for the red man, he who once owned all the earth. No such bill has as yet been proposed to the Congress. That time too will come great white father, but our treaty says that the red man shall have his land to hold as long as the grass grows and the water flows. If that is the treaty which we all signed in honor, so it shall be. Except for grants of land to the railroads which must pass through all the country, the five civilized tribes shall be free to roam from one end of the Indian territory to the other. Is the great white father spoken in truth? I have spoken in truth, and my word is good. Then so shall it be until the end of time. And so it was, but only until the end of Johnson's administration. For in the years following the Civil War, the cry was indeed westward whole. The trail of the farmer in Cattleman was through Nebraska, Kansas and Texas, and he looked with hungry eyes on Oklahoma. The years rolled on, the clamor became louder. There were hundreds against opening up the Indian territory in Oklahoma, but thousands for it. Chief among those for such a project, strangely enough, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation, E. C. Boudinot. In 1878, during a stormy session of Congress, he appeared before a crowded gallery to introduce his bill. Sergeant at arms to clear the gallery. The chair continues to recognize Mr. E. C. Boudinot. Thank you. My bill proposes that we immediately begin to bargain with the Indians to take a farm and sell the rest of his land for settlement to the whites. Sir, you're a traitor to your own people, willing to sell them out for a few hands full of silver. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, if Congress passes such a bill as this due to its proposes, I'll tend to my resignation to become effective at once. Public opinion began to cry out against the proposed bill, and Boudinot failed to get Congress to pass it. However, he did not accept defeat easily. Boudinot and those working with him became interested in a heart-shaped region in the very center of Indian territory called unassigned lands or Oklahoma. The Crees and Seminoles had ceded this land to the United States as a home for other Indians. But in 1878, it was unoccupied. The Chicago Times of 1879 carried an article by Boudinot, proclaiming to the world, say, this looks like an important bulletin. Well, holy smoke, yes. Didn't you read it yet? Gee, Willykins, here all this free land's just been itching for somebody to come and settle it, and we ain't know nothing about it. It sure must be the truth, too. It's signed E.C. Boudinot. Several million acres of land in the Indian territory is now public land and owned by the United States and as such, subject to settlement of homesteaders. Say, I guess it must be right and proper, too. Mr. Boudinot's attorney is Judge T.C. Sears. Every paper in the country is going to call me this article. Well, then, what are we waiting for? I'm a-hidden right now for Oklahoma. Boudinot's article was copied by newspapers all over the country. A rush to Oklahoma fever took hold of the entire West. Parties of homesteaders under both Boudinot and Colonel C.C. Carpenter crossed the boundary line into Indian territory. However, the government of the United States acted at once. Said the Secretary of the Interior to President Hayes. Well, Mr. President, it's happened, and I'm afraid there's going to be plenty of trouble in the Indian territory. Stand back quickly, then, Mr. Secretary. We'll issue a proclamation warning the people to keep out. Do you think they will keep out, Mr. President? They must. It is my intention to notify the War Department to send troops under General Polk to stop the invasion. And if the homesteaders refuse to leave the territory? Then they will be attempting to defy the authority of the federal government, Mr. Secretary of the Interior. And by so doing, they must suffer the consequences. General Polk, acting under specific instructions from the President, stopped the first organized attempts to settle in Indian territory and all others thereafter. Suddenly, the unassigned strip of land known as Oklahoma through nationwide publicity took on a significant and dramatic importance in the eyes of the people. Each year, more and more immigrants began to believe that Oklahoma should be open to settlement. A leader of this faction was David L. Payne. And early in 1880, he organized an expedition to settle the Oklahoma lands. He gathered a great colony at Arkansas City. The expedition consisted of 325 wagons and 600 men, women and children. They moved slowly along the Kansas boundary line toward Hunnawell, followed closely by troops under Colonel Coppinger. On Sunday, December 12th, the colonists remained in camp and directly after the conclusion of the sermon... And the Lord commanded unto Moses, go forth and possess the promised land. And in his name do we now go forth. Amen. Polk, here comes the rider. He's in uniform. That means the soldiers are coming. The soldiers! Have no fear. They will not molest us, nor break the Sabbath. General Polk is looking for David L. Payne. Is he here? Yes, he is. I am David Payne. He'll come this way with me, please. Very well. Sir, here is David Payne. Looking for me, General? Yes, Mr. Payne. Suppose we get right down to business. I understand you're heading these people for Oklahoma. That's right, General. And you'd better head them back at once. When you started out, you knew it was a violation of a proclamation signed to the President. You can't turn back 600 people? Well, I've given them my word now. And the government has given its word to the Indians that this strip of land now known as Oklahoma will not be settled by whites without permission of the federal government. You'll be given 24 hours to lead these people back to their homes. If you insist on violating a federal proclamation and deceiving hundreds of people, you'll be subject to arrest and imprisonment. I'll give you 24 hours to get moving. For almost five years, Payne tried every trick he could think of to get colonists into Oklahoma, but each time he was driven out by the soldiers. The publicity created by all of these various attempts on Payne's part continued to focus the attention of each administration more strongly upon Oklahoma. Finally, Congress decided that the time was ripe to begin negotiations with the Crees for this strip of land. The Springer bill introduced into Congress provided that the Oklahoma lands should be open to white settlement. The Indians were to receive $1,912,942. Of this amount, a million and a half to be left with the United States on interest and the remainder paid in cash. On March 23, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation. And let it therefore be known to all citizens of the United States that Oklahoma lands shall be open to settlement in 30 days or at noon, April 22, 1889. Benjamin Harrison. The morning of April 22 dawned anxiously for several thousand people who had assembled on the border, waiting for 12 noon to be announced for the soldiers firing their guns. Each man was primed and ready to join in the mad dash to stake out his 160-acre tract. The view across the border was a most inviting one. Green prairies, winding streams, and purple hills. And now the hours began to fall away until it was just two minutes until 12 o'clock. Indus Motley throng were husbands and wives, sweethearts and their lovers, who vowed they'd get married the minute they were on Oklahoma soil. Young and old, rich and poor, boomers and sooners. All with their eyes on the soldiers who were stationed at intervals of a mile with watches in hand. As the moments began ticking away, the excitement increased. Everyone, it seemed, began talking at once. There must be thousands of people here at the border. There are more coming every minute. Jump and see. Just look as far as the eye can see people in covered wagons, in carts, and on horseback. And some of them on bicycles. Look, only a minute now till the bugles blow and the soldiers shoot all their carbines. My wife and I move in if you can't don't mind. Come along, stranger. Just make it a guess. Oh, please. I'm just that scared I am. It can't be more than a minute to go. Honey, there ain't nothing to be scared of. We've got a good sound wagon through the best horses that I'll ever see in Oklahoma. 40 seconds to go! Oh, let it tie that sunbond into my tighter, honey. Oh, I ain't worried about my sunbond. It'll stay on my head if I'll be able to stay in the wagon. There's a half a minute to go. These seconds are moving along like molasses in January. Oh, speed. I'm just so excited. I know I just up in things when that bugle blows. Hold on now, Mary. We're just about ready to go. We'll have to whip you in the same place. Oh, you're beating the law with this. Oh, look, honey. Oh, we've got the best people in Oklahoma. Those early thousands called boomers who crossed the Kansas borderline into Oklahoma were indeed pioneers. And Oklahoma can say with pride that by December of that same year, 1889, there were in the new territory 60,000 people, 11 schools, nine churches, three daily and five weekly newspapers. Because of those daring sons and daughters of courage who saw in Oklahoma a promised land, we are privileged to recreate another chapter in the lives of those who are indeed the guardians of the West, famous frontier fighters.