By T.S. Akers
During the American Civil War, Brother Joseph M. Coody preserved the charter of Muscogee Lodge No. 93 during the hostilities. This allowed the lodge to resume Masonic activity in the Creek Nation following the cessation of fighting. When Coody passed in 1882, Muscogee Lodge sent a memorial resolution to the three main newspapers of the Indian Territory. The resolution was signed by its three committee men, R.C. McGee, I.G. Vore, and M.G. Butler; names that without additional context may seem insignificant. Rev. Robert C. McGee was a Presbyterian minister who had spent twenty-five years in the Creek Nation.[1] Manley G. Butler was the son of North Fork Town resident and merchant Edward Butler.[2] And then there is Israel G. Vore, who like Coody, saw service in the War.
Israel G. Vore was born to Benjamin Vore in 1822. The elder Vore was granted a trader’s license in 1838, which allowed him to operate a trading post at the mouth of the Canadian River. In 1843, Israel’s parents were murdered whilst traveling along the Military Road, near Fort Gibson. The killers were three members of the Starr family, including Thomas Starr, who later became the father-in-law of the infamous Belle Starr.[3]
Israel G. Vore entered the mercantile business himself in 1847 at Fort Smith. His enterprise began to flourish within the year, resulting in a partnership with Thomas A. Aird and an expansion with a store at Pheasant Bluff on the Arkansas River in the Choctaw Nation. Vore married Sallie Vann, the daughter of mixed-blood Cherokee citizen Joseph “Rich Joe” Vann in 1851. The couple made Webbers Falls their home from then on, though Vore maintained his mercantile operation, which required frequent travel by steamboat up and down the Arkansas River to his stores. An additional partnership was formed the following year with Jesse Chisholm; to supply him goods for the trading post he operated on the Canadian River, near present day Asher.[4]
Prior to his business pursuits, Israel G. Vore preached the Gospel. It was said that nearly every person in the Cherokee Nation had heard him speak.[5] In 1860, Vore was sought out by William H. Garrett, agent for the Creek Nation, to conduct a census of the Nation.[6] Vore likely secured this contract owing to his own renown amongst the Cherokees, combined with his father-in-law’s connections, and his mercantile operation. With two interpreters, D.N. McIntosh and I.C.M. Smith, Vore traversed the Creek Nation, visiting every town to ensure the accuracy of this work.[7] This census of free inhabitants, orphans, and slaves remains an invaluable resource to this day.
At the onset of the Civil War, Israel G. Vore enlisted in the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles on the 4th of October, 1861.[8] The regiment was then commanded by Colonel John Drew.[9] Again, Vore’s mercantile experience proved most valuable as he was made assistant quartermaster with the rank of captain. Vore was later promoted to the rank of major, on the staff of Brigadier General Douglas H. Cooper as quartermaster.[10] In this capacity, Vore was present at the Battle of Honey Springs, which was fought at Cooper’s supply depot on the Texas Road. Vore’s wife and children remained at Webbers Falls for a period during the War, but ultimately became refugees at Fort Washita.[11] The town of Webbers Falls was burned by the Federal Army in late 1863 to deprive Stand Watie of a base of operations.[12] Watie’s command had successfully launched a raid deep into Federal held territory that autumn, driving Federal forces from Tahlequah.[13]
Following the 1864 massacre of a Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment by Colonel John M. Chivington in Colorado, it was believed that the Plains tribes were becoming sympathetic to the South.[14] In early 1865 Israel G. Vore was sent by Stand Watie as an envoy to the Plains tribes, in hopes that they would support Confederate operations in the Indian Territory. Unfortunately, by the time Vore arrived at Council Grove, the tribes were no longer there.[15] Owing to this, no official negotiations were able to be conducted until the Camp Napoleon Council held on the 24th of May. The delegates at that council were well aware of the eminent surrender of General Edmund Kirby Smith’s Trans-Mississippi Department, which was completed two days later, rendering the point of the council moot.[16]
The War concluded, Israel G. Vore rebuilt his home at Webbers Falls. He also returned to preaching and began a cattle operation.[17] His registered cattle brand in the Cherokee Nation was a large V.[18] The post-war years also found Vore frequently called into service for tribal relations. The federal government induced the tribes then residing in the Territory to form an intertribal council, which was convened for its first session at Okmulgee in 1870 as the General Council of the Indian Territory. Vore served as secretary pro tem of that first council session.[19] He also served as acting agent for the Muscogees when the actual agent was away. The Absentee Shawnee approached Vore in 1872 to recover funds from the federal government for the sale of their land in Kansas. The Creek Nation employed him that same year as an auditor examining their acts of appropriation and comparing them to drafts issued.[20] Vore later served as clerk of the Union Agency at Muskogee in 1879.
It is unclear when Israel G. Vore became a Freemason. His membership card from the archives of the Grand Lodge of the State Oklahoma states that he affiliated with Muscogee Lodge No. 1 in 1875, with the notation that he was a charter member.[21] Vore is listed in the proceedings for the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory from 1875 as a Master Mason on the roll of Muscogee Lodge.[22] It could be that Vore became a Freemason in 1855 when Muscogee Lodge was established by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas at the Creek Agency. Muscogee Lodge was suspended following the Civil War and rechartered by Arkansas in 1874 at North Fork Town. Vore may not have been part of the rechartering, hence the affiliation date of 1875 on his membership card.[23]
Israel G. Vore also turned his attention to education after the Civil War. He not only made sure that his children received a good education in the schools of the Cherokee Nation but worked to ensure the quality of the schools for all.[24] An appropriation of $5,000 by the Creek Nation in 1880, matched by Eugene Levering of Baltimore, Maryland, created the Levering Mission, a manual labor school, at Wetumka. Vore became the second superintendent of this boarding school on the 26th of December, 1883. In his 1884 report to the trustees, Vore said he “found the school in a crippled condition,” with just ten days rations. Vore set to work, securing additional range land, clearing existing land for an orchard, and soon had the school farm producing adequate foodstuffs. The enrollment at the Levering Mission was 120 students in 1885 and the grounds had been expanded to include a meat house and hospital. By the following year the faculty boasted a graduate of Bacone College as “first teacher” and a music instructor. The school’s popularity was such that when the 1887 session opened, there were more applicants than space available. Sadly, Vore passed away on the 17th of January, 1887, and his loss was deeply felt at Levering Mission.[25]
Today, Israel G. Vore is one of the forgotten names of the Indian Territory. But much like Joseph M. Coody, Vore should be rightly remembered. His mercantile operation brought needed goods to the Indian Territory, whilst his work as a clerk for the Indian Nations and his contributions to the schools of the Creek Nation did much to advance tribal interests following the Civil War.
