The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 187
650 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
for more than two hundred. There were also many agencies in the
North, assigned to some Protestant group, though the missionary
activity in some of them had been entirely that of the Catholics.
The Catholic leaders felt very keenly that their church had not
received fair treatment and made a determined effort to secure a
reallocation of agencies giving more to the Catholics. After spend-
ing some time in groping for the best method of securing unified
action, an organization was set up by the appointment of Gen-
eral Charles Ewing as Catholic Commissioner for Indian Missions.
Ewing was a brother-in-law of General William T. Sherman, and
after the close of the war had left the army to resume his practice
of law. He was to reside in Washington and represent the mission-
ary activities of the Catholic Church and seek to promote a fairer
distribution of agencies and to advance education among the
Indians through Catholic schools. The organization later known
as the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions at first had great
difficulty in securing adequate funds for its work. By the end of
1877, however, the Bureau was able to sustain itself and give some
financial help to missions. In 1874 it began the publication of a
small magazine, the Annals of the Catholic Indian Missions of
America, some issues of which were printed in German. In addi-
tion to criticism from non-Catholic groups, the Bureau had to
meet attacks from within the Catholic Church itself. Its most
violent critic was James A. McMaster, editor of the New York
Freeman's Journal and Catholic Register. McMaster objected to
Grant's so-called "Peace Policy" and wanted the entire Indian
Service returned to the administration of the War Department.
His bitter attacks at times hindered the work of the Bureau.
Efforts were also made by non-Catholic agents to prevent priests
from entering their reservations to hold mass or to establish
Catholic schools or churches on the jurisdictions under their
charge. This attempt to interfere with the religious freedom of
the Indians was eventually ended because of the Bureau, but the
system of providing agents nominated by churches was fast totter-
ing to its fall. In 188o the Society of Friends withdrew from the
program, and other agents were named who were political
appointees.
The Catholic Church was never able to have more agencies
placed under its control. It never had more than eight, and187
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955, periodical, 1955; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101158/m1/208/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.