peaches, pears and plums. Livestock included horse, cattle, oxen and sheep. Other

Cherokees still practiced subsistence agriculture (Hurt, 1987; Graebner, 1942).

 By 1862, during the Civil War, Cherokees split into two factions and fought for

both the Union and Confederacy. Many Cherokees fled to Kansas during the war. Union

and Confederate troops traveled though Cherokee land within Oklahoma. Many

destroyed crops, farm implements and livestock. The Civil War severely hindered

agricultural activities.

 When the Civil War ended, Cherokees returned to their farms. However, many

stopped farming and relied on government aid due to constant theft and requisition by

military troops of crops and livestock (Hurt, 1987). Many of the Cherokees still had

gardens and cultivated corn, potatoes, squash and beans. Some who relied on subsistence

agriculture sometimes did not have enough food for winter (Gaebner, 1945, p. 323).

Many had some livestock for meat and still hunted and fished to supplement their diet.

Some of the Cherokee continued to farm commercially, such as those in the Piney

Community in Delaware County. According to the 1880 census they maintained fruit

trees, cultivated corn, wheat, potatoes and cotton and raised hogs, horses and sheep

(O'Brien, 2001). Most of these Cherokees, over 3,500, were farmers by profession

(Graebner, 1942, p.333).

 The American westward expansion eventually led settlers to Indian Territory after

the Civil War ended. Many settlers squatted on Cherokee land and stole and sold cattle

for profit in Kansas. A new federal government philosophy was developed and

implemented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after the Civil War. This consisted of

reducing Indian Territory and breaking up communally owned land into individual

allotments. Between 1880 and 1890 American commerce in the west was built on