Montford T. Johnson (November 1843 – February 17, 1896) (Chickasaw) was born and raised in Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma).
Charles Johnson came to the United States with his brother when he was 19 years old and toured in the South with a theater production.
Because the Chickasaw had a matrilineal kinship system, the mother's line determined her children's social status.
[3] Charles, using a technique learned while growing up in England, organized men into groups to cut down saplings and lay them along the route, thereby allowing the livestock and wagons to pass through the quagmires.
At the end of that school year, they moved to the home of their next nearest relative, Sallie's half-brother, U.S. Army Captain Townsend Hothliche.
[7] He was stationed at Fort Arbuckle (near present-day Davis, Oklahoma), and had a house nearby on the South Bank of the Washita River.
[8] The outbreak of the Civil War forced major changes in Indian Territory and affected Montford and his family.
Despite being forced out of the Southeast by whites encroaching on their lands, the Chickasaw and some of the other nations in Indian Territory allied with the Confederates.
Michael Campbell joined the Confederate cause and Chickasaw battalion as a Major; he was away from home during much of the war, although sometimes garrisoned at Fort Arbuckle.
[10] In 1864, Michael Campbell was stationed at Fort Arbuckle and regularly made the trip home in the evening to spend the night.
In July 1865, the Chickasaw were officially the last Confederate tribe to surrender, marking the end of the United States' war.
Confederate debts incurred by ranchers and merchants during the war were worthless, leaving the Chickasaw largely impoverished.
Second, he made an agreement with the men of neighboring farms to round up maverick cattle that had been set loose in the mountains during the war to escape the armies.
Wanting to build his herd, Montford offered to pay other farmers for each of the branded cattle he captured in the mountains.
Around this time, Montford hosted his friend Jesse Chisholm on a buffalo hunt on the western range of Chickasaw territory, south of present-day Norman, Oklahoma.
With Chisholm's help, Montford was able to make a deal with the tribes; they allowed him to use the land as long as he did not hire white men as ranch hands.
[15] Montford began his first ranch in the spring of 1868, taking a team of men to [Walnut Creek], the same location of the buffalo hunt.
[14] As payment for his services, Brown was to receive every fourth calf born on the ranch, making him possibly the first sharecropper of Oklahoma.
Montford settled his business with her (which was started while he oversaw her homestead during the war), giving her 15 cows and calves and several steers, worth approximately $1,100 at that time.
After that she asked Montford to assist her in taking over Jesse Chisholm's trade post at Council Grove (in present-day Oklahoma City).
Montford declined to help her with the trading post, but eventually convinced her to take charge of a new ranch at Council Grove, making her and her family the first permanent residents of the Oklahoma City metro area.
They built their own home a couple miles west of the Chisholm Trail on the southern bank of the South Canadian River.
Their homestead location was a suitable place for crossing the river, and cattle drivers often stopped at their home for the night.
A major problem for Montford during the 1870s and 1880s was the threat posed by Texas cattle being driven north to the Kansas railroads.
several times in New York City, and on a visit in late 1882, informed his son of his intent to marry his cousin-in-law, [Addie Campbell].
Conflict quickly arose when settlers known as "[Boomers]" made attempts to enter the [Unassigned Lands] prior to the [Indian Appropriations Act of 1889].
These fireguards were typically made perpendicular to creeks to reduce the effort required to make effective barriers.
Montford had also invested $25,000 in the New York City liquor business Boggy Johnson was involved in, which never produced a profit.
a 50 percent share of the Silver City store, and he set out to collect some of the overdue bills, which amounted to approximately $15,000.
After two years of trying to succeed on the lands amid legal battles and significant livestock losses, Montford consolidated his herd back to his ranches that were clearly inside the Chickasaw Nation.