Crazy Snake Rebellion

Crazy Snake rebels in 1909.

Date	March 1909
Location	Oklahoma
Result	United States victory

Belligerents

United States

Creek

Commanders and leaders

Charles N. Haskell

Chitto Harjo

Casualties and losses

2 killed

1 killed
1 wounded
42 captured

The Crazy Snake Rebellion, also known as the Smoked Meat Rebellion or Crazy Snake's War, was an incident in 1909 that at times was viewed as a war between the Creek people and American settlers. It should not be confused with an earlier, bloodless, conflict in 1901 involving much of the same people. The conflict consisted of only two minor skirmishes, and the first was actually a struggle between a group of marginalized African Americans and a posse formed to punish the alleged robbery of a piece of smoked meat.

Crazy Snake was the very loose translation to English of Chitto Harjo's name. Chitto Harjo was a leader of the Four Mothers Society among the Creek and an outspoken opponent of allotment. In 1893 Congress formed the Dawes Commission to seek to have the lands of the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee allotted. In 1895 Congress authorized surveying of the land and in 1896 they passed a law creating tribal rolls and breaking up the land. The Creek government decided to negotiate the best terms they could, but in 1898 the Creek held an election at which allotment was voted down. In response to this, Congress passed the Curtis Act which dissolved the governments of the Creek and their neighboring tribes.

In 1900 there was a meeting where Chitto Harjo was declared the principal chief of the Creek by a meeting at his ceremonial grounds, near Henryetta, which view Pleasant Porter's methods of introducing the allotment system to be in violation of the 1867 Creek Constitution. The meeting that elected Harjo also elected a second chief, a bicameral legislature and established a court. Since the Creek Nation did not exist in the view of the American government the legality of Harjo's election was not relevant at the time in United States law. The followers of Harjo organized a group called the Lighthorse to serve as a police force to enforce their view of the law. It was alleged that this group whipped some men for accepting allotment but this is disputed by other writers.

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