Cherokee Telephone Memorial

After the Indian Removal Act forced indigenous peoples in the southeastern U.S. to Indian Territory in what would become Oklahoma, people needed ways to stay connected to each other. The Cherokee government was modernizing and needed faster communication with the U.S. Army and federal agents at Fort Gibson. Before the telephone, messages had to be sent by courier, which could take hours or days.

A group of Cherokee businessmen proposed installing a commercial, long-distance telephone line into the Cherokee Nation capital city of Tahlequah (now in Oklahoma). The Cherokee National Council approved the line in 1885. 

A short sample line was tested by George “Soggy” Sanders and another Cherokee leader named Smith, who held a conversation in the Cherokee language of Tsalagi. Upon ending the call, Sanders laughed and remarked that the telephone was alright, as “It talks in Cherokee.” This call proved to the Cherokee people that phone lines could be used in their own language rather than English only. 

Work began on the 35-mile line. It connected Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation capital, with Muskogee (Creek Nation), headquarters city for the Five Civilized Tribes by way of Fort Gibson, the first U. S. military post established in the territory. The fort served as a key center for enforcing federal policies, maintaining peace among tribes, and managing relations with settlers and Native nations. Fort Gibson also had the benefit of already being wired for military telegraph, so it had personnel who understood communication technologies.

One of the personnel from Fort Gibson was instrumental in finally connecting the laid lines.  A soldier who had seen lines connected previously in his home state of Ohio walked the installers through the process. Soon the fort’s end was in working order. The same process had to be made in Tahlequah as well, so a diagram was drawn up. An African-American worker named Manuel Spencer rode to Tahlequah and delivered the diagram to James S. Stapler, who worked at the J. W. Stapler and Sons general store where the exchange was to be housed. After getting it connected up, the bell rang. Stapler answered and asked who it was. E. D. Hicks responded, jokingly, “The devil, and I'm coming after you."

The ice was officially broken and the first commercial long-distance telephone line west of St. Louis was officially installed and working in Indian Territory.