Smallwood, Benjamin Franklin, House
W of Lehigh, Lehigh, OKThe Smallwood home is the last remaining structure associated with Benjamin Franklin Smallwood and is the oldest remaining residence in Coal County. Smallwood is significant because he was a military officer, Choctaw rancher, businessman, policeman, and was active for many years in the politics of the Choctaw Nation.
Smallwood came over the Trail of Tears with the Choctaws. In 1847 he served as a ranger in Kiamichi County, Choctaw Nation. In 1863 Smallwood moved to Lehigh, and became a rancher and operated a trading post in Lehigh. From 1847 until 1887, excepting the years of the Civil War when he fought in the Second Choctaw Regiment as a captain in the Confederate Army, he held the office of representative to the Choctaw Nation and was speaker four times and was the leader of the National Party much of that time. In 1888 he was elected as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation and held that position for two years.
His home was the meeting place of Choctaw legislators, religious leaders, U.S. Congressmen and it served as a forum for discussion of Indian-Federal relations. Smallwood refused to meet with Federal officials unless they came to his home. A payment was made to the Nation during the administration of Chief Smallwood and a distribution was undertaken for the leased lands of the Choctaws. The distribution of the money was made without audit by the Net Proceeds Commission, for which the Chief was paid the sum of $5,500. This payment is recorded as one of the dark pages in Choctaw history because it reflects upon the integrity and efficiency of the political life of the Nation.
Smallwood refused to deal with the outstanding problems of the European non-Indian population living in the Choctaw Nation. The coal mining in the county attracted white miners for employment. Because the Choctaw Nation owned the land, the white community could not own their own homes, they could not incorporate cities, there was no water, sewer, police or fire protection. When the cities of Krebs and Lehigh petitioned Smallwood while he was Principal Chief to incorporate their cities, Smallwood refused, reflecting the attitude of the Indians to let the white man take care of themselves and that the whites were only temporary.
Benjamin Smallwood's life spanned the history of the Choctaws as an independent nation in Oklahoma. From an early age he was influential in the political decisions of the Choctaw Nation and played an important role in the interaction of the United States Government and the Choctaw Indians.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.