The Committee on Indian Depredations was a standing committee of the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from 1893 to 1921. It was superseded by a select committee which operated from 1889 to 1895.

History

The Committee on Indian Depredations was created by a Senate resolution on March 15, 1893, and superseded a select committee on Indian depredations that had been established in 1889 to deal with the increased volume of Indian depredation claims. The committee oversaw claims under the Indian Depredation Act, which allows for citizen claims against the federal government for crimes committed by American Indians

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

. Many committee petitioners requested that claims for crimes committed during wartime be eligible for compensation, because the act limited claims to depredations committed in times of peace with the Indians.

The committee was terminated April 18, 1921, when the Senate eliminated this and several other obsolete standing and select committees.

Predecessor committees

• Select Committee on Indian Depredations (18891893)

Chairmen

• Gideon C. Moody
  Gideon C. Moody
  Gideon Curtis Moody was an American Senator from South Dakota.-Biography:Born in Cortland, New York, he attended the common schools and pursued an academic course. He studied law in Syracuse, New York and in 1852 moved to Indiana, gaining admission to the bar in 1853. He was appointed prosecuting...
  
   (R-SD) 1889-1891
• George L. Shoup (R-ID) 1891-1893
• William Lindsay (D-KY) 1893-1895
• John L. Wilson
  John L. Wilson
  John Lockwood Wilson was an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. states of Indiana and Washington. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate...
  
   (R-WA) 1895-1899
• William Deboe (R-KY) 1899-1901
• Robert J. Gamble
  Robert J. Gamble
  Robert Jackson Gamble was a U.S. Representative and Senator from South Dakota. He was the father of Ralph Abernethy Gamble and brother of John Rankin Gamble....
  
   (R-SD) 1901-1903
• J. Frank Allee
  J. Frank Allee
  James Frank Allee was an American merchant and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as U.S. Senator from Delaware. He was known by his middle name.-Early life and family:Allee was born in Dover,...
  
   (R-DE) 1903 – December 14, 1904 (appointed chairman of the Committee on Organization, Conduct, and Expeditures of the Executive Departments)
• Charles Dick (R-OH) December 14, 1904December 18, 1905
• Elmer J. Burkett (R-NE) December 18, 1905 – January 31, 1907 (appointed chairman of the Committee on Pacific Railroads
  United States Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads
  The Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads is a defunct committee of the United States Senate. It was first established as a select committee in 1889 and became a standing committee on March 15, 1893...
  
  )
• Charles Curtis
  Charles Curtis
  Charles Curtis was a United States Representative, a longtime United States Senator from Kansas later chosen as Senate Majority Leader by his Republican colleagues, and the 31st Vice President of the United States...
  
   (R-KS) 1907-1911
• Isidor Rayner
  Isidor Rayner
  Isidor Rayner was a Democratic member of the United States Senate, representing the State of Maryland from 1905-1912. He also represented the Fourth Congressional District of Maryland from 1887 to 1889, and 1891 to 1895....
  
   (D-MD) 1911-1912
• William Borah (R-ID) 1913-1917
• Miles Poindexter
  Miles Poindexter
  Miles Poindexter was an American politician. As a Republican and later a Progressive, he served as a United States Representative and United States Senator.-Early life:Poindexter was born in Memphis, Tennessee...
  
   (R-WA) 1917-1919
• Henry L. Myers
  Henry L. Myers
  Henry Lee Myers was a United States Senator from Montana. Born near Boonville, Missouri, he attended private schools, Cooper Institute, and Boonville Academy. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1884, commencing practice in Boonville...
  
  (D-MT) 1919-1921