The Committee on Indian Depredations was a standing committee of the United States Senate from 1893 to 1921. It superseded a select committee which operated from 1889 to 1893.
History The Committee on Indian Depredations was created by a Senate resolution on March 15, 1893, and superseded a select committee on Indian depredations that had been established in 1889 to deal with the increased volume of Indian depredation claims.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. 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 (R-SD) 1889–1891 George L. Shoup (R-ID) 1891–1893 William Lindsay (D-KY) 1893-1895 John L. Wilson (R-WA) 1895–1899 William Deboe (R-KY) 1899–1901 Robert J. Gamble (R-SD) 1901–1903 J. Frank Allee (R-DE) 1903 – December 14, 1904 (appointed chairman of the Committee on Organization, Conduct, and Expenditures 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) Charles Curtis (R-KS) 1907–1911 Isidor Rayner (D-MD) 1911–1912 Robert Latham Owen (D-OK) 1912–1913 William Borah (R-ID) 1913–1917 Miles Poindexter (R-WA) 1917–1919 Henry L. Myers (D-MT) 1919–1921
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