(then known as the Nuyaka faction). When Checote stepped down as principal chief in 1883, an election elevated a follower of Isparhecher to the position, narrowly defeating Isparhecher himself. Checote came in a distant third. Isparhecher served briefly in December 1883. On February 24, 1884, the Indian Agent at Muskogee, under orders from the Secretary of the Interior, whose department administered Native American affairs, officially recognized Joseph Perryman as the Principal Chief, although he was not elected by the Council. Under the terms of the Dawes Act, the Creek Nation had to agree to an allotment of former tribal lands to individual households, in an effort to force adaptation to European-American styles of farming and property ownership. Porter headed another Creek commission to negotiate the terms with Federal officials. Agreement was announced September 27, 1897 and incorporated as part of the Curtis Act, passed by Congress in June 1898. The US insisted that any land remaining after allotment would be considered "surplus" and made available for sale to non-Indians. Although the agreement was rejected by the Creek in an election on November 1, 1898, the Dawes Commission began to register tribal members for the process of allotment. Porter headed a delegation to Washington, C. C. in January 1889 to negotiate the terms for turning over some more of their land to the United States, as required by the 1866 peace treaty. At the time the treaty was signed, it was intended that these lands were to be used for the resettlement of other Native Americans and freedmen. The lands were not intended for settlement by whites. Now, the government wanted to open these so-called "unassigned lands" for white settlement. Porter and his delegation agreed to remove the restrictions on land use in exchange for $2.25 million. The agreement was signed on January 31, 1889. Pleasant Porter was elected Principal Chief on September 5, 1899. He and his delegation negotiated more concessions regarding rights of individual Creek members than had been allowed to many other tribes. But, many Creek opposed the allotment plan and break-up of communal land. In 1900, a leader of the full-blood faction, Chitto Harjo ("Crazy Snake"), declared a separate government. Porter appealed to the U. S. government for help putting down the revolt. A cavalry troop arrived and arrested the leaders in January 1901. Crazy Snake and his lieutenants pleaded guilty, were lectured by the judge, and