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A Texas Historical Essay by: Marjo Harbuck
The Removal Of Indians From Texas
The Caddo Indians were found living in East and Northeast Texas at the time of the first European explorations. Tejas
is the Spanish spelling of the Caddo word "tay sha" which means friend or ally. The word Texas evolved to become
the name of the 28th state of the United states.
The Cherokee came to Texas from Alabama and Georgia in 1820. The Cherokee took over living area and hunting grounds of
the Caddo, so there was not many of them left by the time early settlers came to Texas. Other Indian tribes found in the area
were the Kickapoo, Delaware and Shawnee.
On Feb. 23,1836 a treaty made by Sam Houston and John Forbes, representing the provincial government, promised title to
the land between the Angelina and Sabine rivers and north west of the old San Antonio road to the Cherokee and their associated
bands. The treaty was tabled by the Texas Senate on Dec. 29, 1836 and was declared null and void by the body on Dec.16, 1837,
despite Houston's insistence that it be ratified.
The Indians made several raids during the fall and spring of 1839.
In May 1839 a letter found in the possession of Manuel Flores exposed plans by the Mexican government to insight the Indians
against Texas settlers. President Mirabeau B. Lamar decided the Indians must be expelled from East Texas.
In July 1839 Kelsey H. Douglass in command of 500 troops under Edward Burleson, Willis H. Landrum and Thomas Rusk was
ordered to remove the Indians to the Arkansas Territory.
The army camped on Council Creek, six miles south of the Cherokee village of Chief Bowl. A comittee was sent out on July
12 to negotiate for the Indians removal. The Indians agreed to sign a treaty of removal that would give them profit from their
crops and cost of removal, but objected to a clause that would give them an armed escort out of the republic.
The Indians were told that the Texans would march on their village July 15. Those willing to accept the treaty should
display a white flag.
Landrum was sent across the Natchez river to cut off possible replacements. The rest of the army marched on the village.
The battle of Natchez took place a few miles west of Tyler, in what is now Henderson County. There were three Texans killed
and five wounded. The Indians lost eighteen.
By sundown the Indians fled and Douglass made camp.
On the morning of July 16th a scouting party led by James Carter engaged the Cherokee near the head waters of the Natchez
River at a site now in Van Zant County. The Indians sought shelter in a hut and in surrounding corn fields, but were forced
out after Carter was reinforced by Rusk and Burleson. The Indians were quickly forced to the Natchez bottom. When Chief Bowl
saw that the battle was lost he gave the signal to retreat, saying, "I stay, I am an old man. I die here." He fell
holding a sword given to him by Sam Houston as a gift.
Houston is quoted from a speech made in Nacogdoches as saying, "Bowl was a better man than his murders." The
speech cost Houston some of his strongest supporters and his life was threatened leaving the hall. However he ran for representative
in Congress for the Nacogdoches district and was elected.
The last fight took place near Grand Saline. It was estimated that about 100 Indians had been killed or wounded.
The Indians fled toward the head waters of the Sabine River. Most of the Indians fled to Cherokee lands out side the Republic
of Texas.
The following winter a small group under Chief Egg and John Bowl, son of Chief Bowl, tried to go to Mexico by going around
the white settlements. Burleson located and attacked them near the mouth of the San Saba River on Dec. 25, 1839. Egg, Bowl
and several worriers were killed. This was the last real battle with the Cherokee in Texas.
Sources:
The Indians of Texas - Lone Star Junction
Texas Beyond History
Texas State Historical Association
Biography: Dianna Everett, The Texas Cherokee; A People Between Two Fires, 1819-1840 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
1990)
The Raven by Marquis James: (A Biography of Sam Houston)
There is a Historical marker where Chief Bowl was killed near Canton in Van Zant County. It reads: "On this site
the Cherokee Chief Bowls was killed on July 16, 1839 while leading 800 Indians of various tribes in battle against 500 Texans.
The last engagement between Cherokee and whites in Texas."
To locate the marker take State Highway 64 about 19 miles Southeast to County Road 4923, follow signs North about 2.5
miles.
A marker for the Battle of Natchez is located in Van Zant County at a roadside park on Highway 20, five miles East of
Colfax. The marker reads: "Site 15 miles Southeast. Main engagement of Cherokee War; fought July 15 and 16, 1839, between
800 Indians (inculding Delawares and Shawnees) and 500 troupes of the Republic of Texas. An extraordinary fact is that David
G. Burnet vice president of the Republic; Albert Sidney Johnston, secretary of war; and two other high officials took active
parts in the fighting. When killed, Chief Bowls, aged Cherokee leader, carried a sword given him by Gen. Sam Houston. After
the defeat of the tribes, they scattered, thus virtually ending Indian troubles in the settled eastern part of Texas. (1968
)."
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