Texas Cherokees
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Texas Cherokees were the small settlements of
Cherokee people The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
who lived temporarily in what is now
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, after being forcibly relocated from their homelands, primarily during the time that
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, and then
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, controlled the territory. After the Cherokee War of 1839, the Cherokee communities in Texas were once again forcibly removed to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
in present-day
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. When Union troops took control of Cherokee territory in 1863, many "Southern" Cherokees fled to Texas, but after the war, most of them returned to their homes in Indian Territory.Lipscomb, Carol A
"The Cherokee Indians."
''Handbook of Texas History.'' Retrieved 26 March 2010.
Others are part of the multitribal
Mount Tabor Indian Community The Mount Tabor Indian Community (also Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands of the Mount Tabor Indian Community) is a cultural heritage group located in Rusk County, Texas. There was a historical Mount Tabor Indian Community dating from the 19th c ...
, or Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribe which have received commendations for their contributions to the State of Texas.


History

In 1806 a band of Cherokee, most likely migrating south from the Arkansas area of the
Louisiana Territory The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Missouri Territory. The territory was formed out of the ...
, founded a village along the Red River. That same year, an intertribal delegation, including Cherokee, petitioned the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
officials at
Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchitoch ...
for permission to settle there, which was granted. Cherokee immigration into Texas increased between 1812 and 1819. The
Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
, following
Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
's recommendations, established a reservation for the Cherokee, but the negotiated Treaty of 1836 was never ratified (See below). The Bowl, a former
Chickamauga Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment * "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce * "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe * "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album ''Anodyne (album), Ano ...
chief, led many Cherokee families into Texas in 1820. They settled near present-day
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
but were forced by local tribes to move east into what is now
Rusk County, Texas Rusk County is a county located in Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 52,214. Its county seat is Henderson. The county is named for Thomas Jefferson Rusk, a secretary of war of the Republic of Texas. Rusk County is part of th ...
. By 1822, an estimated 800 Cherokee lived in Texas. When Texas passed from Spanish to
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
governance, Cherokee petitioned the new Mexican authorities for formal land grants but were denied. In 1830, an estimated 800 Cherokee lived in three to seven settlements in Texas. When the Texas Revolution came, the Cherokee settlements tried to remain neutral.


The Treaty

Having married into a Cherokee family and having a long-standing relationship with Chief Bowl, Sam Houston sought an alliance with the Cherokee while he served as President of Texas. General Houston, with fellow commissioners John Forbes and John Cameron, negotiated a treaty with the settlements for the east Texas lands north of the San Antonio Road and between the Angelina and Neches rivers. This would have created a reservation in the greater part of present-day Cherokee County, all of Smith County and parts of Gregg, Rusk and Van Zandt Counties. The Senate of the Republic of Texas, however, tabled and refused to ratify the treaty. The settlements, who already thought they had conceded enough in accepting the limits of the treaty, became extremely agitated. When, almost immediately, the Land Office began issuing
patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
to lands within the Cherokee Nation, the immediate and increasing influx of Anglo settlers into their territory did little to calm resentment.


The Cordova Rebellion

There was also residual bitterness among some
Tejano Tejanos (, ; singular: ''Tejano/a''; Spanish for "Texan", originally borrowed from the Caddo ''tayshas'') are the residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the Mexican population of Tejas and Coahuila that lived in the ...
s still loyal to Mexico and others who felt mistreated by, as they saw it, the new
Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term '' Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...
ruling class. The atmosphere in the Nacogdoches district became tense in early 1838. Complicating matters was the fact that some in the Cherokee settlements were also still loyal to Mexico. By the summer of that year, there were rumblings of coming insurrection from either or both of those factions, and a contingent of
Tejano Tejanos (, ; singular: ''Tejano/a''; Spanish for "Texan", originally borrowed from the Caddo ''tayshas'') are the residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the Mexican population of Tejas and Coahuila that lived in the ...
s led by Vicente Córdova (a former ''alcalde'' of Nacogdoches) gathered under arms and, in an affair known as the
Córdova Rebellion The Córdova Rebellion, in 1838, was an uprising instigated in and around Nacogdoches, Texas. '' Alcalde'' Vicente Córdova and other leaders supported the Texas Revolution as long as it espoused a return to the Constitution of 1824, It erupted i ...
, began raids against Anglo settlers. Some from the Cherokee settlements were believed to have joined Cordova. In the summer of 1838, evidence was discovered of an active Mexican intrigue to incite members of the east Texas settlements against the Republic.


Killough Massacre

Responding to this growing unrest, Isaac Killough and his extended family, who had settled in Cherokee lands southeast of the Neches Saline, fled to Nacogdoches for refuge. On condition they would return simply to harvest their crops and leave the area after doing so, the Cherokee leadership sent word to the Killough party that they would not be molested. They did return. On October 5, 1838, a band of Cherokee who had not been party to the agreement attacked the settlement. Most of the Killough group—a total of eighteen—were killed or abducted as they worked their fields. Those who survived fled for a time to Lacy's Fort on the San Antonio Road, just west of present-day Alto, Texas. Whether or not Chief Bowl or the larger Cherokee community had been complicit in this slaughter, and notwithstanding denials of involvement, this affair was seized upon by Houston's successor, Mirabeau Lamar, as grounds to either expunge Cherokee people from Texas or destroy them. In an address to the Texas Congress on December 20, 1838, Lamar said in part:
If the wild cannibals of the woods will not desist from their massacres, if they will continue to war upon us with the ferocity of tigers an hienas, it is time that we should retaliate their warfare. Not in the murder of their women and children, but in the prosecution of an exterminating war upon their warriors; which will admit of no compromise and have no termination except in their total extinction or their total expulsion.
In a manner of reply, Chief Bowl, leader of the Cherokee, said to the commissioners sent by Lamar in June 1839 to conduct "peace talks:"
If I fight, the whites will kill me. If I refuse to fight, my own people will kill me.
Before the year was over, the Texas Cherokee would be forcibly removed from the settlements in the Cherokee War of 1839. Almost 600 Cherokee, mostly women and children, led by Chief Bowl, fought the Texans in two separate battles on July 15 and 16, 1839. They were defeated and Chief Bowl was killed in the battle of the 16th. Seriously wounded by a shot to the back, and then shot point-blank in the face as he sat incapacitated, the body of the 83-year-old chief was left to rot on the battlefield, his bones on open display for years afterward. Most of the remaining Texas Cherokee were driven north into
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
(now
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
). Sam Houston was once again elected President of Texas and negotiated peace treaties with them in 1843 and 1844. From the 1840s on, the original
Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
sought compensation for the lands they lost in Texas.
William Penn Adair William Penn Adair (1830–1880) was a leader of the Cherokee Nation. Born in the traditional Cherokee territory in Georgia, he traveled as a child with his family on the Trail of Tears of Indian Removal from the Southeast to Indian Territory to w ...
was a staunch advocate for the claims of Texas Cherokee.


Legal status

Several groups of Cherokee descendants have organized and on October 10, 2019 the Honorable Governor Greg Abbott on behalf of the State of Texas granted the Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribe (Texas Cherokee) Official Recognition on the occasion of the 200th Anniversary and permanent settlement in what is now the State of Texas 1819-2019. Numerous individuals living in Texas today are enrolled in the
Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
, with fewer enrolled in the
United Keetoowah Band The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma ( or , abbreviated United Keetoowah Band or UKB) is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Native Americans headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. According to the UKB website, its member ...
, and
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a Federally recognized tribe, federally recognized Indian Tribe based in Western North Carolina in the U ...
. Members of the Cherokee Nation in Texas have several organized cultural groups.


Notable Texas Cherokees

* The Bowl Duwali, (d. 1839), Texas Cherokee chief and military leader. Killed at the Battle of the Neches; (Redlands) during the Cherokee War July 1839. *
Stand Watie Brigadier-General Stand Watie ( chr, ᏕᎦᏔᎦ, translit=Degataga, lit=Stand firm; December 12, 1806September 9, 1871), also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second princ ...
(1806-1871), Brigadier General Confederate States of America; Principal Chief of the Southern (Confederate) Cherokee (including the Mount Tabor Community) 1863-1865. His wife (Sarah Caroline Bell-Watie) remained a part of the Mount Tabor Community in Rusk County, Texas for most of the war. Continued as leader of the Southern Cherokee following the war until his death in 1871 * Jesse Bartley Milam (1884–1949), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1941–1949 *
W. W. Keeler William Wayne Keeler (1908–1987) is best known as the last appointed and first elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 20th century. Educated as a chemical engineer, he worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, where he became ch ...
(1908–1987), Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Executive Committee Chairman 1945-1972 (Replaced by Judge Foster T. Bean) Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation 1949-1975 (Replaced by Ross O. Swimmer) *
William Penn Adair William Penn Adair (1830–1880) was a leader of the Cherokee Nation. Born in the traditional Cherokee territory in Georgia, he traveled as a child with his family on the Trail of Tears of Indian Removal from the Southeast to Indian Territory to w ...
(1830-1880), Colonel, Confederate States of America. Second in Command under General
Stand Watie Brigadier-General Stand Watie ( chr, ᏕᎦᏔᎦ, translit=Degataga, lit=Stand firm; December 12, 1806September 9, 1871), also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second princ ...
; Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Executive Committee Chairman 1871-1880 (Founded the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands out of the descendants of the Mount Tabor Indian Community, along with Clement Neely Vann in 1871.) *
John Martin Thompson John Martin Thompson (1829–1907) was a lumberman, Native American tribal and civic leader, born in the old Cherokee Nation prior to removal in what is now Bartow County, Georgia, USA.Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians, By Dr. Emmet Starr, Gr ...
(1829-1907), Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Executive Committee Chairman 1880-1907 (Replaced by Claude Muskrat)


See also

* Cherokees in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an outlier branch of the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
*
Cherokee cultural citizenship Cherokee cultural citizenship refers to status accorded to everyone who belongs to the Cherokee Nation. Cultural citizenship definition Cultural citizenship psychologically and ideologically connects members within a community or members of dif ...
*
Cherokee heritage groups Cherokee heritage groups are associations, societies and other organizations located primarily in the United States. Such groups consist of persons who do not qualify for enrollment in any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes (the Cher ...
** Cherokees in Mexico ** Northern Cherokee of the
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
(the historic
Louisiana Territory The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Missouri Territory. The territory was formed out of the ...
)


Notes


Further reading

* * * * *Woldert, Albert
"The Last of the Cherokees in Texas, and the Life and Death of Chief Bowles."
''Chronicles of Oklahoma.'' Vol. 1, No. 3, June 1923. {{Cherokee Cherokee heritage groups History of Texas