Commissioners Sent to the Cherokee

137

that the committee deemed it important that the just and legal rights of the civilized Indians should be protected.33 The committee of San Augustine and Nacogdoches sent a joint deputation to the Indians, of which Sam Houston and T. J. Rusk were members. Promises were made that the surveyors should stay away from their lands and that white men should not interfere with them.3 34 Houston informed the Cherokee that they should have their lands above the San Antonio Road and between the Neches and Angelina rivers.35

The Permanent Council, which was the governing body of Texas, October 11-27, 1835, also took action. Three commissioners, Peter J. Menard, Jacob Garrett, and Joseph L. Hood, were appointed to proceed to the Indian villages, ascertain their grievances, and give them full assurance that their case would receive prompt attention. In the address to the people which was circulated by the Permanent Council, this significant statement occurred: "Already have we said we will respect the rights of the No[r]thern Indians amongst us, so as not to compromise the interests of Texas. ''87 Austin also wrote that he would agree with any action taken by the council.38

The council, however, was not unmindful of the fact that the Indians needed watching. To overawe the plains Indians and keep an eye on the associated bands, the ranger service was extended, so that the frontier might be patrolled from east of the Trinity to beyond the Colorado, but the rangers were instructed not to interfere in any way with the friendly tribes.30

33 Southern Historical Association, Publications, VIII, 20. 34 Yoakum, History of Texas, I. 358.

35 Ibid., I, 378.

36 Proceedings of the Permanent Council, in Texas State Historical Association, The Quarterly, IX, 287-288. 37Journal of the Permanent Council

VII, 264.

(Eugene C. Barker, ed.), ibid.,

38 Yoakum, History of Texas, I, 378. Yoakum also says that arrangements had been made for the Indians to have a representative before the Consultation.

39 Journal of the Permanent Council, in Texas State Historical Associa tion, The Quarterly, VII, 260-262, 271, Yoakum, History of Texas, I, 378.

The Consultation took the place of the Permanent Council. The new body organized November 3 and on the fourteenth was superseded by the Provisional Government. Branch T. Archer was elected president of the Consultation. In his opening address he showed that he approved of the course of the Permanent Council, for he said, "We are surrounded by powerful and warlike tribes of Indians, some of whose chiefs are expected here in a few days, and I deem it expedient that we purchase their friendship at whatever it may cost."40 The day before its adjournment the Consultation followed his advice by adopting the "Solemn Declaration" which read:

We solemnly declare that the boundaries of the claims of the said Indians are as follows, to wit, being north of the San Antonio road and the Neches, and west of the Angelina and Sabine rivers. We solemnly declare that the Governor and General Council immediately on its organization shall appoint commissioners to treat with the said Indians to establish the definite boundaries of their territory and secure their confidence and friendship. We solemnly declare that we will guarantee to them the peaceable enjoyment of their rights and their lands as we do our own. We solemnly declare that all grants, surveys, and locations within the bounds hereinbefore maintained, made after the settlement of the said Indians, are and of right ought to be utterly null and void, and the commissioners issuing the same be and are hereby ordered immediately to recall and cancel the same, as having been made upon lands already appropriated by the Mexican government. We solemnly declare that it is our sincere desire that the Cherokee Indians and their associate bands should remain our friends in peace and war, and if they do so we pledge the public faith to the support of the foregoing declaration. We solemnly declare that they are entitled to our commiseration and protection, as the first owners of the soil, as an unfortunate race of people, that we wish to hold as friends and treat with justice.+1

The provisional government was composed of a governor, lieutenant-governor, and council. Henry Smith was chosen governor. In his first message to the council, on November 15, he discussed the situation of the associated bands and made the

40 Stiff, The Texan Emigrant, 286–288.

41 Williams, Sam Houston and the War of Independence in Texas, 134

Treaty with the Cherokee

139

recommendation "that you second the measure of the late convention in this matter and never desist until the objects contemplated by that body be carried into effect."'42

No action was taken at once, and on December 18 Smith called the attention of the Council to the matter. He said, in part:

I further have to suggest to you the propriety of appointing commissioners on the part of this government to carry into effect the Indian treaty, as contemplated by the convention. . . I would . . . suggest the propriety of appointing Gen. Sam Houston, of the army, and Col. John Forbes, of Nacogdoches. . . . These agents, going under proper instructions, would be enabled to do right, but not permitted to do wrong, as their negotiation would be subject to investigation and ratification by the government, before it would become a law.43

On the twenty-second the Council passed an ordinance empowering Governor Smith to appoint a commission. General Houston, John Forbes of Nacogdoches, and Dr. John Cameron were appointed."

Houston and Forbes went to Bowles' village, where a great council was held and on February 23 a treaty was entered into. Kennedy says:

By this treaty, the Cherokees and their associate bands were to receive a fee-simple title to all the land lying west of the San Antonio road, and beginning on the west at the point where the said road crosses the river Angelina, and running up said river until it reaches the mouth of the first large creek below the great Shawnee village, emptying into said river from the north-east. Thence running with said creek to its main source, and from thence a due north line to the Sabine, and with said river west; then, starting where the San Antonio road crosses the Angelina, and with said road to where it crosses the Neches, and thence running up the east side of the river, in a northwesterly direction. 45

The Council called for a convention to meet at Washington on the Brazos on March 1, 1836. Its chief purposes were to de

42 Brown, Life of Henry Smith, 111.

43 Ibid., 158–159.

44 Ibid., 187; Kennedy, Texas, II, 159; Ordinances and Decrees of the Consultation, Provisional Government of Texas and the Convention, 97–98. 45 Kennedy, Texas, II, 313.

clare independence, formulate a constitution and provide for a government until the constitution might be adopted. It remained in session only seventeen days and provided for a provisional government consisting of a president, vice-president, attorney-general, and secretaries of state, war, navy, and treasury. The provisional officers were given executive powers and were to remain in office until the regular government could be installed after the constitution had been submitted to the people.46

The convention refused to accept the Indian treaty, thus undoing all the work of pacification that had been so wisely begun.“ It completed its work by electing provisional officers, David G. Burnet being made president.48 This selection, following the action of the convention in rejecting the treaty, could not but aggravate the Indian situation, for it must be remembered that Burnet was one of the empresarios whose title conflicted with that of the Cherokee; furthermore his grant had expired in the previous December, a fact which might seem sinister to the crafty Bowles.

It thus appears that there was an Indian situation in eastern Texas which bade fair to break out into actual warfare. This must be borne in mind in a consideration of the early operations of General Gaines, as protection of the border against Indian hostility was one of the motives for sending that general to the frontier. If the government at Washington had ulterior designs, it at least could cloak them under a reasonable excuse.

46 Garrison, Texas, 210-219.

47 Kennedy, Texas, II, 313.

48 Brown, History of Texas from 1685 to 1892, I, 594-596.

CHAPTER VIII

GAINES' OPERATIONS ON THE FRONTIER UNTIL THE

BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO

The progress of the Texan revolution was watched with the keenest interest throughout the United States, but more intense was the interest south of the Mason and Dixon line, and in New York and Pennsylvania. This was due to two main causes: a large proportion of the Texan settlers came from the South and much of the financial backing for the various colonization projects came from New York and Pennsylvania. Money and arms were readily supplied, and hundreds of men, either individually or in companies, joined the Texans in their war for independence.

The sympathies of the government were naturally with the Texans. Jackson's persistent attempts to obtain the territory, his personal friendship for Houston, and the natural fire of the military hero, combined to draw him into the struggle. But Jackson had been chastened by years of experience; the energy which had carried him to victory at New Orleans, the audacity which had impelled him to invade Florida, the wrath which led him into the struggle with the nullifiers and the bank, had given way to craft and prudence.

The foreign policy of the United States, peculiarly a sphere belonging to the president, had been based upon principles of neutrality originally set forth in a proclamation by Washington, and incorporated into a statute by an act of June 5, 1794. From time to time new enactments were made to meet suggestions made in presidential messages. All prior legislation on the subject was finally repealed and superseded by an act passed on April 20, 1818. This act was still in force in 1836.1

1 Moore, Digest of International Law, VII, 1010-1014.