In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

D uring 1838 pres. sam houston kept up his bold stance among the Cherokees with little benefit to them or himself. Why did Houston continue to fight a losing battle when most Texans —including some of his close political supporters—thought that the Senate had acted properly in rejecting his treaty with the Cherokees? The generous assessment of his motives (one subscribed to by most historians ) says that Houston really cared about the fate of the Cherokees and acted out of the highest moral principles in defending them.1 But there is a less generous explanation: he was playing a double game with the Cherokees from the start and was willing to promise Bowl the moon if it would keep his people from taking the Mexican side during the revolution . Now that the Republic of Texas was established, free and independent of Mexico, all Houston had to do was keep the Cherokees out of any combination with Mexican agents and disenchanted Tejanos around Nacogdoches. As usual, his bargaining chip was that the treaty would be honored and enforced—by him, personally, if necessary. And there was much Mexican activity among Bowl’s Indians in 1838, enough to test Houston’s diplomatic mettle. The land offices reopened with a rush by speculators, ordinary settlers, and war veterans eager to register titles to land within the boundaries claimed by the Cherokees. Bowl became more disgruntled at Houston’s inability to control the situation . All the president could do was make eloquent speeches to the Texas Senate, such as one delivered in May: “The Indian lands are forbidden fruit in the midst of the garden; their blooming peach trees, their snug cabins, their well-cultivated fields, and their lowing herds excite the speculators , whose cupidity, reckless of the consequences which would ensue to the country, by goading the Indians to desperation, are willing to hazard everything that is connected to the safety, prosperity, and honor of the country.”2 Stirring words, unless the senators happened to be involved Chapter 18 Alien Citizen of the Republic in such speculation themselves. Some were, including Houston’s own friends and supporters in the Senate or back home at Nacogdoches. After learning that the Senate had rejected the treaty, Chief Bowl went to the capital to speak with his “friend” the president and find out what course should now be taken by his tribesmen. A conference was held, after which Sam Maverick told his wife that Bowl was heard saying that Sam Houston—now that he had become the “Great Father” of the whites—was no longer a Cherokee. And this after Bowl had made Houston a “big chief ” among his people and given him his daughter for a wife. Regardless of the accuracy of this gossip, Bowl was discontented with the way things had worked out under the Raven’s stewardship of an independent Texas. He had a right to be.3 Bowl, preparing for the worst, called on his Cherokee kinsmen in Indian Territory for assistance in defending tribal land rights in Texas. If they—along with the Creeks and Seminoles—beat the Texans, Bowl said that Gen. Vicente Filisola would give them possession of the entire territory. The Western Nation, however, was being swamped with Cherokee emigrants from the East. They decided not to involve themselves in a war with another nation (Texas) until their own situation was stabilized.4 This meant that Bowl was thrown back on promises of help from Mexican military men at Matamoros, and these were not lacking. As part of Mexico’s projected reconquest of Texas, an alliance with the civilized tribes of the eastern region was envisioned. Working in conjunction with disaffected Mexican inhabitants of Nacogdoches, various Mexican generals hoped to bring a campaign to fruition: their troops would attack from the south, marching up the coastal corridor from Matamoros, while the friendly tribes would sweep down on the Texan settlements from the north in a pincer operation. As always, the Mexican scheme involved supplying the Indians with powder, lead, and tobacco. But more important, they would receive title to their lands once Mexican authority was reestablished in Texas. This promise was replayed like a broken record in the coming years—even after the Cherokees were expelled from Texas in 1839. From the Mexican military perspective, one might assume that Col. Peter Ellis Bean was a logical candidate to serve as a go-between for the plans being hatched at Nacogdoches—not only with Bowl’s...

Share