Fort Worth: A Frontier Triumph

9. The Treaty of 1843

CHAPTER 9 The Treaty of 1843 The red brothers all know that my words to them have never been forgotten by me. They have never been swallowed up by darkness; nor has the light of the Sun consumed them. Truth cannot perish, but the words of a liar are as nothing. I wish you to come and we will again shake hands and counsel together. A promise written in the firm strokes of Sam Houston and confirmed by the seal of the Texas republic had been carried to and fro through the north by Indian commissioners from early March to August, 1843. This promise had passed through the Indian camps from the forks of the Trinity and upper Brazos northward, and beyond into Indian Territory in the United States. Houston's correspondence in preparation for the council at Bird's Fort would fill a volume. Even small details for the Indians ' comfort had not escaped his expansive sympathy for the red man. In one of his last letters of instructions before the Grand Council should meet, he ordered Benjamin Bryant, an Indian agent, on July 8, 1843, to gather all Indian prisoners held by the government, as well as those in possession of the Lipan and Tonkawa Indians, and take them to Bird's Fort. Before setting out with the Indians, Bryant was to take care "to clad comfortably the Indians, to procure moccasins or some other covering for their feet," and on the journey to the council to spare them "as CHAPTER 9 43 little physical distress as possible." Houston's fatherly tenderness did not overreach his sense of thrift. He reminded Bryant that comforts were to be purchased with an eye for economy. Four captains of the Lipans were to join Bryant's caravan of prisoners. Representatives of the fierce Lipans indicated that the council at Bird's Fort was not to be a mere powwow. VVhile Colonel Eldridge was on his mission, Houston was preparing for his part in the Bird's Fort Council. On July 28, 1843, the door of the crude executive office at Washington-on-the-Brazos was closed on the problems of the Texas republic: debts, revenue, Mexico's hostility, foreign relations with Britain and France, and the question of Texas' annexation to the United States. Houston was turning his insatiable mind to the Indian problem. He was off to Bird's Fort and did not plan to return to the capital until September first. John H. Reagan, the young surveyor , was guide for the president's party. He knew the country of the upper Trinity, for he was surveying the area which would become Dallas County. Reagan was both guide and companion to Houston, who admired the politically astute mind which was to make Reagan years later both an eminent congressman and the first chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas. Houston was a good traveler. On July 30, the president's party was at Montgomery City, and on August 3, they reached Crockett in present Houston County. He advanced into the Trinity Valley of which he had heard much; and each mile unfolded a world that surpassed his dream. The first week in August found the president encamped at Bird's Fort. Many tribes had gathered, and as each day brought the joyful sight of other tribes arriving, voices and camp noises swelled from cadence to turbulence. The different tribes had varying dialects but communicated with each other by embellishing their jargon with sign language. The full moon of August came and spent its brilliance while Houston waited. The Comanches and Wichitas did not come to pitch their tents. Eldridge, Hamilton, and Bee did not return from the north. Almost a month passed. Finally, he decided to speak with those tribes that had abided by his word. He called a council. Indian pomp, a fidelity of Houston's youth, was easily summoned to dramatize his action. He clothed his giant frame in a purple velvet suit embossed with embroideries of foxes' heads. An extraordinary bowie knife of giant size, conspicuously thrust in his belt, armed him with the might of the superior hunter. A well-folded Indian blanket thrown in debonair manner over one shoulder proclaimed, in brilliant hues, his brotherhood with the red man. With silver eagle spurs clanking, resplendent as the Great White 44 BOOK I Chief, he walked into the solemn council of Indian chiefs who...