Treaty Made With Indians In Feb. 1836

Used by permission of John Dulin

     Boundary Treaty was signed by Sam Houston and Colonel Bowles.

  The text of the treaty with the Indians which was signed at Colonel Bowles’ village on February 23^rd, 1836, as reflected in the history of Texas, is as follows:

  Treaty

  With the Cherokees, by Houston, Forbes and Cameron, Commissioner.

  “This treaty made and established between Sam Houston, and John Forbes, commissioners on part of the Provisional government of Texas of the one part, and the Cherokees and their associate bands, now residing in Texas, of the other part, to wit:

  Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Quapaws, Choctaws, Boluxies, Iawanies, Alabamas, Coochatties, Caddoes of the Neches, Tahookapatkies and Unatquaous. By the head chiefs, head men and warriors of the Cherokees, as elder brother and representatives of all the other bands, agreeably to their last general council. This treaty is made conformable to a declaration made by the last general consultation at San Felipe, and dated 13^th November, A.D. 1835.

Article 1.

    “The parties declare that there shall be a firm and lasting peace, forever; and that a friendly intercourse shall be preserved by the people belonging to both parties.”

Article 2.

“It is agreed and declared that the before named tribes or bands, shall form one community; and that they shall have and possess the lands within the following bounds; to wit: 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 the said river from the northeast, 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 then running east side of said river in a northwest direction.”

Article 3.

s    All lands granted or settled, in good faith, previous to the settlement of the Cherokees, with the above described bounds are not conveyed by this treaty, but excepted from its operation. All persons who have once been removed, and returned, shall be considered as intruders, and their settlements not respected.

Article 4.

  It is agreed by the parties aforesaid that the several leaders of tribes named in this treaty, shall remove within the limits or bounds as before described.

  It is agreed and declared by the parties aforesaid, that the land lying and being within the aforesaid, limits, shall never be sold or alienated, to ANY PERSON OR PERSONS, power or government, whatever, else then the government of Texas. And the commissioner on behalf of the government of Texas, bind themselves, to prevent in future, all persons from intruding within the said bounds. And it is agreed on the part of the Cherokees, for themselves and their younger brothers, that no other tribes or bands of Indians whatsoever, shall settle within the limits aforesaid, but those already named in this treaty, and now residing in Texas.

Article 6.

    It is declared that no individual person, member of the tribes before named shall have power to sell or lease land to any persons, not a member or members of this community of Indians, nor shall any citizen of Texas, be allowed to LEASE OR BUY LAND from any Indian or Indians.

Article 7.

    That the Indians shall be governed by their own regulations and laws within their own territory, not contrary to the laws of the government of Texas All property stolen from the citizens of Texas, or from the Indians, shall be restored to the party, from whom it was stolen, and the offender or offenders shall be punished by the party to whom he or they may belong.

Article 8.

    The government of Texas, shall have power to regulate trade, and intercourse, but no Tax shall be levied on the trade of the Indians,

Article 9.

    The parties of this treaty agree that one or more agencies shall be created, and at least one agent shall reside specially within the Cherokee villages, whose duty it shall be to see that no injustice is done to them, or other members of the community of Indians.

Article 10.

    The parties of this treaty, agree that so soon as Jack Steele and Sam Binge, shall abandon their improvements, without the limits of the before recited tract of country, and remove within the same, that they shall be valued, and paid for by the government of Texas, they the said Jack Steele and Sam Binge, having until next November, from the date of the treaty allowed them to remove within the limits before described, and that all the lands and improvements now occupied by any of the before mentioned bands, not lying within the limits before described, shall belong to the government of Texas, and subject to its disposal.

Article 11.

 The parties of this treaty, agree and stipulate, that all the bands as before recited (except Binge and Steele) shall remove within the before described limits, within eight months from the date of this treaty.

Article 12.

  The parties to this treaty agree, that nothing herein contained shall affect the relations of the Sabine or the Neches nor the settlers in the neighborhood thereof, until general council of the several bands shall take place, and the pleasure of the convention of Texas be known.

 Article 13.

    It is also declared, that all titles issued to land, not agreeable to the declaration of the general consultation of the people of all Texas, dated the thirteenth day of November, 1835, within the before recited limits, are declared void as well as all others and surveys, made in relation to the same.

  Done at Colonel Bowles’ Village on the 23^rd day of February 1836, and the first year of the provisional government of Texas, signed by: Sam Houston, John Forbes, Col. Bowles (x) His mark, Sam Binge (x) His mark, Cossote (x) His mark, Corn Tassle (x) His mark, The Egg (x) His mark, John Bowl (x) His mark, Tunnetee (x) His mark, Witnesses: Fox Fields, Interpreter (x) His mark, Henry Millard, Joseph Durst, A. Horton, George W. Case, Mathias A. Brighan, C.W. Hockley, Sec to Com.