Colonel William Preston Johnston, The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston : His Service in the Armies of the United States, the Republic of Texas, and the Confederate States.

“ [112] of his regiment, to move up and sustain in like manner Burleson and the spy company if the enemy engaged and made a stand against them; one battalion of each regiment to be kept in reserve, to act as occasion might require.” This order was handsomely obeyed. Burleson, leading two of his companies against the Indians, drove them back upon the main body, which was strongly posted in a ravine and thicket. The rest of the troops were brought into action in good order, and were briskly engaged for about an hour and a half, when upon a concerted signal a charge was made which drove the enemy from their stronghold. The Indians retreated precipitately to a swamp and thicket in the “bottom” of the Neches, about half a mile distant, from which they were again driven by a general charge. About 500 Texans and 700 or 800 Indians were engaged. The loss of the former was two killed and thirty wounded-three mortally; of the latter, about 100 killed and wounded, according to their own report. Among those left dead on the field was the noted war-chief Bowles, the arch-enemy of Texas, and the central figure of the Indian conspiracy.

The army followed the Indians for a week, destroying their villages and cornfields, capturing cattle, and killing a few warriors who were overtaken. At last it was discovered from the trails that the organized Cherokees and their allies had scattered, and, as no resisting force was left, further pursuit was unavailing. The troops were immediately turned against the Shawnees, who, disheartened by the defeat of their brethren, submitted to the terms imposed upon them. They were promptly returned “from whence they came” --the United States-having been fairly paid “a full and just compensation for their improvements, crops, and all such property as they left through necessity or choice.”

“ This single measure,” says Dr. Starr, “relieved the frontier of the entire east, carried forward the settlements at least one hundred miles, and gave to our citizens permanent occupancy of a region not surpassed in fertility and all the elements for successful agriculture by any portion of the State. The counties of Rusk, Cherokee, Anderson, Smith, Henderson, Van Zandt, Wood, Upshur, Hunt, Kaufman, Dallas, and others, were subsequently formed from territory which could not be safely peopled by whites till these treacherous Indians were expelled.” The counties named above contained in 1870 a population of 116,370, with property assessed at $15,857,191. The faults charged against the white race in its dealings with inferior races must, in this case, be laid at the door of the United States, if anywhere, and not of Texas. The savages were subject to the United States, which, contrary to natural right and treaty stipulations, permitted them to invade a weaker neighbor, and did not, on proper remonstrance, compel them to return.¹