• Five Civilized Tribes

    Texas Cherokee Chiefs

    by William D. Welge For nearly twenty years certain groups of Cherokees split off from the western band due to the ever increasing number of white settlers encroaching upon lands set aside for the tribe by the federal government. However, the government didn’t abide by it’s commitment to remove the white intruders as specified by treaty. Consequently, individuals such as The Bowl and Richard Fields gathered up several groups of like-minded tribal members and moved south of the Red River in to Spanish Texas. As early as 1807, a small party of Cherokees visited Texas with the prospect of possibly relocating there. (See: The Texas Cherokees: A People Between Two…