Indian Papers of Texas and the Southwest, Vol. I

TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1825-1843

211

To His Excellency Sam Houston President Etc. Sir.

I have the honor to report the safe arrival of myself and accompanying escort thus far on our mission to the Comanche Nation-Our progress has been but slow; owing to the great weight of the Indians' packs and considerable bad weather.- At this place I learned from Jose Maria- that a number of Chiefs of different tribes were in the vicinity on hunting expe- ditions- I desired him to send runners to them, saying that I was here and wished to see them- He did so, and in the course of two days, the head cheif of the Waco, Nah-ish-to-wa,-arrived and the two prisoners presented to him- He seemed deeply af- fected at seeing them and expressed himself grateful for their return.-The principal and second cheif of the Keechi, with a party of his warriors- the principal cheif of The Caddo and Joni also came in with others of different tribes- The next morning we all met in Council and I informed them of the ob- jects of my mission- A-cab-quash also addressed the Keechi chief, telling him what he had done and seen at the Council, the words you had spoken to him, and that it was good to make peace- After considerable discussion the Cheifs of the Keechi advanced to the centre and motioning myself Mr. Torrey and Mr. Bee to approach, cordially embraced and shook hands with us, anc! in a short speech, said it was the first time since the war that he had shaken a white man by the hand, that he had heard the words of peace, that they were good, that in future he would be the friend to the white man and would attend at the Bird's Fort Council, and make a firm treaty of peace-- I ascertained that among his people was a youth who had been a prisoner among them for several years- I applied to him for this pris- oner saying that it would be regarded by my great Cheif as a token that his desire for peace was sincere, and the words he had spoken were truth- He gave me answer that he would consult with his people and notify me of their decision the next morning- Upon seeing me again he informed me that [docu- ment torn here] been made prisoner by the Tonkawa and if yeu would have taken from them and brought to the Council h<: would also have our white prisoner there, and make an ex- change- He said that the }o,1til had been adopted by an old

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