WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1829
139
If you make any use of this letter I wish its contents to be con- sidered confidential, because it is unofficial, and may convey hints, which tho' proper in themselves, can render me no service, and therefore, I wish them to cause no heart burnings towards me! Sam Houston Col. M. Arbuckle. 1 Collection of Sam Houston Letters, The University of Texas Library. :?Colonel Matthew Arbuckle (1776-June 11, 1851) was born in Greenbriar County, Virginia. He became lieutenant in the Third Infantry on March 3, 1799; later he was transferred to the Seventh Infantry and saw hard service in the Seminole War. He became a colonel, March 16, 1821, and a brigadier general on June 11, 1830. Four army establishments in the Indian Territory were named for him; but since the first three were temporary they need not be located. The fourth-Fort Arbuckle-was established April 19, 1851, on Wild Horse Creek, near the Washita River. Colonel Arbuckle died at Fort Smith, Arkansas. See Grant Foreman, Pioneer Days in the Early Southwest, 59-60. Appleton, Cyclopaedia of American Biog1·ciphy, I, 86. 3 A white man named B. H. Smith lived among the Cherokee Indians and taught the children of General A. P. Chouteau, and those of his neighbor, John Jolly. Smith wore the white man's clothes, cut after Indian fashion, and held great influence among the young braves. Grant Fo1·eman, P.ionter Days fn the Early Southwest, 92. 4 James Barbour was Secretary of War from March 7, 1825, to May 26, 1828. For biography see Dictioncwy of American Biography, I, 590-592.
To JoHN H. EAT0N 1
Fort Smith 22d July 1829
COPY Dear Sir, A visit from my wigwam to Mrs. McClellan at the Choctaw Agency has thrown me here, and I have addressed Gen 1 Jackson on the subject of her situation, as it is pecu!iar, and dis- tressing- also I addressed him, on the subject of Capt McClel- lans application for the vacant appt. I presume the letter will be handed over to you. An old Choctaw Chief called on me today, and complained that the white People were.on their lands, & were treating them badly. They take the Choctaws houses, and will not let them go into them. Some emigrants have lately arrived, and have not houses to go into, and complain that Gen 1 Jackson, in a treaty with them E of the Mississippi told them if they would come west that they should be happy, and when they have come that the whites are on their land and they are not happy. Capt McClellan furnishes them with corn, and does all he can to keep and content them, but
Powered by FlippingBook