W RITINCS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1855
155
being on the amendment of Mr. Shields (Illinois) to the amendment of Mr. Hunter (Virginia) which was to provide for two additional regiments of regular cavalry and five hundred rangers. Mr. Shields' amendment provided that "two 1·egiments of infantry and two of cavalry" be substituted for Mr. Hunter's proposal. ~Although, as he said, he knew and frankly admitted that his advocacy of Indians and their rights was an unpopular subject, Houston again and again argued along the same lines that he reiterates, in detail, in this speech. See Volume I, 155-188; Remarks, January 29, 1849, on the Indian Appropriation Bill; Speech on the Texas-New Mexico Boundary, June 12, 1850; Indian Relations on the Texas Frontier, May 31, 1852; Speech, August 11, 1852, on the Appropriations for Indians in California; In Defense of Indians in Flor- ida, February 23, 1853; Remarks, March 3, 1853, on the Indian Appropria- tion Bill; A Eulogium upon the Indians, March 3, 1853; Speech, February 14-16, 1854, Opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Bill; Speech on the Kansas- Nebraska Bill, Ma1·ch 3, 1854. 3 See Financial Papers, 1843-1845; also Papers on Indian Affairs, 1842- 1846, Texas State Library. •Pierce M. Butler and M. G. Lewis are the commissioners referred to here. They met the Indians at Comanche Peak in the spring of 1846, and after considerable trouble in gathering the Indians to the council, they concluded a treaty with them-Comanches, Ionies, Onadakas, Caddo, Lipan, Longwha, Keechie, Tonhacarro, Wichitas, Waco, and related bands-on May 15, 1846 (See Lewis to William Medill, United States Indian Commissioner, July 13, June 22, 1846, Photostatic Transcripts from Correspondence Concerning Texas Indian Affairs, 1846-1860, Indian Bureau, Washington D. C., in The University of Texas Library; also see various letters from April to July, 1846, Papers on Indian Affairs, Texas State Library). It was then decided that it would greatly impress the Indians with the power of the United States Government--the Indians had refused to treat with the United States authori- ties until Sam Houston had sent Robert S. Neighbors among them with "talks," assuring "their red brothers" of the greatness of the United States, and the love of their "Great Father," the President, for the red men-if a delegation of chiefs should be induced to carry the treaty to Washington. But Butler had been sick while on the treaty grounds, and had to go by New Orleans for medical treatment, and was detained there for several weeks. Lew"is was left to carry the delegation of chiefs to Washington. He did not handle the project very effectively, and there was so much lack of interest in the matter on the part of the United States Government that the treaty was not signed until March 8, 1847. The details of the treaty, which Houston recounted in his speech, caused great dissatisfaction among the Indians, and was part of the basis for their distrust of the white men during the next several years. See Lewis to Medill, July 13, 1846, Photostats from the Indian Bureau, Washington, D. C., in The University of Texas Library; also Papers on Indian Affairs, 1845-1860, Texas State Libra1·y.
6 Robert Neighbors. See Volume V, p. 166. 6 John H. Rollins. See Volume V, p. 345.
7 For further details of this tragic Indian death which occurred March 27, 1853, see Texas State Gazette, April 16, 1863; Texas Momm1cnt, Api·il 20,
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