Heritage, Volume 10, Number 2, Spring 1992 Page: 21
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hen Mirabeau Buonoparte Lamar
became the governor of the Republic of
Texas on December 10, 1838, he instituted a
draconian policy of Indian removals. The
implementation of this policy during the
next 20 years precipitated many pitched
battles between the Republic and its Indian
groups, either native to the Republic (such
as the Hasinai Caddo) or comparative newcomers
(such as the Cherokee and Kickapoo),
driving them out of East Texas by 1840 and
then out of Texas by 1860. The Alibamu (or
Alabama) and Koasati (Coushatta) tribes,
who had moved into Spanish Texas as early
as the 1790s to settle, were the only East
Texas Indian tribe permitted to remain in
the Republic of Texas and the state of Texas.
After considerable struggle after 1840 for
land rights, the Alibamu and Koasati now
live on a 4,351-acre reservation in Polk
County, Texas.
From at least the early 1700s the Alibamu
and Koasati had lived along the Alabama
River and its main tributaries, the Coosa and
Talapoosa rivers, in east-central Alabama
(see 1751 Voisins map). They were important
members of the Creek Indian confederacy,
but maintained a close ethnic, linguistic,
and social identity while part of the confederacy
(see Origin Myth of the AlabamaCoushatta).
Their support for the French and
Spanish led many members of the Alibamu
and Koasati to choose resettlement in
Louisiana, and then Texas, rather than to
associate with the British and American
traders and settlers who moved into Creek
territory after the French and Indian wars
(that ended in 1763) and the American
Revolution.
The area was not totally unfamiliar to the
two tribes. Creek Indian Agency letters indicate
that movements beyond the Mississippi
River were common in the late 18th
century but intensified after the Creek Wars
of 1813-1814. For example, Alexander
McGillivray, a Koasati of the Wind clan who
became the most prominent Creek tribal
leader between 1783 and 1793, and his
brother-in-law Le Clerc de Milfort supposedly
had visited the Upper Red River in
Louisiana as early as 1781 as part of a seasonal
hunting foray.
The decision to move was not an easy one
to make, as it meant having to decide between
associating with the Americans, or as
the Creek Oche Haujo commented in 1804,
associating with "the wild beasts of the forests,
and in the latter case we must fly ourcountry and go to the wilds of the west."
Most of the Creeks in the Confederacy
chose to remain in Alabama and Georgia,
where they stayed until the 1830s when
they were removed to Indian Territory by
the Federal government under President
Andrew Jackson.
Between ca. 1803 and 1810 Alibamu
and Koasati villages and traces had been
established on the Red River in Louisiana
and on the lower Sabine, Neches, and
Trinity rivers in Texas. By the 1820s the
main settlements in Texas had moved
into the Big Thicket country on the
Neches and Trinity rivers.
In 1831, J. Francisco Madero, a land
commissioner for the Mexican province
of Coahuila y Tejas, visited the Alibamu
and Koasati villages on the Trinity and
Neches rivers some distance below the El
Camino Real crossings of those streams.
He was to gather information fbr the
Mexican government on the Alibamu
and Koasati petition for permanent lands
in the province. Contemporary maps (see
Austin's 1822 map) and descriptions of
the locations of the villages places the
Upper Village of the Koasati in the same
area as the Carl Matthews archaeological
site to be described below.
According to Madero, the Koasati lived
in two nearby villages on the east bank of
the Trinity River. Long King was their
principal chief or mico, along with Nekimapa
and Keleite (the respected Koasati
chief Colita), and lived in the Upper
Village. Madero's census listed 120 families
in the two villages, along with 82
single men and 104 single women. They
had 25 solidly constructed houses while
the rest were described by him as "of
inferior construction." The Upper Village
also had a "large house destined to
religious cult"; this was undoubtedly the
Koasati temple used for religious ceremonies
such as the posketa or bosketa,
which was a celebration of the first-fruits
or Green Corn harvests.
The three Alibamu villages
(Peachtree, Fenced-in, and Cane's Island)
were not far apart on the west bank
of the Neches River. Under micos
Talustah and Oppaya, the villages had
103 families, 100 single men, and 64
unmarried women living in 69 wood (or
log) houses and other "inferior" structures.
Among the Alibamu villages were
two large wood houses or temples.
The types of houses built by theIhe Origin My th of the
Alabama-Coushatta Indians
Indians were made from cay
down in a big cave under the
earth. They lived in this cave a
long time before some of them
decidedtogo up to the surface of
the earth. After they started
upward, they camped three times
on the way. Finally, at noon on
the fourth day, they reached the
mouth of the cave.
Phe Indians found that a large
tree wasstanding in the mouth of
the cave. The Aabamas and
Coushattas went out of the cave
on opposite sides of a root of this
big tree. 'Thus, these two tribes
differedsomewhat in speech, but
they have always lived near each
other.
At first the Indians would stay
outside only during the night,
returning to the cave when day
came. One night when the Indians
came out of the cave to play, they
heard an owl hooting. iost of
the Indis became so scared that
they ran backinto the cave and
never returned to the surface of
the earth. That is why the
Aabamnas and Coushattas are so
few. If the owl had not hooted,
then a the Indians would have
remained on the surface of the
earth, and the Alabamas and
Coushattas wou have been more
numerous.
tFrom Howard Martin, Tales of
the Alabama-Coushatta Indians ')HERITAGE * SPRING 1992 21
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 10, Number 2, Spring 1992, periodical, Spring 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45420/m1/21/?rotate=90: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.