I am one-fourth Cherokee and was born in 1852 in Tyler,
Texas, which makes me eighty-five years of age, last January.
My Father’s name was George W.
Harnage, born in
Georgia, date unknown. Died at the age of seventy and was buried at
Chapel Hill, Texas, near the present town of Tyler, Texas.
Mother’s name was Nancy Mayfield, born in Tennessee,
date unknown, and was buried at Overton, Texas.
Grandfather, Jesse Mayfield, on my mother’s side, was
born in North Carolina at date unknown to me. He died in 1847. He
was buried at Belleview, Texas on the old home place. The Mayfield
Plantation.
Grandmother, Sally Starr-Mayfield, on my mother’s side
was born in Tennessee, at a date unknown to me. She died in the early
part of 1860 and was buried at Belleview, Texas, alongside her
husband. Grandmother, when about twelve years of age, went to the
river to see the party, under Chief Bowls, who was Chief of a band of
Cherokee Indians, leaving in canoes seeking a new land in which to
live.
Chief Bowls and his party left in canoes and drifted
down the Tennessee River, until they came to the Mississippi River.
When they reached the mouth of Red River they ascended Red River to
the mouth of the Sabine River, thence up the Sabine, to the headwaters
of the Neches and here he established a village.
He remained there until the Mexican War. At the
beginning of the Mexican War, with the solicitation of Sam Houston,
and agreement was made, whereby Chief Bowls would protect their rear
from attack from wild Indians. The reason that they solicited Chief
Bowls was because he lived among the Indians, and knew their traits,
character, and tactics. For his services as such, he was promised a
concession of land, which embraced about three counties, the names of
the counties were Rusk, Smith, and Cherokee County, Texas. The result
of the Mexican War was that the United States whipped them. “Chief
Bowls never did receive for his reward, the three counties promised.”
The line was run and started at the head-waters of the
Neches River and went with the wind of the Naches to some point on the
Angelina River, thence, down the Angelina to a certain point, thence
due north to the Sabine, embracing about three counties. Houston went
to Bowls camp or village. He told Bowls that he would give him that
land and would make him a title as soon as it could be done.
After the war, Houston became the first Governor of
Texas. Later he was elected United States Senator, which was after
the annexation of the state of Texas. While he was in the Senate,
Governor Lamar became Governor. He was the first Governor after the
annexation.
Bowls was in his little village in the Neches and the
people began to encroach on him. He thought that he had a promised
reservation. Bowls went to Lamar and told him that the people were
encroaching on his reservation. Lamar did not give him any
encouragement. The third time Lamar just answered him: “The boundary
of Texas is marked by the sword.” Bowls understood it and he left.
He went back to his reservation and began a removal. He crossed the
Neches and camped off his reservation. He was pursued by the Texas
Rangers, and Bowls was killed and the larger part of his tribe
slaughtered. Some of them, however, got away. The Rangers pursued
them, and they were captured. They took them, as prisoners, to Fort
Towson, in the Indian Territory and turned them over to the
Government. They were then moved to Fort Smith and turned over to the
Cherokee Nation.
My father was an old settler. He settled within about
four miles of the present town of Evansville, Arkansas, in about 1825
and remained there until a treaty was signed back east by John Ridge
and Elias Boudinot for the removal of the entire Cherokee tribe from
Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and other states, and he then moved
to the Indian Territory and settled in the Going Snake District.
My mother came through at the instigation of the treaty
made as above mentioned and known to all as the “Trail of Tears”.
They traveled in caravans and wagons and were pushed along by the
United States troops. Many of the Cherokees did not care to leave
their lands, that were so productive and also to leave behind the
burial grounds, where their loved ones were buried, to come to this
Western country. It was forced upon them and consequently a great
deal of dissatisfaction reigned among them, causing a faction known as
the Treaty Party and the Anti-Treaty Party.
My mother has told me that they came to the Mississippi
River, that is was up and that it was necessary for them to remain
there six or seven weeks, before they could cross the river, as they
had no means, other than canoes and flat boats to put them across.
This put them on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in Arkansas,
and they continued to travel, often wading streams with little food
and practically no medical attention and hundreds of them died enroute,
caused by exposure and unsanitary conditions. Even while they were
waiting for the river to recede, while in Tennessee, hundreds of them
died on the banks of the river from dysentery. As they died along the
route they were buried in unmarked graves. My mother was one of the
fortunates that made it through and it is useless to say that she
endured many hardships, was grief stricken and sorrowful. She
weathered the storm, while others, even after arriving, soon died of
sorrow and grief.
In this removal my grandfather had thirty teams and was
employed by the government to assist in removing them, so I guess my
folks really fared well to what some of the rest of them did, because,
they brought with them enough stuff to start building cabins, clearing
the ground and making ready for crops.
My father and mother married in the Cherokee Nation and
remained there until what they called the “Star War”, between parties
of Treaty and Anti-Treaty. My parents, along with Judge Adair, George
Starr, Judge Wiley, Franklin D. Thompson, two or three of my uncles
and my grandmother, Sally Mayfield, all went to Texas, before the
Civil War, and lived as one big family and located near the present
town of Tyler, and Kilgore, Texas, and it was at this place that I was
born.
