rciblyremoved to Oklahoma ...from Texas. In 1807, after the Louisiana Purchase, the Spanishgovernment was nervously watching the American expansion towards Texas andrequested a number of tribes to resettle in eastern Texas as a buffer against the Americans.The first Cherokee settlement in the region was at Lost Prairie in 1819, and it received aland grant in 1822. After the successful revolt by the Texans in 1835, a treaty confirmingthe Cherokee title failed ratification in the Texas legislature during 1836 despite the strongsupport of President Sam Houston. White Texans pressed for the removal, and in July of1839 three Texas regiments attacked the Cherokee of Chief Bowl and forced them acrossthe Red River into Oklahoma. The irony of the Cherokee situation in Oklahoma in 1839should not be lost. No matter what course chosen: war, accommodation, surrender, orflight; their fate had been the same. Of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Creek, Choctaw and Seminole received similar treatmentduring removal, although the Chickasaw had foreseen what was coming and preparedbetter. Following removal, all had major problems, but the Cherokee had the most bitterinternal divisions. Gathered together for the first time in 50 years, the Cherokee inOklahoma were ready for civil war during the spring of 1839. 6,000 Western Cherokee(Old Settlers) from Arkansas and Texas had been living there since 1828 and defendingthemselves from the Osage, Kiowa, Wichita, and Comanche. They had maintained theirtraditional government of three chiefs without written laws. Suddenly 14,000 EasternCherokee (New Settlers) arrived in their midst with an elaborate government, courtsystem, and a written constitution, but the newcomers were bitterly divided between 2,000Ridgites (Treaty Party) and 12,000 Rossites who had just lost 4,000 of their people on theTrail of Tears. Violence was not long in coming. On June 22, Major Ridge, John Ridge, and EliasBoudinot were murdered. Stand Wat...
