The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948 Page: 315
406 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Texas Comanche Treaty of 1846
curcumstances [sic] to maintain a good understanding with the
Camanche & other wild tribes of Indians on the South western
prairies, & now when stronger reasons exist for it, it is thought to
be an imperative duty to send a commission especially qualified to
meet these border tribes, to open negotiations for pledging them
anew to a course of peace & amity with the United States, to con-
ciliate their good will by addressing them in kind talks & making
them small presents.
There is further an obligation to .humanity which binds us to the
release of white prisoners (variously represented to be in number
from 15 to ioo & upwards, women & children) held in servile bondage
by the Camanche & perhaps other wild tribes. These may be the
children of citizens or inhabitants of the United States or Texas, &
perhaps of Mexico. I send you a copy of the 33 articles of the Treaty
concluded with Mexico on the 5 day of April, 1831,3 by which you
will perceive we have engaged to perform the duty hereby imposed
towards Mexico, of which Texas, being then a part independent of
our present peculiar relations to the latter, is entitled to the benefits.
The place that should be selected for your interview is one of
some consequence in reference not only to your and their convenience,
but to the greater facility of procuring their attendance at such time
as shall be fixed on. It ought to be I should think in the neighbor-
hood of the Camanche Peak, but of this you must judge. I adopt the
plan suggested or any other that upon a closer view of the circum-
stances shall be deemed more proper. No delay that can be avoided
should take place, and your exertions are relied on in this particular.
The great objects is the preservation of amity with the Wild In-
dians that you will visit, of whom the chief 8& controlling spirits are
the Camanches. Our excited and excitable relations with Mexico
increase very greatly the importance of this movement upon the
successful issue of which might depend, in certain events, the lives
of many of our citizens.4
Crawford referred to the important treaty of 1835, made by
commissioners Matthew Arbuckle and Montford Stokes, who
proceeded from Fort Gibson to the council ground at Camp
Holmes in the Creek Nation. This, the first treaty made by the
United States with the western Indians, was supposed to have
settled many problems between the government and the Co-
manche and Wichita Indians and bands associated with them.
3U. S. Statutes at Large (Boston, 1848), VIII, 376.
4Thomas H. Crawford to P. M. Butler and M. G. Lewis, Office of Indian Affairs,
September 12, 1845, in Records of the Office of Indian Affairs. Record Copies of
Letters Sent, Volume 37. National Archives, Washington, D. C.g15
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, July 1947 - April, 1948, periodical, 1948; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101119/m1/409/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.