Chief Bowles Biographical Sketch occupy the Indian Territory.

occupy the Indian Territory. Fleeing their town, the Cherokee halted on July 15 and prepared
Bowles -- also known as The Bowl, Duwal'li, or Bold Hunter -- was born in North Carolina
around 1765, the son of a Scottish father and a Cherokee mother. As Chief, he led his people
from North Carolina to the St. Francis Valley in Missouri in 1810. He later led the tribe to
Arkansas and then into East Texas.
Sam Houston and Chief Bowles became close friends after Bowles moved his tribe to Texas.
Houston had a long history with the Cherokee. At 16, unhappy with farming and
storekeeping, he had run away from home to live with the Cherokees. He was adopted by
Chief Oo-Loo-Te-Ka and was given the name, The Raven.” He and Chief Bowles became quick
friends.
Bowles visited in Sam Houston’s home frequently; on one occasion they made a trip to
Galveston Island. Houstin is said at one time or another to have presented to Chief Bowles a
cane, a hat, a beautiful blanket, and a sword. On one occasion a member of the legislature
charged that: “The president (Sam Houston) offered Bowles a commission of brigadier
general in the army of Texas…”
defenses on the Neches River.
On the morning of July 16, though severely outnumbered, Bowles made every effort to win.
Bowles "exhorted the Indians to fight bravely. During the last battle he could be heard
repeatedly encouraging them, and more than once urging them to charge." But eventually,
with his troops depleted of ammunition, Bowles ordered retreat, though he remained. Sitting
on his horse, wearing a military hat and sword given to him by Sam Houston, Bowles faced
the advancing Texans. The Texan forces shot his horse and then injured the chief, shooting
him in the thigh and the back. Unable to walk but raising himself to a sitting position on the
ground, Bowles was singing a war song when Capt. Robert W. Smith approached Bowles and
shot him in the head. Smith was probably anxious to kill Bowles because his father-in-law
Jesse T. Watkins had been killed by the Cherokee. Smith then took the sword from Bowles’
body and swaths of skin from his arm as souvenir. A newspaper account reported that “Some
rude chaps scalped the poor chief after his death.”
The battle of the Neches was the largest single massacre in East Texas with more than 800
men, women and children of the associated tribes killed.

While Houston remained president he appears to have felt that eventually the Cherokee Of Bowles, John H. Reagan recalls, "I had witnessed his dignity and manliness in council, his
would be given a guarantee to the land they occupied. Houston wrote to Chief Bowles on devotion to his tribe in sustaining their decision for war against his judgment, and his courage
August 11, 1836: in battle."As he had requested, Bowles was left on the battlefield according to tradition. A
historical marker now stands at the site of Chief Bowles's death.
My Brother,
Today, the American Indian Heritage Center is raising money to purchase 70 acres of the 1.5
…Do not be disturbed by the troubles which are around you, but be at peace—Remember my
million acres promised to the Cherokees and other tribes in the l830s as a memorial to the
words, and listen to no bad talks of any one! I have never told you a lie, nor do I intend it.
old chief and his people.
Tell my sister and the children not to be disturbed—they will not be harmed, but they will be
The following resources were used in creating this sketch of Chief Bowles:
protected, by the Americans[.] Tell all my red brothers to remain at peace!
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bowl_(Cherokee_chief)
Your brother,
Texas Escapes: http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHistorical/Tragedy-of-Chief-Bowles-
Sam Houston
704BB.htm
Sam Houston was elected president of Texas on September 5, 1836, and he worked to keep
“Chief Bowles of the Texas Cherokee” by Dorman H. Winfrey (link:
his promise. Within the first two months as President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v032/v032p029.pdf)
told the Texas Senate, I "most earnestly recommend [the treaty with the Cherokee]'s
ratification..." The Senate of the Republic of Texas, refused to ratify the treaty, citing that the Humanities Texas: http://www.humanitiestexas.org/programs/tx-originals/list/chief-bowl
Cherokee had not actively fought with Texans in the revolution. Over Houston's objections,
the Senate formally reversed the treaty on December 16, 1837. Almost immediately, the
Land Office began issuing patents to lands within the Cherokee Nation.

Mirabeau Lamar followed Houston as the second president Texas. Lamar had never been
friendly to the Cherokee, and he called for their removal. On July 14, Lamar sent troops, to