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Sam Houston is asked for a favor by a blacksmith for Chicksaw
Sam Houston is asked for a favor by a blacksmith for Chicksaw
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Houston Sam

Sam Houston is asked for a favor by a blacksmith for Chicksaw

 

 

James Gilliam, Autograph Letter Signed, to Sam Houston, December 17, 1853, Doaksville, C[hoctaw]. N[ation].  3 pp., 7.75" x 12.675". Fire damage to right side minimally affecting text on all three pages.

 

 

James Gilliam served as a blacksmith for the Chickasaw in the Choctaw Nation territory but did not receive his pay for 1852. Nearly a year later, he writes to U.S. Senator Sam Houston for assistance.

 

 

Complete Transcript:

 

 

                                                                        Doaksville C.N. Decr  17th / 53

 

 

HON Sam Houston Dear Sir

 

 

            I sincerely hope that the following w[ill] answer as a partial apology for my taking the liberty of addressing these few lines to you (viz)

 

            In January 1851 I received an official appointment from Col Gabe Long (The then acting Agent for the Chickasaw Indians) to work as Black smith for said Indians near this place, and being a poore man and a family to provide for, and having no claims superior to that of an humble mechanic. my situation in a pecuniary point of view Justified my acceptance for the time being, which I did and worked for said Chickasaws in 51. I sent my acts to Capt [Kenton] Harper (successor of Col. Long) who respected and paid them. I worked in 52, and sent my accounts to Col. Smith the present Agent, and although said accounts were duly Audited by the proper officer, he Smith failed to pay them, and although I have caled on him both by letter and in person in as respectful a manner as I was able to do. I can get no other satisfaction than that he had paid the money to the Treasurer, and appealed to said T[missing] who informs me that he has no right to pay me for that was and is the duty of the Agent he having funds in his hands for that purpose. I have even respectfully asked Col Smith to give me a statement in writing, setting forth the reason why I could not be paid, and he refuses to give me that.

 

[missing] really I do not wish to look on Col [Smith] in other light than that of a perfect [gentle]man, yet I am forced to say that I [did n]ot understand the cold treatment that I [hav]e recd of him, and as I am told that Col [Sm]ith clams the Name of Sam Houston as a City [of] Refuge (a name of which I myself am [missing]d) I therefore the more cheerfully lay my [cl]aim before you for consideration, knowing [th]at whatever may be your personal preferences [f]or Col. Smith, you cannot nor will not do injustice in the premises.

 

$562 is more than I am able to lose in my situation and believeing that the Gen government is bound to respect the acts of her Agents. I shall submit the case for your private thoughts &c.

 

            You my respected Sir will naturally ask yourself the question, who it is that takes the liberty of addressing you in such a manner I will say (with regret) that for the want of a friend at my elbow-- that I was reared in your old Congressional District-- cast my first vote with my gun on my shoulder, instructing my field officers to vote for Sam Houston [missing] Majr Gen, I next found myself at Readyville forming an acquaintance with your homespun Roundabout Coat, in said canvass I done my duty. I forsook you not in the Gubernatorial struggle. I followed you to Texas in the begining of 37. I stood by you through the old Republic, and was the first man in the [Re]d River district to anounce your name for the office (you now hold, the oppose[tion] of (Albert) to the contrary notwithstand[ing] and if I done my duty at Austin Journals will show.

 

            I hope Sir that you will not accuse me of boasting, or asking an office. I only wish to say that while Col Smith is in reality your friend that I must claim to be equal with him in regard to attachm[ent] and as to office I can say without contradiction that having filld many, I have never asked for one, no nor never expect to do so.

 

            hopeing that you may have a few moments to spare. please drop me a line at pleasure  in so doing you will confer a lasting favor on your personal political and Fraternal friend

 

 

                                                                        James Gilliam

 

 

NB all Communications after the first of February next address to Clarksville Texas

                                                                        (J.G)

 

 

 

Doaksville was a settlement in present-day Choctaw County, Oklahoma.  The Choctaw tribe settled it between 1824 and 1831. In 1837, the Chickasaws and the Choctaws signed the Treaty of Doaksville, which allowed the Chickasaws to settle the western portion of the Choctaw Nation. In 1855, the Chickasaws and the Choctaws formally separated, and Doaksville was the capital of the Choctaw Nation until 1859.

 

 

Gilliam served as blacksmith for the approximately 4,700 Chickasaws living in Indian Territory in 1851 and 1852. He was paid for his work in 1851, but new Agent Andrew Jackson Smith refused to pay him for his work in 1852, insisting that he had to be paid by the Chickasaw treasurer. Most carpenters, wheelwrights, mechanics, and blacksmiths employed in the Chickasaw district were white men, and they were supposed to train Chickasaw youth in their respective trades.

 

 

In August 1853, Agent Smith reported to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that in December 1852, he had paid the annuity of $70,635 and “turned over to the treasurer of the nation the funds—all the balance of the annual remittance—for the national school and blacksmith purposes, amounting in all to $83,000.” Smith concluded, “Little remains for an agent to do in this agency, as you will perceive that they (the Chickasaws) disburse all of their own fund—such as school, blacksmith; and have taken on themselves the entire management of their own fiscal affairs. This relieves the agent of considerable responsibility, and it will show whether the Chickasaws are capable of managing their own affairs.”

 

 

In February 1854, Gilliam returned to Clarksville, Texas, approximately thirty miles southeast of Doaksville, across the Red River.

 

 

James Gilliam (1798-1879) was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, and served in the War of 1812. He married Harriet Bagby in 1819, and they moved to Tennessee in 1821. After moving to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, they settled in Red River County, Texas, in 1842.

 

 

Samuel Houston (1793-1863) was born in Virginia and left home at age 16 and lived with the Cherokee. He enlisted to fight the British in the War of 1812 and came under the tutelage of Andrew Jackson. After the war, he settled in Tennessee and began to practice law. In 1822, he was elected to Congress and served from 1823 to 1827. He was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson during his term in Congress. In 1827, he became governor of Tennessee but resigned in 1829 before his term ended after his wife left him amid rumors of alcoholism and infidelity. In the early 1830s, Houston was in Washington to expose the frauds committed by government agents against the Cherokee. When a Congressman accused him of impropriety, he beat the Congressman with a cane on Pennsylvania Avenue. He was arrested and found guilty but given a light fine, and he left for Mexico. By 1835, he was a major general in the Texas Army, and he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in March 1836. In the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, Houston surprised Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and won a decisive victory that secured Texas independence. Houston served as President of the Republic of Texas from October 1836 to December 1838, and again from 1841 to 1844. After the annexation of Texas to the United States, Houston served as U.S. senator from 1846 to 1859. In 1859, Houston became governor of Texas but resigned less than two years later because he refused to take the Confederate loyalty oath. He retired from public life and died at his home.

 

 

Andrew Jackson Smith (1826-1899) was born in Tennessee. His father had fought in the War of 1812, the Creek Indian wars, and was a lieutenant under Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. From 1819 to 1835, the father served with Sam Houston in the Tennessee militia. In the mid-1830s, the family moved to Texas and established a plantation in Nacogdoches. President Millard Fillmore nominated Andrew Jackson Smith as agent for the Chickasaws in August 1852, a position he held until 1856. He was also a merchant, surveyor, tavern-keeper, magistrate, and sheriff. He later became a county judge in Rusk County, Texas.

 

 

 

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