Chief Samuel Benge
Jacksonville vicinity, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A leader of the Cherokee Indians in Texas during the 1830s, Samuel Benge was present at the negotiations with General Sam Houston, John Cameron and John Forbes in early 1836 to secure a treaty with the Cherokee in return for neutrality during the imminent war for independence from Mexico. As a condition of the resulting Houston-Forbes Treaty, the Cherokee were to occupy specific lands in east Texas, and Chief Benge, a signer of the treaty, was required to move east across the Neches River into what is now Cherokee County. The Cherokee upheld their part of the treaty during the war, but the Republic of Texas senate later nullified the treaty, a step toward the ultimate removal of the Cherokees from Texas. (2001)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Samuel Benge was a leader of the Cherokee who had settled in East Texas by the 1830s, seeking secure land amid the turmoil of Texas's break from Mexico. In early 1836 he took part in negotiations with Sam Houston, John Cameron, and John Forbes, and as a signer of the resulting Houston-Forbes Treaty he agreed to move east of the Neches River in return for Cherokee neutrality. The Cherokee kept their word during the war, but the Republic of Texas senate later voided the treaty—an early step toward their removal from Texas.
Why it matters
Benge's story exposes the broken-promise pattern of frontier diplomacy, in which Native nations honored treaties only to be dispossessed once their usefulness had passed.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Samuel Benge
- · Sam Houston
- · John Cameron
- · John Forbes
Related events
- · Houston-Forbes Treaty
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
At this site was the camp of the Army of the Republic of Texas
Flint, TX
In July 1839 the army of the young Republic of Texas gathered at this site under commanders including Edward Burleson, Thomas J. Rusk, and Albert Sidney Johnston before marching against Chief Bowles and his Cherokee and allied warriors. The clash on July 16, 1839, ended the Cherokees' presence in East Texas as the Republic forced them from their lands. The battle was a decisive and bitter chapter in the Republic's Indian policy.
Old Neches Saline Road
Jacksonville, TX
Beginning as a Native American trail, this East Texas road carried Spanish priest Calahorra on a 1765 peace mission and, by the 1820s, became a vital route for hauling salt from the Neches Saline to Nacogdoches. It saw survivors of the 1838 Killough massacre flee toward Fort Lacy and Texas troops march to fight in the Córdova Rebellion and the Cherokee War of 1839, and later guided Mexican War volunteers and waves of new settlers. Towns like Jacksonville, Dialville, and Larissa grew up along its path.
Fry's Gap
Cherokee County, TX
A natural gap in a ridge near the headwaters of Gum Creek long guided travelers, including the Kickapoo, before the Fry family settled the creek in the 1840s. A small industrial hamlet grew up around Joseph Fry's grist mill and blacksmith shop and Rhome Ragsdale's brickyard, kiln, and cotton gin, and when the Texas & New Orleans Railway laid its line along the old trail in 1902, the depot became a shipping point for produce, lumber, and oilfield supplies. The community even hosted a traveling tent show each winter in the 1920s before fading away.
Site of the Kickapoo Battlefield
Frankston, TX
During the years of the Republic of Texas, conflict between settlers and Native peoples flared repeatedly across the eastern frontier. On October 16, 1838, General Thomas J. Rusk led about 200 Texans in an attack on a band of Native Americans and allied Mexicans near this spot, dispersing them in what became known as the Kickapoo battle. The clash was one of many in the Republic's campaigns to push Indigenous nations from the settlement line.