On Route of the Comanche Exodus
Megargel, Archer County, Texas
Marker Inscription
After living 1854-58 on the reservation set aside by State of Texas near Camp Cooper (30 mi. SW), the Comanche Indians with their goods were removed to Oklahoma. Near this spot on a head branch of Kickapoo Creek (so named, 1830) the exodus camped on Aug. 3, 1859, with its escort, a company of 1st United States Infantry under Capt. C. C. Gilbert, along with the Indian agent Matthew Leeper. At same time (25 mi. E), Maj. George H. Thomas escorted the supervising Indian agent, Maj. R. S. Neighbors, and 1059 Lower Brazos Reserve Indians to Oklahoma reservation. Megargel was founded here, 1910. Erected by Archer County Historical Survey Committee. (1971)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the Comanche lived from 1854 to 1858 on a state reservation near Camp Cooper, the U.S. government removed them and their goods north to Oklahoma. On August 3, 1859, the exodus camped near this spot on a head branch of Kickapoo Creek, escorted by a company of the 1st U.S. Infantry under Capt. C. C. Gilbert and Indian agent Matthew Leeper, while to the east Maj. George H. Thomas escorted more than a thousand Lower Brazos Reserve Indians on the same forced journey. Megargel was later founded here in 1910.
Why it matters
This route marks one of the forced removals that emptied Texas of its reservation Indians on the eve of the Civil War, a hard turning point in the dispossession of Native peoples across the frontier.
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Related people
- · Capt. C. C. Gilbert
- · Matthew Leeper
- · Maj. George H. Thomas
- · Maj. R. S. Neighbors
Related events
- · Removal of Texas reservation Indians to Oklahoma, 1859
Themes & tags
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