William Clyde Thompson
Encyclopedia
Captain William Clyde Thompson was a Texas Choctaw leader who rallied against the Dawes Commission
for Choctaw enrollment. He was born in 1839 near Fort Towson
in the Choctaw Nation
.
, Choctaw Nation
. He was the son of William Thompson, who was one-forth Choctaw
and one-eighth Chickasaw
, and Elizabeth Jones Mangum who was also one-eighth Choctaw
, the great granddaughter of Nashoba. His family were part of the Yowani Choctaws
, originally from the village of Yowani Indians east of the Chickasawhay River
near present day Shubuta, Clarke County, Mississippi
. Many of the Yowani's moved west into Louisiana
and Texas
, taking on the customs of their neighbors, to the point that many scholars have included the Yowani Choctaws
as a part of the Caddo Confederacy, while others became part of the leadership of the Koasati or Coushatta
a former part of the Creek Confederacy. It was this same Choctaw
group that were listed as part of the Cherokees and Twelve Associated Tribes, in the Treaty of Bowles Village between the tribes and the Republic of Texas
, concluded on February 23, 1836.
William was descended paternally from Atahobia (c.1750-c.1824)a full blood Choctaw
who was at one time the husband of Sally McCoy a half blood Chickasaw
and later wife of Chickasaw
leader Major James Colbert (1768–1842). Atahobia was one, if not the primary leader of the Yowani's who moved into Texas following their petition of the Mexican government for permission to settle in the province in 1824. Prior to this, Atahobia was a signer of the Treaty of Doak's Stand
in 1820, as one of the Chiefs and Headmen of the Choctaw
.
In Texas
the villages prior to 1837 were located east of the Trinity River
in what was then Nacogdoches County, west of the U.S. (Louisiana
) Border. After 1837 the villages were combined to form a single village on Attoyac Bayou in extreme southeastern Rusk County. By 1844, following the Treaty of Birds Fort, there were two villages, one near the Cherokees under the leadership of Chicken Trotter (Devireaux Jarrett Bell 1817-1866), in what would become the Mt. Tabor/Bellview Indian Communities in Rusk County and the second under the leadership of Woody Jones (grandson of Nashoba), located in Houston County near the border with Trinity County. The southern village dwindled to only a few individuals until 1881, when John Martin Thompson
(Cherokee
, grandson of Cherokee Nation
Chief Justice, John Martin) opened mills in Trinity and Angelina counties near Woodlake and Diboll, thereby bringing a large number of Choctaws along with some Cherokees (Thompson's & Starr's) and Muscogee-Creeks (Berryhill's & Posey's) into the area.
William C. Thompson's family moved between the Choctaw Nation
and the Texas Choctaw
villages until 1840, when vigilantes seeking retribution against Indians (possibly Chicken Trotters Cherokees) who had killed three whitemen near Nacogdoches, fell upon the unsuspecting Choctaw
village. From this attack, eleven Choctaw
men, women and children were murdered. According to Dr. May and information from the Thompson-McCoy Choctaw
Descendants Association, William's family was in the village at the time, forcing them to flee back to the Choctaw Nation. William's mother and infant sister died there on August 30, 1840, followed two days later by his father. Family speculation has led some to tie these deaths to the attack by Texians against the Choctaws, but no collaborating evidence has yet to be found.
The death of his parents led William and his brother Arthur James Thompson (1837–1884) to be sent west to live with their paternal grandmother Margaret (McCoy) Thompson (c.1774-c.1868), residing at a community known then as Virginia Hill near Fort Washita
in the Chickasaw Nation
. It was there they remained until their maternal grandfather William Mangum arrived and took them back to Mississippi
where they would stay until the American Civil War
. It should be noted that Margarets brother was Judge James A. McCoy, Supreme Judge of the Chickasaw Nation
, thus Margaret's reason for living near Fort Washita
. His daughter Lucy (1855–1891)later married Chickasaw
Governor Robert Maxwell Harris (1850–1927).
broke out, both William and his brother Arthur enlisted in the Simpson Fencibles as privates (Simpson County, Mississippi
). His first experience in battle was at the battle of Shiloh
, where he was wounded while charging Union fortifications. The injury wasn't serious enough to hamper him as he was back with his unit within two days. It was then that he was elected Captain of his company.
His next injury was much more serious, His skull was fractured by shrapnel in a fight at Fort Gibson
, Cherokee Nation
in May 1863. From this injury he was hopitalized for some time before he could reume his command. Later seeing action in the Atlanta campaign. During this period at a place called Peach Tree Creek, his company (H of the Mississippi
20th Regiment) were being detailed in support of Cowman's battery, when they encountered a regiment of Union troops. Without hesitation they charged the fedefrals with fixed bayonets, eventually capturing some forty-seven. During the Atlanta campaign, he saw action several times before he accompanied General Hood back to Tennessee
. There, at the Battle of Franklin
he was shot in the thigh and captured by the federals. From the field he was taken to a Union prison hospital in Nashville
where he would sit out the remaining years of the war. During his incarceration he was promoted by the Confederate States government, to the rank of Lietenant Colonel of a Mississippi
regiment, which had formed following the consoldation of the 6th and 20th Mississippi
regiments. Of further note, although he was promoted to Lietenant Colonel, he never used that title, but continued to desire to be called Captain to the day he died. His tombstone in the Marlow City Cemetery in Marlow, Oklahoma
simply reads Capt. William C. Thompson.
From Nashville
, Colonel Thompson was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, then on to Baltimore
, and finally by boat to Richmond, Virginia
, where he was paroled a short time before the close of the war. He reach Simpson County, Mississippi
on June 1, 1865 and immediately began his preparations to return to his family in Texas
.
He reached Dallas County, Texas
in December 1865, later living in Cherokee County, south of present day Troup, Smith County, near present day Overton and later in Trinity County. While living in Smith County near many of his cousins, both Choctaws and Cherokees, he became involved in the efforts to preserve the culture and lands that had been a part of the Treaty of Bowles Village in 1836. His paternal uncle Archibald Thompson (1791–1857) had settled there in 1851 and had taken the role of leadership among the Texas Choctaws. Following Archibald's death in 1857, the role of leadership went to Jeremiah Jones (1814–1963)a cousin of William's through his mothers line. William's intelligence and leadership experience was of great value to the Texas Choctaws, Cherokees and the neighboring McIntosh Party Creek Indians as well. His reputation among local Indians and non-Indians was one of dependability and trust worthiness. However, due to such kindness his efforts at opening a mercantile, were often less than glorious as he just couldn't turn down credit to those in a bad way. Sometimes leaders, tribal or otherwise, must say no. William had a problem with that. Thus the overall community ledership of what was known initially as the Mount Tabor Indian Community and later as the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands, was clearly in the hands of Jack Bell (John Adair Bell 1806-1860)who along with his brother Devireaux Jarrett Bell (known by his Indian name of Chicken Trotter) and members`of the Starr, Harnage, Watie and other prominent Cherokee families. (Note: The Texas Cherokees Cherokees and Associate Bands were officially formed as a` political organization in 1871 by Colonel William Penn Adair
and Clement Neely Vann, both Cherokees and both former Mount Tabor residents) After all it had always been a Cherokee
community, but the Yowani connections to the Bell, Adair and Thompson Cherokee
families, made it the safest place in Texas
for Indians to live following the blood baths of the early 1840s. Additionally following the war and his return to Texas
, William took another step that would change his life forever. On May 29, 1867, he married Miss Sarah S. Estes, the daughter of Thomas Coleman Estes (b. 1811) and the former Elizabeth Darby (c.1815-c.1853). From this union three children were born; Arthur M. (1869–1926), Mary M. (b. 1862) who married William McNeece and William Clyde Jr. (1875–1921). The Estes family was not of American Indian
ancestry but predominately English.
After leaving Smith County, William followed the work and money. Both were moving to Trinity County. John Martin Thompson
(1829–1907)a distant cousin, the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson(1803–1868) and his Cherokee
wife Annie Martin (1810–1851), established new lumber mills in the county bringing a prosperity unknown in the "big thicket" before that time.
William, while living in Trinity County was elected the second probate clerk of the county, and later to the office of probate judge. In 1889 he left Texas
for good, relocating first Ardmore
in the Chickasaw Nation
and later moving to the new community of Marlow, where he would remain throughout the remainer of his life. Of his Thompson and Jones relatives, several would follow him north into the Chickasaw Nation
. Among these were John Thurston Thompson (1864–1907), Martin Luther Thompson
(1857–1946) and Robert E. Lee Thompson (1872–1959). William and John were elected by family members that had relocated into the Chickasaw
and Choctaw
Nations as their formal representatives. Martin Thompson and Robert Thompson both stayed for a short period, but later returned to Texas
. For Martin it was a good move. Oil was discovered on his land and at the time of his death, he was worth over $200.000. in 1946. Martin also would take the lead among the Choctaws in Texas
, but keeping close to his Cherokee
relatives. The exception to this was the continuing feud between Martin and Texas Cherokee and Associate Bands attorney George Fields over inclusion of the Choctaws in any litigations over treaty rights undertaken by the TCAB. In the Gilcrease Museum
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
, the George Fields papers contain briefs to be submitted to the United States Supreme Court. In those, the word Choctaw
has been scratched off.
For William, being in the Chickasaw Nation
would keep him busy trying to get his family enrolled as citizens by blood in the Choctaw Nation
. The case went back and forth for years, with his name and that of all the Texas Choctaws stricken from the roll in March 1906. In February 1909 some seventy Texas Choctaws were restored to citizenship and included upon a re-instatement list. For those that returned to Texas
, there was nothing.
William's never say die attitude made him a very good leader, not only among the Texas Choctaws but among non-Indians as well being elected Mayor of Marlow, Chickasaw Nation, I. T. (now Oklahoma
) in 1901. Many of his descendants and the descendants of those whom he helped re-establish themselves in the western Chickasaw Nation
still have him to thank for their current prosperity, from, car dealers, to farmers and doctors, William Thompson just would not give up.
Dawes Commission
The American Dawes Commission, named for its first chairman Henry L. Dawes, was authorized under a rider to an Indian Office appropriation bill, March 3, 1893...
for Choctaw enrollment. He was born in 1839 near Fort Towson
Fort Towson
Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma....
in the Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
.
Background
William C. Thompson was born on February 6, 1839 at Fort TowsonFort Towson
Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma....
, Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
. He was the son of William Thompson, who was one-forth Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
and one-eighth Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
, and Elizabeth Jones Mangum who was also one-eighth Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, the great granddaughter of Nashoba. His family were part of the Yowani Choctaws
Yowani Choctaws
Yowani is a branch of the Choctaw tribe which became part of the Caddo Confederacy. The Yowani were named for their village, the reason for the founding of a trading post and what became the European-American town of Shubuta, Mississippi nearby...
, originally from the village of Yowani Indians east of the Chickasawhay River
Chickasawhay River
The Chickasawhay River is a river, about long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. It is a principal tributary of the Pascagoula River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Chickasawhay's tributaries also drain a portion of western Alabama...
near present day Shubuta, Clarke County, Mississippi
Clarke County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,955 people, 6,978 households, and 5,024 families residing in the county. The population density was 26 people per square mile . There were 8,100 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
. Many of the Yowani's moved west into Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, taking on the customs of their neighbors, to the point that many scholars have included the Yowani Choctaws
Yowani Choctaws
Yowani is a branch of the Choctaw tribe which became part of the Caddo Confederacy. The Yowani were named for their village, the reason for the founding of a trading post and what became the European-American town of Shubuta, Mississippi nearby...
as a part of the Caddo Confederacy, while others became part of the leadership of the Koasati or Coushatta
Coushatta
----The Coushatta are a historic Muskogean-speaking Native American people living primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territory of present-day Georgia and Alabama...
a former part of the Creek Confederacy. It was this same Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
group that were listed as part of the Cherokees and Twelve Associated Tribes, in the Treaty of Bowles Village between the tribes and the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
, concluded on February 23, 1836.
William was descended paternally from Atahobia (c.1750-c.1824)a full blood Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
who was at one time the husband of Sally McCoy a half blood Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
and later wife of Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
leader Major James Colbert (1768–1842). Atahobia was one, if not the primary leader of the Yowani's who moved into Texas following their petition of the Mexican government for permission to settle in the province in 1824. Prior to this, Atahobia was a signer of the Treaty of Doak's Stand
Treaty of Doak's Stand
The Treaty of Doak's Stand was signed on October 18, 1820 between the United States and the Choctaw Indian tribe. Based on the terms of the accord, the Choctaw agreed to give up approximately one-half of their remaining Choctaw homeland...
in 1820, as one of the Chiefs and Headmen of the Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
.
In Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
the villages prior to 1837 were located east of the Trinity River
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
in what was then Nacogdoches County, west of the U.S. (Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
) Border. After 1837 the villages were combined to form a single village on Attoyac Bayou in extreme southeastern Rusk County. By 1844, following the Treaty of Birds Fort, there were two villages, one near the Cherokees under the leadership of Chicken Trotter (Devireaux Jarrett Bell 1817-1866), in what would become the Mt. Tabor/Bellview Indian Communities in Rusk County and the second under the leadership of Woody Jones (grandson of Nashoba), located in Houston County near the border with Trinity County. The southern village dwindled to only a few individuals until 1881, when John Martin Thompson
John Martin Thompson
John Martin Thompson , Lumberman, civic leader, was born in the old Cherokee Nation prior to removal in what is now Cass County, Georgia. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a South Carolinian of Scottish descent, and Annie Martin a mix blood Cherokee...
(Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, grandson of Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
Chief Justice, John Martin) opened mills in Trinity and Angelina counties near Woodlake and Diboll, thereby bringing a large number of Choctaws along with some Cherokees (Thompson's & Starr's) and Muscogee-Creeks (Berryhill's & Posey's) into the area.
William C. Thompson's family moved between the Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
and the Texas Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
villages until 1840, when vigilantes seeking retribution against Indians (possibly Chicken Trotters Cherokees) who had killed three whitemen near Nacogdoches, fell upon the unsuspecting Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
village. From this attack, eleven Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
men, women and children were murdered. According to Dr. May and information from the Thompson-McCoy Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
Descendants Association, William's family was in the village at the time, forcing them to flee back to the Choctaw Nation. William's mother and infant sister died there on August 30, 1840, followed two days later by his father. Family speculation has led some to tie these deaths to the attack by Texians against the Choctaws, but no collaborating evidence has yet to be found.
The death of his parents led William and his brother Arthur James Thompson (1837–1884) to be sent west to live with their paternal grandmother Margaret (McCoy) Thompson (c.1774-c.1868), residing at a community known then as Virginia Hill near Fort Washita
Fort Washita
Fort Washita is the former United States military post and National Historic Landmark located near Nida, Oklahoma on SH 199. Established in 1842 by General Zachary Taylor to protect citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations from the plains indians it was later abandoned by Federal forces at...
in the Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
. It was there they remained until their maternal grandfather William Mangum arrived and took them back to Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
where they would stay until the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. It should be noted that Margarets brother was Judge James A. McCoy, Supreme Judge of the Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
, thus Margaret's reason for living near Fort Washita
Fort Washita
Fort Washita is the former United States military post and National Historic Landmark located near Nida, Oklahoma on SH 199. Established in 1842 by General Zachary Taylor to protect citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations from the plains indians it was later abandoned by Federal forces at...
. His daughter Lucy (1855–1891)later married Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
Governor Robert Maxwell Harris (1850–1927).
American Civil War
As the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
broke out, both William and his brother Arthur enlisted in the Simpson Fencibles as privates (Simpson County, Mississippi
Simpson County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 27,639 people, 10,076 households, and 7,385 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 11,307 housing units at an average density of 19 per square mile...
). His first experience in battle was at the battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
, where he was wounded while charging Union fortifications. The injury wasn't serious enough to hamper him as he was back with his unit within two days. It was then that he was elected Captain of his company.
His next injury was much more serious, His skull was fractured by shrapnel in a fight at Fort Gibson
Fort Gibson
Fort Gibson, now located in Oklahoma and designated Fort Gibson Historical Site, guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 until 1890...
, Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
in May 1863. From this injury he was hopitalized for some time before he could reume his command. Later seeing action in the Atlanta campaign. During this period at a place called Peach Tree Creek, his company (H of the Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
20th Regiment) were being detailed in support of Cowman's battery, when they encountered a regiment of Union troops. Without hesitation they charged the fedefrals with fixed bayonets, eventually capturing some forty-seven. During the Atlanta campaign, he saw action several times before he accompanied General Hood back to Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. There, at the Battle of Franklin
Battle of Franklin
Battle of Franklin may refer to three battles of the American Civil War:* Battle of Franklin , a major battle fought November 30, 1864, at Franklin, Tennessee as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign...
he was shot in the thigh and captured by the federals. From the field he was taken to a Union prison hospital in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
where he would sit out the remaining years of the war. During his incarceration he was promoted by the Confederate States government, to the rank of Lietenant Colonel of a Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
regiment, which had formed following the consoldation of the 6th and 20th Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
regiments. Of further note, although he was promoted to Lietenant Colonel, he never used that title, but continued to desire to be called Captain to the day he died. His tombstone in the Marlow City Cemetery in Marlow, Oklahoma
Marlow, Oklahoma
Marlow is a city in Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 4,592 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Marlow is located at ....
simply reads Capt. William C. Thompson.
From Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Colonel Thompson was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, then on to Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, and finally by boat to Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, where he was paroled a short time before the close of the war. He reach Simpson County, Mississippi
Simpson County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 27,639 people, 10,076 households, and 7,385 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 11,307 housing units at an average density of 19 per square mile...
on June 1, 1865 and immediately began his preparations to return to his family in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
He reached Dallas County, Texas
Dallas County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,218,899 people, 807,621 households, and 533,837 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,523 people per square mile . There were 854,119 housing units at an average density of 971/sq mi...
in December 1865, later living in Cherokee County, south of present day Troup, Smith County, near present day Overton and later in Trinity County. While living in Smith County near many of his cousins, both Choctaws and Cherokees, he became involved in the efforts to preserve the culture and lands that had been a part of the Treaty of Bowles Village in 1836. His paternal uncle Archibald Thompson (1791–1857) had settled there in 1851 and had taken the role of leadership among the Texas Choctaws. Following Archibald's death in 1857, the role of leadership went to Jeremiah Jones (1814–1963)a cousin of William's through his mothers line. William's intelligence and leadership experience was of great value to the Texas Choctaws, Cherokees and the neighboring McIntosh Party Creek Indians as well. His reputation among local Indians and non-Indians was one of dependability and trust worthiness. However, due to such kindness his efforts at opening a mercantile, were often less than glorious as he just couldn't turn down credit to those in a bad way. Sometimes leaders, tribal or otherwise, must say no. William had a problem with that. Thus the overall community ledership of what was known initially as the Mount Tabor Indian Community and later as the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands, was clearly in the hands of Jack Bell (John Adair Bell 1806-1860)who along with his brother Devireaux Jarrett Bell (known by his Indian name of Chicken Trotter) and members`of the Starr, Harnage, Watie and other prominent Cherokee families. (Note: The Texas Cherokees Cherokees and Associate Bands were officially formed as a` political organization in 1871 by Colonel William Penn Adair
William Penn Adair
William Penn Adair was a Cherokee leader and Confederate colonel.-Background:William Penn Adair was born on April 15, 1830 in the old Cherokee Nation in New Echota, Georgia. His parents were George Washington Adair and Martha Adair. He attended Cherokee schools in Indian Territory, studying law....
and Clement Neely Vann, both Cherokees and both former Mount Tabor residents) After all it had always been a Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
community, but the Yowani connections to the Bell, Adair and Thompson Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
families, made it the safest place in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
for Indians to live following the blood baths of the early 1840s. Additionally following the war and his return to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, William took another step that would change his life forever. On May 29, 1867, he married Miss Sarah S. Estes, the daughter of Thomas Coleman Estes (b. 1811) and the former Elizabeth Darby (c.1815-c.1853). From this union three children were born; Arthur M. (1869–1926), Mary M. (b. 1862) who married William McNeece and William Clyde Jr. (1875–1921). The Estes family was not of American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
ancestry but predominately English.
After leaving Smith County, William followed the work and money. Both were moving to Trinity County. John Martin Thompson
John Martin Thompson
John Martin Thompson , Lumberman, civic leader, was born in the old Cherokee Nation prior to removal in what is now Cass County, Georgia. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a South Carolinian of Scottish descent, and Annie Martin a mix blood Cherokee...
(1829–1907)a distant cousin, the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson(1803–1868) and his Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
wife Annie Martin (1810–1851), established new lumber mills in the county bringing a prosperity unknown in the "big thicket" before that time.
William, while living in Trinity County was elected the second probate clerk of the county, and later to the office of probate judge. In 1889 he left Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
for good, relocating first Ardmore
Ardmore
Ardmore comes from the or the , meaning "great height", and may refer to:-Places:Canada:*Ardmore, Alberta*Ardmore Beach, a community in Tiny, OntarioIreland:*Ardmore, County Waterford, Republic of Ireland*Ardmore, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland...
in the Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
and later moving to the new community of Marlow, where he would remain throughout the remainer of his life. Of his Thompson and Jones relatives, several would follow him north into the Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
. Among these were John Thurston Thompson (1864–1907), Martin Luther Thompson
Martin Luther Thompson
Martin Luther Thompson was a Texas Choctaw leader and rancher who along with his relatives, William Clyde Thompson , Robert E. Lee Thompson and John Thurston Thompson , led several families of Choctaws from the Mount Tabor Indian Community in Rusk County, Texas to Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation,...
(1857–1946) and Robert E. Lee Thompson (1872–1959). William and John were elected by family members that had relocated into the Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
and Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
Nations as their formal representatives. Martin Thompson and Robert Thompson both stayed for a short period, but later returned to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. For Martin it was a good move. Oil was discovered on his land and at the time of his death, he was worth over $200.000. in 1946. Martin also would take the lead among the Choctaws in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, but keeping close to his Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
relatives. The exception to this was the continuing feud between Martin and Texas Cherokee and Associate Bands attorney George Fields over inclusion of the Choctaws in any litigations over treaty rights undertaken by the TCAB. In the Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, the George Fields papers contain briefs to be submitted to the United States Supreme Court. In those, the word Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
has been scratched off.
For William, being in the Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
would keep him busy trying to get his family enrolled as citizens by blood in the Choctaw Nation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...
. The case went back and forth for years, with his name and that of all the Texas Choctaws stricken from the roll in March 1906. In February 1909 some seventy Texas Choctaws were restored to citizenship and included upon a re-instatement list. For those that returned to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, there was nothing.
William's never say die attitude made him a very good leader, not only among the Texas Choctaws but among non-Indians as well being elected Mayor of Marlow, Chickasaw Nation, I. T. (now Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
) in 1901. Many of his descendants and the descendants of those whom he helped re-establish themselves in the western Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
still have him to thank for their current prosperity, from, car dealers, to farmers and doctors, William Thompson just would not give up.
See also
- Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands
- Texas Band of Choctaw Indians
- Martin Luther ThompsonMartin Luther ThompsonMartin Luther Thompson was a Texas Choctaw leader and rancher who along with his relatives, William Clyde Thompson , Robert E. Lee Thompson and John Thurston Thompson , led several families of Choctaws from the Mount Tabor Indian Community in Rusk County, Texas to Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation,...
- Charles Collins ThompsonCharles Collins ThompsonCharles Collins Thompson was a Texas judge, attorney, banker and rancher. He was a native of Erath County, Texas. He was the son of Charles Madison Thompson and Annie Margaret Jane Altman .-Background:...
- John Martin ThompsonJohn Martin ThompsonJohn Martin Thompson , Lumberman, civic leader, was born in the old Cherokee Nation prior to removal in what is now Cass County, Georgia. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a South Carolinian of Scottish descent, and Annie Martin a mix blood Cherokee...
- Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery
- Yowani ChoctawsYowani ChoctawsYowani is a branch of the Choctaw tribe which became part of the Caddo Confederacy. The Yowani were named for their village, the reason for the founding of a trading post and what became the European-American town of Shubuta, Mississippi nearby...
- Treaty of Bowles Village
Sources
- William C. Thompson, et al. vs. Choctaw Nation, MCR File 341, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Muskogee, Oklahoma
- United States Department of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior-Choctaw Citizenship Cases, #4 William C. Thompson et al., pgs 151-157
- D.C. Gideon, Indian Territory...1901, pg. 534
- William C. Thompson and the Choctaw-Chickasaw Paper Chase by Dr. Douglas Hale, Oklahoma State University
- 1896 Choctaw Census; Choctaws Residing in the Chickasaw Nation, Pickens County, IT
- Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs correspondence between A.C. Tonner, Acting Commissioner for the Dawes Commission, and the Secretary of the Interior, April 29, 1904; ref. Land 25846-1904-Oklahoma Historical Society
- Choctaw Re-instatement list, correspondence from the Department of the Interior to the Commissioner of the Five Civilized Tribes, February 20, 1909
- John S. Spring et al. vs. Choctaw Nation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Muskogee, Oklahoma
- A History of the State of Oklahoma 1908 by Luther Hill, pgs 239-241 http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/historical/1908ok_2_25.htm
- 1818 Partial Chickasaw annuity roll, listing Sally McCoy #22; K.M. Armstrong
- The Beech Island Historical Society, 144 Old Jackson Highway, P. O Box 158, Beech Island, SC 29842
- Cecil Lee Pinkston-Vinson interview with her grandfather Martin L. Thompson on March 14, 1934
- J.N. Waton to L. Draper, 25 JUN 1882
- Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History As Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family, 1939 By Edward Everett Dale and Gaston Litton, University of Oklahoma Press; ISBN 080612721X, 13:978-0806127217
- Republic of Texas Treaties; Treaty of Bowles Village February 23, 1836, Texas State Historical Society, Austin, Texas
- Treaty of Birds Fort September 29, 1843, Texas State Historical Society, Austin, Texas
- United States-Choctaw Treaties: Treaty of Doaks Stand October 18, 1820, National Archives, Fort Worth, Texas
- Starr's History of the Cherokee Indians, By Dr. Emmet Starr
- The 1840 Census of the Republic of Texas, 1966 Pemberton Press, Austin, Texas, Edited by Gifford White, Nacogdoches County
- Texas Indian Papers 1835-1845, Texas State Archives, Austin, Texas
- Cecil Lee Pinkston-Vinson interviews (verification of Chicken Trotter as the Indian name of Devireaux Jarett Bell) with Daisy Starr, Kilgore, Texas, August 22, 1967, Mack Starr September 14, 1967 and George M. Bell Sr. September 17, 1967. Summer of 1963 survey of memorial markers of Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery (Rusk County, Texas) by Roy and Cecil Vinson. Headstone of Jarrett Bell showed the name "Chief Chicken Trotter" at the bottom of stone. Note: stone was gone in 1967 survey and is noted as gone by George Morrison Bell Sr. in 1969 in his book Genealogy of Old and New Cherokee Families
- Debts due the United States from the Choctaw Trading House October 1, 1822
- Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910, rpt., New York: Pageant, 1959)
- A History of the Caddo Indians by William B. Glover, The Louisiana Historical Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4. October, 1935
- The Old Mount Tabor Community, Genealogy of Old and New Cherokee Families, by George Morrison Bell Sr.
- George Fields Collection, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Papers of W.W. Keeler relating to the Texas Cherokees, Cherokee National Historical Society, Tahlequah, Oklahoma
- Some East Texas Native Families: Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands Genealogy Project: Rootsweb Global Search: Familyties http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=familyties
- Texas by Terán By Manuel de Mier y Teran, Jack Jackson, John Wheat, Scooter Cheatham, Lynn Marshall
- Handbook of Texas Online: John Martin Thompson http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth43.html (accessed September 3, 2008)
- Handbook of Texas Online: Indians; Republics of Texas and Mexico, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/II/bzi4.html (accessed September 3, 2008)
- Oklahoma Historical Society, Records of the Department of the Interior, Laws, Decisions and Regulations Affecting the work of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes 1893-1906 pgs 130-138
- North Georgia Creek History, Culture and society of the Creek Indians, Information related to the McIntosh Party of the Creek Nation by Larry Worthy http://ngeorgia.com/history/creekhistory.html
- Letter of April 4, 1905 from Thomas Ryan, First Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs to Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, Muskogee, Indian Territory, re: Willian C. Thompson et al. MCR 341, MCR 7124, MCR 581 and MCR 458.
- The Dawes Commission and the Allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914 By Kent Carter, Ancestry Publishing 1999, ISBN 091648985X, 13:978-0916489854
- Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico By Frederick Webb Hodge, Smithsonian Institution American Ethnology, Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1907, pgs 1001-1002, ISBN 0313212813; 13:978-0313212819
- Chief Bowles and Texas Cherokees, Chapter XI, Cherokee Claims to Land, By Mary Whatley Clarke, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0806134364 13:978-0806134369
External links
- Book Search, Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico By Frederick Webb Hodge
- A History of the Caddo Indians By: WILLIAM B. GLOVER
- Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas; Information related to Cherokee descendants buried there, by Paul Ridenour, 2005
- Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas
- Mount Tabor Indian Cemetery, Rusk County, Texas
- Asbury Cemetery, Smith County, Texas, Information related to Choctaw and Cherokee descendants buried there, by Paul Ridenour, 2005
- The Handbook of Texas Online: Yowani Indians, Margery H. Krieger
- The Handbook of Texas Online: Indians by George Klos
- Mt. Tabor Cemetery, Rusk County TxGenWeb
- A Starr Studded Event, April 9, 2005 by Paul Ridenour
- The George Harlan Starr and Nancy (Bell) Starr Home, Located near Leveretts Chapel, Texas (Mt. Tabor Indian Community), by Paul Ridenour 2005
- Ridenour's Major Ridge Home Page, by Paul Ridenour 2008
- Family Ties Genealogy Index, East Texas Native American family information
- The Thompson Choctaw Indians Photo Gallery, Thompson Choctaw Indian Descendants Association 2001
- Mt. Tabor Indian Community Ancestral Roll, Sponsored by the Thompson-Choctaw Indian Descendants Association 2001
- Choctaw Nation Genealogical Information
- CHOCTAW HISTORY, STORIES AND INFO
- Museum of the Red River-The Choctaw