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Individual:
Indian Chief of the Cherokee.
Individual: Death: 1827 in TX, after crossing the Sabine river of execution ordered by Duwa'l i to appease Mexican Govmt Occupation: 1814 served as a Captain in the Creek war Occupation: ABT. 1820 Chief of Texas Cherokee Event: Clan Long-Haired Clan (Mary Grant) Emigration: BET. 1814 - 1819 TX Event: Claim 1804 640 acres near Helena, AR Reference Number: 467-A8
Richard Fields: Chief of the Texas Cherokees âÇúI am a Red Man, a man of honor , and I canno t be imposed upon this way. We will lift up our tomahawks and fight for this land along with all of those friendly tribes that want land also. If I am beaten, I will resign myself to fate, and if not, I will hold this land by the force of my red warriors.âÇù Richard Fields ~ 1827 Richard Fields was the great grandson of Ludovic Grant. Grant was of Scotch decent and had escaped from prison during the Jacobite Rebellion. He set sail for America about age 20, and settled in the Eastern Cherokee Nation. He married Eughioote, b.1706 in Overhills. She was a Cherokee woman of the Longhair Clan. This clan was originally a female warrior society and so, we may assume that she was a woman of exceptional ability. Ludovic Grant was a well known and respected woodsman and trader. Court records show that he lived among the Cherokee for over 30 years. and was in the Nation at the same time as Christian Priber and James Adair. Richard's mother, Susannah Emory, (b. 1749) was the youngest of three daughters born to Mary Grant and John Emory. Mary Grant, was the only child of Eughiooti and Ludovic Grant. Susannah may have been named for the ship that carried her grandfather to freedom, because her name was the same. About 1765 she married Captain John Stuart, an officer in the British Army. Susannah and Captain Stuart had one son. They named him Oo-no-du-tu. The name translates to Bushyhead and refers to someone with a great head of hair. I believe this child was named for his great-grandfather, Ludovic Grant and that Bushyhead was Grant's Cherokee name, not Stuarts as some historians have stated. Captain Stuart either deserted his wife and son, or Susannah divorced him, because he was still living when Susannah married an Englishman named Richard Fields(b.1740) . Their son, Richard Fields(2) b. ca.1780 and the subject of this sketch, was the first of five children born to this marriage. As was the custom, Richard Jr. would have been greatly influenced by his mother and would have been a member of her clan, as she was a member of her mothers clan and so on. As a member of the Longhair Clan, he would have been duty bound as a caretaker of his people, and defending their honor would have been the primary purpose for his life. Richard spoke the English language, both fluently and preferably and as a young man he served as an interpreter for the Council House in the Chickasaw country. Emmet Starr wrote of Richard, that he was a man of striking personality and considerable intelligence, one who did not follow blindly. He was said to have been an inspiring orator when he expressed his opinions. Prior to his birth around 1780, great numbers of Cherokee in the Eastern Cherokee Nation had been forced out of their homes by the Provincial Militia, and it's allies the Choctaw and the Chickasaw The Cherokees defended against these assaults, but were ultimately defeated by the militia's force and numbers. Upon their defeat in 1771, they made a treaty of peace with South Carolina and Virginia. This peace remained in force until May of1776, at which time, British Indian Agents inspired them to wage war on the western American settlers. In retaliation for this incident and the Cherokee's support of the British, the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia sent an army of 6,460 men to wage destruction on them. This army of men destroyed their crops, commandeered their property and burned 50of their towns to the ground. In 1812, Richard and his younger brother George were Captains in the Cherokee auxiliaries , attached to General Andrew Jackson's army. Historical accounts prove they were fierce and able warriors and as Jacksonians, we can assume that they were Democrats. Richard lived in a time of inhumane treatment of his race. It is likely he longed for a time of peace and a place of sanctuary. For whatever reason, his family withdrew from the Eastern Cherokee Nation and settled in Tennessee, in the vicinity of the Chickamauga's. He had already served in 1801 as an emissary of the Cherokee council to the United States agents in Tennessee Sometime during this period, Richard married his first wife, Jennie Buffington. Jennie was the daughter of Ellis Buffington and Lydia Wright and she was in fact, his second cousin. Being the granddaughter of Richard's Aunt, Elizabeth Emory Buffington. Richard and Jennie Buffington Fields had the following children; George Fields (m.) Sallie Daniel Nannie Fields (m.) William Blythe Elizabeth Fields (m.) William Thompson and John Blagg John Fields (m.) Elizabeth Wells Ezekiel Fields (m.) Mary Ann Sexton (My line) Richard's children with Elizabeth Hicks were: Moses Fields (m) Elizabeth Bigby and Mahala Cadle Dempsey Fields( m.) Julia Harris Henry Fields (m.) Hester Ross Richard's children with Nancy Timberlake were: Lucy Fields (m.) George Hicks James Fields (m.) Elizabeth Miller Delilah Fields (m.) James Foreman Isabel Fields (m.) Dennis Wolf Richard Fields married four times. At the time of his death in 1827, he was married to the daughter of an Indian trader named Francis Grapp There were no children born to this marriage. With the encroachment of white settlers, it became apparent to many of the Arkansas Cherokees that the retention of their homes was of short duration. Several families, including Richard Fields moved to Texasin 1820. As can be seen by the number of children above, Chief Richard Fields had a large family and by 1821, he was providing for them very well on his ranch in Texas, which he named, The Rancheria of theCherokees. Richard was a very industrious man of some wealth. On his ranch, along with the expected stock-raising of cattle and horses, Richard manufactured cotton cloth. This was a very advanced and lucrative venture for the time. In 1822, Governor Trespalacious , representative of Mexico and Governor of Texas wrote of the Cherokee Nation and specifically, Richard Fields, "These Cherokee are the most industrious and useful of all of the tribes in the United States." In this same letter, the governor further stated that, the Cherokee Nation consisted of 15,000 persons, but living with Richard Fields in Texas were only 100 warriors, and 200 women and children.
Richard had already received grants to his land in Texas from the government of Spain and ha d enjoyed peace and prosperity for one whole year, so I am certain that he was shocked to be suddenly thrust into chaos again when the throne of Spain toppled in 1823 and Texas came under the rule of "The Supreme Executive Power of Mexico Shortly thereafter, he sent a letter to the new Mexican authority, He wrote, "Our intentions are good toward the government." For four years following this letter, Richard Fields would make every rightful effort to secure title to his land. In 1827, with all hope of acquiring legal title to his home exhausted, many dollars having been spent, Richard's intentions toward the new Mexican government took a powerful change. I believe that Richard was very much aware that the United States had designs on Texas. This knowledge, along with the many deluded promises of the Mexican government to grant title to his lands, probably served to influence the decision he made to fight for his home and threats to that effect were directed at the Mexican government, and it's chief allies, Steven Austin, Peter Bean, and anyone else exhibiting any intention of pushing the Cherokee off their prime property and out of Texas.
In 1827, Richard called for a union, league and confederation of all of the Indian tribes i n Texas, which included The Cherokee, Shawnee, Delaware, Kickapoo, Quapaw, Choctaw, Biloxi, Ioni, Alabama, Coushatta, Caddo, Tahoculla, and Mataquo Soon after hearing that Richard was proposing such a union, Austin spoke a warning to his Mexican allies in which he referred to Richard Fields as "the madman of Nacogdoches" he further incited the Mexicans by claiming that Richard Fields was intent on the murder of them all. Also residing in Texas at this time was the half-breed, British sympathizer known as The Bowl. He was the leader of a band of Cherokee separatist who had lost favor with the Cherokee by signing The Treaty of Holston in 1791 and again in 1794 when he violated a treaty of amnesty with the white settlers, by attacking and killing a boat-load of passengers traveling down the Tennessee River. This historical event was known as, The Mussel Shoals Massacre. Fearing reprisal for his crime, The Bowl, and his band had fled first to Arkansas, and later to Texas, where they had aligned themselves with Stephen Austin. In 1827, Chief Richard Fields was intentionally put out of the way, despicably murdered by a member of his own tribe. The murderer of record was "Leggings", a cohort of The Bowl. The Bowl subsequently, succeeded Richard Fields as Chief of the Texas Cherokees. As previously stated, Richard Fields had lived for some time in Arkansas on land given by the treaty of 1817 to the Western Cherokee in exchange for their lands in the Eastern Cherokee Nation. Sam Houston, who referred to himself as Native American and was raised by an adoptive Cherokee father had lived in the same Arkansas location as did Richard Fields. In fact, Sam Houston's wife was a cousin to Richard Fields. It is most likely that Richard Fields and Sam Houston were well acquainted. This fact is important, because after Richard Fields murder, General Sam Houston mobilized an invasion of Texas, defeated the Mexican government, and became President of The Republic of Texas. It is absolute that Sam Houston avenged the murder of his cousin, either knowingly, or unknowingly In 1839, The Bowl was hunted down and killed in a very deliberate manner by a small deployment of soldiers, enlisted in the army of the Republic of Texas. Although, the reasons for Richards Fields death are obvious, history has not recorded his true story. He was a leader of men. He dedicated his life to the good of those that depended upon him, and he died for the honor of those same people. The Cherokee. Researched and composed by Waya Gowahtia.~2000
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