A grey granite historic marker at the end of Cherokee County Road 3431 tells the tale of a horrific day in 1838 that unfolded during the time of the Republic of Texas, when agitators led by Victor Cordova were trying to entice the Mexican Army to invade the Republic of Texas, 2 years after Texas had won her war of Independence from Mexico.
More on the Cordova Rebellion from the Handbook of Texas Online: (
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"CÓRDOVA REBELLION.
Late in the summer of 1838 a group of Nacogdoches citizens accidentally uncovered a plot of rebellion against the new Republic of Texas. This incident, known as the Córdova Rebellion, at first appeared to be nothing more than an isolated insurrection by local malcontents. Later evidence, however, indicated the existence of a far-reaching web of conspiracy.
A volatile mixture of political and social forces existed in the Nacogdoches area during the 1830s. For the most part, former citizens of the United States controlled the newly formed government of the republic. They lived in constant fear of repression by the Mexican government, from which they recently had declared independence. Before 1836 Texans of Hispanic descent made up the largest segment of the population of Nacogdoches. The end of the Texas Revolution, however, brought an influx of American settlers into the area. Many older inhabitants, resenting this intrusion, understandably remained loyal to Mexico. Indians, represented principally by the Cherokees, made up the third major ethnic group. These Indians, a settled people who engaged in agriculture, desired clear title to the land they occupied. Attempts to secure this title from Mexico before 1832 were unsuccessful. During the Texas Revolution, Texas officials promised the Cherokees title to their lands in return for neutrality. The agreement, never ratified, was declared null and void in 1837.
In late 1836 several sources reported to President Sam Houston that the Cherokees had concluded a treaty with Mexico for a combined attack on Texas. It would be a war of extermination, and the Indians would receive title to their land in return for their allegiance. Vicente Córdova, a financially comfortable Nacogdochian who had served his community as alcalde, judge, and regidor, maintained contact with agents of the Mexican government during this period. On August 4, 1838, a group of Nacogdochians searching for stolen horses was fired upon by a party of Hispanics. Finding evidence that suggested the presence of a large assembly of people, they returned to Nacogdoches and reported their discovery. After being informed on August 7 that at least 100 Mexicans led by Córdova were encamped on the Angelina River, Thomas J. Rusk called up the Nacogdoches squadron and sent a call to nearby settlements for reinforcements. On August 8 Houston issued a proclamation prohibiting unlawful assemblies and carrying of arms and ordered all assembled without authorization to return to their homes in peace. Two days later the leaders of the rebellion replied with their own proclamation, signed by Córdova and eighteen others. It stated that they could no longer bear injuries and usurpations of their rights. They had, therefore, taken up arms, were ready to die in defense of those rights, and only begged that their families not be harmed. On the same day Rusk learned that the insurrectionists had been joined by local Indians, who brought their number to approximately 400. After ascertaining that the rebellious band was moving toward the Cherokee nation, Rusk sent Maj. Henry W. Augustine with 150 men to follow them. Rusk, ignoring Houston's orders not to cross the Angelina River, took his remaining troops and marched directly toward the Cherokee village of Chief Bowl. En route Rusk learned that the rebellious army had been overtaken near Seguin and defeated. After communicating with local Indians, who disavowed any knowledge of the uprising, Rusk and his volunteer army returned to Nacogdoches.
Houston remained in Nacogdoches throughout the insurrection, writing letters of reassurance to his friend Bowl, and issuing orders to Rusk. Houston trusted the Cherokees' loyalty and hoped to keep peace with Bowl. Rusk, on the other hand, distrusted the Cherokee leadership and thought that a show of force was necessary. Rusk disobeyed Houston's orders and often bypassed him completely by sending reports to Vice President Mirabeau B. Lamar, who was in closer agreement with Rusk's views.
The leaders of the insurrection escaped arrest and went into hiding. Córdova eventually made his way to Mexico. Thirty-three alleged members of the rebellion, all with Spanish surnames, were arrested and indicted for treason in the Nacogdoches District Court. Because of the "distracted state of public feeling" a change of venue to neighboring San Augustine County was granted to all but one of the defendants. José Antonio Menchacaqv, one of those tried in San Augustine County, was found guilty of treason and sentenced to hang, while the remaining defendants were found not guilty or had their cases dismissed. After several former jurors claimed to have been pressured in their decisions, President Lamar pardoned Menchaca, only four days before his scheduled execution.
The capture of two Mexican agents after the rebellion produced new evidence pointing to an extensive Indian and Mexican conspiracy against Texas. On about August 20, 1838, Julián Pedro Miracle was killed near the Red River. On his body were found a diary and papers that indicated the existence of an official project of the Mexican government to incite East Texas Indians against the Republic of Texas. The diary recorded that Miracle had visited Chief Bowl and that they had agreed to make war against the Texans. On May 18, 1839, a group of Texas Rangersqv defeated a party of Mexicans and Indians, including some Cherokees from Bowl's village. On the body of Manuel Floresqv, the group's leader, were found documents encouraging Indians to follow a campaign of harassment against Texans. Included were letters from Mexican officials addressed to Córdova and Bowl. Although Bowl denied all charges against his people and Houston maintained his belief in their innocence, President Lamar became convinced that the Cherokees could not be allowed to stay in Texas. The Cherokee War and subsequent removal of the Cherokees from Texas began shortly thereafter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Mary Whatley Clarke, Chief Bowles and the Texas Cherokees (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971). James T. DeShields, Border Wars of Texas, ed. Matt Bradley (Tioga, Texas, 1912; rpt., Waco: Texian Press, 1976). Joseph Milton Nance, After San Jacinto: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1836–1841 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1963). Walter Prescott Webb, The Texas Rangers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935; rpt., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982). Dorman H. Winfrey and James M. Day, eds., Texas Indian Papers (4 vols., Austin: Texas State Library, 1959–61; rpt., 5 vols., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1966)."
The state historic marker at the location reads as follows:
""KILLOUGH MASSACRE
In this area, on October 5, 1838, the Killough, Wood and Williams families, all relatives, were gong to the fields. They were gathering crops grown in spite of Indian raids. Here less than a year, the settlers usually carried guns to the fields; but this afternoon were unarmed. Attacked suddenly, 18 pioneers were either killed or captured, never to be heard of again. 8 horseback riders escaped. The wives of Isaac Killough Sr., Isaac Jr., and Samuel Killough fled on foot, carrying a baby. On their third day of hiding, a friendly Indian saved them.
This was the largest Indian atrocity in East Texas, bodies of the victims who were found were buried here. (1965)"
More on the Killough Massacre's connection to the Cordova Rebellion is also found in the Handbook of Texas online: (
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"KILLOUGH MASSACRE. The Killough Massacre, said to have been the largest single Indian depredation in East Texas, took place on October 5, 1838, near the site of present Old Larissa in northwestern Cherokee County. The eighteen victims included Isaac Killough, Sr., and members of his extended family, who had immigrated to Texas from Talladega County, Alabama, the year before.
On Christmas Eve 1837 Killough, his four sons, his two daughters and their husbands, and two single men, Elbert and Barakias Williams, settled on what is now known as Killough Creek, seven miles northwest of Jacksonville. The land was part of a larger tract originally granted to the Cherokees under Sam Houston and John Forbes'sqqv treaty in 1836. The treaty, however, was nullified by the Republic of Texas Senate in December 1837, and portions of the land were sold to the Killoughs and other settlers. The rescinding of the treaty and the growing incursions of new settlers from the Old South provoked bitter resentments in the Indians and laid the basis for the uprisings in 1838. During the early part of that year the Killough group built houses, cleared the land, and planted crops. But in August, when the corn was ready to harvest, they received news of a growing insurrection of disgruntled Mexicans and Indians in the region led by Vicente Córdova, the former alcalde of Nacogdoches. Córdova, collaborating with Mexican officials on the Rio Grande, plotted to retake Texas by inciting the Indians to attack the English-speaking settlers, a move they hoped would open the way for a invasion by the Mexican army. The Córdova Rebellion, as the plan was called, never materialized, and the insurrection was quickly suppressed by a hastily organized militia led by Gen. Thomas J. Rusk.
Killough and rest of the approximately thirty settlers, fearing Indian attacks, had in the meantime fled to Nacogdoches, but they returned in late September or early October believing it would be safe to harvest their crops. One later report alleged that the Indians had agreed to allow the Killough group to remain until the "first great white frost." On the afternoon of October 5, however, a hostile band attacked the settlement. Eighteen of the settlers, including Isaac Killough, Sr., were killed or carried off. The survivors, including Killough's wife Urcey, eventually made their way to Lacy's Fort, forty miles to the south. Word of the massacre quickly spread, and a militia led by Rusk set out to find the perpetrators. After reaching Fort Houston, near the site of present Palestine, they received word that the band was camped at an old Kickapoo village near Frankston. The following day Rusk and his men attacked. In the skirmish that followed eleven members of the band were killed, including a renegade Cherokee named Tail. The exact composition of the Indian group is not known, but Gen. Hugh McLeod, a participant in the battle, later wrote that the band included Caddos, Coushattas, several runaway slaves, Mexicans, and possibly Keechis. The survivors of the massacre claimed that they saw a white man dressed as an Indian, but the claim was never substantiated.
The Killough Massacre and its aftermath represent a final chapter of the Córdova Rebellion, but the deep-seated resentments aroused by the abrogation of Houston's treaty and the incursions of new settlers led to the Cherokee War the following year. A stone obelisk to commemorate the victims of the massacre was erected at the site by the Work Projects Administration in the late 1930s, and in 1965 a state historical marker was dedicated there. The monument and cemetery are now enclosed by a fence, and descendants of the Killough family have established a foundation to provide permanent care.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cherokee County History (Jacksonville, Texas: Cherokee County Historical Commission, 1986). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin. Jack Moore, The Killough Massacre (Jacksonville, Texas: Kiely Printing, 1966). A. Ray Stephens, "The Killough Massacre," Texana 7 (1969). J. W. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas (Austin: Hutchings, 1889; rpt., Austin: State House, 1985)."