February 21, 2002

I will continue the story of our trip to Mexico on February 1, 2002.

We rambled around the location looking at the ruined walls that were used as a place to exit from the big exodus of Cherokees as they were running for their lives. The so called gringos and patriots were continuing their march against the fleeing Chief Sequoyah and all of his associates. Many of these natives were faced with changing their identities or facing death, of which everyone wanted to live and for a purpose.

I have found out that this important Chief was faced with a threat on his life as they were making their way into and across Texas on their way into Mexico. A large group of Apache and Comanche Indians approached them and were planning on killing the chief and his crew, when they saw a small feather in the Chief’s head wrap. If it had not been for this small feather just barely being seen it would have been the death of the chief and his followers.

Chief Sequoyah knew that his days were numbered even without the threat from the Apaches. His days were becoming closer to an end as the rapidly advancing disease that he had in conjunction with his age was causing his health to deteriorate.

During Sequoyah’s final days his food consisted of wild honey from a bee tree that he had found and bread that he had available.

The Adobe walls in the ruining state of these buildings are very old and eroding. I have always believed that almost anything can be restored and with the architect training that I have experienced in my life, I can see that the ruins of this old fort can be reconstructed.

The one-hundred-sixty-four years (at least) that these walls have been here indicates that they are in a condition that restoration can make them available for at least another one-hundred-sixty years.

The tour buses turned around in the small clearing at the old fort, and then made their way across the spring water canal and parked in a different place from where we had disembarked from them. So we were having to make our way back across the irrigation ditch to board the bus. It was at this time that I discovered that I didn’t get any photos of the old walls and the small ranch houses.

Jackie Walp, who lives in Krum, did take some photos of the old wall and is going to bring me a copy of the photos which I will share with you at a later time. The photos show the old warehouses that the U.S. Army temporarily used back during the 1840's.

One of the buildings was in a livable condition. I do think that some ranch hands or a family lived there, because there were clothes hanging on a small clothes line for drying.

The buses and vans continued on through the mesquites, weaving around the sharp corners that required the bus driver to stop and back up so that he could see-saw around until he made his way around into the next little one lane trail. And finally after forty-five minutes of see-sawing back and forth, we found a two lane road that took us up to the ranch headquarters.

There were self-propelled combines, hay balers, and tractors along with other rows of equipment that was stored waiting for the next harvesting season. There was also a bunk house that was living quarters for the ranch hands.

The ranch hands were busy butchering the healthy goats and cooking in a big pan that held four to five gallons of cut up dressed meat. They were cooking the meat on an open fire that was fed with the dead mesquite limbs that had been gathered up. The meat was really smelling good and the time was about 2:30p.m., but there were still many things on the two Chiefs’ agenda.

The Texas Chief Hicks instructed us that about 45 to 50 people at a time would get on a bus with the Mexican Chief and we would split up in shifts because the trail was too narrow for all of the buses to travel down at one time. Jackie and I were number forty on the first bus. We boarded the bus and away we went down the narrow mesquite trails for about twenty minutes. We ended up next to the cave tomb that contains the remains of the famous Chief Sequoyah.

The one touring bus that we were on had a difficult time going through the narrow trails and I could see that this was the reason that only one bus was allowed on the trail.

As we got off, the Mexican Chief was giving a talk at the entry of the cave. He gave us many historical details of the location and interesting facts that have been so much a part of the Rodriquez family for the past five or six generations. The Mexican Chief explained that it was not the wish of the Cherokees that this cave be opened. He made a remark more fully understood as he asked if any one on this bus-load wanted to open the burial place and disturb the resting place of the remains of the Chief – and after a few moments of silence and nothing was said, the Mexican Chief told the group "So be it," forever say no more in regards to opening the tomb.

At about this time many of the Mexican cowboys and Mexican Cherokees found their way back to the bus and we headed back to the ranch headquarters where another load of Cherokees were waiting to make the second visit for the day.

While at the cave entrance we learned that Sequoyah left Tennessee while he was working on revising the Cherokee alphabet, and started on his long journey to Arkansas where he became involved in further perfecting the alphabet during the year of 1822. After spending a good bit of time in Cherokee country in Arkansas, he went back to Tennessee to McMinnville county where he learned that his little daughter had learned his new invention and found that communication was made much more simple. His alphabet was easy to pick up, learn and teach. The Cherokee began to accept the newly acquired method for faster communication and found it suitable to teach with ease.

At this time the Cherokees were beginning to settle in Texas, and specifically in East Texas and the Northern District of Texas which was about to become Fannin County. Fannin County occupied almost all of the north-east portion of Texas and went down into the deep Eastern Texas border. Fannin County included area as far west as Jacksboro, Texas which was becoming a federal outpost and fort to help in liquidation of the resisting native Americans. The Fannin County southern boundary was south of the present Tarrant county and was then pointed on down to the East and the villages of East Texas. Fannin County was deeded over to the Republic of Texas by a Mexican General Mendrano at about this time in Sequoyah’s journey.

Chief Sequoyah had just built and completed a fairly large house in Sallisaw, IT, in the year of 1829. I heard one of the Cherokee women at our last meeting mention that Chief Sequoyah had gotten into a quarrel with the other chief in the IT about this time and they were after him because, after all he had changed the communication system allowing it to become more simple to understand.

It has been mentioned that Sequoyah was thought to be crazy because he would go into his deep studies while developing the alphabet and other Chiefs thought this strange to accept.

When we arrived back at the ranch headquarters, the aroma of the cooking meat so well filled the cool still air, and the ranch hands were ready to fill our plates with the highly seasoned delicious meat, beans and corn cakes along with the sorghum molasses. We all sat around the fire and finished our meal as the tribal ceremonies were about to take place.

The photo is the cave entry way for Sequoyah’s tomb. Standing in the center is the Mexican Chief Rogers as he was telling the history of the area since the ranch began in the Epi Rodriguez family, many generations ago.

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