Robert Simpson Neighbors (November 3, 1815 – September 14, 1859) was an

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of ...

and Texas state legislator. Known as a fair and determined protector of Indian interests as guaranteed by treaty, he was murdered for his beliefs by a Texan who disagreed with giving any rights to the

Comanches The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...

Early life

Robert Simpson Neighbors was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, on November 3, 1815.Neighbours, K.F., 1975, ''Robert Neighbors and the Texas Frontier, 1836-1859'', Waco: Texian Press He was the sole son of William and Elizabeth (Elam) Neighbours. In later life he chose to drop the u from his last name. He was orphaned at a mere four months old, when both parents died of pneumonia. He was later educated by private tutors, who were retained by his guardian, Samuel Hamner, a Virginia planter.

Immigration to Texas and army service

Neighbors left Virginia at the age of nineteen, and while he stayed briefly in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

immigrate to Texas, which he did in the early spring of 1836. He joined the Army of the Republic of Texas on 30 January 1839 as a first lieutenant, commanding Fort Travis on

Galveston Island Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County. T ...

before becoming

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

on 5 September, and promoted to captain on 15 July 1840 and served until the end of 1841.

Capture by General Adrian Woll

On September 15, 1842, as a member of Captain

John C. Hays John Coffee "Jack" Hays (January 28, 1817 – April 21, 1883) was an American military officer. A captain in the Texas Rangers and a military officer of the Republic of Texas, Hays served in several armed conflicts from 1836 to 1848, including a ...

's company of volunteers, Neighbors was in San Antonio attending Judge Anderson Hutchinson's court, when General

Adrian Woll Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ...

made his invasion of Texas and captured the city. Along with approximately fifty-two other individuals, including the officers of the court, he was forcibly marched to

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, where he was subsequently imprisoned in San Carlos Fortress.

Indian Agent and the field system

Neighbors was released on March 24, 1844 and returned to Texas. He briefly operated the Mansion House hotel in Houston before becoming

Indian Agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of ...

for the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from M ...

on 12 February 1845. Thomas G. Western, Texas Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Neighbors as Indian Agent for the

Lipan Apache Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, ...

s and

Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe indigenous to present-day Oklahoma. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the federally recognized Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. ...

s, initiated a new policy, the field system; instead of remaining at the agency headquarters and waiting for the Indians to pay him a visit, as was the common practice, Neighbors dealt with them directly in their homelands. After the annexation of the Republic of Texas by the United States, Neighbors was a party to Treaty 246 between the US, represented by Indian commissioners

Pierce M. Butler Pierce Mason Butler (April 11, 1798August 20, 1847) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the 56th Governor of South Carolina from 1836 to 1838. He was killed while serving as colonel of the Palmetto Regiment at the Battle of Ch ...

and M.G. Lewis, and the chiefs of the Comanches, Ionies, Anadarkos, Caddos, Lipans, Tonkawas, Keechies, Tawacanos, Wichitas and Wacos, signed near Waco on 15 May 1846. Neighbors then accompanied the Penateka Comanche chiefs Old Owl and Santa Anna, plus the Anadarko chief Jose Maria, on their visit to Washington, D.C. He received a federal appointment as special Indian agent, on March 20, 1847, and took part in the treaty between the Comanche and the German colonists on the

San Saba River The San Saba River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It is an undeveloped and scenic waterway located on the northern boundary of the Edwards Plateau. Course The river begins in two primary branches. The North Valley Prong runs east throu ...

in March 1847, which resulted in the so-called Meusebach-Comanche Treaty. As a Federal Indian Agent for the Comanches, he continued what was then a most unusual practice, that of actually visiting the Indians in their homes, and learning their language and culture. Called the "field system" it was unique for its time. The ultimate result was that he spent much time far beyond the then frontier and in the opinion of historians exercised greater influence over the Indians in Texas than any other white man of his generation. Indeed, other than

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

he probably was one of the few white men to bother to learn their language and culture, let alone travel to the heart of the

Comancheria The Comancheria or Comanchería ( Comanche: Nʉmʉnʉʉ Sookobitʉ, 'Comanche land') was a region of New Mexico, west Texas and nearby areas occupied by the Comanche before the 1860s. Historian Pekka Hämäläinen has argued that the Comancheri ...

Adoption by the Comanche

In 1845 as an Indian Agent for the Republic of Texas, Robert Neighbors recorded one of the best known meetings with the Penateka Comanche head Chief Old Owl, while visiting a Tonkawa camp. Chief Old Owl arrived with 40 warriors, and in a manner the Major called "most insolent and domineering" demanded that the Tonkawa feed the war party and their horses, and provide for them entertainment. The Tonkawas "obeyed with alacrity", providing "forty of the best looking Tonkawa maidens". Neighbors, known as a fearless man, took this opportunity to be introduced to the Comanches. Old Owl, introduced to Neighbors, first complimented him on his fine blue coat. Neighbors, understanding the meaning of this compliment, presented the Chief with the coat immediately. Other warriors admired his pants, boots, and other clothing, and soon Neighbors was standing only in a nightshirt. Old Owl however, took a liking to the fearless Neighbors. He told him though most whites irritated him, he liked Neighbors, and invited him to accompany the war party, and he proposed instead of Neighbors making a civilized man of him, that he would make a fine horse thief out of Neighbors, and adopt him into the tribe. Neighbors, feeling this was an opportunity few men would ever receive, accepted at once. The war party went to Mexico, where Neighbors attempted to buy beef at a rancho. When the Mexicans declined to sell beef to a Republic of Texas official on credit, Old Owl told them two beeves were to be forthcoming immediately, or the rancho would be burned down and all the beeves taken. This proved highly effective, and the food was immediately forthcoming. Neighbors, having left an indelible impression on Old Owl as the first (and only) Republic of Texas official to ever ride with a Comanche War Party, took his leave of them with thanks, and went home.

Neighbors Expedition

Early in the spring of 1849, Major General William J. Worth, of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, who was in command of the Eighth Military Department, which included the former Republic of Texas, was ordered by Secretary of War William L. Marcy to explore a wagon route between San Antonio and El Paso. The General, headquartered in San Antonio, selected Neighbors to lead the expedition to establish the so-called "upper route" to El Paso.Ford, J.S., 1963, Rip Ford's Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press, His reasoning was that Neighbors was perhaps the only man in Texas who could safely ride into the Comancheria.Handbook of Texas Online – NEIGHBORS EXPEDITION
/ref> Neighbors led a combined military-Ranger force that included his personal friend "Rip" Ford and did in fact map a route that not only became the route used by the Overland Stage Company, but is the same route taken by the highway today. Indeed, Neighbors reported 598 miles between Austin (as the state capital) and

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

– exactly the same milege listed today between the two cities. In addition to Ford on the expedition, Neighbors was able to convince Buffalo Hump to lead it; Penateka war chiefs Yellow Wolf (Buffalo Hump's cousin) and Santa Anna joined them along the trail. Though the chief later left the party, it remained under his protection, and Nokoni Comanche head Chief Tall Tree, or Guadalupe, led the party the remainder of the distance from the Colorado River to El Paso. Neighbors ability to communicate with the Comanche, and his relationship with them, made the expedition possible.

Brazos Indian Reservation

In those days, appointments for such posts as federal Indian Agent were determined in great part by the political party in power, and the political affiliation of the agent. Neighbors was a Democrat, so his services as Indian agent were terminated by the elections and subsequent national Whig administration in September 1849. Neighbors stayed in public life however. Appointed as a Texas commissioner, he was sent by Governor Peter Hansborough Bell, to organize El Paso County in February and March 1850. He then attempted, without success, to organize counties in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

as a part of Texas, being opposed by Judge Joab Houghton. As a member of the Fourth Texas Legislature representing the Bexar and Medina District from 1851 to 1853, he, along with Texas Senator Rip Ford, sponsored a resolution in 1852 to negotiate with the US to settle the Indians in northern Texas. After urging from Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to Texas Governor Peter Hansborough Bell, the Texas legislature passed a law in 1854 granting twelve leagues of land for establishing those Indian reservations. Neighbors became a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

in 1852, and following the election of Franklin Pierce in 1853, was appointed supervising agent of the Indian service in Texas. In 1854, Neighbors and Capt. Randolph B. Marcy, with an escort of forty soldiers left Fort Belknap in search of recommended sites for the establishment of two Indian reservations in 1855. The Caddo,

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

, Anadarko, Waco, Tawacano, and

, were located on the Brazos Indian Reservation along the north side of the Salt Fork Brazos River, south of what is now Graham in Young County. The reservation's log buildings included the agent's house, an office, a commissary store, a laborer's house, a school, a blacksmith, interpreter's house, a privy, a spring house plus several dome-shaped thatched native houses. File:Brazos Indian Reservation Texas Historical Marker.jpg, Brazos Indian Reservation Texas Historical Marker File:Brazos Indian Reservation School Texas Historical Marker.jpg, Brazos Indian Reservation School Texas Historical Marker File:Robert Neighbors Texas Historical Marker at Fort Belknap.jpg, Robert Neighbors Texas Historical Marker at Fort Belknap File:Tonkawa Scouts Texas Historical Marker at Fort Belknap.jpg, Tonkawa Scouts Texas Historical Marker at Fort Belknap File:Brazos Indian Reservation looking south towards the Brazos River.jpg, Brazos Indian Reservation looking south towards the Brazos River and the former site of the Anadarko and Caddo villages

Camp Cooper and the Comanche Indian Reservation

The Penateka Comanches were located on the Comanche Indian Reservation located on the Clear Fork Brazos River, about ten miles southwest of what is now Throckmorton in

Throckmorton County Throckmorton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,440. Its county seat is Throckmorton. The county was created in 1858 and later organized in 1879. It is named for William Throc ...

. The reservation log cabin buildings included the agent's house, commissary store, laborer's house, a school and Chief Ketumse's house plus the tribal member's tents. Providing defense for the reservation was Camp Cooper, founded on January 3, 1856 by Major

William J. Hardee William Joseph Hardee (October 12, 1815November 6, 1873) was a career United States Army, U.S. Army and Confederate States Army officer. For the U.S. Army, he served in the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican–American War, where he was capt ...

and named in honor of Samuel Cooper.Texas Historical Marker #5447004741 The camp was commanded by Lt. Col.

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...

of the Second Cavalry from 1856 to 1857. In a letter dated Camp Cooper, 12 April 1856, he wrote:

We are in the Comanche Reserve with the Indian camps below us on the river, belonging to Catumseh's band, whom the Government is trying to humanize. It will be up hill work I fear. Catumseh has been to see me and we have had a talk, very tedious on his part and very sententious on mine. I hailed him as a friend, as long as his conduct and that of his tribe deserved it, but would meet him as an enemy the first moment he failed to keep his word.

Officers serving under Lee's command at the camp included Captain

Earl Van Dorn Earl Van Dorn (September 17, 1820May 7, 1863) started his military career as a United States Army officer but joined Confederate forces in 1861 after the Civil War broke out. He was a major general when he was killed in a private conflict. A g ...

, Captain George Stoneman, and Captain Theodore O'Hara. Major George H. Thomas succeeded Lee as commander and was wounded while pursuing Comanche warriors. The camp of 250 men under the command of Capt. S.D. Carpenter was abandoned to Col. W.C. Dalrymple, Texas Troops on 21 February 1861, after General David E. Twiggs agreed to surrender all federal military posts.Rister, C.C., 1956, Fort Griffin, On the Texas Frontier, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,

Death

It was during this period, when settlers began to attack the Indians, that Neighbors became hated among white Texans. Neighbors reported that the

officers located at the posts of Fort Belknap and Camp Cooper, near the reservations, failed to give adequate support to him and his resident agents, and adequate protection to the Indians and settlers alike. The military's attitude was shared by the settlers, who believed the reservation Indians were committing continuing raids on white settlements. In spite of continuous threats against his life, Neighbors never faltered in his determination to protect the Indians. "The main source of opposition to Major Neighbors and the reservation policy was

John R. Baylor John R. Baylor (born John Robert Baylor; July 27, 1822 – February 6, 1894) was a US Indian agent, publisher and editor, politician, and a senior officer of the Confederate States Army. With the aid of federal troops, Neighbors managed to protect the Indians on the reservations, successfully thwarting an attack on 23 May 1859 by John Baylor and 250 marauders. Convinced however that the Indians, especially the Comanche, would never be safe in Texas due to the continuing raids of those bands still resisting white settlement of the Comancheria, he determined to move all Indians to safety in the Indian territories. In August 1859 he, and four companies of troops under Major George H. Thomas, succeeded in moving 1420 Indians, without loss of life, to a new reservation in

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

. Attacked while returning to Texas, Neighbor's party headed for Fort Belknap with Colonel Leeper as a casualty. Neighbors proceeded to the nearby village of Belknap the next morning to "wind up his accounts as superintendent of Indian affairs", where on September 14, 1859, while Neighbors was speaking with two men, he was shot in the back by Edward Cornett. Historians believe the assassination was a direct result of Neighbors' actions protecting the Comanche. He was buried in the civilian cemetery at Fort Belknap.Comanche-Part Three
/ref> Tomb of Major Robert S Neighbors

Personal life

Robert Simpson Neighbors was a Methodist, a Mason, and a leader in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. He had married Elizabeth Ann Mays in

Seguin, Texas Seguin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Guadalupe County, Texas, United States; as of the 2020 census, its population was 29,433. Its economy is primarily supported by a regional hospital, as well as the Schertz-Seguin Local Government C ...

, on July 15, 1851, and their home was on his Salado Creek ranch, now part of

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. Two sons survived childhood.

References

* https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48273796/edward-cornett {{DEFAULTSORT:Neighbors, Robert 1815 births 1859 deaths Army of the Republic of Texas officers Members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas–Indian Wars United States Indian agents People from Seguin, Texas 19th-century American politicians People from Charlotte County, Virginia