Killough massacre

Only a year earlier, however, the area surrounding their settlement had been set aside for the Cherokee under a treaty negotiated and signed by Sam Houston and John Forbes.

When the Republic of Texas Senate refused to ratify the treaty and then, in December 1838, formally nullified it, the Cherokee, who already thought they had conceded enough, became homicidal.

[4] The influx of Anglo settlers into lands thought to have been theirs increased Cherokee resentment, and as there was also residual bitterness among some Hispanics still loyal to Mexico, the atmosphere in the region became tense in early 1838.

Those who survived fled for a time to Lacy's Fort on the San Antonio Road, just west of present-day Alto, Texas.

[6] According to Tyler, Texas, newspaperman Charles Kilpatrick, several of the men walked into an ambush and the Native Americans then: ...shot down Allen and Samuel, George Wood, and Isaac Jr., then swept uphill into the little settlement.