By Jessica Gorman
Richard Fields is a man that is only casually mentioned as having been part of our early history. Isaac Alden is thought to have been the first permanent settler in the area, arriving around 1811. To quote one source, “Richard Fields, a half-breed, located near Germantown about the same time, and these two men are supposed to have been the only white inhabitants of this wilderness up to the spring of 1818, when the Murrells, Wards, and several other families arrived.”
I’ve always been a little curious about who Richard Fields was. He was obviously important enough to have been remembered by name, and that he was of mixed-blood, but that’s about it. He was just here.
As often happens, I wasn’t even looking for Richard Fields but was looking into another one of our early residents when I ran across his name. Under other circumstances, I may not have thought much about it. To be honest, I cannot say for certain that this man was the same Richard Fields and I may not ever be able to determine whether or not he is, but there is some circumstantial evidence. The Richard Fields I found was also of mixed-blood, white and Native American, and he had dealings with a man who was later a resident of Claiborne Parish.
When Richard Fields came to this area, it was still Natchitoches Parish. Claiborne Parish wasn’t created until 1828 and Webster Parish in 1871. His residence here is confirmed by the 1820 U.S. Census. In fact, his household consisted of six people, three adults and three children. There were two males over the age of 45, one female between the ages of twenty-six and forty-four, one male between the ages of ten and fifteen, one male under ten, and one female under ten.
In the same time frame that Richard Fields is said to have settled here, a group of Cherokee, led by Chief Bowl, had moved several times. By around 1819, they briefly settled in southwest Arkansas before moving into East Texas. At the time, Texas was still under Spanish control. A Richard Fields, said to be of mixed Scottish and Cherokee descent, was chosen to secure a land grant for the Cherokee, reportedly traveling to San Antonio and Mexico City in order to do so. Despite his continued attempts, he was ultimately unsuccessful.
In 1825, Haden Edwards arrived in the area of Nacogdoches. By this time, Texas was under Mexican rule. Edwards had received an empresarial grant and began bringing new settlers to the area. Tensions quickly began to rise between the old settlers and the new. Within a few months, a controversial election sparked outrage and the results of the election were ordered by the political chief of Texas to be reversed. Within about a year’s time, hostilities had escalated to the point of Edwards’s grant being revoked.
Because of Edwards’s unwillingness to comply with the Mexican government, officials sent military forces to deal with the situation. In response, Edwards and his supporters declared their independence from Mexico and established the Republic of Fredonia. In the meantime, a treaty had been signed with the Cherokee who had yet to secure a land grant of their own. Richard Fields, diplomatic chief of the tribe, sided with Edwards but the Cherokee council quickly chose to end the alliance.
As military forces arrived at Nacogdoches, Edwards and his supporters were left with no choice but to flee to Louisiana. At least one of these men ended up in what would soon become Claiborne Parish. For his part in the rebellion, Richard Fields was tried by the Cherokee council. He attempted to flee the area, but was unable to escape. Richard Fields was captured and killed by the Cherokee in February 1827.
The Fredonian Rebellion has been referred to as “the spark that lit the fuse of the Texas Revolution.” At least one early resident of our area was directly involved. (He’ll be featured in a future article.) But the question remains. Was Chief Richard Fields of the Fredonian Rebellion the same Richard Fields that once lived near what later became the Germantown colony? I hope to one day be able to answer this question.
(Jessica Gorman is the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)