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Smith County | Alyssa Olivarez

<p>For thousands of years, indigenous peoples occupied this area of present-day Texas. The first known inhabitants of the area now known as Smith County were the Caddo Indians, who were recorded here until 1819. That year, a band of Cherokees, led by The Bowl (also known as Chief Bowles), migrated from Georgia and settled in what are now Smith and Rusk Counties. The Treaty of Bowles Village on February 23, 1836, between the Republic of Texas and the Cherokee and 12 affiliated tribes, gave all of Smith and Cherokees Counties, as well as parts of western Rusk County, southern Gregg (formed from Rusk County in 1873) along with southeastern Van Zandt Counties to the tribes. The Native Americans remained on these lands until the Cherokee War in the summer of 1839, as part of conflicts with Native Americans in Texas.</p>
<p>The Cherokees were driven out of Smith County, as others of their kin were forced from the Southeast United States during Indian Removal. After 1845, some Cherokees returned when Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a white man married to a Cherokee, purchased 10,000 acres of land in Rusk County. The Mount Tabor Indian Community developed here, some six miles south of present-day Kilgore. The community later grew and incorporated areas near Overton, Arp, and Troup, Texas. In July 1846, Smith County separated from the Nacogdoches District and was named for James Smith, a general of the Texas Revolution. At this time, Tyler was designated as the county seat. Camp Ford was the largest Confederate prisoner-of-war camp west of the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. Here, Sheriff Jim Reed of Collin County and Judge McReynolds, former chief justice of the district, were seized and lynched by "Regulators". The original site of the camp stockade is now a public historic park, owned by Smith County, and managed by the Smith County Historical Society. The park contains a kiosk, a paved trail, interpretive signage, a cabin reconstruction, and a picnic area. It is located on Highway 271, 0.8 miles north of Loop 323.</p>

Alyssa Olivarez

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