Why did a prosperous middle-aged business man and landowner, Judge David Fulbright, move from central Missouri to resettle at the edge of the frontier in the newly-established Republic of Texas? Like many pioneers, David and his family followed a pattern of westward migration - - from the Catawba River country of North Carolina to western North Carolina, then further west to eastern Missouri, and later to west-central Missouri. Red River County in the Republic of Texas must have held great promise for an established man with a large family to make the long trek south. A family connection to Red River County that began in North Carolina with a pioneer of German descent named Heinrich "Henry" Smathers may have been part of the stimulus for the move.

Henry Smathers was born in Rowan County, North Carolina, in 1775. In 1793, he married Mary M. Schneider, also of German descent. Henry and Mary had five children: Alfred George, Mary, Henry J., Permelia, and Isaac. Sometime during the period between 1810 and the end of the War of 1812 Henry moved his family west to Haywood County. Isaac, his youngest son, was possibly born in Haywood County sometime around 1810. Isaac grew up in Haywood County and in 1826 married Catherine Snider.

Henry Smathers remained in North Carolina his entire life, but young Isaac was a more adventurous sort. In the early 1830's Isaac and his wife loaded their wagon and headed for Texas. The long trek from North Carolina to Texas during the 1830's must have been filled with excitement. Unfortunately, no records of Isaac�s travels exist until after he crossed the Red River.

Isaac intended to move deep into Texas, which at that time was the northern part of Mexico. Isaac and his family probably entered Texas at the town of Jonesboro on the Red River. Jonesboro was the entry point into Texas for a number of famous folks, including Moses Austin in 1819, Stephen F. Austin in 1821, and Sam Houston in 1832. Traveling down the Choctaw Trail, Isaac and his family arrived at the campsite of James Clark and his family sometime during 1833. James Clark had moved to Jonesboro in 1824 and established a trading business with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians, whose lands lay on the north side of the Red River. James later moved from Jonesboro, intending to build a home at the spring where Isaac found him camped. James convinced Isaac to settle near the spring, and gave Isaac a tract of land to compel him to stay. James, Isaac, and a slave constructed a house on the spot, which became the first home built on the site of the future city of Clarksville, Texas.

Clarksville was located between the Red River and the Sulphur River. The United States and Mexico were in a dispute over ownership of the region when Isaac and his family settled there. The United States claimed that the land north of the Sulphur River was part of the Missouri Territory following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Later, the United States considered it part of the Arkansas Territory and labeled it as Miller County, Arkansas. Mexico claimed that the Red River was the southern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. The dispute was complicated by confusion over whether the Sulphur River was the Red River. Early maps erroneously showed the Sulphur River as the Red River. The problem remained unresolved until 1845, when the United States Supreme Court, in its great wisdom, decided that the Red River was the Red River and the Sulphur River was the Sulphur River.

At the time Isaac and his family settled in Red River County, the Osage Indians Skitok, Little Eagle, Little Bear, and Caddo Killer were raiding and attacking both white settlers and the few peaceful Caddo Indians that had not left the region in the face of anglo settlement. Skitok and Little Eagle had been tried and convicted in Jonesboro of murdering five American settlers in 1823. They were sentenced to be hanged and were imprisoned in Little Rock, Arkansas. However, they were later pardoned by President John Quincy Adams because he concluded that Red River County was under the jurisdiction of Spain and Mexico. To avoid conflicts with these foreign governments, Skitok and Little Eagle were released and continued to attack white settlers until the early 1840's.

Davy Crockett came down the Chocktaw Trail and passed through Clarksville in early 1835 with a small party of men. From Clarksville, he went west on a hunt. The land to the west of Clarksville was unsettled. Crockett found the land about eighty miles west of Clarksville between Bois d�Arc Creek and Choctaw Bayou, which flow into the Red River, to be particularly good country. Large herds of bison migrated through the area. The area was notable because of the large swarms of bees in the area. Crockett referred to the place afterwards as Honey Grove, and a small town there still bears the name. Crockett traveled on to Nacogdoches and then to San Antonio, where he lost his life in the Texas Revolution fighting at the Alamo.

I have found no records of Isaac Smathers serving in the Texas Revolution. His friend James Clark and several other Red River County residents served under General Sam Houston and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. As a result of the Battle of San Jacinto, Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836 and became a Republic.

Texas land grant records for Isaac Smathers are somewhat confusing. According to one reference, he was issued 1 league and 1 labor in the spring or summer of 1836 by the Republic of Texas. Isaac also filed a claim for land before the Board of Land Commissioners of the Republic of Texas. The Investigating Board of Commissioners ruled that the claim was not genuine and it was rejected on 10 April 1841. Perhaps the land James Clark gave to Isaac was not legally transferred, or perhaps James had merely claimed the land without applying for a land grant from the Mexican government. Isaac was also granted a conditional certificate for a land grant of 640 acres from the Republic of Texas on 23 November 1839. This was a class 3 land grant, which was usually issued to settlers that arrived in Texas between 1837 and 1840. I am not sure why Isaac was issued a class 3 land grant since he arrived before 1837. On 6 April 1841, he was issued an unconditional certificate making him the full owner of the property.

Clarksville was chosen to be the county seat of Red River County after the Texas Revolution and was chartered as a town by the Congress of Texas in December, 1837. It did not reach the required population of 1,000 to be chartered as a city until 1870. Merchants from Clarksville traded with the Chockaw and Chickasaw Indians, and sent wagons to Santa Fe loaded with trading goods. The wagons brought back Spanish saddles, boots, belt buckles, bridles, and other goods. William Becknell, known as the "Father of the Santa Fe Trail" for opening the trail from Missouri Territory to Santa Fe in the early 19th Century, moved to Clarksville from Santa Fe in 1838. His descriptions of the area around Clarksville sounded like the Biblical "land of milk and honey."

Early in 1842, the members of the Republic of Texas Congress from the Red River District approached Charles DeMorse, a reporter for the House of Representatives, to move to Clarksville and publish a newspaper there. To provide incentive for DeMorse to move to Clarksville, Isaac Smathers gave him his house in Clarksville. The Smathers-DeMorse house stands today on East Comanche Street in Clarksville and is listed on the rolls of the Texas State Historical Society.

Charles DeMorse was a veteran of the Texas Revolution, having served as Lieutenant of Marines under Captain Charles Hawkins of the schooner Independence. After the battle of San Jacinto, Mexican General Santa Anna was moved to Galveston Island aboard the Independence. Young Charles DeMorse was appointed to guard Santa Anna during the voyage. After the Texas Revolution, DeMorse practiced as a lawyer before working as a reporter. After accepting the offer to move to Clarksville, DeMorse established the Northern Standard, the first newspaper to be issued in northeast Texas. The word "Northern" was dropped from the name of the newspaper at the beginning of the Civil War.

Life must have been good for Isaac and his young family in 1842. Clarksville was growing, Isaac owned land, and he was a prominent citizen. Perhaps all the favorable points about life in Red River County enabled Isaac to convince his brother-in-law, Judge David Fulbright, to move his wife Permelia and his large family to Red River County. Judge David Fulbright�s parents, John Fulbright (son of Johann Wilhelm Volprecht) and Elizabeth Coulter Fulbright, were close associates with the Smathers family in Haywood County, North Carolina. The close ties resulted in several intermarriages between the two families. Judge David Fulbright married Permelia Smathers in 1816. David and Permelia named one of their sons Isaac, and another Henry, possibly after their Smathers relatives. Henry Smather�s son Henry J. Smathers married Catherine Fulbright in 1816 and his son Alfred George married Sarah Fulbright. These ties with Isaac and the Smathers family possibly influenced 46-year-old David to pull up stakes in Missouri and embark on the arduous trek to Texas.

Isaac Smathers was not the only relative of David�s living in Texas at the time of his move. Other Fulbrights had been interested in Texas before David moved there. David�s relatives Henry, Ephraim, and Daniel Fulbright from Greene County, Missouri, went to Texas in the winter of 1837 in the company of Chesley Cannefax, John P. Campbell, Judge Yancey, and a man named Hollinsworth. They intended to emigrate to the Republic. Apparently, tensions developed between Henry Fulbright and John Campbell during the trip. The quarrel nearly ended in a gunfight but Judge Yancey intervened and cooled the volatile situation.

The 1850 Texas census shows a 41-year-old Daniel Fulbright and his 33 year-old wife Caroline living in Red River County. Their five children, including 12-year-old Mary, were born in Texas according to the census record. If the census record is accurate, Daniel emigrated to Texas around 1837 or 1838, making him the first Fulbright to settle in Texas. A Daniel Fulbright volunteered in San Antonio to serve as a soldier in the Mexican War. I don�t know whether it was this Daniel or another. Daniel was a popular name in the Fulbright family, possibly in part because Judge David Fulbright�s mother claimed to be a cousin of noted pioneer Daniel Boone.

Judge David and Permelia settled in eastern Missouri about a year after they were married, and then migrated west to Pulaski County, Missouri around 1830. David acquired the title "Judge" from his service as the first judge of the Pulaski County Court. Judge David operated a general merchandise store in Pulaski County. He opened up the first wagon road from that area to St. Louis, which became known as the Fulbright Union Road.

Judge David purchased 2,177 acres southwest of Clarksville, Texas in the Blossom Prairie on 7 December 1842. He paid $1,000 in cash and $1,500 in slaves and cash for the land. Witnesses to the purchase were W. C. Harrison and Isaac Smathers. David and Permelia had about 19 children; some references say as many as 23. Some of the older children probably stayed in Missouri, but enough Fulbrights were in Red River County by the time Texas became a State to form a substantial settlement. In 1882, the community of Possum Trot in Red River County was renamed Fulbright in honor of David and his family.

By the time of the Civil War, the Fulbright family was well established in Red River County. When the Civil War broke out, Charles DeMorse requested permission to raise his own regiment and was appointed Colonel in command of the 29th Texas Cavalry by the Confederate Government. Colonel DeMorse relied heavily on the Fulbright family to fill the ranks of his regiment. Judge David�s son Pete was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in Company F of the 29th Texas Cavalry. Pete was mustered in on 20 July 1862. A forage requisition from Bonham, Texas shows that on 23 April 1863 Pete was in command of Company F. Pete was in command of Company F when the war ended, and the 29th was mustered out at a camp near Hempstead, Texas in April 1865. Pete�s brother-in-laws Robert and John F. Hooker also served as officers in the 29th. Pete�s brothers Henry S. and Alfred served as privates in the 29th along with their nephew Martin Fulbright. All of the Fulbrights that served in the 29th Texas Cavalry survived the Civil War, although Henry S. Fulbright was listed as wounded.

The soldiers of the 29th Texas Cavalry spent the early part of the war on Indian Patrol in north-central Texas. Protecting the frontier against Indian attacks was an important duty, but Colonel DeMorse felt the orders to be unreasonable. DeMorse wanted to spend the war fighting Federal troops, not Comanches and Kiowas. Finally, in February 1863 companies A, B, C, E, F, G, and H of the 29th were ordered to the vicinity of Fort Arbuckle, Chickasaw Nation, to relieve troops there for action in Indian Territory. Most of the battles fought by the 29th were in Indian Territory and Arkansas. The soldiers of the 29th usually fought alongside Native American regiments. For example, the Confederate forces at the Battle of Honey Springs on 17 July 1863 included two regiments of Cherokees, one regiment of Chickasaws and Choctaws, and two regiments of Creeks, along with the 20th and 29th Texas Cavalries, the fifth regiment of Texas Partisan Rangers, Gillette's Squadron of Texas Cavalry, Scanland's Squadron of Texas Cavalry, and Lee's Light Battery of Texas Artillery.

Historian LeRoy H. Fisher of Oklahoma State University considers the Battle of Honey Springs to have been the Gettysburg of the Civil War in Indian Territory in both size and importance. The battle marked the climax of massed Confederate military resistance and opened the way for the capture of Fort Smith and much of Arkansas. According to Fisher, in terms of results, Honey Springs was perhaps the Gettysburg of the entire Trans-Mississippi West.

During the battle, Colonel James M. Williams was ordered to capture Lee�s Light Battery of Texas Artillery. The 29th Texas Cavalry stood in front of Lee�s Artillery and bore the full force of the Federal advance. The Federals filled the air with rifle balls as they moved toward the Confederate line. The 29th held their position and waited for orders to fire as the Federals moved toward them. When DeMorse finally gave the order to fire, the volley from the 29th momentarily stunned the advancing Federals and badly wounded Colonel Williams. However, the Federal advance continued and the Confederate line on both sides of the 29th gradually gave way. The 29th retreated only when Lee�s Artillery was safely withdrawn, and both of the 29th�s flanks had given way threatening them with envelopment by Union forces.

First Lieutenant Pete Fulbright�s grandson Barney was the last of my line of Fulbrights to be born in Fulbright, Texas. Barney had a brother named Pete, named after his grandfather, and a sister named Birdie. Barney�s father, Henry Edward Fulbright died in 1901 at the young age of 44. I know very little about great-grandfather Henry. One story handed down from my great-grandmother to my father was that Henry frequently went to Mexico on hunting trips. He would often be gone for a month at a time. Those hunts in Mexico during the latter part of the 19th century must have been filled with adventure.

After his death, Henry�s wife married Moody Milas Newman. In November 1906, Barney, Pete, and Birdie went west in a wagon with their mother and stepfather to settle in Gray County in the Texas Panhandle. In Gray County, stepfather Newman farmed and served as county sheriff.

Early descriptions of Red River County as a land of "milk and honey" and family ties to Isaac Smathers possibly were partly responsible for David Fulbright�s move to Texas. I wish I knew more of the history and experiences of Isaac Smathers and Judge David Fulbright during their early days in Texas. Many gaps remain in the history of the Fulbright family in Texas; I hope that family members can share information and eventually fill in some of these gaps.

References

Anonymous website. http://www.red-river.net/restoration1.htm.
Clark, P. B. 1937. The history of Clarksville and old Red River County. Mathis Van Nort & Company.
Davis, W. C. 1999. Three roads to the Alamo: the lives and fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis. Harper Perennial.
Grady, J. C., and B. K. Felmly. 1975. Suffering to silence: 29th Texas Cavalry, CSA regimental history. Nortex Press, Quanah, Texas.
Holcombe, R. I. 1883. History of Greene County, Missouri. http://198.209.8.166/sheproom /history/holcombe/toc.html.
Ingmire, F. T. 1982. Pioneers of Red River County, Texas.
Murray, J. M. 1986. Red River County deed abstracts, Republic of Texas and State of Coahuila and Texas (Mexico). Vol. 1.
Stroud, M. S. 1997. Gateway to Texas: A history of Red River County. Nortex Press, Austin.

--Tim Fulbright; 610 West Escondido Road;
Kingsville, Texas 78363;
361-592-3895;
[email protected]