alabama coushatta casino woodville texas

Because suitable land was no longer available in Polk County, however, the grant remained only a scrap of paper. In 1855 the Texas legislature granted the Coushattas 640 acres of land for a permanent home. Magruder recaptured Galveston on New Year's Day, 1863 (see GALVESTON, BATTLE OF), and the naval station on the Logan league was abandoned in April 1863. Commander Hunter cooperated with Washington in preparing an active defense. Five wagonloads of Confederate naval equipment and supplies were stored on A. His objective was to use the Indians in the vicinity to obstruct the Trinity River and prevent an invasion of East Texas. Hunter, Confederate States Navy, the superintendent of Texas coastal defenses, established his headquarters on the Logan league. The location of Colita's Village is shown on several maps produced by the General Land Office, including a map of the Polk County area dated 1856 and certified by the GLO on August 2, 1991.ĭuring the early years of the Civil War, Colita's Village served temporarily as a Confederate naval station after the capture of Galveston by Union forces in October 1862.

Swanton quoted William Bollaert's estimate that in 1850 there were 500 warriors in the Battise Village and Colita's Village. The men who operated steamboats on the Trinity River began calling the Logan league 'Shirttail Bend' because they observed the Coushattas there wearing long, deerskin blouses that 'looked like shirttails flapping in the breeze.' Alexander Hamilton Washington purchased this land in 1840, and he permitted the Coushattas to continue living on his plantation. Colita's Village was included in an earlier grant of land to William G.

The land was surveyed and the field notes were filed, but the grants never became effective because white settlers had already claimed the land. In 1840 the Republic of Texas Congress granted two leagues of land-one league included the Battise Village and the other included Colita's Village-to the Coushattas for permanent reservations. Coushatta chief Colita lived in this village, which was located on a great bend of the Trinity River at a site in present San Jacinto County. This major Coushatta village is mentioned in surveyors' field notes for thirteen original land surveys in this area. A joint project of the General Libraries of the University of Texas and the Texas Historical AssociationĬoushatta Indian Village COLITA'S VILLAGEĬolita's Village was the lower village of the three principal communities established by the Coushatta Indians on the Trinity River in the area of present Polk and San Jacinto counties.

Alabama coushatta casino woodville texas