DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Major Robert S. Neighbors tells it this way, and I'll do my best to honor it. Now, some men leave a mark on a place.
Robert S. Neighbors left a mark on an entire era. And Texas — well, Texas didn't always thank him for it.
He came to Texas in 1836. Served as quartermaster in the Texas army from 1839 to 1841. Then, while on Texas Ranger duty in San Antonio in 1842, a Mexican general named Adrian Woll swept through and took him prisoner of war.
They marched him all the way down to Perote Prison in Mexico, and he spent eighteen months there. Eighteen months. Most men come out of something like that looking for an easier life.
Neighbors came out and found his calling. By 1845 he had begun his service to the Indians. As agent for the Lipan-Apache and Tonkawa tribes, he didn't sit behind a desk and issue orders from a distance.
He used what the marker calls a field system of control — riding out, visiting Indian homes, learning a red man's way of life, working to improve living conditions, helping the tribes trade. He defended their rights. He was counselor and friend.
He sought new homes for them. And here's the thing that sets the man apart — the marker says he never faltered in his commitment to their safety. Never.
Not once. In between all of that, he was no small figure in civil life either. In 1850 he served as a Texas commissioner and organized El Paso County.
He was a state representative from 1851 to 1852. A presidential elector in 1852. He eventually rose to become the supervising agent for all of the Indians in Texas.
But the higher he rose, the lonelier the road got. Frontier civilians and soldiers failed to support his Indian policies. Many became hostile.
He was holding a line that a lot of people wanted torn down, and he kept holding it anyway. In the end, he saw every last reservation Indian safely removed from Texas. He had done it.
The job was finished. And he was riding back — returning after completing that mission — when, on September 14, 1859, near this very spot, he was murdered by a white man. The man who had survived Perote Prison, who had outlasted eighteen months of captivity, who had stood between two worlds for years and refused to abandon either one — he didn't make it home from the last ride.
They buried him in Belknap Cemetery, half a mile east of town. The marker says he had more influence over Texas' Indians than any other man of his era. He paid for that distinction with his life.
Some legacies are written in ink. Robert Neighbors' was written in something harder to wash away.
What the marker says
As Indian agent, forceful peacemaker and humanist, Maj. Neighbors had more influence over Texas' Indians than any other man of his era; came to Texas in 1836. He served as quartermaster in Texas army, 1839-41. While on Texas Ranger duty in San Antonio, 1842, he was taken as a prisoner of war to Mexico by Gen. Adrian Woll and spent 18 months in Perote Prison. Began his service to the Indians in 1845. As agent for Lipan-Apache and Tonkawa tribes, he used field system of control, visiting Indian homes, learning a red man's way of life, improving living condition, helping them to trade. He ably defended their rights, was counselor and friend, and sought new homes for them, never faltering in commitment to their safety. As a Texas commissioner in 1850 he organized El Paso County; he was also a state representative, 1851-1852, and a presidential elector in 1852. Major Neighbors later became the supervising agent for all of the Indians in Texas. Frontier civilians and soldiers failed to support his Indian policies. Many became hostile. On Sept. 14, 1859, he was murdered near here by a white man as he was returning after safely removing all reservation Indians from Texas. He was buried in Belknap Cemetery (1/2 mile E. of Town).