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Battle of the Neches 
Speech

Good evening, my name is Steve Melendez.  I am of the Paiute tribe and I am the President of the 
American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston.  It is certainly a pleasure to be here today to pay 
my respects to those who died here one hundred and sixty five years ago.  I have come here to 
honor the dead.  And  the best way I know to honor the dead is to tell the truth about the way they 
died ,  tell the truth about the way they lived and to tell the truth about the ideas that were prevalent 
at the time when they lived.
I wanted to read something from President  Mirabeau Lamar’s  first message to congress , Dec. 
21, 1838.  And this was seven months  before this battle took place here.  He spoke of,  “an 
exterminating war upon their warriors, which will admit of no compromise and have no termination 
except in their total extinction or total expulsion.”
To give another example of some of the ideas that were prevalent at that time, I would like to read 
the thoughts of one of our former Presidents: “The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war 
with  savages, though it is apt to be also the most terrible and inhuman.  The rude, fierce settler who 
drives the savage from the land lays all civilized mankind under a debt to him.  American and 
Indian,  Boer and Zulu,  Cossack and Tartar,  New Zealander and Maori, --in each case the 
victor, horrible though many of his deeds are, has laid deep the foundations for the future greatness 
of a mighty people.  The consequences of struggles for territory between civilized nations seem 
small by comparison.  Looked at from the standpoint of the ages, it is of little moment whether 
Lorraine is part of Germany or of France,  whether the northern Adriatic cities pay homage to 
Austrian Kaiser or Italian King;  but it is of incalculable importance that America,  Australia, and 
Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red,  black,  and yellow aboriginal owners,  and 
become the heritage of the dominant world races.
That was from the book The Winning of the West Vol. 4 The Indian Wars Page 56 by President 
Theodore Roosevelt.

Many people are amazed to find that all thirteen of the original 13 colonies had scalp bounty laws. 
For instance,  The Acts and Resolves of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay  Vol. 1  1692-
1714 which we have on display  offers a reward of 50 pounds sterling for the scalp of a male or 
female Indian and 10 pounds sterling for every child under the age of  ten.  Anyone who would like 
to see this book, it is on display at our booth.

This was the atmosphere and the ideas which were prevalent at that time.

What was it like one hundred and sixty five years ago?  According to this  book, the West Texas 
Historical Association Year Book  Vol. 37  October, 1961, bounty hunters grew rich selling scalps 
of Indians to the Mexican Government. Chihuahua’s Fifth Law of may 25, was an example of 
Mexico’s centuries-old bounty system. Two of these bounty hunters were ex- Texas Rangers. The 
article entitled “Long” Webster and “The Vile Industry  of  Selling Scalps”  explained that once the 
bounty hunters had reduced the Indian population  such that the business saw reduced profits, they 
dressed as Indians and turned on Mexican villages.  Leaving arrows sticking in the sides of animals, 
they cashed in Mexican scalps while putting the blame on, and causing more hatred toward  the 
Indians.  When the Mexican government caught them doing this, the government put a bounty on 
the bounty hunter,  Lt. John Joel Glanton,  who once rode in  P.H. Bell’s  Regiment of Mounted 
Volunteers.
In 1848 they were doing this and that was nine years after the battle here. This was the 
atmosphere  and what it was like to be an Indian  in Texas at that time. It wasn’t a happy 
time.         It was a time of great fear throughout the land that found thirteen tribes huddled together 
in this area.

The reason that we chose the name genocide for our museum is because the name means, the 
deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.  The most obvious 
examples of genocide in modern times is when a government orders the extermination of a group of 
people within its borders.  In 1915 the Turkish government issued an  “Official proclamation” which 
read:

Our Armenian fellow countrymen,…because …they have…attempted to destroy the peace and 
security of the Ottoman state,…have to be sent away to places which have been prepared in the 
interior… and a literal obedience to the following orders, in categorical manner, is accordingly 
enjoined upon all Ottomans:
1. With the exception of the sick, all Armenians are obliged to leave within five days from the date 
of this proclamation…
2. Although they  are free to carry with them on their journey the articles of their movable property 
which they desire, they are forbidden to sell their land and their extra effects,  or to leave them here 
or there with other people…

This sounds very much like the order the President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar, 
gave to chief Bowles here one hundred and sixty five years ago.  In the Quarterly of the Texas 
State Historical Association  Vol. 1   July, 1897 to April, 1889 , John H. Reagan , who was 
present  when the president’s message was delivered to Chief Bowles, gives this eye witness 
account:

“President Lamar in that communication said to Chief Bowles that he had appointed six among the 
most respectable citizens of the Republic,  and authorized them to value the unmovable property of 
the Cherokees,  Which was understood to be their improvements on the land but not the land,  and 
to pay them for these in money… The President also said to them that they could take all their 
movable property with them and go in peace.  But go they must; peaceably if they would, but 
forcibly if the must.”

The Chief  asked Mr. Lacy,  the agent delivering the Presidents message,  “if action on the 
President’s demand could not be postponed until his people could make and gather their crops.  
Mr. Lacy informed him that he had no authority or discretion beyond what was said in the 
communication from the President.”

It is only   fitting that we should honor those who were slain here one hundred and sixty five years 
ago with the truth that the  only request the Chief made was, “Can the President’s demand be 
postponed until we gather our crops?”

I think it is ironic that we stand here today at  the site of a destroyed Delaware village.  For it was 
the Delaware Indians in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania who were given the smallpox blankets back  in 
1763.  Many people don’t believe that the Indians were given smallpox blankets but we have found 
the invoice from Ft. Pitt if you would like to see it , we have a copy  on display over in our booth. It 
reads, “ …Replace…2 blankets…1 silk handkerchief, 1 linen…taken from people in the hospital 
to convey the smallpox to the Indians”

Was there genocide in America?  The killing here continued in the surrounding area until July 24th.  
A militia force was stationed to the north to cut the Indians off if they fled north but  they never saw 
battle.  They were not needed.

At some point in history, America has to acknowledge the wrongs that  were done and call them 
what they were--Genocide.

At  some point in history , America has to acknowledge that the way they confiscated native lands 
was not right.

At some point in history,  America has to call things like what happened here--they have to call it 
extermination, which it was.

Now, when Mirabeau Lamar told Chief Bowles that he was going to appoint six reputable men 
from the Republic to value their land --that happened again recently as history repeats itself.  And 
that  is what really bothers me, that history keeps on repeating  itself over and over and over again. 
And  it will keep repeating itself  until the American people say this was wrong and we have to 
change it.  What we did was wrong and we have to change.
Because ten days ago on July the 7th, our President George W. Bush signed into law bill H.R. 884 
which arbitrarily confiscated 24 million acres of Western Shoshone Land.
In it’s Final Report to Congress the Indian Claims Commission , which was the vehicle they used 
to value the land,  describes itself as a commission and not a judicial court.
This commission of arbiters , arbitrarily set the price of Western Shoshone land at 15 cents an acre.
Fifteen cents an acre!  We had the All Star Game in Houston last Tuesday and hot dogs were 
selling for five dollars apiece.  At this kind of an exchange rate, the Western Shoshone would have 
to sell 33 acres of land just to buy a hot dog.  But history seems to keep repeating itself over and 
over again.
Only when America acknowledges the wrongs of the past will they admit to the wrongs that are 
being perpetrated in the present.  
Any memorial that is erected here should not be called the Battle of the Neches. We should honor 
the dead with the truth, and call it what it was--genocide in the Americas.



Copyright  2004 Steve Melendez - All Rights Reserved

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Copyright 2004 American Indian Genocide Museum - All Rights Reserved