Cherokee Trace

Near this site the Cherokee Indians blazed an early Texas trail. They wanted a road from their settlements near Nacogdoches to their home reservation on the White River in Arkansas. About 1821 they selected a man known for his uncanny sense of direction. Mounting a horse and dragging buffalo skins behind him, he set a northward course. A group of Indians followed, blazing the trees to mark the trail. Another group cleared away the heavy underbrush and trees. A third group established camping grounds by springs and planted Cherokee roses which still mark the route today. Sam Houston, friend of the Cherokee, travelled it on his first Texas visit. David Crockett and other Texas revolution fighters as well as thousands of settlers from northeastern United States first saw Texas from the road, many establishing homes nearby. The Cherokee remained peaceful as long as friend Sam Houston was President of the Republic. In June 1839 they were ordered from Texas because of raids and intrigues with Mexican agents. A two-day battle ensued on the Neches River where their chief was killed. The tribe retreated, fighting, leaving Texas by the famous trail they made.

Cherokee Trace is a historical marker in Gilmer, Upshur County. It is one of 48 historical markers documented in Upshur County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 108 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.7290, -94.9443 near Gilmer. The nearest cataloged historic site is Houston, Sam (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Upshur County, C.S.A., Upshur County Courthouse, and Leather Factories, C.S.A..

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5459011302. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.