ALL THINGS HISTORICAL: A LOOK AT EAST TEXAS HISTORY
The Freedonia Rebellion
By, Archie P. McDonald

Poor old Haden Edwards had a problem. After investing, by his estimate, $50,000 supporting Stephen F. Austin's efforts to persuade Mexican authorities to establish the empresarial system of colonization in Texasand then becoming an empresario. He was about to lose his grant and his investment. The solution, the unfortunate failure known as the Fredonia Rebellion.

Edwars was the son of one of Kentucky's first U.S. senators. He became wealthy in land speculation in Mississippi before moving to the main chance in Texas. His grant was located in eastern Texas and headquartered in Nacogdoches, the only known "town" in the region.

Edwards' troubles sprang from the requirement that empresarios honor previos Spanish or Mexican land grants. He alone received land where this could be a problem. Edwards posted signs in Nacogdoches informing residents of the area they must provide evidence of earlier grants or he would regard their land as available for reassignment.

This order naturally caused quite a furor, exacerbated by the fact most could not prove their ownership. Everyone knew who had been granted what, but many of the actual titles had been lost in fires and floods or the forced removal of Spanish settlers from East Texas in 1772.

Settlers complained to the Mexican political cheif in San Antonio about Edwards' intentions. They did so again, when Edwards decided a disputed election for alcalde in favor of Chichester Chaplin, representative of the "new" settlers and Edwards' son-inlaw, and Samual Norris, candidate of the "old" settlers. Flavoring the stew was Benjamin Edwards, brother of the empresario who managed affairs with Haden Edwards, traveling throughout the U.S. recruiting settlers.

Benjamin Edwards' intemperate letters offended the political cheif to the point that he revoked Edwards' empreserial grant. Edwards response was the Fredonia Rebellion.

He and other new settlers made a pack with the Cherokees in the region who had been promised a title to land they occupied but had not received it. They proclaimed the the Republic of Fredonia under a red and white flag that symbolized their union.

The rebelion was short lived. Expecting other American empresarios to join him, Edwards was disappointed when Austin joined Mexican forces sent to quell the uprising. Austin was not about to jeapordize his own grant by supporting and adventure that was unlikely to succeed.

Edwards and his supporters fled before Mexican soldiers arrived. Two Cherokee leaders suffered most from the Rebellion; they were killed by their own followers for involving them in a failed effort.

Archie P. McDonald is Director of the East Texas Historical Association and author or editor of over 20 books on Texas.