Pierce, Franklin (1804-1869). President of the United States (1853-1857). Appointment of Robert S. Neighbors as Special Agent for the Indians in Texas. 1p, 15.625 x 10.75 in., April 18, 1853. Signed by Franklin Pierce as President.

Born in Virginia, Indian agent Robert Simpson Neighbors (1815-1859) arrived in Texas in 1836. He enlisted in the Texas Army, attaining the rank of captain and title of acting quartermaster. Joining the Texas Rangers, Neighbors served under John C. Hays when General Adrián Woll imprisoned the company in Mexico in 1842. Following his release to Texas, Neighbors became an Indian agent in 1845, with the goal of protecting local tribes from white settlers who wanted to eradicate them. Neighbors’s aims were unpopular with many people, including fellow Indian agent John R. Baylor, who, along with his renegade supporters, sought to undermine his rival’s efforts. After the annexation of Texas, Neighbors served the US Office of Indian Affairs from 1847 through 1849. He then served as a Texas commissioner (1850) and state legislator (1851-1853). Returning to the Indian Bureau in 1853, he and US Army captain Randolph B. Marcy explored northwestern Texas for possible reservation sites, where he believed the Indians would be safer. Fluent in Comanche, Neighbors had earned the trust of many tribal leaders and finally persuaded them to relocate in 1859. After escorting more than 1,400 Indians to a reservation in Oklahoma, Neighbors stopped at Fort Belknap, where he was brutally slain by Edward Cornett, one of Baylor’s followers.