John Bowles

The Bowl (also Chief Bowles or Bowls); John Watts Bowles (Cherokee: Di'wali) ( 1756 – July 16, 1839) was one of the leaders of the Chickamauga Cherokee during the Cherokee–American wars, served as a principal chief of the Cherokee Nation–West, and was a leader of the Texas Cherokees (Tshalagiyi nvdagi).

Early life Di'wali was born around 1756 in Little Hiwassee, a Cherokee town in current-day North Carolina near Tomotla. His mother was mixed-blood Cherokee, Ghigoneli Boles, and his father was a Scottish trader John Watts. Emmet Starr, an early historian of the Cherokee, describes Bowles as "being decidedly Gaelic in appearance, having light eyes, red hair, and somewhat freckled." At the age of 11, when his maternal grandfather John Knight Boles was murdered, he tracked down the men and killed them. In tradition of Indian naming patterns, he took the name of Boles becoming John Watts Boles. The Osage word for bowl is di'wali which is what history has recorded him as.

Young warrior Di'wali was a follower of Dragging Canoe, one of the founders of the Chickamauga Cherokee, who supported the British during the American Revolutionary War. He fought under Dragging Canoe and John Watts during the Cherokee-American wars. During this time, Di'wali had become the chief of the Running Water Town (present-day Whiteside, Tennessee).

Enforcement of the 1822 agreement with Mexico was difficult, and on April 15, 1825, a white immigrant, Benjamin Edwards, was given a grant by the Mexican government to settle in Cherokee-claimed lands in east Texas. but Sam Houston (who had married into the Cherokee tribe and had a long-standing relationship with Chief Di'wali) sought an alliance with the Cherokee. Seeking to give them what the Mexican government had refused and empowered under authority of the new government, General Houston negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee and other associated groups, granting over 2.5 million acres of land in east Texas:

Final fight and last stand On July 14 1839, Lamar sent troops, under the command of Gen. Thomas Rusk, to occupy the Indian territory. Fleeing their town and forced northward into present-day Van Zandt County, the Cherokee halted on July 15 and prepared defenses at the Neches River. On the morning of July 16, though severely outnumbered, Di'wali confronted his pursuers. Di'wali "exhorted the Indians to fight bravely. During the last battle he could be heard repeatedly encouraging them, and more than once urging them to charge." Smith then took the sword from Di'wali's body and swaths of skin from his arm as souvenir.

Of Di'wali, John H. Reagan recalls, "I had witnessed his dignity and manliness in council, his devotion to his tribe in sustaining their decision for war against his judgement, and his courage in battle." A funeral for Di'wali was held by the descendants of the tribe in 1995, on the 156th anniversary of his death.