USA > Texas > Shelby County > History of the regulators and moderators and the Shelby County war in 1841 and 1842, in the republic of Texas > Part 1
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HISTORY
-OF THE-
REGULATORS and MODERATORS
AND THE
Shelby County War in 1841 and 1842,
IN THE
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS,
With facts and incidents in the early history of the Republic and State, from 1837 to the annex- ation, together with incidents of fron- tier life and Indian troubles, and the war on the Reserve in Young county in 1857.
BY JONH W. MIDDLETON, An active participant in all the scenes described and a Texas Pioneer.
Fort Worth, Texas: Loving Publishing Company. 1883.
HISTORY 1
OF THE-
REGULATORS and MODERATORS
AND THE
Shelby County War in 1841 and 1842,
IN THE
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS,
With facts and incidents in the early history of the Republic and State, from 1837 to the annex- ation, together with incidents of fron- tier life and Indian troubles, and the war on the Reserve in Young county in 1857.
BY JONH W. MIDDLETON, An active participant in all the scenes described and a Texas Pioneer.
Fort Worth, Texas: Loving Publishing Company. 1883.
F 3.86
-
Dedication:
To my wife, Mrs. Jane G. Middleton, an old citizen of Texas, and cognizant of many facts related in this pamphlet, and now the companion and solace of my declining years, this pamphlet is with love and affection dedicated
By her husband,
J. W. MIDDLETON.
. 355867 26
PREFACE.
I am now in the seventy-fifth year of time from my birth. Have been an active citizen of Texas ever since 1837, and been a participant in many of the graphic as well as the sanguinary incidents related in the following pages. And I am impelled by a sense of justice and due regard to the memory and the appreciation of my comrades, friends and associates-tried, good and true of that time-"trying time"-to give to the public in my declining years a true, faithful and impartial account of things that to my own knowledge have so often been misrepresented. And I hereby give to the future historian of the early history of Texas for his guidance the facts contained in this narrative.
HISTORY
-OF THE-
Regulators and Moderators
And the Shelby County War.
CHAPTER I.
Yielding to the solicitations of many old friends and participants in the exciting scenes of the early history Republic of Texas, and desirous to correct the errors which have arisen in regard to the causes of the "Shelby County War," and to place before the public in a fair and impartial light the action of the two parties engaged in the difficulties in Shelby and other counties in Eastern Texas in 1841 and 1842, I have undertaken this work. I was a resident at that time of Shelby county and a witness to and sufferer in many of the bloody conflicts of that stormy per od. Many histories have been written of the time mentioned, but either facts have been suppressed or such a coloring has been given them as to do injustice to one or the other of the parties engaged. The only exactly, fair and true narrative, that to my knowledge was ever written, was by Colonel Mormon, and this was destroyed or lost, and in consequence of his death it could not be reproduced. The loss of his work has been long deplored by those who felt a deep interest in transmitting to their posterity the true history of that period and shielding their names from the obloquy in which it has been sought to elothe them. Many years. have passed since the occurrence of the events I am about to relate, but they survive fresh and green in my memory.
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Old age has fallen upon me and many others who upheld law and order in those dangerous days, and with no little consolation we remember that all our efforts were devoted to the good of this, then, new country and to the advancement of its moral condition.
It is fitting, before I enter upon my narrative, that I give a brief biography of myself, with some mention of my ancestry. John Middleton, a grandfather, was an American soldier in the war of the Revolution, and was present at the battles of the Cowpens and Guilford Court House; served under Gates until his defeat and then under Green until the close of the war. He was the officer sent to arrest Champ, who was sent after Arnold, the traitor, who deserted to the British, and pursued him so closely that he got his cloak, as Champ got too far into the deep water of the sea for him to be followed. Champ acting as a deserter to promote, success. After the Revolution he belonged to a company to sustain law and order, and assisted to maintain it by constant efforts to arrest and bring to justice violators of the law. Among these felons were the Big and Little Arp, whose misdeeds were notorious throughout the country. Big Arp was killed by Elisha Green, in South Carolina, near his cave in. the wilderness. His death resulted from
Little maltreatment of the wife of a man named Leeper by Lit le Arp. Arp continued his criminal conduct and operated on the "old road" from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee. A notorious rover who
conducted his villianies alone and for whose body a reward of one thousand dollars was offered in Natchez, remained very near the "Lower Natchez rcad" and the Choctaw line. Little Arp and his partner knowing his whereabouts and anxious for the reward, went to his camp, killed him, cut off his head and carried his body to Natchez, believing the head not wanted as the reward was only offered for the body. They were immediately arrested by the people and executed, as they were as obnoxious as the man they had killed. This ended the criminals of that section.
My mother was Martha Tubb, and my great-grandfather, George Tubb, Sr., was under Washington at Braddock's defeat and at the battle of Bunker Hill. He, his two brothers and all their sons, over the age of fourteen years, were in the Colonial Army, under the immediate command of Gen. Washington during the entire Revolutionary war, and all survived but one.
When the Creek war broke out in 1812, my father was working out a saltpetre cave in what is now Lawrence county, Tennessee, on Crosson's fork of Shoal creek. All who had been working with him, except his sixteen year old brother had gone to Nashville with saltpetre. At the time of the outbreak of the Indians my father was burning wood to make ashes to procure lye, and finding Indian signs too thick to remain, it became necessary to return sixty miles home to procure aid. He left John and the brother sixteen years old, in the cave, where they remained four days concealed from the Indians, until his return with six men. He attempted to carry back with him a cow and calf and being the only mounted man in the party on the return, he rode in advance
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to clear the way for the wagon. He stopped once to cut away some saplings that were obstructing the road, when the cow and calf went on, passed over a hill; going on after them he discovered the trail of a large body of Indians who a few minutes before crossed the road and finding the cow and calf, had driven them away with them. They were as once abandoned and it was thought a fortunate escape. A draft was immediately ordered by the President for men to fight the Creeks. My father was drafted by drew out and commenced making up a volunteer company. General Jackson went out with sixty days men and fought the battles of Talladega, Hickory Ground, Heights of Muckfaw and Muckfaw Creek, and fell back, and another diaft was made for four months men for reinforcements. My father was again drafted, and as his company was not ready he went out as a volunteer, in the regiment of Colonel Pickard, in the brigade of General Coffee. The sixty days men were detained eight days to fight the battle of the Horseshoe. The Fort was at the upper end of the heel of the Bend. General Jackson went around the Bend and crossed Coosa river just above the Falls, guided by James Fife, Chinerly and old Mr. Quarles. General Jackson marched down and commenced cannonading the Fort. Gen. Coffee went around the Bend to prevent the Indians from crossing the river and making their escape. In this battle my father, Drury M.ddleton, participated actively, being in the thickest of the fight. Going forward at the command of General Coffee, with two men from each company to act as an advance and give information of the enemy, he was separated from the main command, and remained upon the battle field and fought until he was the last or among the last to leave the ground. The line of march was then taken up for home, when the men were discharged.
The first battle fought at New Orleans was on December 23, 1814 at night, and of the volunteers from Tennessee, the killed and captured were sixty-three. The soldiers on their return from New Orleans were distressed for salt and brcad, meat being plenty. I rode and carried on a pony, three bushels of meal 200 miles, for their relief.
This much I have thought proper to mention in relation to my ancestry, that i: may be seen that I have inherited love of country and devotion to her laws; and now in the closing years of a long life filled with peril and adventure, among scenes wild and civilized, in society of every sort, in peace and in danger, I have sought only to be worthy the brave and patriotic men who had gone before, and by devotion to my country, uphold ng its laws and advancing the best interests of society in endeavoring to sustain its morals and religion, to deserve the name I bear.
.
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CHAPTER Il.
I was born January 3, 1808, the son of Drury and Martha M. Middleton, and on December 15, 1831, was married to Mary Ann Chalk, who was born April 12, 1810, in North Carolina, near the mouth of Chowan river. A wife faithful and affectionate, she performed every duty, professing religion at Mount Nebo camp meeting ground in Maury county, Tennessee, she lived religiously until called to live with the children of God, March 23, 1871. I resided in Tennessee until the autumn of 1834, when I removed to Marshall county, Mississippi, ten miles north of Holly Springs, where, as the proprietor of a house of entertainment on the public road, I became known to large numbers of people. Losses in business affairs rendering me dissatisfied and desirous to try my fortune in a new country, I resolved upon removal, and on the 15th day of June, 1837, I landed with my family, in the Republic of Texas, and settled in the county of Shelby. The country was thinly settled and the condition of society disagreeable, as there were many settlers who were fugitives from justice in the United States. The unsettled political situation of the Republic and the nearness of Shelby county to the line of the United States, rendering it easy to carry on acts of lawlessness and crime and to continue that course of conduct which had rendered the perpetrators exiles from the United States
Harrison and Panola counties join Shelby county, and lie in the north- eastern part of the State, contiguous to Louisiana. Settling in Shelby county, I commenced farming, and was soon known to the community as one who desired peace, but was always ready to lend my aid to preserve order and assist in the punishment and expulsion of any who were guilty of acts of violence or breeches of the law of the country.
In Shelby county were two political parties, known as the English and Haley parties. They were divided in politics but united in their protection of the desperado and fugitive from justice.
I will narrate a few incidents occurring between 1837 and 1840.
In April, 1837, Amos and Jim Strickland committed the theft of a store in the State of Louisiana and transferred it on horseback to Texas. They were so hotly pursued that nearly all the goods were recovered by the owners. In 1838, Jim Strickland stole a mare from a man named Henry Cannon and being seen in possession of it by Ben Odell, the mare was freed and she returned to her owner. Strickland denied the theft and afterwards killed Odell.
In 1837, one of the Anderson's guarded a large number of horses with their bridles and saddles, stolen in Louisiana and was af.erwards caught and killed in Beecham's field, four miles east of Shelbyville, on the Teneha.
The county seat of Shelby county was moved from Shelbyville to Center.
A man named Hillary came the same year to buy land and had with him $1,400 in coin, $300 in paper an ] a suit of clothes in his saddle bags. At San Augustine, wh.le he was asleep at the tavern, he was robbed by Willis Watson
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and a man named Mordecai. The men were arrested and whipped every day until a confession was ob ained from Mordecai, but the money was never recovered. Willis Watson kept a ferry a mile above Logansport, on the Sabine river, and his place was the headquarters of conterfeiters and desperate characters. He became so obnoxious to the citizens of Louisiana that a number of the citizens of that State went to his place and destroyed it by fire in about the winter of 1838. Watson having lost his property left the country. He was then out of prison on bail, for an attempt to rob Sanchez, having been arrested before by me. The citizens of Louisiana had gone to his place to arrest him and his gang, but not finding him destroyed all his property. Had he remained his life would have been taken,
CHAPTER III.
The Mexicans and Indians came to an understanding in 1838 and rebelled. Some of the Mexicans near Nacogdoches raised a difficulty with the Texians during the summer, before the preparations were all complete for an attack upon the Texians. The Indians held a consultation or council and finding themselves not ready, returned to their homes and the Mexicans fled. I took my part in the suppression of this attempt at rebellion. An army was raised in Texas, with General Rusk in command; Generals Douglass and McLeod also having commands under him. I was a member of the Board of War and appointed captain of a company in 1839.
In 1838, a spy company was raised, Geo. Hanks was made Captain and I First Lieutenant. In the election for officers of this company Willis Watson and Shem Harris were candidates and failing, made an effort to rob Sanchez by forging bills of sale of his property. The company was on the march when information was received of the action of the men Watson and Harris. I was at once detailed to capture them'and with a squad of men rode all night and secured the two men before breakfast at Sanchez's house before they got possession of the property. Here I waited for Captain Hanks and Lieutenant Roberts to come, when Captain Timmon's company, from Harrison county and Captain Haley, with his company from Shelby county, arrived. The three companies were detained here on detached service. I received orders to take the prisoners to Nacogdoches. Mayes, a prisoner, through the influence of his friends, was released at Sanchez's place and the two men Watson and Harris were conveyed to Nacogdoches and confined in prison. They gave bond and were released. I was then ordered to arrest John Beecham, Jack Crane, Sam Bruton and old man Pierce, for appropriating confiscated property. Returning to camp I was sent in the direction of Watson's ferry, traveling until late in the night, we camped on the road close to the house of old man Pierce, whom we arrested at daylight. Proceeding we captured Crane. We then went to Bruton's on the Teneha, and he was absent. At Shelbyville we missed taking
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Beecham. who made his escape and returned to Kentucky, and remained there. seven years, leaving his family in Texas. Next day on our return march to camp we found and arrested Bruton. Reaching camp we found the army had dispersed without fighting, and orders left for us to disband and go home. In compliance with the opinion of the majority of the command, the prisoners were set free instead of conveying them to prison in Nacogdoches. I was then employed by the government of Texas to return to the owners the horses that had been pressed for the use of the army.
Immedia ely after this Leonard Mabbit was ordered with a company of eighty men to Fort Houston to protect the frontier. The Indians harassed his men and attacked his foragers. In one skirmish the rear guard had stopped and a little boy son of Mr. Bates, who had been killed at San Augustine, the boy acting as courier, were fired upon by the Indians. Some of the men were wounded. The boy endeavoring to escape was chased by an Indian. The guns of both were empty. The boy getting far enough in advance of the Indian, dismounted and commenced loading his gun. The Indian did the same, but the boy loading firs:, fired and killed the Indian, and was rewarded afterwards for the deed by a grant of 640 acres of land from the Republic of Texas.
A conspiracy having been entered into by the Indians to take Fort Houston and massacre the people, Captain Mabbitt notified General Rusk who came at once to his relief with what force he could get. Taking the company of Mabbitt with him he went to the Kickapoo village, unknown to the Indians, who had camped one-half mile from the village on their way to the Fort. Spies upon their camp notified General Rusk that they had large fires of greenwood and were cooking for the trip. The Indians left and General Rusk coming on camped at their fires. Supposing the camp to contain only the company of Captain Mabbitt, the Indians made an attack, and the firing by the pickets was kept up during the night. The Indians had been joined by forty Mexicans, and at daylight approached and attacked the camp. They stood three fires, but surprised by the presence of General Rusk they retrea'ed, leaving nine killed, and their children and camp equipage were scattered along the line of their
retreat. P.usk and Mabitt fell back to the Fort and sent for reinforcements, as the Indians were making great preparations for another battle. I united myself with Captain English's company and marched to Eaton's, where the Indians had committed murders. Here we found old Mrs. Eaton and several children killed. The house was burned. Old Mrs. Murchison was here killed and her body dragged out to near the fence. In looking around the premises I found bloody clothes and a musket lying on them. Two daughters of Mr. Eaton, both wives of men named Madden had been badly wounded near the house, but had made their escape and afterwards recovered. I reported to Colonel Landrum what I had found and that while absent I had heard much firing and I was sent with a guide and file of men to discover the cause. After my
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departure, one of the Maddens, a Mexican and two other men in returning, fired off their guns near the house to alarm the Indians and cause them to leave. Colonel Landrum hearing the firing and presuming that I was attacked, started with his men to my relief and went so far that he could not return the same night. I, with my party, went in the direction of the house of a widow and arriving there found the house deserted. In the road, near the house, we saw tracks of a horse and mule that had been in full run, and concluding from this sign that Indians were in our rear, Forsythe and I turned back, when we met many of Rusk's men coming up in disorder. We went to General Rusk and had a council, when General Rusk sent orders to Colonel Landrum giving directions as to his future action. We remained at Eaton's about a week. There being too few to maintain a full guard, the sentinels stood at their stations the full time without relief. I took my own station at a point I believed to be the most liable to attack by the savages. It was in thick timber, and when all was still I heard an Indian cross the field fence within fifty or sixty yards of my position. The night was starlight, too dark to distinguish anything clearly, and I could only discover his movements by the sound of his footsteps in the leaves. He went to a tree about one hundred yards from the fence, stopped, then another crossed the fence, then the first advanced and the second at the same time moved up and took the position vacated by the first, each getting to his position about the same time. When the two made a stop a third crossed the fence and all three commenced walking. I could hear them distinctly. The Indian in front was going in the direction of the post occupied by Lieut. Dick English. When he had approached very near, Lieutenant English called to one Hoof, sergeant of the guard, to come to his relief as he was very cold. This gave the alarm to the enemy and they were seen or heard no more that night.
CHAPTER IV.
We now moved down to Murchison's and remained there about a week and occupied the time in scouting for Indians but we found none. We were here joined by Gen. Felix Houston and staff, who remained with us during the balance of our time in the field. We next took up the march to Neches Saline, and on the way were joined by Gen. Rusk with his command. The indians made their headquarters five miles south of Neches Saline, and had killed, robbed and taken prisoners many persons. We had reached within a few miles of the Saline and were preparing to camp when our spies gave information of the Indians at the Saline. We formed line of battle eight deep and hurried to the Saline and attacked the Indians. Before the presence of the Indians was reported to us two of our men killed an Indian boy and a leading Indian called Captain Jack. The Indians retreated immediately upon the arrival of the main body of our army. A few (5) Indians were killed in skirmishes with our spies. No
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general battle tock place. Another party of Indians visited Martin's on Tram- mel's Trace, between the Saline and Sabine. Their sign had been discovered in the evening, and the dogs of the neighborhood gave notice of their presence. Many signal smokes were seen; the Indians were numerous and their yells could be heard all around us. I was selected to stand guard nearest the enemy and my counsel was followed in the arrangement of the guard. Martin had moved his family and was preparing to take away his moveable pro- perty, and in company with a man named Davis, he went during the night a mile from the house to watch for Indians. Immediately upon their return Davis went to the door of the house to ascertain the cause of the barking of the dogs, when he was shot by an Indian. He crawled under the floor of the house, died there, and was not discovered by the savages. The Indians then attacked the house and fired into a back room occupied at the time by a man named May, his wife and child. May ran and was wounded in the shoulder; his wife hid herself and child in the room and were not discovered, although the child was slightly wounded. David Brown, the surveyor, was in the house, and ran, leav- ing his instruments, saddle-bags and horse; the Indians carried them off. Mar.in loaded his wagon to leave, and while loading set a tin box containing his money on the top of the goods in the wagon, it was stolen by May's wife and never recovered. The Indians made a rapid retreat to Neches Saline.
One morning, when the Texian army was in camp at Bard's some twelve or fifteen boys about sixteen years of age, went unarmed with their horses about two hundred vards to water; they discovered the Indians and immediately raised a wild yell and charged them; the Indians ran and in their flight dropped Davis' hat. Col. Landrum sent a scout after the Indians who were not overtaken, but pursued so closely that Brown's surveying instruments, &e., were recovered.
We moved from our camp, and as the spies were unsuccessful in finding the camp of the Indians, one hundred men were sent out to make the discovery. which they did in a very short time. The Indian camp consisted of seventeen lodges, constructed cf palmetto, well fitted for winter protection, and they had in store some seventy-five or eighty bushels of shelled corn. Upon our return a squad of men was detailed to go to Keeler and Williams', where a late massacre had been committed, and bury the dead. It was fifteen miles from where we were, and although I was not well, I went on the expedition, leaving a man from Nacogdoches county named Stephens to occupy my place as captain of the scout. Our quartermaster, Dr. Cannon, accompanied me. Arriving at the scene of the murders we found two members of the Williams family dead and two of the family of Keeler. Indian sign was thick and fresh. The dead were found and placed in boxes and we returned to our camp. Here we found everything in disorder; Stephens permitting the men to do as they pleased and during our absence had accomplished nothing. I resumed command of the scout. We then buried the dead and from that place went to Keeler's and found all gone. We then proceeded to Still's for information; unable to ascertain anything posi- 1
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tively we returned to the camp of the main army, only to find it deserted and the army removed twelve miles, and to reach it occupied us until late in the night. The next day we returned to Shelbyville, having received furloughs for fourteen days.
Having received information that the Indians had separated and that the Caddos had gone to Soda Lake, fifteen miles from Shreveport, in Louisiana. Col. Landrum and Gen. Rusk, with their commands, went to that place, but the Indians retreated to Shreveport and nothing was done. This action of Landrum and Rusk -- pursuing the enemy upon the soil of the United States-was report- ed to the authorities in Washington, when Gen. Gaines of the U. S. Army was ordered to return to Fort Jessup, in Louisiana, and the Caddo Indians received orders to leave the United States. They retired to Mexico where they remained until the war took place between that country and the United States, when they went to Western Texas, and uniting with remnants of other tribes, settled upon a reservation granted them by the United States.
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