USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 19
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INDIAN AFFAIRS DURING THE WAR.
In August, 1861, Lieutenant Mays, of Company D, Second Regiment of Mounted Rifles, with a party of fourteen men from Fort Davis, went in pursuit of a large body of marauding Apache Indians, and attacked their village. After a most desperate fight all the Texans were killed, except a Mexican, who came in with the intelligence. A detachment was sent out to ascertain the truth of the Mexican's statement, and when it arrived at the scene of conflict, the dead bodies of several men were found who were recognized as belonging to Lieutenant May's command, as well as the hats and boots of others, and a number of horses that had been killed.
On October 14, Sergeant W. Barrett overtook a large party of Lipan Indians from Mexico, on the Nueces River near Fort Inge, and had a desperate hand-to- hand engagement with them. It had rained on the Texans that day, and their guns having got wet, very few of them would fire. Those whose guns were thus rendered useless drew their sabres and attacked the Indians with great fierceness. The casualties were ten Indians killed, and three of the Texans were killed and one man and one horse wounded.
On the Ist day of November following, Captain James B. Barry, of Colonel H. E. McCulloch's First Regiment of Mounted Rifles, had a lively running fight of several miles with a party of Comanche Indians, on Pease River, a tributary of Red River, in which twelve of the red-skins were killed, while the Texans had only two men wounded.
The State militia of the Twentieth Brigade, under Brigadier-General Nathaniel Terry, met at Robinson's Mills, in Tarrant County, in August, 1863, for the pur- pose of organizing for protection against raids by the Indians. Their depredations upon the frontier had created such intense excitement among the militiamen from Parker and Johnson Counties that it was almost impossible to retain them in camp long enough to organize, as their families were in immediate danger. In one family the mother was killed and four children carried off ; in another family the mother and two children were killed and two children seriously, if not mortally, wounded. Several men had been recently killed and many herds of horses driven off. Prowling bands of Indians had been seen in so many neighborhoods that the settlers were satisfied that there was great and immediate danger from their incur- sions, and called aloud for supplies of ammunition, of which there was a great scarcity. One band of the savages had been seen within twenty-five miles of Fort Worth, and had stolen a number of horses. In August of that year, near Robin- son's Mills in that county, a Mrs. Brown, whose husband was absent in the army, was murdered by them at her own house in broad daylight, and two young men and a young lady seriously, if not dangerously, wounded,
In December, 1863, they made a raid into Cooke County, and murdered nine VOL. II .- 36
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citizens and three soldiers and wounded three soldiers and four citizens and burned ten houses and a quantity of grain. A number of citizens left their homes and moved farther east, some of them in a very destitute condition, without bedding or a change of clothing. The Indians drove off a large number of horses on this raid, and the route along which they left was strewn with horses killed by them. All the houses in Gainesville were crowded with refugees from the northern and western portions of the county, and great excitement prevailed all over the country. A man who was engaged in a fight with these Indians reported to General MeCul- loch that they were well armed, fought gallantly, and that several of them wore heavy whiskers and spoke good English.
The country west of San Antonio and along the Pecos River became the rendezvous not only of Union men on their way to Mexico, but of deserters from the Confederate army and renegades whose chief occupation was plunder and pillage, and murder also if necessary in order to accomplish their purposes. In May, 1864, the companies of the Frontier Regiment, Colonel J. E. McCord commanding, which had been stationed in that section, were withdrawn and the inhabitants left in an entirely defenceless condition, subject to the depredations of the Indians as well as the worse foe, renegade white men and Mexicans. In May, 1864, Captain William Wallace, an old Texan and one of the most skilful Indian-fighters on the frontier, was killed by Indians from Mexico, not more than twenty miles west of San Antonio, and all of his stock driven off. About a week previous to this a party of Indians appeared on the Hondo River, thirty miles west of San Antonio, killed one citizen, and drove off a large number of horses.
The citizens had no confidence in the partially organized troops of the frontier as a means of protection. Most of them were believed to be men who had fled from the interior of the State to avoid conscription, were Union men, and friends of and sympathizers with the deserters and renegades who infested that region. A perfect reign of terror prevailed in the country near Camp Verde, and many of the settlers were forced to remove back from the frontier for safety.
In October, 18644, a large party of Indians, numbering some three hundred or four hundred, made a raid into the settlements adjacent to Fort Belknap, in Young County, murdered several families, and drove off a large number of horses. Lieu- tenant N. Carson, of Company D, Colonel James Bourland's regiment, with four- teen men, attacked them on Elm Creek, but the Indians showing up from the brush in such large numbers, Lieutenant Carson ordered his inen to fall back, which they did in good order and fighting from one position to another. After re- treating a short distance the Texans reached the house of Mr. McCoy, where they found two.women, and they were taken up behind two of the men and the retreat continued, the Indians following in hot pursuit. They destroyed McCoy's house and carried off everything in it, and destroyed all the clothing and camp equi- page of the soldiers in their abandoned camp. The Texans had five men killed and several wounded, among the latter being Lieutenant Carson ; and several of the Indians are known to. have been killed and wounded, but they were carried off.
After killing eleven citizens and burning as many houses they left in a north- westerly direction, carrying off seven women and children.
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UNION SENTIMENT IN TEXAS.
A great many of the men who voted against secession afterwards gave in their adhesion and support to the Southern cause ; they opposed secession on grounds of policy alone. But many others refused to do so to the last. Some were very outspoken in the expression of their Union sentiments, and in the heat of political excitement much crimination and recrimination were indulged on both sides, which not infrequently resulted in bloodshed. Sometimes the political sentiments of men furnished a pretext for persecution and the seeking of vengeance engendered by long- standing feuds or personal grievances. The sentiment in favor of the Southern Confederacy was well-nigh unanimous ; the opposition, though quite respectable in numbers, was unorganized and without a leader. It is true that several men who had been quite prominent in public affairs espoused the Union cause, but none of them possessed to any considerable degree the faculties of organization, and they were lacking in many of the essential qualifications necessary to fit them for great leaders in great emergencies. Among the more prominent men who espoused the Union cause with strong convictions were ex-Governor E. M. Pease, Hon. A. J. Hamilton, and Hon. John Hancock, of the city of Austin, and Judge E. J. Davis, of Nueces County. Along the Rio Grande, in and around the towns of San Antonio, Austin, and Fredericksburg, and in the counties of Austin, Fayette, and Colorado, the Union sentiment was very strong. For some time after hostilities had begun . the minority seemed content with a sullen silence ; but few of them left the State for the purpose of joining the Union army. They mostly contented themselves with expressing their pleasure and satisfaction with the success of the Union arms, or were correspondingly depressed by the successes of the Confederates. Their refusal to take Confederate money in trade was regarded as disloyalty to the Con- federate States, and brought upon them the denunciations of their neiglibors who sympathized with the Southern cause. These and other acts brought about such a persecution as to cause many Union men to leave the State and seek refuge in Mexico, where they hoped to receive assistance in getting to the United States. These repaired to the consuls of the United States at Matamoras and Monterey, and were by then taken care of until they could be sent to New Orleans. They generally found a refuge on board the ships of the blockading squadron at the mouth of the Rio Grande ; and on June 16, 1862, Captain Charles Hunter, com- manding the United States steamer MMontgomery at that place, informed the State Department at Washington that he then had forty of such refugees on board his vessel, and that between seventy and eighty others had been sent to New Orleans on the Kensington. He also says that he had on board his vessel three Union gentlemen from Texas, men of influence ; that one was a judge, another a celebrated lawyer, and the other an influential politician ; and their mission was to go to Washington City to see President Lincoln and suggest the immediate occupation of Texas by United States troops. Under date of October 30, 1862, General Butler wrote from New Orleans to the United States consul at Matamoras to notify all Union refugees within his reach to come to Matamoras for the purpose of being transported to New Orleans ; that within thirty days he would send a boat to bring away such Union Texan refugees as would like to enlist in a Texas regiment which
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he was then organizing, and intended sending them to Galveston in a short time. This regiment doubtless was the one afterwards known as the First Texas ( Union) Cavalry, and commanded by Colonel E. J. Davis. Again he wrote the consul, under date of November 12, that he proposed to send down the First Regiment Texas Volunteers, with some other troops, to Galveston ; and that he would arrange with Colonel Davis of that command, and with Rear-Admiral Farragut, that refugees who desire may be sent to Galveston from Texas and Mexico for the pur- pose of having them enlist in the army. The Confederate officers along the Rio Grande boldly charged that recruits for this regiment were openly recruited and enlisted in Mexico, and that this violation of neutrality was connived at by the Mexican authorities. In a protest by General H. P. Bee addressed to Don Albino Lopez, governor of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, under date of February 3, 1863, he says that on December 26, 1862, an armed party of Mexican citizens crossed into Texas, attacked a train of government wagons, murdered three of the teamsters, and, after plundering the train of all its contents, recrossed the Rio Grande and found shelter and protection on the soil of Mexico. And on the same day another party crossed the Rio Grande at Ro Clareño and murdered an estimable patriot and citizen, the chief justice of Zapata County, Don Isidro Vila. This party was followed across the river by Captain Refugio Benavides of the Confederate army, and pun- ished as their crimes and atrocities merited. He says : " If these outrages had been committed by the disorderly population which had notoriously existed on the frontier, an excuse might be sought in the unsettled state of the country and that concomitant lawlessness which is incident to so demoralized state of society, and might have been classed with the many other instances of irregularity which have occasionally and unfortunately marked the history of the two countries. But these outrages present other and graver characteristics. They were committed by the First Regiment of Union troops, commanded by Antonio Zapata, composed of Mexicans, carrying with them the flag of the United States and claiming to be the representatives of that nation, with whom the Confederate States were at war." That "the authorities of Mexico have been repeatedly warned of these frequent violations of neutrality, but these warnings have been without effect, and the soil of Texas has been desecrated and the blood of her people been shed by those who sheltered themselves under the neutrality of the flag of Mexico ; and so far from being restrained from future evil, or punished for past offences, were then preparing for a repetition of those outrages."
He says that "he has proof that Mr. L. Pierce, the United States consul at Matamoras, whose exit from Texas, where he resided for many years, was marked by improprieties of conduct which render him a fit representative of the United States, has originated and, with specious promises of the plunder of Texas ranches, has organized and put in the field this band of outlaws in Mexico."
Replying to this communication, Governor Lopez says : "There is a floating population on the Rio Grande frontier, consisting of individuals who alternately claim citizenship in Mexico or Texas, as suits their purposes, and who change their residence whenever obliged to do so by the prosecution which always follows them, thus evading the laws and securing immunity. The inhabitants of Mexico have suffered from these men every species of outrage, which went unpunished because
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the facility for crossing the river rendered abortive the efforts of the authorities, who, though powerless, were not ignorant of the names of the perpetrators. Availing themselves of the domestic disturbances in Tamaulipas, they raised the banner of party as a cloak for their cover of crime. These men, who have com- mitted so many outrages upon the peaceful inhabitants of the frontier, are precisely the same who call themselves the ' First Regiment of the Union.'"
On March 6, 1863, Colonel E. J. Davis arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande on board the United States steamer Honduras with a party of about one hundred and eighty soldiers. Hle and five others landed on the Mexican side and proceeded to Matamoras, where Colonel Davis's family had been sent by the Con- federate authorities to meet him, and awaited him. For a week he remained in Matamoras, actively engaged in enlisting men for his regiment. About four o'clock on the morning of March 15, 1863, while waiting with a number of companions at the mouth of the river to go on board the Honduras, about one hundred men, "consisting," as General Bee says, " of citizens and soldiers off duty," crossed the river to the Mexican shore, and, after a serious conflict, captured Colonel E. J. Davis, Captain W. W. Montgomery, of General A. J. Hamilton's staff, and four others, and brought them over to the Texas shore. The Davis party made a vigorous resistance and wounded two of the attacking party, and several of the Davis party were killed and wounded. Governor Lopez immediately demanded of General Bee, in courteous terms, the release of the prisoners and their return to Mexican soil, and General Bee promptly repudiated the act as not having been authorized by him, and promised to return the prisoners if they could be found. After diligent search by General Bee, Colonel Davis was found and set across the river with all of his companions, except Captain Montgomery, who had been hanged. General Bee disclaimed all knowledge of the names of the parties engaged in this affair, but Gov- ernor Lopez informed him, for the purpose of enabling him to arrest and punish them, that Colonel George W. Chilton, Captain Brewin, and Dr. McKnight were of the party, but it is not known whether his information was correct. In December following, after the arrival at Brownsville of Hon. A. J. Hamilton, military governor of Texas, one Dick Hamilton was accused by the affidavit of Richard Pendergrast, a citizen of Brownsville, made before I. B. McFarland, judge of the Provisional Court, a part of Governor Hamilton's administration, with the murder of Captain Mont- gomery. He said that there were seven men who participated in the hanging of Captain Montgomery, one of whom was Dick Hamilton, then in Matamoras ; that he saw him hanging by the neck to a mesquite-tree four days afterwards. This affidavit was made for the purpose of extraditing Dick Hamilton, but, owing to a disagreement between Governor Hamilton and General Dana as to the mode of proceeding, the extradition was not accomplished.
When the State seceded, Hon. A. J. Hamilton was a representative in the United States Congress from Texas, having been elected over General T. N. Waul at the preceding election. He refused to resign, as the other Representatives and Senators did, and served out his term. He was then appointed a brigadier-general in the Union army, but does not seem to have ever performed any active military service in the field. On November 1.4. 1862, he was appointed by the President of the United States military governor of Texas, and most of his efforts seem to have
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been directed to inducing the United States government to invade Texas. He brought to bear, through his efforts, the powerful influence of the governors of several Northern States, and succeeded in his efforts. One of these communications from Governor John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, to the authorities at Washington, under date of November 27, 1861, is interesting after the lapse of more than thirty years. He says : "I wish to call your special attention to a subject which has been pressed upon my notice by some of our most practical, experienced, and influential business men, and which I cannot but regard with much favor. It is that the Federal government should make its next demonstration upon the coast of Texas, the State easiest to take and hold, with larger public consequences dependent upon such action than any other. Texas we virtually bought ; her rebellion makes her a dependency for treatment under the war power and through Congress. The force when landed should proclaim martial law, with reference to the future action of Congress, when the proper time arrives to free all the slaves, compensating loyal owners if necessary."
Among the results which he points out to be accomplished by such an expe- dition are the following :-
" First. We flank the whole rebellion.
"Second. We open a way out for cotton.
" Third. We cut off future annexations in the interest of the rebels, and demonstrate to foreign powers that this war is to stop the spread of slavery.
" Fourth. Instead of loyal men leaving Texas, as they are now doing, for Cali- fornia and elsewhere, they will remain, and in a few years will fill Texas with a European immigration, which will demonstrate, as the Germans of Texas are now doing, that cotton can now be raised without slaves, though hired negroes may also be used.
"Fifth. Galveston is but six hundred miles from Lawrence and St. Joseph, and a railroad will run through Texas and Arkansas to those places, and the ques- tion of conflict of systems of labor and political power will be settled forever, leaving the question of slavery in the cotton States for philosophical treatment, unless it becomes necessary to settle it under the war power before the present war is ended.
"These points are urged, not in the interest of abolitionists, but by leading commercial men and capitalists, as fairly coming under the necessities and rules of war. Martial law proclaimed, events will no doubt educate the people and the next Congress to a wise solution of all questions which may afterwards arise in connection with slaves and slavery in an exceptional State or dependency like Texas.
"By such seizure and treatment of Texas as is briefly indicated above it is urged that we shall have at the end of the war material guarantees that will prevent any such compromise or settlement as to make a renewal of the struggle for seced- ing or another rebellion possible."
When General Banks's expedition to the South started its destination was unknown, but thought to be Texas, and General Hamilton with a large retinue of followers accompanied it. When they found it was to stop at New Orleans, they were very much disappointed and grew quite wrathy. General Banks's opinion of them is not very flattering, and shows that he was in 'tated by their importunities and disgusted with their unblushing effronterv. In a communication to Secretary Stanton, dated January 7, 1863, he says :-
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"I desire to call your attention to the position of General Hamilton, not for the purpose of troubling you with responsibilities connected therewith, which I am willing to assume myself, but to protect my administration from infamous calumnia- tions propagated by men on his staff. My intercourse with the general has been pleasant. He is not a bad man, but lacks decision and force of character. I have treated him with profound respect up to the line of my duty. I did not, however, proclaim to him nor to those associated with him my destination. They ascer- tained that for the first time when we were in New Orleans. . . . His impatience and the violence of those about him led me sooner to send a detachment of troops to Galveston than I should otherwise have done, and is immediately the cause of the small loss the army has sustained there. This was, however, upon consulta- tion with Admiral Farragut and General Butler and the fullest confidence that our troops would be safe under the protection of the fleet.
"General Hamilton is surrounded by men who are here for the basest merce- nary purposes. Disappointed in their objects, they have been unsparing in their de- nunciations of the government, and especially of myself. They came on board the government transport Illinois without my knowledge and against my orders, and, as General Hamilton has said to me, have influence over him in consequence of pecuniary advances made to him while in the North. I desire it to be understood by the government that any representations made by them to the government or the people will be at least only a partial statement of the truth, if they be not en- tirely false. The strongest government in the world would break down under such a system of plunder as they desire to organize. If the whole State were for the Union, it would turn against the government if the purposes of such men were tolerated.
"I know the difficulties of my situation, which are very numerous and very great, and intend to do my duty faithfully while here, a duty from which I would, in the failing condition of my health, most gladly be relieved ; but I cannot suffer the indecency, falsehood, and corruption of these men to go without check. You need not be surprised, therefore, if they are ordered to leave the department."
Halleck to Banks, January 8, 1863, says he is directed by the Secretary of War to reply that General Hamilton's commission as governor of Texas will be revoked.
While there was a profound sentiment of opposition to the Southern cause in many localities, no definite expression was given to it. It was almost as much as a man's life was worth to publicly declare such sentiments, and as a general rule those who entertained them wisely refrained from giving expression to them ; but the enforcement of the Confederate States conscript law was the occasion of strong resistance in some instances to State and Confederate authority. Many Union men sought to escape service in the Confederate army by flight into Mexico, and others went thither for the purpose of making their way into the Union lines at New Orleans and other points with the intention of enlisting in that army. Often squads of such men were intercepted by Confederate soldiers and arrested, and in many instances were forced into the army, but they usually deserted the first opportunity which offered of making their escape. In the summer of 1862 a company of about seventy Unionists started from Travis County to make their way to Mexico to join the Union army, and Lieutenant C. D. McRae, of the Second Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, who was on a scout with ninety-four men, struck their trail on the south fork of the Guadalupe River. He pursued them four days, and at daylight on August If overtook them on the Nueces River, about twenty miles from Fort Clark. He attacked them with great vigor in their camp, killed thirty-two of them, captured
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eighty-three head of horses, thirty-three guns, thirteen revolvers, and all their camp equipage and enough provisions for one hundred men for ten days ; and the survivors of the band sought safety in the adjacent cedar-brakes. Lieutenant McRae had two men killed and eighteen wounded. The party of Unionists were composed of sixty-three Germans, one Mexican, and five Americans, and all except the Americans are said to have fought with great fury and desperation ; these fled at the first fire. They were commanded by a German by the name of Fritz Tege- ner, who lived in the city of Austin.
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