USA > Texas > Border wars of Texas; being an authentic and popular account, in chronological order, of the long and bitter conflict waged between savage Indian tribes and the pioneer settlers of Texas > Part 11
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A messenger rode rapidly from the "Falls" to give warning of this danger, but unfortunately, arrived too late the wily foe having slipped in, murdered a settler, stole a number of horses and left-eluding the quick pursuit of a small party of citizens under Edward Burleson.
Meantime some travelers, halting at the "Falls, "lost some horses-strayed away-and employed Canoma to recover them, furnishing him with written authority for that purpose. The aged chief with his wife and son, following the track of the straying animals westward, found them near the Three Forks of Little River. "If he had returned at once to the settlements" says Kenney, "it would have saved the life of himself and son, and spared the historian a painful duty ; but, being in no hurry, he stopped to hunt, and while in camp was found by the party from Bastrop, who were pursuing the marauders." 1
Canoma produced his credentials, which must have been convincing, since it was plainly impossible for him to have forged them. But, finding they were deliberating about taking his life, he begged them to go with him to the "Falls," thirty miles away, where the owners of the horses were, to verify his statement-a request which could not with any reason be refused; but it was left to a vote, and a fatal ma- jority condemned the plainly innocent man to death .* Ca- noma and son were tied to trees and shot-the squaw being spared to find her way in alone to her people. Though not
*Brown, somewhat apologetically, says Burleson and party were not aware of the old chief's faithfulness, but that Burleson was disposed to honor his credentials. His men, however, "already incensed, and finding Canoma in possession of the horses under such sus- picious circumstances, gave rein to unreasoning exasperation-ever lamented by the chiv- alrous and kind hearted Burleson." But the tainted page cannot be expunged from our history,
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censuring the Brazos people, the report of this cold-blooded act greatly incensed the remainder of the band, who mow left the settlement under their second, or war-chief, Choc- taw Tom, for the Indian country-themselves declaring war agaisnt the Coloradoans.
Thus the smoldering sparks were being farmed, and as the settlers continued to push out further, and bolder, disre- garding the fancied rights and privileges of the different tribes, the flames of savage warfare were being kindled along the entire frontier.
ROUTING THE KEECHIS.
In May of this year, in consequence of some depreda- tions; and suspecting the small tribe of Keechis, a company of about thirty Cummings settlement men armed, mounted, and left Washington-on-the-Brazos, against these Indians. Arriving at their village on Boggy Creek, a tributary of the Trinity in what is now Leon county, they were met by the head men of the tribe, who professed surprise, stoutly de- claring their innocence and friendship; and in proof ex- hibited a treaty with them signed by the empresario Ster- ling C. Robertson.
"We were about to depart without molesting them," says Joel W. Robinson, who was in the expedition, "when some of our men, in looking about the village, saw and re- cognized several horses which had been stolen from the set- tlements on the Colorado. Finding they were detected, the Keechis seized their arms. We fired on them, killing two of their number, when they took refuge in a thicket contiguous to the village, which was afterwards burned. None of our men were injured. Papers were found in the village which were known to have been on the person of a young, man named Edwards who was killed by the Indians twenty, miles below Bastrop, a few months previously.
"We immediately collected about thirty head of horses and started homeward. As we expected the Indians would
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pursue us and make an effort to recover their horses, a strong guard was placed around our camp the ensuing night. At a late hour one of the sentinels fired off his gun and ran into camp crying 'Indians!' The night was unusually dark, and the men, suddenly aroused from sleep, mistook one another for the enemy. Some clubbed their rifles and knocked down their messmates. Several shots were also fined, and one man (Benjamin Castleman) was killed and amother wounded, before the mistake was discovered. I think it probable that the sentinel really saw Indians, but they did not molest us. We returned home without further mishap. Both Major Oldham and Capt. John York claimed the command of this company, and were constantly quarrel- ing about it, but neither of them was ever fully recognizedi as such by the men."
COLEMAN'S FIGHT-MOORE'S EXPEDITION.
Following this summary chastisement of the Keechis, Captain Robert M. Coleman, of Bastrop, with a company of twenty-five, three of whom were Brazos men and well known to many of the Indians, crossed the Brazos at Wash- ington, on the fourth of July, enroute to the Tehuacana vil- lage, at the famous springs of that name, now in Limestone county.
The purpose of this expedition, it is said, was to hold council amd form a treaty with the tribe, but spies gave warning of an armed force approaching, and taking it for granted that their intentions were hostile, the Indians took strong position in their rifle pits, dug in the ground, firing upon the whites as they came within range. A desperate fight now ensued in which a number of Indians fell, but they were obstinate and held their ground, repelling all efforts to dislodge them from their strongholds; and in the end compelling Coleman and his small force to retreat, with the loss of one man killed and four wounded.' :
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Halting at Fort Parker, two and a half miles from the present town of Groesbeck, Coleman sent messengers to the settlements for reinforcements, and was soon joined by three volunteer companies, under Captains Robert M. William- son, (the gifted, dauntless, eloquent and eccentric three- leg'ged Willie) George W. Bennett and - Caheen. i
The whole was under the chief command of Col. Johm H. Moore, with Joseph C. Neill (a soldier of the Horse- shoe) as adjutant; the combined forces immediately march- ing to the village, but the Indians had timely warning and fled.
Thus foiled in their plans to retaliate and punish the wily Tehuacanas, the forces now scoured the country to the forks of the Trinity, near the subsequent site of Dallas, passing over to and down the Brazos; crossing that river where old Fort Graham later stocd, and returned home after a trip of several weeks. But few Indians were en- countered on the trip-one warrior who was killed, and a few women and children who were captured, carried into settlements, and sold for slaves-the only instance in all the Indian wars of Texas .*
Although failing to engage the enemy and to strike them a decisive blow, these expeditions and military demon- strations were not without their results-says Yoakum: "This seasonable display of force on the frontier was of great service, as it over-awed the Indians, and also tended to discipline the volunteers, and prepare them for the toils and triumphs that awaited them at home. As expressed in the somewhat pompous language of one of Austin's 'original 300,' 'this campaign on the frontier was of great service, as it gave the Indians an idea of what the Texans could and would do if they continued to bother them.' "
*"The same experiment," says Kenney. "had been tried in all the States, but it had always proved a failure, as it did in this instance. The Indians would not work even in slavery, and, unfortunately, not in any other condition."
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HEROIC DEFENSE OF THE TAYLOR FAMILY.
Besides serving as a connecting link in the long and bloody chain of our frontier history, the following incident is of further consideration as illustrating the wonderful hero- ism of the pioneer women of Texas.
As early as 1833-4 the brave and hardy pioneers of Rob- ertson's Colony, or "Milam Land District," as it was af- terwards known, had pushed as far west as the present county seat of Bell county. Among the first - truly ad- vance-guards, and for some time thereafter the outermost inhabitants in that direction-were the Taylor family, who settled near the Three Forks of Little River, in what is now known as "Taylor's Valley," some three miles southeast of the present city of Belton, and almost the same distance above the "Falls."
The home was a double log cabin with covered but un- floored, passage between-a door to each cabin opening to the passage; the shutters of riven slats, failing to reach to the top and leaving an opening of several inches.
The family consisted of Joseph Taylor and wife; two grown daughters, and two sons, Stephen, the oldest, 13 or 14 years of age all the children by a former, deceased hus- band, Mr. Frazier.
In the night of November 12th., 1835,* on the light of the moon, and after the family had retired-the parents and girls in one room; the two boys in the other-a party of eleven Kickapoo Indians attacked the house. The first intimation of danger was the fierce barking of a faith- ful watch-dog which, however, was soon silenced with an arrow. Approaching nearer, the Indians in broken English accosted Mr. Taylor, demanding to know how many men were in the house: "We have a plenty of mem, well armed
*News, however important the event, did not travel so fast in that pioneer time, as now. There were no telephones; no telegraph, to flash the occurrence of this affair to the only newspaper then published in all Texas, that its readers might scan the headlines or read the details of this thrilling incident. Just twenty days elapsed before the matter found its way into print.
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and ready to fight," answered Taylor. "You lie, one man!" shouted the red skin as he peered through a small crack. Whereupon Taylor thrust him with a board causing his hasty retreat.
Meantime Mrs. Taylor threw open the door and called the boys to her room, which they reached unharmed amid & shower of balls and arrows. At this moment and just as Mrs. Taylor succeeded in barring and securing the door with a heavy table, a powerful warrior violently shook the shutter, demanding admittance, saying, "Me poor In- dian. Want tobacco-no fight.". To which Mrs. Taylor boldly replied: "No admittance, and no presents for red devils."' The attack now commenced in earnest, the brave Mrs. Taylor commanding the forces within. Placing a ta- ble against the door, she armed and mounted the young- est boy, only twelve years old, with instructions to shoot the first Indian that came in range, while the two girls were set to moulding bullets, that the supply might not give out. For once the boy on the table found the opening over the door shutter, a convenience. Procuring an axe from the wood-pile, one of the fiends started' for the door and had reached the covered passage-way, when the brave little boy fired and the Indian dropped dead. Seeing the fate of his comrade, another demon rushed up and attempted to drag the dead one away, when with the same accuracy as the boy, Taylor fired, felling the second Indian, mortally wounded, across the first one. The redskins were now more cautious, resorting to strategy rather than hazard the dangers of direct attack. The farthest end of the vacated room was fired, and as the flames made rapid headway, the exultant fiends danced and indulged in most demoniacal yells, which fell heavily on the ears of the besieged and now seemingly doomed inmates. And now it was that Mr. Taylor, consid- ering their fate sealed, became very much dispirited, and suggested to his wife that they rush out and surrender. "They will doubtless kill me, but make you and the children prisoners. In that event you must drop bits of clothing .on
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the way so that friends cam follow and recapture you." But the heroic wife and mother with great earnestnss and resolute determination responded : "No! I had rather perish in the flames; had rather die a thousand deaths, and see my daughters killed, rather than they should suffer the shame and agonizing tortures of captivity in the hands of such merciless and savage fiends! No! you must take cour- age and fight. We must defend ourselves to the last, and if the worst come, die bravely together !" This brave hearted matron infused her dauntless spirit into all.
Meanwhile the flames were making rapid headway in the roof, and the fate of the family now indeed seemed sealed, the fire would soon consume them, or force them to leave the house to meet a worse fate at the hands of the relentless foe, unless it was checked. But the heroic Mrs. Taylor in her desperate determination to save her loved ones, was equal to the emergency, declaring they would yet win the contest and all be saved. Fortunately there was a small barrel of home-made vinegar in the room, and the usual supply of milk. With those she declared she could put out the fire, and, suiting her action to the resolution, and with a degree of courage evinced by few," she mounted a table and ascended the log wall to the roof. Removing the ''weight poles" and quickly clearing away the boards or rivem shingles, making an opening in advance of the fire, and then baring her head and chest to the constant fire of the enemy, she coolly amd judiciously distributed the fluids as they were passed up to her, quenching and arresting the further spread of the flames. And surely old Mars smiled on this Spartan-like matron as she regained the floor un-
*Afterwards, in relating this feat to Capt. Shapley Ross, Mrs. Taylor said she thought not of personal danger from the arrows of the Indians, abusing them all the while. In the covered passage-way already described, there was suspended by bear grass thongs, a quantity of "jerked" buffalo and bear meat. As the heat and flames reached this part of theroof, the fat "bacon" was ignited and began to fry-the intensely hot grease streaming down on the wounded Indian, virtually cooking him alive, and causing him to utter the most hideous and agonizing yells, greatly to the delight of Mrs. Taylor, who looked down upon the squirming wretch and exclaimed: "Howl, you yellow brute! You are not fit to feed to hogs! But we'll roast you for the wolves !! ''
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harmed, but with several bullet holes in and through her cloth- ing. While these scenes were transpiring, Mr. Taylor and the eldest som were not idle. A horse was tied near the house in the yard; an Indian attempted to secure the ani- mal; Mr. Taylor fired and the thief fled, wounded. About the same time the boy, Stephen Frazier, secured aim and wounded another. The contest was now varying somewhat in favor of the besieged. But the enemy were loath to give up the contest. The vigilant eye and ear of Mrs. Taylor now discovered cre of the Indians in the outer chimney corner, endeavoring to start a fire and at the same time peering through a considerable hole burnt in the dirt and wood "jam," for a shot. Securing a large wooden shovel- ful of live coals and embers, she threw them full into his face and bosom, causing the red devil to spring away with an agonizing "waugh! ugh !"-to which Mrs. Taylor somewhat facetiously ejaculated: "Take that you yellow varmint, it will help you to kindle your fire!" This "hero- ic," ocular treatment, it was afterwards learned, partially destroyed the Indian's sight.
Thus discomfitted and foiled, the Indians withdrew, and after a short consultation, gave up the attack and left.
An hour or so later, the heroic family decided to leave their dismantled home-first secreting their bedding and some other valuables in the Leon bottom, one of the boys serving as sentiel from the house top while this was being done-and make their way to their nearest neighbor, Capt. Gouldsby Childress, who had built a cabin on Little River, about seven miles below, and rear the present town of Rog- ers, where they arrived schon after daylight.
In the forenicicm of the same day, George W. Chapman, in command of a small company of rangers stationed at the "Falls" of the Brazos, arrived at the Taylor cabin and were greatly surprised to find it dismantled and deserted, and naturally supposed the family had been carried into capti- vity, or murdered. The rangers cut off the heads of the two dead and charred Indians, stuck them on long poles, and
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raised them as a gruesome warning to other hostiles that might pass that way.
Reverting thus far into the misty past-this thrilling episode occurred full three quarters of a century ago-to- day a beautiful and' substantial city, in point of numbers equal almost to the then combined white population of Tex- as, burst upon the vision of the writer-enlivened by the shrill whistle of locomotives and the humming spindles of busy factories as he stands upon the spot once covered by the Taylor home. A marble shaft should be reared to com- memorate the heroism of this noble family of pioneers-the prominent figure of which should be a woman-the heroic Mrs. Taylor, rifle in hand, in fighting attitude.
All the participants in affair have passed away-Mr. Taylor soon thereafter; the noble Mrs. Taylor, "im 1851 or '52," says Capt. Shapley Ross, "re-occupied the old homestead, the scene of her desperate experience, in Tay- lor's Valley, in Bell county, and is said to have died there." Mrs. Chapman, the eldest daughter, survived till a few years ago.
A few years before his death, the gallant ranger chief, Col. "Rip" Ford, in response to the author's request for data on this affair, wrote:
"During 1888 the writer was at Pleasanton, Atascosa county, where he met Mrs. Chapman, the widow of Capt. Geo. W. Chapman, as brave an Indian fighter as ever get foot in Texas soil-winning his first spurs as lieutenant in Capt. Shapley Ross' ranger company ; and who died in 1879. Mrs. Chapman was the eldest daughter of Mrs. Taylor and participated in the thrilling episode referred to. At that time Chapman made his home with the Taylor's, but was absent when the fight occurred. i
"Mrs. Chapman explained the cause of the difficulty. 'A party of Tonkawa Indians were camped near Taylor's house. A party of Kickapoos were krown to be in the vi- cinity. The Tonkawas informed Mr. Taylor they were going to steal the horses of the Kickapoos. Mr. Taylor insisted
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they should not, because their proximity to his home might implicate him. They agreed to move away, but jsiled to do so, till they had stolen the horses and maneuvered so to cause the Kickapoos to blame Taylor. Preparations were made for defense in case of trouble-Taylor had only two gung; Chapman had gone to Nashville to procure more. He reached the Taylor home about, daylight, and finding it part- ly consumed and vacated, and naturally supposing the in- mates had been murdered, perhaps burned or carried off captives, he hastened back to Nashville and told the sad news. A company of rangers and citizens was quickly en- route to the scene-they met the Taylor family on the way. The fugitives were in a sad plight; their clothing almost torn to pieces from contact with the bushes and briars; in reality they were almost naked from the waist down .- Said Mrs. Chapman: 'All of us were in a state of undress. My two brothers were almost without clothing. We were much fatigued, and hungry; everything to eat had been burned. When we reached the house of Mr. Childress, we were well treated. After we had been there sixteen days our dog came to us, but he never recovered from' his wound.' As the Kickapoos surrounded the house, Mr. Taylor talked with them and asked them to desist till he could explain; that he would go with them to the Tonkawa camp next day and prove his innocence; but they refused, saying he was a party to the theft. The beleaguered family understood the situation. There was no chance to escape. It was fight, and the chances were to die. 'Mrs. Taylor advocated fight- ing to the bitter end. True heroine, she deserves a monument, mot of marble alone, but a place in the heart of every one who admires undaunted courage-mor- al and physical-and which menacing dangers cannot shake nor time abate."
"P. S. 'Captain Chapman, my late husband,' says Mrs. Chapman, 'came to us at the home of Mr. Childress. He had been to our house. The bodies of the two Indians were being eaten by the hogs. Both the rooms of the house were burned. He supposed the hogy were feasting on the
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dead bodies of the Taylor family and knew no better till he reached the house of Mr. Childress.'"
Briefly refering to "The Taylor Fight" in a note to the Belton (Texas) Journal in 1886, the Hom. Geo. W. Tyler, himself the worthy son of a noble Texas pioneer- Judge Orville T. Tyler - said: "Mrs. Chapman vis- ited her friends in Bell county some nine or ten years ago, when I called upon her and obtained a very full account of the whole affair, which I reduced to writing at the time in the form of notes, but they were destroyed when my office burned in 1879. She was a mere child when the fight occurred, but her recollections of the minutest details were vivid, accurate and interesting. Mrs. Chapman lives in Atascosa county. Her husband, Geo. W. Chapman, now deceased, was a brother of Mr. W. S. Chap- man of Temple. He lived formerly in Bell county, and was, as I understand it, a justice of the peace at the first or- ganization of the county, for one of the county precincts. There is a story among the old settlers to the effect that when he held his last term of court, a difficulty arose among the bystanders, and the constable attempted to re- store order, whereupon the crowd ran the constable away, and there was therefore, mo officer present to make pro- clamation of the adjournment of 'His Honor's' court, and that said court has remained open ever since."
To the late Capt. W. T. Davidson-one of the very early residents of old Nashville-we are indebted for many valuable notes on the Taylor fight and other early incidents in that section. He says: "I write entirely from memory, and after the lapse of many years, but in the main think I am accurate. The Taylor family and my mother with her family of five children (the Comanches having murdered my father in 1836), lived after the in- cident at the town of Nashville on the Brazos, and some twenty five miles below the scope of Taylor's fight; and I have heard Mrs. Taylor relate the affair to my mother on many occasions.
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"There were many stirring events taking place all the time; ome in which Joe Taylor, of Taylor's Valley fight fame, participated. He was carrying the mail between Nashville an'd Independence, and was returning after night when with- in about two miles of town he discovered five or six In- dians just above the road sitting on their horses. Taylor bailed them, and at the same time put spurs to his horse with the Indians right at his heels. On and on they came like a whirlwind into town. One big, stalwart fellow came right alongside and tried to grapple his bridle reins. Tay- lor, who was carrying a rifle, but being so closely pursued, was unable to use it up to this time, struck the Indian over the head and landed him on the ground. The people of the town soon collected around Taylor and wanted to know what he was making all that noise about-hollering 'run here boys, run here boys!' He then related his experience and showed a wound he had received at the hands of the red devils."
The "Three Forks of Little River," constituted by the juncture of the Leon, the Lampasas and the Salado, and designated by the Mexicans as well as the early American settlers, as the "San Andres," was a notable locality in the colonial and pioneer period of Texas, many stirring epi- sodes occurring in and around the vicinity. Speaking of the Lampasas, (Water Lily) and the Salado, (Saltish) it may be of interest to know the names of these two streams were, in some way, perhaps by blundering geographers, transposed-the original nomenclature being characteristic, of the two waters, while the unfortunate change is notice- ably incongruous. In like manner were the "Brazos" and "Colorado" misnomered.
In September of this year surveying parties were fit- ted out by Thomas A. Graves, for locating lands in the then rapidly settling Robertson's Colony. While working on the San Gabriel they were surprised' by a band of dep- redating Indians-two of the party killed, and the others barely escaping by flight.
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TRIALS OF EARLY EMIGRANTS.
In November following, the same month in which oc- eurred the Taylor attack, and in the same locality, W. C. Sparks, his negro man, Jack, and Michael Reed, with an ox wagon loaded with corn, left the now unknown, but then important point called "Tenoxtitlan," to seek a camping place and ultimate home on the "Rio San Andres" (now Little River) about ten or twelve miles southeast of the present city of Belton. The sequel is best given by John Henry Brown, an acknowledged authority on matters of Texas border history :- "Sparks, Reed and Jack ar- rived and pitched camp at a point on Little River on what has since been known as the Sparks League. They on the same day, constructed a pen in which to place their corn. As the night approached, Mr.Reed crossed the river and passed his first night on Little River in the camp of a newly arrived emigrant named John Welsh. Outside of the Taylor family that entire country was then a vast, but beautiful and lovely solitude. In most other outside locali- ties, as at Bastrop, Gonzales, Tenoxtitlan and elsewhere, families congregated for the time being in a special settle- ment and had their temporary fields around them, whereby all the available force could be rallied in a moment for defense. But these men on Little River had no such nucle- us. They took life with all its hazards and moved in the very heart of an Indian country.
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