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 20
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Following the "big talk" at San Antonio, it appears that the President succeeded in concluding a treaty of peace with the Comanches, at the Capital, signed on May 29, 1838,* by Secretary of State, R. A. Irion, and Dr. Ashabel Smith, for Texas, and chiefs Muguarroh, Muestyad and Muhy for the Indians. The Comanches were to quit stealing from, and murdering white people. The chiefs were to visit the seat of Government at stated times to discuss matters of mutual interest and to peaceably settle grievances. The following were some of the articles of the compact: "Art. 9. The Comanches bind themselves to make war upon all tribes of Indians that may make, or attempt to make, war on the trad- ers.
"Art. 10. The Comanches promise that they will stand by the white man and be his friend against all of his ene- mies * * * and will not kill him or steal his property.
"Art 11. Peace is never to die between the parties that make this agreement, they have shaken hands upon it, and the Great Spirit has looked down and seen their ac- tions. He will curse all the chiefs that tell a lie before his eyes. Their women and children cannot be happy."
But the ink was scarcely dry on the instrument before it was violated by these faithless and fiendish savages, whom we soon find not only "raiding, robbing and scalping as of yore, but with the reckless abandon of back-sliders."
A treaty of peace was entered into with the Wacos, Techuacanas, Keechies and Towash (Pawnee) Indians Sept. 2, 1838. It was negotiated by Holland Coffee near the mouth of the Washita in Fannin county.
* Archives-Indian Affairs-State Library.
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However impractical Houston's policy may have been we see that no efforts were lacking to conciliate the Indians. How far these measures served in preventing hostilities one cannot judge since the catalogue of crimes and trage- dies is seemingly most complete, as may be seen from a re- view of the history of this period.
SURVEYORS FIGHT ON BATTLE CREEK.
One of the bloodiest and hardest fought battles that ever took place on Texas soil between white men and In- dians was what is known in history as the Surveyors Fight, which occurred near the present village of Dawson, Navarro county, in October, 1838.
Omitting many details of thrilling incidents and acts of individual heroism in this celebrated encounter and fierce border drama, we shall give the principal facts of the affair as contained in a letter to the author from the late Gen. Wal- ter P. Lane, one of the participants, and who escaped the fearful conflict with life and lived to participate in many oth- er bloody battles-but none so hotly contested nor so fatal, considering numbers engaged and arms employed.
· Marshall, Texas, May 18, 1885.
· James T. DeShields, Esq., Belton, Texas.
Dear Sir :- Your letter asking me to give you an account of the fight with the Kickapoo Indians, September 8, 1838, is just to hand. In answer I will say that I was in a fight with the Indians on Richland Creek, (afterwards called Bat- tle Creek) but it has been so long ago I have forgotten most of the incidents.
We started-a surveying party of twenty-two men and a boy from Old Franklin, in Robertson county, Captain Neil commanding, and William Henderson, surveyor. We camped on the second day at Parker's Fort. Two years before that the Fort had been taken by the Comanches, the men killed, and the women and children taken into captivity.
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When we reached Battle Creek it was day, so we en- camped on the other side, some two miles beyond, where we found some 300 Kickapoo Indians killing buffalo for win- ter supplies. We got on very well with them till we com- menced surveying. They tried to frighten us off by stat- ing that the Ionies were coming down to kill us, and it would be laid on them. We would not go. The third day we came to camp in the morning to cook breakfast, when they begged us again to go. After breakfast we went back to resume our surveying where we left off. A mile from camp they ambuscaded us in a ravine; some fifty fired on us at forty yards. We charged them, when 100 more showed themselves in the timber behind them. At the same time 100 charged down upon us on horseback from the prairies. They rode around us, firing. We retreated to the head of a ravine in the prairie; its banks were some four or five feet high, with a few cottonwood trees growing on them. The In- dians got seventy-five yards below us and commenced firing. This was about nine o'clock. Whenever one of our men would put up his head to shoot, twenty-five Indians would pull down on him. The Indians had climbed up in these cot- tonwood trees in order to shoot over into the creek. A gal- lant gentleman, Mr. Euclid M. Cox, got behind a lone tree on the bank, and fired for several hours, shooting at the In- dians in the trees below, but exposing his body, he was shot through the spine. He fell from the tree, the Indians still firing at him. I ran up the bank took him by the shoulder, and, under heavy fire dragged him to the ravine. Mr. Cox was still alive when his companions made their escape but realizing that his wound was fatal he urged them to save themselves and leave him to his fate. Buttom, one of his companions, proposed to stay and die with him; he told But- ton there was no chance for him, giving him one of his pistols and told him that if he made his escape to give the pistol to his wife; the other, he took in his hand and re- marked that he would keep this one to defend himself with. Button made his escape and delivered the pistol as requested
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and it is now in the possession of Sheriff Cox of Hillsboro. Davis of Sam Augustine, who was well mounted, tried to. break through but the Indians caught and killed him in sight. We fought till twelve o'clock at night. We were waiting for the moon to cloud over before we charged through them to the bottom one fourth mile distant. At that time we broke through. The Indians kept thirty steps in our rear, firing. We would face around and fire. We had three horses left when we retreated, with two wounded men on each. Captain Neill was shot in the back and fell. He call- ed to me to help him on a horse, whose rider was just killed. Two of us got him on, but the horse and rider were both killed before they got twenty steps. I had got within one: hundred yards of the timber when I was shot in the leg, splintering the bone. I made out to reach a thicket in com- pany with Henderson and Button, the only two who were not wounded. We got into a deep ravine that led to the creek. I called to Henderson to stop and tie up my leg as: I was bleeding to death. He did so promptly. We went down some distance and heard the Indians following us. We climbed on the bank and lay down with our guns cocked. Twelve of them passed so close I could have touched them. We got on the creek an hour before day, and followed down till we found some muddy water. We left the creek and went on the bank till we found a log reaching to a brushy island. We crossed over it and lay hidden all day. We- could hear the Indians on the bank looking for us. At dark we started. When I got to my feet the pain from splinters of the bone was so great that I fainted. When I came to, I heard Button tell Henderson to come on and leave me, for I could not get to the settlements. I arose to my feet, cursed But- ton, and told him I would beat him to the settlements- which I did. We traveled two days without water before we. reached Tehuacana Hill. A party of Kickapoos found us at the spring (they did not know of our fight with their tribe) .. They pointed to my bloody leg and asked ."Who shot you"?" I told him we had a fight with the Ionies, and we had got lost:
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from our party going home. They took us to their camp, gave us plenty to eat, and their squaws treated us very kindly.
In two days after we got to Franklin the people raised a company and went to Battle Creek and buried th- bones of our men. Summed up, sixteen killed, seven escaped five of whom were badly wounded.
Mr. Violet had his thigh wounded in the edge of the timber. He ate green haws for two days and then struck out for Tehuacana Hill, distance twenty-five miles, on his hands and knees. The party we sent up found him nearly fam- ished, brought him to the settlement, and cared for him.
Yours truly, Walter P. Lane.
Further incidents occurring in the course of this fear- ful engagement and especially detailing the tragic fate of the brave Euclid M. Cox, are gleaned from a graphic narra- tive of this affair by Mr. T. H. Dixon who wrote from au- thentic data supplied by John P. Cox, a surviving son of the noble martyr-pioneer.
As Gen. Lane has stated, the little band of hardy pio- neers were surrounded on all sides and quickly realized that to charge in any direction would be certain death. The en- filade of the Indians was already fierce. In this dilemma they discovered near them the head of a ravine, the bed of which was some five or six feet in depth, and to which they made way with their wounded in all possible haste. On gaining this refuge they managed to check the on- slaught of the Indians and succeeded by cautious firing, bravery and alertness, in holding their position. But along the banks of the ravine no foliage appeared behind which they could conceal their position, other than a large and lone tree standing near the bank, and in order to shoot it be- came necessary for them to show their heads, and every time this was done a perfect fusillade of bullets whistled about them from the guns of the savages. Though partially
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protected by the friendly banks of the ravine the little band of brave and dauntless men were completely hemmed in on all sides by hordes of painted and yelling warriors.
"About noon (says Dixon) the daring and intrep- id Euclid M. Cox conceived the idea of gaining the shelter of the oak above mentioned, and by the use of extreme caution he managed to secrete himself in its foliage and from this place of concealment he managed for nearly two hours to pour a continuous and deadly fire into the savage
ranks. Unfortunately, however, in an unguarded moment, this hero exposed a portion of his body to the savages and they greeted its appearance with a perfect whirlwind of shot, one of which penetrated his spine causing him to fall to the ground, and the Indians noticing this, and believing that he was the leader of the party, redoubled their firing at that point. At the time of the fall of the brave man from the tree, Gen. Walter P. Lane, then in the prime and vigor of his early manhood, chanced to be in the ravine near by, and noting the imminent peril of his heroic and wounded companion, dashed from hiss place of refuge and with lead- en missiles hailing all about him, seized Cox by the shoul- ders and pulled him to the bed of the ravine. This heroie conduct of Walter P. Lane was but in keeping with his sub- sequent deeds of valor upon full many a hard fought field .*
"The rescue of Cox's wounded body, and the escape of Lane in safety back to the ravine appeared to arouse the fury of the savages to the utmost, and from that time for- ward until nightfall the hard pressed heroes found it a matter of extreme difficulty to hold the savages at bay. They realized that something must be done and that speedi- ly, for they had been fighting hard all day without food or water, and their thirst was becoming unbearable. A consul- tation was held and it was decided that upon the going down of the moon at midnight, they would make a desperate
¥Gen. Walter P. Lane was the last survivor of this memorable fight. The grand old hero of several wars and many similar border affrays, finally died in peace at an advanced age on January 28, 1892, and his remains rest in "Old Marshall Cemetery" at Marshall, Harrison county, Texas. Peace to his ashes.
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attempt to charge through the savages and gain the shelter of the timber, about half a mile distant.
"Among the survivors in the ravine, was a man by the name of Davis, who hailed from San Augustine who being well mounted, determined to make an effort to reach the tim- ber by charging through the savages single handed and alone in order to be in a position at midnight to aid his com- panions in their desperate resolve by opening fire upon the savages from the rear, hoping thereby to withdraw at- tention from the ravine until his companions could succeed in making considerable headway. He bade his companions good-by and started upon his desperate ride, but both horse and rider perished before they had gotten thirty yards. At last the moon sank to rest behind the horizon, and the little band began active preparations for their desperate charge. They had three horses left them and upon each they put two of their wounded who could ride.
"The brave and daring Cox realizing his position full well, and knowing that he had but a few hours to live, would not hear to his companions remaining behind with him, but in- sisted upon their taking their leave. One of the survivors, a young man who was in the employ of Cox, went to him and begged to be permitted to remain with him, but the dying hero would not hear to it, and taking one of the pistols from his belt, he handed it to his friend and request- ed that in the event of his escape he give the weapon to his beloved wife, then at their home in Washington county, and whose loved form he was destined never more to see upon this earth. This party was one of the few survivors of this massacre, and he carried out to the letter the in- structions of his dead employer. Mr. John P. Cox of Hills- boro, who has been for nearly a fifth of a century the sher- iff of Hill county, has that very pistol of his dead father in his possession to-day, and as he exhibited it to the writer his eyes beamed with pride and affection upon it. But let us proceed with the narrative.
"During that fearful midnight charge, all but three of
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the survivors of the day's fighting were killed or wounded, and among the latter was the heroic Walter P. Lane, who had his leg broken by a bullet, but managed to gain the timber in safety in spite of his wound. Smith, Button, and the gallant Col. W. F. Henderson were the three who es- caped unhurt, but amidst great suffering. In the charge, the party became separated, and one of their number wan- dered through the country alone for days and weeks, but finally succeeded in reaching the settlements. Violet, who had his leg broken, also became separated from his com- panions in that fearful charge and crawled twenty-five miles in that condition to Tehuacana Springs, where he was rescued a week later in a famished and almost dying con- dition. Henderson and Button with the wounded Lane slowly proceeded toward the settlements.
"The Indians knowing well the route they had to take or would take on the journey and being desirous of killing the entire party proceeded ahead, and waylaid the route they expected them to take. But fortunately for those gallant heroes, Love and Jackson, chanced to discover the Indians while returning from the settlement with the compass, and after a short skirmish succeeded in routing them. They were surprised upon proceeding some distance further, to meet Henderson and Button with the wounded Lane slowly walking into the trap set for them by the wily savages, and it was here that they first learned of the sad fate that had befallen their party. After carrying Lane to the settle- ment a burial party was organized and they set out for the purpose of interring their dead.
"Upon reaching the scene of the fight they recovered and buried beneath the spreading boughs of the oak on the bank of the ravine, the dead bodies of seventeen heroes. They found the dead body of the heroic Cox near where they had left him at his own request to die alone in the darkness of the night, for the reason that he knew he had received his death wound, and that any attempt to save him would be useless. When they left this hero on that
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fateful night, life was not entirely gone from his body and a loaded pistol was left with him, but on their return it was gone, and near him were pools of blood, indicating that he had dealt the death wound to at least another savage prior to the flight of his soul to that other world."
Should the tourist, seeking objects of historical interest, and shrines of hero worship chance to visit the vicinity of this desperate contest between white and red men in the long ago, he would behold beneath the boughs of a majestic, but a battle-scarred, oak, a beautiful shaft towering far above the surrounding undergrowth, and upon closer inspection he would find it chiseled with the names of the heroic dead who rest beneath it; the date and manner of their death, etc .- a fitting memorial erected a few years since, in commemora- tion of the gallant fight they made for the supremacy of the white man and civilization, by two loving sons of the gal- lant Euclid M. Cox; John P. Cox who has spent the best years of his life as a sheriff and in enforcing the laws of his country, and Rev. J. Fred Cox, a presiding elder of the M. E. church South, long laboring for the uplifting of man in Texas-a tribute of noble sons to the valor of their worthy sire and his equally gallant comrades who lost their lives in defense of this land against savagery. And reader, were you a stranger and knew not the legends of our border land, any Texan, with swelling pride and patriotic emotions, would tell you in substance the story here recounted-the traditions of our border history and the valorous deeds of our matchless pioneers that have been handed down, trans- mitted as it were, from bleeding sire to son .*
Hillsboro, Texas, February 14, 1899.
Mr. James T. DeShields, Farmersville, Texas.
Dear Sir: I send you herewith the photograph of the monument to the heroes of the Bat- tle Creek, or Surveyors fight, also of my fathers pistol. My father, Euclid M. Cox, was born in Kentucky, near Bowling Green. He came to Texas in February, 1832. I have his passport from New Orleans to Texas, given by the Mexican Council. He was in the battle of Concepcion and the Grass fight in 1835, and served under Gen. Sam Houston in the cam- paign of 1836.
I append a list of those who were killed in the Battle Creek fight, and whose names
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FATE OF OTHER SURVEYING EXPEDITIONS.
Earlier in this year, perhaps two or three months be- fore the occurrence of the Surveyors Fight, above narrated, the veteran surveyor, Col. Wm. F. Henderson, had lead a sur- veying party from Old Franklin to the same vicinity and succeeded in doing some work on Pin Oak, a small tributary of Richland creek, in Navarro county. But the party exper- ienced considerable trouble from Indians; one of the men- Holland-having been killed and the balance of the corps forced to desist from work and retreat to the settlements.
At the same time another surveying party conducted by Col. Richard Sparks from Fort Houston (now Palestine) pen- etrated the same section and attempted to survey lands- somewhat in conjunction with Henderson's party. But Spark's party also met with disaster-first, Berry, one of their men who became separated from his companions, was brutally murdered, and then the Indians attacked the party, killing Colonel Sparks and dispersing the balance, who escaped afoot and without food or arms with which to kill game, finally reaching the settlements in sad plight.
The sad and unsuccessful results of these and other expe ditions, going out of Old Franklin, Fort Houston and that section of the country, completely broke up the Springfield . and other more advanced settlements, and further efforts in that direction were not again attempted until about 1844-45 when the Indians were pushed back, effectual surveys ac- complished and the country regularly located and permanent- ly settled.
THE PIONEER MOTHERS OF TEXAS.
During the winter of 1837-8, Indians were exceedingly
appear on the monument: Euclid M. Cox, Tom Barton, Sam Allen, - Ingraham, - Davis, J. Hard, Asa T. Mitchell, J. Neal, Wm. Tremier, - Spikes, J. Bulloch, N. Baker, A. Hous- ton, P. M. Jones. James Jones, Dave Clark, J. W. Williams. The few to escape were Wal- ter P. Lane, W. F. Henderson, - Violet, - Button, and - Smith.
I hope to read your history soon, for I am satisfied it will be fine.
Yours truly John P Cox
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hostile toward the people of the Brazos, depredating to such ¿an extent that the few advanced settlers were compelled to re- move down to the more populous settlements. Among those to abandon their newly acquired homestead was Wm. Smith «and family, who had' located in the Brazos bottom. While loading their household effects into a wagon for moving, they were attacked by a party of Indians. Barring the doors of their log cabin, they prepared for defense, but un- fortunately found that most of their ammunition was in the wagon. The situation was critical, requiring quick and desperate action. The brave wife and mother was equal to the emergency-unmindful of her great peril-thinking only of protecting her loved ones-she opened the door, rushed to the wagon near by in the yard, and secured a supply of powder and lead, returned, with but slight wounds, amid a perfect shower of balls and arrows, and calmly set to work moulding bullets. Firing through the cracks with good aim as opportunity offered, Mr. Smith withstood the fierce and prolonged attack, cuasing the savages to retire with their wounded. As soon as expedient, the family retreated with their effects into the settlements. The following year, Mr. Smith participated, as we have seen, in the famous Battle Creek fight, and escaped to render much service on the southwestern frontier. He was a brave, Christian gentleman. His heroic and noble wife, noted for her many virtues, lived to rear an interesting and worthy family of sons and daugh- ters-one son, the late Prof. Smith of Old Salado College, be- ing personally known to the writer.
Forever honored and exalted be the memory of the no- ble and matchless pioneer mothers of Texas. Brave, hardy, and suffering severest trials without shirking or complaint, the highest tribute should be conferred on them, because "'a spirit so resolute, yet so adventurous, so unambitious yet so exalted-a spirit so highly calculated to awaken a dove of the pure and noble, yet so uncommon, never before actuated the ancestral matrons of any land or clime."
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1. REV. ANDREW DAVIS
3. COLLIN MC KINNEY
2. JNO. W. WILBARGER
4. ABRAM ANGLIN
TVN.
: IGR&MAY
Photo by Tautman,
MONUMEMT TO HEROES OF BATTLE CREEK FIGHT
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The mothers of our frontier land! Stout-hearted dames were they, With nerves to wield the battle-brand And join the border fray. Our rough land had no braver ones In the days of blood and strife- Aye, ready for the severest toil, Aye, free to peril life.
The mothers of our frontier land Their bosoms pillowed men! And proud indeed were they to stand In hummock, fort| or glen; To load the sure old rifle, To run the leaden ball, To stand beside a husband's place And fill it should he fall.
The mothers of our forest land, Such was their daily deeds, Their monument where does it stand ? Their epitaph! Who reads? No braver dames had Sparta, No nobler matrons Rome, And yet who lauds or honors them, In this their own green home?
EARLY DAYS OF BASTROP.
Like Gonzales on the Guadalupe, and Nashville on the Brazos, Bastrop on the Colorado, was for some years an ex- treme outpost, and in consequence suffered greatly from In- dian depredations. The town was first laid out by Stephen F. Austin in 1830, and named in honor of that early friend to the Austins and colonial Texas-the Baron de Bastrop. Some of the most prominent early defenders of Texas; as the Burlesons, the Wilbargers, the Wileys, the Hardemans, the Andersons, the Bartons, Robt. M. Williamson, High- smiths, Robt. M. Coleman, John Caldwell, Dalrymple,. Gil-
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leland, Barkley, John W. Pace, Bartlett Sims, Jesse ("Buck- skin") Billingsley, Cicero Rufus Perry, Geren Brown, John Eggleston, and many others of whom space forbids mention here, were residents of this town.
The municipality of Bastrop took an early and promi- nent part in the revolutionary movement for independence in 1835, being the first to organize a committee of safety.
Some of the stirring and bloody episodes occurring in and around this truly frontier town have already been nar- rated and other incidents will be briefly noted in this con- nection.
John Eggleston, an early settler and a worthy soldier in the Texas war of independence, was killed by Indians in the town of Bastrop. Wilbarger furnishes the following inci- dents of his tragic fate :
"Near Eggleston's residence, one of his neighbors, Car- ter Anderson, had picketed in a large lot for the safe keep- ing of his stock, the gate of which was fastened every night with a chain and padlock. One dark night in January, 1838, Eggleston happened to be walking on the street near Anderson's lot. Hearing a rattling of the chain at the gate and thinking probably some one was trying to enter it, he concluded to investigate the matter. As he approached he heard, as he thought, the grunting of hogs, and see- ing several dark objects moving in the vicinity, he naturally supposed they were hogs and turned to retrace his step. Just as he did so an arrow struck him in the breast. Eggleston fled, crying out 'Indians' as he went. There were a few men on guard at the time, who heard his . cries and hurried to his assistance, but they were unable : to pursue the Indians, for the night was a very dark one, and they made their escape. Eggleston survived for three days in great agony."
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