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 26
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No language can tell the horror of the innocent people
* "At the time of this raid," says John Henry Brown, "the country between the Guadalupe and San Marcos, on the west, and the Colorado on the east, above a line drawn from Gonzales to La Grange, was a wilderness, while between that line it was thinly set- tled. Between Gonzales and Austin, on Flum Creek, were two recent settlers-Isom J. Good and John A. Neil. From Gonzales to within a few miles of Austin there was not a settler. There was not one between Austin and San Antonio. A road from Gonzales to Austin had been opened in July, 1839."
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when they saw a thousand red demons suddenly rising in their saddles and with fiendish yells killing the defense- less citizens, some of them in their beds. Resistance was ut- terly useless and the terror stricken men, women and chil- dren rushed for the small boats lying in Lavaca Bay. The warwhoop of the wild Comanches, the cries of women and children and the groans of the dying, presented a scene of horror upon which the rising sun never before dawned. The bloody demons pursued the fleeing men, women and child- ren into the water. Among those killed was Captain H. O. Watts, collector of customs. He and his beautiful bride were captured between the shore and the boats. He was killed and his young bride was ruthlessly dragged back to the shore and carried away as captive. The majority of the inhabitants escaped to the boats, but all others were murdered or carried away captives.
Linville was the shipping point for a large portion of South-western Texas and Mexico and was at that time well supplied with all sorts of merchandise. The exulting Co- manches greedily sacked the stores and private residences and packed several hundred more horses and mules with every kind of merchandise, elegant dresses and bed clothes from private residences. They now bedecked themselves with red ribbons and gay clothing captured, and rode up and down the streets yelling like demons and fired the town, burning every house except one.
What language can express the horror of the innocent men, women and children as they stood on the boats in the bay and looked upon their once happy homes, burning to ashes, and remembering many of their loved ones lay bleed- ing in the streets!
BATTLE AT PLUM CREEK.
The exulting Comanches, with three or four thousand horses and mules, many of them heavily packed with goods plundered at Victoria and Linville, began their retreat. They had glorious visions of the grand feasts and "War Dances"
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they would have when they reached their mountain home and displayed the scalps and the untold wealth, and the women and children they had captured.
But, says one, God gave Texas heroes and path-finders, who were ever ready to avenge such bloody raids. Among these were "Old Gotch" Hardeman, Henry McCulloch, John H. Moore,, "Paint" Caldwell, Ed. Burleson and others.
The vigilant Ben McCulloch with a small force, was al- ready in pursuit-and in fact had engaged the enemy. He sent Burleson the following dispatch: "General : The Indians have sacked and burned the town of Linville, and carried off several prisoners. We made a draw fight with them at Casa Blanco- could not stop them. We want to fight them before they get to the mountains. We have sent express- men up the Guadalupe."
Messengers rode swift in every direction, and at a mo- ment's warning, every man seized his gun, mounted and rushed to the place of rendezvous. Those near La Grange met at Col. Jno. H. Moore's, those near Bastrop met at Gen. Ed. Burleson's, those near Webberville at "Paint" Cald- well's, and' all concentrated at the point suggested by Gen. Burleson, who ordered all to meet and attack the Comanches at Good's Crossing on Plum Creek, two miles from where the town of Lockhart now stands and twenty-seven miles below Austin. The grand old hero Paint Caldwell with eighty- two men, first reached the place of rendezvous August 1. Next morning the scouts reported a thousand Indians coming on the prairie with vast herds of horses and mules, and sev- eral women and children. But Burleson, nor Moore, nor Mc- Culloch, nor Hardeman had arrived; was it safe for eighty- two men to attack a thousand Comanches? However, as they looked upon the awful spectacle, and saw them moving along with women and children, Caldwell could hold in no longer, but yelled out: "Boys, yonder they go and they have got our women and children-they are a thousand strong- but we can whip hell out of them! Shall we fight?" All shouted, "Yes, fight, fight !"
But at that time a courier came galloping up crying,
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"General Burleson with one hundred Texans and thirteen Tonkawas and old Placido are coming !" In the meantime Gen. Felix Huston arrived, and as Major General of the mi- litia, took command.
The Indians were exceedingly anxious to defer the bat- tle until they could get their packmules with the vast plunder and captured women and children beyond reach of the infuriated Texans. And General Huston was equally anxious to defer the battle until more recruits came. Several bluff old Indian fighters told him he knew nothing about fighting Indians, that he ought to resign and let Gen Burle- son command. But this was Gen. Huston's first chance for glory. The Indian chiefs did all in their power to intimi- date the Texans and hold them back until they could get their plunder and captives far removed. Several of the In- dian chiefs charged up in front of the Texans and hurled de- fiant arrows and spears at them. One of these daring chiefs rode a fine horse with a fine American bridle, with a red rib- bon eight or ten feet long tied to the tail of his horse. He was dressed in elegant style from the goods plundered at Victoria and Linville, with a high-top silk hat, fine pair of boots, leather gloves and an elegant broad-cloth coat hind- part before with brass buttons shining brightly up and down his back. When he first made his appearance he car- ried a large umbrella stretched. He and others would charge upon the Texans, shoot their arrows, and retreat. This was done several times in reach of our guns. Soon the discovery was made that they wore shields, and though our men took good aim, the bullets glanced. An old Texan, getting as near the place as was safe, waited patiently till they came up, and as the Indian wheeled his horse his shield flew up. The Texan fired and brought him to the ground. Several others fell at the same time. Then the In- dians began their retreat, and would soon have been beyond the reach of the Texans.
Gen. Huston was now told by the gallant McCulloch and Gen. Burleson that the time had come when they must fight, and he reluctantly gave the order, "Charge!" Never
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was a command obeyed with wilder shouts. Every man was a hero, and the conscience-stricken, blood-stained Co- manches were swept away like chaff before a tornado.
The Indians fled in wild confusion. Not one thought of saving anything but his own scalp. They abandoned their three thousand horses and plunder, and the captured women and children. But they could not forego the fiendish pleasure of murdering Mrs. Crosby, her child and nurse. They also shot an arrow into the bosom of the lovely young bride, Mrs. Watts, and left her as dead. But Rev. Z. N. Morrell and Dr. Brown heard her screams in a thicket and went to her assistance. They extracted the arrow, and she recovered and lived many years-never for- getting her awful experience-and died at Port Lavaca, in 1878.
The enraged Texans pursued the Indians, and killed them for twelve or fifteen miles out, till they finally gained safety in the brakes and mountains.
Thus ended the great raid of 1840-the most remark- able in our border annals so far as Indian affairs are con- cerned. It was a wonderful era in Texas history; indeed it was the turning point. Had the Comanches been success- ful, they confidently intended, with the horses, mules and ma- terials captured, to equip a formidable war party of two or three thousand Indians for a grand re-raid down the Colo- rado to the Gulf, plundering and devastating the fairest portion of Texas. In the meantime Generals Canalizo and Woll, with some three thousand Mexican cavalry, were to rush forward, capturing San Antonio and Austin, with all booty. Chief Bowles and his Cherokees were to move down and destroy the eastern portion of the state; the Wa- cos, Apaches and allied tribes raiding down the Brazos, and central Texas, thus utterly wiping out the Texans. "But in the good Providence of God, we had heroes true and brave, who quickly rallied, and uniting under their tried and cho- sen leaders, crushed out this diabolical purpose for the ruin of Texas. The defeated and routed Comanches fled to their
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mountain homes, overwhelmed with the conviction that the Texans were quick of action, fearlessly brave, and invincible of purpose-against any odds."
The savages were crestfallen and chagrinned, and sul- lenly retired to their mountain haunts to brood over defeat, and to plan revenge-on their Mexican allies, who had failed to fulfill their agreement, after inciting the Indians and promising to join them with their forces in a grand re- raid of the whole country. And for this breaking of faith it is said the Mexicans suffered severely .*
HUSTON'S OFFICIAL REPORT.
Many thrilling incidents and acts of individual bravery on the part of the charging Texans might be related did space permit. It is in justice to the subject that the offi- cial report of the commander of the forces should be given -supplying, as it does, important facts-and it follows :
On Plum Creek, 5 miles west of Good's.
August 12, 1840. To the Hon. B. T. Archer, Secretary of War.
I arrived on yesterday evening and found Capt. Cald- well encamped on Plum Creek with about one hundred mem. This morning I was requested to take the command, which I did, with the consent of the men. I organized them into companies, under the command of Captains Caldwell, Bird and Ward. About 6 o'clock a. m. the spies reported that Indians were approaching Plum Creek. I crossed above the trail about three miles, and passed down on the west side; on arriving near the trail I was joined by Col. Burle- son with about one hundred men, under the command of Col. Jones, Lieut. Col. Wallace and Major Hardeman. I imme-
*"In October (1840) more than 400 warriors penetrated into Mexico, some 400 miles; they killed, scalped, burned and destroyed everything they could; their track could be traced for miles by the burning ranches and villages. They carried off a great many fe- male captives, and thousands of horses and mules, and escaped safely to their strongholds in the monntains with their booty. The State of Nueva Leon suffered the most severely from this onset, having more than 700 inhabitants killed, and the State of Coahuila nearly as many .- "Captain Flack's "The Texas Rifle Hunter," p. 133.
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diately forned into two lines, the right commanded by Col. Burleson, and the left commanded by Capt. Caldwell, with a reserve commanded by Maj. Hardeman, with Capt. Ward's company. On advancing near the Indians, they formed for action, with a front of woods on their right, (which they oc- cupied), their lines extending nearly a quarter of a mile into the prairie. I dismounted my men and a handsome fire was opened-the Indian chiefs cavorting around in splendid style, on front and flank, finely mounted, and dressed in all the splendor of Comanche warfare. At this time seve al In- dians fell from their horses, and we had three or four men wounded. Finding that the Indians were disposed to keep at a distance, and that a large body were assembled in the woods, I ordered Col. Burleson, with the right wing, to move around the point of woods, and Captain Caldwell, with the left wing, to charge into the woods; which movements were executed in gallant style. The Indians did mot stand the charge, and fled at all points; from that time there was a warm and spirited pursuit for fifteen miles; the Indians scattered, mostly abandoning their horses and taking to the thickets. Nothing could exceed the animation of the men, and the cool and steady manmer in which they would dis- mount and deliver their fire. Upwards of forty Indians were killed-two prisoners (a squaw and child) taken; and we have taken upwards of two hundred horses and mules, many of them heavily packed with the plunder of Linville and the lower country. There is still a large amount of good horses and mules which are not gathered in. Of the captives taken by the Indians below, we have only been able to retake one -Mrs. Watts, of Linville-who was wounded by the Indians with an arrow when they fled. Mrs. Crosby was speared, and we understand that all the others were killed. We have lost one killed and seven wounded-one mortally. I cannot speak too highly of the Colorado, Guadalupe and Lavaca militia, assembled so hastily together, and without organiza- tion. I was assisted by Major Izod, Colonel Bell, Captain Howard and Captain Neil, as volunteer aids, all of whom rendered essential service. Colonel Burleson acted with
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that cool, deliberate and prompt courage and conduct which he has so often and gallantly displayed in almost every In- dian and Mexican battle since the war commenced. Capt. Caldwell, also a tried Indian fighter, led on his wing to the charge with a bold front and a cheerful heart. Colonel Jones, Lieut. Col. Wallace, Major Hardeman, and each of the captains commanding companies, acted with the utmost cour- age and firmmess.
To conclude, I believe we have given the Comanches a lesson which they will long remember; mear four hundred of their bravest warriors have been defeated by half their number, and I hope and trust that this will be the last of their depredations on our frontier.
On tomorrow I contemplate embodying as many men as I can, and if we have a sufficient number of good horses, pursue the Indians, in the hopes that we may overtake them before they reach the mountains. Colonel Moore joined us this evening with about 170 men, horses very hard ridden.
I have the honor to be,
Your most obedient servant,
Felix Huston, Major-General, T. M.
INDIANS ATTACK KINNEY'S FORT AND ARE RE- PULSED.
During August, Kinney's Fort on Brushy Creek, about eighteen miles from Austin, was attacked by Indians. They expected to take its inmates unawares, and would have done so had it not been for Joseph Weeks. He heard what he at first supposed to be owls hooting, but paid little attention to the sounds until he noted many answering hoots from various directions.
He listened attentively, until his practiced ear assured him that the cries were uttered by human throats, and then summoned his companions to arms, and started a messenger to the nearest settlement for assistance.
This action was taken none too soon, as the hooting was
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evidently a signal of attack, and the Indians immediately thereafter rushed on the place. They were met by a dis- charge of rifles that sent them reeling back. They fought from cover for some time, but finding that there was no pos- sibility of taking the place without greater loss than they cared to sustain, drew off with their dead and wounded. On. ly one man in the fort was killed, and only one wounded.
The messenger reached his destination, and a company of fifty men arrived at the fort next day-too late to pur- sue the Indians.
Kinney was a soldier in the Texas army during the rev- olution; resided at Bastrop for some years, and later moved to Brushy Cove, where he erected the stockade that bore his name. The attack was probably made before news of the result of the battle of Plum Creek had spread among the Indians, for after it became generally known, they remained overawed for some time.
JACK HAYS FIGHTS LARGE WAR PARTY.
In the fall of 1840 a party of about two hundred Co- manches stole.a large number of horses near San Antonio and drove them toward the Guadalupe River.
Capt. John C. ("Jack") Hays and twenty men went in pursuit, and came upon; and charged the Indians at the crossing of the Guadalupe.
The redskins awaited the onset, expecting to easily overwhelm their assailants by mere force of numbers. The plans they laid for that purpose went "aglee". Hays and his comrades had a love of fighting that was untinged by fear, and that was fatal to those they encountered.
The head chief was speedily killed, and the Indians driven into complete rout. Hays and his men pursued them for several miles, killing a number of them and recov- ering most of the stolen horses.
Saturday, September 1, Michael Nash, a carpenter of Bastrop who had a fondness for hunting, killed a deer in
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the woods and started home with the carcass tied behind his saddle. While riding along, he was fired upon and killed by Indians, who scalped him and took his horse and its load of venison.
His body was found next day by friends who went in search of him. His eyes had been pecked out by buzzards, and his body mutilated by the Indians, or by wolves, almost beyond identification.
CAPT. ERATH'S SERVICES.
September 20, Gen. Felix Huston, as Major General of the Texas militia, transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives a communication, accompanied by a re- port forwarded to him by Geo. B. Erath, captain of a spy company that he had placed in the field. After urging pay- ment of Captain Erath and his men, and saying that the com- pany had performed valuable service, he continues: "I al- lude principally to the discovery of the Indian trail above the Waco village, leading far into the mountains and, doubt- less, to the homes of our savage enemy. This, you will im- mediately perceive, will greatly facilitate our army in car- rying into effect what should be the only policy pursued to- wards our savage invaders-utter extermination. "
Captain Frath, in his report, says that his company killed two Indians, and that various parties of Indians were seen by him, but fled upon the approach of his force, and burned the grass behind them. The information furnished by Erath induced the Texas Government to depute Col. Jno. H. Moore to lead an expedition to the home of the Co- manches for the purpose of dealing them a crushing blow.
The Austin City Gazette, of September 23, says that an expedition against the Indians had been agreed upon, in ac- cordance with a plan long projected by Gen. Felix Huston ; that a total of 1600 men were to be raised in various coun- ties, and were to invade the Indian country . at different points; that the volunteers from the Colorado, Brazos, Trin- ity and Neches, would leave their respective places of ren-
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dezvous November 10, and that those from Red River would leave November 15. The paper says: "The General com- manding was called to the honorable station he now fills by the free suffrages of his fellow citizens, and they will not now desert him." It declares that the war is to be one of extermination, and, commenting on the fact, remarks: "This is as it should be; for, once let the reds be taught to fear the whites and to respect their property, and peace and prosperity will reign supreme in Texas, immigration and wealth will flow to our shores, and the settlements will in a short time be pushed tens, aye hundreds of miles, above the present frontier."
BEGINNING OF SAN MARCOS.
In an official report* dated October 1, Adjutant and Im spector General Hugh McLeod among other things says that the detachment of rangers at San Antonio had been sent on an expedition, and that a company had been sent to the head of the San Marcos river to construct and occupy a fort, which was to be built of the best materials, as it was designed to control the pass through the moun- tains at that point. He says that a large number of settlers would locate near the fort, and if it was properly main- tained, there would in a few years be a sufficient number of them to protect themselves. After speaking of the re- inforcement and supplies forwarded to Col. Cooke, he says; "Col. Cooke will be enabled from observations om his pres- ent campaign, to report the most practicable line of defense and settlement on our frontier from the Colorado to Red River, and on his return be sufficiently early for the action of Congress. Any report at present might appear specula- tve and premature; but, in the absence of accurate infor- mation, I would suggest that the cross-timbers, being a wooded and well watered country, seems to present the most continuous line for settlements and communication from Red River to the Brazos." He asserts, and lays stress
* Army Archives.
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upon, the futility of employing volunteer forces enlisted for short periods-and, particularly, such forces when drawn from the floating population of towns, as they felt no interest in protecting the frontier, or the success of cam- paigns.
MOORE'S GREAT VICTORY.
President Lamar determined to carry the war into the In- dian country and to inflict upon the Comanches such slaugh- ter as would leave them no longer sufficient power or cour- age to injure the whites. Accordingly Col. John H. Moore, with two companies of citizen-volunteers, aggregating ninety men, drawn mostly from Fayette county and captained by Thos. J. Rabb and Nicholas Dawson, with S. S. B. Field, a brilliant lawyer of La Grange, as Adjutant-Clark L. Owens of Texana, and R. Addison Gillispie, Lieutentants ; and aug- mented by twelve trusty Lipan guides and scouts under their chiefs, Castro and Flaco-set out for an extended cam- paign far out into the Indian country.
Breaking camp on Walnut Creek, near Austin, on Octo- ber 5, 1840, the company bore up the Colorado, for a distance of some 300 miles to the vicinity of where Colorado, City now stands. On October 23, the Indian trail was found on the Red Fork of the Colorado and dashing forward the Li- pan spies soon located a considerable village of Coman- ches-60 wigwams and about 150 warriors-on the south bank of the river. Herding the beeves in a mesquite flat and leaving them to Fortune's chance, the Texans marched up in closer proximity to the enemy, halted at midnight and planned an attack to take place at dawn. A fierce "wet norther" was blowing. The unsuspecting Comanches slum- bered comfortably under buffalo robes in their skin-cov- ered teepees, while the Texans had only the blue sidereal dome for a covering and shivered in the chill light of the stars. As the first rays of light glimmered across the wild and wind-swept plains, the troops wene ordered to mount, deploy and move rapidly to the onslaught - Lieut. Clark
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L. Owens with fifteen picked men as cavalry were deployed to cut off any netreat of the enemy; Capt. Rabb with his command to the right, and Capt. Dawson with his contin- gent upon the left; the Lipans being with the center advanc- cing column. What happened when the village was reached is best told by Col. Moore himself:
"At the break of day, on Saturday, the 24th of October, I ordered the troops to mount and march. I soon ascen- ded the hill, and ordered Lieut. Clark L. Owen to take com- mand of fifteen men taken from the companies, to act as cavalry, to cut off any retreat of the enemy. I ordered Capt. Thomas J. Rabb, with his command, up the right, Lieut. Owen in the center, and Capt. Nicholas M. Dawson, with his command, upon the left. Just before reaching the vil- lage I had to descend the hill, which brought us within two hundred paces of the enemy. I then ordered Lieut. Owen with his command to the right of Capt. Rabb's command. I then ordered a charge of the whole upon the village, which was obeyed instanter. The enemy fled for the river, which was in the shape of a half moon, encircling the vil- lage. Immediately upon charging the village, a general, ef- fective fire was opened upon the enemy, who soon com- menced falling upon the right and left. After charging pretty nearly through their encampment, the men dismount- ed from their horses, and continued the fire upon the enemy, as they were retreating to the river. Mamy were slain before they reached the river, in which they took ref- uge-many of whom were killed or drowned. Some, how- ever, succeeded in crossing the stream and making off thro' the prairie on the opposite side. At this time, Leut. Owen crossed over and commenced cutting off their retreat. In this the gallant lieutenant. succeeded admirably. During all this time, the fire was kept up most effectively at the river for the space of thirty minutes.
"When the enemy had reached the opposite bank, then it was that my troops displayed their skill in rifle shooting. Every man was deliberate and at the crack of
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his piece it was apparent that good aim had been taken. The river and its banks now presented every evidence of a total defeat of our savage foes. The bodies of men, women and children were to be seen on every hand, wounded, dy- ing, and dead. Having found that the work of death and destruction had been fully consummated here, I accordingly ordered my troops to cross the river, and a portion to act in concert with' Leut. Owen. With the residue, I ordered a general charge in pursuit of the Indians who were at- tempting to effect their escape. My men were soon seen flying in every direction through the prairie, and their valor told that the enemy was entirely defeated. The pursuit ceased at the distance of four miles from the point of attack, and finding that the enemy was entirely over- thrown, I ordered my men to the encampment.
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