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 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
*'At that time there was not a single habitation on the Guadalupe River from its head to its mouth'-Kuykendall Reminiscences.
FATE OF THE BEE TREE HUNTERS
-
THE CANOE FIGHT
"TAKE IT D --- N YOU"
THE LURKING FOE
33
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
For a time these Indians remained quiet, the good priest exerted himself in their behalf, and hopes were en- tertained that he would succeed in bringing them under the benignant influence of Christian civilization. But "to the manner born" the Caranchuas could not long restrain their murderous and thieving propensities; the treaty was soon broken, and for more than twenty years they continued to commit many petty, and some serious depredations. "In fact," says Kuykendall, "some of the greatest atrocities ever com- mitted by these Indians in Austin's Colony, were perpe- trated after this treaty was made .*
In the winter of this year, the families of Flowers and Cavanaugh were murdered by the Caranchuas. Capt. Buck- ner, with a company, pursued the Indians to their camp on the bay about three miles east of the present town of Matagorda, where at day break he made a surprise at- tack, killing some thirty, and completely routing them. This was the greatest loss these Indians ever sustained in any one fight with the colonists. Sometime during the year 1832, Capt. John Ingram led a party of nineteen men in an attack on an encampment of Caranchuas on Live Oak Creek, within the present limits of Matagorda County. The party fired on the Indians at the dawn of day, killing four or five and dispersing the remainder.
"Near the mouth of the Guadalupe, in 1834," says John Henry Brown, "they were only detered from attacking the party of Major James Kerr, surveying lands for De Leon's Colony, by a ruse practiced upon them by him; and during that year they were whipped in a fight near Laguna Verde, or Green Lake, now in Calhoun County, by a party of Mex- ican and American settlers commanded by the brave Capt. Placido Venibides." "In the year 1834 or 1835," says Kuy- kendall, "the Tonkawas, instigated by the Mexicans of Vic- toria, treacherously assassinated fifteen or twenty of the Caranchuas. The Tonkawas went to the camp of the Ca- ranchuas, taking with them a small boy, who secretly cut
*In the year 1826, Capt. Aylett C. Buckner, defeated a party of Caranchuas below Elliott's Crossing.
34
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
the bow strings of the Caranchuas, when the Tonkawas fell upon them and murdered all but two or three."
In the Spring of 1836, the Caranchuas still counted twenty-five or thirty warriors. When the army of invasion reached our frontier, they joined it, and fought against us at the Mission of Refugio in March, 1836. They had pre- viously offered to fight for the Americans, but their offer was either rejected or neglected.
About 1840 they were encamped on the Guadalupe Riv- er, below Victoria, near the junction of the San Antonio, and on account of some depredations committed by them, were attacked by the Mexican and American settlers of that vi- cinity, and many killed. "They fled to the southwest, along the coast," says Kenney, "and their brief history hastens to its catastrophe."
In 1843 they were camped about fifty miles southwest of Corpus Christi, where they were found by a Mexican rang- ing company under Capt. Rafael Aldrete, who had known them from his childhood as cannibal savages. He at once attacked and almost annihilated them, very few escaping. Their last notable, hostile act was the murder of Capt. John Kemper at his home on the Guadalupe, Victoria County, in November, 1845. Mrs. Kemper, with her two little children, and her mother, after the Indians had attempted to burn them with the dwelling house, escaped in the stormy night, and crept to the house of Alonzo Bass, situated twelve miles distant, on the Calito.
"The last that was seen of these Indian" says Kenney , "was in 1847, when a remnant of some eight or ten Caranchuas crossed the Rio Grande at its mouth, begging their way into Mexico and oblivion." "In the year 1855," adds Kuykendall, "the once formidable tribe of Caranchuas had dwindled to six or eight individuals, who were residing near San Fernando, State of Tamaulipas, Mexico."
1218394
CHAPTER II.
S we have seen, the principal and most fe- rocious tribe with which Austin's colonists came in contact, on their arrival and for the first few years, were the Caranchuas. But it was not long before the Wacos, Tehua- canies and allied tribes, were depredating.
In the Spring of 1824, a party of Wacos went down the Brazos as far as the Kuy- kendall settlement, where they stole thir- teen head of valuable horses, and escaped with their booty, having been pursued some forty miles to the head of Cummings Creek where the trail was lost. Fol- lowing this successful raid, the Wacos again visited the set- tlements, and stole all the horses of Mr. John Cummings. "We followed the thieves as far as the Yegua, about fifty miles," says Kuykendall, "where we lost the trail in con- sequence of the great number of wild horses and buffalo which then ranged through that section of country." Many other depredations were committed by these Indians about this period, but details are too meager for record .*
* In consequence of repeated thefts committed by the Wacos and Tehuacanies, Col. Austin, in July, 1824, sent Capt. Aylett C. Buckner, with Judge Duke, James Baird, Thomas H. Borden, Selkirk, Jones and McCloskey, cn a mission to treat with these tribes. They took with them some goods to barter with the Indians for horses. They crossed the Brazos at the San Antonio road and proceeded up the river on the east side to the Tehuacanie village, crossing over to the Waco village, the site of the present city of Waco. They were well re- ceived by the Indians, who had recently returned from their summer buffalo hunt, and were feasting on buffalo meat, green corn and beans. They had also pumpkins and melons. They dwelt in comfortable lodges, conical in shape, the frames of which were of cedar poles or
36
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
In the Spring of 1826, Austin resolved to make a cam- paign against the Wacos and Tehuacauies, whose depreda- tions had now become frequent. Rendezvousing on the Bra- zos at the crossing of the San Antonio road, about the mid- dle of May, a force of about one hundred and ninety men was socm collected and organized, Col. Austin in command, with Aylett C. Buckner, Horatio Chrisman, Bartlett Sims, William Hall and Ross Alley, captains of companies.
The first days march brought the expedition to the Lit- tle Brazos, where they left all provisions, save rations for three days, and a forced march was ordered against the In- dians.
On arriving in the vicinity of the Indian encampment, scouts were sent to reconnoiter, and found it deserted. "Appearances" says Kuykendall, "indicated that the Tehua- canie village had been deserted about two weeks. The Waco village was on the west side of the river a little far- ther up. We could not reach it, as the river was much swollen, but ascertained that it, too, was uninhabited. The Indians were doubtless gone on a buffalo hunt. Their patches of corn were in silk and tassel. There was an abundance of beans, of which we picked a mess or two, but nothing was destroyed."
Thus disappointed and their rations being entirely ex- hausted, the expedition returned to their supply depot-and to the Brazos, where it was disbanded.
EARLY TRIALS OF DeWITT'S COLONISTS.
Early as 1822, while Austin's colony was yet in its in- fancy, several American gentlemen, among them Green De- Witt of Missouri, appeared in the city of Mexico, seeking
slats, thatched with grass. The largest of these lodges (their council house) was fifty-nine paces in circumference. The Wacos and Tehuacanies spoke the same language, and were es- sentially the same people. Judge Duke estimated the two tribes would number between 200 and 300 warriors. They had a great number of horses and mules-a small plug of tobacco be- ing the price of a horse, and a plug and a half that of a mule. They smoked the pipe of peace with the embassy, and pledged themselves to peace and amity with the colonists. The embassy remained with the Indians between two and three weeks, and returned home by the same route they went out."-Kuykendall's Reminiscences.
37
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
empresario contracts. Owing to the unsettled political conditions of the country at that period, De Witt's peti- tion to settle four hundred families in the province of Tex- as, was not approved till after the promulgation and enact- ment of the first general colonization law of Coahuila and Texas, March 24, 1825.
Anticipating the success of his application, which was duly granted April 15, 1825, De Witt had pre-arranged with Major James Kerr, late of Missouri, but then of Austin's Colony, as agent and surveyor for the colony.
In August of this year, Major Kerr, (having recently buried his wife and two children on the Brazos), with his negro servant and six men, viz. Erasmus ("Deaf") Smith, Basil Durbin, Gerron Hinds, John Wightman, James Mu- sic and - Strickland, leaving San Felipe de Austin reach- ed a spot on Kerr's Creek (near the present town of Gonzal- es), where they halted, speedily erected cabins and laid off a site for the capital of the future colony, which was named Gonzales, in honor of Don Rafael Gonzales, the first Governor of Coahuila and Texas. The location was most favorable, but the town itself was of slow growth and for a while of uncertain existence, as will be seen. "The sur- vey of lands for future colonists, was prosecuted as rapidly as possible," says Brown, "and a few weeks later, Francis Berry and family settled mear the crack. Of this family were also John and Betsey Oliver, grown children of Mrs. Berry by a former husband.
About the first of October, De Witt arrived from Sal- tillo, and remained in the colony three or four weeks be- fore proceeding on his way to Misscuri. During the year, a number of prospectors visited the country, and after selec- ting locations left, to return later. Thus these few brave settlers at old Gonzales in 1825-6, were truly pioneers, the ad- vance guards of American civilization on that then remote and greatly exposed frontier, their nearest neighbors being DeLecm and half a dozen Mexicans, at the infant settlements of Guadalupe Victoria, sixty miles southward; and with no roads in any direction, save their own freshly made trail
38
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
sixty-five miles east to the Colorado. But the lot of these isolated settlers was not intolerable, and would have speed- ily improved but for an unexpected calamity. Parties of Indians, professing friendship, frequently called, passing to and fro; and demonstrating no signs of hostility, the colo- nists apprehended no danger. "Thus matters stood," says historian Brown, "when the first day of July, 1826, arrived. There was a celebration of the fourth of July at Beason's, at the Atascocito crossing of the Colorado, a few miles be- low the present town of Columbus. Major Kerr had gone on a buffalo hunt. It was agreed that Basil Durbin, John and Betsey Oliver, and Jack the servant boy of Kerr, should go on horseback to the Colorado celebration. They started on Sunday, July 2, and encamped for the night on Thorne's Branch, fourteen miles east, having no apprehension of danger at the time. The little party however, were doom- ed to disappointment, for about midnight, while soundly sleeping on their blankets, they were suddenly aroused by the firing of guns and the yells of the Indians. Durbin was shot in the shoulder by a musket ball and badly wounded, but escaped with his companions into a thicket near by, the horses and other effects being left in the pos- session of the enemy. From loss of blood and intense pain, Durbin repeatedly swooned, but was restored by the efforts of his companions and enabled to walk, by noon on the fol- lowing day, back to Major Kerr's cabin, where the party was astonished to find John Wightman lying dead and scalped in the passage way between the rooms, and the house robbed of everything, including important papers and three compasses, and that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to burn it. They hurried to Berry's cabin and found it closed, and on the door, written with charcoal, "Gone to Burnham's on the Colorado.'"'
When Durbin and his companions left on the previous day, Strickland, Musick and Major Kerr's negroes (Shade, Anise and their four or five children), went to Berry's to spend the afternoon, leaving Wightman alone at the cabins. Returning later in the day, they found Wightman as de-
39
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
scribed, yet warm in his own blood. Hurrying back to Berry's with the tidings, the entire party started for the Colorado, where they safely arrived, and were a few days later joined by Deaf Smith and Hinds .. Durbin's wounds had already rendered him very weak, but his only alter- native was to reach the same place on foot, or perish by the way. The weather was warm, and there was imminent danger of gangrene making its appearance in his wound, to prevent which, it was kept poulticed with mud and oak juice. Leaning on Betsey Oliver's arm, he arrived at Burn- ham's on the afternoon of the sixth, three days and a half after starting from the place."
Durbin's wound soon healed, the musket ball remaining in his shoulder till death, and he lived to participate in a number of other adventures. Seven years later he received six rifle balls in his person at one time, and, as if he bore a charmed life, survived, carrying seven balls in his body till his death in 1858.
Thus was De Witt's colony, like Austin's at the mouth of the Colorado, christened with blocd, and thus for the mo- ment ended the first efforts to found a settlement within its limits.
Following these events, Major Kerr and a few compan- ions moved to a point on the west bank of the Lavaca, now in Jackson County, where block-houses were built, and a nu- cleus formed for the revival of the enterprise. The place, only temporarily occupied for defensive and rallying pur- poses, was subsequently known as the "Old Station." Major Kerr established his permanent home on the east bank of the Lavaca, near the station.
On the 12th. of December, 1826, Major Kerr, under the authority invested in him as surveyor-general, commissioned Byrd Lockhart as deputy-surveyor of the colony-a judicious selection-and the survey of land, despite danger from hos- tile Indians, proceeded with all reasonable dispatch, and emi- grants continued to arrive and locate near the station on the Lavaca.
DeWitt, with his family, arrived at the "Old Station"
40
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
in October, 1827, and during the succeeding winter, with his own and a number of other families, repaired to Gon- zales and its vicinity, and then, with the opening of the year 1828, began the permanent settlement of the region des- tined to become the Lexington of Texas in the revolution of 1835-36 .*
As early as May, 1824, the Mexican Congress had pass- ed an act temporarily combining the provinces of Coahuila and Texas into a State, with a provisional legislature, (Don Rafael Gonzales being elected governor), and in March, 1825, as we have seen, the newly formed government promulgated a general State colonization law.
The fame and success of Austin and his colony, together with the more liberal provisions of the new colonization act, induced a number of persons to seek empresario privileges. Among those who secured grants and fulfilled or attempted to carry out, their contracts, were Robert Leftwich, of Nash- ville, Tennessee, (permission April 15th, 1825, to settle 900 families in what was afterwards known as Robertson's Colo- ny) ; Hayden Edwards, a Kentuckian, then resident of Louis- iama, (concession April 18th, 1825, to settle 800 families in the Nacogdoches district of east Texas) ; and Don Martin de Leon, a native Mexican, but then and since 1805, residing in
* The venerable pioneer, Noah Smithwick, who visited DeWitt's Colony in the sum- mer of 1828, in a letter to the author from his last home at Santa Anna, California, a few months before his death (Oct. 21, 1899) gives the following pen picture of colonial life at that period: "The colonists, (DeWitt's) consisting of a dozen families, were living, if such ex- istence could be called living, huddled together for security against the Indians. The rude log cabins, windowless and floorless, have been so often described as the abode of the pio- neer, as to require no description here; suffice it to say that save as a partial protection ..
against rain and sun, they were absolutely devoid of comfort. . Col. DeWitt, my host, had bread, though some of the families were without. Flour was $10.00 a barrel. But few people had money to buy anything more than coffee and tobacco. Money was as scarce as bread, Game was plentiful the year round, so there was no need of starving. Men talked hopeful of the future; children reveled in the novelty of the present, and the women bore their part with heroic endurance. Deprived of friends and former comforts, they had not even the solace of constant employment. The spinning wheel and loom had been left behind -there was as yet no use for them-there was nothing to spin. There was no house to keep in order; the meager fare was so simple as to require little time for its preparation. There was no poultry, no dairy, no garden, no books or papers-and had there been, many of them could not read; no schools, no churches-nothing to break the dull monotony of their lives save an occasional attack from Indians, the howl of some wild animal, or the stampede of a herd of buffalo or mustangs. The men at least had the excitement of killing game and hunting bee trees, roping mustangs, hunting buffalo, locating lands and watching for hos- tile Indians."
41
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
the province of Texas, (concession of October 6th., 1825, to settle forty one Mexican familes, south of De Witt's colony, and between the Lavaca and Guadalupe Rivers). A number of other concessions were made about this period to parties who failed of success, notably to Ben R. Milam, the famous "hero of San Antonio," to settle 200 familes north of the old San Antonio road, and between the Colorado and Gaudalupe Rivers. But brave Milam was a soldier, rather than civilian, and sacrificed his life in a more glorious cause-on the altar of liberty, falling in the moment of victory. Thus the spirit of colonization was infused throughout the whole southwest and a constant tide of immigration was flowing into Texas, giving to the country some assurance of permanent prosper- ity and stability.
i
EDWARDS' COLONY AND THE FREDONIAN WAR.
But in the midst of the general prosperity, a dark cloud arose in the east, which for a time, threatened the destruction of the province. We refer to the Fredonian revolt in Ed- wards' Colony. Hayden Edwards had wealth and enterprise, and intended to fill his contract in good faith; but his loca- tion proved exceedingly unfortunate. For a long time a rov- ing and migratory class of motley people, had occupied the country about Nacogdoches, "heroes of the Neutral Ground," men who, committing an offense, either in Mexican or Amer- ican territory, here sought an asylum. Here, too, an antago- nism had arisen between the Anglo-Americans and the Mex- icans, created, perhaps, by the ill-fated filibustering expedi- tions of Nolan, Magee and Long.
Edwards' contract required him not only to respect, but to give preference to Mexican claimants. Ais soon as one of the new emigrants had made a selection and commenced an improvement, some Mexican would appear and set up a claim for his land. The alcalde was appealed to; but he, being elected by Mexican votes, invariably decided in favor of his constituents. At an election for a new alcalde, a majority of the votes cast were for Chaplin, a son-in-law of Edwards;
42
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
but Norris, who aithough an American, was in the interest of the Mexicans, was counted in, and by order of the political chief, invested with the office. Thus supported by the mili- tary, the tyranny of the alcalde soon became intolerable. Foote, the historian, and an intimate friend of Edwards, gives the following picture of that turbulent period :
"Nacogdoches now became a scene of wild uproar and confusion; acts of lawless and cruel violence marked the his- tory of every day, and indeed of every hour; bands of Reg- ulators, as they were called, pervaded the whole country, under the ostensible sanction of the alcalde, and ready to execute any mandate to which he might give utterance. Pri- vate familes were often driven from their habitations, to make way for the piratical minions of the alcalde, who sigh- ed for the comforts which the honest assiduity of the colo- nists had assembled about their domiciles, and which they were too lazy and luxurious to acquire, except by violence ex- ercised upon their peaceful owners. Respectable colonists were dragged from their beds at midnight by an armed mob, and hurried before the alcalde, in order to undergo a secret in- quisition relative to acts that they had never so much as thought of committing; even the passing traveler was not free from molestation and outrage, but was compelled to pay tribute for the privilege of transit through the country, un- der penalty of forfeiting whatever merchandise or other property that was found in his possession."
It was not to be expected that free born and liberty lov- ing Americans would tamely submit to such acts of injustice and tyrannical oppression.
During the summer of 1826, Hayden Edwards visited the United States to bring more colonists, leaving his broth- er, Benjamin Edwards, in charge of the colony. In the ab- sence of the empresario, serious charges were preferred against him to Governor Blanco. On July 21st., Benjamin Edwards addressed empresario Austin a long letter in which he recounted his grievances and asked for advice. In due course of time Austin gave Edwards a reply, in which he said: "The subject has caused me great unhappiness, but
43
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
I had decided not to interfere with it in any way. It is a dangerous one to touch, and particularly to write about. You wish me to advise you. I scarcely know what course will be best. The uncertainty as to the precise nature of the charges against you, renders it difficult, nay impossible, to name a regular defense. I think, however, I would write di- rectly to the governor of the State. Give him a full state- ment of facts, and a very minute history of the acts of your principal enemies and their opponents, and their man- ner of doing business in every particular, both in regard to your brother as well as all others."
Accordingly, Benjamin Edwards directed a long, and, unfortunately, somewhat dictatorial message to his excellency, Governor Don Victor Blanco, vindicating his brother's course, and remonstrating very emphatically against such treatment; to which that irate functionary, on the 20th' day of October, replied-"That by the virtue of the supreme authority with which he was invested, he had decreed the annulment of the contract of Hayden Edwards; and further more, ordered the expulsion from the colony, of both the Ed- wards brothers." Hayden Edwards returned just as the news of this high-handed and arbitary act reached the colo- ny. He had spent several thousand dollars in bringing colo- nists to the country, and naturally became very indignant, resolving upon resistance and revenge vi et armis.
At this juncture two celebrated half-breed Indian chiefs Richard Fields and John Dunn Hunter, appeared in the arena, with grievances of their own, in behalf of their peo- ple the Cherokees. Governor Trespalacies had promised to secure them titles to the land they occupied, but the Mexi- can Government was slow in the excitement of the moment, and chafing for revenge the colonists entered into a league, offensive and defensive with the Indians.
This compact was formally signed on December 20, 1826, by Hayden Edwards and Harmon B. Mayo, on the part of the Americans, and Richard Fields and John Dunn Hunter, on the part of the Indians. The allied parties at once proceeded to organize a legislative council. Martin
44
BORDER WARS OF TEXAS.
Parmer, better known as the "Ring-Tailed Panther" was elected president.
In this alliance it was stipulated that the whites were to have the territory below the old San Antonio road and for a short distance above; the remainder of the province, westward to the Rio Grande, was given to the Indians. Slavery, which had been prohibited in Mexico, was to be es- tablished in both territories.
Denoninating themselves "Fredonians," the injured in- surgents raised the standard of revolt, and boldly declared their independence. The flag of Independent Fredonia was unfurled to the breeze, and, "doubtless" says the histo- rian of this ill-planned and hopeless revolt, "Old Norther, himself, who so often swept over the prairies of Texas, stood aghast at the chilling exhibition."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.