Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I, Part 3

Author: Brown, John Henry, 1820-1895
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Austin : L.E. Daniel]
Number of Pages: 922

USA > Texas > Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I > Part 3

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In the meantime, Maj. Kerr prosecuted his labors in the survey of lands, his people subsisting on wild meat and coffee. Each household opened a field and planted erops in the spring of 1826. In June. Maj. Kerr was absent on the Brazos. There was to be a primitive barbecue on the Colo- radlo at Beson's, seven miles below the present Columbus. It was agreed among the pilgrims that they must be represented, notwithstanding the dis- tance was about seventy miles. Bazil Durbin. John and Betsy Oliver and Jack, son of Shade and Anise, were selected as the delegates. On the afternoon of Sunday, July 2d. this party left on Horseback for Beson's. At that time Deaf Smith mil Hinds were out buffalo hunting : Musiek, Strickland and the colored people were spending the afternoon at Berry's, and John Wightman was I it alone in charge of the premises, consisting of a

double log house, with passage between and two or three eabins in the yard. No danger was appre- hended as no indieations of hostility by the Indians had been observed.

Durbin and party traveled fourteen miles, en- eamped on Thorn's branch and all slept soundly, but about midnight they were aroused by the war- whoop and firing of guns. Springing to their feet they discovered that their assailants were very near and in ambush. Durbin fell, but was assisted into an adjoining thicket where all found safety. The Indians seized and bore away their horses and all their effects. Durbin had a musket ball driven into his shoulder so deep that it remained there till his death in Jackson County in 1858, thirty-two years later. He suffered excruciating pain, from which, with the loss of blood, he several times fainted. Daylight eame and they retraced their steps to headquarters; but on arriving were appalled to find the house deserted and robbed of its contents, including Maj. Kerr's papers and three surveying compasses, and Wightman dead, scalped and his mutilated body lying in the open hallway. Hast- ening down to Berry's house they found it closed, and written on the door with ehareoal (for Smith and Ilinds) the words: "Gone to Burnam's, on the Colorado." It was developed later that when Musiek, Striekland and the colored people returned home late in the evening they found this condition of affairs, returned to Berry's and all of both houses left for the Colorado. As written by the writer more than forty years ago, in the presence of the sufferer: "Durbin's wound had already rendered him very weak, but he had now no alter- native but to seek the same place on foot, or perish on the way. Three days were occupied in the trip. the weather was very warm and there was great danger of mortification, to prevent which mnd poultices, renewed at every watering place, proved to be effectual."

And thus was the first American settlement west of the Colorado baptized in blood.

Maj. Kerr then settled on the Lavaea and made a crop there in 1827. His place temporarily served as a rallying point for De Witt and others, till the spring of 1828, when the settlement at Gonzales was renewed. Maj. Kerr remained permanently on the Lavaea, but continued for some years .as surveyor of De Witt's eolony. The temporary set- tlement on the west of the Lavaca was subsequently known as the " Old Station," while Maj. Kerr's headright league and home were on the east side.

In the autumn of 1833, John Castleman, a boll and sagacious backwoodsman, from the borders of Missouri, with his wife and four children and his

. INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

wife's mother, settled fifteen miles west of Gonzales, on the San Antonio road and on Sandy creek. He was a bold hunter, much in the forest, and had four ferocious dogs, which served as sentinels at night, and on one occasion had a terrible fight with a number of Indians in the yard endeavoring to steal the horses tied around the house. They evidently inflicted severe punisliment on the savages, who left abundant blood marks on the ground and were glad to escape without the horses, though in doing so, in sheer self-defense, they killed each dog. Castleman, in his meanderings, was ever watchful for indications of Indians, and thus served as a vidette to the people of Gonzales and persons traveling on that exposed road. Many were the persons who slumbered under his roof rather than camp out at that noted watering place.

In the spring of 1835, a party of thirteen Frenel and Mexican traders, with pack mules and dry goods from Natchitoches, Louisiana, en route to Mexico, stopped under some trees a hundred yards in front of the eabin. It was in the forenoon, and before they had unpacked Castleman advised thein that he had that morning discovered " Indian signs " near by and urged them to camp in his yard and use his house as a fort if necessary. They laughed at him. He shrugged his shoulders and assured them they were in danger, but they still laughed. He walked baek to his cabin, but before he entered about a hundred mounted savages dashed among them, yelling and cutting out every animal of the party. These were guarded by a few in full view of the camp, while the main body continued the fight. The traders improvised breastworks of their saddles, packs and bales of goods and fought with desperation. The engage- ment lasted four hours, the Indians charging in a circle, firing and falling back. Finally, as none of their number fell, the besieged being armed only with Mexican escopetas (smooth-bored cavalry guns) they maneuvered till all the traders fired at the same time, then rushed upon and killed all who had not previously fallen. Castleman could, many times, have killed an Indian with his trusty ritle from his cabin window, but was restrained by his wife, who regarded the destruction of the strangers as certain and contended that if her husband took part, vengeance would be wreaked upon the family - a hundred savages against one inan. He desisted, but, as his wife said, " frothed at the mouth" to be thus compelled to non-ac- tion on such an occasion. Had he possessed a modern Winchester, he could have repelled the whole array, saving both the traders and their goods.

The exultant barbarians, after scalping their riccimy, packed all their booty on the captured szes and moved off up the country. When night came. Castleman hastened to Gonzales with the tidlings, and was home again before dawn.

In a few hours a band of volunteers, under Dr. James H. C. Miller, were on the trail and followed it across the Guadalupe and up the San Marcos, and finally into a cedar brake in a valley surrounded by high hills, presumably on the Rio Blanco. This was on the second or third day after the massacre. Finding they were very near the enemy, Miller halted, plaeing his men in ambush on the edge of a small opening or glade. He sent forward Matthew Caldwell, Daniel MeCoy and Ezekiel Williams to reconnoitre. Following the newly made path of the Indians through the brake, in about three hundred yards, they suddenly came upon them dismounted and eating. They speedily retired, but were discovered and, being only three in number, the whole crowd of Indians furiously pursued them with such yells as, resounding from bluff to bluff, caused some of the men in ambush to flee from the apparent wrath to come ; but of the whole number of twenty-nine or thrity, sixteen maintained their position and their senses. Daniel McCoy, the hindmost of the three scouts in single file, wore a long tail coat. This was seized and tightly held by an Indian, but " Old Dan," as he was called, threw his arms backward and slipped from the garment without stopping, exclaiming, "Take it, d-n you! " Caldwell sprang first into the glade, wheeled, fired and killed the first Indian to enter. Others, unable to see through the brush till exposed to view, rushed into the trap till nine warriors lay in a heap. Realizing this fact, after such unexpected fatality, the pursuers raised that dismal howl which means death and defeat, and fell back to their eamp. The panie among some of our men prevented pursuit .. It is a fact that among those thus seized with the ". buck ague," were men then wholly inexperienced, who subse- quently became distinguished for coolness and gallantry.

Among others, besides those already named, who were in this engagement were Wm. S. Fisher, commander at Mier seven years later ; Bartlett D. MeClure, died in 1841; David Hanna, Landon Webster and Jonathan Seott.

Dr. James H. C. Miller, who commanded, soon after left Texas and settled in Michigan. His name has sometimes been confounded with that of Dr. James B. Miller, of Fort Bend, long distin- guished in public life under the province and republic of Texas.

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4. 51551PM.

SOUTH CAROLINA >

OFFICE

HEAD OF MILITARY PARADE, MAIN STREET, HOUSTON, TEXAS, MAY 21, 1895.

On occasion of the United Confederate Reunion, at which time 25,000 people visited Houston.

ماخشية * * :٠١٥ ٣٥٫٠

INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

An Adventure in 1826.

In the year 1826 a party of fourteen men of the Red river settlements, of which Eli Hopkins was quasi-leader, made a trip to the west, hunting and trading with Indians. Besides Hopkins I have been able to gather the names of Henry Stout, Jamas Clark, Charles Birkham, Charles Hun- phreys, - Ford, --- Tyler, and - Wallace - eight of the fourteen - though the only published allusion to the matter I have ever seen (in the Clarksville Times abont 1874), only names Messrs. Hopkins and Clark and states the whole number at twenty men - nor does it give the year of the occurrence. I obtained the date, the number of men and the additional six names from Henry Stout, some years later.

It seems that on their return trip homewards, these fourteen men were surrounded and beset by a large party of Indians, some of whom had been trading in their camp before. Instead of opening fire. the Indians demanded the surrender of Humphreys to them, describing him by the absence of a front tooth (a loss they had discovered in their previous visit and now pretended to have known before), alleging that on some former oceasion Humphreys

had depredated upon them. This was known to be false and a ruse to gain some advantage. So, when the chief and a few others ( who had retired to let. the party consult), returned for an answer, they were told that Humphreys was a good man, had done them no wrong and they would die rather than surrender him. Wallace was the interpreter and had been up to that time suspected of coward- iee by some of the party. But in this erisis they quickly discovered their error, for Wallace, with cool and quiet determination, became the hero, telling them that he would die right there rather than give up an innocent man to such murderons wretehes. His spirit was infectious. Every man leveled his guu at some one of the Indians, Hop- kins holding a deadly aim on the chief, till they all agreed to leave the ground and not again molest them.

They at once retired, evidently unwilling to hazard an attack on such men. Intrepid coolness saved them while timidity would have brought their destruction. As it was they reached home in safety.

The Early Days of Harris County -- 1824 to 1838.

The first political subdivision of the large dis- triet of which the present large county of Harris, containing a little over eighteen hundred square miles, formed but a part, was erected into the municipality of Harrisburg not long before the revo - lution began, in 1835. It is, at this day, interest- ing to note the first settlement of that now old, historie and wealthy district. embracing the noble city of Houston, in which the whole State feels justifiable pride. For a short while also the island of Galveston formed a part of Harrisburg "county " -so called under the Republic, after independence in Marel, 1836.

The first Americans to cultivate the earth in that region were Mr. Knight and Walter C. White, who. at the time of Long's expedition in 1820, burnt off a canebrake and raised a crop of corn on the San Jacinto, near its mouth; but they did not remain

there, becoming subsequently well-known citizens of Brazoria. For an aceount of the first actual set- tlers of the district during the first ten or twelve years, I am indebted to the fine memory and facile pen of Mrs. Mary J. Briscoe, of Houston, whose evidence dates from childhood days, her father, John R. Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, having settled there in 1824, and laid out the town in 1826. He built the first steam saw mill in Texas, for which he received as a bounty two leagues of land. He became also a merchant, established a tannery and owned the schooner " Rights of Man," which plied between Harrisburg and New Orleans. In 1828 his brother David came; in 1830 William P. Harris came, accompanied by "' Honest " Bob Wilson, and in 1832 came Samuel M. Harris, a fourth brother, all of whom came from Cayuga County, New York, and were valuable men. Mary J., daughter of the

INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

first immigrant, John R. Harris, subsequently mar- ried Capt. Andrew Briscoe, who, as the collcagne of the grand Mexican patriot, Don Lorenzo de Zavala, from that municipality, signed the declaration of independence, and fifty days later commanded one of the largest companies at San Jacinto. He was also the first Chief Justice of Harrisburg County and so remained for many years. The well-known De Witt C. Harris, who died in 1860, was a brother of Mrs. Briscoe, as is also Lewis B. Harris, of San Francisco, who was my fellow-soldier on the Rio Grande in 1842.

According to the notes of Mrs. Briscoe the first actual settlers arrived in April, 1822, of whom Moses L. Choate and William Pettus were the first settlers on the San Jacinto, and a surveyor named Ryder, ummarried, settled on Morgan's Point, on the bay. In June John Ijams, with his wife and two youthful sons arrived, of whom John, the elder, then fifteen years old, still lives in Hous- ton, aged S2, a tribute certainly to the climate in which he has lived sixty-seven years. They settled at Cedar Point, afterwards a favorite home of Gen. Sam Honston. Johnson Hunter settled near Mor- gan's Point, but ultimately on the Brazos. In the same year Nathaniel Lynch settled at the confluence of the San Jacinto and Buffalo bayou, where Lynchburg stands ; John D. Taylor on the San Jacinto at the place now called Midway; John Jones, Humphrey Jackson and John and Frederick Rankin, on the same river, where the Texas and N. O. railroad crosses it. Mr. Callahan and Ezekiel Thomas, brothers-in-law, located as the first set- tlers on Buffalo bayou. Mrs. Samuel W. Allen, youngest daughter of Mr. Thomas, still resides in Houston - another tribute to the climate. In the same year four brothers, William, Allen, Robert and Jolin Vince, all young men, settled just below the month of Vince's bayou, rendered famous in connection with Vince's bridge immediately before the battle of San Jacinto, the destruction of the bridge by order of Gen. Houston, leading to the capture of Santa Anna. William Vince had a horse power sugar mill on his place. During the same year, Mrs. Wilkins, with her two daughters and her son-in-law, Dr. Phelps, settled what is now known as Frost-town in the city of Houston, being the first settlers there. In 1824 came Enoch Bronson, who settled near Morgan's Point ; also Wm. Blood- good and Page Ballew, with families, and several young men who settled in the district ; also Arthur McCormick, wife and two sons, who settled the league on which, twelve years later, the battle of San Jacinto was fought. He was drowned soon afterwards in crossing Buffalo bayou, as was his

surviving son, Michael, a long time pilot on a steamboat, in 1875. It was suspected that the widow, eccentric, well-to-do and living alone, was murdered by robbers and burnt in her dwelling. George, Jesse, Renben and William White, in 1824, settled on the San Jacinto, a few miles above its mouth ; William Scott at Midway, together with Charles E. Givens, Presly Gill and Dr. Knuckles, who married Scott's daughter, while Samuel M. Williams married another. [Mr. Williams was the distinguished secretary of Austin's Colony and afterwards, long a banker in Galveston. ]

In 1824, Austin, with Secretary Williams and the Commissioner, Baron de Bastrop, visited the settle- ment and issued the first titles to those entitled to. them.

In 1825 the Edwards family settled on the bay at what has since been known as Edwards' Point. Ritoon Morris, a son-in-law of Edwards, and a man of wealth, came at the same time. He was greatly esteemed and was known as " Jaw-bonc Morris," from a song he and his negrocs sang while he picked the banjo. He settled at the month of Clear Creek. About 1829 Mr. Clopper, for whom the bar in Gal- veston bay is called, bought Johnson Hunter's land and afterwards sold it to Col. James Morgan. who laid ont a town destined never to leave its swaddling clothes. calling it New Washington. Its chief claim to remembrance is in the visit of Santa Anna a day or two before his overthrow under the war cry of " Remember the Alamo." Sam Mc- Curley and .others were early settlers on Spring Creek. David G. Burnet, afterwards President. eame in 1826. In 1831 he brought out the machin- ery for a steam mill which was burned in 1845. With him came Norman Hard and Gilbert Brooks, the latter still living. President Burnet built his home two or three miles from Lynchburg. Lynch- burg, and San Jacinto, opposite to it, were de- stroyed by the great storm and flood, on the 17th of September, 1875:

Passing over the intervening years. we find that in 1835 the municipality of Harrisburg abounded in a splendid population of patriotic citizens, the noble Zavala having become one of them. In the Consultation of November 3-14, 1835, her delegates were Lorenzo de Zavala, William P. Harris, Clem- ent C. Dycr, John W. Moore, M. W. Smith and David B. McComb. In the convention which de- clared independence, March 1-18, 1836, her dele- gates were Lorenzo de Zavala and Andrew Briscoe. as previously stated. When the provisional gov- ernment of the Republic was created David G. Burnet was elected President and Lorenzo de Zavala Vice-president, both of this municipal-

INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

ity. Harrisburg, grown to be quite a village, was the seat of justice, and from March 22d to April 13th, 1836, it was the seat of govern- ment, but abandoned on the approach of the Mexi- can army, by which it was burned. The first Lone Star flag had been improvised there in Mareh by Mrs. Dobson and other ladies - that is, the first in Texas, for that by Miss Troutman, of Georgia, had been made and presented to the gallant Capt. (afterwards Colonel) William Ward two or three months earlier. The ladies also, says Mrs. Briscoe, cut up all their flannel apparel to make cartridges, following the example of Mother Bailey, in Groton, Connecticut, in the war of 1812.

In August, 1836, the brothers A. C. and Jolm K. Allen laid out the town of Houston. The First Con- gress of the Republic, at Columbia, on the 15th of December, 1836, selected the new town as the seat of government, to continue until the session of 1840. The government was removed there prior to May 1st, 1837. Soon afterwards the county seat was moved from Harrisburg to Houston, and the latter, under such impulsion, grew rapidly. This was one of those enterprising movements at varianee with natural advantages, for all know that Harris- burg, in facilities for navigation, was greatly supe- rior to Houston, and, as a town site otherwise, fully as desirable. But notwithstanding all these, pluck and enterprise have made Houston a splendid city.

The first sail vessel to reach Houston was the schooner Rolla, on the 21st of April, 1837, four days in making the trip of 10 or 12 miles by water from Harrisburg. That night the first anniversary of San Jacinto was eelebrated by a ball, which was opened by President Houston and Mrs. Mosely Baker, Francis R. Lubbock and Miss Mary J. Har- ris (now Mrs. Briscoe ), Jacob W. Cruger and Mrs. Lubbock and Mr. and Mrs. Welchmeyer.

The first marriage license signed under the laws of the Republie, July 22, 1837, by De Witt C. Har-

ris, county clerk, was to Hugh McCrory and Mary Sinith, and the service was performed next day by the Rev. HI. Matthews, of the Methodist church. Mr. McCrory died in a few months, and in 1840 the widow married Dr. Anson Jones, afterwards the last President of Texas. She still lives in Houston and recently followed to the grave her popular and talented son, Judge C. Anson Jones.

At the first District Court held in Houston, Hon. Benjamin C. Franklin presiding, a man was found guilty of theft, required to restore the stolen money and notes and to receive thirty-nine lashes on his bare back, all of which being accomplished, it is supposed the victim migrated to other parts. Thieves, in those days, were not tolerated by foolish quibbles or qualins of conscience. There were no prisons and the lash was regarded as the only avail- able antidote.

In 1834 the Harris brothers brought out a small steamboat called the Cayuga, but the first steamer to reach Houston was the Laura, Capt. Thomas Grayson. On the first Monday in January, 1838, Dr. Francis Moore, Jr., long editor of the Tele- graph and afterwards State geologist, was elected the first mayor of Houston. He and his partner, Jacob W. Cruger, early in 1837, established the first newspaper, by removing the Telegraph from Columbia. On the 21st of May, 1838, a grand ball was given by the Jockey Club, in Houston. "The ladies' tickets," says Mrs. Briscoe, " were printed on white satin, and I had the pleasure of dancing successively, with Generals Sam Houston, Albert Sidney Johnston and Sidney Sherman."

I have condensed from the interesting narrative a portion of its contents. omitting much of interest, the objeet being to portray the outlines of how the early eoast settlements passed from infancy to self- sustaining maturity. Locally, the labors of this early Texas girl - now ranking among the mothers of the land -- are of great value.

Fight of the Bowies with the Indians on the San Saba in 1831.

In 1832 Rezin P. Bowie furnished a Philadelphia paper with the following narrative. It has been published in several books since. Col. James Bowie made a report to the Mexican Governor at San Antonio, not so full but in accord with this report. It gives an account of one of the most extraordinary events in the pioneer history of America.

'.On the 2d of November, 1831, we left the town of San Antonio de Bexar for the silver mines on the San Saba river ; the party consisting of the following named persons: Rezin P. Bowie, James Bowie, David Buchanan, Robert Armstrong, Jesse Wallace, Matthew Doyle, Cephas D. Hamm. James Coryell, Thomas MeCaslin, Gonzales and Charles, servant boys. Nothing particular occurred until

INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

the 19th, on which day, about 10 a. m. we were overhauled by two Comanche Indians and a Mexican captive, who had struck our trail and followed it. They stated that they belonged to Isaonie's party, a chief of the Comanche tribe, sixteen in number, and were on their way to San Antonio with a drove of horses, which they had taken from the Wacos and Tawackanies. and were about returning to their owners, citizens of San Antonio. After smok- ing and talking with them about an hour, aud making them a few presents of tobacco, powder, shot, etc., they returned to their party, who were waiting at the Llano river.

" We continued our journey until night closed upon us, when we encamped. The next morning, the above named Mexican captive returned to our camp, his horse was much fatigued, and who, after eating and smoking, stated that he had been sent by his chief, Isaonie, to inform us we were followed by one hundred and twenty-four Tawac- kanie and Waco Indians, and forty Caddos had joined them, who were determined to have our scalps at all risks. Isaonie had held a talk with them all the previous afternoon, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose; but they still persisted, and left him enraged and pursued our trail. As a voucher for the truth of the above, the Mexican produced his chief's silver medal, which is common among the natives in such cases. He further stated that his chief requested him to say, that he had but sixteen men, badly armed and without ammunition ; but if we would return and join him, such suecor as he could give us he would. But knowing that the enemy lay between us and him, we deemed it more prudent to pursue our journey and endeavor to reach the old fort on the San Saba river before night, distance thirty miles. The Mexican then returned to his party, and we proceeded on.

" Throughout the day we encountered bad roads. being covered with rocks, and the horses' feet be- ing worn out, we were disappointed in not reaching the fort. In the evening we had some little difficulty in pieking out au advantageous spot where to en- camp for the night. We however made choice of the best that offered, which was a cluster of live- oak trees, some thirty or forty in number, about the size of a man's body. To the north of them a thieket of live-oak bushes, about ten feet high, forty yards in length and twenty in breadth, to the west. at the distance of thirty-live or forty yards, ran a stream of water.

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Indian wars and pioneers of Texas, Vol. I, Part 3

Author: Brown, John Henry, 1820-1895 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Austin : L.E. Daniel] Number of Pages: 922

Author: Brown, John Henry, 1820-1895
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Austin : L.E. Daniel]
Number of Pages: 922