Recollections of Early Texas (40 page)

10
Richard Coke was Governor from 1873 to 1877, and his administration ended Reconstruction in Texas.
Handbook of Texas,
I, 370.

11
John B. Jones was commissioned major of the Frontier Battalion, which consisted of six companies of Texas Rangers of seventy-five men each. Organized in 1874 to protect the frontier and clear it of hostile Indians, this battalion was largely responsible for the tradition associated with the term, “Texas Ranger.”
Handbook of Texas,
I, 651, 924.

12
Dan W. Roberts joined Jones's Battalion of Texas Rangers as a lieutenant and later rose to the rank of captain, which he held until he resigned in 1878. He soon returned to the Rangers and served until 1882.
Handbook of Texas,
II, 483.

13
For an account of the effort by border Mexican Federalists to break away from the Centralist government of Mexico, see
Handbook of Texas,
II, 460.

14
Moore commanded three volunteer companies against the Comanche Indians in January of 1839 and again in the battle in October, 1840, recounted here by Jenkins.
Handbook of Texas,
II, 230.

15
Castro lived at Estacas below Laredo. He and his band served as scouts for John H. Moore and Edward Burleson.
Handbook of Texas,
I, 308.

16
In this raid 130 Indians were killed, among them the Indian chief Machochochomochouch, and 34 squaws and children were captured. It took place between the Concho and Colorado rivers near Colorado City. Colonel Moore carved his name on the ruins of the old San Saba Presidio nearby. There were 12 Lipans under Castro and his son Flacco. Brown,
Indian Wars,
83–84;
Texas Sentinel
(Austin), November 14, 1840;
Telegraph and Texas Register
(Houston), November 14, 1840.

17
Garrett Harrell, a son of Jacob Harrell, died on October 16, 1840. Colonel Moore himself read the burial service over Harrell.
Texas Sentinel
(Austin), November 14, 1840.

18
Jean Peter Isidore Alphonse Dubois de Saligny, chargé d'affaires to Texas from France, built the so-called French Embassy in Austin, which has recently been restored.
Handbook of Texas,
II, 533.

Chapter 11

1
On November 21, 1831, James Bowie, Rezin P. Bowie, eight other men, and a boy were attacked by a large body of hostile Indians in a battle which lasted all day. One Texan was killed and three wounded, while at least twenty-one Indians were killed and an unknown number wounded. “Report of James Bowie,” in Brown,
History of Texas,
I, 170–175.

2
John Bird was born in Tennessee in 1795. He brought his family to Texas in 1829 and received title to a league of land in Burleson County on October 14, 1831. He was killed in the fight recounted by Jenkins on May 26, 1839, in which he and a force of thirty-four men fought about three hundred Caddo, Kickapoo, and Comanche Indians near Temple. Buffalo Hump was killed in this fight by Lieutenant James Robinett. Five Texans were killed or died from wounds and the number of Indian casualties has been estimated at between thirty and one hundred.
Handbook of Texas,
I, 163; George W. Tyler (edited by Charles W. Ramsdell),
The History of Bell County
(1936), 61–72; Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
367–371.

3
The Taylor family were attacked on November 12, 1835, by eleven Indians at their home in Bell County, three and one-half miles southeast of Belton. After the fight the family went to the home of Gouldsby Childress. Soon after they left, Captain George W. Chapman and a company of rangers passed by, saw the dead Indians which were being eaten by wild hogs, and concluded that they were the Taylor family. They soon found their mistake, however, when they arrived at the Childress house. The family moved to the settlement at Nashville-on-the-Brazos, where there was more protection. DeShields,
Border Wars,
136–143.

4
Joe Anderson and Felix McClusky were members of the ranger force stationed at Coleman's Fort in 1836 and 1837. McClusky, a wild and somewhat crazy Irishman, was later killed in a drunken brawl. Nothing is known of Joe Anderson. Smithwick,
Evolution of a State,
164, 201, 202, 273.

5
“Mike” Hornsby was Malcolm M. Hornsby, a son of Reuben Hornsby.

6
Moore's Defeat, as this battle was called, took place on February 12, 1839. Colonel Moore had fifty-five Texans and forty-two Lipans under his command. The wounded were William M. Eastland, Ira Leffingwell, James Manor, Rufus Perry, Felix Taylor, and Joe Martin. Martin died of his wounds. Brown,
Indian Wars,
74–75; Smithwick,
Evolution of a State,
217–219; Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
144–146.

7
This expedition occurred in November and December of 1840. Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
374–375.

8
Creed Taylor was born in Tennessee on April 10, 1820, and came to Texas in 1834 or 1835. His reminiscences of the Texas Revolution are given in James T. DeShields,
Tall Men with Long Rifles
(1935); see also Fisher,
It Occurred in Kimble,
138–150; Sowell,
Early Settlers,
804–810; Sowell,
Rangers and Pioneers,
225.

9
John Caldwell lived on the west side of the Colorado River several miles north of Bastrop along the Bastrop–Travis County line. Caldwell was senator from Bastrop and adjoining counties for many years in the Congress of the Republic and the legislature of the state. Ray,
Austin Colony Pioneers,
346.

10
A man named A. Houston, who was killed in the Surveyor's Fight in Navarro County in October of 1838, may have been Andy Houston. Brown,
Indian Wars,
50.

11
Jesse Thompson, an Old Three Hundred Colonist, lived in Fort Bend County, on the east bank of the Brazos River, where he ran a ferry.
Handbook of Texas,
II, 774.

12
Dunn and Carlin rode 120 miles to San Antonio completely naked. They arrived in bad condition, horribly burned by the fierce August sun. They were censured by Captain Hays and others for deserting their two comrades. This amazing experience took place in August of 1844, twelve miles up the Nueces River from Uvalde. All four men fully recovered after the careful nursing of the San Antonio women, but Achlin and Perry carried permanent scars.

James “Red” Dunn was wounded in the Battle of Bandera Pass, and participated in the fight at Laredo on April 7, 1841. He and Mike Chevallie were captured by Vasquez in 1842, but released soon afterward. Dunn also took part in the Nueces Canyon battle in July of 1844. Later he became a captain in the Confederate Army and was killed at Brownsville in 1863.

Nothing is known about John Carlin except that he was in many of the battles in which Hays's company participated. Ilma M. Benavides, “General Woll's Invasion of San Antonio in 1842” (Master's Thesis, University of Texas, 1952), 11; Henderson,
Colonel Jack Hays, Texas Ranger,
9, 21, 22, 26, 59–60; Sowell,
Early Settlers,
22–23, 132, 148–154.

Chapter 12

1
The full title of this magazine is
American Field; The Sportsman's Journal.

2
Captain John J. Grumbles was a ranger captain in the 1840's and 1850's. He lived first at Webber's Prairie and then bought the William Barton home and mill. Grumbles died in 1859.

Tom C. Collins, born in South Carolina in 1817, lived in Bastrop, then in Austin. He died in the early 1870's. Brown, “Annals of Travis County,” V, 14;
Handbook of Texas,
I, 742; Ray,
Austin Colony Pioneers,
307–308;
U.S. Census,
1850, Travis County, 38.

3
Mary Jane Foster was born in Missouri, September 29, 1826. She married John Jenkins in 1845, and they had eight children. She died in 1907.

4
Parthenia Barton, one of the four daughters of William Barton, later married Richard J. Lloyd. Probate Papers, Travis County.

Chapter 13

1
This evacuation took place on March 5, 1842. When Vasquez ordered the Texans to surrender, a council of war was held with Captain Jack Hays presiding. Lieutenant James P. Kincannon, mentioned by Jenkins, was one of the officers present. It was decided to take a vote among the men and when the votes were counted, fifty-four were in favor of retreating and fifty-three voted to stay and fight. The men threw 327 kegs of powder into the river. Brown,
History of Texas,
II, 213; Henderson,
Colonel Jack Hays, Texas Ranger,
33.

2
As soon as the Texans retired from the town, about one hundred Mexicans ran into Twohig's building for plunder. Twohig had made a trail of powder from the storehouse and lit it as the Texans retreated. The powder set off the ammunition stored in the building and killed a large number of the Mexicans.

John Twohig was wounded and made prisoner on September 11, 1842, when Adrian Woll captured San Antonio. He was taken to Mexico where he escaped from Perote Prison with some of the Mier prisoners. Twohig became a successful banker in San Antonio and lived there until his death in October, 1891. Benavides, “General Woll's Invasion of San Antonio in 1842” (Master's Thesis, University of Texas, 1952), 12–13, 25; Brown,
History of Texas,
II, 211–212; Chabot,
Perote Prisoners,
47, 96, 216–218;
Handbook of Texas,
II, 813; John J. Linn,
Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas
(1883), 326–327;
Telegraph and Texas Register
(Houston), November 2, 1842.

3
This was Jenkins' grandson. He was about ten years old while Jenkins was writing his reminiscences. Jack Jenkins was county attorney of Bastrop County from 1904 to 1913.

4
Jonathan Thomas McGehee, the son of Sarah Milton (Hill) and John Gilmore McGehee, was born in Alabama on December 20, 1829. He married Emily Spencer in November of 1853. James Saunders,
Early Settlers of Alabama
(1899), 521–524.

5
James Carr was born in Tennessee in 1807. He lived in Hays County and was still alive in 1885.
U.S. Census,
1850, Hays County, 243; Sowell,
Early Settlers,
165, 765.

6
This fight took place in December of 1850. Besides Baker Barton, a ranger named William Lackey was killed. There were eight Texans besides Burleson in the fight and some fifteen Indians. A runner was sent to Ford, who sent an ambulance to pick up the men. They were taken to San Antonio, where they remained until their wounds healed. It was later discovered that the Indians had, less than twenty-four hours before, been in a fight with Colonel Samuel Walker and his rangers.

Warren Lyons was wounded in the battle but only slightly. When the skirmish began, he abandoned his horse and began to take off his boots. The men thought he was going to run away, but he was merely preparing to fight. Sowell,
Early Settlers,
399–400, 825–826; A. J. Sowell, “Colonel Rip Ford and His Rangers Battle with Indians,”
Frontier Times,
IV, 41–42; Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
616–620.

7
Upon reaching home he saw his mother on the porch of the house and shouted, “Dar me mudder! Dar me mudder!” Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
215.

Chapter 14

1
John Jenkins enlisted in Captain M. B. Highsmith's Bastrop Cavalry, 26th Brigade, Texas State Troops, in July, 1861. His name also appears on a list of the officers and men in Company D, Twelfth Texas Cavalry, William H. Parson's brigade. In October, 1861, Jenkins and John J. Moncure were detailed by Colonel Parsons to obtain from Bastrop County one hundred swords and scabbards. In compliance with this order the county issued bonds to pay N. B. Tanner, who was operating an arms factory at Bastrop, for making the swords.

In 1863, Jenkins joined Colonel John S. Ford's Volunteers at San Antonio and remained with this group until the close of the war. General Services Administration, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.; Police Court Records, Bastrop County, Book B, 115.

2
The skirmish took place on May 13, 1865. Clement Evans (ed.),
Confederate Military History
(1899), XI, 127–129; Dudley G. Wooten,
A Comprehensive History of Texas, 1685–1897
(1898), II, 551–561.

Index

Index

Achlin, Christopher: in Battle of Salado,
100
; wounded by Indians,
195
–
198
; biographical sketch,
239

Adkinson (friend of Hornsbys): killed by Indians,
143
–
144

Alamo Mission: Gonzales men die in,
37
–
38
; John Cook killed in,
242
; Cunningham attempts to reach,
243

Alcantra, Battle of: Jordan fights in,
109n.

Aldridge, Martha: marries William Jenkins,
255

Alexander, Amos: killed by Indians,
21
–
22
; biographical sketch,
239
–
240

Alexander, Amos, Jr.: killed by Indians,
239
–
240

Alexander, Hannah: husband and son killed,
239
–
240

Alexander, Jerome B.: killed in Dawson Massacre,
131

Alexander, Lyman W.: father and brother killed,
239
–
240

Alexander, Sam: Santa Fe men stay in home of,
130
; son killed,
131
; Morgan stays in home of,
141

Alley (with supply boat): killed by Karankawas,
160

Alleyton, Texas: Cunningham lives in,
244

Alsbury, William W.: interpreter on Santa Fe Expedition,
126
–
127

Ampudia, Pedro: leads Mexican force,
108
–
110
; taunts Texas soldiers,
133
–
134