PIONEER DAY
IN THE
SOUTHWEST
A 403166

ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
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PIONEER DAYS
IN THE
SOUTHWEST
FROM
1850 to 1879
Thrilling Descriptions of Buffalo Hunting,
Indian Fighting and Massacres,
Cowboy Life and
Home Building
CONTRIBUTIONS BY
CHARLES GOODNIGHT
EMANUEL DUBBS
JOHN A. HART and others
Guthrie, Okla.:
The State Capital Company
1909
SECOND EDITION
COPYRIGHT
APPLIED FOR
Hist. So
010-28-25 HII.
Howes
10-13-25
12360
INTRODUCTION
Ever since the Pilgrim Fathers landed on the
New England coast, and a little later at James-
town, Va., surrounded as they were by primeval
forests, inhabited by savages, and savage animal
life, every step of progress and the introduction
of civilization was beset by perils and hardships
of such magnitude that it has provided a wide
field for the historian and a yet wider field for
the writer of romance. These conditions of
menacing perils, privations and hardships devel-
oped a race of people of such indomitable cour-
age and determination, and yet of such simplic-
ity of character, hospitality and kindness of heart
that the world became better because they lived in
it. Step by step these hardy pioneers subdued the
wilderness and made it blossom as the rose. Our
imagination has been fired by such names as
Boone, Kenton and the Wetzels of the dark and
bloody days in Kentucky, and later farther west
on the great plains and the Rocky Mountains we
have other historical names, Kit Carson, Buffalo
Bill (Cody), Payne and others, but very little has
ever been written about the great southwest, where
iv.
INTRODUCTORY
the red men of the prairie made their last strug-
gle for supremacy, and where they fought out
their last undying hatred against the innocent
settlers and pioneers, who with all they held dear
on earth, hewed out homes for themselves and
the coming generations amid the most indescriba-
ble dangers from their savage foes. Pioneer Days is
written by the rank and file who were the true
heroes and heroines, who suffered and gave their
lives and the lives of those near and dear to them,
in order to lay the foundation for future happy
homes, peace and prosperity. The writers of this
book are the small remnant yet left who were the
actual participators in these early struggles, and
they give their experiences, unadorned, with-
out any claim to literary merit; for the writers
are now old, and most of those who shared those
dangers and hardships have already passed over
the river. When you read their simple statements
of facts of Indian massacres, of terrible suffering
and privations, so unassumingly told by them, I
ask you, who have had the advantage of schools
and Christianity, and refinement, of which they
were almost entirely deprived, to cover their
rough and often ungrammatical sentences with
the cloak of Christian charity, and interline them
INTRODUCTORY
V.
with garlands of flowers, romance and chivalry
which truly belongs to them.
With this short preface we give you not fiction
or idle tales, but unadorned truths and conditions
that fortunately have passed out forever. Hoping
our simply told reminiscences of the early days
will meet with your approbation, and that you
will treasure our memories in love, for very soon
indeed, the burdens and the joys of life will be no
more for any of us, and we can only hope to live
in your appreciative memories.
NOTE BY THE WRITER, E. DUBBS: The state-
ment that Indians would not kill an old person,
a cripple or a deformed person, may have been
correct in rare instances, but the statement is in-
correct as a general proposition. My own obser-
vation, and that of hundreds of others, has been
that when on the war-path, they spared no
one. They would, and did to my own personal
knowledge, take the babe from its mother's arms
and beat out its brains against the door frame,
and then work their pleasure on the mother and
cruelly mutilate and kill her afterwards, sparing
no one, young or old, male or female.

ON THE RANGE
CHAPTER I.
CHARLES GOODNIGHT
BY EMANUEL DUBBS.

N
O history of pioneer days would be
complete without the name of Charles
Goodnight. While Mr. Goodnight has
a state and national reputation, the
people of the Panhandle of Texas
feel that they are especially honored in owning
him as a citizen, and he and his estimable wife
had, and now hold a place in the hearts of old-
timers as well as later settlers, that would cause
the people to condemn any writer who failed to
give to them that mete of praise which they so
richly deserve, and place their name at the head
of the highly honored galaxy of heroes who con-
tended with and finally overcame every obstacle
and danger of a country entirely given over to
savagery at the time of their advent.
Charles Goodnight is perhaps more extensively
known than any other western ranchman, cattle
owner, and pioneer, or any man of the present
day. A man who has done more to help to de-
velop this great Panhandle country and its diver-
sified industries than probably any other, except
T. S. Bugbee, who was the second settler in the
8
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Panhandle, while Goodnight was the first. I will
refer to this again in its proper place.
The writer of this sketch speaks from personal
knowledge, for he has known Mr. Goodnight
more or less intimately for thirty-three years. In
the fall of 1875 and 1876 Mr. Goodnight came to
our buffalo and meat drying camp, on Kelly
creek, preparing for his permanent location in
Paloduro canyon. All the other characters rep-
resented in this book are their own contributors
and tell their life's story in their own way, and all
of them simply and modestly. But it was differ-
ent with Mr. Goodnight. I went to see him per-
sonally at his beautiful home, and found him
very busy getting ready to start on a trip to the
Pacific coast with his wife and two nieces, the
Misses Dyer. Yet busy as he was, he accorded
me every attention possible. Mr. Henry Taylor
of Clarendon, than whom a truer friend and
gentleman never lived, accompanied me, and we
were both entertained royally, and most hospit-
ably. And a lively scene burst upon our view;
four buffalo cows were already hanging up, beau-
tifully dressed on their separate cranes, their
beautiful black furry robe hides carefully salted
and rolled up ready to be shipped to their pur-
chasers back east.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
9
"Mr. Goodnight, what do you get for these
hides?" was my question.
"They average me $100 each," was his answer.
Shades of Moses! Think about it. And it
does not seem so very long ago when I was glad
to get as the top price $2.50 each. Upon further
inquiry he informed us that each buffalo killed
that day netted him about $350. I informed him
of the object of my visit. His answer was, “I
haven't time to write what you want, but after
dinner when I dispose of some of these pressing
matters I will give you such data as you want,"
but he says, "I want it understood I only do this
to help you out and as a personal favor to your-
self."
With this introduction, dear readers, I will give
just as near as I can in his own words a short life
sketch of Mr. Goodnight, for his modesty prevent-
ed him from giving himself credit in times of
trial and danger, when nothing but supreme
nerve, coolness and determination carried him
safely through and preserved his life.
"I was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, March
5, 1836. I am now in my seventy-third year.
After the death of my father, in 1841, my mother
married again, and moved to Texas, and first set-
tled in Milam county, in 1846, when I was in
10
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
}
my tenth year. In 1857 I went to Palo Pinto
county, then on the extreme frontier. At that
time all of northwestern Texas, lying beyond the
east fork of the Trinity, was comparatively a wil-
derness and its scattered settlements were con-
tinuously in danger of Indian raids. Dallas was
a mere village, its first house having been built
five years before, while the. military post, known
as Fort Worth, was not established until 1849.
The country adjacent, now a solid farm, was then
covered with a rank growth of mesquite grass, af-
fording pasturage for all kinds of large game
common to the latitude. Buffalo herds roamed
all of this region, and I first encountered them
on the west side of the Trinity river, within two
miles of Dallas. I attended public school in my
early childhood, but our removal to Texas
prevented me from securing an education other
than that acquired in active everyday life. Until
my nineteenth year I was engaged in farming, a
life which in all new countries is one of ceaseless
hardships and toil, but doubly so in a region so
far removed from civilization as Palo Pinto county
was then. All this western border was then ham-
pered by the harrassing bands of savage enemies,
and with the consequent need of incessant watch-
!
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
11
fulness against their raids, the settlers enjoyed but
few respites from privations and dangers.
"In 1856 I started on an overland trip to Cali-
fornia, accompanied by a young man about my
own age, J. W. Sheek by name. Our outfit con-
sisted of a bull team and a wagon and three
horses. When we reached San Saba river we
concluded that Texas was large enough to supply
an ample field for our energy, so we turned back
over the same route just traveled. At the cross-
ing on the Brazos we encountered a cattle man
who proposed letting us have a herd to handle on
shares. There were 430 head in the bunch, prin-
cipally cows. The contract was: We could hold
them where we thought best, and we could brand
for ourselves one-fourth of the increase.
moved the cattle back to Palo Pinto county and
located in Keechi valley. As the end of the first
year's branding resulted in only thirty-two calves
for our share, and as the value was about three
dollars per head, we figured out that we had made
between us, not counting expenses, ninety-six dol-
lars. It was a gloomy outlook at the time. How-
ever, we determined to hold to our contract,
and the herd intrusted to us became one of the
largest and finest in the country, at the expiration
of our contract we had 4,000 head for our share.
We
12
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
"During the last years of the civil war, in 1865,
I served as scout and guide for a frontier regi-
ment, which was guarding the settlements from
Indian attacks, and my cattle interests were in
consequence neglected, and I suffered great losses.
The confederate authorities had taken many of
them without paying a cent. Indians had raided
our herds and cattle thieves were branding them,
to their own benefit without regard to our rights."
The writer wishes to note a fact here that no
doubt the reader has discovered that during all
this time Mr. Goodnight says nothing about his
own encounters with the Indians and outlaws, and
when I questioned him about it he said: "I never
talk about it. I leave that to Tom Pollard or
Jim Tackett, who were with me and can give you
stories of Indian fighting that I have now for-
gotten."
Mr. Goodnight continued: "Upon my return
from the army I became disgusted with the then
existing state of affairs, and accompanied by Col.
Dick Carter, C. C. Slaughter, Dick Jorvell and
George Lemly, we started to Mexico in search of a
more favorable business location, but the party
never reached its destination. While making our
way through thickets on the Devil's river, Slaugh-
ter was painfully injured by the accidental dis-
1
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
13
charge of Lemly's gun, and we turned back to a
point where we could obtain medical attendance.
Upon my return to Palo Pinto county I found
my affairs in a worse shape than ever, and deter-
mined to carry what cattle I had left elsewhere. I
now turned my attention to New Mexico as a field
offering fair advantages, and arranged to drive
there with a Mr. Mosely, who was the owner of
a very large herd. But the dangers of the trip
proved too great for Mr. Mosely, who changed his
plans at the last minute, going to Alabama in-
stead.
"At this juncture I met Oliver Loving, who
readily fell in with the idea to take our joint herds
to New Mexico, or even to Colorado, if we found
nothing to suit us in the first territory. The start
was accordingly made, the outfit consisting of
myself, Loving and fourteen men. We drove the
cattle by way of Fort Belknap, to Fort Sumner,
New Mexico, opening what has since become
known as the Goodnight trail. We found pur-
chasers for the cattle at Fort Sumner, and the
entire herd was sold for eight cents per pound.
This was an incentive to us and we determined to
return and buy another herd and rush them
through the same season. Turning back on the
trail, with the proceeds of our sale loaded on
14
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
our pack mules, an incident occurred which came
very nearly wrecking our new found hopes. While
in the roughest and most dangerous part of our
journey back, and when we were using every pre-
caution to prevent giving notice to the red skins
of our presence, a mule bearing six thousand dol-
lars in gold in the pack, broke away in the dark-
ness, scattering the provisions she carried in every
direction. The gold, however, was saved, for I
grabbed a rope that was dangling from the pack
and checked the frantic animal after being
dragged quite a distance down a rocky slope at
the risk of a broken neck. The gold was saved,
but our provisions were entirely lost, and there
was no way to get them renewed. We traveled
for eighty-six miles without anything to eat until
we got to the Pecos river, where we accidentally
ran across a man who divided his meager stock of
food with us. We continued our return without
further incident, and a second herd was secured
and driven through that same season. We accom-
plished this trip in thirty-three days, and sold
them out again to good advantage. On our re-
turn this time we concluded to avoid the pack
mule accident, so we bought a wagon. Most of
our money was in silver and it took a wagon to
haul it. Among the silver we had a great many
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
15
;
dimes and small change, which added greatly to
the bulk and was an undesirable load to carry,
and I felt greatly relieved when the 'nigger' cook
said, 'Marse Goodnight, I takes the very small-
est money dere is.' When he had his hat piled
full of dimes and quarters he said, 'Ise gwine ter
make dem town niggers open der eyes powerful.'
"The next year Loving and I started on our
third drive, but our fortunes changed from the
very start. While we halted for the night near
Camp Cooper, the Indians attacked us, shooting
one man in the head with an arrow, but not
fatally. 1 had here a narrow escape. Very tired
by our day's hard ride, I was sleeping on a buf-
falo robe by the fire and an arrow sent with all
the force of a strong bow, struck the edge of the
robe, deflecting sufficiently to pass under me, bare-
ly missing my body."
་
(Note by the writer.)
I desire to say to those of my readers who have
not seen an Indian handle a bow and arrow, that
they are a powerful weapon at close range. I had
an Indian show me what he could do while in
my buffalo camp on Oaks creek in the Panhandle.
A flint dry buffalo hide was leaning up against
the door of our tent. He fitted an arrow to his
16
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
bow, drew it back to the head, and let drive, and
it penetrated the hide clear up to the feather,
while two thickness of dry buffalo hides were bul-
let proof. Even the "big fifty" Sharp's rifle could
not penetrate them.
Mr. Goodnight continued: "As I sprang up I
heard the leader of the Indians shout out some-
thing which I took to be an order to stampede the
horses, and running out quickly I reached the
herd ahead of them and the first Indian I saw
coming I fired at him, and believing, we supposed,
that the horse herd was under a heavy guard, the
attacking party retreated. Next day we recov-
ered all the horse stock but one mule, but over
three hundred cattle were driven away. Some
days ofter this, while on Pecos river, Mr. Loving
left the outfit with a single companion, intending
to press on ahead of the outfit to Fort Sumner
and secure an Indian contract by the time of our
arrival with the herd. It was a dangerous under-
taking. I warned him to use the greatest pre-
caution to avoid the Indians and only travel by
night and hide through the day time. In his im-
patience Mr. Loving neglected these precautions
and was attacked by 600 Indians at a point near
the present site of Eddy, New Mexico. Wounded
in the wrist and side, he and his companions were
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
17
forced to seek shelter under the bank of the river,
where the savages were too cautious to press
them. The Indians took their position on either
side of the river, and posted one in the stream
down the river to prevent escape by swimming.
Mr. Loving seeing that there was no chance to
pass them in his wounded state, he told his com-
panion, J. M. Wilson, to take his gun, as it was the
best of the two, and try to reach me with informa-
tion of his situation. Wilson made three efforts
to swim with his gun and clothes on, but failed
each time. At last, he pulled off his clothes and
concealed them with his arms, again trusting
himself to the current, staying under the water as
long as he could, passing the Indian lines. Three
days afterwards he reached our camp, which was
close to Adobe Walls, naked, barefooted, weak and
exhausted, and so changed in appearance that his
own brother, who was in camp, failed at first to
recognize him. I immediately started with six
men, one of whom was Mr. Campbell, who was
traveling with the outfit for safety, and who was
afterwards a prominent banker at Comanche,
Texas. Wilson had described the spot where Lov-
ing had been left, so accurately that we were cer-
tain of finding it, but I had no hope of finding
him alive. In course of time we reached the spot
**
18
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
where the first fight had occurred and where the
two men had left the road, and where they fled
through a narrow strip of brushy bottom to the
river bank, and here we found the trail of fully
600 Indians in pursuit. We all believed that
Loving had been killed, but if not, we determined
to rescue him or die in the attempt. The Indians
were gone and no trace of the wounded man was
found, though we found the spot where he had
made his stand and could see that the Indians
had tunneled within six feet of his position. We
also found Wilson's gun anl clothing where he
had hidden them. I afterwards learned with an
accidental meeting with Jim Burleson, another
'old-timer,' that Mr. Loving had evaded the In-
dians by going several miles up the river instead
of down, where he was found by some Mexicans
and taken to Fort Sumner, but the five days' ex-
posure and suffering before he was found proved
too much, even for his iron constitution, and he
died shortly after reaching the fort. I changed
my course and drove on through to Colorado with
the herds, but the losses on the route so reduced
them in numbers that I barely realized from the
sales first cost.
"I continued driving cattle to Mexico and Colo-
rado markets for three years longer, and then
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
19
>
found myself in possession of $72,000, a part of
which belonged to the Loving estate, and was
turned over to the heirs of my old partner. The
last year spent on the trail I worked in conjunc-
tion with John Chisum, clearing a net profit of
$17,000. The year 1871 was a fortunate year for
me in more than a financial way, for I met and
married a most estimable lady whose counsel and
influence has ever since been to me a guiding light
for good deeds, and godly living. Her maiden
name was Mary Ann Dyer. Though born in Ten-
nessee, she had been principally reared in Texas.
Her father, Joel Henry Dyer, a prominent lawyer
and ex-attorney general of Tennessee, emigrated
to Texas when the country was yet young, set-
tling in Fort Worth. He was a resident of Bel-
knap for a good many years and Mrs. Goodnight
was sent to the best schools in northern Texas, and
afterward taking up the profession of teaching."
The writer of this incomplete life sketch be-
lieves this a fitting and appropriate time to say a
few words regarding Mrs. Goodnight from per-
sonal knowledge. Her wide Christion philan-
throphy is not only felt at home among home peo-
ple, but has reached out all over the state. There
are many boys and girls scattered all over this
broad domain who, now grown into manhood and
20
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
motherhood, who call her name blessed. She,
aided by her noble husband, built entirely with
their own means the original Goodnight college
and endowed it with the land (the number of acres
I do not know), and for years kept up an excel-
lent faculty almost entirely at their own expense.
Mrs. Goodnight was a mother to all the boys
and girls intrusted to their care. Her true worth,
her liberality, her charity, her consecrated Chris-
tian life, can only reap its full fruition in the
home of "many mansions."
Mr. Goodnight says: "After I married I
thought I would no longer follow my wild trail
life, as I had ample means. I concluded to settle
down and take up ranching instead. I purchased
in 1868 a large tract of land in Colorado near
Pueblo, and in 1871 I bought, forty miles from
Trinidad, a large ranch, where I lived for a time
and temporarily enjoyed the reputation of being
the largest farmer in eastern Colorado. When I
first interested myself in farming here, corn com-
manded a ready sale at six and seven cents per
pound. But the building of railroads soon put an
end to these fancy prices, and they shipped in all
kinds of farm products cheaper than we could
raise them. I now assisted in organizing the Stock
Growers' Bank of Pueblo, and began investing ex-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
21
tensively in different enterprises, but in the panic
of '73 I saw my property to the amount of $100,-
000 suddenly swept away, leaving me nothing in
the way of working capital, save a herd of 1,800
head of cattle. With this small remnant of my
former capital I determined to again return to the
pursuits of my earlier life, fully determined if
possible to retrieve my losses in the same manner
that my first start in life had been gained. I had
a very good knowledge of the entire portion of
northwest Texas. I believed that this section,
considering its location as to markets, and prac-
tically opened up for settlement by that fearless
body of men, the buffalo hunters, who by killing
out the buffalo stopped forever the terror of the
settlers and the cattlemen, the depredating tribes.
of plains Indians who had for centuries roamed
and fought over this fair and productive part of
Texas, known as the Texas Panhandle.
"In 1876 I moved my herd into the Panhandle,
following an old Indian trail, which led into the
banks between canyon Blanco and the main can-
yon Paloduro, where we came to the cap rock
over which the trail led, while probably the most
practicable place to enter it for many miles
around, but the descent was so abrupt and steep
that we were compelled to take our wagons to
22
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
pieces, first unloading them, and let them down
into the valley below with ropes. We had to do
the same thing with their contents. We had
heavy loaded teams of provisions and many other
necessary things for establishing a permanent
camp or quarters. I located in Paloduro canyon
with my herd of 1,800 head. At that time the
nearest settlement eastward from us
was Hen-
rietta, 200 miles northeast, seventy-five miles to
Fort Elliott, which had just been established the
year before, having then only a small neuclus
of settlers. North eighty miles was the Canadian
river, where another cattleman located his family,
T. S. Bugbee. My wife's nearest neighbor was
Mrs. Bugbee, eighty miles away. Think of it,
my lady readers, the lonesomeness of those two
women, both by nature and education qualified to
adorn the most exclusive society, but with willing
hands and hearts helping their husbands to lay
the foundation for their fortunes, and preparing
the way for the future development of a grand
civilization. In the fall of 1877 a small settle-
ment was started in Donnelly county known as old
Clarendon, about five miles north of the present
little and beautiful city of the same name, on the
Fort Worth and Denver railroad.
"In 1877 I formed a partnership with Lord
2
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
23-
John G. Adair of Weathdair, Ireland, under the
firm name of Adair & Goodnight. Mr. Adair in-
vested $372,000 in the business, of which I had the
management, I owning one-third interest. A large
tract of land was purchased, none of which was
surveyed. The pioneer surveyors, Gunter and
Munson, under the authority of the state govern-
ment, ran out the lines, assisted by our own towns-
man (now dead), T. S. McClelland. The land
purchased by the firm included the Paloduro
ranch, originally located by me, and now selected
and occupied as headquarters' and occupied as
our home until 1879. The buildings erected by
me are yet standing and became the headquarters.
of the J. A. outfit."
There are some incidents of interest of which
the writer is cognizant, and of which Mr. Good-
night in his modesty did not speak in my inter-
view with him. Incidents that were factors in
putting down lawlessness and cattle stealing in its
different forms. Also showing Mr. Goodnight's
determination to assist as far as was in his power
the weak authority of the courts which were yet
very crude and had not as yet laid off their swad-
dling clothes.
In my own reminiscences, 1 stated that Wheeler
county organized and elected county officers in the
24
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
spring of '79, her courts having jurisdiction over
the vast territory of twenty-six counties which in
the last year had an influx of all sorts of cattle-
men, sheepmen, a few settlers, and many "rust-
lers." On the whole, the country was blessed in
her sheriff, Mr. Henry Fleming. Mr. Fleming
was a type that now no longer exists, or if they
did, could no longer be elected to such a respon-
sible office. A saloon man and a gambler by pro-
fession, yet in the discharge of his duty as an
officer, firm and brave, and in the language of Mr.
Goodnight: "The only man who could preserve
the law, arrest men in their wild drunken orgies
without bloodshed, and for the four years that he
was sheriff he made many arrests, but never shot
a man or was shot." However diligent, it was im-
possible to keep down lawlessness. About three
weeks before our first term of district court, Mr.
Goodnight came to me and said that there was a
great deal of cattle stealing going on all over the
Panhandle, that the officers of the law could not,
except without outside assistance, ferret out and
bring to trial the lawbreaker over such a vast ter-
ritory. And he proposed that we prepare a proc-
lamation, asking all stockmen, large and small, to
meet in Mobeetie, the county seat of Wheeler
county, on a certain day during district court
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
25
week, in order to formulate plans to assist the
officers of the law to break down lawlessness. This
was done, and in that meeting was born the Pan-
handle Stock association, with Charles Goodnight
the first president.
The town of Clarendon and small settlements
surrounding it in Donnelly county, of which we
spoke before, was composed of such men as Mr.
Carhart, H. B. White (the latter judge of the
county until he died), T. S. McClelland, Mr.
Stanton, and other citizens, determined not to tol-
erate saloons, whiskey, and gambling dives. But
Mr. McCarney at Mobettie sent one of his men
from their town with teams and wagons loaded
with all things required to open up a first class
frontier institution. A combination of sin,
drinks, gambling, dance hall and lewd women,
and armed with a government license for selling
intoxicants. The people of Clarendon were very
much opposed to it, but did not know how to pre-
vent the man from opening his dive. Fortunately
Mr. Goodnight just came to town with a number
of his men from a round up. He did not want
a saloon, either, to demoralize his men, so he told
the people he guessed they need not have a
whiskey dive unless they wanted one, and as they
declared they did not want anything of that kind
26
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Mr. Goodnight went down to where the gentle-
man was camped and told him to hitch up and
pull out. Both were armed, and it looked for
a little while which one would get his gun the
quickest. The man, looking into Mr. Goodnight's
eyes, concluded he would turn around and go
back, and as he expressed it afterward, "It did
not look healthy around there."
Now dear reader, after giving these side lights
on my own responsibility, I'll continue Mr. Good-
night's narrative:
The partnership between myself and Adair
continued until 1888. At one time we had 100,-
000 head of cattle under our management and to
care for them over such an extensive range we em-
ployed a little army of men called 'cowboys.'
Everything was conducted on a very extensive
scale. At the time of the dissolution of the part-
nership there were 63,000 head of cattle on the
ranch. In the division of the property I kept
what was known as the Quitequa ranch. I now
moved sixteen miles north of the J. A. ranch to
what is now known as Goodnight station on the
Fort Worth and Denver railroad in Armstrong
county, where I built and occupied my present
home and have lived here ever since." This closes
his personal narrative.

GOODNIGHT PARK
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
27
THE GOODNIGHT HOME AND RANCH.
The reader of this short life sketch, as per-
sonally related to me, has no doubt wondered why
it is so short and barren of details. The real
cause of this is that Mr. Goodnight is extremely
modest and does not desire to pose before the
public as a hero. I feel myself fortunate in hav-
ing obtained from him as much data as I did, and
I believe that he was free with me, more per-
haps, because I am an old-timer, and of our pleas-
ant personal associations of the past.
The Goodnight home, park and ranch has long
ago passed its mile stone of local repute, and has
reached out over the state, the nation and across
the seas, until now it has a world wide reputation.
People come thousands of miles to see the Good-
night park, with its surrounding enclosure of
many acres, surrounded with an eight wire fence
and holding within its limits deer, elk, and the
famous Goodnight herd of pure blood buffalo, as
well as half breeds. When I made my last visit
to the Goodnight home the herd contained about
130 head, seventy-nine of which were pure bred
buffalo.
When Mr. Goodnight first located in Paloduro
canyon, buffalo hunting was still in full sway and
there yet roamed over what in the past has been
28
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
known as the "staked plains," vast herds of these
noble animals, but the fall and winter of "77 and
"78 closed out forever these great herds, and in
the spring of "78 there were only a few scatter-
ing bunches left, and Mrs. Mary Goodnight sug-
gested to her husband the advisability of preserv-
ing to Texas and the nation a few of the buffalo.
Acting upon this wise suggestion, Mr. Good-
night hunted up a bunch and roped two calves,
fortunately a male and female, and a few weeks
after this Mr. Lee Dyer, a brother of Mrs. Good-
night, captured two more, also a male and
female. These were all conveyed to the ranch and
each one given a milch cow to suck. They soon
became tame and were allowed to run with their
adopted mothers on the range with the rest of the
milk stock. Here was the beginning of the pres-
ent Goodnight herd which has not only proven
of great commercial value to him, but has pre-
served to Texas this noble animal, and made the
Goodnight ranch famous the world over.

EMANUEL DUBBS.
CHAPTER II.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES
BY EMANUEL DUBBS.

B
Y request of that typical old pioneer,
John A. Hart, and others, I will add
a few of my own experiences of the
early pioneer days in Southern
Kansas, "No man's Land," and the Panhandle of
Texas. I have a delicacy in doing this, because
of the letter "I" for it may appear to the reader
too much like self-exaltation, but I do not know
of any way to avoid it, do you? For this is to
be my own experience that I am to give you, of
course always in connection with others. I am
glad that I have an opportunity to do this, be-
cause many who participated have already passed
away, and soon the little band who blazed the way
amid innumerable perils and hardships, will only
be a memory.
Their deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice, their
unconscious, whole hearted liberality, true and
brave hearts beating under rough exteriors, amid
wild and rough scenes. They gave their all that
a grand fertile country might be reclaimed from
savagery and converted into happy homes, waving
30
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
fields of grain, schools and churches, houses,
railroads, towns and cities. Oh, grand and heroic
band! I am glad that in an humble way
I can
be numbered with you. Comrades, I greet the
living and honor the dead.
My Dear Mr. Hart:
I do not think you or the readers of your book
will be interested in my nativity or my four years
civil war experience, suffice it to say, that I was
born in Stark county, Ohio, on a farm. I knew
President McKinley when he was a clerk in a
store in our county seat (Canton). When I was
eighteen years of age I entered the union army
as a "high private in the rear rank," in the First
Ohio Volunteer infantry, Company I. I served
four years, until peace was declared, when I re-
turned home, somewhat the worse for me, having
had all the war experiences I wanted, having been
wounded at Stone river and again at Rasacá, Ga.
My welcome home by my gray haired old father
and my loving Christian mother, was that of the
prodigal's return. My best girl, I think, was also
glad to see me, and to reward her I married her,
for which kindness on my part, she says she has
been sorry ever since. (Oh, the ingratitude of the
human heart.) However that may be, she has
been my "help mate" indeed. For all these years
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
31
*
and through every happiness, through all trials
and adversities she has been next to my God, my
strength and my helper.
In the spring of 1871 we, that is wife and I,
concluded to follow Horace Greeley's advice and
move west, for we had lost our little fortune in
a fire. We made the trip with a mover's outfit, a
covered wagon, a pair of mules, small tent, camp-
ing outfit, etc., and one evening we pulled into the
then outside frontier town of Newton, Kansas,
the end of the track of the Santa Fe and Atchi-
son railroad. We did not intend to stop only long
enough to purchase supplies, as we had taken a
contract of grading work on the line between the
Little and Big Arkansas rivers near the town of
Hutchinson, Kansas, which was not then in exist-
ence. When we entered the town of Newton we
found her citizens wildly excited, and on making
inquiry as to the cause we were informed that on
the night previous a little trouble had arisen
in a saloon and gambling hall called the "Gold
Rooms," between the cowboys and some railroad
men and as a result of said unpleasantness there
still lay on the floor seventeen dead men, the
wounded having been removed. My wife did not
want to stay long enough to buy supplies, but I
pointed out to her that the dead men could not
32
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
hurt her and that the wounded, I supposed, had
enough of it and were not likely to hurt us, either.
Many interesting things happened while doing
contract work on the grade, which in a work of
this kind I think do not directly apply to pioneer-
ing. I will pass over the time to the spring of "72.
Sometime in the month of June, myself and the
head contractor, Mr. Wiley, and another gentle-
man, whose name I have forgotten, traveled up
the line from old Fort Larned over what was
then known as the Dry Ridge trail. Coming out
in sight of the beautiful Arkansas valley about
two miles above where old Fort Dodge then stood,
a panorama opened up to our view that was most
beautiful. The island dotted Arkansas river
winding through this green valley, covered with
luxuriant native grass, a stream at this time of
year on an average of a half mile wide filled
with water from bank to bank, with beautiful
groves of cottonwood on the islands and along
its banks. Having traveled all day without see-
ing a tree, this was a refreshing sight, indeed, and
what made it still more interesting to me was
the numerous herds of buffalo feeding content-
edly on the nutritious grass, others lying down
all unsuspicious of danger, and if the truth must
be told there was no very great danger to them,

ivez
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PRESTO, BEHOLD THE
(See Page 33.)
འ ་ པའ་་་་་
CHANGE !
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
33
but they did not know it, neither did I, but I
thought there was, to one of them, at least. I
was riding a mule and was armed with an old cap
and ball pistol. I requested Mr. Wiley, who was
riding in a carriage, to hold up a little and I
would soon get buffalo meat for supper. He con-
sented to wait and I got out my "old Cap and
Ball" and put the spur to my festive mule and
sailed down on the herd. I singled out a fat cow
and as my mule forged up by the side of her, I
pulled the trigger and "presto!" behold the
change. I think every one of the charges in that
old six-shooter exploded at once. My mule made
a right "chasse" and I took a header to the left.
When I recovered consciousness, Mr. Wiley was
trying to raise me up to a sitting position. I lost
my buffalo, I lost my religion, I lost my six-
shooter, and I thought I had lost my mule, but
on looking around I found her grazing content-
edly about two hundred yards away, as inno-
cently—well, as innocent as a mule.
We made camp that night five miles up the
valley from Fort Dodge, and next day when Mr.
Wiley's outfit arrived, we put up a supply house,
which was to supply the men, who were soon to
follow, with provisions, feed or grain for teams,
etc. This house was put up in sections, every-
34
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
thing having been prepared before hand. This
was the first house ever put up in what soon aft-
erward became known as Dodge City, Kansas.
This most noted of all southwestern towns, noted
for scenes and conditions, and characters that
now no longer exist and reads like an "Arabian
Nights" romance. I made this town my
headquarters for two years in my hunting expedi-
tions south into "No Man's Land" and later still
further south into the Panhandle of Texas, about
which I will speak later.
I believe at this place it would not be
amiss to tell the reader something of the char-
acter and conditions that prevailed then-scenes
in which I participated and others to which I was
an eye witness. Looking back now, after a period
of thirty-five years and remembering my early
training under the zealous care of a strict Chris-
tian father and a mother's unselfish and devoted
love, besides the never failing and tender solici-
tude, and self-sacrificing spirit of my wife, who
through every change, and trial, and danger, has
always been my helpmate, my companion, my
counselor and friend. Notwithstanding all these
safeguards, my new environments exercised a
powerful influence over me, and it did not take
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
35
long until I was no longer looked upon as a ten-
derfoot.
The name of Dodge City, Kansas, was known
far and wide, and her reputation was not enviable.
The town grew almost in a night into a tented
little city, every man was a law unto himself. In
a few days 'Boot Hill" grave yard was started.
At the approach of night the dance hall, saloons
and gambling halls were a blaze of light and ac-
tivity. The sharp report of the six-shooter be-
came a nightly occurrence, and in the morning
the usual question was: how many were killed
last night?
I will here relate just one event out of the
many in the early history of this town which will
give the reader a very good conception of the
general cussedness that prevailed. Among the
many lawless characters, who in the very begin-
ning drifted into town was Billy Brooks. In a
few weeks he had established a reputation as the
killer. He was wonderfully quick with a gun.
He carried two, one on each hip (as did nearly
every one else), and in the flash of an eye he
could draw one in each hand and fire. In less
than a month he had either killed or wounded
fifteen men. I did not witness any of the shoot-
ing, as I was then and for six years afterward en-
36
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
gaged in buffalo hunting, (my camp at this time
being on Bluff creek, twenty-five miles from
Dodge City, south of the Arkansas,) saving the
horns, humps, hides, etc. Late one evening I
pulled into town with two loads of buffalo meat
(this was in the winter of 1872-73). After put-
ting up our teams and eating supper I went to
town into one of the stores to make the arrange-
ments to dispose of my meat and buy supplies so
we could get off early next morning. While talk-
ing with the merchant, we heard a number of
shots fired, and a woman screaming for help in a
gun and ammunition store adjoining. I ran out
and started for the door of the house where the
shooting was going on, and just before I came
to the door, Crash! Bang! There came half a
dozen shots through the door from the inside. I
concluded that was not a very healthy place and
went back to the store where I had been trading
and asked the proprietor what the trouble was. I
found him badly frightened and closing up. Not
being able to obtain the information I wanted, I
went out again, but the street was deserted. After
a little I saw four men come out of the door and
start down across the railroad to the south side
where there was a dance hall, that at this time of
night was in full blast of activity, as this was
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
37
the nightly resort of such characters as Billy
Brooks and lewd women. These men were going
in that direction. Having by this time become
intensely interested in the conduct of these four
men, knowing that their purpose to be evil, mean-
ing danger to some person or persons, I followed
them at a short distance to find out what their
purpose was, and prevent mischief if possible.
Just then I was overtaken by an old comrade and
buffalo hunter by the name of Fred Singer, who
informed me that they were after Billy Brooks.
Just before they entered the door of the dance
hall we shouted a warning to Billy Brooks. They
fired several shots back at us, which we returned.
Then from the door of the dance hall came such
a fusillade of shots from the revolvers in the
hands of Brooks, who stood in bold relief in the
light of the door, that it appeared to me as if a
whole company had fired at the same time, and
when the smoke cleared away two of the four
were dead, and the other two were mortally
wounded. Billy Brooks escaped as usual with
only a slight wound in the shoulder. One girl in
the room was seriously wounded by a stray shot.
Afterwards, I learned that the men who made the
attack were four brothers from Hayes city. That
some time previous, during a dispute over cards in
38
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
the place and during the shooting Brooks had
killed his opponent, Berry by name, and these
were his brothers, who came over for the expressed
purpose of killing Brooks, and in order to get up
steam they had been filling up on bad whiskey,
and after shooting out lights and smashing mir-
rors in the business part of town they at last got
what the people thought they deserved; any way
there was no investigation, of which fact I was
well pleased because of the unintentional mixup I
had in it myself.
As stated before, I made Dodge City my head-
quarters for two years, but as I hunted buffalo for
their commercial value, that is after the buffalo
moved farther south, I could no longer convey the
green meat to market, and as I thought it a great
waste to kill them for their hides only, I con
cluded to make fall and winter camp with dry
houses in connection. So early in the spring of
1873 I filed on a hundred and sixty acres of gov-
ernment land at a big spring five miles north of
Dodge City on Duck creek and stocked it with
dairy cows, to supply the Dodge City market with
the products of the dairy, intending in the early
fall to start south with an outfit to hunt the buf-
falo for meat as well as hides. This meat was
sugar cured, and in the spring was freighted to
7
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
39
the railroad and shipped in carload lots to Kansas
City, Missouri, and from there was distributed to
the wholesale houses on the different roads run-
ning out from there. I have given this explan-
ation of the short break I made in the pursuit of
the buffalo to lead up to our experiences with
horse thieves or "rustlers," as they were then
called. The lawless condition of the country
brought together large bands of this kind of
gentry.
For more than a week small parties of men
with Indian ponies, mules and horses were
brought to their rendezvous just below our ranch,
almost hourly, until there were gathered together
forty-odd men and between four and five hundred
head of stock, under the leadership of Dutch
Henry and Tom Owens, two of the most desperate
characters that ever went unhung in the west.
As I knew the leaders well, as well as many of the
men-for I had fed them often when they drifted
into our camp-I was in hopes they would not
interfere with my stock. The law abiding people
had not organized against them, for we did not
know when we met a man if he belonged to the
rustling gang or not, and it was as much as a
man's life was worth to interfere with them in
any way.
40
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
I had, however, taken the precaution to sleep
out on the ground several hundred yards away
from the house with my big fifty buffalo gun, as
well as a brace of big Colts' revolvers by my side.
Here I picketed three of my best horses. This
was only a precaution, for I did not believe they
would steal from me. However, I was mistaken,
for on awakening early one morning I found the
picket ropes cut and my horses gone, and when
daylight appeared I found the "rustlers” and all
the stock gone also. I was afoot without any
horses or mules and five miles from town. But
I footed it into town and by twelve o'clock we had
thirty-five determined men, well mounted, a four-
horse supply wagon fitted with provisions, camp
outfit, etc. We got together to organize; I was
chosen captain, Ed Jones lieutenant, and by one.
o'clock we took the trail. Before starting, how-
ever, we telegraphed to Hayes City, Kansas, ask-
ing them to head them off, as I had discovered
that their trail led in that direction. To make a
long story short, we caught up with them in the
hills west of Hayes City and after a desperate
battle, Dutch Henry was wounded six times,
Owens killed and others of the gang kilied
and wounded. We were assisted by twenty of the
Hayes City force. A number of our men were
·
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
41
also killed and wounded, but we recovered and
captured all the stolen stock and forever broke up
the most desperate gang that had ever organized
to depredate on peaceable citizens. I want to state
here that the leader, Dutch Henry, recovered and
escaped and many years afterward when I was
county judge of Wheeler county, Texas, he came
to my house and stayed two days-a thoroughly
reformed man.
What became of him afterwards
I do not know.
According to our western expression, I am only
able, Mr. Hart, to give you my experience in
"rough places." To give you anything like a full
account of adventures and interesting events that
naturally became part and parcel of the occupa
tion in which I was engaged, would make a vol-
ume larger than you contemplate publishing,
even condensed as I will make it, it necessarily
becomes somewhat voluminous.
I believe, however, that it becomes a duty to
myself and the many co-workers who engaged in
the occupation of buffalo hunting to make some
comments, and correct some errors that prevailed
in the minds of those who really know nothing of
the condition of things that then existed.
The question has often been asked me: "Why
did you slaughter these noble animals in such a
1
42
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
wholesale manner?" I will answer our critics.
That just as long as the buffalo ranged over so
much of the most fertile country in all the south-
west, settlements were impossible, because it made
all this country the home of depredating Indians,
who constantly would steal away from their
agency where the government clothed and fed
them, to kill and steal everything that came in
their way.
Even cattlemen, the forerunners of
civilization, could not live here, as it was entirely
too hazardous. Besides the buffalo, and homes for
the people could not exist together, hence to the
buffalo hunter more than to any other force is
due the opening up for settlement; and thousands
of happy, prosperous homes now occupy this coun-
try, which even yet is in its infancy, in a compar-
ative sense, with vast possibilities in store for the
generation now here and the generations yet to
come. I am happy in the thought that God per-
mitted me to live and see, at least the beginning,
of the great things in store for this country. The
buffalo hunter was the true pioneer that made all
these things possible.
A short description of the manner of killing
this noble game will be interesting to your read-
ers. The general opinion prevails that the buffalo
was hunted more on horseback. That was true of
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
43
;
the Indian and a few sporting men who drifted
out here from the east, but that mode of hunting
was not followed by those who made it a business.
I will here give a description of the manner in
which I hunted them. Early in the morning
after breakfast I would take my big fifty Sharp's
rifle (long shell) using 110 grains of powder, my
buffalo horse, two belts of ammunition, about eigh-
ty rounds, and start ahead of one wagon and team
which generally consisted of one wagon and team
and four men. Riding up on the windward side
of the herd out of sight of the buffalo, jump off
the horse when it was no longer safe to ride any
closer, drop the reins over the horses' head, then
walk as close as possible without frightening them,
say three hundred or four hundred yards, then pick
out the buffalo that was in the most favorable
position, take aim, being careful to shoot just back
of the fore shoulder so the ball would penetrate
the lungs. The report of the gun would frighten
the herd and they would start off at a tremendous.
speed. The next shot would not be fired at the
herd but in front of them, the whistling of the
ball and the dirt knocked up would turn the buf-
falo back, this would be repeated until I got the
herd to milling, and until they got the scent of
blood of the first buffalo shot. By this time their
44
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
attention would be entirely distracted and the
hunter could shoot them at his leisure. Another
question often asked me was there any danger? Yes
to the novice there was considerable danger. The
buffalo would not attack a man unless desperately
wounded and the hunter was close to them. I
know of several men that were killed that way.
I had a very narrow escape in the beginning of my
experience in hunting. I had killed seventeen out
of the bunch, outright, but a cow that I had shot
several times moved off four hundred or five
hundred yards then laid down, I followed her up
holding my gun in my hands ready to fire in an
instant. She allowed me to approach her, probably
within ten feet, when she jumped up like a flash
and came for me with a bellow, her little black,
wicked eyes flashing. I did not take time to aim,
but fired at ramdom. In an instant she was on to
me. I had thought out beforehand just how I
would act in such an event. My idea was that I
could jump to one side and when the animal
passed by in the mad lunge I could shoot to kill.
But a great many theories do not stand the test
of actual service. Neither did this one. I
jumped to one side, but this did not avail me any-
thing, for the buffalo turned so quickly that her
sharp horns ripped open my hunting shirt and
-

ا را دوارا
ししい
​W
tttttt
Fivezzy
resto
"HUHA!
HUHA!"
(See Page 45.)
S
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
45
considerable of the flesh on my right side, knock-
ing my gun out of my hands. I grasped her by
the horns hallooing: "Huha! huha!" But she did
not huha for a cent. I hung on like "grim death
to a nigger," my feet in the air while she revolved
on her hind feet. All at once she fell stone dead,
throwing me several feet away, also nearly dead
with fright. The boys who had been in plain view
came rushing up to help me. It is safe to say had
the buffalo not fallen dead as she did they would
have been too late, and this little incident
would never have been written by me. In cutting
her open we found that the shot I had fired at
random had made a small groove in the lower or
small end of her heart and when she fell it was her
last struggle.
In the spring of '74 having disposed of my cured
meats in the Kansas City and other markets and
returning to Dodge City I found A. C. Myers and
Chas. Rathe just ready to start south to a place
known as Adobe Walls in the Panhandle of Texas,
The buffalo had quit the range north of the Can-
adian river, except in small herds, and the object
of these enterprising men was to move nearer thè
buffalo with a large hunter's supply outfit. They
asked me to accompany them, which I proceeded
to do, breaking over my rule of summer hunting.
46
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
I fitted up one team of six yoke of oxen with trail
wagons and one four mule team, with regular
buffalo riding horses. When we started from
Dodge City, we had 100 teams all loaded and
about 110 men. My outfit consisted of the teams
above mentioned heavily loaded and three men be-
sides myself.
We found the "Abode Walls" consisted of
the remnant of
of broken down
down and decay-
ing Adobes, possibly constructed by Mexicans,
the true history of which is not known. What
scenes may have been enacted there in the un-
known past. The sight of these old decaying
Adobes, brought to mind visions of heroism, of
suffering. I wished these old walls could speak
and give the true history of the necessity of their
being built, who built them? and why? But they
were silent mouldering pieces of earth, no one is
ever to know anything about them.
We remained here five days, helping to start
the buildings that were soon to be the scene of a
terrible conflict. The buildings were constructed
out of logs twelve feet high from the bottom of
the trench which was three feet deep, leaving the
pickets nine feet out of the ground, the roof made
out of straight poles, the ends resting upon a cen-
ter log, called a ridge lig. Then the top closely cov-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
47
ered with fine brush, and earth put on top of
that. A large corral was built adjoining also made
out of pickets. On top of the supply house or
store was built a look out. Another building was
used for a saloon, of which I will speak later.
After unloading most of the supplies, we only
kept enough to last four men about a month, with
grain for the mules and horses. In fact about
enough for one month's hunt. On the morning of
the 6th day after reaching Adobe Walls we bid
good bye to our friends and started south, cross-
ing the Canadian at the mouth of White Deer,
traveling up that stream to the head of it, to
where it opened out on the plains near where
the town of Pampa is now located. Remember
this was entire new country to us. Very few white
men had ever been over any portion of it; there
were no trails or roads, only trails made by the
buffalo, which led in every direction, often worn
a foot deep by the countless thousands of hoofs
that passed over them. For centuries this had
been the home of the wild plains Indian, the buf-
falo, the deer and the antelope. In the timbered
creeks were thousands of turkeys and quails, and
a little further east in the sand hills were in-
numerable prairie chickens. It was indeed the
hunter's paradise. In the four years I hunted and
$
48
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
scouted in the Panhandle country her rich and
fertile valleys, her limitless prairies rich in soil
beyond comparison appealed to me with her great
resources, now given over entirely to the Indians,
the war dance and tribe wars, but all of them at
any and all times ready to murder, burn and mu-
tilate their natural enemy, the whites. I some-
times read sickening rhapsodies about the noble
red man. But never from the pen of a bona fide
pioneer who has witnessed their unspeakable
cruelties. They are a lazy, dirty, lousey, deceitful
True manhood is unknown, and they hold
their women in abject slavery. The most con-
temptible name they can give a man is to call him
"squaw." They are the only race of people under
the sun that can not be reclaimed by Christianity,
and civilizing influences. The old adage "The
only good Indian is the dead Indian" is not very
poetical, but it is true.
race.
I must ask pardon of the reader for this di-
gression. We moved southeast after striking the
plains, taking our direction from an old imper-
fect map, expecting to strike the head of the
North Fork of the Red River, but we were too far
west. The natural depressions on the prarie were
now only dry lakes without a drop of water, with
the deceptive mirage. All day—and just as the
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
49
sun was disappearing and night coming on, we
came to a very slight depression which indicated
to the practical eye the beginning of a creek or
water course, but how far off, of course, none of
us knew. I ordered the teams taken out to rest,
giving strict orders that a close watch must be
kept. I had one of my men follow the depression
in search of water for which we and the teams
were positively suffering. After riding probably
five or six miles we found a depression or hollow
in a table like rock, containing possibly two barrels
of water, which the sun had not yet dried up. To
make a long story short, we moved the teams down
to it that night and next day moved down and
crossed this stream, for it was a stream, which we
afterward learned to be Salt Fork of Red River,
and towards the second night we came in sight of
a vast herd of buffalo at a place now known as
Lelia Lake, a beautiful little body of water, cov-
ered with many kinds of water fowls, as well as
many varieties of fish in the lake. It made an
ideal summer camping place, and we were not
long in preparing it. By the following morning
we were ready for business, that is, killing buffalo
for their hides which had a market value from
$2.00 to $2.50 each, according to quality. We
spent three weeks at this place, until we had over
50
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
a thousand hides. We loaded our teams heavily
with these hides that were thoroughly dried. After
securing the remainder by ricking them in piles,
we started back in the direction of the Adobe
Walls, intending to renew our supplies and am-
munition and procure freight teams to haul in the
remainder that we had to leave behind, while we
continued to hunt. As I stated before there were
no roads. We pursued a general direction, care-
fully picking out the best road, or rather ground,
we could find. Late that night we made camp
in a grove of cottonwood trees, where a beautiful
little stream emptied into a larger one. I want
to be particular in describing this place, because
here was enacted one of the most terrible experi-
ences of my whole life. On the south of our
camp just at the mouth of the smaller stream was
a high bluff, higher than any just immediately
around it, though the whole country was more
or less broken into hills and ravines and small
valleys. I will state here for the benefit of the
reader, that the creek just mentioned was the
mouth of Barton, where it emptied into Sadler,
situated about ten miles north of Clarendon, Tex.
The public road running north to Allenreed
passes through it. Hundreds of people have trav-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
51
eled over it since, never dreaming of the tragedy
enacted there.
We had heard rumors of an Indian outbreak,
but we had heard them so long and nothing of
very serious importance had happened, that
we became more or less careless. We were al-
ways reasonably well prepared to meet any attack,
if made. We as usual turned all our stock loose
with the exception of one of the best of my riding
horses which I picketed close to camp not from
the fear of danger however, but for the purpose of
rounding up the stock in the morning, so as to
get as early a start as possible. Next morning as
soon as it was light enough to see, I told my men
to prepare breakfast while I proceeded to the top
of the bluff or hill, that I mentioned before, in
order that I might get a more extended view of
the surrounding country, for I was unable to see
the stock we had turned loose the previous even-
ing. But I had no better success from my new view
point. I came to the conclusion that they had
strayed off into some of the nearby ravines out of
sight and was not alarmed in the least. After
breakfast I saddled my horse, telling the men to
have everything ready when I returned, which I
expected would be in a short time. I never saw
my men alive again. I hunted out ravines and
1
52
HISTORY OE PIONEER DAYS.
valleys hour after hour, but not a sign of the
stock could I find. I found several places on soft
ground, horse and mule tracks only to lose them
again. Along about noon I did discover a plain
trail about three miles from camp in the sand on
Salt Fork of Red River, and to add to my uneasi-
ness, I discovered that they were being driven. I
at once came to the conclusion that a raiding band
of Indians had driven them off. The trail was
plain and I followed it ten or twelve miles when I
knew that it was useless. To add to my uneasi-
ness, I feared that the rumor of an Indian out-
break was true, for we had heard such rumors all
spring. I concluded to return to camp, warn my
men, and make the best arrangements we could to
save what we had left. It would be hard to de-
scribe to you just how I felt as I returned toward
the camp I had left that morning. Visions of In-
dian cruelties came to my mind as I rapidly cov-
ered the ground, riding most of the time in a long
gallop. My gun in my hands ready for instant
action, avoiding as much as possible, all places
that looked favorable for an Indian ambush.
.
The closer I approached our camp the more
careful I became, and just as the sun was disap-
pearing in the west. I came to the foot of the hill
or bluff that I had used for a lookout that morn-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
53
ing, and which I described before. I had not
as yet seen a sign of Indians only the pony tracks
of those that drove off my stock. I left my horse
at the foot of the hill on the south side, throwing
the reins over his head. I proceeded afoot to the
top of the hill in order to get a good view of
the camp, which as I stated before was
about 300 yards away. As I reached close to the
summit, I went down on my hands and knees and
crawled up high enough to carefully look over
without exposing myself.
A sight met my eyes that even now after all
these years makes me shudder. At first, I thought
the camp was deserted, as everything was so quiet,
My wagons were in the same place I had left
them that morning. On a closer look I discovered
under the last rays of the setting sun, that the
tongue of the lead ox wagon was propped up with
an ox yoke and across the tongue in a spread-
eagle fashion was the naked body of one of my
Even from where I lay, I could see that he
had been tortured to death, for there was a
burned place on his breast where the cruel mon-
sters had driven splinters under the flesh or skin,
and then set fire to them. I could see nothing of
my other two men. I felt reasonably certain that
they also were killed. I now looked for Indians.
men.
*
54
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
I could plainly see the tufted heads of Indians,
under the low bank of the creek, and I knew they
were lying in wait for me and as I looked up the
stream on the north side in a kind of a pocket I
could see a herd of Indian ponies. The sun had
now set, and the thought flashed across my mind,
will I live to see it rise again? In a moment I
thought out my line of action. I crawled back
far enough so that I could stand upright without
being discovered by the Indians below. Yet I knew
that from somewhere sharp cruel eyes were watch-
ing me. I walked leisurely down the slope of the
hill, when I reached my horse I quietly mounted
him. Being careful that my gun was ready for
instant use, I pulled my six-shooter around handy
to my hand, for I had determined to die fighting;
anything was better than torture.
I had very
little hopes of ever coming out alive. My plan
was to ride around the foot of the hill, cross the
stream about three hundred yards below the camp
and where I had also noticed a short hollow with
timber on the opposite side of the main stream.
As I came around the foot of the hill I entered the
main stream in plain sight of camp. I still rode.
along leisurely in the direction of the timbered
hollow, in an angle away from camp, thinking I
could make the Indians believe that I was simply

દ
Tive
FIRING AT THEM WITH MY "BIG FIFTY."
See Page 55.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
55
looking for the lost stock. But I had hardly rode
one half across the stream when the Indians
guessing my real purpose, giving short fierce war
whoops, commenced firing at me. I gave my horse
the spur, guiding him with my knees, firing at
them with my "big fifty" as fast as possible. I soon
entered the hollow, having gained some advantage
over them, and so far unharmed and out of sight
for a little while of the first Indians who were on
foot and when I came out of the flat at the head
of the hollow, I was all of 600 yards in the lead
of those on horse back. I again adopted my first
tactics, guiding my horse with my knees and fir-
ing back at the pursuing Indians. Their guns not
being long ranged, they did not reach me, while
on the other hand I saw my shots take effect as
several of their ponies dropped, which caused
them to scatter, but still pursuing. Of that ride,
the unearthly yeels, the reckless exultant desire
to kill, that had taken possession of me, and for a
short time, at least, all sense of personal harm
left me. For years afterwards I would in my
dreams re-enact that wild ride. Its soul-stirring
vividness is yet as fresh in my memory as when
it occurred. I did not seen at the time to think
that I could escape, but I determined to sell
my life as dearly as
as dearly as I could. As I af-
56
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
terward reasoned it out, my life was only pre-
served because darkness came upon us, and wind-
ing through the hollows and brakes that were in
my course (for I have ridden over the country
many times since) and the excellent qualities of
my horse were all factors in my aid. I was steer-
ing a general course for White Deer creek and the
Adobe Walls. I think now that I came out some-
time after the last Indian yell had died on the
night air, somewhere near where the town of Jeri-
co is now located, for I traveled that night over
many miles of level plains. Along in the night I
again reached a rough country, which I believed
to be the White Deer creek, and I rode down its
course for what seemed to me many miles. My
horse laboring heavily, I myself "all in" as we ex-
press it (a western phrase.) But I hoped my
horse would last until I could reach Adobe Walls,
but vain hope. It was about three o'clock when
he commenced to stumble and at last to fall to
rise no more.
Poor noble beast, how my heart
ached for him. I pulled off the saddle, as tired as
I was, carried it on my back for I knew I was only
a short distance from the Canadian, and on the
other side was safety, the Abode Walls and friends.
That night walk seems to me like a dream now,
every hundred yards appeared to me like a mile
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
57
but at four o'clock in the morning I staggered up
to the door of the first building I came to. It was
the building which was erected for a saloon, of
which I spoke before. I will here state that it
was constructed to resist an attack, having port
holes to shoot out of, and situated about one hun-
dred yards from the large store building and no
obstructions between the two. After pounding on
the door and calling out to open I at last succeed-
ed in awakening those within, and great was their
surprise and fervent their sympathy when they
heard the news I had to tell them. There were
nine men sleeping in this building at the time I
arrived there. The most noted of them all was
Billy Dixon as we familiarly called him, a great
hunter, an excellent shot, a faithful friend, true.
and brave. He is living yet and if he reads these
lines I want him to know, though I have not met.
him from that time to this, I have not forgotten.
him; I loved him then for his many excellent qual-
ities of heart and hand, and time as it passes only
endears him more to me as old memories crowd
around me. But not to consume time and space
in recalling his many great qualities and of others
of that little band, reader, and you who have
homes now in this wonderful fertile and pro-
ductive country, and the thousands more who will
58
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
soon come and reap its rich advantages you should
erect monuments over the graves of such men as
Billy Dixon when they are dead, and better still,
you should honor and esteem them while living.
If you will pardon this digression I will proceed
with my narrative of realities. While "the boys"
were preparing me something to eat I was telling
them of my day and night experience. I believe
now, we believed then, had it not been for my ar-
rival that night and awakening the men so early.
the history of the Adobe Wall fight would have
had a different ending.
While I was eating, as only an almost starved
man can eat, the morning dawn was lighting up,
and breaking up the shadows of the most eventful
night of all my life. But, dear reader, it was not
ended yet, for with the approaching dawn also
came the most blood curdling yells, as if a legion
of the evil one, had broken loose, accom-
panied by a fusillade of shots, and as we hastily
closed and barred the door and buckled on our
ammunition belts, and then loaded shells into our
buffalo guns; we saw as we looked through the
port holes, the store or supply house surrounded
by about four hundred Cheyenne Indians yelling
like so many demons. We at once opened fire,
and mind you it was no random shooting for
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
59
cooler and braver men never drew sight over a gun
barrel. The fight did not last long, it seemed to
be only a few minutes, possibly it lasted thirty
minutes. Nearly every shot we fired found its
mark. To me it, was a positive delight and every
shot I fired I thought "there is one for the poor
boys that so cruelly lost their lives the day before."
The history of the fight has been written before. I
will only state here that an Indian will never let
one of his number fall into the hands of his ene-
mies, their religion forbids it. But we made it so
hot for them that they soon retired some distance,
but they left seventeen dead warriors lying on the
ground around the stockade of the store. Three
of the men there were killed out of seven; among
them were the two Shidler brothers, cousins of my
wife, who had just arrived the day before with a
large supply of freight from the railroad, Dodge
City, Kansas. In giving these details the reader
may notice that I have not given dates. The rea-
son for that omission is: I am writing from mem-
ory entirely and I do not now recall the exact
dates. I believe, however, in the main this narra-
tive is substantially correct.
When I commenced writing these reminiscences,
I only agreed with Mr. Hart to furnish about five
thousand words, and as I have written more than
60
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
that now, I cannot go farther into this history.
My scouting experiences began under Gen. Miles'
expedition against the Indians during the summer
of 1874. Nor can I give further details concern-
ing the siege by the Indians of the Adobe Walls.
and the many other incidents of interest connected
with it. Nor the many interesting events that oc-
curred during my continued buffalo hunting which
lasted until the spring of 1878 when wife and I
moved to Wheeler county, among the first settlers.
Neither will I have to write about the adventures
and the progress of the early settlement of this
Panhandle country.
J
Wheeler county was the first to organize in the
spring of 1879 and the citizens elected me their
first county judge. We had then attached for ju-
dicial purposes, twenty-six counties. Suffice it to
say to Mr. Hart and you kind readers, that if
you have the patience to wade through what I
have already written I will be surprised. I desire
to add in conclusion that this great country, the
Panhandle of Texas, which was virtually reclaim-
ed from savagery and opened up to settlement by
buffalo hunters and pioneers will teem with thous-
ands of happy homes, and that once in a while
you will give a kind thought to the memory of
those who braved so many dangers, blazing the
way for future progress and greatness.

SOD HOUSE
First Residence of Emanuel Dubbs,
Wheeler County, Texas.
CHAPTER III.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES-Part II
EMANUEL DUBBS.

A
he
the
both
FTER sending in my manuscript to
Mr. Hart, he requested me to write
for him some more of my
frontier experience which
believed to be valuable to
coming generations and interesting to
old and young of the present. In my boy-
hood days, I remember how eagerly I listened to
the experiences of early settlers, as of evenings we
gathered around the wide open fireplaces of our
homes, and they vividly portrayed encounters
with Indians, bears, panthers and wild game
of the forests; how they subdued those forests,
their hardships and trials. I did not think then, en-
joying the peace and comforts of a home, that my
father and mother had hewn out of the wilder-
ness, that it would ever be my lot to encounter
even more perilous experiences, and greater hard-
ships than had these old pioneers, whose stories
were so interesting to me then. Yet such was the
case.
62
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
In closing up my last chapter, the last of which
related to the Adobe Walls fight, I failed to give
any details of the siege that followed and many
incidents connected with it. I will state now that
it was probably fifteen days before I could get a
party of men to go back with me to where the In-
dians had killed my companions on the mouth of
Barton creek. And when we arrived there we
only found bones, as the prairies wolves had torn
and scattered them in every direction. These,
however, we gathered carefully, and buried them
on top of the hill which I had used as a lookout
as described in my last chapter. The wagons and
buffalo hides were all burned and destroyed so
that as we did not save anything. We returned
to Adobe Walls, and from there under a strong.
escort, we abandoned them and returned to Dodge
City. I think some incidents that occurred here
during the siege will be interesting to the readers.
There was a hill or small mountain at a dis-
tance of 800 yards from the lookout on the store
building, and about half way up its steep acclivity
was a table rock and just above it against the side
of the cliff a white chalky substance. Before the
siege and attack, the hunters for amusement used
to shoot at it for a mark, some one having stepped
the distance which as before stated was just 800
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
63
yards. Several days after the engagement an In-
dian climbed out upon the rock, believing no
doubt that he was out of range of our guns, and
in order to show his utter contempt he turned his
back toward us making indecent motions. Billy
Dixon picked up his "big fifty Sharp's," took care-
ful aim, and fired and Mr. "John Big Indian"
doubled up and rolled end over end down the
mountain. They never tried the experiment any
more.
Some ten days after the battle, Mr. Tobe Robin-
son and a Dutchman, whose name I have forgot-
ten, and probably never knew, we called him
"Dutchy," getting tired of being so closely confin-
ed, decided that they would ride out on a little
scout, for we had not seen a sign of an Indian all
day, and thought probably they had raised the
siege. Down along the banks of the Canadian
were a great many black currants, which were ripe,
so not seeing any Indians they filled up on the
fruit, and leisurely returned to the "Walls." They
had come back about half the distance when about
100 of the Indians rushed down over a sand hill
to cut them off, and no doubt expected to capture
them, and torture them to death afterwards. Tobe
Robinson at once opened upon them, while Dutchy
equally as well armed, forgetting about his guns,
64
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
pumped all the wind out of his horse, which soon
fell behind Robinson, who guided his horse with
his knees and shooting rapidly made his escape in
safety without a scratch, while poor Dutchy was
speared off his horse and killed. A party of
hunters from the "Walls" trying to make a diver-
sion on foot and firing at long range I think
helped Robinson to make his escape. We all be-
lieved that if Dutchy had shown equal nerve, he
too might have saved his life. Nerve and coolness.
in time of extreme danger always gain the respect
of others, and we felt proud of Tobe Robinson.
Some ten days after this, we were all escorted
back to Dodge City by three companies of U. S.
cavalry from Ft. Dodge.
When we returned to Dodge we found all the
hunters over the whole range congregated there.
The whole valley for several miles was dotted with
hunter's camps, of all kinds, and descriptions.
Some with tents and others with wagon sheets for
protection. Had you, dear reader, seen the mot-
ley crowd of men, unshaved and some of them un-
washed, you would no doubt have judged them to
be desperadoes and outlaws, and you my gentle
lady readers would hardly have chosen one of them
as your escort on a dark night. But speaking from
positive knowledge, there never has been from
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
65
the days of the crusaders and chivalry, to the pres-
ent moment, there never has been a better, brav-
er, nobler set of men lived. They were God's true
noblemen. loyal, brave, honest and true. A wo-
man's honor as sacredly preserved as if she had
been in paradise. Such a thing as petty theft was
entirely unknown. You could leave any kind of
property exposed and unprotected, and it was as
safe as if locked up in a New York city vault.
Every man wore a belt, was armed with a knife
and two Colt's six-shooters. Quick to resent an
insult, quarreling almost unknown, for such a
thing as a fist fight rarely if ever occurred. If
trouble did come up they used the gun and not
the fist, this made a man careful how he treated
his fellow men. I have given you this description,
because these men were true pioneers that sub-
dued the Indians, and opened for peaceful settle-
ment the most fertile and productive country west
of the Mississippi river.
The government was preparing an expedition
under the command of General Miles against the
Indians, but they were slow with their prepara-
tions and in mobilizing the troops, and being
cooped up doing nothing, did not suit me in the
least. About this time Mr. Peters, an old buf-
falo hunting friend, who owned a good outfit, and
66
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
knowing that I had lost mine, proposed that I
join him as an equal partner. That we hire two
more men and go after the buffalo. I accepted
the proposition and we found two men who were
willing to take chances at $75.00 per month and
found. Now this may seem extremely foolhardy
to the reader, looking at it from this distance and
from my present viewpoint, it does appear
now. But we knew that the Indians were desper-
ately afraid of buffalo hunters, and that there was
really very little danger, unless they found us
careless and unwatchful. Anyway we concluded
to take chances. So we prepared our supplies,
ammunition and all necessary for about a three
weeks' hunt.
SO
We crossed the Arkansas river at Dodge City,
twenty-seven miles to Crooked creek, then thirty-
five miles to the Cimarron river, then twenty
miles to the Beaver, across that about fifteen miles
to a water hole on the plain between Beaver and
Wolf creek, what was then known as "No Man's
Land." Here we found the buffalo by the thous-
ands and we had not seen an Indian on the whole
trip. Yet we knew that this was no sign they
had not seen us. In fact we felt reasonably cer-
tain that they were watching our every move and
only waiting an opportunity to wipe us out. On
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
67
this level flat was the safest place to make a
camp that we could select, and as we stood guard
every night, turn and turn about, we were pre-
pared at all times to get as many of them as they
could get of us. We worked hard and in five day?
we had over 200 hides, and in a few more days we
had them dry enough to haul. By putting four
horses to a wagon we were able to haul them at
one trip. We got our loads ready to move by noon
one day, intending to make Beaver creek by
night. Now in order to have the reader under
stand the trouble we got into, it becomes neces-
sary to make some explanation in regard to load-
ing hides on a wagon, in order to transport them
long distances, and how we had to prepare them.
First they were stretched out on the ground, hair
side down when green, then pegged out with little
stakes previously prepared. Then before they be
came flint dry, we would take them up, fold them
with the hair side in, and load them in the wagon
with the back of the fold outside and the legs lap-
ing on the inside, then tie them down firmly with
ropes. By being careful a load could be hauled a
long distance without slipping. But in this in-
stance this was not done in that way, because we
were hurried so, and we had to load them flat, as
they were too dry to fold, and this led to our un-
68
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
doing. When hides were loaded without folding,
it was almost impossible to haul them without
slipping, and it made it necessary to tie them
down with what we called a boom pole, or long
springy pole. But we had no poles or timber to
make them, so we tied with ropes the best we could
until we could reach timber, near Beaver creek.
Our loads kept slipping until we came within one
and one-half miles from a dry creek that led down
to Beaver, which had beautiful groves of cotton-
wood growing on it. The creek was afterwards
named Peters creek. We were compelled to make a
halt as one of our loads toppled over, so that it be-
came necessary to load it all over. Now we knew it
was dangerous to separate, though we had not seen
any signs of Indians on our whole trip. Mr Peters
proposed to me that he would take a horse, single-
tree and chain and go to the timber and get the
poles, while I with the hands, reload the hides.
We had quite a dispute about it, as to which one
should go. It was a bad job to reload the hides,
and Mr. Peters said because of his sore hand (he
had it cut a few days before) he could get the
poles easier than reload the hides. I at last con-
sented for him to go, and this decision no doubt
saved my life. Great events often are the result of
what seem to us as very trivial circumstances.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
69
When Mr. Peters left us that evening jolly and
laughing, little did we think that the separation
was forever, so far as this life is concerned. But
such was the case, none of us ever saw him alive
again.
The wind was blowing almost a gale, which
made it very difficult to handle the hides, but at
last we were ready for the poles, and we com-
menced to think it was time for Peters to return.
It was about 200 yards to the brow of the rise
from where we had halted, and from there, was in
plain view of the cottonwood grove. I went up to
the top of the rise to see if I could see anything of
Peters, but I could not see him, but in the direc-
tion in which I was looking I saw about five hun-
dred yards away what I took to be a buffalo car-
cass skinned, as it looked white, but at the time I
thought nothing strange about it. I went back to
camp, caught up a horse and saddled him, and
told the men to have everything ready and when
Peters came back, to pull for the crossing on
Beaver creek. That I was going to an old camp
ground where we had stayed over night in coming
over, and where I had left a beautiful Mexican
made quirt or riding whip, which I valued highly.
That I would join them again at the crossing. I
rode along leisurely and had gone perhaps five or
70
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
six hundred yards, when I saw something white
hanging to a prickly pear bush. I jumped off
my horse to see what it was, and when I picked it
up I discovered it was a letter addressed to Peters.
I stated before that the wind was blowing hard,
and from the direction Peters had gone. The mo-
ment I looked at the letter I knew Peters was
killed, and the reason I knew it was that Mr.
Peters had confided to me a sweet secret. He was
engaged to a young lady in Wichita, Kansas, and
this was to be his last trip, as he intended to marry
her on his return. He carried these let-
ters in his inside vest pocket in a silk oil cloth
case. For a moment I was so shocked, and hor-
ror-stricken, I was unable to move. But then the
consciousness of our danger rushed over me, and
I jumped on my horse and started back to camp,
taking the stock with me that were grazing a little
way from camp. As I drove them up I ordered
the men to catch them, and by moving the wagons
side by side tying the horses between them then
stretching ropes across both ends and piling hides
against them, made a protection that would resist.
any ordinary attack. When this was completed I
told the men to guard it at all hazzards. As I in-
tended to find out what had become of Mr. Peters.
They begged me not to leave them, urging that the
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
71
Indians would get me also, and then they too
would lose their lives. I admitted that there was
much truth in what they urged, yet I simply con-
sidered it my duty to find out what had become
of him. I did not have the heart to go back, (that
is providing we ever did get back) and say I did
not know what had happened him, and that I did
not have courage to at least try to find him. 1
said courage. Yes, it did take courage to ride by
myself through the brakes to the timber, passing a
dozen or more places where the Indians could
have lain in ambush, not knowing their force,
only certain of one thing.
Peters my noble-heart-
"Peters is killed!" this
ed companion is killed.
seemed to me to sum up, and swallow up every-
thing else. I do not claim that I had courage
above the ordinary, yet I had in the past discovered
one trait in myself, that the greater and more
imminent the danger the more determined I be-
came to face it, and the steadier became my
nerves. So it was in this case.
I first took the precaution to tighten the cinches
on my saddle, pulled both my six-shooters around
handy to my hands, my belt full of ammunition,
my gun across the cantle of my saddle, my right
hand grasping it so I could shoot instantly. Avoid-
ing all I possibly could, all dangerous places,
72
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
where they could lie in ambush. In this way I
made my way down to the timber without seeing
a single Indian. When I arrived in the timber I
soon discovered the two trees he had cut down,
and there was a plain trail where he dragged the
poles through the sand up the sandy bottom. I
could see the trail all of a hundred yards ahead.
I followed it at a lope. The birds chirping and
whistling in the trees and in the thickets were
suspicious sounds to me, and every thicket I
passed I expected to feel the bullet or the arrow.
But nothing happened. In a little while at the
head of the last draw or hollow, where I thought
laid the buffalo carcass, I found poor Peters. Also
in the hollow a few rods away a dead Indian pony.
He, that is Mr. Peters, was laying on his face, his
clothes torn off of him, scalped and his ax stick-
ing in his head and otherwise horribly mutilated.
While they had evidently taken him by surprise,
yet he must have made some kind of a fight be-
cause on examination I found the Indian pony
shot. While Peters was shot in at least three
places. But I did not lose much time in my ex-
amination, but hurried back to camp. Here I
found my men anxiously awaiting. I proposed
that we bury Peters, but the men refused positive-
ly. We only had an old broken spade that we used
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
73
about our camp fire in cooking and the buffalo
grass turf was very hard. It really was impossible
to dig a hole large enough to bury him in, so I
gave up the point. The next question was the
best and safest plan to get out of there, and if
possible, back to Dodge City. We did not yet
know what force our enemy had. But one thing
I did know that they never would attack us open-
ly, unless we gave them every advantage, and this
of course it became our study to avoid.
I told the men to throw about half the hides
from each wagon, in order to lighten the loads.
It was good policy to keep as many hides as possi-
ble for protection. No bullets that the Indians
had at that time could penetrate two thicknesses
of a flint dry buffalo hide, for I have seen it tried,
and I will give a description at another place.
After having the loads remodeled to suit us,
we hitched our horses to the wagons. We now
only had three for one wagon, for the Indians
got away with the one that Peters had taken with
him. It was probably an hour until sun down when
we got started. We had some bad rough country
to go over until we crossed Sharp's creek on the
other side of Beaver. Everyone had his gun and
ammunition ready for instant use. I rode ahead
from one point to another, keeping a sharp look-
74
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
out so that we could not be taken by surprise. We
traveled very slowly, and carefully. It was prob-
ably one o'clock in the night when we gained the
flats on the other side of Sharp's creek. Here we
made camp for the rest of the night, all of us
badly worn and tired. Yet it was necessary for
one to stand guard. I took the first turn, and the
last, for I was afraid to take chances, so I watched
till nearly daylight, when I awakened both the
men, and told them to prepare a light breakfast
while I laid down with my clothes on. I did not
remove my belt of ammunition and six-shooters;
that however did not bother me for I went to sleep
at once, and the sun was an hour high, when the
men awakened me, with the cry, Indians! In-
dians! Sure enough not over half a mile away
from us riding along single file were twenty-two
Indians going in the same direction that we were
headed for, the sand hills on the south side of the
Cimarron river. I did not have the least doubt
that they were the same party that killed Mr.
Peters, and had been watching us, for a favorable
opportunity for an attack. I fired several shots
at them, which caused them to hasten, but I did
not get any of them. This was the last we saw of
them, but not the last we heard. Right on the
Crooked creek flats they killed six government
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
75
surveyors. Then they run into Fred Singer's hunt-
ing outfit on the road from Crooked creek and
Dodge City They circled the hunters shooting
at them from under the horses necks, but this fight
was soon over. When I came along next day, there
laid in that circle twelve Indian ponies. I took
one of their saddles, made out of the fork of a
tree, which my boys used afterward as a novelty.
I do not know how many Indians were killed in
this fight. Singer had three men with him, they
threw themselves flat on the ground and made
every shot coun. We arrived at Dodge City with-
out any further adventures. I notified Mr. Peters'
people and bought from them a team and wagon.
Probably ten days after my return to Dodge
City, Tom Nixon, a famous hunter and scout,
came to me with a proposition that we fit up a
large outfit and kill buffalo in spite of Indians or
anything else. Finding out that it would be yet
sometime before the troops, who were concentrat-
ing at Ft. Dodge under General Miles, would be
ready to start on their campaign against the In-
dians, I accepted the proposition, and at once
helped to organize an outfit. It did not take long
to find the right kind of men among so many ad-
venturous spirits as were assembled around Dodge
City. When we started we had twenty-eight men
76
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
and fourteen wagons and teams, with our riding
horses. When we made our first camp on the
south side of the Arkansas river, Tom Nixon was
elected captain and myself second in command.
We pulled out on the same road that my compan-
ion and myself had so lately come in on. But I
did not take either one of them with me, as they
were too much afraid of Indians to suit me. I do
not think they would have gone if I had asked
them, for I think they had all the hunting they
wanted. This trip we did not find the buffalo in
large numbers, until we went beyond where Peters
and I had our camp. But not quite in the same di-
rection. We finally found great herds on the flats
between Wolf creek and the Canadian river. We
made our camp at an inland lake made up of rain
water, mud and the urine from the thousands of
buffalo that came there to drink. It was impossible
to drink it without first boiling, then make it into
coffee. About the third day we found that our
outfit was too large to make hunting profitable,
So it was decided to divide the outfit into two
equal parts. Ed Jones and myself were elected
first and second in command, and we proceeded at
once to make a new camp. It was probably ten
o'clock in the morning when all arrangements were
completed and we moved out intending to make
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
куму
our camp at a place known as Big Springs on the
head of Wolf creek. We had gone perhaps six
miles, when we came in sight of Wet Weather lake,
and grazing around it, was a large herd of wild
horses or mustangs. There was quite a herd, prob-
ably 300 head or more in this bunch. There were
five or six herds, roamed over this part of the
plains country. There were some beautiful horses
among them. All dark colors, brown, black and
bays. One thing about them that was peculiar, and
was always a surprise to me, and that is that no
difference how rigorous the winter or at what sea-
son of the year I never saw a poor horse among
them, that is thin in flesh. No one knows the true
history of their origin. Some writers believe they
originated back at the time of the conquest of
Mexico by Cortez. As they are now I believe en-
tirely extinct, just how that happened, I am un-
able to say, and have never heard an explanation.
It will be instructive to the reader to explain their
habits and the manner of catching them and I
will here give you a short description.
There were very few men in this part of the
plains that ever tried catching and taming them.
Each herd had a certain range, and when followed
any distance they would travel in a wide circuit,
making twenty-five or thirty miles in a circuit.
178
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
The first thing to do was to build a large corral,
very strong, in a grove of timber on the ground
they ranged over, and to the opening or entrance
to this corral large wings or chutes were construct-
ed, say two hundred yards wide at the mouth, nar-
rowing down to the entrance of the corral. Now
having the corral constructed, the next thing to
do was to get the herd in condition to drive them
in. It would take three men with extra mounts
to do this. The extent of their range or circuit
was first ascertained, then the three men would
take up their position separately, as near as possi-
ble at equal distance from this circle. The first
man would start the horses and follow them on
an easy lope, until the horses reached that part
of the range where the second man was stationed,
when he would follow the same way on to the
third while the first and second rested. This was
kept up day and night, until the herd became
tired, and also accustomed to the riders. When
the men thought them in proper condition, all
three would ride after them on fresh mounts and
drive them into the corral. After having them
secured in the corral, the next thing was to
rope and firmly secure all they wanted out of
the bunch. When they were once conquered and
found that they would not be hurt they were as
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
9
easily broken as range horses. I have made this
description just as short as possible in order to
give the reader a clear idea of early frontier life,
that with the wild buffalo have passed out for-
ever.
With this short digression we will go back to our
hunting outfit. When we reached the horses, they
threw up their heads, and scampered off to an-
other part of the range. It was a beautiful sight.
We noticed one stallion, black and his coat shin-
ing, his mane and tail almost dragging the
ground. He was the leader, and very proud he
seemed to be of his charge. We watched them
until they disappeared over a swell on the prairie.
Then we drove up to the water and prepared our
dinner, as it was noon. After our nooning we
again started for Wolf Creek Springs. We had
just half of the original outfit, seven wagons and
teams and fourteen men. Mr. Jones and myself
in the lead guiding the outfit, as there were no
trails or roads.
When we approached the brakes, or small tribu-
taries of Wolf creek we started down the ridge be-
tween two tributaries and did not go far until in
looking down and across on the north side of the
main stream, we discovered a herd of moving ob-
jects, which we first thought were antelope, but on
!
80
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
looking closer we discovered that they were of dif-
ferent colors. Yet the distance was so great we
could not tell for certain, but I pointed out to Mr.
Jones that they were horses, and that they could
not be wild horses, they never had any white or
calico horses in their herds. So we both came to
the conclusion that they were Indian horses, and
also that there must be Indians about. We rode
back to the lead wagon, a four horse team owned
and driven by a man who claimed that he was an
old government scout as well as an Indian fighter.
This man I think was a little sore, because he
had not been chosen as one of the officers. Any-
way when we pointed out to him what we had seen,
he pooh-poohed the idea about Indians. Said if you
are afraid you had better get some one to run this
outfit who is not. Well, we said, all right, if you
can stand it we can. I know that was not the
proper thing for us to do, we should have consult-
ed with others and investigated more thoroughly,
but what we did do was to order him to move on.
We proceeded possibly half a mile, when we saw
an Indian dash upon a hill close to the main
stream, take a look at us, then dash down again.
We knew we were in for it. We rode back to the
teams, turned them back on a run for we were on
a narrow ridge, which gave the Indians all the ad-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
81
vantage, as they could screen themselves, while we
were exposed, and we wanted to make the level flat
before the attack commenced. Jones and I rode
along each side of the teams and with our whips
urged them on. The position of the teams were
now reversed, our brave "scout" and Indian fight-
er was now behind. Quicker than I can write, bul-
lets were singing around and past us. The In-
dians came up the hollows on each side, and in a
minute one of our brave scout leaders went down
and his team all tangled up, and him yelling for
help. We had to turn the rest of the teams back
and make a corral with the wagons and hides,
some returning the fire of the Indians while the
rest worked. By the time this was done five
horses were killed and one man shot through the
hand. All the men were fairly well protected, but
every once in a while a bullet would pass through
and hit a horse or mule. Quite a brisk firing was
kept up on both sides, without a great deal of exe-
cution on either, until about three o'clock a party
of fifteen Indians tried to cross the little divide
from one hollow to the other. I think they thought
they were out of reach of our guns, but they soon
discovered that they had another thought coming
to them. We waited until they were about half
way across. We raised our sights to five hundred
82
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
yards, for we could figure distances very closely
and we guessed right; there were only three horses
out of the fifteen ever got across and only five In-
dians. Those who were wounded crept up behind
the dead horses, some two or three fired at us, but
not very long, for a dead horse was very slight pro-
tection against our long shell "big fifties," and
"forty-fives." This put a check to the attack for
awhile. About sundown the firing ceased on both
sides, and we counted up our losses and consulted
what to do. We had lost nearly half our stock. But
we concluded by using our riding horses we could
make out to move all our wagons, by only hitching
two to the wagon.
There were none of our men
hurt except the man who was shot in the hand in
the beginning. We decided that as soon as the
moon went down, which would be about 9 o'clock,
we would quietly hitch up and drive back to the
main camp that night. We did not think we were
strong enough to make an attack on the Indians
whose numbers we estimated to be between forty
and fifty, with a large herd of horses. While we
were waiting for the moon to go down, we would
put corn in our bread pans and hold it in our
hands while the horses ate, because we were so
crowded we could not feed them the regular way. ·
I had given mine one small feed and thought I
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
83
would get some more out of the wagon. There had
not been any firing for some time, and the moon
only lacked about an hour to setting. I got upon
the wagon with one foot, and the other resting on
the cross board of the wagon bed, while I was dip-
ping corn out of the sack with my hand, a bullet
came so close to my hand it almost scorched me,
and the instant flash and report of a gun fired out
of the shade in the hollow about seventy-five yards
east of us. The shock and surprise was so great
that I lost my footing and fell head-first into the
ammunition box which was standing open by the
side of the wagon. The boys fired at the flash of
the Indian's gun, and then helped me out, asking
where I was shot. I told them I was only fright-
ened, and not hurt. It appeared that the Indian
had crawled up the hollow where it was quite
dark and getting my head between him and the
moon, he took deliberate aim and only missed me
by a scratch.
After the moon went down we quietly hitched
up and just as quietly pulled out and at day break
we made our main camp. We soon had the whole
camp up and listening to our account of the day
and night's adventures. As soon as we had break-
fast, we picked out our best saddle horses and
saddles, and fourteen men including myself and
84
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Tom Nixon, whom you will remember was chosen
captain in the first start at Dodge City. By ten
we arrived where the fight occurred, and here a
sight met us showing what the Indians would do
to us if they could get us in the condition in which
they found our dead stock. They had scalped
them, then made checker boards of one side by
gashing them with their knives, then turned them
over and served the other side the same way. This
of course did not hurt the dead horses and mules
any, but it made us anxious to run across them
again. And this was what we were intending to
do, but it was easier said than done.
The Indians evidently did not want us to meet
them. They were gone, and they did everything
they could to confuse us and hide their trail. It
was probably an hour before sundown when we
came in sight of them about a mile ahead of us on
the south prong of Wolf creek. Now commenced
a race in good earnest. I was mounted on a
splendid dark brown cavalry horse that a party of
us found a short distance from Dodge City, who
had in some manner got lost. I could easily keep
in the lead. We gained on the Indians so fast that
they commenced to drop horses and mules, camp
equipage, tepee poles, buffalo robes, pots and
kettles, but some time after dark we had to stop
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
85
the pursuit, as they went down into the Canadian
brakes. We did not get close enough to them to
get a single shot at them. Having ridden hard all
day and covered many miles, you can imagine our
surprise, when we looked about us to see our main
camp fire not more than three miles away. When
we returned to camp the men there prepared us a
good hot supper. We needed it, for we had not
eaten anything all day. While supper was prepar-
ing we planned that at day break next morning,
we would take the trail again, and those who re-
mained in camp were to send out a party to gather
up the Indian horses and mules and other things
of value, that we had no time to bother with in
our wild ride after the Indians that evening.
Early next morning we mounted and started
out again. A young man by the name of Charley
O'Brien had volunteered to go with me when we
started on the expedition, with the understanding
that if we made anything, I was to pay him, and
if not, I did not need to give him anything. He
begged hard for me to remain in camp, for he
wanted to take my place. He urged that he had
no one but himself and that I had a family, but I
would not hear to his pleading. I told him that
the men did not elect me second in command to
shirk my responsibilities. I introduce Charley
86
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
O'Brien to the reader, for before the days was out
we heard from him again.
When we arrived at the point on the Canadian
river brakes where the Indians entered them, we
were surprised that they would take chances in
the dark to go down such a rough, rocky place, for
it was hard for us to follow them in daylight. We
found as we followed them mile after mile, wind-
ing around the very roughest places they could
find, many places so steep we had to almost
slide to get down. Toward the middle of the day
we commenced picking up horses again, but about
three o'clock we decided to give up the chase as
our stock was run down, besides we were giving
the Indians all the advantage, providing they de-
cided to make a fight, as they could choose their
own position. We had left a small party behind to
bring along the stock we had captured. So we
went back to meet them, and when we all got to-
gether again, we hunted out a place that we could
get over the cap rock and out on the plains. When
we arrived on top of the cap rock, we had an un-
obstructed view for many miles of plains country.
About six miles down in a kind of basin or depres-
sion we could plainly see our camp, and to the
left about two miles, a sight met us that was ex-
citing in the extreme. Six of our men who had
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
87
started out that morning, on whatever they could
mount, some without saddles, were coming to-
wards camp as fast as they could, driving about
forty head of Indian stock, and not more than six
hundred yards behind them riding like the wind
were a dozen Indians, going two steps to our men's
one. It looked to us, that it was all over with our
boys, and in our anxiety we commenced yelling
and riding towards them, forgetting we were a
long distance away from them. It looked to us, as
if our men were frightened to death, and we ex-
pected that in a few minutes the Indians would
be among them with their spears and tomahawks.
But such was not the case. Charley O'Brien was
in that crowd, and he saved his own life and also
that of the rest of the men. When he saw that
the Indians were certain to overtake them, he
halted the men, who jumped off their horses, had
one to hold them, and the other five dropped on
the ground took aim and fired. Several Indians
were killed and three ponies before they could get
out of reach. We all got down to camp about the
same time and when we found out that it was
Charley O'Brien who had the presence of mind to
act so bravely we all lionized him.
We found we had captured seventy-nine head
of horses, mules and ponies from the Indians. Af-
88
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
ter letting those who had their stock killed by the
Indians, pick out enough to make good their los-
ses, we auctioned the balance to the highest bid-
der, and when we returned to Dodge City the
money was divided equally among all hands. As
we all thought we had enough hunting and In-
dian experience we returned at once to Dodge
City, and this wound up our hunting until fall.
General Miles' expedition was about ready to
proceed against the Indians and Charley O'Brien
and myself contracted to go with them as assistant
scouts. This expedition of the 1874 Indian war is
a matter of history and the individual bravery and
conflicts with the Indians, especially that of Billy
Dixon and the three soldiers who were with him,
is also a matter of history. There was nothing of
particular interest happened to me that I care to
write about, or would be of very great interest to
the reader, and really this expedition, like all
other military expeditions against the Indians,
resulted in killing some of them, and forcing the
rest to go back to their reservations promising to
be good, until such time that they could get ready
for another outbreak, murder a number of inno-
cent and unprotected women, children and babies,
and butcher a few more defenseless settlers and
torture and burn a few others.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
89
Then the government with her strong arm sub-
dues and captures him, always careful not to hurt
any more than they could possibly help. Again
the Indian would promise to be good, and go like
a lamb back to his reservation, and the govern-
ment would make them a great many presents,
plenty of good warm blankets and herds of good
beef, in fact everything he can eat, and just as
soon as this became monotonous, out Mr. In-
dian would go, and do the same thing over again.
This has been the history of the plains Indians,
and thousands of people back east, say, "Oh! the
poor Indians, the poor Indians!" And for four
years after this every season when I shipped buf-
falo meat to the eastern market, men would come
to me and say: "What makes you kill the poor In-
dian's cattle?" (Calling buffalo cattle). "The
poor Indian!" I can tell the reader in all honesty
and with a good conscience, such talk always made
me want to fight, using a western phrase "knock
their block off." Of all depraved, utterly heartless
and deceitful, dirty and treacherous to the last de-
gree, the plains Indian never had his equal. Poor
Indian indeed. All the danger and hardships suf-
fered by the scouts and soldiers in that milk and
water system had no permanent effect in settling
the Indian question and a permanent peace. Not
90
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
until the bravest of all pioneers, the buffalo hunt-
ers, disposed of the buffalo forever, and which pre-
vented the Indians obtaining sustenance, when
they cut loose from their reservations, was the In-
dian question settled, and their depredations stop-
ped. Not only that, but a grand fertile country
was opened up for settlement. The first to see and
to take advantage of these great opportunities was
the cattlemen. I became personally acquainted with
nearly all of those grand, noble, big, liberal heart-
ed people. Such as Charles Goodnight, T. S. Bug-
bee, Henry Cresswell, Henry Fry, Bill Miller and
a host of others who were really the true pioneers
of this Panhandle country, and among the stock
farmers, was F. R. McCracken, who is a contribu-
tor for this book, Tom Bailey, myself and many
others who demonstrated beyond a doubt, that
this was a fine agricultural country.
Going back again to the buffalo hunters and my
own experience, I hunted from the close of the
Indian war of "74 to the spring of "78, when I
moved my family down to Wheeler county near
Sweetwater. The United States government es-
tablished a military post, and here was the begin-
ning of a real permanent settlement. To give any-
thing like a full account of my last four years'
buffalo hunting experience, would take a great deal
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
91
more space than I can devote to these articles. So
I will omit them altogether, and give some de-
scription of the difficulties we had to contend with
in the early settlement of the Panhandle.
On Sweetwater creek one and a half miles from
Ft. Elliott in Wheeler county was built a "hunt-
er's supply town" called Sweetwater. It was start-
ed early in the spring of "75 expressly to get the
trade of the hunters who were operating all over
this vast country. And this was the only trading
point for nearly two hundred miles north, and
two hundred and twenty-five mile south. Here
were established hunter's supply stores and sa-
loons, gambling and dance halls. It was a typi-
cal frontier town for those days, without law, or
an officer of the law.
This town was our objective point, and late one
evening about the first of June, we, that is wife
and I and our three little boys, landed here, and
put up our camp on Sweetwater creek, about 300
yards from the town. After supper I thought I
would go up town and renew old acquaintances,
for I knew every one in the town. I just entered
Main street, in fact the only street, when in front
of Decker's saloon, I witnessed a shooting scrape
between Decker and a gambler by the name of
Collinson. Decker was shot in two places. The
92
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
first shot struck on the right side, glanced around
under the skin and came out at his back bone, the
other hit him, as he fell, above the knee and came
out at his hip, both severe flesh wounds, but not
dangerous. Collinson was not hurt at all. No one
was arrested for there was no one to arrest any one
as stated before. But this did not bother wife and
I, as we had become accustomed to this kind of
life. An old buffalo hunter by the name of Joe
Craig had squatted on beautiful sub-irrigated bot-
tom land about eight miles down Sweetwater and
I bought his improvements, which consisted of a
small one-room round log house, covered with
earth, and forty acres broke. But it is not my in-
tention to inflict upon the reader tales of our do-
mestic life. Enough to say that our farming and
dairy was a success from the start. But it will be
interesting to tell you about our method of con-
structing houses. Remember it was nearly two
hundred miles to the nearest railroad and every-
thing that we had to eat and wear had to be trans-
ferred all that distance on freight teams.
Lumber cost from $225 to $250 per thous-
and feet. So in building we did not use any lum-
ber at all. Our first house was built out of tough
bottom sod, the walls about three feet thick, and
when the walls were completed and settled, they
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
93
were hewed perfectly smooth on both out and in-
side. The door jams and facing as well as the
windows were hewn out of cottonwood logs After
the walls were finished, the next thing to be done
was to construct the roof. The gable ends were
raised higher in the center, then a large strong
ridge log was laid across the center, then plates
put on top of the wall, then poles placed very
close together for the foundation of the roof. On
top of this, fine brush and hay and about a foot of
stiff clay was placed and firmly packed. A hard
dirt floor, and the house was completed. And it
made a very comfortable house. The greatest dif-
ficulty was from leaking. Shortly after we had
completed our first house and moved into it, we
had a long continued rainy spell. About the third
night it commenced to leak, until there was no
longer a dry place to be found, and becoming very
sleepy I told my wife I would creep under the
table, it seemed dry there. I did so, and was soon
sound asleep. After a while the water partially
awakened me, it was dripping on my head. I
simply moved my head, but soon the water was
dripping on my head again. This continued again
and again, until I was thoroughly awake, when I
looked around, I saw my wife laughing, in fact
I wasn't under the table. She had moved it.
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
The trouble was, when a dirt roof once started
to leak, it would keep it up a day or two after
the rain ceased. Every one, however, lived in
houses with dirt roofs, and we finally made them
so that they would resist every kind of rain. We
did not raise much on our farm the first season,
and we had to plan some other way to make a liv-
ing. Deer, wild turkeys, ducks, prairie chickens
and quail were very plentiful. I not only made a
good living, but I made money, by hunting them,
and selling to the citizens and officers and men at
Ft. Elliot. In the summer and fall of '78 Sweet-
water town was moved from its old site to within
half a mile from the fort. This was done in order
to get the soldiers' trade.
In the spring of 79 the state government
granted the petition of the settlers of Wheeler
county for an organization, and an election was
ordered to elect officers. I had no thought in my
mind to offer myself for any of the offices. What
was my surprise one day, when an old acquaint-
ance and friend, who had settled five miles north
on Gageby creek, came to me, with the news that
the citizens had a mass meeting the night before
to nominate men to fill the different offices, and
that I was chosen to fill the position of county
judge. I want to state here, that I filled that po-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
95
!
sition for many years afterwards. For several
years, that is until Donelly and Oldham counties
organized, we had under our jurisdiction twenty-
six counties for judicial purposes. Among the
first lawyers who practiced in the Wheeler county
courts, were such men as Governor J. N. Brown-
ing, Col. Grigsby, Hon. Temple Houston, (a son
of Sam Houston). I am glad to say, and feel
greatly honored, that I made lifetime friends of
these excellent gentlemen. There is one incident in
the life of Gov. J. N. Browning I think should.
find space here, and has never been made public.
As I stated before, that up to the time of organiza-
tion, and election of officers, every man was a law
unto himself. My readers can well understand that
under such condition of things, Mobeetie (the
Cheyenne Indian name for sweetwater) became
the harbor of the most lawless class of gamblers
and blacklegs in all the country, and the law was
violated day and night. Our county attorney
lacked the nerve, and through policy, shut his
eyes to the open violators, and failed entirely to
file information and prosecute. The judicial offi-
cers were powerless, but a change was to come over
the dreams of violators of the law. One day there
came to my office a young man of about thirty,
jolly, full of jokes, and he could tell the best stor-
96
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
ies; in fact his whole makeup was a happy, hale-
fellow well met. He presented a commission from
Governor Roberts, as district attorney for our ju-
dicial district. He visited all saloons, gambling re-
sorts and lawless places of every description, and
everywhere he went he was the same happy go
lucky young man. It was but a short time, however,
until he obtained the evidence he wanted, filed in-
formation and swore out warrants for their arrest.
When the gamblers discovered that this pleasant
young man was in earnest and that he determined
to have all violators of the law punished, they
concluded to get rid of him. So one day he brought
me an anonymous letter, with skull and cross-
bones, warning him if he valued his life, to leave
town and not let the grass grow under his feet.
But, that day more arrests were made and in a few
days afterwards he showed me another anony-
mous letter, more threatening than the first one.
This began to look serious to me. I told him
something had to be done or he certainly would
get into trouble and possibly killed. We had
plenty of good law-abiding citizens, many of them
old buffalo hunters. So by the time he received
the third letter with skull and crossbones, twen-
ty-five determined men got together, and I am
proud to say I was one of the number. We visited
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
97
every saloon and gambling house in town, and
called all gamblers outside. Then we read a letter
to them that we prepared, the substance of which
was, that if in any way, or manner, our young
friend was harmed or unlawfully treated, that we
would hang every gambler and blackleg on the
highest tree we could find. This settled it in a
short time and there was an exodus of gamblers. I
will write his name again in capital letters. The
Hon. J. N. BROWNING. I will give one more
incident out of many that occurred in these early
days, and then I will close this artirle.
The government brought the northern Cheyenne
Indians from their northern reservation and
placed them on the reservation with the southern
Cheyenne. But the Indians did not like that. So
they started and left a trail of blood and un-
speakable cruelty along their whole route. Many
of the settlers moved to town for protection, but
I concluded not to do so, and determined to watch
so closely that should they come I could beat them
off. One day I was plowing, the lower end of the
field was within three hundred yards of the house.
I had my "big fifty" buffalo gun strapped between
the plow handles, with a belt of loaded shells. In
making the rounds, and as I was about half way
down to the end nearest the house, I saw a man
98
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
L
come over the rise about a mile away, coming on
a long lope right towards a spring, where my wife
was washing. He had a red blanket wrapped
around him, without a hat. I thought certain he
was an Indian so I hurried my team until I got
within 400 yards of where my wife was, got my
gun ready, cocked it and took careful aim over my
plow handles, ready to press the trigger had he
made any sign of an offensive movement. I don't
believe a man could be closer to death's door than
he was, for had he made the least suspicious mo-
tion I would have pulled the trigger. But halting
just a moment to exchange a few words he started
off again. I hurried to the house and my wife.
told me he was one of Millet's men, that they had
been shooting up the town, and he was making
his escape. I helped to capture the rest of the
bunch, but as Mr. Connor, at Memphis, Texas, and
Mr. Atterbury at Clarendon, two of our best
Panhandle citizens were in the crowd, I refrain
from writing more for fear of hurting their feel-
ings. People can reform, you know.
Now, dear reader, I have written at some
length, and very hurriedly, and entirely from
memory, with only one object in view; and that is,
to give true facts of men and conditions, that none
of us or the generations coming after us, will ever
HISTORY OF PIONEER JAYS.
99
see again. Most of the grand men and heroic
women who, amid many privations, dangers and
hardships, bequeath to you and yours, as fair and
fertile a land as there is any where in all our
great domain, have already passed over the river.
And the rest of the old guard, will soon give you
their last smile, and press your hand for the last
time. I bespeak for them all a loving place in
your memory.
CHAPTER IV.
F. R. McCRACKEN
(BY EMANUEL DUBBS.)

""
HAVE before me a short manuscript
from F. R. McCracken giving most
graphically experiences of his
boyhood and young manhood days in
Montague county, Texas. I obtained
it only because of earnest personal solicitation and
because I assured him of the value it would be to
present and future generations, and that it would
add materially to the value of "Pioneer Days.'
That which I personally regret more than any-
thing else, is the fact that his self-effacement and
modesty prevented him from giving details of
his own brave struggles, in the stirring times,
when a few heroic men and women stood shoulder
to shoulder, and heart to heart, amid the most
appalling dangers of the merciless red men, fac-
ing dangers, privations, and hardships, that is be-
yond the power of our imagination to picture or
language to describe.
My dear reader, I will take a liberty here for
which Mr. McCracken may reprimand me, and
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
101
that is, to tell you of his nobility of character, his
simple, unassuming life, his hospitality and gen-
erosity, and the many endearing qualities of heart
and hand, that has made him so many friends,
who honor him as he deserves, as one of the most
honored and leading citizens of the Panhandle of
Texas where he now resides, and where I have in-
timately known him for twenty-five years. The in-
cidents he relates of his early days are not person-
ally known to me, for our lines in life did not
draw together until he moved to Collingsworth
county which was then attached to Wheeler county
for judicial purposes, where I then served as coun-
ty judge. You have noticed that he says nothing
of his Panhandle life and the trials and dangers
of its early settlements, and where he and his ex-
cellent wife reared their family of boys and girls
who now adorn his home and Panhandle society.
It is true that Indian raiding and massacres
had about ceased in this section when Mr. Mc-
Cracken first settled here, yet there were many
dangers from other sources and hardships to en-
'counter, obstacles to surmount, that could not
have been overcome by any people less inured to
frontier life than was Mr. McCracken. It is to
such men and their indomitable will and perse-
verance that we now owe our homes, our school
102
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
houses, our church houses, whose spires pierce the
sky and reflect the glorious sunlight, and from
whose pulpits are proclaimed the "light of the
world," the great message of love, the "glad tid-
ings of great joy which shall be to all people.”
I shall give you word for word Mr. McCrack-
en's Montague county experience, just as he
handed it to me. But before I do so, I want to
tell you something of his later life, and give some
incidents that came under my own observation,
that will be interesting to the readers of "Pioneer
Days." My object in doing this is, that we, and
our children, and our children's children, in
the years to come, as they look over this Panhandle
country and view its productive fields, its beautiful
towns and cities, her thousands of happy homes,
her noble christian civilization, her education and
refinement, may in a small measure at least, have
a conception of the difficulties and obstacles over-
come by Mr. McCracken and his co-laborers. Many
of whom have already gone to their long home,
some in unmarked graves, and the small remnant
yet left, with silvered hair and feeble steps, are
looking down the great divide toward the sunset,
and soon they too will only be a memory. I wish
to say here, that Mr. John A. Hart, the original
compiler of "Pioneer Days," and who in this com-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
103
*
pleted work requested my assistance, is himself a
typical pioneer, and in the chapter contributed by
him and many others, whom he solicited to write
for this book, both men and women of excellent
repute and honorable standing in society where
they are known, yet as you read the trials and
danger that beset them, there is not a word of
self praise. Yet I can assure you, were their terse
sentences, dealing in simple unadorned facts with-
out any coloring whatever interlined, there would
unfold to your vision word. pictures of such thrill-
ing romance, of lovers, and self-sacrifice, of im-
molations of self, and of heroic deeds that would
thrill your very souls, and cause you to weave
around them the most beautiful garlands of flow-
ers, and the most beautiful of the lady readers
would be chosen as the queens of beauty to place.
the wreath upon their honored memory.
It was, I think in 1880, when I first visited the
McCracken home in Collingsworth county, and
you who have never been accustomed to such
things, can hardly conceive or understand the
bare primitiveness of that home. Mr. McCracken
had met with severe financial reverses in Mon-
tague county and he landed in the Panhandle with
one team and wagon. Very few household goods,
and without money. His house consisted of one
104
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
4
+
good sized dugout room in the side of a hill cov-
ered with poles and earth, called a dirt roof. In
fact we all had the same kind of roofs on our
houses, so he was in fashion. He had squatted on
a hundred and sixty acres of Texas homestead
land on Elm creek. He owned a small bunch of
cows, and an excellent Winchester rifle and shot
gun. After having made his dugout as comfort-
able as possible with the meager facilities at hand,
the question of immediate and future subsistence
stared him in the face He had, I think, only one
child then, Miss Beatrice, a most winsome child,
that somehow had the knack of creeping into
the affections of the roughest cowboy on the
range. The reader will remember that the nearest
railroad point in any direction was over two hun-
dred miles distant, Ft. Worth east, Dodge City,
Kansas, north, and the only trading point at Mo-
beetie and Ft. Elliot in Wheeler county, about
forty miles distant, and to give you a slight idea
of prices: Flour was worth seven dollars per
hundred pounds and everything else in the eating
line in the same ratio.
Now take a man in Mr. McCracken's position,
with everything to buy and no money to buy with,
the reader can at once perceive the difficult prob-
lem that he had to solve. But he was but a very
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
105
short time solving it. The country was full of
game. The buffalo it was true were gone, and
gone forever. Along the timbered creeks were vast
flocks of wild turkeys, and the hackberry thickets
sheltered thousands of quail. While in the shin-
nery in the sand hills (little oak bushes bearing
acorns) were innumerable flocks of prairie chick-
ens, and in almost any direction, were herds of
deer, and Mr. McCracken was a famous shot and
hunter. He started out in the fall of the year
with his span of ponies and camping outfit. When
he found a good location, he made his camp, stayed
there until he killed a load of deer, quail, turkey
and prairie chickens and then pulled for Mobeetie
and Ft. Elliott where he found a ready market.
Having disposed of his load, he laid in a supply of
ammunition, all kinds of supplies for his family,
and then did the same thing over again, until the
season opened in the spring. By that time he had
enough supplies to last all summer, during which
time he raised a crop of feed for his stock, and in
the fall he would start out hunting again. And in
this manner he laid the foundation, that by perse-
verance and unremitting toil and economy, has
accumulated a handsome competence. I wish to
state here that this hunting life was not all sport
by any means. Away from his family, exposed to
106
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
the terrible "norther," there were days of haras-
sing anxieties, and nights of terrible exposure.
Whatever the hardships and difficulties or dan-
gers of his life, and whatever his worries, he was
always ready to meet and greet those with whom
he came in contact with that affable, gentlemanly
manner that has won for him friends among all
who know him.

ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS
CHAPTER V.
MR. F. R. McCRACKEN'S EARLY
LIFE EXPERIENCE

WAS born in North Carolina, A. D.
1849 and when I was ten years old
my father decided to leave the old
"tar heel" state and emigrate to
Texas, which filled my heart with
joy. I, like nearly all boys, had a streak in
me of the hero worship, and a spirit of adven-
ture. From fireside to fireside, from state to
state, all over our great nation the names of
the heroes of the Alamo had fired the imag-
ination, and hearts were filled with awe and
admiration at their heroic death. Texas-the
very name filled my young mind with unspeak-
able delight. My father settled in Willie Wally
valley in Montague county. At this time this
was the extreme frontier of northwest Texas.
For the first few years there were no Indian
alarms, everything was peace and happiness in
this valley. Nothing interfering with the pursuits
and pleasures of the few settlers who located here.
It seems to me now as I look back to this time,
108
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
that the people lived up to the principles of the
apostolic days, they owned everything in common.
If one family killed a bear or hog, all the families
within reach had bear or hog meat. When a young
couple married, every man, woman and child for
miles around came together to cut down the tim-
ber and prepare the logs and in one day build
them a house, while the women prepared a feast
with such things and eatables as the country af-
forded, and gave the happy pair a genuine old
fashioned house warming.
This happy state continued until the breaking
out of the civil war, when all the young men were
taken into the army leaving only old men, women,
boys and children to protect their homes and dear
ones that yet remained from the ruthless inroads
of their savage foe who up to this time had not
molested this peaceful valley.
In the fall of 1862 we had our first Indian
scare. Messengers were sent from house to house,
giving the alarm that a band of hostile Indians
were coming into our country. My father, Dr.
Polly and other old men went to meet them and
do what they could to protect their homes and dear
ones, but to their great relief and joy they dis-
covered that the alarm was false, for the band of
hostiles, proved to be a peaceful hunting party of
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
109
"Kickapoos." But from now on commenced an
era of menace and danger to life and property,
that destroyed for years to
to come the happi-
ness of the people of this beautiful valley. The
civil war had taken the flower and best manhood
into its death dealing grasp, and as the news of
battles fought drifted into the once happy homes,
there would also come the sad, heartrending news
of the first born, the elder brother, who was slain
to return no more forever in this world.
The trouble and dangers increased day by day.
The Indians became more and more menacing,
frequently we had to "fort up" for mutual pro-
tection. The people became accustomed to the
danger, and somewhat careless. One day a man by
the name of Jones came riding up to our house
upon a small played out pony. When he started to
leave, my father said, "say Jones, ain't you afraid
the Indians will get you riding that kind of a
pony?" He laughed and replied: "Oh, I guess
I can talk them out of it if they run onto me."
But they killed him before he returned home and
the valley is called "Jones Valley" unto this day.
This killing caused the people to use greater pre-
caution. At the close of the civil war the citizens
hoped for a while that their greatest danger from
the Indians was past, but they were doomed to
110
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
disappointment. The United States government
established military posts all along the border,
with negro troops. The interior department ap-
pointed Indian agents to feed and clothe the In-
dians, and persuade them to be good, but who ever
heard of a good Indian unless he was dead? This
old border expression, that the only "good Indian
was a dead Indian,” was verified to the letter. The
agents appointed by the government were corrupt
and unscrupulous to the last degree. They traded
the Indians arms and ammunition for ponies,
stolen horses and buffalo robes, and soon there was
a reign of death and terror along the whole bor-
der. It was at this time that the United States
government commenced the system of placing the
control of Indian affairs entirely under the inter-
ior department and out of the military, and the
result was that the Indians burned and murdered
men, women and children. All along the south-
west border our once peaceful and prosperous val-
ley became the scene of constant Indian raiding
and bloodshed.
While one of my neighbors was returning home
from the mill with his family in an ox wagon,
the Indians overtook him and killed him, taking
his wife, with an infant at her breast, and three
daughters prisoners. They had only gone a little
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
111
distance, when they took the sweet little babe from
its mother's arms and threw it into the head
of a draw and piled a few stones on its body and
then rode off forcing its mother along with them,
the cries and screams of her darling baby ringing
in her ears. Oh, the agony and terrible distress
of the poor mother, her husband killed, her babe
murdered before her eyes, and herself and three
daughters carried into a captivity a thousand
times worse than death. Do you, my dear reader,
feel surprised that you never find a genuine
frontiersman in love with an Indian? And those
sickening rhapsodies of certain Indian philan-
thropists back east, talking about "the noble red
men" become nauseating and disgusting to us
who have witnessed their relentless cruelty and
treachery? The noble "red men" indeed. This
family was in captivity for several years.
was the Box family.) I am only describing a few
out of the many instances, and tragedies that oc-
curred right in our neighborhood. Besides the
Box family, there was the Keenon family, and
the Huff family, these three families were all
killed or taken prisoners, close to my father's
home, besides many others that I have not men-
tioned. The Indians made raids, burned, mur-
dered and stole nearly every light of the moon on
(This
112
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
up to the close of the war, then our troubles be-
gan in earnest.
It was on the 12th day of January, 1867, that
the Kiowas made one of the bloodiest raids down
the Willie Wally valley in its history. Great
had been the suffering, privations and dangers of
the settlers before, having now for five years lived
in constant dread and alarm. Everything that
they owned and held dear on earth was in this
valley. Hoping from day to day that the govern-
ment would help to subdue these ruthless savages,
and again bring peace and safety to their once
happy homes.
Vain hope! Instead of protection, peace and
safety, the darkest cloud of gloom, the most heart-
rending scenes of rapine, murder and mutilation
ever witnessed in any country, fell like a death
knell upon us, and left us, like Rachel of old,
"weeping for her children because they were not.”
It was a lovely bright Sabbath morning, the
sun rose in beautiful, glorious splendor, the mock-
ing bird thrilled forth in splendid song, the
meadow lark sitting on the old fashioned rail
fence, sang her song of praise, the feathered song-
sters flitting about among the evergreen branches
of the live oak, chirped and were glad. And out
on a lone tree, a dove was cooing to its mate. Ev-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
113
erything in nature, animate or inanimate seemed
to be rejoicing. And as I arose this 12th day of
January in my home, I was glad that I was alive.
And this was to be an exceptional day. There was
to be services at the church in the little village of
Forestburg, four miles distant, and I was going
to attend, for it was a rare thing indeed in those
days when we had opportunities for religious wor-
ship. Little did I, or any one, dream that this
beautiful and peaceful lovely scene, and happy
homes, and everything we held dear on earth,
would before the setting of the sun, change from
its present peaceful aspect into smoke and ashes,
our dearest neighbors and friends mutilated and
murdered.
After the services, I went home for dinner with
Sam Dennis, one of my old chums. We were
sitting and talking together after dinner, when
Capt. Hughes came dashing up, his horse in a
lather of foam, and asked us if we knew that the
Indians were killing everybody and burning every-
thing in Willie Wally valley. And as we looked
in that direction we could see the smoke rising all
along the valley. No pen can portray, nor have I
the language to describe my feelings, for all that
was nearest and dearest to me on earth was in
that valley. My home, my old mother, my broth-
!
114
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
ers and sisters. Nothing but the restraining
hands of Capt. Hughes and my chum's persua-
sion, prevented me from mounting my horse and
at a mad gallop, rush down upon the human
fiends who were destroying all my dear ones, but
my two friends restrained me, and argued the fu-
tility and uselessness of throwing away my life,
when it might be so badly needed for the protec-
tion of others. As soon however, as we were
mounted Capt. Hughes took a course for the
mouth of the valley. When we arrived at the low-
er end, the Indians had already passed on down
Clear creek, killing and burning as they went.
Just as we rode up on the hill overlooking the val-
ley, we saw Chunky Joe Wilson's house burning
just down a little way from us, but we could not
see a living thing moving around, so we rode down
but still saw no one, and we thought they were
all killed or taken prisoners. But as there was
only three of us, we did not think it advisable to
follow the Indians as we could tell by the signs
that there was a large band of them. So we de-
cided to go up the valley on the back trail of the
Indians. Imagine if you can my heart burning
anxiety, as that devastated trail led in the direc-
tion of home and loved ones. We had only gone a
little way when we came to where they had killed
;
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
115
old man Long and scalped him, passing on up the
valley on the trail, we could form some idea of
the terrible devastation these savages had wrought,
by the vast amount of bed clothes, wearing ap-
parel, buffalo robes, and all manner of household
goods that was strewn along their trail. We did not
take time to pick up anything, as we were to anx-
ious about our loved ones. As we were loping over
the trail, (it was dark or after sundown but the
moon was shining almost as bright as day) I saw
laying on the trail, a pair of pants, I stopped aud
picked them up and recognized them and said,
"boys they have killed John Leatherwood, these
are his pants, see the blood on them." This bloody,
silent witness I knew sealed the fate of a noble
young man. Every moment increased our anxiety
and added speed to our foaming horses. Not a liv-
ing soul had we seen as we rushed along the bloody
trail. When we came in view of my brother's home,
my blood seemed to congeal in my veins. Before
us was the smouldering heap of a once happy
home. Like a madman I drove the spurs into my
horse's flanks, and dashed across the valley to my
home. And oh! the unspeakable joy, when I found
it safe and unmolested, and all my loved ones safe
and sound, but not so with some of my neighbors.
I found all the settlers gathered here for mutual
116
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
protection. There we passed a night never to be
forgotten so long as life lasts. There were many
missing, loved ones of those gathered there.
About 1 o'clock it commenced snowing and got
very cold. When daylight appeared we went out
to see how many of our friends we could find that
had been killed. In a little while we found John
Leatherwood, he had only been shot once. They
stripped all his clothes off, except his drawers and
scalped him. I think t was the next day that
we found Arthur Parkhill and Tom Fitzpatrick
and his wife, all dead and scalped. The Indians
had captured Mr. Fitzpatrick, three children, one
infant and two girls of the ages of three and five
years. They had not gone far when they took the
babe by the heels and dashed its brains out against
a tree, and then threw it down in the snow at the
root of the tree and left it. This made five the In-
dians had killed that we buried from my mother's
home in one day, besides many others that were
killed further down the valley, and Clear creek.
The only young lady they captured on this raid
was a Miss Carlton, and she succeeded in making
her escape that night, slipping off her horse in the
high grass while the Indians were having a fight
with a small number of settlers. After capturing
Miss Carlton about three miles down the valley,
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
117
they killed old Mr Long and burned Chunky Joe.
Wilson's house.
Just below in the valley the next party they
killed was old Mr. Manasco and captured Mrs.
Shegog and her two children and a negro boy. The
Indians then left Clear creek and turned north-
east and struck Big Elm near Gainesville, Cook
county. And on that Creek Mrs. Shegog escaped
from them, but her two children were never heard
from any more as far as I know. The little negro
froze to death that night. Here the Indians broke
up into small parties, and turned back, some going
one way and some another, driving everything in
the way of a horse before them. This was the
bloodiest and most successful raid the Indians ever
made in our part of the country. There was not
an Indian injured as far as I know, and it accom-
plished more to stop progress and the settling up
of our country than anything else that ever hap-
pened before or since for that matter. In fact,
everything was at a standstill for a number of
years. In our section of the country, however, as
time went by, amid privations and hardships,
things adjusted themselves again. Here I pause
to ask who deserves credit for bringing about this.
adjustment? It was not the United States soldiers.
that were stationed along the border, as all the old
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
settlers will agree. It was the brave and hardy
pioneers and cowboys who deserve the greatest
credit. Men who always stood ready to take their
lives in their hands and with the determination to
protect their homes and firesides and loved ones,
and make homes for them. You may go where
you will, east or west, north or south, and you
will never again find such a people, fearless, brave
to a fault, hospitable and sociable, ready at any
and all times to extend a helping hand in time of
need. Round them all up and you will find fewer
cut backs in the roundup than among any other
class of people on earth. When I look back to the
past, I am made to rejoice that I can at least
in a small degree be numbered with them and
helped to blaze the way for future greatness and
peace for those who came after us.

JOHN A. HART.
CHAPTER VI
SHORT STORIES OF PIONEER DAYS
EXPERIENCED WHILE A BOY IN PARKER County,
TEXAS. WRITTEN BY JOHN A. HART.

then
I
WAS born in
Madison
county,
Kentucky in
in 1850. My mother
died when I was two years
old, leaving me and a younger
brother two weeks old. We were
taken to
to Indiana, to grandmother's.
As young as I was, I remember my mother one
time when she gave me a spanking. So the first
thing I ever remember was a whipping. The next
thing I remember, was grandmother beating apples
in a trough to made cider. I suppose I was about
three years old then. About that time I remem-
ber being at a meeting and hearing the preacher
or some one else pray, and the people saying amen.
Presently they began shouting and I became
frightened; I thought they had got awfully bad
hurt and it was not long until I thought all the
people had got hurt or were badly scared. My
grandmother took me away from the meeting and
120
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
that is all I remember of Indiana until we started
to move. We came down to Texas on steamboat.
I remember when we started, that Grandfather
Hart shipped his horses and two dogs on the boat.
One of the dogs was a bull dog, and would not
allow any person to touch him. In order to get
him on the boat they circled a beef hide around
him and pushed him on. I don't remember any-
thing else until we landed in Texas, and the first
thing I remember then was John Hart, a cousin
of mine, coming to borrow fire. When he got to
the road a big rattlesnake lay before him. The
two dogs I spoke of, tackled the snake and killed
it, but the snake bit the bull dog, and the dog went
to Nolan river about half a mile and lay all day
and night in that river. Nolan river heads in
Johnson county, near Cleburne, now the county
seat. Grandfather died here near the mouth of
Nolan river.
I was now five years old and had begun to take
notice of things that passed. We left Nolan river
and moved up to Parker county. I remember on
the way we camped at a place called Hams Hole,
where there is a rock at the head of a flat that
finally makes a ravine. At the head of the flat
si a rock standing up edgeways, leaning over
south, about one hundred yards long and is a fine
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
121
place to camp under for shelter out of the rain or
cold weather. We camped here several days and
father caught a turtle, the first I ever remember.
They cooked it for dinner, and said all kinds of
meat was in the turtle. This is the first thing I
ever remember eating. I never saw Hams Hole
any more until I was about twenty-five years old.
I had pictured the rock as being a mile long, fifty
feet high, and was fooled to find the rock possess-
ing the above mentioned dimensions.
We moved up in Parker county and there I
lived for thirty years. I remember when Weather-
ford, county seat of Parker, was laid off in town
lots. I think this was in 1856. My grandmother
built the first hotel in the place. She had a well
dug for water and after digging about eight feet,
the digger left on Saturday evening not to return
until next Monday morning. Grandmother was
then camped at the Cleviate springs, so I slipped
off and went to the well and jumped in just for
fun. I didn't think of how I would get out but
soon found out that I was a prisoner in the well.
I hallooed for help but no one came.
It grew
dark and I was in a fix. Everybody was hunting
for me. I went to sleep, after I wore myself out.
A young man by the name of Norton came along
looked in the well, woke me up and pulled me out.
122
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
I have always had a dislike for wells ever since.
Some time after this the same John Norton that
pulled me out of the well pulled me out of a
hole of water and saved me from drowning. I
went in swimming by myself and got too far out
just as he came up and saw me.
I ran away and went to the first school ever
taught in the town or country. I took grand-
mother's big bible, all I could carry and the teach-
er and pupils made a laughing stock of me. By
noon I had sufficient education and quit the
school.
Father married again and moved out in the
country. A man by the name of Lumslin taught
the school and I went to school to him. William
Parsons, now living at Clarendon, Texas, was
one of my schoolmates at the school. I will men-
tion him hereafter.
Mr. Lumslin gave me a flogging, so this was
two whippings I got that I remember, but I might
have gotten a hundred more, but I don't remem-
ber them. At this school a young man named
Emerson played preacher and took Tom Eubanks
and myself in the creek to baptise us. He held us
under so long we got mad and he liked to have
drowned us. He baptised us until we promised to
be good, so he said we were good Christians,
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
123
I never saw Tom Eubanks any more for thirty
years. We met accidentally; we had camped for
dinner at the same place. During our conversa-
tion with each other the subject of baptism came
up and Tom related the experience he had at
school. By relating the circumstances we
recognized each other for the first time. While
Emerson was baptising us Parsons hallooed duck
'em good, souse 'em in. After school we went
home part of the way together and William Par-
sons and I had a fight about Emerson baptising
me. I don't remember which whipped, but I
guess I got licked. If I did that was three lick-
ings I got. William and I fought until we were
about sixteen years old. We had more hard fights
than any two boys in the county and today there
are no better friends in the United States than
Will and I. We have fought for an hour at a time
and sometimes bloody as a stuck hog. If William-
had not moved to another state for a while, I ex-
pect the matter between us would have been ser-
ious, but we are special friends now.
I had a particular hatred for girls and women,
they used to run me down to kiss me and I would
fight like a demon, but they always outdone me.
At one time I slipped up where some girls were
holding a protracted meeting. In the play one
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
girl preached and called for mourners, and I
slipped up and went to the mourners bench. That
started a fight; they run me to the creek and
caught me and would have ducked me, but I pull-
ed one in the water and came near drowning her.
I then got away and hated girls until I got to the
years of puppy love. Then I liked them some bet-
ter. I well remember the first camp meeting I
ever attended. Job Roberson and Beverly Harris,
Missionary Baptist preachers, conducted the meet-
ing. All the people in the surrounding country
camped on the ground. All denominations took
part in the meeting which was held under the
brush arbor on Sanchor's creek. Every one seemed
to be interested, and one night Rev. Harris was
making an exhortation and I thought he was mad
and shaking his fist at the people. Some of them
were crying and thought they were mad too, and
that there was going to be a fight, so I ran to a
rock pile and got a load of rocks ready to go into
the fight.
Just as I got my arm load of rocks, a woman
turned loose, and soon several others. I thought
there was a big fight up and threw the rocks
down and run with all my might to the wagon,
got in and covered up my head and ears. Pretty
soon I thought they were all in a big fight, and
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
125
some of them singing, because the rest were get-
ting a licking. The next morning I made an in-
vestigation to see who got licked, but found no
scratches nor bruises, and did not ask any ques-
tions, but selected several good rocks to throw
at the preacher if he hit anyone.
One time father went to mill with an ox cart, a
two wheel rig; I heard him coming after dark,
and hid in a sumac thicket to scare him, but did
not think about scaring the steers. I jumped out
and hollooed and away went Lep and Brindle
like frightened deers. Dad fell over backwards on
the ground, and the steers ran against the cow lot,
tore it down, turned over the cart, and spilled the
meal. Father grabbed me by the ears, bumped my
head against the gate post, and for exercise he
practiced with a whip on me.
So Dad, myself, oxen and all got the worst
of the fight, but the steers got the most of the fun.
One time father and mother went to see a sick
child and left brother George and I to keep house.
Father told us not to leave the house, but the
dog treed a rabbit over the creek, and we ran over
to catch the rabbit which was in a hollow log. I
ran my hand in to pull out the rabbit, when a
coach whip snake grabbed me by the hand. I
thought I was sure a goner, that a snake bite was
126
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
sure death. I went to the creek, washed my hand
and then went to the house and fixed me a good
bed to lay down on and die.
After I lain down a while and did not die, I
soon forgot all about the snake bite.
One time at school two girls about fourteen
years old had some kind of a difference concerning
their spelling lesson. They were at the creek at
playtime talking over the matter. They had about
agreed to drop the matter, and be good friends, or
there was talk to that effect, when I happened
along and took part in the talk. I talked in such
a way that both thought I was their friend and yet
I argued the quarrel in such a manner that the
girls were soon on the warpath and got into a fight
knocking and hairpulling and throwing rocks and
sticks and while it was going on, all the rest of the
girls came down. Both girls had friends, and
other girls got to fighting; I ran off and hid in
the brush and watched the whole proceedings. One
ittle girl ran to the school house and told the
teacher. When he came, there was a general fight
all up and down the creek. When the war was
over, their hair was all down, combs, and hairpins
down, dresses torn, blackened eyes, mashed up noses
and I thought it was the prettiest sight I ever
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
127
saw. All but four or five girls got a thrashing,
while I, the really guilty one, escaped.
I stayed at one place and went to school; a
young lady went to school with me. We passed a
house on the road where there were about a hun-
dred geese. There was a young woman nearly al-
ways after the geese and we called her the goose
girl, or at least I did. The girl with me and the
goose girl were not good friends. One morning
the girl where I stayed did not go to school, but
another girl on the road started that morning
and we fell in together. This girl and the goose
But the goose girl did
girl were good friends.
not know that it was the other girl with me, and
she paid no attention to us. She was driving
about forty geese. I picked up a rock and threw
at the geese, not thinking I would hit them, but
I hit one goose and broke its leg. The goose girl
made at me with a stick. I ran my best, but she
was about to catch me when I made a circle and
run back to the girl that was with me, and got
behind her. The goose girl thought she was the
other girl and struck her with the stick, as she
was not letting the goose girl strike me; then the
fun began; both clinched, and went after each
other's hair. Of all the jerking and pulling, I
never saw the like. Finally they both got into the
128
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
water and in the mud, and I thought having a
jolly time when the goose girl's brother came and
stopped the whole show.
The girl I was with had to go back home for
that day. The goose girl and this girl were the
best of friends, and ever afterward were the
same.
In 1862 in Weatherford some one came in with
some friendly Indians. I lived there then; I had
not seen any Indians before, and hardly any one
else in the town. They were painted and fixed up
in real Indian style. After they were gone a few
days I proposed to a girl that she and I fix up
like Indians and surprise all her people; to this
she agreed. I went to a blacksmith shop, and got
some red paint. The house was a two story brick,
and I got her up stairs to do the work. I had
the paint all ready and some big feathers. I
painted both her ears and chin red, painted a
streak all around the edge of her hair from ear
to ear, made a cross on her forehead, and painted
her cheeks black. I put the feathers in her hair,
and she was a fine squaw. I told her that I would
run down and get some more feathers, and then
she was to paint me. So I left her standing all
fixed up, big Indian
heap, and made for other
quarters of the town. It was about four years be-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
129
fore I could make friends with her again. All
the girls I got into trouble at school or anywhere
else, I finally got them to make friends.
In blackberry time a crowd of women, children.
and girls made up a crowd to go to the berry patch
and pick berries. In the crowd there were about
twenty, all told.
Near the berry patch there had been a negro
woman buried several years before. I found out
the exact time they were to be there, and I went
to the negro grave and hid in the brush. When
the crowd all got busy picking, I gave a long
lonesome groan. Part of them heard me and be-
gan to take notice. One said: "Listen, what was
that?" All of them stopped and looked in the
direction of the grave, I had now got their atten-
tion, and I said with as lonesome and pitiful tone
as I could, "Mosey killed me. Mosey killed me;
O, Lord have mercy on Mosey." Down went
buckets, cups and bonnets; then grabbing of chil-
dren, and the awfulest stampede I ever saw
through brush, berries, over tree tops and the
farther they ran the faster they went. Women
carrying two-year-old children, could run like a
race horse. In about two hours I went to the
house and got all the news as to how the old negro
came to her death. They heard something at
130
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
the grave say, "Mosey killed me; 0, Lord have
mercy on Mosey." I took in all they told me and
told them I guessed the negro spirit told the
truth. I let on to be very badly scared and finally
got off where I could laugh. The next day the
women moved, and no one lived there until the
close of the war.
George and I went to the cow lot one night and
like boys full of projects got to sucking the cows.
They had been milked and did not have much
milk. I was afraid of the cows. I only pretended
to be getting along all right and George said why
don't you hunch like a calf? I told him I did
not want to. He said you are a coward, just watch
me. He gave a big hunch and old Lightfoot give
him a side wiper with one of her most busy hind
legs, knocked him about ten feet off and broke
his nose, it is crooked to this very day.
During the war some of the old men had got
out on a scout to look for Indians. One man got
me to stay with his family while he was gone. He
had two nice girls. It was awful cold weather.
One night I took a half grown cat and went to
the girls' bed before they retired and put the cat
in one end of the pillows and pinned up the end
so the cat could not get out. Soon after dark I
went to bed and the girls went also. When they
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
131
got into bed, the cat commenced to twist and try
to get out. This scared the girls almost to death,
as they did not know what it was and they ran to
their mother, and said something was in the bed.
After searching, they found the cat pinned in the
pillow and of course laid it on to me. In a day
or so a big snow fell and one of the girls got a
wash pan full of snow and put it in my bed at the
foot. When I got in and stretched out I put both
feet in the snow and almost jumped as high as the
ridge pole. I thought the bed was on fire so they
got even with me on the cat business. After this,
the girl that put snow in the bed and myself got
into trouble with the girl's daddy, a blind steer
and about a hundred panels of fence. It always
seemed like that when I got mixed up with the
girl's daddy I got the worst of it, but I found it
different with their mothers. A boy with the help
of the girl can soon gain a mother's sympathy, by
telling her we would be good and the word please,
and a few other good words, but when dad said
no, that settled it. The girl's father had just re-
set about one hundred panels of rail fence about
eight rails high. Before a new rail fence has time
to settle it is easily torn down; the least jar will
start it to falling. The fence had been completed
about ten o'clock, and there was a bunch of cattle
132
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
going to water, walking down the string of fence.
There was about thirty head of cattle in the bunch,
among which was a steer with one eye out and
could not see good out of the other one. I proposed
to the girl that she take a saddle blanket and hide.
in some bushes, and when the cattle came along, to
throw it in front of the blind steer, and see him
almost break his neck. No sooner said than she
was at her place ready to scare the cattle. As it
happened, the girl's father heard me tell her what
to do; but we did not know it. The cattle came
on down the trail by the side of the fence, and
when the blind steer got to the right place, she
threw it right in front of him. He gave a snort,
ran against a COW and against the fence,
knocking down the fence and about a hundred
panels of fence fell, making the most terrible
racket I ever heard. The girl's father came out
all puffed up and was about to give both of us a
thrashing. He said that when Brunett, Callie and
I got together, the deuce was to pay. Brunett and
I had to rebuild the fence and to go at it now.
No use to argue the question, we had to build the
fence and to go at it at once. It was a very hot
day, but it made no difference, we had to go to
work just the same.
The first thing we had to do was to move about
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
133
four hundred rails back out of the way before we
could begin rebuilding. By the time we got the
rails moved back we begin to get tired of our job,
but the hard part was to come yet. We worked
until about the middle of the evening and nearly
gave completely out. The girl's mother began to
beg for us and said her and Callie would help us,
but we said no let us alone awhile yet, we were
getting along fine. But after while the mother's
persuasion overcame the father and he gave up
and came and helped us rebuild the fence. The
next day was Saturday and Callie and Brunett
wanted to go and get some grapes, of course I went
along. We went about a mile from home. Came
back by the school house where there was to be
preaching the next day. The school house was a
picket house and a dirt floor. The benches were
made out of split logs with legs for them to stand
upon. When the benches seasoned awhile the
legs sometimes got loose and in moving them the
legs sometimes fell out. So, we soon decided to
get even with Brunett's dad and for the punish-
ment he had given us on the fence. There were
two benches, he generally sit on one or the other
and we doctored these two to be sure to get him.
We took out two legs from each bench, one from
each end, and set them under the benches as
134
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
props. We dug a hole to set the legs a little slant-
ing so as to make it sure to fall. The next day
when I got to the school house several people were
there but had not got on these benches. After
a while the girls came and next was dad and moth-
er.
To our surprise dad did not sit down on the
benches we had fixed for him but mother did. The
girls were rather scared but I was tickled almost
to death, yet I was disappointed. Dad did not
get on either bench. After while my grandmother
came in and sit down on the bench by the girl's
mother. I was so full of laugh I could hardly
live. I was actually in misery and the girls
scared nearly to death. Grandmother began to
fan with a turkey wing and seemed comfortable.
She was a big fat old lady and I knew when the
time came great would be the fall. At last the
show came off. It was like a railroad wreck. About
this time down came the bench. Grandmother
and all the rest spilled on the floor together. I
was so tickled I had to leave the house and did
not see any more of the performance. Yet, I had
not got the one I was really after. In a few days.
we tried another trick to catch dad and got the
girl's mother again. The father had a foot log
over the creek, this made a narrow way to cross
the creek, even when the creek was down. Each
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
135
end of the log lay flat down on the bank of the
creek. We decided to undermine one end of the
log so when dad got on the log it would break
through and fall in. We dug under the end of
the log and left it ready for the job. The girl's
mother went to look after some young goslings
and had to cross the log. She got out on the log
and it gave way and down she went into the water
head and all. I was not there but the girls said
it was a sight.
On Burges creek Joe Kaughman gave a social
party, old and young were invited. There were
lots of people gathered at Uncle Joe Kaughman's.
He had a large family of boys and girls. They
were old time Arkansans, but had been in
Texas a long time. Everything that was good to
eat was put on the table and more boiled goose
eggs than I ever saw. There were several tables
set and everyone seemed to like goose eggs. It was
something the people never saw before, was goose
eggs on the table at a supper. There was a young
man from town come out somewhat stuck up. He
took a fancy to one of our country girls and some
one gave him an introduction to her. She was
rather a retiring disposition, some people would
say bashful. They ate supper at the third table.
All the goose egg shells had been cleared from
136
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
·
the tables and was all in a pile behind the stove.
I got a big pan and got all the goose egg shells
and put them all around under their chairs. I
never saw the like of shells around one couple.
The young man and girl both took a goose egg for
a rarity. After a while a little boy discovered
the egg shells and hallooed out "just look at the
goose shells." Of course this drew the attention of
everybody. They were the worst looking couple I
ever saw, and anyone can imagine how the people
looked and acted. Uncle Joe tried to find out
who put the shells there. There was more than a
dozen saw, yet no one knew. Uncle Joe didn't
care, he was only trying to smooth things over; for
Uncle Joe enjoyed the joke as well as anybody.
Down on Clear Fork creek a dog came to a
man's house. The dog was no account in the
world. The man told his daughter and I that if we
would take the dog down on the creek and hang
him he would give us a party. Of course the old
man did not think we would do it. But the girl
and I finally concluded for the sake of the party,
to do it. I had hard work to get the girl to agree
to help hang the dog. The girl's father had left
the house when we finally concluded to hang the
dog. We got a rope and led the dog to the creek,
put the rope over a limb, and drew him up and
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
137
tied the rope to another limb and ran off, as we
did not want to see the dog die. In about half
an hour we went back, and the dog was dead, sɔ
we took him down and went to the house. The
girl's mother came very near giving us a thrash-
ing, but the father was to blame. He said he did.
not think we would do it, yet we should have the
party. So everything was arranged for the party
next night but in the morning the dog was back at
the house ready for his breakfast. The old
scoundrel had come back to life. It seemed as
if everyone on the place was glad the dog came
back. The old folks gave us our party, but we
both agreed not to hang a dog that could not be
killed. But the same day we drowned a big hog
too quick and easy to realize what we had done.
The hog lot gate got open, and one of the hogs
got out and we hemmed him up and caught him
across the creek. He was a large hog and heavy
to handle. We had to take him by the hind legs.
and push him to the lot. The nearest way was
through a hole of water, about knee deep; but we
did not care for the water. So we pushed him in
and shoved him across, his head under the water.
When we got him to the opposite bank, we had all
kinds of a time to pull him out, and when we did
he was as dead as a hammer. We expected to get
138
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
a scolding and dreaded to go to the house; but
when we did, and explained the matter, we were
not blamed, while, of course everyone hated it.
I have not given all my little funny pranks,
and while I had my fun, I had some hardships,
and if you will read the Pioneer History, you will
learn what a frontier boy in Texas had to exper-
ience. By reading this book, you will learn a
great deal that is profitable.

OKLAHOMA WHEAT RANCH OF TODAY
103
28002
CHAPTER VII.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS IN
TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA
BY JOHN A. HART.

WILL endeavor to write a short his-
tory of pioneer days, incidents that
happened from 1855 to 1879, of my
own experience and the experiences
of men, women and children of old
pioneer days. This is no dream or idle tale, but
in every sense a true history. My object in writ-
ing this book is that there are thousands of per-
sons living who are ignorant of the hardships,
trials and difficulties that people of old pioneer
days had to contend with. A history of this kind
will be instructive to the rising generation and in-
teresting to the old people who yet live and who
experienced the old pioneer days. I have some-
times seen old pioneers meet, and in relating their
past experiences have noticed people stand and
listen in wonder and amazement, thinking and
wondering if these accounts were true.
I have no doubt, a great many imagine that
140
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
•
people of pioneer days were toughs and outlaws,
but such is not the case. While I was only a small
boy when Parker county was first settled; only
about thirty families in the county. I remember
that nearly all heads of families were Christians at
that time and I am of the opinion that Parker
county is only a sample of the people of pioneer
days in Texas, generally. I will admit there was
a great many tough people in one way, yet, when
it came to a point to protect life and property
they were willing and ready to give a helping
hand, and I am satisfied and can safely say of
the settlers of pioneer days as a general rule, a
more kind hearted and generous people never lived.
I know all of the old people of that day and they
will agree with me on this point without hesitation.
I was five years old when Weatherford, Parker
county, Texas, was laid off in town lots. John
Prince taught the first school that was ever
taught in the county at Weatherford. I was too
small to go, or at least my parents thought so. I
differed, so one morning I shouldered the old
family Bible and ran away and went to school.
The Bible was all I could carry. By twelve
o'clock I decided I had education enough and
quit school.
All houses were built out of rough logs which
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
141
were snaked out one log at a time. In this way
enough logs could be dragged out to build a house,
joist, rib, weight poles and all, in a week. Most
all houses were made of round logs, not hewed,
from ten to twelve rounds high, two foot boards
were laid on rib poles, and weight poles laid on
the boards to hold them down. Stick and dirt
chimneys with rock back and jams, a door of clap-
boards chinked and daubed with mud and a dirt
or puncheon floor and the house was completed
and good enough for a king.
Wood hauling with steers was very common.
Tree tops would be snaked from one-half to a mile.
and sometimes further.
Furniture was generally very simple. Some-
times a one-legged bedstead, and sometimes four.
In a four-legged bedstead an augur and chisel were
used to mortise places for the sides and end pieces.
Holes were bored in the side and end pieces about
every eight inches apart and a raw hide rope run
through the holes, while green which made the
bottom or a place on which to put the bed. A one-
legged bedstead was different. A hole was bored
into the wall and the side and end pieces put in
the holes and the one leg built on the fashion of
the four legs. Slats of boards for the bottom laid
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
across and you had a bedstead fine enough to in-
vite anyone to sleep on.
The dining table was built on the same fashion
as the four-legged bedstead. Boards were shaved
out with a drawing knife for the top and when
visitors came, a tablecloth was used, made of do-
mestic, woven by the housekeeper herself.
Some were lucky enough to get hold of a few
chairs and had stools enough to make out the set,
some had all stools or benches. A tree was cut
and split open and faced with a broad axe, four
holes was bored and legs put in and the stool or
bench was completed.
The cooking utensils consisted of a three-legged
skillet, oven, dinner pot, tea kettle, a big iron
shovel and a pair of pot hooks.
I very well remember the battling stick on wash
day. Oh! my, how tired I would get on wash day
beating and pounding the clothes while mother
rubbed them with her hands. The clothes would
be taken out of the tub and laid on a bench or
block made for that purpose and beat with one
hand and turn the clothes with the other. The
battling stick was in the shape of a paddle, only
heavier. This was before the scrub board came in
fashion, and then we thought a great improvemert
had been made when the scrub board came in,
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
143
Candles to give light were all made by hand
there were two ways to make them, one was to get
as many sticks as was needed and tie strings to
them, usually about half dozen to the stock for
wicks and dip them in a pot of warm tallow, lift
them and dip them in a pot or bucket of cold
water and back into the tallow. I have seen sev-
eral hundred made at a time this way. Some had
molds, drop the wicks in the molds and pour the
tallow in the molds. There were two kinds of
candle sticks used when a light was needed, one
was made out of tin and the other a square block
with a hole bored in the center to set the tallow
candle in.
All the soap was made by dripping lye from an
ash hopper. To make an ash hopper, first drive
four forks in a square, put side and end pieces in
the forks, this made the frame, put a trough un-
der the frame and stand boards in the trough and
the top end of the board against the frame, fill up
with ashes and pour water on the ashes for
about two days and the lye will start to drip and
an oven or skillet is placed under the end of the
trough to catch the lye. There are thousands of
people today who do not know how lye soap and
tallow candles were made.
Oxen were used in farming to a great extent. In
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
breaking prairie from two to four yoke of oxen
were hitched to a plow. In old ground from one
to two yoke were used in plowing corn and garden
stuff. A home-made turn plow was used to break
land; a bull tongue to cultivate; and eye hoe that
weighed about one-half to a pound was used to
cut weeds and grass. Corn was dropped by hand
and covered with a hoe.
Wheat was threshed out by hand, or tramped
out by horses. If threshed by hand the heads
were beaten out with a pole; if by horses, the
wheat was spread out in a yard prepared for the
purpose and from six to ten horses were rode
round and round over the wheat, men stationed in
the inside kept the wheat stirred up, if the wind
blew, the wheat was poured out of a bucket to blow
the straw and chaff out, if there was no wind two
men took a sheet and fanned, while one poured
the wheat out of a bucket.
In traveling to church some would walk from
one to three miles, others ride on horseback and a
great many went in ox wagons. All the wagons
were tar pole or wooden axle. The men were gen-
erally armed either with guns or pistols, while at
church the guns were stacked by the side of the
house, revolvers never taken off.
At camp meetings an arbor was built for ser-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
145
vices and small arbors for the campers.
When
the campers all got to the camp ground the steers
would all be belled and hobbled out. Everybody was
welcome and at home. A beef would be killed
every day and divided with all the campers, the
beef did not cost any one anything, people who
lived twenty miles away got beef, no one thought of
charging for it and the people on the ground were
like one family of kinfolks. Everyone wore home-
made clothing, shoes and hats. I have seen some
leather breeches and coats. They were only buck
skin but called leather breeches. Some had caps
of deer skins with the hair side out. All had their
guns at church, with their shot, pouch and pow-
der horn. In the pouch would be a bar of lead,
bullet-molds and a rag for patching, and if caps
were used, a box of caps, but if a flint lock, sev-
eral flints.
No one ever thought of charging a stranger or
traveler for lodging. It was an insult to offer to
pay for a night's lodging. Stock hunters could
travel all over Texas and never be out one cent.
Milling was sometimes done with an ox cart, a
yoke of oxen to the four wheels of a wagon and
corn piled upon the cart for four or five families.
A wedding was generally public, everybody in-
vited and all went and a grand charivari followed.
A
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
It was the custom to have a grand tine Christmas,
and if people were to celebrate Christmas now as
they did then, they would be considered regular
outlaws and all be arrested.
Rope hobbles, bridle reins, clothes lines, bed
cords, were nearly all made out of raw hide. Some
hair rope was made out of hair by cutting the bush
of cattle's tails off and twist the strands into a
rope. People were considered quality when they
could have a pair of hair bridle reins.
They always wanted to know when it was going
to rain or when the sun or moon would rise and
set and they would pay ten cents for an almanac.
I remember when matches sold for ten cents a
box which contained twenty-five matches. Only
travelers or freighters could afford to use them.
Matches were not used only in extreme cases.
Many times I have walked a mile to borrow fire.
Everybody kept a piece of punk and a flint rock to
strike fire, and by placing the flint on the punk
and striking it with a pocket knife would produce
fire. Sometimes we would take raw cotton, place
it on a skillet lid and sprinkle powder over the
cotton, take a case knife and strike the lid, knock
fire out of the lid and catch the powder, and we
had fire.
Wheat was cut with a cradle by hand, and a
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
147
good cradler could cut about two acres a day. A
good binder could keep up with a cradler, but gen-
erally an acre and a half was a day's work.
Three or four families owned a sorghum mill.
The rollers were made of live oak and the cogs
were all wood. The owners of the mill assisted
each other in making sorghum. We did not know
sorghum by that name then, just plain molasses.
A single horse or steer turned the mill. It usually
took a driver to keep a steer moving. Each per-
son would make from one to three barrels of mo-
lasses. When molasses making was over the
youngsters had a candy pulling, old people and
all would take part.
In case of sickness or distress every person
showed a willing hand in such cases. If any per-
son got behind with his crop, wheat-cutting or
anything else all turned out to his assistance.
Work steers were like all other animals, they
had different temperaments and different disposi-
tions and some steers if treated kindly were easy
to get along with, while others didn't know or ap-
preciate kind treatment. I suppose a great many
old timers who have hauled water on a slide or
lizzard have had something to remember all the
days of their life, provided you used a single steer
for a team.
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
A young man told the experience he had haul-
ing water on a lizzard with a single steer. A liz-
zard, as we called it, was a forked tree cut down
and the fork of the tree was the sled. Cross piece
put on to set the barrel on and four standards to
hold the barrel on the lizzard, put a half yoke on
a steer and hitched to the lizzard and you were
ready to haul water.
The young man hitched the steer to the lizzard
and with the assistance of his sister drove half a
mile for water. It was a warm day and tiresome,
and by the time the barrel was filled they were
both very tired. They drove about half way home
when a heel fly struck the steer on the heels. A
steer is very sensitive about a heel fly when it
tackles a steer's heels so it was good-bye steer, liz-
zard, water barrel, water and all. No use to try
to stop a steer when a heel fly gets after him. The
water all gone, the barrel at one place, the lizzard
at another and the old steer down in the creek
bottom in a thicket, looking very innocent.
My grandmother was a great hand to make
soap. She had filled the ash hopper with ashes.
and poured water on them until the lye had
begun to drip and had run out of water. Grand-
ma and one of the girls hitched old Nig to the liz-
zard and were off for a barrel of water. Grandma
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
149
carried the bucket and the girl drove old Nig.
Grandmother was a large, fat old lady and it being
a warm day made the trip hard on her. Old
Nig brought the water back to the yard gate all
right. Grandmother went to open the gate so the
girl could drive Nig into the yard with the barrel.
of water; about the time the gate was opened a
heel fly just to be friendly with Nig, visited his
heels, away went old Nig and tore down the gate,
run against a stump, upset the barrel of water,
run against the ash hopper and tore it down as
flat as a pancake. Old Nig backed up in the
shade of the smoke house and looked as though he
had made a great victory.
All you old timers know what a boy will do in
a case like this, who has had no hand in the prome-
nade. I was sitting on the yard fence and did not
need a spy glass to see the whole performance.
In plowing corn with a steer, you might work
him for a week all right, but before you could take
time to think he would run away and tear down
the width of two or three rows of corn. It seemed
the steer had all the fun and the driver all the
trouble. Nothing ever pleases a boy more than
to see a steer and a woman get in a mixup to-
gether.
Some people may think a steer has no sense, but
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
this is a mistake. If a steer was properly broken
to work and kindly treated you scarcely ever had
any trouble, but you always had to be careful in
heel fly time, because a poor cow or steer, so poor
they could hardly walk would run from a heel
fly when nothing else could hardly get them to
move. We had a yoke of steers that would feed all
night and about day light would hide in a thicket
and hardly move all day nor rattle their bell. Many
a time I have gone out in the yard about daylight
to listen for the bell to get the course and every
duck on the place would turn loose with all the
quackism in their power, and the guineas would
turn loose and the turkey gobbler would gobble.
There is no use to try to quiet a bunch of ducks,
guineas or gobblers when you are trying to listen
for a steer bell for the more you try to make them
stop the more fuss they would make. I said then
if ever I owned a home and a family, I never
would allow a duck or guinea on the place, and I
have made my word good.
One time Judge Embree concluded to go to
Weatherford to mill, he hitched a yoke of oxen to
the front wheels of the wagon and put on two or
three sacks of corn; Mrs. Embree went with him
to market with some eggs and chickens, she had
two dozen eggs and four chickens. The got about
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
151
half way to town when the heel flies got after the
oxen, they left the road on double quick time and
the eggs, chickens, corn, Mrs. Embree, the Judge,
the cart and steers were all scattered. The Judge
got the cart and oxen and gathered up the corn
but Mrs. Embree lost the eggs and one chicken in
the runaway scrape.
When I was a small boy I drove from four to
six yoke of oxen to a freight wagon. In those days
ox teams were all the go, but now that the oxen's
days of labor are over I cannot help but have a
kind feeling toward the oxen. At the word of
command I have seen a yoke of oxen at the wheel
hold back and stall five yoke of oxen.
During the war we fed prickly pear leaves to
cattle; we would take a wagon and haul the pear
leaves home, some times as many as eight or ten
loads. The prickly pear has long thorns and thous-
ands and thousands of small stickers on the leaf,
We would haul wood and brush and build a fire
and singe the thorns and stickers off the pear
leaves and then feed them to the cattle. I have had
the stickers all over me and in my clothes by the
hundreds but we had to do this to keep the oxen
and milk cows alive during the winter. The live
oak was an evergreen tree, and they were some-
times cut down so the cattle could eat the leaves.
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Squirrel and cat hides were dressed by the boys
and girls for shoe strings and whang leather; raw
hide was used to cover saddles, and sheep skins.
were used for saddle blankets; some used a hair
rope stretched around the bed when they camped
out, to keep snakes and tarantulas away, as they
will not cross a hair rope.
Sumac leaves and black jack bark were used in
tanning leather; the leaves were gathered while
green and the bark peeled off while the sap was
up, and could then be stored away and used any
time of the year. The sumac leaves were used for
shoe leather and the bark for sole leather. When
the hide was ready to tan, the leaves or bark was -
boiled, the hide was then placed in a trough, the
pulp was placed between the folds of the hide and
the liquor poured over it, this was repeated every
three or four weeks, sometimes not so often.
傀
​No one thought of going in debt, they paid cash
or its equivalent, or did without; if some one would
have offered to take a mortgage the people would
not have known what it meant. Borrowing and
loaning was very common, everybody's oxen and
wagon, or anything else was to loan if anyone
wanted to borrow it; and whenever anyone looked
for their stock they looked for their neighbor's
stock at the same time.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
153
At a house raising the women came too, and
assisted with the preparations for the fine dinners
prepared on such occasions. At a quilting there
were enough women come to do the cooking, the
men would come and enjoy themselves pitching
horse shoes, running foot races, jumping, telling
yarns or anything else for pastime.
Sometime I almost wished I were a girl so I
could have a good time, but I had no sister large
enough to work so I had to churn, wash dishes, use
the battling stick on wash days, make bats for
quilts, quilt and hand the thread through the har-
ness of the loom and then I was glad that I was
not a girl so I could get out of such work. I never
could believe that I was cut out for a boy and a
girl too and such work now would hurt my feel-
ings terribly, but there were lots of girls that did
a boy's and girl's work too, and lots of women that
did men's work in war times. After the war a
family by the name of Williams came out from
Arkansas and I heard the woman relate her ex-
perience, which I will give to the best of my recol-
lection, I don't remember the part of the state she
lived in, it has been thirty-five years ago and I
don't remember all she said. Her husband was
in the southern army, left her with four small
children and not very much to live on, she had a
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
little peg-horn yoke of oxen, two cows, an old run
down wagon and four or five little knotty hogs
when her husband left home to go to the army.
The next year was a trying one to the people in
that part of the country. She heard one day that
the federals were coming in that direction and to
remain at home meant destruction to all she had,
so she resolved to hide in the brakes and moun-
tains and move everything she could. Her old
wagon was almost gone to staves, she took some
scap and greased the wagon to keep it from mak-
ing so much noise, drove wedges under the tires
and poured water on the wheels to soak them up,
she put part of an old cow hide in the creek to
get material to make ropes, then gave the children
instructions and went for the oxen. After hunting
for several hours she found them, but she was very
nearly worn out, she had to keep going though and
make preparations to load up; her children wanted
supper but there was no time to cook it. It was
dark when she got her household goods on the
wagon; and the oxen had not been worked for some
time and were very unruly but she was determined
to save what she had at all hazards. The older
children walked and carried the two younger for
a short way until she got the oxen so she could
manage them. There was a scope of country for
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
155
several miles that was brush covered brakes and
in this she intended to hide. By hard work she
managed to get to where she wanted to go; she
tied the oxen to a tree, got supper for the children
and put them to sleep, then stood guard the bal-
ance of the night as the woods were full of wild
animals. The next morning she built a scaffold to
put her meal and meat on, she had two small loads
of corn to haul; next she hauled a load of rails,
built a pen for the corn and got a load of corn
that day, and from the cow hide she put in the
creek, she cut rope and staked one of the oxen out
on the grass and the other one stayed without
tying; by this time she was almost afraid to go
for the remainder of her corn, but would save the
cows if possible; she found them all right but had
a hard time getting them into camp. There was
only one calf and by giving the cows a few shucks
and a spoonful of salt she caught the calf, tied it
to a stake and that kept the cows close; she had
a few chickens but did not take them. She
thought she would go to the nearest house and see
what she could learn about the Yankees. When
she got in sight of the house the yard was full of
them so she ran back to camp and did not go
away again for a week, then she went to another
house and it was burned up and no one there. The
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
next morning about sun rise, she heard the sound
of guns and lots of them and she was in hearing
of guns and cannons for two days, but she stayed
this out for ten days longer, then went out pros-
pecting and met a boy who told her all the news.
Nearly every house was robbed of everything of
value; some had a little left that they had hid
out, he thought that the Yankees had gone but
he didn't know where. She then went back to her
own house, the corn and chickens were gone and
the yard fence burned up.
She then went back home and was so glad she
had a little left. Then one of the children took
sick and died. She made the coffin and dug the
grave herself, and with the help of another woman
buried it. She divided her corn with her neigh-
bors and soon they were all in a hard shape. One
steer died; one cow killed by lightning. The sol-
diers got all the hogs but one and from this hog she
raised meat. She says she can't tell how she got
along, but she got along somehow. One evening
she was sitting on the doorstep thinking what to
do next, she looked up and lo and behold, she saw
Mr. Williams. "I did not know him until he
spoke, and the first words he said were, 'Sally,
war is over."" She did not know any more,
for she had fainted. I have an idea Aunt Sally did
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
157
have a hard time. For a little while she was too
much affected to talk further.
Later on when questioned about hiding out she
said it was all through fear that made her do it.
She was afraid to stay in the woods but more
afraid of the Yankees and her thoughts were all
centered on getting out of the way of them and
saving what she had. It rained often on them, and
sometimes they were drenching wet, and for sev-
eral days at a time she couldn't leave the children
to go anywhere, on account of the rain. At night
she tied the calf to the wagon wheel to keep var-
mints from killing it, and then she had to keep a
fire burning all night to keep them away. The
owls and the night hawks made it very unpleasant.
She said she fared as well as lots of women.
Some had their houses burned up or everything
taken from them they had to eat. The Jay Hawk-
ers came through occasionally, and they were
worse than the regular soldiers. On one occasion,
about seventy-five men camped at her house, the
captain was very inquisitive and asked many ques-
tions. She told them her husband was in the
southern army, but she was satisfied they knew
this without asking her. They did not molest her,
did not even burn a rail. They stayed three days
and she washed handkerchiefs, socks, a few shirts
$1
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
and sewed buttons on their clothes and they paid
her more than she asked. When they left they
gave her some scraps of meat, some beans and a
lot of old clothing she picked up and used and
glad to get them. She learned afterwards that
they were Captain Quantrell's Independent com-
pany and that a lot of them were killed on the
Missouri side. It is impossible for me to relate.
all this old lady told. She was a good Christian
and passed out of this world of sorrow about
twenty years ago.
During the war Mat Heffington, who lived about
five miles south of Weatherford in Parker county,
went to Dallas county and bought a negro. Hef-
fington wanted the negro to look after the stock.
The farm was small and nothing but corn raised
on it. The negro had but little to do but look
after the stock. His name was Jack. Sev-
eral months after Heffington bought Jack he sent
him to the range to look after the cattle, but sev-
eral hours after Jack left some one notified Mr.
Heffington that Jack was running away, on the
road back to Dallas. Heffington overtook him
and brought him back, but did not punish him.
He did very well until the next spring and then
lay out in the neighborhood and prowled around
people's houses for something to eat. He was cap-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
- 159
tured several times in summer, but would hide out
as often as he was caught; whipping did no good.
At last Heffington put a big pair of iron hobbles
on him and put him to chopping poles, but he
finally ran away and was gone about eight
months. Winter time set in, and he came in and
said he would be a good negro. But spring time
came and he was gone again. He would waylay
school children and take their dinner from them,
and sometimes cut all the clothing off the girls.
He cut the clothing off one young lady and
she requested when he was captured that she have
the privilege of whipping him. He was soon cap-
tured and tied to a tree and the lady sent for. She
preferred a hand saw to a whip. Jack was stripped
to the waist and left to the mercy of the lady.
When she got through he was a solid blister, she
salted and peppered his back and turned him
loose. He ran to the creek and lay in the water
for several hours, came out and begged to be taken
back, but soon was gone again. When the war
ended he was still out, and in August was killed,
and found several weeks after, about three-fourths
of a mile from a house, in an elm thicket. About
one year after, there was a party at the house near
where he was killed and a young man offered the
young lady of the house, who was about thirteen
160
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
years old, his horse, if she would go down to the
thicket and bring Jack's head. It was awfully
dark, but the young lady got up without a word,
put on her bonnet, opened the gate and disappeared
in the darkness, in about half an hour she came in
with Jack's head rolled up in her apron, and laid
it down before the young man, there was all kinds
of talk when she laid the head down. He gave
her the horse and paid her to carry the head back
the next morning. There is not one woman or girl
out of a thousand of this day, who would go in the
night and do such a thing as this girl did. And
what woman or girl would pick up a log chain and
go between a yoke of steers and hook the chain in
the staple of the yoke, or go between the long
horned steers' heads and put the tongue of the
wagon in the ring, or put a steer's leg back if he
got out of the traces. No, you would run and
squeal like a panther if he licked out his tongue
begging for a little salt. The gate post would
not be high enough for you to climb up on.
Girls are mere babies now to what they were for-
ty years ago. I knew one girl eighteen years old
who took a gun and killed a rattle snake six feet
and five inches long. What would you girls do to-
day? You would run off and leave the snake to
get away, of course.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
161
Women of old pioneer days, could and would
do anything that was a necessity, and do it willing-
ly and cheerfully. They would even take a gun
and stand guard in time of danger of Indians and
if necessary would fight in defense of themselves
and families, and some of them have been known
to do so and come out victorious.
In the year 1870 or 1871, about fifteen miles
above a town, I think it was Waco, or at least that
is my recollection, but it might have been another
town on the Brazos river. There was a ferry boat
on the river that ferried when the river was too
high to ford. A man with his wife and child about
two years old, drove on the boat in a two horse
buggy. The Brazos river was nearly bank full.
The man took the horses from the buggy, or rather
unhitched the traces, but the woman and child re-
mained in the buggy. When the boat was about
one-third of the way across, the boat dipped water
and sank. The ferryman and the man swam out,
the horses drowned, but the buggy floated down
the river with the woman and child in it. A runner
was sent to the town and men, women and children
gathered at the river. Nearly all the town was
out. When the woman and child came in sight, all
the people went wild. Some men offered fifty,
some a hundred and some five hundred dollars for
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
any person or persons who would save the woman
and child. There were two cowboys sitting on
their horses taking in the whole situation. One of
them proposed to the other if he would save the
child, he would save the woman. The boys leaped
from their horses, stripped, and in they went.
They had to go down the river nearly a mile
before they caught up with the buggy. All the
people followed down to see the boys bring the
woman and child out. The boys climbed up on
the buggy by the woman. They told her that they
would bring them out safe if she would do as they
said. One took the child and leaped into the
river. The other told the woman that if she took
hold of him any place that he intended to drown
her, but if she would keep her hands off of him
he would take her out all safe. He had her take
down her hair and climb on his back. He took a
twist of her hair and put it in his mouth, and in
he went. The woman seemed to realize what he
had told her and had all the faith that he would.
take her out. The boy with the child landed all
right and great shouts went up from the people.
The woman on the boy's back laughed, but soon
she was landed safely herself. She took the boys
by the hand and cried, and thanked them and they
cried too, and there was general rejoicing.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
163
The two cowboys would not take the rewards
offered. It looked cowardly to them to take a re-
ward. I have heard men say since then that the
cowboys of that day were a set of outlaws, but I
will say to all such men that the pioneer cowboys
fought more hard battles to protect Texas than all
the soldiers ever did. The cowboy would fight to
his death for the defense of a woman's life or char-
acter. The man of today who calls the old pioneer
cowboys outlaws, would offer a reward of a few
dollars to save a drowning woman, but too coward-
ly to risk his life as the two brave cowboys did
to save the woman and child.
I have had some experience in the cowboy life
and when they got on the trail of Indians that had
killed and scalped men, women and children, they
were like all citizens who followed the Indians,
when they would run down their horses and fail
to catch them, would curse and cry because they
could not overtake them.
In 1874, on my last buffalo hunt, on my way
back home at Fort Griffin, General Philip Sheri-
dan had whipped the Indians, killed their horses
and the Indians had to walk in the best they could.
The Indians had a war dance. One old squaw had
a white woman's scalp on a pole, the Indians danc-
ing around it. A cowboy pulled his revolver and
164
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
was going to shoot the squaw and swore he would
kill her, but was prevented by the soldiers. The
scalp was taken away from the squaw and given
the cowboy. No cowboy or citizen could stand and
see the Indians dance around a white woman's
scalp. There would have been a hot time just
then if the cowboy had been left alone.
In case of sickness or some one wounded, no one
would ride farther and faster for a doctor than a
cowboy. All boys in middle and west Texas were
more or less cowboys, as all the men were more or
less interested in the stock business, and all those
boys and men became the best citizens of the
country; and yet some people of today will say
they were regular outlaws.
The women of Texas were not as easily excited,
or in other words, in case of danger would not lose
their presence of mind as easily as some might
imagine. Some of them have been known to
count the Indians and sometimes the horses when
the Indians were only a short distance from them
Mrs. Sarah West, who was Miss Sarah Powell
before marriage, counted the seven Indians that
were killed on Robertson's creek, one squaw in the
bunch. On Squaw creek in Hood county, Mrs.
West had just finished washing, about on hun-
dred yards from the house, and went to the door
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
165
and got a drink of water and turned around and
saw the Indians carrying off her clothes. While
they were gathering them up she counted them.
She stayed in the door until they were through
gathering her clothes.
Near the Comanche peak two girls, one sixteen
and the other six years old, were gathering grapes
on the side of a rock ridge, with prairie on north
side. The girls heard horses and on investigating
discovered a party of Indians driving a bunch of
horses. They hid in the thicket and the older girl
counted fourteen Indians driving seventeen head
of horses. The Indians passed within about sev-
enty-five yards of them. The little girl said
"there was a great big bunch of Indians with a big
black bonnet on, riding great big horses." They
were all great big Indians driving a big bunch
of horses. Two miles from there another woman
stood in the yard and counted the same Indians;
there were fourteen. Further on a young man and
a girl counted fourteen. Mrs. A. P. Parsons and
Mrs. Eppie Gardner counted the Indians while
they were taking the horses out of the field. This
was the same bunch of Indians that killed the
settlers. Mrs. Keener counted nine Indians that
passed between the house and field near the Little-
field bend on Sandy creek in Palo Pinto county.
166
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Three women counted the same nine Indians at
the sorghum mill, eating cane and skimmings from
an old bucket.
It was a noted fact that when Indians passed a
house, if a woman was at the gate, door or in the
yard and kept quiet, showing no signs of fear, she
was rarely molested, but the least sign of fear or
alarm and they would go after her scalp. Indians
never killed an old person, a cripple or a deformed
person, if they knew it. Women were close ob-
They learned that the
servers in Indian times.
whoop of the horn owl and that of the Indian were
different. The voice of a horn owl will not echo,
the Indian's would. They would pass through a
neighborhood in the night, string out abreast for
several miles hunting horses, whoop like an owl
and in this way could locate each other.
Every person in Indian times kept two or more
dogs and in war times the women learned when the
Indians were in, where the most danger was, by
the bark of the dogs; all the dogs in the neighbor-
hood would bark. If the Indians were far off the
dogs would go out in the yard to bark, if they were
near the place, the dogs would come inside near
the door and probably bark very little, but act
very restless. It seemed that an Indian was a mes-
merizer or something for the dogs.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
167
In 1873 near Pecan bayou, a woman heard a
calf bawling like something had it, she thought
the bawling was the voice of an Indian, and it
might be to decoy her out. Next morning when
she went out she found Indian tracks at the lot
and all around the place. In that same community
another woman was alone and some one called,
"Hello!" She noticed the hello was given in a
downward voice and she had noticed that all calls
at the gate by white people was with a rising voice.
The hello was repeated several times with the
dowward voice. The woman managed to see out,
and in the fence corner near the gate sat an In-
dian. She was armed and determined to defend
herself and children, but not shoot unless it was
necessary. The Indian finally left as his call was
not answered and if answered might be with a gun.
So you see people were put to their wits end to
outdo the savages and by doing so save their own
lives and the lives of their families. Had the
woman gone to the cow lot or answered the In-
dian's call by going to the door, both woman and
family would have been murdered.
Ever since I can remember until the year of
1868 or 1869, every two or three years we had in
the fall of the year the traveling grasshopper. They
came through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
I
168
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
have seen them when they first begun to light,
only a few, and in thirty minutes they would be
falling all over the face of the earth. They would
be so thick between the sun and the earth that
they would cause a shadow on the earth just like
a cloud over the sun. I have seen them so thick
on the trees in the timber, one could scarcely see
the bark of the trees, and I believe I would
be safe in saying I have seen as many as a bushel
on one tree. Where I lived was in a thick tim-
bered country and the whole country was cov-
ered with grasshoppers alike. While they did not
damage the grass to a great extent, they ate
everything else. I have known them to ruin a
nice garden, clean it all up in a half day's time,
even the dry fodder on corn. Not long ago I
related the old grasshopper times to a man who
was surprised to hear such of the old time grass-
hopper and he seemed to think that such a thing
was impossible, but all old timers up to 1869 will
testify to what I have said concerning the old
time grasshopper in Texas.
During the days of the buffalo, Aaron Hart and
some others, while on a buffalo hunt between Little
and Big Wichita rivers, found the skeleton of a
woman tied up in a sheet and hung up in a mes-
quite tree about twelve feet from the ground.
i
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
169
They supposed from the appearance of everything
that she had been there two or three years. The
sheet was rotten and ready to fall, the clothing
was all cut up by mice but her hair was yet done
up, her shoes fairly well preserved and also a comb
and some other articles. They took the body down
and gave it as respectable a burial as they could.
There was
no settlement nearer than Jacks-
borough at that time. No one could guess why
she came to be buried in that style and how she
came to be in that part of the country, unless
she had been carried there by the Indians and
then it was not like Indians to bury in that man-
ner. Whether she died a natural death or was
killed, no one will ever know.
In 1868 a party of white men were camped near
where Breckenridge now stands. After dark they
heard Indians pass about a quarter of a mile
away. They heard a child crying which they sup-
posed was two or three years old. Afterward they
learned a child had been carried off by Indians
north and west of Gainesville.
The time the two savages were killed, of which
you see an account in J. D. Newberry's chapter,
three children were carried off, two boys and a
girl. One of the settlers was plowing with a gray
horse, an Indian unhitched him from the plow,
170
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
tied a long rope around the horse's neck and made
a halter; put the children on the horse then
jumped on and put the coil of rope around his
own neck. The next day the horse came home
dragging the rope. The horse ran away with the
Indian, threw him and pulled his head off. This
story was related by the girl two years later, when
she came back home. She said the old squaw
carried the Indian's head in her lap. Two days
later they tied his body on a horse, they dug a
place to bury him and put him in the grave and
all got around to cry. They never cried until then.
They tried to make her cry but she kicked dirt on
them. They slapped and pinched her but she
would not cry. The boys cried after being pinched
and slapped. The three children tried to run
away. Once they got about a mile away when they
were overtaken. The Indians stood them on the
edge of a bluff and pushed them off backwards.
They were taken back and the ball of the girl's
big toe cut off and poisoned. One boy had a gash
cut in his nose and the other on the head, and both
poisoned. They were gone two years. Their wounds
were all running sores when they came back. The
girl said in winter, when it was freezing cold, they
would be thrown in the water and then wrapped in
buffalo robes where they kept warm all day.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
171
I live now about eighteen miles from the battle-
field where General George A. Custer and the
Cheyenne Indians had their fight. The battle
ground is in Roger Mills county, Oklahoma, about
two miles from the county seat. I have not been
on the battle ground, but I am informed that the
bones of the Indians and horses can be seen all
over the ground. Six miles from here, at Ham-
mon reservation, a lot of these Cheyenne Indians
now live in their tepees, that fought General Cus-
ter. It was about the last battle the Indians had
with the whites.
While the Indians were on the war path they
used poisoned arrows almost exclusively while
fighting their enemies. I learn from the Indians
the way they prepared this poison was to take
a rattle snake's head and boil it and hold the arrow
spikes in the steam of the boiling snake's head
and the poison settled on the spikes. It was sure
death when the point of an arrow struck and
made a wound.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians are the
filthiest people on earth about their eating, at least
all those were who are here on the Washita. They
will pull dead cattle out of the mud that have
been dead for a week, skin and cat them.
They even strip the entrails and eat them. Mr.
172
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Charley Wagoner gave one two dead shoats that
had been dead two days. He carried them off to
eat. They will eat a chicken that died of some
disease, or a dead horse if it has not been dead
more than a week in summer time. The white
people here can trade them a cripple or diseased
hog, cow or horse to eat and some of them trade
with them.
The Indians used shields in war times to stay
off the bullets or anything fired from the enemy.
The shields were made of raw hide stretched over
a hoop while green. This hung around their necks
and always turned toward the enemy and were
used to great advantage while in a fight.
In 1876 I had the curiosity to attend an Indian
cry. When an Indian died, a time was set for the
cry. Not a tear was shed at the time of the death
and burial. The day set for the cry, there is a
feast first given by the relatives. When the feast
is over, a signal is given when all march to the
grave of the dead, all circle around, the women and
children in front. Then the cry begins, and of all
the squealing and howling I ever heard in my life.
There is no foolishness about their crying. They
really weep. The Comanches, Kiowas, Kickapoos,
Osages and in fact all blanket Indians practice this
ceremony. Sometimes at these cries the squaws
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS,
173
will cut themselves on the arm, neck or face and
smear the blood over themselves, to look as hideous
as possible. I have been told when the Indians
punished an enemy that was a captive, the squaws
were more barbarous than the bucks. When an
Indian died, his horse and his dog were killed and
with his gun all buried with him. This custom
was practiced among the Kiowas and Comanches
and likely all the wild tribes.
The Indians in west Texas used to throw up
their smoke signals by circling a hide or blanket
around a fire built for the purpose. The smoke
would shoot up high in the air for a second. One
or more smokes was used for different signals,
Straight smoke, only one, was to let each other
know where they were; another smoke, danger or
warning, or to come together as they understood
the signal. I have seen these signals for twenty
miles.
In 1869 I hired to a man by the name of Keener
to go to Colorado with cattle. Keener lived below
the Littlefield bend on the Brazos river. The next
spring two other cowboys and myself returned
home. After crossing the plains we camped at
the head of Concho river and remained there two
days. While there we concluded to look after some
wild hogs as we wanted some fresh pork and it
174
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
was about one hundred miles to a settlement. We
saw some signs of hogs, with no owners in sight.
Tom McCoy and I went to hunt for the hogs. Tom
went down one side of the river and I the other.
Soon Tom found a bunch of hogs, all blue, and all
sizes. He shot and wounded one and every hog
took after him and he climbed a tree. He killed
several but they stayed with him. The more he
hallooed and yelped, the more they rallied, and
more hogs came. I ran to him to help skin the
hog, but when I got in sight they came for me
and I had to go for a tree like a scared cat. We
hallooed and yelped and shot but they stayed with
us. After a long time they started away, and to
give them a good scare, I gave a loud yelp but
they came back and stayed with us until sundown,
when they went away; but we kept quiet this
time, so we got away all right. Our comrades in
camp told us they were musk hogs. That done us
in the hog business.
We were advised at Fort Concho to lay over a
few days, that the Indians were raiding the settle-
ment and we might have trouble before we got
through. After two days we went on. The first
thing we saw when we reached the settlement was
a bunch of Indians all around a house yelling like
demons. They had killed a calf near the house
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
175
and ate it raw. The woman barred up the door,
got all her children in the house but one girl, who
was away from the house. She hid when she saw
the Indians coming. As soon as we saw the situ-
ation we concluded to make a break for the house,
and help protect the people. We tied our lead
horses in the creek and got as near as possible
and made the run for the house. When they
saw us coming they retreated, and I left the
other boys and followed them a short distance.
I ran to the house and hallooed, and an old gray
haired lady opened the door and came out.
She gave me an old-fashioned hug like my grand-
mother used to do when I was a little boy. There
were children from fifteen years old down, came
out, and the girl who was hid out came in, then
the old lady and the married daughter went to
getting dinner. The girl went with me back for
the horses we hid. We stayed until next morning
and left for home.
When we got back near Dublin I saw a sight I
shall always remember. We stopped at a house to
get dinner and there I saw three sisters with seven
little babies, all from one month to seven weeks
old.
On my trip to Colorado I owned and rode the
horse that Pleas Boyd rode when killed. He was
176
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
afraid of Indians and proved very valuable in a
good run or at least I found it so at one time. Ile
was killed by the Indians on Kickapoo creek in
Parker county after I got back home. Pleas Boyd
had named him Black Hawk, and on one occasion
he carried me from almost among the Indians in
good style. When we started to Colorado, Keener
had bought several hundred head of cattle in Jones
county, I think, and sent two other boys and my-
self to receive them. When we got near our jour-
ney's end, we came up face to face with a bunch of
Indians. My lead horse was the pack horse. The
other boys had left their lead horses with the herd,
about a hundred miles behind. All our bedding,
our cooking utensils and grub was on this horse
when we saw the Indians. They made a charge on
us' and we had to run. It was our only show. By
the time I turned the pack horse loose and got
started, the Indians were nearly on me but Black
Hawk was scared and made a good run. If I had
been on a different horse they would have gotten
me, but Black Hawk was quick and afraid of In-
dians. In about half a mile I caught the other
two boys, and here came the pack horse. The pack
had turned and everything was gone except the
sack of flour and it was going too. In about two
miles the Indians stopped and we slowed up, the
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
177
pack horse still going at full speed. After the
Indians left us the two boys went back to look for,
and gather up the pieces, while I followed the pack
horse. He ran back to where we stayed all night.
He was stripped of everything but the dough. The
flour and sweat had formed dough all over him, I
had a time washing it off. After a while the boys.
come, they got nearly everything; we stayed all
night and went the rest of the way all right.
I will relate a circumstance that happened in
1861, it has been forty-eight years ago and I have
forgotten names and the places but I remember
the circumstances and give it as I recollect it. I
think it was in Bell county or in that vicinity.
The Indians made a raid, killed several people and
carried off two girls. There was a man called the
still-hunter, that hunted Indians by himself most
of the time. He had a shot gun made to order.
He scarcely ever rode horseback, and could walk
thirty-five miles a day on an Indian trail. A party
of men had followed the Indians and lost the trail
but the man on foot kept the trail, he was well ex-
perienced and knew just how to proceed. Indians,
after they make a long run and think they are out
of danger will stop several days to rest. The man
followed the trail several days and on the fourth
day he saw a smoke several miles away. The In-
178
!
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
dians had killed a buffalo and were roasting it.
Late in the evening he located their camp and laid
his plans for the night. After dark he went up
near the fire. The Indians were feasting and hav-
ing a good time. The two girls were tied and de-
prived of all their clothing, even stripped them of
their shoes. After he had crawled within a few
yards of them he fired both barrels of his gun,
killed two Indians and the rest all ran off. He
ran to the girls, cut them loose and told them to
run after him, but they were hardly able to walk
and couldn't run, he dragged them away from the
fire into the dark and by hard work he got them
about three miles away that night, and hid them
in some sage brush and stood guard all next day.
The girls were blistered from head to foot and sick.
He gave one of them his shirt and the other his
over-pants. Late in the evening he got them to a
small creek. He had them bathe and he caught
some frogs and craw fish and fed them. That
night he got them two or three miles further. The
country was full of thorns, cactus and flint rocks,
and made it difficult for them to get along. He
was afraid to shoot for game, so he fed them on
anything he could get. The first week he got
them about twenty miles. He then killed an ante-
iope, took the hide and made the girls some moc-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
179
casins, that is he whanged up something for their
feet, and made a jacket for the girl that had the
pants. He then killed a deer and made himself a
jacket out of the hide. They were all now well
dressed, had plenty of meat that he could cook.
They traveled in the cool of the day and some.
at night. After three weeks watching and tak-
ing care of the girls like a mother would a child,
he got them to the first house or ranch where
he had them taken care of until he could get
them home. The readers of this tale of the still-
hunter might think that man one in a thousand,
that would do as he did, but I will say to you
that it was in the heart of every old pioneer of
Texas to perform just such deeds as this when
it was necessary to protect the women and chil-
dren from the red demons. Fear was never con-
sidered.
On the Colorado river the Indians captured a
woman, just after the war. A cowboy saw them,
ran to them and killed the Indian the woman was
riding behind, and hollered to the woman to run
after him. She obeyed and got into a thicket. The
cowboy stood them off and took the woman safely
home to her husband and children. Some reader
may say he is one in a thousand, but I will
say that if all the noble deeds were recorded that
180
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
were done by the brave boys of Texas, you would.
be astonished beyond all reason. All the deeds of
the brave boys never can or never will be written.
God bless their brave souls. When I hear one say
they were a set of outlaws, they hear from me in
quick style. No old pioneer boy will listen to any
such talk.
I saw a man in Sansaby county that was ac-
quainted with the cowboy that rescued the woman.
from the Indians. He said he was as fine a young
man as there was in Texas, and that he command-
ed a squad of men in an Indian fight, which was
the hardest fight ever fought on the Colorado
river.
As for the mothers and young women of that
day and time, God bless them, more noble and
pure hearted women never have existed and in
their way of doing things were just as heroic as
the men. While their acts and deeds have never
been written, the experience of the women writers
of this book is the experience of thousands of
others and will go down for generations to come.
I think it was in 1867 a great many took the
gold fever. It was reported that there was gold
on Peas river. R. C. Hart, J. P. Hart, uncles
of mine, Jim Thompson, Bullion Shields, myself
and several others, eleven in all, two negroes in
ÍÍISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS,
181
the crowd, one of the negroes was hanged later
for murdering a man south of Weatherford by the
name of Bird, the next year we started, I think,
in May, but am not sure now, to the Peas river
to hunt gold. When we got to Red river it was
bank full; it had been raining for several days and
we could not cross. As the Peas river was on the
north side of Red river we concluded to wait until
the river went down to cross over into the gold
field. Jim Thompson, Al Coffman and I swam the
river as we had nothing else to do in particular.
One of the negroes stayed where we left our
clothes and fished. We had gotten over the river
and was resting. The negro hollered at us to
come back over in a hurry as we were needed. So
we swam back and he told us that he saw three
Indians ride into a thicket about a hundred yards
from where we were resting. The reason he did
not tell us that Indians were near us was he did
not want to excite us, as it was dangerous swim-
ming. We went to camp and Bob Hart and Al
Coffman went to a mountain about a mile away
to investigate. They came back and reported that
there was several thousand Indians three or four
miles back. We concluded to make a run which
was our only show, as we knew we were discovered,
and the Indians would swim the river at some
182
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
point that evening or night. We started about
two o'clock and ran all night. There were no
roads in that country then and we had to do the
best we could. When we came to a creek or can-
yon every man was at work, no time to lose. We
ran until about four o'clock next morning. Our
horses had given out and we turned one mile due
east off of our course and stopped near a creek
and some timber about eight miles from Jacks-
borough, the place we were making for, but we
could not go any further. Just after we stopped
we heard the Indians pass us. But our turning
east saved us. The Indians went on to Jacks-
borough and attacked the post about daylight.
There were about eight hundred of them.
soldiers and citizens were taken by surprise but
the soldiers got out their cannons and soon backed
them off to the opposite side of the town from the
soldiers. The citizens had a considerable fight.
The women and children were placed in the center
and protected until the soldiers got in shape to
assist them. We heard the cannons next morning
and knew the Indians were between us and Jacks-
borough. We ate a hasty breakfast and turned
our course for Decatur, but only went fifteen
miles as our stock had all given out.
The
We saw several men in the evening that were
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
183
in the fight. Two of them had their faces powder-
burned. We learned after the Indians had sur-
rendered, that a chief told the captain that they
were aiming to surprise the soldiers in a few days
with two thousand warriors, and they tried to
catch us to keep us from giving the alarm. There
was one company of soldiers and about one hun-
dred citizens at the fort. If the Indians had carried
out their plot, all the soldiers and people would
have been massacred. Our gold hunt saved them.
If we had crossed Red river and drove in among
them I guess we would have gone up the spout. If
they had caught us the night of our run, I sup-
pose we would have gone up salt creek or had they
known where we were next morning we would
have gone down the valley or some other country.
That fall, in September, we organized a com-
pany to go to the Double mountain fork on the
Brazos river to hunt for gold. Col. Shields was
our captain. We had eighteen men in our com-
pany. We had pitched camp and all scattered out
prospecting. Three others and I became thirsty,
we went to a canyon and drank out of a buffalo
track. One of the boys discovered a white rag
hung up on a small elm tree. At first we conclud-
ed to go and see what it meant, but took the sec-
ond thought and did not go for fear it was a trap.
184
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Next day we went to investigate and the rag was
gone. A half circle of a canyon was around the
tree, in the canyon were lots of Indian tracks, and
down the canyon were lots of horses tracks, and
then we saw what we would have gotten into.
There is no doubt but what we would have all
been killed if we had gone on to where the rag
was. The Indians were secreted in a position where
we would not have discovered them until too late,
and then the writer would not be here to tell the
tale. We did not get as far as the Double moun-
tains, on account of two of our horses getting
rattlesnake bitten. We were on the Big and
Little Wichitas mostly. We found some copper
ore and other signs favorable to us.
On our way
back to Jacksborough, two freighters drove up
with three wagons and teams. The owner of the
extra team lay on his wagon, dead. In the night
one of the men woke up with a pole cat on him.
The second man discovered what was up and was
assisting him to help get loose from the cat when
the third man woke up, thinking the second man
was an Indian, grabbed his gun and shot him. The
cat had bitten the man on the hand and face.
The next year we organized a party of forty-two
men to go up on the head of the Brazos river in
search of gold and when it came to taking a trip,
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
185
gold was there. So far as I was concerned, gold
or no gold, the trip was my greatest pleasure, for I
was always ready to court danger on a trip of this
kind. Nothing very unusual happened until we
got near the mountains where we expected to go.
Some of the boys reported seeing Indians, so we
were all ordered to be on the lookout. We ex-
pected trouble in some shape from them. Several
days and nights passed but all was quiet and we
began to think the Indians had left the neighbor-
hood. One evening we camped about a half mile
from the river; there was an old buffalo trail that
had washed out and made a ditch about six or
eight feet across and about six or seven feet deep
on an average. The ditch was about a mile long
and had some mud and water in it. The grass
had grown so tall that in places it lapped over the
ditch. We camped on the north side of the ditch,
so as to have one side for protection, our wagons
in a circle on about five acres of ground and our
horses in the circle all staked out. My wagon, or
the one I was with, stopped near the ditch. There
were three wagons on the side next to the ditch
so this only left three sides to guard; we had four
men on guard, one on each side, and one general
roustabout, as he was called. Gabe Hart and my-
self made our bed between the wagon and the
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
ditch; Jim Hart and several others had beds near
the ditch, all within ten or twelve feet of each oth-
er. Three Indians came up the ditch to where
we slept, crawled out of the ditch between our
beds and the horses. My horse, Black Hawk,
that I have spoken of before, nearly broke his neck
trying to get loose; I ran to the frightened animal,
got him and brought him to the wagon and hitch-
ed him there. Everything was confusion. The
guards awoke all the other men so that the number
of guards might be increased. The Indians were
inside of the circle formed by the guards, lying
among the horses; not thinking that the Indians
were so near we looked in other directions for
them. The horses all became quiet except Black
Hawk, which by this time had grown quieter. In
about an hour we all laid down and were soon
asleep, except the guards.
The next morning three of the best horses had
been cut loose and were gone. No one knew just
what time or how they were taken. George and
Henry Featherkiles and Spears owned the missing
horses. It was a certain fact that the three In-
dians by their craftiness outwitted forty-two men,
while eight men were on guard.
On this trip we surveyed several valleys of land,
built many air castles, we returned home aiming
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
187
to come back soon, but this was the last time I
ever made an expedition of this kind.
Just after the war I went horse hunting down
in Hood county somewhere between the Comanche
Peak and where Bluff Dale now stands, with a
nam named Rufe Green. We stopped to gather ·
some black haws, in roaming around we separated
for a while. I was passing near a steep bluff on
the sides of which were some large shelving rocks ;
the dirt had fallen from between them forming a
complete shelf. A big, long horn steer took after
me and I ran to the shelf and climbed between
two of them, the space was so small I had to lie
flat down. The space between the rock was just
large enough to admit my body. I crawled in
with my face next to the wall and could not turn
over without rolling out.
The brute could not reach me with his horns,
but he got very friendly and began smelling and
then he licked the clothes off my back. I kicked,
hallooed and squirmed but the mad beast hung on
just the same. Green heard my cries and came to
my relief. He got on his horse and ran the steer
off. When I got out I felt foolish.
I learned some two years ago that Rufe Green
is still living near Weatherford.
One time when I was on Buck creek in Erath
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
county, I was helping a young man whom they call-
ed Red Shirt, break a young horse, when we got
out of the brakes the horse balked while we were
trying to get started to run from a bunch of In-
dians that were about to overtake us I got behind
the horse and whipped and slapped him but it
did no good, he stood as still as a stone, the In-
dians were getting too near to suit me, and being
determined to stay with him, Red Shirt pulled out
his six-shooter and hit him over the head, when
he lit out. I never saw a horse run so in my life,
I was left behnd, I kicked, spurred, whipped him
with my quirt, but it seemed I was running a
slow race. I leaned over forward that I might
be as far from the Indians as possible. I could
almost feel the arrows sticking in my back. I
jumped forward and leaned away over. We ran
down the valley and headed for a house, and the
Indians quit us. This was a race for life but we
came out unhurt.
In winter most of the people hunted the buffalo
in order to get a supply of their meat, tallow and
hides. They would take from two to four yoke of
oxen to a wagon and bring all one or two families
needed; fat cows made the choice beef, only the
hind quarters were used and the tallow was saved
to take back home. For camp use, ribs and hump
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
189
were the choice. The hump was streaked with fat
and when hung on a stick before the fire and
broiled, made the finest eating in the world. Buf-
falo meat never made any one sick, a person could
eat all they wanted at any time. It almost makes
me wish for the good old times back again, when I
think of the good times I had on the buffalo range.
Only the hams of the cow were used, the fore
quarters were left, and two or three hides to the
man were brought home.
A buffalo hide would make a fine bed. I have
slept many a night on a bed made of a buffalo
skin. They made fine beds for children to sleep on.
The hams were salted down whole, and left for
a week or more and then scalded in a pot of hot
brine, then they were resalted, and by the time
they got home the meat was in fine condition. The
hams could be hung up and the meat was fresh
and sweet all the next summer.
The color of a buffalo is a dark brown, there
are bones in the hump like ribs only they are
straight, growing from the point of the shoulders,
back as far as the short ribs and forward on the
neck, longer at the shoulders and tapering in
length each way. A bunch of wool grows in their
forehead several inches long and after they are
over two years old, a ball from an ordinary rifle
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
wouldn't penetrate it. To shoot one through the
heart you had to shoot just behind the point of
the shoulder and low. If you were to shoot one
as high as you would a cow you would shoot it
through the lungs. I have seen them shot through
the heart, a death shot, and not even flinch, but
feed ten or fifteen seconds, lay down just as though
nothing had happened and be dead when they hit
the ground; they cannot be killed as long as they
are mad. If you shoot them a dead shot they
never die until they cool off. In feeding they
grunt like a hog and are as bad to wallow as a
mule, and like wild geese they travel north in the
summer and south in the winter. They are al-
ways a few scattering bulls in front of the main
herd, from twenty to thirty miles. One bull was
never whipped by another but always fought to
his death. Sometimes there would be as many as
two hundred thousand in a single herd. The
bulls were generally on the outside of the herd to
protect the cows. We always had to go on the op-
posite side of the herd from the wind to get with-
in shooting distance and had to crawl on the
ground sometimes from a quarter to a half mile,
according to the lay of the land. This was when
the cap and ball rifles were used, and we had to
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
191
get as near as eighty or a hundred yards to them
to get a shot.
The first time I went buffalo hunting I was
"Pocket Change" for all the crowd, all old timers
know what that means. In any crowd there was
always one for "Pocket Change"; among the men,
women or boys some friend was singled out as
"Pocket Change." I was opposed to drinking,
gambling and swearing and I never had a case in
court in my life, yet I was sometimes accused of
being as bad as Peck's Bad Boy, and in my bash-
ful teens men and women both made “Pocket
Change" of me.
I had been on the range a week and all had
killed a buffalo but me, and I was teased nearly to
death, but being determined to kill a buffalo, al-
though I knew when I did they would say I found
a dead one or something of the kind, and all kinds
of tales would be told on me about the buffalo I
had killed.
One day my uncle Bob Hart and Jim Esque
and myself went out and found several bunches of
buffaloes, my uncle picked out a bunch for me to
go to the easiest place to crawl to, and then told
me how to go and they left for another bunch. I
crawled for about a quarter of a mile, flat down
like a lizzard, and got nearly close enough to shoot
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
when a big black pole cat came along and stopped
right in front of me and would not go any farther.
I laid still a long time thinking he would move on
but he came a step or two nearer me, then he
would pat his feet and dance, come again and pat.
He got very friendly and it seemed he wanted
some fun, and I began to think he was going to
have it. I tried several things to make him
change his course, but he got bolder and would
pat his foot and look saucy, and the thing was hav-
ing all the fun, and the fun was becoming un-
pleasant for me so I pulled away and shot my tor-
mentor to pieces, and away went the buffalo, all
the buffaloes in the neighborhood got a move on
them. I backed up against a mesquite tree, stood
there for about half an hour and felt like a fool.
If I had had any religion I would have lost it in
a wad right there. Of course I was accused of
not knowing a pole cat from a buffalo. They told
that I cut the hams from the pole cat and hung
them on a tree just like they did the hams of a
buffalo. They said I stretched the hide to take
home with me for a keepsake to show the first
buffalo I ever killed. They told it on me that I
crawled nearly a mile to a bunch of buffalo and
lost my gun and when I got to the buffalo, I raised
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
193
1
up, took sight a long time and then said, "Gee
whiz, I have lost my gun."
The next morning uncle said I should go with
him and he would assist me in getting a shot. We
soon found a fine bunch but had to crawl a long
way, flat down. Out there in the mesquite coun-
try there is a cactus that grows nearly flat on the
ground, perfectly round like a plate and full of
big thorns. I came to a place where I could crawl
on all-fours for a short distance, then had to lay
down flat again, so I laid down flat on one of
them. It was as big around as a large saucer.
Now, just imagine what I did without me telling
it. Every buffalo for two miles around was on
the run in less than five minutes. I dreaded to
go to camp that night, but I went in and as usual,
took my medicine. The next day it was agreed
to move camp further up the Wichita river, as I
had scared the buffalo off, and all would hunt until
noon and I was to get dinner. I had the bread
on, and a hot fire on the lid and a big pan full of
meat frying, when I saw a bunch of buffalo about
a quarter of a mile off, and easy to get to. I grab-
bed my gun and went. When I got close enough I
fired. I broke the leg of one and killed a calf about
two weeks old. This was worse than ever and I
thought I would say nothing about it, but two of
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
The next day I
the boys were crawling up on them when I killed
the calf. We went to camp and the bread and meat
was burned to a coal, and I told the boys they
could get dinner or do without. The calf, to hear
them tell it, weighed fifty tons.
killed two buffalo, one antelope and one turkey.
From then on I was about a third class hunter.
One Day Bud Eddleman and Al Coffman were
crawling up on a buffalo herd. Eddleman had tak-
the advantage of a dead buffalo and Coffman a
bunch of prickly pears. When Eddleman was
about fifteen steps from the dead buffalo, Coffman
hallooed to him to look out. A wolf on the oppo-
site side of the dead buffalo made at Eddleman
and got in about four feet of him. Quick as
lightning he drew his six shooter and shot it in
the mouth. This was all that saved him. The
wolf was a large black one. Buffalo hunting was
very exciting and sometimes dangerous. One
morning just before daylight I went for a bucket
of water. As I got back up the bank of the creek, I
met Eddleman; he did not know anyone had left
camp. Thinking I was an Indian he drew his re-
volver to shoot just as I dropped a tin cup. He
heard the cup fall and that is all that saved me.
At one time I got awfully scared. I had wound-
ed a buffalo that ran up a ravine in the direction
!
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
195
of a cedar mountain. It went up on the side of
the mountain, but I did not know it had left the
ravine. Looking every step to see the buffalo, I
got within about forty yards of where it got up,
ran over old Cedar Top and started a boulder
down the mountain toward me. I thought it was
after me and I wheeled and ran for dear life,
about sixty yards and climbed a mesquite tree as
fast as I possibly could. The boulder which I
thought was the buffalo, only rolled as far as the
foot of the mountain, and I had all my run and
climbing for nothing. I got down and looked
around to see if any of the boys were in sight.
One day when I went out it was cloudy and I
soon got completely lost and I traveled all day.
All the mesquite flats loked just alike and I had
nothing to guide me. Just at night I saw two of
the boys going to camp. I fell in with them but
did not tell them I was lost.
At another time, another man, I have forgotten
all his name but Ed, he was afterwards killed
by Indians, he and I went out one morning, it
was snowing lightly. We wounded a buffalo and it
went over the mountain. I went around one side
and he on the other, but we missed each other and
I got lost and traveled all day. The snow was
about an inch deep. Darkness came on and I went
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
into a small canyon, gathered up a lot of dead
mesquite wood and got a rat's nest out of a hollow
chunk to build a fire. I had passed a small moun-
tain about a half mile back. Buffalo hunters
when anyone failed to come in, always went to the
highest place and built fire for a guide. I con-
cluded to go back to the mountain and see if I
could see any fire signals. I looked back towards
my fire and just below it about a quarter of a mile
I discovered another fire. I made up my mind at
once I had discovered an Indian campfire, and I
would go as near as I could and see what I could
find out. I went within a few yards but could see
no one. I concluded the Indians had discovered my
fire and were watching it. I at last ventured up
to the Indian's fire and looked at the tracks; they
looked like shoe tracks, Indians wore moccasins. 1
didn't stay long but went back to my fire to see
what I might find out. After I froze out I went
to my fire, punched up the chunks and warmed
myself. I was there probably half an hour when
some one hallooed, "Hello John!" It was Ed, he
had gotten lost too, and did the same thing I had,
even gone to the mountain to look for signals. He
came down to the fire where I was and we shook
hands and were very glad to see one another. He
had killed a rabbit and saved it, for he thought he
•
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
197
might need it. We broiled the rabbit and had a
feast. It cleared off and the sun came out bright
and nice. We went to a mountain and could see
the timber on the Wichita and by noon we were
at camp.
Four of us went out and killed eight buffalo all
near each other. By the time we got them dressed
it was dark and we concluded to stay all night as
it was six or eight miles to camp. We broiled the
hump for supper and breakfast. For a bed we
laid a hide down hair side up and covered with a
hide hair side down. It was cold but we kept
warm and enjoyed ourselves fine. This was rather
an uncommon bed and I don't expect a New York
dude would care to sleep under a bed blanket
made of green buffalo hides.
In 1874 I went on my last buffalo hunt. This
time we hunted on the Clear Fork of the Brazos
river about forty or fifty miles above Phantom
Hill, an old fort. The hunt was about like all
buffalo hunts—very exciting and plenty of enjoy-
ment.
In 1876 about all the buffalo were killed. Hunt-
ers killed them for their hides and tallow. As
soon as the buffalo were all gone the Indians were
conquered. It was their bread and meat.
Three years ago at Clarendon, Texas, I attend-
198
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
ed a reunion of old Parker county school mates.
I met old boys and girls that I had not seen for
thirty-five or thirty-eight years. Everybody looked
strange. Many of them were fathers and mothers
and some were grandparents. W. J. Parsons
and L. C. Beverly arranged for a regular picnic.
There were about 200 people at the picnic.
We played marbles for four days straight, just
as we did when we were boys. We went to Char-
ley Goodnight's buffalo ranch. He and his wife
were both old timers; they furnished us with
hacks and teams to drive around. There were
about sixty buffalo on the ranch.
It made me
feel like old times when I met the old timers and
the buffalo.
Antelope hunting was one of my chief sports,
but it took experience to kill them; their feeding
grounds were always on the high divide or level
plains. They would discover an enemy as far as
they could see. I have seen from one to several
hundred in a bunch and in a day's travel could
see thousands of them, but they are all scat-
tered now, only a few in number, and will soon all
be numbered with the buffalo. It was nearly im-
possible to get near enough to get a shot at them
on high ground. I have put a red handkerchief
on a gun rod stuck it in the ground, lay down in
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
199
the high grass and they will come for more than
a mile on a run within sixty or eighty yards of
the signal, and make a complete circle around it
and make a thorough investigation. I have laid
down in the high grass, kicked up my heels oc-
casionally and caused them to come. They make
a half circle, and then stop for a few seconds and
then full circle and repeat several times before
they leave. Near Pilot Point, when that was a fron-
tier country, there was a woman who enjoyed ante-
lope hunting. I have heard that she killed five
in one day, besides at other times she killed a few
deer and some wolves. A woman in Young county
killed a panther with a smoothing iron. She was
ironing after wash day. She had laid her baby,
about two months old, on a pallet and when she
looked around a panther had grabbed it. She got
in a lucky lick on its head and pounded it until
it was dead. The Indians attacked a house and
the woman killed two Indians. The people after
this gave her two fine six shooters. After this I
learned she lost her mind and was sent to the
asylum.
While I have not written all my frontier ex-
perience, and some that was very dangerous and
some that seems unreasonable, yet if the danger
could be taken from the women and children, and
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
replace the buffalo and antelope, the Indians in
his war paint, I would love to have the pleasure of
experiencing the old times over again. While I
have run for dear life, and been almost scared to
death, even when I stood up before the preacher
and he commanded me to take her by the right
hand and scared until my breath was almost gone,
I would like to experience the old times over
again. But the beautiful frontier that was at
one time the most beautiful park on earth with
its great herds of cattle that roamed over the
beautiful prairie, the buffalo of the plains, the
antelope on the high ground, the Indian with his
spear, bow and shield and the old pioneer people
of that day are nearly all gone. When I look back
to the days of my boyhood, with some of the dear
boys who yet live, it seems life was only a dream.
I am now fifty-eight years old and I and the pio-
neer boys and girls who yet live will soon be no
more in this world; but I hope when we pass over
the river that we can all say that the acts of our
lives have been more than a dream.
}
CHAPTER VIII.
BY JAMES D. NEWBERRY, CHILLICOTHE, TEXAS.

M
Y father, R. C. Newberry, and two
brothers, Campbell and Ross, moved
from Tennessee to Parker county in
the fall of 1859, stopped and on the
Brazos river, on what is now known
as Big Valley near the mouth of Kickapoo creek.
My father lived there until 1861, then bought
land on Grindstone creek west of the town of
Weatherford, the county seat of Parker county.
My uncles, Campbell and Ross, bought on Kicka-
poo creek near where Lapan now is. It was then
Erath county, since then Hood county being form-
ed, their old place is now in Hood county.
In 1861, in December, I think it was, the In-
dians killed a man by the name of Brown, fifteen
miles northwest of Weatherford. The same day
they killed a Mrs. Sherman about six miles from
where they killed Mr. Brown and drove off quite
a lot of horses. The men of Parker and Palo
Pinto counties came together and followed the In-
dians. They were joined at or near old Fort
202
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Belknap by Captain Saul Ross with his Texas
Rangers. They followed them up between Peas
and Red rivers. There they overtook the Indians
and had a fight with them, killed a number and
captured Cinthy Ann Parker from them. She
was captured when small in Anderson county,
she was then grown and the wife of the Indian
chief Quanah Parker, the Comanche chief, is her
son.
In January or February they killed Bill Young-
blood in Parker county, about twelve miles north-
west of Weatherford, and scalped him. The
neighborhood gathered up and followed them out
to Keechi valley, there they were joined by the
men of that neighborhood and overtook the In-
dians, killed two of them and got the scalp of
Youngblood and got back in time to put the scalp
on his head before he was buried. My brother,
then a boy, saw the Indians that morning before
they killed Youngblood. My brother's name was
C. H. Newberry, we called him Huse.
war.
In February I joined Captain John Tubb's
company and on the first of March started off to
That was March, 1862. I was not eighteen
years old then, but while I was in the army, which
was until June 1, 1865, the Indians killed a num-
ber of men and women in Parker and Palo Pinto
"
:
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
203
counties, and stole lots of horses and cattle of the
white people. A number of the whites went east
to get out of danger. The Indians used bows and
arrows and spears as their weapons of war The
arrows were made of dogwood switches with an
iron spear at one end and feathers at the other.
The spear was from four to six feet long with an
iron spear at one end about ten inches long. They
could shoot those arrows at sixty yards with cor-
rect effect and keep from two to three in the air
all the time.
During the war the old men and boys formed
companies and scouted on the frontier. My
father and brother, Sam, belonged to the scouts.
After I came home from the army, I had no horse,
for the Indians had stolen mine. I went to work
and bought a horse to ride, and we used oxen to
work, both to the wagon and the plow. I broke
some land and sowed wheat which yielded me a
good crop.
In the fall of 1865 the Indians made a raid and
came through our neighborhood. G. W. Light.
H. R. Moss, C. E. Rivers and A. J Gorman got
together and followed them five or six miles and
rode right up on them. The Indians made fight
and the whites fell back for a better position. They
did not find it and the Indians killed Gorman
204
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
and scalped him, but didn't get his horse. He was
a widower with four children, his wife had been
dead three or four years, so the little ones were
left on charity, but they were cared for. We
followed the Indians but failed to overtake them
and gave up the job.
Young men and young ladies of the frontier
would ride horseback to church and go visiting
twenty-five miles. The men with a family would
go in ox carts with the women and children, but
they had their guns and pistols along. The
preaching would be under a brush arbor, and all
did enjoy each other's company. All were on an
equality and if a man got in a tight place they
came to his help with labor and money. If we
wanted money we got it without note or security.
Clothing was homemade for both men and women.
The ladies would go to church dressed in these
homemade dresses, the men wore the homemade
suits throughout. We didn't need much money
those days.
-
In December, Isaac, Betty and I got out as
many grindstones as three yoke of oxen could pull
and went down east and sold and bartered them
out and brought back a load of bois'd'arc wagon
timber. On December 28, 1905, I married Miss M.
E. Porter and moved to ourselves, and went to our
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
205
work in January, 1866. The Indians came in the
neighborhood and stole a lot of horses but did not
kill anybody until about the first of March. They
then made a raid down southeast of us and stole a
lot of horses on Sanches creek. They killed a
Mr. Savage while he was in the field plowing.
Some of the horses they were driving ran into Mr.
Savage's yard as the yard gate was open and Mrs.
Savage drove them off with a gun. The horses.
belonged to Mr. John Hart. Then the Indians.
went over on Patrick's creek and killed a brother
to the Mr. Savage they had killed. They also got
some tools and three of Mr. Savage's children and
carried them off with quite a lot of horses. My
mother saw them as they passed my father's house
and counted them; there were twenty. The In-
dians passed out to Rock Creek. There Mr. Fuller
Millsap lived and had his horses in the field. He
saw the Indians trying to get them and he and a
negro woman took their shot guns and ran them
away from his horse. So a party of men followed
the Indians out to Keechi creek, but night came
on them and forced them to abandon the trail. It
was a hard task to follow their trail as they
would go over the roughest places if they knew you
were following them and when in the glades or
gravelly places they would all scatter and make it
206
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
almost impossible to follow them. We made good
crops of wheat and corn, as that was all we raised
then, and only a small patch of each; all
was a good price. People depended on cattle
mostly, the country was full of cattle for the
range was fine then. The Indians did not kill any
other people in the year 1866 that I remember of
now, but they stole lots of horses and cattle, and
kept everybody on the lookout for them all the
time.
In the year 1867 we had some more trouble
with the Indians. It was in May, I think, when the
Indians made a raid, in daylight, on the Brazos
river in what is known as Littlefield Bend and
stole a lot of horses. The men and boys started
after the Indians and run them five or six miles.
They had a running fight, as the Indians kept go-
ing. Some of the men crowded them and had a
hard fight. Of course some of the horses of the
whites were speedier than others. The men shot
two or three Indians off of their horses and went
on in pursuit of the rest, thinking they had killed
those that fell off. The white men behind seeing
them as they passed also supposed them dead, and
went ahead for they heard their comrades shoot-
ing and hollering. The front one ran upon the
Indians so closely that the men shot two and the
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
207
remaining four turned on the whites and Mr.
Monroe Littlefleld was in front of the whites so
the Indians directed their fire on him. One of
them had a six shooter and Mr. Littlefield said he
saw the Indians would shoot him and he had
emptied his pistol, so he whirled his horse and
threw himself forward on its neck. The Indian
shot him at the point of the shoulder blade, as he
was leaning forward, the bullet ranged upward
and was taken out just above the collar bone on
the same side. This ended the fight as they had
to care for the wounded man. They carried him
to Mr. Fuller Millsap's house and sent for a doc-
tor who cut the ball out.
When they went back to scalp the Indians, as
was the custom, one had made his escape, so they
only scalped two. I saw them myself, they got a
lot of bows and arrows, shields and spears, Indian
saddle blankets, lariats, bridles and one bridle had
$15 worth of silver plates on it. They sold all the
things at Weatherford to pay Mr. Littlefield's doc-
tor bill. The doctor paid $20.00 for that fine.
bridle but he could afford it as he was the doctor
and Mr. Littlefield was protecting the doctor as
well as everybody else. It took Mr. Littlefield a
good while to get up, he never did get entirely
over it. The neighbors worked his crop and Mr.
208
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Millsap would not think of taking pay for what
time he was there. Though wounded, Mr. Little-
field was one of God's noblemen; he has long ago
crossed over and answered the last roll call. He
was an ex-Confederate soldier.
There were frequent raids made by the Indians.
in the county, but can't think now of any particu-
lar one, they were so common; they generally
came in during the light of the moon, and were as
sly as a wolf. Most everybody went well armed
for protection. People would go to church as
much as they could, but the preachers were shy of
coming to preach. The Methodists would preach
once a month, generally at my father's house,
though he was a Cumberland Presbyterian. He
and my uncle sold out in Erath county and moved
to Parker on Grindstone creek, near father's place
and bought land. My father bought two places and
made partial payments but never did give his note
in either trade. That showed the confidence people
had in each other. The old settlers of the frontier
have nearly all crossed the River of Death. The
country changed from a range and cattle country
to one of farms. We thought at the first settling
of Parker we never would want much land, as the
country would always be open and free range,
but alas! we were doomed to a sad mistake. It does
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
209
seem that the old pioneers should be honored, but
people of today seem to think they did nothing
but their duty, and don't respect them as they
should for risking their lives and the lives of their
families for the protection of the country.
1868 was a dry year. We had no rain from Aug-
ust 1867 until in March 1868. No wheat nor much
oats but some very good corn was raised. In April
the Indians came and stole a lot of horses-got all
my brother-in-law had. We followed them all day
and went to a certain crossing on Keechi creek
that they often went through, thinking we would
head them off. Two or three other parties got with
us but when we got there they had passed on.
It
was now after dark but in the full moon. We nor
our horses had had anything to eat since early that
morning, we went about three miles, hobbling our
horses out and took turn about watching them.
Next morning we started home and never got any-
thing for ourselves until we traveled ten miles and
through a heavy rain. I never got home till dark,
but we failed to come up with them, and in May
they came again and stole a lot of horses from
some cow men. My father lost a fine mare.
On Saturday, July 4, there was preaching at my
father's. Most of the neighborhood was out. All
was peace and quietude. Wife and I went to her
210
HISTORY 01 FIJNEER DAYS.
sister's, Mrs. H. R. Moss, and in the evening Mr.
Moss and I went up to my home to see about my
things, having decided to stay with them that
night. We had just got back to his home when we
heard shooting commence up the creek and we ran
our horses as hard as they could go. It was about
two miles to where our brother-in-law Light lived.
It was about sundown when I rode up to the gate
and hallooed. He answered and we turned and
rode up to where he was. He was shot, his wife
and one child dead and another wounded. He lived
about three hours. That was a trying time. The
Indians went south about four miles to Mr. Eli
Cox's on the big road, and got over into his cane
patch and was eating it when Bob Tinson came
from Weatherford. It was now dark, and they
shot at him. He ran into the woods and got away
from them without being hurt.
In about two weeks after they had killed the
Light family, his father, G. W. Light, went over
for his son's chickens and put them in a two horse
wagon at night. He went home with them and
took a young man named Spurgeon. The Indians
ran upon them just after they had crossed Grind-
stone creek and got their wagon and horses. Of
course they did not take the wagon but cut the
horses loose, and took them and the one Spurgeon
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
211
was riding. He left his horse and got in the bel
of the creek. Mr. Light shot one of the Indians
but they carried him off. Mr. Light and Spur-
geon went to the home of old Judge R. S. Porter
and escaped from the Indians.
In June of 1868, Mr. W. H. (or Tip) See. he
went by the name of Tip, lived on Buck creek
in Palo Pinto county, was out hunting stock.
The Indians killed him and his body was not
found for three days. He was a good man, and
we were in the same company in the army. He
was one of God's noblemen, and all the company
loved Tim See.
All the neighborhood left the settlement then,
but my father and old uncle Jesse Perkins, and
myself, stayed with what little we had, but we
had a lonsesome time. In the fall my uncle,
Campbell Newberry, bought a place and moved in
about a mile of us and some few came back to
their farms.
In 1869 young Elbert Doss lived with his uncle,
H. R. Moss, and his brother, John Doss, lived with
me. The two Doss boys, my brother, Sam P. New-
berry, Milton Ikard, Jr., Tom Cox, Will Gray and
a negro boy, Bose Ikard, were out on a cow hunt. I
started to them but it rained and I turned back.
They went on to a roundup that evening, and
212
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
struck an Indian trail and followed it about
twelve miles up into Palo Pinto county near where
Mineral Wells now is and ran on the Indians in
a bluff of rock and timber and had a fight with
them. They killed young Elbert Doss, shot him
with a pistol near the heart and it went clear
through his body. The boys put him on the saddle
and one rode behind him on the same horse and
held him on. They set him up as though he
was living, and led the horse that carried him.
home. They did not get any of the Indians they
killed but they saw them fall off their horses. The
boys were all young men, none older than twenty
years. That was April 24, 1869. In June of the
same year the Indians made another raid
and stole some horses. They came to my house
and my wife woke me up and told me she was
satisfied the Indians were around. I got out of
bed and woke my brother-in-law, W. B. Porter, we
went out and watched our horses awhile and while
we were out the dogs barked at something just
outside the yard fence by a post oak tree, but
we couldn't see and didn't go to it. The next
morning there was the Indians' tracks behind the
tree. We gathered up some men and boys and
started after them before breakfast, as they had
stolen several head of horses. There were ten of
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
213
us and we followed their trail about twenty miles
in a roundabout way and over an awfully rough
rock country. It rained on us hard and we lost
trail of them. While hunting it, seven or eight
men came to us. After a long time we struck
the trail on top of a high mountain, where Min-
eral Wells now is. We ran them ten or twelve
miles, the woods were miry and boggy. We
crowded them so close they dropped all the horses
except the ones they rode. In the meantime the
Indians passed a house where they had washed
and they took all their clothes. We got so close
to them that we got shots at them several times,
but to no effect. A good many had to stop on ac-
count of their horses giving out, so we lost the
trail in the cedar brakes of Palo Pinto county.
They were a daring, sneaking, nasty foe but we
had to contend with them just the same.
I then moved my family to Weatherford, but I
stayed out on Grindstone creek, at my father's
most of the time. One night brother Sam and I
were sleeping out between the houses at father's.
Father came out and woke us up saying he had
seen twelve Indians pass by, as the moon was
bright. He said, "now boys if we watch we will kill
some of them for they will come back to the stable
for our horses," as we had them locked up in the
214
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
stable. So we all three went out with our double
barrel guns and pistols, and got in the shade of
the wheat granary, in plain sight of the stable
door and about forty feet away.
away. We waited
awhile and brother Sam and I both went to sleep;
father woke us up by shaking us, we roused up
but in less than thirty minutes were both asleep
again; so father woke us up again and gave us a
scolding, saying, "go to bed, for you are no good
to watch as you both will sleep," but the Indians
did not come back; I guess they saw us as we went
out of the house.
Along in the fall I moved my family out of
town and about three miles up the creek to my
father-in-law's; we all lived together for protec-
tion.
I had two brothers and a cousin living at my
father's.
In January, 1870, the Indians killed Mr. Rip-
pey and his wife about seven miles north of us on
Rock creek. His dogs barked at something about a
hundred yards from the house; he went to see
what it was as it was across a small field. When he
got there the Indians shot and wounded him, his
wife seeing the trouble went to his relief, and the
Indians killed them both.
In February of 1870 Ed Lamdun lived with
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
215
Mr. Fuller Millsap and his son-in-law, Joe Lov-
ing, and worked for them. One morning he went
out to hitch up a team of horses to the wagon,
and while he was fastening the breast yoke the
Indians shot him, having crawled up close, unseen
by him or the rest of the family. Millsap and
Loving fought the Indians for about two hours
and kept them off. They killed several Indians
but poor Lamdun died in about three hours. Mill-
sap and Loving kept them from getting any of
their horses. During the fight Mr. Millsap ran
cut of cartridges for his Winchester rifle and his
daughter, Miss Donie Millsap, took some in her
apron and carried them to her father; as she was
going back to the house the Indians began to shoot
at her and as she went through the door of the
house they shot an arrow through her apron and
it stuck in the door facing.
Mr. Millsap at that time lived sixteen miles
west of Weatherford on the Palo Pinto road on
the bank of Rock creek, he afterwards moved to
Weatherford, Texas, and lived there for about
three years, till he died. His widow and two of
his boys, Tom and Will, still own the old home
place. Mrs. Millsap is getting very old and
feeble.
The town of Millsap was called for them; it is
216
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
on the Texas & Pacific railroad fifteen miles west
of Weatherford, Parker county, Texas.
In June of 1870, the Indians killed two young
men on Grindstone creek in Parker county. They
lived in Palo Pinto county and had started to
Weatherford to mill when they were killed and
scalped in the big road and their horses taken.
From all appearances they fought the red demons
a terrible fight. They were not found until late
the next day. Their names were Cathry and Hale.
All through these troublesome years the people
would come together and hold protracted meet-
ings, and camp meetings. They would go in ox
wagons and take their guns and six shooters and
have good meetings They sang the old time re-
ligious songs. We used brush arbors and split.
logs for seats. I have seen preachers stand and
preach with their pistols belted around them.
Everybody was friendly and glad to meet each
other.
In the fall of 1870 brother Sam Newberry, W.
B. Porter and I were gathering corn in a valley
on Sandstone creek with a range of Parasia moun-
tains on the west. We saw fifteen Indians up on
the mountain watching us so we stopped and got
up in the wagon and sat there and watched them
for quite a while, an hour I guess, but they did
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
217
not come down to us as we were armed and in the
field. When they left we went to the house and
tried to get a crowd to follow them but they were
all gone from home and we three did not feel dis-
posed to follow that number of Indians as they
had as good arms then as we did. The Indians
went south about six n'ies and ran two men or a
man and a boy, but they happened to be close to
a fence and they ran and got into the field but the
Indians shot at them veral times. The Indians
went on south and on Patrick creek ran a boy by
the name of Bill Abbott but he got in the creek
bottom and hid from them by lying down in a
thicket of dogwood bushes; this was late in the
evening, next morning they ran a boy by the name
Jim Tierrie on the same creek and shot several
sheep that Jim was tending, and stole several
horses in the country. We followed them but we
failed to overtake them, as it was so dry we
could not trail them. I used to think I was as
good a trailer as ever was.
In the same year the Indians killed old man
Leeper northwest of Weatherford and stole lots of
horses.
In 1871 they killed a boy on Dry creek fifteen
miles northwest of Weatherford, by the name of
Cranfill, old man Loop six miles north of Weath-
218
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
erford and a young man by the name of Hemphill
fourteen miles northeast of Weatherford. The
young man was killed one night as he was riding
along the big road, and the same year I think it
was they killed a Mr. Blackwell sixteen miles.
northwest of Weatherford.
In 1871 on the third Sunday in August, Rev.
Ben D. Austin held a camp meeting near my
father's house, under a brush arbor, and had a
good meeting. He was a Cumberland Presby-
terian and organized a church under the arbor,
with twenty members, and ever since that time
they have held a camp meeting in that neighbor-
hood, but only two miles north, they built a church
and called it Newberry church.
I gave the
church six acres of land for a camp meeting
ground and cemetery. It is known as the New-
berry church. We have a good house and taber-
nacle on the land now. I live two hundred miles
from there now in Hardeman county, Texas, but
Parker county, Texas, seems like home to me as I
lived in that county forty-seven years. My church
membership is still at old Newberry church.
Rev. Ben Austin, A. C. P., and Rev. Jim Hines
would hold a camp meeting together every year at
the mouth of Patrick creek on the Brazos river,
and we would all go down and what a meeting
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
219
We
we would have. It was old time religion.
would all come with our guns and pistols and lay
them down under the edge of the arbor and tie
our horses or those that had horses-to nearby
trees to keep the Indians from getting them. All
the old men that attended those meetings have
crossed the "River of Death" and we that were
young then are now gray and bent with age.
Among those that would camp on the old camp
ground on Patrick creek were: Old Uncle Jimmie
Strain, Lewis Marshall, Jack Joyce, Grandma
Joyce, Aunt Polly Maxwell, Mrs. Hart and her
sons and daughters and grandsons. Rev. Ben
Austin and Captain Jim Buckner. Those were
joyful days, no style nor formality but plain, prac-
tical gospel preaching. Rev. Jim Hines was a
Methodist and Rev. Austin was a Cumberland
Presbyterian, but you could tell no difference but
what both belonged to the same church and they
did, for they were trying to build up the church of
Christ. Those were good times.
In 1872 the Indians did not bother us so bad,
but made several raids through the country steal-
ing horses. My brother, Hugh Newberry, lived
with me and one day we hobbled our horses near
the house; my wife went to the garden for beans,
when she came back she told us our horses were
220
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
snorting and cutting up so we went to see about
them and the Indians had stolen my brother's,
but did not get mine.
Will now write of 1863 to 1872. In 1864 the
Indians killed a man by the name of Berry south
of Weatherford on the Brazos river and a com-
motion came up in Parker county and J. M.
Luncky was hung to a post oak limb because the
people thought he was trying to betray them into
the hands of the Yankees. The negroes caused
trouble by some talk and the people hung four
negroes to the well on the public square in the
town of Weatherford. About that time a strange
man came to town and Captain Munroe Upton
went to him to find out his business. The man
would not give his mission and he and Captain
Upton got into a row and the captain killed him.
They never did find out who he was nor where he
came from. In 1864 the Indians killed two Ham-
ilton boys on Patrick's creek ten miles south of
Weatherford and the same day the Indians killed
a Mrs. Brown and daughter and wounded another
of her daughters. This all occurred on Patrick's
creek in Parker county. I don't know Mr. Brown's
given name but I was well acquainted with him.
We always called him Black Jack Brown; he was
in the army at the time his family was murdered.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
221
I think the wounded girl died. One of his daugh-
ters lives now in Parker county, Mrs. G. N. Pick-
ard, of Spring Creek; I am well acquainted with
her.
In February or March, 1864, Uncle Henry
Maxwell and his son-in-law, Jack Joyce, be-
ing at home from the army on a furlough, went
out to see after some stock and ran into a bunch
of Indians, and the Indians surrounded them
when Joyce was going to shoot at them, and Mr.
Maxwell said, "Jack don't shoot; reserve your
fire." Mr. Maxwell's horse became scared and ran
away with him. The Indians shot Mr. Maxwell
in the body with an arrow and Mr. Joyce held the
Indians off but Mr. Maxwell died that night. Mr.
Maxwell had a son in my company in the army,
and one son in the 19th Texas cavalry also. Mr.
Joyce belonged to the 69th Texas.
In 1872 I think it was, the Indians made a
raid into Hood county and the citizens got after
them and crowded them so on the line of Hood
and Parker counties, on Robertson creek, they ran
them into a bend of the creek and surrounded
them and killed them all. There was a squaw with
the Indians but the whites killed all not knowing
that one was a squaw until after they had killed
her. One white man got wounded very badly, I
222
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
think perhaps he died, I have forgotten his name.
I lived about twenty-five miles from the place
where they had the fight. Before that in the same
neighborhood the Indians killed Pleas Boyd, and
at another time killed Nathan Holt. All occurred
in the same neighborhood.
In 1867, after the war, the government sent a
company of Yankee cavalry to the town of Weath-
erford, and they took a big hand in punishing
men around Weatherford. They arrested a num-
ber, I was one but they only kept me a
very short time. They arrested Aaron Hart and
tied him up by the thumbs and kept him until he
fainted. They had quite a number of men ar-
rested for the hanging of Luncky in time of the
war. Some men left and stayed until the Yankees
were gone. They arrested Mr. Steve Jones and
he started with them but did not go far until he
ran away from them, he being on a good horse.
We had lots of trouble those days. Quite a
number of men were killed in the town of Weath-
erford. You know everything was "rolicky" those
days. Mat Gibson was running a meat market and
a Yankee captain went to his wagon and ordered
his men to take a quarter of Mr. Gibson's beef.
Mr. Gibson forbid it, but the captain said he
would take it, when he went to take the beef out
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
223
of the wagon, Mr. Gibson jerked out a butcher
knife and killed the captain on the spot. Mr. Gib-
son hid out for quite a while. He had so many
friends that he came in, stood trial, and came
clear of the law.
I think it was in 1869 when a bunch of cow
hunters, twelve in number, in Young county, on
Salt creek prairie, had a bunch of Indians run
on them and they fought the Indians half of the
day. The Indians killed two or three of the white
men and wounded all but one of them, when
night came on and the one not wounded made his
way to the nearest ranch afoot, as the Indians had
killed or got the men's horses. It was several
miles off. He got help and buried those who were
dead, of the whites and took the wounded in, sev-
eral of whom died. One of the white men now
lives near Weatherford, Parker county, Texas.
His name is G. W. Lemley.
In 1872 or '73, Captain Warren had a wagon
train of twelve wagons, six mules to the wagon
and thirteen men as teamsters and a wagon boss.
He was hauling supplies to Ft. Griffin for the
United States soldiers on Salt creek prairie in
Young county, when the Indians, fifty in number,
ran on them and killed all the white men, took the
mules and robbed the wagons of what they could
224
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYE
carry off. They tied the corpses of the white men
to the wagons and burned them. The United
States soldiers followed the Indians to their camp
or reservation and captured the two chiefs, Sur-
tanta and Big Tree and carried them to Jacks-
borough and tried them for murder. Ex-Gover-
nor Lanham was district attorney and Soward was
judge. They were convicted and sentenced to be
hanged but Governor E. J. Davis commuted the
sentence to life imprisonment in the Huntsville
penitentiary of Texas. He afterwards pardoned
them on promise of their making no more war
on the whites of Texas. They kept their promise
partly. We had but very little trouble after that.
A few raids were made by the Indians after that.
When they arrested the Indian chiefs, the white
men killed one Indian chief, I have forgotten his
name. For this Captain Warren got fifty thous-
and dollars from the United States government
in cash. He being a big man got pay for his
property and the poor got nothing.
We Texans had lots of trouble with the red
men. There are a number of their raids and kill-
ings that I have forgotten, it being so long ago. I
lived west of Weatherford on Grindstone creek
for forty-seven years, only what time I was in the
Confederate army, that being three and a half

A GATHERING IN EARLY DAYS
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
225
years. I am to go down in Parker county in Aug-
ust to a camp meeting at the old Newberry camp
ground. They have had a camp meeting every
year for thirty-seven years. It is in August em-
bracing the third Sunday; has been on that day
ever since it began, but most of the old timers
have either crossed over the river of death or
moved off. Some few remain. Brother S. P. New-
berry, Uncle Ross Newberry, John and Will Doss,
Rob Strain are about all the old ones living there
now, but lots of the children of the old ones.
John C. Newberry and Georgie are of the old ones.
There is quite a difference now and when they first
commenced to hold these meetings. They make
brush arbors for camps now as they did on the
start, now there is a good deal of style. At first all
things were common; when they went they would
carry their guns and pistols for protection in case
of need. Many at the judgment day will call
Newberry camp precious and a glorious place on
earth. They now have a nice church house and
a big tabernacle on the camp ground. Your hum-
ble servant gave the land for the camp ground
and grave yard which is a seven-acre site on the
Texas & Pacific railroad, it is a precious spot to
me. I have not missed a single meeting since the
first one, nor won't I think as long as I can get
226
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
back there, but I am nearly sixty-four years old,
my race is nearly run, I am just waiting for my
Master to say, "It is enough, come home to Me.”
I hope if this is ever published it will be en-
tertaining to the reader.
CHAPTER IX.
ļ
BY MRS. MARY A. NUNEY, THORP SPRINGS, TEX.

WAS born on Sugar mountain in Lee
county, Virginia, in 1848. My
grandfather and grandmother on my
mother's side were Rev. V. A and
Mary Woodward, or Polly as she was
called then. My grandfather was a Methodist
preacher. Two of my mother's brothers were
preachers also, William and Alexander. My
grandmother was a Ewing before she married my
grandfather. She also had two brothers, preach-
ers, Jo and Alexander. My father and mother
were Isaac W. and Elizabeth N. Cox. My father
had one brother, a Methodist preacher. Ivy H.
Cox, and two brothers, doctors, James H. and
George Cox. They have all passed away long ago.
We emigrated to Texas when I was about four
years old and settled within four miles of Ruter-
ville, Fayette county, and twelve miles from La-
Grange. It was in 1852, as near as I can remem-
ber. We came all the way in house wagons.
don't remember how long we were on the road.
I
228
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
We stopped at Little Rock, Ark., quite awhile on
account of sickness and lost a little sister there.
Our nearest neighbor was a German by the
name of Haller. Our next neighbor was John
Pain. My mother taught a school at our house.
and Will and Annetta Huller, and Bob and Mary
Pain attended school. Well, when we had been in
Texas four or five years my grandfather in Vir-
ginia wrote to my mother to pay them a visit and
they would give her part of the estate. So she
went in the spring. I remember the apple trees
were in bloom. She took my baby sister who was
nine months old and myself, nine years old with
her. Traveling conveyances were not as conven-
ient then as they are now. There was only one
railroad in Texas at that time, and that was from
Richmond to Houston. My father took us in a
wagon to Richmond where we got on a train and
went to Houston, and from there on a little boat
to Galveston and from there across the Gulf of
Mexico to New Orleans, from there up the Missis-
sippi on a large steamboat to Memphis, Tenn.,
and from there by railroad to Knoxville, and from
there to Tazwell by stage. Anyone who ever trav-
eled by coach knows what that is, and there we
were met by private conveyances and carried to
my grandfather's house.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
229
O, what a happy meeting for father and mother
and brother and sister to meet their loved child
and sister after such a long absence away out in
Texas. I remember how the relatives and friends
used to come in to see my mother and hear her
tell of her far away home, and how people did
there, etc. After six months of enjoyment with
relatives and friends we had to say good bye and
return home.
My father bought cattle and moved to the
frontier, Palo Pinto county, where we experienced
all the dangers, privations and hardships of a
frontier life. We settled on the west side of the
Brazos river, one mile from Tom Pollard's. My
father and hired man made two small cabins in
which we lived through the winter. There was no
lumber to be had there, so we lived on dirt floors,
and cooked, ate and slept all in the same room.
Next year they cut and hewed large logs and
made a nice large room.
One morning my brother, Valentine, went out
to get the calves, and not thinking about the In-
dians being near was not watching, when some-
body said, "how!" and he looked and there stood
an Indian with a rope on his arm and holding the
other out to shake hands. My brother said he
didn't make any effort to capture or hurt him, but
230
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
he said that he, my brother, ran faster than he
ever did in his life until he reached the house.
He told us about it and we saw the Indian going
across the bluff to go over in the other valley.
When the Indians were coming in after horses
they hardly ever killed anybody, because if they
did they knew the people would get after them
and perhaps kill some of them before they could
get any horses to get out of the country on. After
they got all the horses they wanted, they would
kill all who happened in their way or capture
them, and very often would attack houses and
carry off women and children and keep them to
exchange for blankets, horses or anything they
wanted. People were always on the alert, and
watching for the red men. If we children went
to the spring to get a bucket of water, we watched
all the time to see if an Indian came out of the
bushes or from behind a tree. We lived in con-
stant dread and fear of being killed. If the dogs
barked, we thought of Indians at once.
I remember one night we saw a light over in
the mesquite flat or valley. Of course we thought
it was the Indians camped over there, so my
father said he would slip over there and see who
it was. There was a deep, dark ravine between
the house and where the light was. He said he
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
231
could creep up close without their seeing him and
he could find out whether they were Indians, so
he went on and got close enough to discover it
was white people, he went on to the camp then,
and it was Parson Slaughter and his boys out cow
hunting and had camped there for the night. My
father was a great hand to talk on the scriptures
and politics and of course was hungry for a con-
versation and was soon so interested he took no
notice of time nor of how uneasy we might be at
home and stayed till midnight. I suppose of
course that my mother thought the Indians had
killed him and would come and murder the whole
family. I was a little girl but I remember the
agonizing fear we had. Nobody but those who
have had the same experience can imagine how
we felt. After awhile we shut the doors (if we
had any shutters), and started out to go down a
ravine and cross the river and go to Wesley Bak-
er's, when we heard somebody talking. My moth-
er was sure it was the Indians coming to murder
us all, my brother being braver than the rest said
maybe it was our father, we waited a little while.
and heard our father's voice and some one with
him, talking. Oh! what a relief to us all to know
it was not the Indians. Parson Slaughter had
come over home with father to stay all night.
232
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
He was very much ashamed for having caused us.
so much uneasiness. Thus the reader can under-
stand what the early settlers had to endure.
A neighbor, William Eubank, who lived three
or four miles from us, across the river, enclosed
his house and yard with tall pickets as a protec-
tion against the Indians. One day the men folks.
were all away, perhaps in the field at work, when
some of the women or children discovered a party
of Indians approaching the house, so they quickly
set a bench by the wall and Miss Mary Eubank
put a man's hat on her head and got up on the
bench so her hat could be seen by the Indians,
then she pointed a gun at them, when they saw
the gun they halted, held a consultation, then
turned and went away without molesting them.
Perhaps she saved the whole family by her brave
act; (she afterwards became our stepmother).
Many other women have been as brave and de-
fended their families from being butchered by
the savages.
I think the Indians were on a reservation about
this time and were friendly with the white people;
some of them came down on the river to fish and
hunt. They were camped near the town of Gol-
conda, as it was called then (Palo Pinto now),
and had their families with them. Pete Garland
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
233
:
and several other men were drunk, and not hav-
ing a very friendly feeling toward the Indians
they shot in among them and killed several of
their women and children. Of course this was
wrong and insulted and enraged the Indians and
they got on the warpath and the people had to
"fort" up. My father was not at home at the
time. The news came to us in the night and the
hired man and my broher had to take us across
the river to a settlement. The river was rising
and the wagon got stuck in the quick sand, and
they had to get out in the water and lift the
wheels out. We went on to Ray Pollard's and
stayed quite a while, then went down to Weather-
ford till the Indians were quieted down and had
returned to the reservation.
My father then bought the Bob Dillingham
place, a mile or two from John Pollard's, and we
moved there.
My father often went to Weatherford on busi-
ness and didn't return till next day. I remember
one time he went and didn't intend coming home
that night, but he said when night came on he
felt impressed that he must go home, still he
lingered but finally felt that he must go.
were living in a two room log house with a large
hall between and my oldest brother slept out
We
234
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
there. He had tied a horse in the field close to the
house so the Indians would not get him. When my
father was coming round the corner of the field
he saw a man leading the horse out, and called to
him to halt; the man didn't stop, so my father
shot at him; he dropped the rope and ran. It was
about one o'clock and of course we were not ex-
pecting him at that time of night so were greatly
alarmed to hear his voice and the shooting; he
rode around and explained. The next morning he
went and got some of the neighbors to go with
him and see if they could find anybody, but I
don't think they ever found out whether the thief
was a white man or an Indian.
My mother said she had suffered a thousand
deaths at that place for fear the Indians would
come and kill us or carry off some of the children.
Why men would take their families out in such
danger I can't understand. We not only had the
Indians to contend with, but the river as well. We
lived close to the river and got water from a
spring down under the bank, and whenever the
river would raise three or four feet, it would get
over the spring, then we would have to use river
water.
My father kept a canoe to set people across the
river. One time my father went to town, he
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
235
generally went every Saturday.
The ford was
about half a mile from the house. We hadn't had
any rain and the river was very low and we didn't
think of a rise coming down, but just about the
time he had gotten to the ford we looked out and
the river was bank full and great banks of drift
and foam coming down. We were very uneasy
for fear he had got drowned, we went down and
were standing watching the drift and wandering
if he had got across safe, when he rode up to us.
He said when he had got nearly across, he stopped
to let his horse drink and was looking down and
noticed the clear water rising up the horse's legs,
he watched it till the water reached his horse's
knees, then he looked up and there was a bank
of water twelve feet high just above him. He
spurred his horse and got out just in time to save
himself, he ran his horse to the next crossing be-
low and headed the rise and came back home.
My father built a little log house on a knoll
near the river for my mother to teach school in.
The floor was the ground, and logs split open and
holes bored in the round side of the log and legs
put in were the benches. We had a plank along
one side of the room for a desk and a big crack
in the wall gave us light; we had preaching also
by whoever would preach for us. I remember
236
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
two preachers who would preach for us sometimes,
a Baptist by the name of Myers and a Brother
Carpenter, who was a Methodist preacher. Our
home was always a home for the preacher of any
denomination; we loved to have them with us
and minister to their comforts.
Most of the people lived across the river from
us and children couldn't come to school regular
on account of the river. So my father bought a
place in town and moved there so we children
could go to school.
In 1859 and 1860, I think it was, my mother
assisted Mr. J. H. Baker in teaching the school in
the little old school house on the hill side, on the
north side of the creek, near Parson Slaughter's
house. How well I remember the dictionary
class. It was a large class of boys and girls, when
we stood up to spell, the class extended around
one side of the room and across the end. It was
customary then when one got a head mark to go
to the foot next time, and give the next one a
chance to get a head mark. Lum Slaughter (now
Col. C. C. Slaughter), was generally head or near
the head of the class, and we would all laugh
when he had to go to the foot, because he was the
tallest one in the class, but he didn't stay at the
foot long, he would soon go up head again, and
"
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
237
he is ahead yet. I was at his and Cynthia Jewell's
wedding. The dinner was set in the school house.
There were other good spellers also, Molly Dilly
Hunty, Sallie Jewell, Will Covington and Cyn-
thia Jewell, who were always near the head of
the class waiting for their time to get a head
mark. There were others that I can't remember.
Well, the war came up then and our mother
died, her father had lots of slaves and she was
raised very tenderly, never having done any work
before she was married. The hardships and con-
tinuous fear of a frontier life was too much for
her. I remember her father came to Texas once
to see her; and preached in the school house
where she taught, he was not very favorably im-
pressed with the country and didn't stay very long
in Texas. After our mother died we children had
to learn to card and spin all the cloth our clothes
were made out of. We used bark and leaves from
oak and walnut to color the thread with; walnut
leaves made such a pretty dark brown and broom
weeds made a pretty yellow, we used moss and
other things to color with. We had to do without
lots of conveniences and necessities; for tumblers
we would take a long, smooth bottle either black
or clear and take a buckskin string and see-saw
it around the bottle till it got hot then drop a
238
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
little cold water on it and it would come apart;
we were quite proud of them to drink milk out
of. For forks they would twist wire together.
For soda we would boil weak lye down to a potash.
after we had made a pot of soap, it was a poor
makeshift but better than nothing. We parched
wheat for coffee. I remember we gave $30 for a
pair of cotton cards and $5 a yard for calico, very
poor calico at that. We didn't use hardly anything
that was not homemade. We used to sit up till ten
or eleven o'clock carding, spinning or knitting.
We didn't have any near relatives in the war
but some of our neighbors did; and how hard
they would have to work to make clothes and
blankets and socks for them.
We thought we had a hard time on the frontier,
but it wasn't anything to compare with what
they had to suffer back in the old states. My
grandfather said he was unmercifully beaten sev-
eral times and all of his valuable property taken.
My husband's sister had her baby's cradle set out
in the yard and the men told her to get out, they
then stuck the broom in the fire and got it ablaze
then stuck it to the feather bed and burned up
her house and everything she had and left her
and her children standing there helpless with
nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. They were.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
239
Jayhawkers that did this. In Tennessee an-
other sister-in-law looked out one morning and
saw the blue coats (as the Union soldiers were
called) everywhere, and all around her premises.
She went to the commander and told him she was
a widow, that her son was in the army, and that
she wanted to be protected. He said: "Go home
madam, and rest perfectly easy, not a thing you
have shall be molested." And not a chicken or a
fence rail was touched.
My father was assessor and collector during the
war and when his term of office expired he didn't
want to go to the war and leave us unprotected
so we moved our cattle to Menard county and
settled at the Bowie Spring where the former
James Bowie had a fight with the Indians, five
miles from Menardville and three miles from the
old Spanish fort.
My father found a sabre on the battle ground.
and made a graining knife out of it. What is
that? some of you young people say. It is a long
knife to take the hair and grain from the deer
hide; when they want to dress one they then put
the hide in a strong suds made of lye soap and
water and a spoonful of lard; they let it remain
all night by the fire to keep it warm, then would
wring it out as dry as possible, then pull, stretch
240
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
and rub it till perfectly dry, and soft as cloth,
then it is ready to make gloves or pants. I have
made many a pair of gloves and pants out of the
dressed skins, and I made a shirt out of a fawn
skin and colored it yellow with chaperal root. It
was very nice and durable to wear over the other
shirts when running through the brush after
cattle.
Cellery spring was up the valley a mile from
where we lived; it ran about a hundred yards and
sank in the bed of the creek, then came on down
and made Bowie spring, it ran out of a cave, the
water was about a foot deep and very clear and
sparkling; it ran on down to the Sansaba river
near the old Spanish fort. Tradition has it that
Spaniards used to live in that part and worked
the mines that are in that part of the country and
the Indians attacked them and they buried their
money and the Indians killed them all. Different
parties have explored the country and tried to
find the treasure but were unsuccessful.
I think we moved to Menard-county the fall of
1864. The Indians didn't bother people much
then, but later got to be troublesome. They came
to Fort McKavitt on the head of the Sansaba
river and killed one man and stuck a spear in a
girl, she pulled the spear out herself. Then they
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
241
gathered up a large bunch of cattle, hundreds of
them, and drove them off. The men followed
them as soon as they could get together but could
never overtake them.
My husband taught the first school ever taught
in Menard county at Fort McKavitt. Then he
taught in Menardville. Then we moved back to
the ranch. One evening my husband was busy
at something out in the yard; there was a large
thicket north of the house about two hundred
yards; we had a good watch dog, and he barked
toward the thicket and would sniff and seem un-
easy all the evening. My husband didn't say any-
thing about it at the time but about twelve o'clock
in the night (the door was not closed) he saw the
dog slip by the door squatting low on the ground.
He knew at once there was something wrong, so
he jumped up and ran to the door and there was
an Indian on one of the horses right at the end
of the porch; he ran back to get his pistol, which
was hanging on the bed post but the Indian saw
him when he first ran to the door and ran away.
Then we could hear them passing down on each
side of the spring branch, not more than fifty
yards from the house. They got all the horses on
the ranch but one, and were so elated over their
success that they went over the hill in a little
242
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
valley and had a war dance, we could hear them
very plainly whooping and yelling. My brother-
in-law wanted to go down the branch and slip up
the ravine and shoot some of them, but my hus-
band wouldn't let him do that, he said they might
come and burn the house and kill or capture us
all and carry us off.
I can't describe my feelings. I had never
heard an Indian yell before. There were only two
women, two babies and two men of us, and I
have no idea how many Indians, fifteen or twenty
I suppose, and we being out on a ranch five miles
from Menardville it was too much for us. For
fear they would soon come back again and be
more bold, we decided we'd better abandon the
ranch. We packed up and left. We went down
to the town of Burnett where my husband worked
in the store for John Alexander one year, then
we returned to Menardville again.
My father gathered up all his home cattle and
started to Mexico to sell them. Before he got to
the Pecos river, however, a much larger herd over-
took them and they all went on together till they
got to the Horse Head crossing on the Pecos, when
a large party of Indians (the Apaches, I think)
came on them and surrounded them. They thought
they'd starve them out and make them perish for
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
243
water, but some of the men slipped down to the
river and got water. I think they kept them
there three days, then decided they would drive
the cattle off, so drove the entire herd off and we
have never got any pay from the government for
them yet.
Down in Llano county a man lived named
Bradford; a woman whose name was Mrs. Friend
was visiting the family when the Indians attacked
the house. It seems the Bradford family
got away somehow and Mrs. Friend had to defend
herself the best she could. They said she fought
the Indians with a smoothing iron, and they left
her for dead. By the time they left she was weak
from loss of blood, but she raised up and pulled
a quilt from off the bed and laid her head on it.
In a short time the Indians returned, but she laid
just like she was dead so they departed. The next
morning when Bradford returned home she was
sitting up smoking. I could relate many more
incidents of Indian depredations, but can't re-
member them clearly. My memory is not good,
I can't remember dates and if I have not stated
these facts just as they were I hope the reader
will excuse my mistakes. I relate them as I re-
member them from childhood partly. My children
are all grown now. My four girls were school
244
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
-
teachers but are all married now. My oldest son
served six years in the United States army; my
youngest son is at home with me.
I think there should be a reunion of all the
old pioneers in the near future. I hope we will
all be at the grand reunion in the sweet bye and
bye. I have many loved ones over there waiting
and watching for me.

TALITHA WILSON ENGLISH
CHAPTER X.
BY TILATHA WILSON ENGLISH, GAINESVILLE,
TEXAS.

D
EAR old-timers, as I am an old Texan
and an old-timer, too, I wish to step
in and say a few words on old times
in Texas and how the people lived.
My father left Kentucky when I was
two years old, went to Illinois and stayed there
six years then started to Texas and got to Ar-
kansas and some of the family took sick and we
stayed. Father got a place and we stayed there
three years. My oldest sister married while we
lived there and we all started to Texas together.
My father had three yoke of oxen and my brother-
in-law had two yoke. We came to Fannin county
just at Christmas. In a short time our oxen be-
gan to die. They all died except one of my fath-
er's so he got a job for himself and my brothers
making rails and they soon paid for another ox.
The day they got through paying for him he died
and we were left again.
Father rented about ten acres of land and made
a "half-yoke" he called it and worked that old ox,
246
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
plowed him like a horse and tended his crop. He
raised plenty of corn to do him. They never raised
cotton in those days; only a little for home use.
and they would work that old ox and ride him
anywhere they wanted to go. When father got his
crop laid by he got a job digging wells and was
able to get another ox and a cow and calf. Then
he gathered his crop and raised peas enough for
us and all the neighbors. He heard about land
coming in for settlers in Grayson county, so he
came to Grayson in 1845 and took up 640 acres
of land.
The first year we came to Grayson, my father
bought a prairie team, which was six yoke of oxen
and a big prairie plow, all on time and my two
oldest brothers began breaking prairie; they broke
a small field then began to break land for the
man to pay for the team. Father bought his
bacon that year, and what kind of meat it was! It
was bear bacon and it was real good. There was
no mill nearer than Bonham, so most everbody
got a little steel mill and ground their corn at
home, sifted out the fine and used it for bread.
and cooked the rest for hominy. They did not
raise any wheat for a few years, but when people
got their land in cultivation they raised lots of
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
247
wheat but hardly knew what money was. Every-
body was poor who came to get homes.
When they wanted a rope if they had a raw-
hide they made it out of that, but if they did not
have it they would spin coarse thread and make
rope out of cotton. We had rope works we made
them on. I have spun and helped make many a
rope and bed cord.
My father had a little shop and when they
could not work in the field, they worked in the
shop. He made all our shoes and made looms for
the women. All the way we had to go to church
when there was any, was to walk or go in an ox
wagon, or on a slide. Some had no wagon, and
they would make a big slide and put a floor in the
bottom, and cross-pieces to sit on, and hitch a
yoke of oxen to it and go wherever they pleased
There was not much preaching those days to go to,
but when we would hear of preaching any where
near, we would go. I have walked five miles to
church and back the same day, and wore home-
made dresses, bonnets and shoes. My father some-
times made buckskin and sometimes cloth, and
sometimes leather shoes-just anything he could
get to make them out of, and we would be mighty
proud of them, and most everybody dressed alike.
People loved each other then; it was not as it is
248
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
now.
Pride and style have taken the place of re-
ligion. I am an old spinner and weaver. I have had
to quilt, card, spin and weave ever since I was
large enough. We had to pick out all the seed
from our cotton with our fingers for several years.
after we came to Texas, make up our own cloth-
ing, and raise our own indigo to color the cloth.
I never saw a sewing machine or cook stove until
after the war. I was married, and had three chil-
dren before I ever saw a cook stove and in making
up our cloth after we got it we would sew it all
with our fingers and make the buttons out of
thread. I have made many a button out of thread.
You think, no doubt, that we had a hard time, and
so I reckon we did, but we enjoyed it, and it was
happiness to us all, for we loved each other, and
were always glad to see and help each other and
when one got sick we would go eight or ten miles
to see them or sit up with them, if it was needed.
I know some that say they would not like such
times as we old timers had, but if I was young
again I would love to be in such a place and
would go to it, if there was such a place.
The only thing that I would not like would
be no schools and churches, and as I am such a
lover of church, I could not live where there
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
249
was no church, for all the real enjoyment I have
is going to church.
I have merely given a little sketch of our early
days in Texas and now about the war times. As
for myself, I had no harder time in time of the
war than I had before and after the war.
My
husband was not in it, but was freighting for the
government, hauling cotton down in southern
Texas. The longest time he was gone was fifteen
months. My neighbors were all good to me, and
they chopped and hauled my wood, and my two
oldest little boys were large enough to carry it in,
go to mill, feed the hogs, and lots of other things.
I had to spin and weave all our clothes as I had
always done, but I heard of so many who had
worse times, it made me feel sorry for them, and
I felt the Lord had blessed me and I was doing
well.
.
I will tell you what kind of furniture we had
when I went to keeping house. When I married.
our bedsteads had only one leg.
We hewed out a
square stick and bored a big hole in it, and one
in the log of the house and put in a pole for a
side rail, and one in the leg, and the log for an
end rail, and one across the back, laid boards
on that and our bedstead was done. Our table
was four sticks with small boards around to make
250
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
the frame; then boards nailed on for a top, if we
had nails; if not, they were put on with little
wooden pegs.
Our china closet was holes bored in the logs of
the house, pins put in them, a board laid on that,
and another one above that and so on until we had
as many shelves as we needed. Clothes shelves
were made in the same way. Our chairs were
wheels sawed off the end of a log, the bark taken
off, and one side basined out a little and legs put
in then, a wide board put in the back and our
chair was done. This was the principal part of
our furniture.
We raised gourds to use for almost everything;
big gourds (we called them fat gourds). Lots of
them would hold a half bushel. We put lard in
them or anything we wished. Spanish gourds
were large at both ends and small in the middle.
We would saw off both ends about half way, clean
them out good, tie a cloth over one end, and it
made a good strainer. We had gourds to milk in,
drink water out of, and other things too numer-
ous to mention.
When our fire would go out we had to go to a
neighbor and get fire or catch it some way. I
have many times taken a skillet lid and an old
case knife, and knocked fire out of it. I haye
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
251
✔
spun fire many a time, and I will tell you how I
did it. I took deep copper thread and doubled it
several times, and twisted it a little, then held it
in the whirl of the wheel and turned the wheel
right fast, and it would mighty quick set it on
fire. I would have some cotton ready and stick
in it. I would soon have plenty of fire.
I have heard of people weaving gallouses with
button holes already in them. I have woven tape
for gallouses, bridle reins and saddle girths, but I
never learned to weave holes in them. I used to
knit my folks' gallouses and knit the button holes.
in them. I used to plait wheat straw and make
my men folks summer hats, and take home-made
jeans and make them caps for winter. In time of
war I plaited wheat straw and made a Baptist
preacher a hat. He was proud of it and kept it
to wear to church. He was a good old man and
gone, long years ago, to his happy home. He left
Grayson and went to Tom Green county and died
there; his name was Tommie Cotton. Perhaps
some of you old timers may have known him.
When we came to Texas in 1845 the country
was full of all sorts of wild game turkeys, deer,
bear, panthers, antelopes, wild cats and almost
anything.
Alexander Wilson, who was my husband, was a
252
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
great hunter and killed lots of game. He almost
kept the neighbors in meat. He has brought us.
many a good ham of venison long before he and
I thought of marrying. We went to school to-
gether; all the school I ever went to, and it was
an eight months school. I went half the time. My
mother was dead and my sister and I who was
three years younger than myself, had to keep
house for my father and five brothers, so we had
to stay at home week about and keep house and
spin. Our school house was a log house with a
dirt floor and a big wide fireplace. Our seats were
logs split open and legs put in them, the flat sides
up. That was all the school I ever got to go to,
and what little I know I learned myself at home.
So you see why I don't write and spell good.
There were plenty of bees in the woods in those
days. People could go out and find a bee tree any
time they tried and cut it down and get lots of
honey, and save the bees if they wished, so we
soon had plenty of bees and those days we raised
lots of pumpkins and that was a big part of the
people's living. We had no flour for several years,
so we would stew our pumpkins till done and put
it in meal and salt it, if we chanced to have salt,
and work it up into dough, making it into small
thin cakes called pumpkin bread. When we had
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
253
hog meat we would fry a few pieces, take the
grease and crumble corn bread in it, putting in
water and salt, and we had a pot of soup called
"poor doo." We thought it very good those days.
People think they live hard now, but they
don't know anything about hard times. Most
everybody lived the same. We have sat down to
eat many times and had nothing to eat but corn-
bread and meal coffee, but we were satisfied, and
would work away trying to get a start, and so
we did.
I
CHAPTER XI.
BY GEO. ELY, ODESSA, TEXAS.

WAS born on Sept. 25th, 1840, in
what was then Marion county, Ar-
kansas, and my parents were too
poor to give me an education, and so
I grew up without, except such as
I could pick up by reading books, papers, etc., so
that when requested to write a chapter for a book,
I felt at a great loss to know how to proceed and
especially as my memory has failed to such an ex-
tent that it is often impossible for me to recall
events accurately.
My father emigrated in 1852 to Texas, settling
a homestead in the eastern edge of the "Little
Cross Timbers" six miles west of Black Jack
grove in Hunt county (now called Cumby I be-
lieve). We got our corn ground into meal by a
windmill that stood on an eminence a half mile
west of Black Jack grove, which was operated by
a Mr. Bowerman I think; there were no steam
mills then in that county, but they came a few
years later.
People got most of their corn and wheat ground
飘
​
GEORGE B. ELY
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
255
on mills run by inclined wheels turned by the
weight of four or five oxen walking as the wheels
turned. These mills did a fine service in their
day and became more numerous as the demand
grew, until the steam mill was introduced which
soon put the inclined wheel into "the things that
were." Speaking of mills reminds me of a very
ancient machine that was used by the early set-
tlers for converting corn into meal; I allude to
the "Show Tom." This contrivance was made by
securely fastening a water trough to one end of
a long stiff pole; to the other end a "pestle" was
firmly fixed so that its lower end would just drop
down into the bottom of a basin dug out in the
top of a stump, or a large solid rock; the pole be-
ing fixed on a pivot in such a way that when
water was run into the trough that end down and
the pestle up from the corn that was in the mortar
this would let the water out of the trough erd
up it would go causing the pestle at the other end
of the pole to drop down into the mortar on the
corn. The process went on and the "Tom" could
be heard all through the night and so there would
be meal for breakfast unless coons or bears got
to it first.
From Hunt county westward the country was
very thinly populated and Fort Worth was then
:
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HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
very far out west. Game of all kinds abounded;
and very few people depended on farming, as it
was then too dry to raise much produce, aside
from wheat and a little corn, etc. About 1867, I
went with my uncle, J. J. Keith, to aid him in
removing his cattle to Erath county, which had
begun to settle up, but there were only a very
few ranches west of there, and deer, turkey, and
antelope were very plentiful all over the country
while the grass was as fine as the heart could
wish, and stock would keep rolling fat all the
year round. It was easy raising stock then, but
the Comanche and Kiowa Indians and others bc-
came very troublesome and would make their
raids into the settlements, generally in the light
of the moon and take what stock they could get
their hands on, and often kill and scalp whoever
came in their way, frequently carrying women
and children into captivity. Thus was Cynthia
Ann Parker captured while young, of whom so
much has been said and written. These Indians
became very bold and defiant, and a man never
knew when leaving his home, whether he would
ever return alive, or supposing he did, whether
he would find his family, his loved ones, at home
or in captivity. People would go five, twenty,
even thirty miles to borrow meal or flour and do
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
257
neighboring generally. They could do no better,
as they were so few of them, except in the little
villages, and they had to do so. When their lit-
tle crop of grain was to be ground, they would
go thirty, sixty or eighty miles to the mill, and
as there were no wire fences the cattle were
turned loose usually where water was, and allow-
ed to roam at will. This necessitated much hard
riding during the branding season, for the cat-
tle would scatter over several counties. The men
usually went in squads of five to ten or more
together, and when they rounded up their cattle
at the nearest branding pen, they would help each
other, and when they found a "flitter ear" as
they called those yearlings they had missed the
last season, they each knew about how many they
were entitled to, and so would apportion them
out among themselves to their mutual satisfac-
tion. Very seldom did they fail to be mutually
satisfied with results, as those frontiersmen were
a noble class of men, living for each other, and
co-operating with each other to a remarkable de-
gree. So occasionally they would round up a
few cows with calves that needed
no owner there to look after it.
would look for the brand
and brand it accordingly.
branding and
Well, the boys
of its mother
Thus everybody
258
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
helped everybody else. But it was awful the
way they lived in constant danger from
the murderous Indians. Were they afraid?
Well, if they were not, it was because they had
become so accustomed to the danger that it har-
dened them against fear, and those frontiersmen
were a venturesome class of men who knew no
fear; and it was necessary for the way to be
opened up for the occupancy of the country by
an industrious people.
The commerce of the country was carried al-
most entirely by ox wagons, and two to six or
seven yoke constituted the teams. These teams
would be driven hundreds of miles to Houston,
Jefferson, Shreveport and other places, for dry
goods and groceries, or to the piney woods of east
Texas for their lumber. This would occupy weeks
together for a trip. Common boxing lumber was
worth five to six dollars per hundred feet at Stev-
ensville. No railroads in the state except fifty
miles of the H. & T. C. Then men that did the
hauling were called "wagoners," and a very use-
ful class they were. I remember there were very
few bridges then, and so they had to ford the
streams they crossed, which was often very hard
to do. In wet weather especially was this diffi-
cult. It was no uncommon thing for the heavy
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
259
loaded wagons to sink to the hubs in mud, then
it took work to get them out and on firm ground
again; this was accomplished by putting two or
three teams to the wagon and pulling it out by
force, as generally two or three wagons travelled
together. Sometimes they dug the wheels out,
placing pieces of wood under them till they could
be pulled out. Again they would be compelled to
unload and carry the stuff to firm ground, then
draw their wagon out. Thus it sometimes hap-
ened that a man would work all day in a piece of
swampy land and camp at night, then return to
where he had camped the night previous for fire
brands with which to start up his fire for the
night. This will give some idea of the hardships
of the early settlers, what they had to contend
with, and overcome before west Texas was really
ready for civilization. There is another thing
that must not be overlooked; I mean the kind of
foe the frontiersmen had to contend
contend with and
drive out in order to open the way to civilization.
The Indians, be it remembered, studied and prac-
ticed war and plunder, were trained to it from
their infancy, so that to be able to take many
scalps and horses was their chief delight; while
the settler was not trained, but had his domestic
affairs to attend to. This put him at a great dis-
260
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
advantage; it was not infrequently the case that
Indians proved even more than a match. Here
is a case to illustrate:
Six or eight men happened to come upon a
lone Indian and gave fight, but that Indian was
on to his job, and kept his arrows flying after each
other thick and fast; meantime constantly chang-
ing his position jumping about equal to a jump-
ing jack, and in spite of all the men could do, he
got away. The boys just could not hit him. Very
few people now can know half of what our brave
bordermen had to contend with. Then again we
must not forget that our people only had muzzle
loading rifles and pistols to fight with. Metallic
cartridges had not yet come into use. The In-
dians had a shield made of thickened raw hide
which took the very best rifles to puncture, and
they could nearly always manage to keep them a
little sidewise to the bullet, so that instead of
penetrating the shield, it would glance off harm-
lessly.
About the year 1858 or '59 the Caddos, reserve
Indians, in what is now Young county, and the
Kickapoos and Tonkawas, higher up the Brazos
became very troublesome, stealing and killing
stock, and sometimes killing a man, although the
government had them on their reservations and
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
261
feeding them. On one occasion in or near the
Keechi valley, on the Brazos river, a squad of our
men had a fight with the Indians, in which Sam
Stephens was killed. He was carried to Golcondo
(Palo Pinto) and put in his coffin, and laid out
over night in a wagon; meantime a runner was
dispatched to his father at Stephensville with the
sad news. His father, John M. Stephens, quickly
gathered up a squad of men and hastened to him.
The grief stricken father climbed up and looked
over the side of the wagon, and with just a glance
at the casket containing his beloved boy, came
very near falling. We buried Sam in a temporary
grave about a half mile west of the little village
in a nice cave, firing a volley over his grave, thus
burying him with the honors of war. These re-
serve Indians were an eyesore to the Texas fron-
tier, and the time soon came when the people be-
gan to make preparations to wage a war of ex-
termination against them. Men began to assemble
within a few miles of the reservation by the hun-
dreds under different leaders, as Captain Peter
Garland, John M. Stephens, Captain Cook, Cap-
tain Baylor and others, there being two or three
divisions or camps of the men. One party had a
fight with the rascals, but I have forgotten the
results. About this time the governor took a
262
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
hand and called for a
company of enlisted
men to aid in removing both reservations of
Indians across the Red river into the In-
dian Territory. This company was placed
under command of Captain John Henry Brown,
the writer being a member of it. Early in July
1859 we went into camp near an old Indian vil-
lage, ten or twelve miles from the Caddo Indian
agency, and on the bank of the Brazos. I was
hardly grown and carried a brass barreled pistol,
and so the boys called me "Brown's artillery."
When the Indians finally moved we followed
them to the Little Wichita river where we re-
mained for quite awhile, and where a lad by the
name of Estes and myself, were stricken with
dysentery. Poor Estes died, and I came near
dying. They buried the poor fellow far from hu-
man settlements and without a coffin. From there
we returned to our old camp on the Brazos, and
here those who enlisted with me at Stephensville,
received our discharges by the favor of Captain
Brown.
It was on this trip that I first saw the Mexican
cart, two-wheeled vehicle, drawn by two or three
yoke of oxen, their yokes being placed on top of
their heads, and lashed to and just behind their
horns with strips of rawhide. The wheels of these
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
263
carts which hauled our camp supplies, were some
six or seven feet high, and their tires, five or six
inches wide. We had, I think, some fifteen or
twenty of these carts, and their drivers were a
merry set of Mexicans, who spent the most of
their leisure time playing "monte,” while at night
they usually indulged in songs and jests until late
hours.
I now pass over several years, for the great war
soon come on. I married Miss Letta B. Eatherly
in Franklin county, Arkansas, and finally located
in Eastland county, near the Mausker lake. The
Confederate government required all the able bod-
ied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-
five years to be enlisted for local defense of fron-
tier settlements against the Comanche and other
hostile tribes. So in April, 1863, a company was
organized and mustered in at the Mausker ranch
-composed of the able bodied men in Eastland,
Shackleford and Calahan counties, with four men
from Comanche county. After enlisting all
those, we had only forty men; this will serve to
show how thinly the country was settled.
Our company was divided into four squads or
"scouts" as they were called. One scout would
take their "grub" etc., and go out generally to the
westward of their homes and look for Indian
264
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
signs and do general scouting for ten days, when
they would return to a designated place to meet.
and be relieved by the next "scout." Thus we
served ten days and attended our own affairs
thirty days.
Sing Gilbert was our first captain-a noble and
brave man. This service was continued for some-
thing like a year without any very exciting oc-
currences in our company until in August 1864.
My time to go out came near, but it so happened
that for some cause, my cousin, T. E. Keith (who
is at this writing the county attorney-elect of
Stephens county), came to me and asked to take
my place for this trip or scout and as he got mixed
up very badly with the Indians in a terrible fight
I will let him tell of this scout and its results.
On the 8th day of August, 1864, this scout of
seven men started out under James L. Head, a
corporal. We went west to McGaugh Springs
and camped for the night; on the 9th we started
west intending to follow the Leon river to its
"head." (I think he means the south fork of
Leon). Not more than twenty miles, but we got
only five or six miles when we discovered the trail
of a large band of Indians coming down towards
the settlements. This trail was discovered near
where the Texas Central railroad crosses the Leon
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
265
valley, seven miles east of Cisco. This little band
of men, poorly armed, took up the trail of forty or
more Indians, and followed it southeast, some
twenty-five or thirty miles, to a place where
the town of Jewell now stands, overtook them,
and immediately engaged in battle, but the In-
dians proved to be ready for fight, so Corporal
Head soon ordered a retreat for the Gilbert
ranches, three miles away. About two-thirds of the
Indians were afoot, the balance riding broken-
down Indian ponies, which they expected to ex-
change for "White man's horses. Well our little
band of men afterward scattered to the two Gil-
bert ranches, which were one and a half miles
apart, for recruits. Captain Sing Gilbert lived at
the lower ranch. They all at once got their guns,
mounted and met at the upper ranch for a further
run and fight, and we got it. There were then
twelve men, with Captain Gilbert in command.
We went back to where the fight had occurred,
took up the trail and followed it twelve or fifteen
miles to what is known as Ellison Springs, where
we overtook the Indians for the second time that
day, twelve against forty or more Indians and
two-thirds of them on foot. Captain Gilbert then
and there without any formation of his men, or-
dered a charge and led right up to within thirty
266
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
feet of those foot Indians, halted and fired, then
ordered his men back. Well, he paid for his in-
discretion with his life. An arrow struck him in
the neck as he turned, and in an hour he bled to
death. Button Keith's horse fell and he was
killed on the spot. Tom Gilbert, Tom Cadenhead
and Jim Ellison were all severely wounded.
there was nothing left for us to do but to run for
our lives to Ellison's house three hundred yards
away. Five men out of twelve killed or disabled,
pretty severe fighting. If any Indians were killed
they carried them off as was their custom.
So
To show the endurance of those Indians, will
say that this fight occurred about four o'clock p.
m. They had already traveled thirty-five or forty
miles that day, had two fights; then went to
Stephensville in Erath county, thirty-five or forty
miles further and stole fifty or sixty head of
horses, before daylight next morning.
Our two fallen braves were buried at Stephens-
ville, thirty-five miles away, the nearest burying
place. This disastrous fight will illustrate in part
what the frontiersmen of Texas had to contend
with. We had poor arms, the muzzle loading
rifle and a few old style "Cap and Ball" Colt's
pistols and the home-made single barrel pistol;
usually made from an old rifle barrel, and by local
2
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
267
gunsmiths, converted into a very fair pistol and
reliable for one shot. Then the powder we used
was all home-made, as we were cut off by the war
blockades from commerce and much needed sup-
plies. This powder would kill, but was not re-
liable, and our boys called it "slow-push" powder.
Our gun caps were also home made, were of lead
and very hard to explode.
These frontiersmen seldom stopped to "count
noses" as this fight illustrates, but went in like a
whirlwind when duty called and with such arms
and other facilities as they could snatch up. These
heroes are nearly all gone and will not again be
needed as frontiersmen in Texas, but a braver,
nobler, truer set of men never lived. He was fre-
quently dressed in his buckskin and was rough and
ruddy in his exterior, but in his heart he was en-
dowed with a noble and unselfish disposition.
What he had was yours, if you needed it, and
what he could do for you in your distress he would
do with a will. God surely put him here for his
special but dangerous work, and but for him,
Texas today would no doubt be the home of the
red men and buffalo.
It seems almost like magic to me; often as I
ride in a fine passenger coach over our railroads
and see the country thickly populated with an in-
268
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
dustrious, enterprising and happy people, and the
country dotted over with towns and cities where
forty or fifty years ago I used to see nothing at
all that represented human habitation, and it does
give me a tinge of satisfaction that in my small
way I did what I could to make this glorious
"Garden of the world," habitable for a people.
worthy of it.
I will be sixty-eight years old just one month
from today, and doubtless ere long will be buried
in the ground I fought for. I pray God that this
land of heroes may become as loyal to Him as they
are to their Texas homes.

S. P. ELKINS
CHAPTER XII.
BY S. P. ELKINS, TISHOMINGO, OKLĄ.

N the fall of 1870, Captain J. M.
Swisher raised a ranger company for
frontier protection; I joined his com-
pany and went west; we were sta-
tioned in Coleman County, Texas, at
camp Colorado, and in the winter moved down on
Home creek. We had a picket station of fifteen
men at the mouth of Concho creek in Concho
county. There was one ranch about twelve miles
from the picket station; this ranch was owned by
Rich Coffey. He kept a large force of men hired
for protection, as he was not near any settlement,
and there was nothing in that country but wild
cattle, buffalo, mustang horses, wolves and a few
panthers, and the Kiowa and Comanche Indians
often made raids through there, then would go.
farther east where the ranches were closer, and
there steal horses and kill all they could.
Those that were on the frontier had much to
endure. They did not know at what time they
were going to be killed by the Indians, so they had
270
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
to do the best they could. The ranches would have
stockades built around the houses and would have
port holes cut on all sides of the house so when
the Indians attacked them they could protect
themselves and their families.
The people of those days had something to think
of. There were no neighbors near to lend a help-
ing hand. Some places where the neighbors were
close enough they would have preaching, maybe
once a month. Everybody went armed all the
time. The men wore their pistols the same as
their clothes. They would take their families and
go to meeting, take their guns along and stack
them in one corner of the house until after meet-
ing. They were glad to see each other and would.
shake hands when they met, and also when they
parted, thinking maybe for the last time. When
a stranger came about he was welcomed in and
made to feel at home, no charges, glad to see any
one.
When a man left his family he didn't know
whether he would find them alive when he re-
turned or not.
There was a family killed in 1870 in Brown
county, I have forgotten the name; the man was
in the woods making rails, when he heard his
family screaming, and started to them, and saw
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
271
the house surrounded by the Indians. He had to
stand and hear them scream their last screams, he
having no arms with him, as he thought of no
danger on leaving home. The whole family were
killed, the children's brains knocked out. The
news came to our camp and we started out after
them and about fifteen or twenty miles from
camp we struck the trail of the horses and followed
them as fast as possible until we reached a coun-
try where there were a great many wild mustang
horses. Here we were bothered for some time;
the scope of country that the horses roamed over
was a large one and the weather being dry and
the ground hard, made it difficult to trail the In-
dian's horses. Then we found where the buffa-
loes were traveling in great herds-we could see
thousands at a time-that bothered the trailing of
the Indian's horses, for at best it was difficult to
trail them, the ground being hard and dry and
covered with mesquite grass. We came to places
where they had camped on high points, and other
places in going across mountains where they had
pushed their horses off of high cliffs where we
could not get our horses and pack mules down,
and we would have to find a better way, and would
lose time. On the sixth morning we struck lots of
buffalo that bothered us again, so most of the
272
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
scouts were walking and leading their horses, try-
ing to trail the Indians. Some of the boys were
off to one side shooting buffalo and they came
close to one of the boys that was down walking;
his horse became frightened and jerked loose from
him, and the last that we saw of the horse he was
going back toward home; the owner, Mr. Stover,
followed him, we had no time to follow horses on
the back track. The last we saw of Mr. Stover
until we got back to camp, he was still following
his horse. He was left about a hundred miles
from camp, no houses or roads, nothing to eat ex-
cept what he killed. We traveled all that day and
camped that night, and the next morning while
loading the pack mules and getting ready to start,
the captain and one of the men went out to strike
the trail, the captain had a field glass and was
looking over the prairies, he saw the Indians about
two miles distant. The captain sent this man
back to tell the boys to come as soon as possible.
The boys started ranger style; all get there that
can. The boys were all strung out across the
prairie. Two of the Indians were after a buffalo,
and the balance were driving a bunch of horses.
We were nearest to. the two that were after the
buffalo; they had shot the buffalo and were down
cutting some beef from it, and did not discover us
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
273
until we were about a quarter of a mile from
them. They mounted their horses and started to-
ward their comrades. The Indians that were driv-
ing the horses left them and began trying to get
away; the riding commenced then. We had to
run for several miles before catching them.
There were only three of us in the running
fight; the boys were scattered three miles apart.
The run and the fight were about fifteen miles
long. The Indians ran into a cedar brake and
got in a cave in the head of a ravine. We dis-
mounted and went into the cedar brakes, as it
was too rough to ride into. When the boys all got
there, a part of them were sent on top of the
mountain and the rest at the mouth of the can-
yon, then there was one man left with each bunch
of horses, the balance of us went into the cedar
brake after the Indians. We hadn't gone more
than two hundred yards, looking every way, but
couldn't see anything. All of a sudden the bul-
lets began to pour down on us; but we could not
see where they were coming from, so we left for
a little while until we could reconnoiter and get
them located. We got but two of them, got all
the horses they had and all the blanket saddles;
got but one man shot. Well, night came on and
all of us in the brake and all worn out, no water
274
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
and our horses tired out; we started back to our
pack mules, about fifteen miles, where we had
left them that morning.
We got there late at night and the next morn-
ing we gathered up all the horses we had got
from the Indians and started back to camp. That
fight was on the eleventh day of November, 1870,
and on the thirteenth day it commenced snowing;
snowed all day and all night. We awoke next
morning nearly frozen to death, as we were in the
prairie with no wood; so we saddled up and start-
ed, but the snow got so deep that we had to lay
over two days. You could ride into snow five or
six feet deep where it had drifted into ravines
and gulches. We got on the south side of a moun-
tain where there was some scrubby cedar, and
there we stayed for two days and fared very well.
We would tie the tops of the little cedars together
and rake the snow from under them, then spread
a blanket over them and build a fire. Then at
night we would rake the fire out, spread down our
blankets and do the best we could until morning.
When we got back to camp, the ranch men
gathered in at Camp Colorado and we all had a
time. We had some good times and some bad
ones. There was plenty of game such as buffalo,
antelope, deer and a few bear and panther, but
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
275
it soon got monotonous, seeing them every day.
The first three months that we were out the
government furnished us rations; our bread was
hard tack, full of worms, weevil and spiders; we
killed our own meat. The next three months our
rations got misplaced and we did not have a bite
of bread for twenty-two days; we went to Ca-
manche Town, Texas, there we got one box of
crackers and went back to Coleman county in the
dead of winter. Captain Swisher and four of us
started to Fort Mason for supplies, and the sec-
ond day we met a train of government wagons
with a company of United States soldiers bring-
ing rations to us, then we were all right again.
I was discharged in 1871, and went to Palo
Pinto county, Texas, settled on some vacant land
and started a hog ranch. I put in some new
ground as I had to keep hands hired on account
f the Indians. When we would go to work we
would take our guns along and set them near us
for fear of being attacked by Indians. One of my
men was shot by some traveling men that stayed
with me one night. They mistook him for an
indian. I saw that kind of business wouldn't
do, so I quit and went back to the settlements.
In 1874, Captain Perry of Blanco county, Tex-
as, was getting up a company to go on the fron-
276
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
tier, and I joined his company and went to Men-
ard county, Texas; our headquarters were near
Menardville. We stayed there for some time but
had no fighting to do.
There were six outlaws came to Menardville
one day and shot up the town. The sheriff came
to our camp and asked our captain for help.
The captain detailed six men to go and capture
them. We had no trouble capturing them as we
found them all asleep.
In a short time we moved out on the Sansaba
river near the Raganaw mountains. We kept a
picket on the mountain and our horses in the val-
ley so the picket could see the Indians if they at-
tempted to make a run on us and steal our horses.
One day the picket discovered a trail through the
shinoak brush and followed it until he came to a
cave; he heard something in the cave making a
noise and he came to the camp and got permision.
to shoot a bear. Most of the boys went up the
mountain to have some fun killing bears. The
shinoak brush was very thick all over the side of
the mountain and about as high as a man's head,
and when we got up in front of the cave there
was a clear spot; the boys had gathered here ready
to shoot a bear when it was run out of the cave,
One of the boys threw a rock into the cave and
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
277
something would make a growling noise and grind
its teeth; everyone was ready to shoot the bear
when he ran out, another rock was thrown into
the cave and in a moment out came an avaline or
musk hog, and darted through the crowd, it was
so quick done, gnashing his teeth as he came, that
the boys all fell over in the brush and gave him
room as the brush was too thick to run through.
Their scare was soon over and no one hurt. There
was another rock thrown into the cave and out
came another avaline; he was killed, another
stone was thrown, and out came the third avaline
and he was killed and that ended the excitement.
I stayed with my company but a short time
when I was detailed to go with Major John B.
Jones as one of the escort; there were forty-
two of us in the escort. There were six companies
of Rangers on the frontier, and seven men from
each company were taken to make Major Jones'
escort. We traveled all the time from one com-
pany to the other, the companies were about a
hundred miles apart.
On the third day of July, 1874, the Lost Val-
ley battle was fought; twenty-eight men under
Major John B. Jones against between one hun-
dred and fifty and two hundred Indians. We had
thirteen horses killed and wounded, two men
278
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
killed and two wounded. In November, in Menard
county, we had another fight; killed six Indians
and captured one. We took this Indian to Austin
and he was sent from there to the state prison as
a public enemy. The fight was a running fight
of about fifteen or twenty miles. The Indians ran
onto two of the boys that had gone out to kill
beef; they came to camp and reported, the horses
were run in as quick as possible and we were
soon after the Indians.
Scott Cooley was in this fight. His people were
all killed by the Indians several years before
in Palo Pinto county, in Keechi valley. Scott at
that time was a small boy and the Indians took
him captive; he was afterwards recaptured by the
whites. This gave Cooley a great hatred for the
Indians, and when he got a chance he fought
them hard and close. Cooley had no fear and had
a blood thirst for the Comanches.
In 1877, I moved to McCallow county; there
were about one hundred and fifty inhabitants in
the county and about one hundred of them lived
in Brady City. This was a very dry year and
everything was scarce. I hauled two loads of corn
one hundred and ten miles and as soon as I got
them home the people would want corn bread.
They would get in wagons and go farther west
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
279
to the buffalo range, and kill and dry meat for
their families; but in 1879 the buffalo were all
killed; there were about 1,100 hunters on the
range at one time killing buffalo for their hides.
and tallow, but when the buffalo were killed, that
killed the Indians.
CHAPTER XIII
BY JOHN A. LAFFERTY, PARKER COUNTY, TEXAS.

HAVE a stiff arm and can't write to
do any good. I was shot in my right
arm during the war and afterwards
mashed it with a wagon bed, so it is
badly used up and makes it a little
hard for me to write my experience. I came to
Parker county in the early days, it was unlike any
part of my life, the Indians were on the reserve
in Young county, and at old Camp Cooper, but
our trouble with them soon commenced. A lot
of us in the spring of 1859, concluded we would
move them farther away, but, lo and behold when
we got there Uncle Sam was there with the
United States troops, and we had to back down
and out, but the government moved them that
fall north of Red river, and then our troubles
with them began in earnest, and it continued
until the buffalo hunters and McKinley got after
them in 1878 and 1879, that settled Mr. Indian.
To tell of the hard times and bloody scenes dur-
ing the war and afterwards, would take a mind.

JOHN A. LAFFERTY
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
281
that stored knowledge better than mine. The In-
dians used the scalping knife, and captured wo-
men and children; one incident I never saw in
print is where the Indians on Rock creek, in the
west part of Parker county, took a man's wife
away from him and serenteen of them used her as
they pleased, then shot an arrow in her heart,
and broke it off, then scalped her alive. She
lived in this condition two days and nights, long
enough to tell the horrible treatment she received.
while in their hands. I have hunted over the
ground where this occurred.
The most of the men had been in the army, or
looking after the Indians, so provisions were very
scarce just after the war. A bunch of women
made a raid on Phelp's mill one day and took
everything in the way of bread stuff on hand. I
have known women to go five miles to gather wild
onions to make a meal on. The clabber cheese
that was eaten for bread in those days would
make a man blush in our day of plenty.
To tell of the men that helped to restore order
and bring peace and prosperity to this part of
the country would take volumes, however, I will
name a few of them: The Tackitts, Caldwells,
Woods, the Harts, Pickards, Criswells, John
Squires, Millsaps and Lorings. They are too num-
282
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
erous to mention by name, but were all men of
of the day that didn't flinch from hardships, is
the class of men that laid the foundation to make
Parker county what it is today.
I had the pleasure of attending the Cox reunion.
west of Weatherford, Texas, in 1905, where I
met a few of my old war comrades-Tom Pick-
ard, I. C. Edwards, Allen Parker and George
Johnson-also the pleasure of visiting two sisters
and their families, whom I had not seen in nine-
teen years, and our old Company H, of the Sec-
cond Texas cavalry, the first company that left
Parker county, held a reunion July, 1906, in
Weatherford. There I met old comrades that I
hadn't seen in thirty-five years, and strange as it
may seem, I knew them all but two, as I met
them. But as I have digressed from my tale, I
will drop back to the district court, at Weather-
ford, where Judge Seward was trying to hold
court and Nathaniel Brammer, Edward Hopkins
and the Brooks boys, with the sheriff, got on a hill
northeast of Weatherford and would not let any-
one come to them.
.
Religion was a scarce article at the close of
the war, but like Elijah, there was some that had
not bowed the knee to Baal, if we did have to
worship under brush arbors and in log school
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
283
houses with dirt floors and split log benches. In
these early days men had to go armed for the
redskins, so the preachers would walk to the pul-
pit, those brave enough to come, and lay off their
brace of pistols and preach Christ and Him crnci-
fied. And what meetings we would have, and the
word of God grew and prospered until that coun-
try was crowded with churches and school houses
so you see time don't go backwards but every-
thing goes forward-the country that was once
the home of the Indian and buffalo, the same is
the home of the Anglo-Saxon race, and where the
Indian roamed at will, the iron horse with its
burden of live freight, goes dashing through the
country from New York to San Francisco. Oh,
what changes do come; as we grow older we see
that time waits for no man.
As I went home one time from Weatherford,
getting in about sundown, found my wife, baby
and nephew leaving, I asked what was the trouble,
my wife asked me if I didn't see some Indians
just back on the hill, I told her I didn't, that she
must be mistaken, she said she wasn't, she knew
she saw them. I told her we would stay at home
anyway. Presently our brother- ?in-law came, and
said he saw the Indians; so three families of us
got our horses together and guarded them that
284
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
night, and by doing so, saved our horses, but the
Indians got horses all around us.
At another time, near the same place, at John
Godfrey's, we had been hauling rails and I drove
my wagon up in front of the door, and locked one
of my horses to the hind wheel, the other one
wouldn't let anyone catch him but myself. The
Carnett brothers came about sundown with some
good horses, tied them close to the house; just
after dark the dogs commenced barking. I told
them they had better look after their horses as
the Indians were around, but they laughed at me,
and told me my dog was always finding Indians;
I told them I knew the Indians were around, but
they paid no heed; so after a while I went to the
door, my loose horse had come up so they got up
to see about their horses, when lo and behold the
Indians had slipped up and cut them loose, and
were gone with them, while we had been sitting
there talking. They were very much excited and
one of them said if anybody would go with him
he would go out, let the neighbors know, and try
to get his horses back. I said that I would go
with him. The first house that we came to was
Jim Baker's but he wouldn't come out. The In-
dians had captured him the year before, and came
near getting his scalp; he said the Indians were
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
285
right there and he wasn't coming out. The next
place was Henry Ward's; he went with us, just
as we left his house we passed through a bunch of
horses and struck a pony's track ahead of us.
The next place we aroused the folks, got their
horses and went with us, another went to let a
neighbor know and the man and his son went to
the bunch of horses that we had passed with a
pack of hounds, and the Indians had them
rounded up. When he and his hounds got there,
he and his dogs together scared the red skins off.
He and his boy never stopped running till they
got to where we started from, but in the racket
the Indians were scared away from the horses.
The pony's track kept ahead of us on our round,
but we never got sight of it unless it was as we
returned. We came near meeting an Indian on
the road but he saw us in time to give us the
dodge.
The writer of this imperfect chapter, has
crossed every stream in Texas, from the Canadian
to the Rio Grande and crossed both of those and
spent part of 1861 and 1862 at Fort Clark.
!
CHAPTER XIV.
BY MARY A. BLACKBURN,

A
T one time, while I was alone, some
person called "hello" at the gate
and I went to the door and Charley
Elms had come to tell me that the
Indians were on Cowhouse creek killing everyone.
I took my four little girls and went to Mr. Black-
burn's mother's about a half mile. Mother Black-
burn took her little granddaughter and colored
girl and we all went to William Chalk's as fast
as we could run, got about half a mile away,
looked around and saw fourteen Indians on their
horses. They took after a bunch of horses and
the last I saw of them they were going toward
Noland creek. They had the two little Riggs
girls up behind them at the time. Then they
spied Charley Cruger, and ran him a mile and a
half, to old man Nealy Robert's and then turned
toward the Lampasas mountains and came upon
young Plavy, ox hunting and killed him. We ex-
pected the men who had gone out stock hunting
to be killed, but they came in the next day, and

MARY A. BLACKBURN.
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
287
not seen the Indians, and found all the women
and children, four families, forted up at William
Chalks'. These were the Indians that killed the
.
Riggs family.
Mr. Dallas on Dyer's creek near Georgetown,
a settlement of a few houses, and one store, and
my husband went down and bought two cows and
calves and paid forty dollars in gold, leaving us
ten dollars, but those two cows and calves were
our first start in stock. My husband's father gave
each of his children thirty acres of land and we
built our first home on this land, where we now
live, near Killeen. Thinking to better ourselves,
we took a lease from Ramsey Cox, on Bear creek.
This lease was nothing on earth but a wilderness
full of wild beasts. Mr. Blackburn was compelled
to go to mill and the nearest place was Uncle
Whitefield Chalk's, about twenty-five or thirty
miles distant, and during his absence I was left
entirely alone with my four little girls, the oldest
only about six years, and the youngest, twins of
six months. At night panthers, wolves and bears
all gathered around the house and were so fierce.
and ravenous that I was compelled to bar the door
with the heavy furniture, to keep them from
breaking in and eating my children, and possibly
myself. For six days and nights I was left in
288
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
this condition, not knowing at what minute the
Indians or wild beasts might kill us. During this
time Mr. Blackburn was water bound and it was
only after making a circuit of twice the distance
that he reached home, with his meat and flour.
We made one crop here, then moved back to our
little farm in Nolan. On the 16th day of March,
1859, Mr. Blackburn, Mr. Elms, Mr. O'Mal and
Nate Boberts, all went out that morning to look
after their stock on the Lampasas river, near what
is now Youngsport. Cattle were then running at
large. We were living in a little log cabin, dirt.
floor and board chimney.
One day I had to have water and I drove my
wild oxen, Tom and Dolly; they ran away with
me threw me off and injured my foot. They ran
on to a deep hole of water and into it they went,
slide, barrel and all. On our way home from Bear
creek, night overtook us on the other side of Cow-
house creek. I had one baby, and my husband was
carrying the other. The one my husband carried
was crying, and two panthers took after us, and
ran us half a mile, and I thought every minute
they would pull the babies out of our arms. When
we got to the creek our faithful old dog, Cash,
met us and ran them off. When we lived on the
Salon our brother-in-law, Allen Rickets, and wife,
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
289
came to see if we were in need of anything. My
husband and brother-in-law went fishing and
caught a lot of fish; ate all but the head of one
large one, and next day we only had this large
fish head to make soup for dinner; so fish head
soup was all we had for dinner but we made
merry over it and enjoyed it very much. We did
not know where we would get the next meal,
but that evening our good old friend, Buckskin
Smith, brought us a quarter of fat venison.
I was sitting in the room one day and heard
the dogs coming across the prairie, looked out
and a big bear was coming straight for the house.
I was so frightened I left my baby sitting on the
bed and climbed the wall of the house, I left
the door open, the house was made of split logs,
The bear climbed a tree within twenty steps of
the door. Our good old dog, Cash, pulled it out
of the tree and my husband and Mr. Smith shot it.
The war broke out in 1861. My husband went
out in 1864 and was gone eighteen months. I
was left alone with five little girls. There were
but two or three old white men in our settlement
and a few negroes and I was as afraid of them
as I could be. I had a very hard time; worked
the corn field all day, sat up till 11 o'clock at
night, carding, spinning and weaving. My oldest
ぎ
​290
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
little girl held the candle for me while I made
blankets and gloves for the soldiers, and cloth
for my family. We had a pair of oxen with which
I had to haul wood and water, go to mill and to
church. They appointed Mr. John Roberts to kill
beef for the women. I would take my oxen and
wagon and go four miles for beef. I also yoked
my oxen and took Mr. Blackburn's mother and
my mother and family, went to the camp ground,
five miles and camped. It is three miles west of
Nolanville on Nolan creek. After the meeting
broke up, my sister-in-law and myself came home
after our oxen. We stayed at home ourselves, and
thought we would have to go four miles after
them, but as luck would have it, they were in
the lot lying down. There were a few old preach-
ers left on the Cowhouse creek and they brought
their cradles and came over and cut my wheat
for me. My oldest little girl and myself hauled
it and stacked it ourselves. After a while they
came and threshed it for us. I worked so hard
in the corn field that year, that I never got over
it. As you all know, Confederate money wasn't
any account. I paid Mr. Jaconic, $75, for four
yards of calico and my first baby cradle was made
out of a hollow post oak tree, sawed down and
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
291
split open, planks nailed in the ends and the
rockers put on.
My first churn was made out of a pine box and
my table out of three-foot post oak boards, my
bedstead one leg holes made in the walls and poles
put in, and then fastened to the one leg. I tell
all the girls my piano was the spinning wheel. 1
have it yet. The year we lived on Bear creek we
had no meat but wild meat. The old Tennessee
gray squirrel immigrated from Arkansas; every
bush and tree was full for two weeks, we had
squirrel for breakfast, dinner and supper. They
disappeared, I don't know where they went.
Women these days don't know anything about
hard times and I hope I may never experience an-
other such time as during the war.
I had three dear brothers killed in the war; J.
M. Chambers and W. S. Chambers, killed in
Pennsylvania under Lee, and T. H. Williams (a
half brother) captured and died in Nashville. I
am a faithful old Methodist, have camped on No-
lan creek 58 years, at our annual camp meeting
grounds. We have a beautiful camp ground, fine
water and pecan groves.
We had no railroad then, took our butter and
eggs to market, at Koss, Texas. 500 pounds of
butter, two barrels, and 100 dozen eggs. Butter
292
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
was 40 cents per pound and eggs 40 cents per
dozen at wholesale. Then when the railroad came
to Austin, Texas, we would go there to market. I
took a big whiskey barrel of butter, 500 pounds,
sold all to one hotel man at 20 cents per pound.
We had one thousand head of cattle at one
time, in the dry year of 1879, we drove out west
to Coleman county, the winter was so severe it
killed and drifted them so that we did not have
many left, some drifted back home to Bell county.
We increased them again in 1882; stock cattle
sold for $25.00 per head. In 1887 we drove to
pasture again and the winter was very severe, we
lost nearly all of them again. We would brand
150 calves every year. You see we are very old
Texans, my husband is 75, and I am 76 years old.

ERMINE REDWINE
CHAPTER XV.
BY MRS. ERMINE REDWINE, RISING STAR, Texas.

WAS only a child of four years when
my father moved from Kentucky to
Texas, and my recollection of my
native home is very limited. I re-
member the fine apple tree that stood
in the front yard. My mother was rocked to sleep
when a babe under the shade of that old apple
tree her father planted there. The weeping willow
that stood near the gate I remember well. I can
see my cousin, Fanny B., in my imagination to-
day, standing near that beautiful tree, fit em-
blem of her feelings, after the good-byes were said,
for she was weeping too. Our old Kentucky home
was within one mile of the Cumberland river,
where the boats landed. My mother and I were
born there, and it would no doubt have been very
dear to me had I lived there until I could have
realized the worth of a nice home. My father,
Samuel T. Treadwell, was born in South Carolina
in 1808. My mother, daughter of William and
Sallie Jones, was born in Kentucky in 1816; they
were married in 1833; mother died in 1872;
father died in 1982. How often I have heard the
old folks talk of their old Kentucky home, the
conveniences, the beautiful flowers, the grand old
orchard, the old rock spring, good houses, all went
.
294
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
to make up the conveniences of life. They soon
learned that they had left a paradise and landed
in a wilderness.
MY OLD TEXAS HOME.
We came on a boat from the old home to
Shreveport, Louisiana. From there we went over-
land in ox wagons. We stopped at Uncle Milton
Jones, my mother's brother, on the 4th of July,
1850, Independence day. I don't imagine that
the people of the Lone Star state felt very in-
dependent those days. Mother was delighted to
meet her brother; he had been in Texas several
years; he was a Methodist preacher and a farmer,
and had gone through many hardships. Away
back in the old time, preachers had to work be-
tween appointments, ride horseback, swim creeks
and rivers and stop wherever night had overtaken
them. Many times their bed was made of their
saddle blanket and their saddle bags for a pillow.
Uncle Milton preached the first sermon we heard
in Texas; he preached in a little log school house;
it was the best the people could do and that is
all the Lord requires of His people. Dear old
uncle, he has long since passed to his reward and
is sweetly resting from his labors. Father rented
some land and made his first crop in 1851; we
lived in a little log cabin that answered for a
living room and kitchen; there were no luxuries
for the first settlers. There were several fami-
lies in the neighborhod, and they decided to
build a school house. It was a pine log pen with
the old fashioned stick and dirt chimney that took
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
295
up almost one side of the house; the floor was
of puncheons; the benches were made of pine logs
split open, with holes bored in them, and round
pegs, I call them, for legs, no backs to lean on
for a change. I guess we as little restless tots
would get tired, but kept it to ourselves, as teach-
ers away back in the fifties were very strict in
their rules in that noted school house. When
finished up we had a puncheon slab that reached
across one end of the house which answered for
a writing desk. In place of a glass window, an
opening between the pine logs was left to give
light for the little pioneer children to see how
to write. Mss Fannie Wood from Shelby county
taught our school. I can remember but very
little about her, as I was only five years old. The
rude log cabin and its furnishings I remember
very well. I had an adventure during that school
that is still fresh in my memory.
There was a young lady going to school that
had a nice book with beautiful pictures. I had
a great anxiety to look at those pictures. One
evening after school was dismissed and all had
gone home, I decided I would go to the school
house and have a good time inspecting the nice
book. It was only a short distance from home,
so I slipped off from my mother and I got back
so quick she never missed me. Of course I went
to the school house as quick as possible. Just as
I went to make a step in at the door, I saw
through a big crack in the wall an awful look-
ing beast eating the scraps the children had
296
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
thrown on the hearth; it had dark brown and
bright yellow rings around it from its nose to the
tip of its tail. I have often thought if it hadn't
been for that big crack in the wall I would have
been torn to pieces by that awful looking beast;
I stepped back lightly, too; and I made a run
for home on double quick time. I never gave in
my experience when I got back home because I
knew I had done wrong in slipping away from
my mother, as no doubt she had warned us
children from getting too far away from the
house alone. The moral of this little incident
is obedience, or rather teaches obedience.
There were bear, panther, deer, turkey and a
great many other kinds of game there in old Rusk
county. There were no Indians to bother us. I
am glad I never had any acquaintance with them,
for hearing others tell of their depredations
among the early settlers is horrible to think of.
If there is any that deserves a monument to their
memory, it is the old Indian fighters and the
preachers that stood by their post on the frontier
of Texas. After all the privation of the early
settlers, in building homes, churches and schools,
preparing to live in peace and quiet, the war cry
was heard again. My experience during the civil
war was very limited, as we Texas girls never
heard the roar of cannon, at least I never did. I
am glad I never had to witness the suffering of
the wounded and dying on the battlefield. I have
heard some of the old mothers tell of their ex-
periences after the battle, dear old gray-haired
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
297
mothers will soon be gone. While we call the
soldier the hero of the battlefield, the mothers
are the heroines. The people of Texas had many
troubles and privations to endure and most of us
had to work hard, raise all we ate and wore at
home, and had to say good bye to fathers, broth-
ers and sweethearts, yet Texas never suffered from
the effect of the war like many other states. It
was hard on us poor southern girls to have to
spin and weave our own dresses; they looked aw-
fully coarse and ugly, as many of us had never
woven any cloth, much less worn such shoddy
looking goods. We southern girls wasn't the kind
to give up; as fast as we would get one web of
our common looking cloth out of the loom we
would get another ready. The women of the
south were like the soldiers in the field; they
thought they were fighting for their rights, and
we as true southern women were fighting the
home battles in adverse circumstances. We would
spin, weave and sing, hurrah for the home spun
dress that southern ladies wore.
The night before my oldest brother started to
the army, the neighbor boys and girls met at
father's and had a farewell party. Most of the
young people were raised in the same neighbor-
hood and several belonged to the same company
brother did, and were going to start the next
morning. It was the saddest gathering of young
people I ever saw; they tried to make the even-
ing as pleasant as possible, yet they thought of
the camp life, the battlefield that was in front
298
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
of them and the probability of never seeing loved
ones any more was enough to make strong men
weep. They would talk and sing at intervals.
They sang the dear old songs in the "Sacred
Harp." When the time came for the singing to
close, the leaders turned to the old song, "Part-
ing Hand."
"My Christian friends in bonds of love,
Whose hearts in sweetest union join,
Your friendship's like a drawing band,
Yet we must take the parting hand."
I don't think I joined in with the singing of
the parting song, my heart was too full for ut-
terance. The next morning the farewell words
were spoken; we watched them as they rode away,
and wondered if we would ever meet again, but
very few of them ever came back. They left
the first day of April, 1862, and on the 17th of
April, 1865, my brother returned after three
years hard service. Uncle Milton was at our
house, leaning back smoking his old clay pipe,
talking with mother; I was at my daily task,
spinning and listening to the old folks talk.
Uncle, lookng down the road, smiled and looked
at me and said, "Ermine, I see him coming."
My first thought was a young man he had been
teasing me about that morning. At a glance I
knew him. I have no language to express my
feelings; it was indeed a happy meeting after
three long, weary years of waiting and watching.
My younger brother, W. L. T., volunteered in
March, 1863, was in Arkansas and Louisiana most
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
299
of the time he was in the service; was sick a
great deal of the time while in the army. The
year the war closed, some time in February, he
left the hospital in Harrisburg, La., on a sick
furlough for home. He wasn't strong, just out
of a spell of sickness, and had to travel on foot,
but he was so anxious to get home that he started,
against the advice of friends. He has never been
heard of since the day he left the hospital. Oh,
how we waited and watched for him thinking
perhaps he was taken prisoner, or perhaps was
taken sick and couldn't write home. But alas,
after a lapse of forty-three years we have never
had a word as to how or where he died. Dear,
sweet brother, you are gone from me, but not
forgotten. All the history that has or ever will
be written concerning the civil war, there is no
language that can ever picture the sorrow and
broken hearts that was left in its trail. Those
that were broken up, just parts of a family, homes
gone to waste and many of them maimed for life.
When I go to the old soldiers' reunion and see
the old battle-scarred veterans, my thoughts go
back to the sixties when I saw them march away
from their homes and loved ones, and I weep again
as I did forty-five years ago. Yes, I'm glad that
my sympathy still runs out for the few that are
still lingering on the shores of time waiting for
the last roll call. I hope when the people of to-
day shall read of the old veterans of the nine-
teenth century, that they will remember us kindly
as the old tried and trusted pioneers that paved
300
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
the road through the wilderness for them. When
the great day shall come I hope we old fathers
and mothers will be found at the right hand of
God where we will have no more good-byes.
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life or friends away,
But let me find them all again,
In that eternal day.
E. R.. 1908.
Born Jan. 29, 1864.

WAR BONNET OF THE CHEYENNES
CHAPTER XVI.
T. J. VANTINE, QUANAH, TEXAS.

WENT out in the spring of 1860 un-
der Bill Fitzue as Captain, from Mc-
Kinney, Collins county, Texas; we
went by way of Jonesboro, and from
there to Ft. Belknap, where we join-
ed M. T. Johnson's regiment and then moved out
about 12 miles north of Fort Belknap. The first
night on guard were Ed Mires, Bill Tight and
myself. Ed Mires was standing under a pecan
tree, our stands were about 75 yards apart. I
left my stand on some account and went to Bill
Mires' stand and when I got to Ed's stand I
found Bill Right there. As I sat down against
the pecan tree Ed was standing under, my horse
took a scare and jerked me down and then Ed
Mires hallooed "Indians," and began to shoot. I
got up and saw the Indian that was behind the
tree from Ed and then I began to shoot with a
Navy 6 and Bill Right and Ed Mires said for
Lord sake don't leave us. Bill came back and
the Indians shot a dozen or so arrows, and we
kept firing until we exhausted our ammunition,
saving only one round for future use. By that
time our captain and the rest of the company
came to our aid and then the Indians left us. It
was so dark that we couldn't follow them. The
302
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
next morning we started a scout after them. We
were in a thin oak thicket and the Indians had a
good hiding place in there. We found much blood
next morning after the shooting, but no dead In-
dians. They stampeded our horses, and it took
us two days to get them together. Then we moved
about fifteen miles farther on towards the Brazos
river and camped about two weeks there. Then
we went out on a two weeks' scout and trav-
eled about two days west, close to the Brazos river,
and then we camped on a small prairie that was
surrounded by tall, thin oaks. We put out our
guards about seventy-five yards apart and along
about 10 or 11 o'clock at night the Indians be-
gan to show up in five or six different places
around our camp. The boys began to shoot, four
or five at a time. They kept it up all night.
That was the first trip for some of the boys, and
they were all excited. There were about seventy-
five Texas rangers in that scout, who wanted to
move the camp that night. The others did not
want to go because they were afraid the Indians
would molest us. If we stayed till morning we
would have a chance to get out, but the next
morning the captain said we had better go back
to the regiment. There wasn't enough of us to
fight them then, and when we got back to camp
we were ordered out on another scout at the head
of the Washita river. A large number of Indians.
were headed for the Wichitas. We at once went
after them but didn't strike their trail. We were
out ten days before we turned back to camp. Then
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
303
we moved camp and started for the Wichita moun-
tains, and camped on the west prong of Otter
creek at Colonel Van Daran's old camp.
camp. We
scouted that country about two months and killed
buffalo and antelope and hunted Indians for pas-
time. The Indians were reported to be there and
threatening our camp. We had been hunting for
them about a week and couldn't find them. Dave
Wash and I were out hunting bear one day and
we found a mountain where the rocks were broken
open and made an opening where one could walk
in about seventy yards, and there was a bear den
in there and we went back to camp and our col-
onel, M. T. Johnson, gave us orders for no one to
leave camp without orders, but I wanted to kill
a bear by myself, so the next morning about the
break of day I slipped out through the guards
and struck out for the bear den about four miles
away. I got about three miles but there were many
coyotes and lobo wolves howling. I heard one
that howled different from the rest of them. I
began to hunt to see what it was, and I saw a
big Indian standing on the bank of East Otter
creek. I drew my gun down to fire. I thought
that I could hit him, but I missed, the ball strik-
ing right at the left of where he stood. I had a
muzzle loading Mississippi rifle which threw an
ounce ball. I went through the motion of load-
ing right quick and threw my gun down on him
again, and he ran into the brush. I turned then
and ran behind a hog back mountain and ran
about half a mile to where I left my horse. I
had gained the spur of the mountain when I
304
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
looked to see if the Indians were coming on the
other side, but I saw none.
When I looked back
I struck my foot against a rock, but I lost no
time in the fall. I ran against my lariat pin and
knocked it out and done my rope up as I ran and
jumped on my horse and went back to camp. I
didn't let any grass grow under his feet. When
I got to camp my captain came out and took
hold of my horse and asked me what was the
matter. I told him I shot at an Indian up on
East Otter creek. He said I might consider my-
self under arrest and he took me to the colonel's
headquarters and they assessed my fine at ten
days on guard duty, two hours on, and four hours
off. I stood two turns. On the third turn I
called to the corporal of the guard that my time
was up, and he started around with the relief,
and before he got to me I laid down and went
to sleep, and the fellow that was going to stand
where I stood, begged them to let me lay there
for company, and so they assessed me ten days
more, two hours on and four hours off. They
started a scout after the Indians the day I came
in, and found fifty of them close to where I shot
at that one. They ran them up about Fort Cobb
and the Indians all scattered and they couldn't
follow them any farther. Then we moved camp
about fifteen or twenty miles on the south prong
of Red river, and that night they put me on
guard, right close to a big slew, and the guards
were about seventy-five or eighty yards apart.
About 10 o'clock that night a big bear came splash-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
305
ing through the water. He passed a
He passed a man by
the name of Vanvaris and then by me, and then
by a fellow by the name of Van Winkel. The
bear had caught a mussel and was sitting upon
his haunches eating it. He was a fair target for
Van Winkle, and he fell dead right there. Van
Winkle hallooed "Indians," and ran into camp.
but I didn't believe it was and stayed at my
station. When Van Winkle ran into camp the
whole company came out. They asked me where
the Indians were, and I told them I hadn't seen
any, and didn't think there were any Indians
here. Then they asked me where Van Winkle
stood, and I went down and showed them where
he stood. Then I looked over the weeds and
water and saw the bear lying where he had given
him a dead shot, and they went back to camp.
That was the last night of my sentry duty. We
scouted around there about two weeks longer and
then we started out on the famous scout. We
crossed the South Canadian where that emigrant
train was capured by the Indians in 1849, and
the people all murdered; it was not very far
from the old Adobe fort. We went on and crossed
the North Canadian, then we struck across the
plains to the Cimarron river. When we got to
the river we traveled its banks four days and a
half. We ran out of provisions the day before
we struck the Cimmarron; then we traveled up
the river four days and a half, then we lay idle
a half day. Every Indian camp we struck the
ashes was full of beads.
306
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
A man by the name of John Huff and I were
out hunting; we both had big guns; he claimed
he had the best gun and I claimed I had the best.
We were standing on the side of the mountain
and there was a stump on the other side of the
valley on a mountain, we shot at the stump to
see who had the best gun. John Huff shot first
and he hit right at the root on the right hand
side; I shot and hit right at the root on the left
hand side; then we went over to the stump and
called it a tie shot. While we were up there look-
ing around there was in a big crevice in a rock
and an old dead Indian lay in there wrapped in a
blue blanket, and I wanted Huff to go down and
get him but he wouldn't do it, so I told him that
I would go down; that I wasn't afraid of a dead
Indian, so I went down and unwrapped him.
There was nothing there but the bones and
hide, so we just took a little bone off the shoulder
and left the rest lay. We went back to camp and
told the boys and a good many of them went and
got a bone to take home with them. One Indian
guide said this Indian was a brother of a Chicka-
saw Chief. After that we started on another
scout, four of us. We went up into the moun-
tains and saw a Mexican lion laying upon a rock
jutting over four or five feet, and we took a shot.
at him, and he came rolling down nearly to
where we were before he stopped and he showed
fight at sight of us and nearly scared our horses.
We couldn't get within fifty yards of him. We
shot him several times, but he didn't die, and we
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
30%
were afraid to go to him on foot. We then took
our scout about half a mile further and saw
three Indians. We were afraid to follow them on
account of running into a big bunch of them, and
also getting cut off from the camp; so we went
back to camp. There were fifteen men out that
never came back and they fared worse than we
did. They traveled all day and didn't get any-
thing to eat. They killed a wild cat and ate it
and the next day after they eat the wild cat they
killed an Indian pony. The Indian had just
gotten off of him and went to the brush. After they
killed him they cut out of him what they wanted
and went on about five miles and stopped and
got supper. They went on again until away after
dark so as to dodge the Indians; that was the
way we all traveled, so we would not have any
fire where we camped. Those men traveled
straight for the Wichita mountains. Before they
got to the mountains they ran onto part of their
own regiment and took them to be Indians, and
their regiment also took them to be Indians, and
they all began to shoot and broke for the brush.
When they got together they were surprised but
there was great rejoicing. They all went to the
mountains with the regiment; they got through
two days before we did. Now I will refer back
to our camp on the Cimarron river.
We started the next morning traveling east up
a big level flat. There was a rock about ten miles
ahead of us that was fifteen feet high and as big
as a house. It was flat on top, and was called the
308
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
Indian rock. When the Indians were traveling
through the country and came to that rock they
all left something-such as rings, ear rings, and
beads. It seemed as though they worshipped that
rock. After we got there our Indian guide
didn't know the road any farther, and so we trav-
eled through an unknown country without any
guide for four hundred miles. We traveled that
day about ten miles farther and camped for the
night with but little to eat or drink. Next morn-
ing we started about sunrise and traveled about
five miles and came across an Indian trail going
east. Then we went ten miles farther and camped
We had killed three deer that day and some rab-
bits, so we fared pretty well for supper and break-
fast. We started pretty early next morning and
travled about fifteen miles and struck the brakes,
and there we struck another Indian trail about
the same size as the first one. going the same
direction. Traveling on about five miles farther
we struck a stream which we took to be the
North Canadian river; there we saw quite a few
Indian signs and traveled on about six miles
and camped for the night; then we went through
a smooth prairie country for about fifteen miles.
Our hunters had killed some deer that day so
we had plenty to eat. That day we traveled
about ten miles farther. That evening as the
hunters came in they saw three Indians right
south of us; that was all the Indians we saw
that day. We camped there that night but was
off next morning by daylight. We went ten miles
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
309
and crossed a stream that we took to be the South
Canadian. We traveled all that day and didn't
have much to eat that night. The next day we
traveled through a rough country and killed a
bear and two deer and one or two turkeys. We
ate the deer meat for breakfast and the bear
meat for supper and camped for the night again.
We started about two o'clock in the morning and
traveled over a pretty level country for ten miles.
We stopped then to let our horses graze and eat
breakfast; it was about eight o'clock when we
ate. We started on the march again about ten
o'clock; we traveled till about two o'clock and
then we let our horses graze an hour or so; some
of them had little to eat and most of them didn't
have anything. We traveled on about seven miles
farther, when there was a bunch of about one
hundred head of wild horses ran through our
ranks. As we were marching there was a colt
that joined us from the bunch of wild
horses, and we let him follow along with us.
We traveled about five miles and came across a
lone buffalo: they killed and skinned him and
took his hide for moccasins and bridle reins.
We went down to the creek and camped.
there was plenty of wild grapes and nice running
water. Three men and myself went a quarter of
a mile below the rest of them and got our suppers,
Later the three men saddled their horses
and rode off, leaving me alone. About ten o'clock
at night I thought I heard the Indians hello
right close to me. I took my horse and moved
310
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
him about a hundred yards farther up the creek,
closer to where the company was camped. I ran
onto a man in a ditch asleep. I woke him up
and told him I heard Indians, and that we would
have to stand guard, and he agreed to stand guard
two hours off and two hours on till daylight. I
stood the first two hours and woke him up and he
was to stand two hours. In about an hour I
woke up and he was asleep, so we both stood
guard from then until morning. About four
o'clock in the morning those three men who left
me alone came back and camped right close to
where they had eaten their suppers that night,
camping by an old dry stump about twenty
feet high; it was covered with old dry vines and
they built a fire by the stump and the vines caught
fire and made a big light, they could see it for
miles and we thought it was Indians, and we were
as still as death for about five minutes, till the fire
went down and we hailed them before we went up
to the fire, and when we went up we saw that
they were the men who left me that night, and
they asked me if I hadn't followed them all night.
I told them no, that they had traveled all night
and had come back to where they had eaten their
suppers the night before. I told them I would
show them when daylight came where they had
eaten their suppers. We ate our breakfast, then
about sunrise and started on our journey east,
right down the creek that we were camped on;
traveled about three miles, rode up on a high rocky
mountain to look around and see if we could see
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
311
any Indians or the rest of the company coming,
but we didn't see any Indians anywhere; then we
looked west and saw our company coming. We
waited till they were within four hundred yards.
of us to see if they were Indians or our boys. We
saw they were our boys and we came down to fall
in line with the company. The three men I
camped with the night before were aiming to
leave the company and go to Fort Belknap by
themselves, but got lost and came back to where
they started from that night. We traveled on
till about eleven o'clock that day and stopped te
graze our horses a couple of hours when our hunt-
ers came in. They reported seeing five Indians
about a half a mile south. All we had for din-
ner was Mesquite beans and hack-berries and a
few prickly pear apples. We started again on
the march about one or two o'clock and traveled
about ten miles. We came to what they called
Dog Town or Red river, about half of us camped
on one side and about half on the other side. We
had nothing to eat or drink when we camped.
We dug down about three feet in the river and
found a little alkali salt water. The party that
camped on the west side of the river then sent
us word that they had killed three buffaloes and
found water. We all went over there and camped
with them. We had plenty meat to eat and
plenty of water to drink; we laid down and all
went to sleep, and our officers were all out and
we didn't put out any guards. About four o'clock
in the morning, just as the moon was going down
312
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
we heard two shots, and then the Indians began
to yell and ran through our camp, taking sixty-
two head of our riding ponies and pack mules.
Captain Sull and Pete Ross fired at the Indians.
as they passed right over them. I heard the cap-
tain say to shoot at the yelling Indians and to
shoot downward. The yelling and shooting scared
me so I couldn't keep my hat on my head. There
was a pond of water close, and two or three of
our boys were scared so bad that they ran and
jumped into that pond of water. I had turned
my horse loose that night and just left him drag
his lariat and I had to go and hunt him up my-
self, because I wouldn't ask anybody else to go
with me. I went up the river about six hundred
yards with my army six in my hand. I found
my horse, got on him and looked around and saw
another horse. I went and got him and took
him to camp with me. The owner of the horse
came to me when I got to camp and said he
wouldn't have went out after him for a dozen
horses. When daylight came our colonel called
for all of those who had good horses to follow the
Indians, and I was one of the men that went with
the detail after the Indians. We went about six
miles when we found the Indian Chief's head
dress. It was fine polished buffalo horns and cov-
ered with velvet and painted feathers and beads;
then we went on about half a mile farther and
came to a hill. We sent four or five men to look
over the hill and saw our horses; the streams
forked there. There were two tribes of Indians;
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
318
one tribe camped on one side, and one on the
other. They were herding our horses between the
two tribes, and there were so many of them we
didn't tackle them. We went back to camp and
the orders were that we wouldn't travel any that
day. Some of the boys who lost their horses
cried. We stayed there all day, and along about
three or four o'clock in the afternoon there were
a few shots fired through our camp. We had lost
fifteen men on the Cimarron and Major Fitzue
thought it was them shooting through our camp,
thinking we were Indians. So Major Fitzue went
out about five hundred yards and hallooed at them
and waved his hat, and he said they shot so close
to him that he knew it wasn't our boys. Then we
stayed there until dark and piled our saddles and
pack saddles and everything we couldn't carry
with us and burned them up. We threw our cook-
ing utensils into a hole of water. We traveled
right down the bed of the river ten miles and
went up in the sand hills about three miles and
camped. Most of us had no water or anything to
eat that night. The next morning we traveled
till about 11 o'clock and got off and left our
horses graze and the men on foot have a rest,
and we had nothing to eat or drink. We started
again and traveled two miles and left Joe and
John England under a mesquite bush, played out.
We traveled about a mile further and left Frank
Hunter under another bush. I was carrying a
man behind me and I stopped to get him on my
314
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
horse, and the man that was on behind me ob-
jected and hallooed at Major Fitzue that I was
going to get off and make him get off and take
Frank Hunter on. Major Fitzue said to tell me
to get on and come on or he would have me dis-
mounted in half a minute. I told Frank if we
found water anywhere close I would come back
and get him. We went about six miles and found
water, but it was so salty we could not drink it.
The officer was quarreling down in the bed of the
river, and there were about twenty-five men who
got down along the side of the banks and began
to pray.
Word came down the river that there
was plenty of nice water about four hundred yards.
above. We all started up the river to the water,
and when we got there it was alkali or jip, and
they drank so much of it that it made them all
sick. The man who was riding behind me jumped
off into the water, clothes and all. There was a
man who came down the river and told us that
about a quarter of a mile above was a nice stream
of water and a good nice fortification. We all
went up there and found it all O. K., and then
sent back and got the boys we left and sent out
hunting parties. My mess didn't kill any game.
I was at Captain Burlson's company, and his com-
pany had killed three deer, and he gave me half
a deer to take to Major Fitzue, and told me to
tell Major Fitzue to divide it among his men that
had nothing to eat. I had two shirts on, so I
cut off all the flesh I could and poked it in he-
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
315
tween my shirts, and told the major that Captain
Burlson told him to divide it among the men who
had nothing to eat. The major told me to cur
me a piece and say nothing, so I cut it in two
and went to my mess and told them how I treated
the major, and they said it was all right, that
the major was always a rascal, so we ate our sup-
per and when night came we all went on guard.
We carried rocks and logs and made a fort. They
put about fifty men in about two hundred feet,
and none of us slept that night. Our lientenant-
colonel, Smith, went up and down the lines and
talked to every man. He told them they would
have to stand and fight as though they knew no
danger. Then the guard sent word down the
river that there was a large force of Indians com-
ing down the river, and Colonel Smith kept go-
ing up and down the lines telling his men not to
shoot until they could kill an Indian. He told
them if they ran they were gone, but if they stood
they had a good chance to save themselves. The
Indians came up on the other side of the river
from us, and the moon was shining as bright as
day, when all at once the Indians made the aw-
fulest whistle I ever heard. I thought sure they
were coming, so I braced up to face the storm.
They turned back, and Smith told us to hold our
places, for they might come from some other di-
rection, but they never came in that night; we
stayed there and didn't sleep any that night. The
next morning we found that about half a dozen
316
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
men had their horses saddled to get away, while
we did the fighting.
We got our breakfast and started out about
sunrise and traveled about ten or twelve miles
and found a pretty good place and thought we
would stay all night, and sent out hunting parties
to get game to strengthen the boys up a little. We
got enough game for our supper and breakfast.
We had to travel slow on account of our men on
foot. We started the next morning after break-
fast and traveled about twelve miles farther. That
day our south guard saw Indians about half a
mile away, but as there were only two, we paid not
the least attention to them. We traveled until we
came to a good camping place where we had
plenty of water, but we had very little to eat,
enough for supper but nothing for breakfast. We
traveled on ten or twelve miles again, and our
men on foot got so they could walk better than
they did all forenoon. They picked mesquites,
beans and prickly-pear apples as they went along
for their breakfast. Nothing more of note hap-
pened for four or five days. When we got to the
river we got some buffalo and steers that had
strayed off from the settlers. Before we got there
we killed three or four bears in one place, and up
in the shinoaks we saw some musk hogs. When
we got to the river we found out where we were.
Some of the boys had been there before. We
crossed Peas river about twenty miles above Mule
creek, where the Indians captured Cinthy Ann
Parker. After that there was nothing more of
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
317
note happened until we got to the Wichita river,
then we camped on the Big Wichita a day or two,
and the colonel sent four men to Fort Belknap
to get provisions, about sixty miles, and I was
one that went. We traveled about thirty miles and
met Till Yelton and others about midnight with
a train of pack mules and guards, with provisions
for our scout. We were gone so long that they
were going to hunt us up, to see what had be-
come of us. A fellow by the name of Jim Lewis,
had eaten so much bacon and stuff that it made
him sick, and we had to roll him all night, so
we didn't get to Fort Belknap till about noon
the next day. We stayed at Belknap about four
or five days and there were about two hundred of
our men who came in, and we were discharged.
John R. Bailor went out with four or five men
the day before I was discharged and he came in
the next evening with seven Indian's scalps, and
that was the last of the scout. I will go back and
tell of some more Indian and buffalo chases that
I wasn't in, but some of my company were.
Four men up in the Wichita mountains upon
seeing a like number of Indians gave chase. They
took after them and the Indians broke for a
creek where it was awful brushy. They got within
about three hundred yards of them, but couldn't
get any closer, so they ran them for about three
miles till the Indians got into the brush and there
they gave up. White men never follow them any
farther than where they strike the brush, then
they quit them. When the men came back they
318
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
said an Indian could get more ride out of a horse
than a white man could. Every time our boys
went to shoot, the Indians would gain ground on
them, but they had an interesting chase of it.
And a few days after that there were five of us
went out on a buffalo hunt. We got after some
buffaloes and wounded two or three of them, and
one of the wounded buffaloes stopped and showed
fight. He made a lunge at one of the horses and
and hooked one of them in the side and knocked
him down and ran over him, the man was kicked
about fifteen feet. He got up, ran and jumped
into a gulley and said: "Wasn't I lucky not to
get killed?" He then jumped
He then jumped on behind an-
other man and went back to camp. Two months
after that Phillip Yelton went out buffalo hunt-
ing by himself. He saw some buffalo about two
hundred yards from him, so he got off his horse
and slipped up on one and shot at him. He
thought he had killed it but when he came close
to him he jumped up and made at Phillip. He
shot at him again and the buffalo whirled around
six or eight times, and every time he whirled
around he would shoot him again. Three or four
of the other men saw the fight, and got there in
time to attract the buffalo's attention so Phillip
could get away. After he had emptied both of his
six shooters, the men ran up and patted him on
the shoulders and said: "Bully for you, Phillip."
This closed our campaign for the year 1860.
THE END.

A TEXAS COTTON MARKET OF TODAY
INDEX
CHAPTER I.
Charles Goodnight
7
CHAUTER II.
Emanuel Dubbs
29
CHAPTER III.
Emanuel Dubbs-Part II.
61
CHAUTER IV.
F. R. McCracken
100
CHAPTER V.
F. R. McCracken
105
CHAPTER VI.
S
John A. Hart
117
CHAPTER VII.
John A. Hart
137
CHAPTER VIII.
James D. Newberry
201
CHAPTER IX.
Mrs. Mary A. Nunley
225
CHAPTER X.
Tilatha Wilson English
245
320
HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS.
CHAPTER XI. .
Geo. B. Ely
254
CHAPTER XII.
S. P. Elkins
269
CHAPTER XIII.
John A. Lafferty
280
CHAPTER XIV.
Mary A. Blackburn
286
CHAPTER XV.
Mrs. Ermine Redwine
293
CHAPTER XVI.
T. J. Vantine
301


DE
23201031
449 NO
1060
H

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 02672 8769
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SEP
1 1993
AUG 1 8 1993
DATE DUE
!