The Men Who War the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers (51 page)

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Authors: Charles M. Robinson III

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  3: Serving the Republic
 
  1. Hacker,
    Cynthia Ann Parker,
    6–7.
  2. Hogan,
    Texas Republic,
    198; James W. Parker in Lofton et al.,
    Rachel Plummer
    Narrative,
    5. The history of the Parker family may be found in Hacker,
    Cynthia
    Ann Parker.
  3. The main source of information on this raid is found in Lofton et al.,
    Rachel
    Plummer Narrative,
    which contains accounts by survivors and rescued captives.
  4. Erath, “Memoirs,” 26:4:271–72; Sawyer to Coleman, August 12, 1836, quoted in Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    27; Smithwick,
    Evolution of a State,
    108.
  5. Smithwick,
    Evolution of a State,
    112.
  6. Ibid., 151; Erath, “Memoirs,” 26:4:273.
  7. Erath, “Memoirs,” 26:4:273.
  8. Duval,
    Early Times in Texas,
    30–31.
  9. Smithwick,
    Evolution of a State,
    108; Jenkins,
    Recollections,
    50n.
  10. Erath, “Memoirs,” 26:4:275.
  11. Ibid., 26:4:274–75.
  12. Smithwick,
    Evolution of a State,
    113.
  13. Ibid., 113–15; Jenkins,
    Recollections,
    50–51.
  14. Smithwick,
    Evolution of a State,
    116–17, 154; Jenkins,
    Recollections,
    50n.
  15. Wallace and Hoebel,
    The Comanches,
    259.
  16. Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    143–44.
  17. Greene,
    The Last Captive,
    57.
  18. Richardson,
    Texas,
    107.
  19. Ibid., 50–51; Barker,
    Stephen F. Austin,
    442–43.
  20. An act defining the pay of Mounted Riflemen, now and hereafter in the ranging service on the frontier, December 10, 1836, in Gammel,
    Laws of Texas,
    1:74.
  21. Treaty Between Texas and the Tonkawa Indians, November 22, 1837, Winfrey and Day,
    Texas Indian Papers,
    1:28–30; Treaty Between Texas and the Lipan Indians, January 8, 1838, ibid., 1:30–32.
  22. “Brazos,”
    Life of Robert Hall,
    45.
  23. Robinson, “Cannibal Heroes,” 33.
  24. “Brazos,”
    Life of Robert Hall,
    46.
  25. Smithwick,
    Evolution of a State,
    179.
  26. Richardson,
    Texas,
    111; Siegel,
    Poet President of Texas,
    51.
  27. Lamar’s life and career are discussed in Siegel,
    Poet President,
    and Lamar’s own monumental six-volume
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    which remains one of the most important sources for this period of Texas history.
  28. Siegel,
    Poet President,
    54–58; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    48–53. The Indian and Mexican policies are also extensively discussed in Vols. 2 and 3 of
    Papers of
    Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    particularly nos. 1613 (3:230) and 1805a (3:393). Lamar’s interest in Mexican relations is mentioned in nos. 959 (2:373–74) and 973 (2:389–90).
  29. Myers Papers, Folder 10.
  30. An act to authorize the raising of a company of fifty-six men for the ranging service, January 15, 1839, Gammel,
    Laws of Texas,
    2:44; An act to provide for the raising of three Companies of Mounted Volunteers for frontier service against the hostile Indians, January 23, 1839, ibid., 2:78; “a corps of rangers . . . ,” An act for the raising of certain Troops therein named, January 26, 1839, ibid., 2:93.
  31. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    46; Jenkins,
    Recollections,
    179; “My heart rose to my throat . . . ,” Brown,
    Indian Wars and Pioneers,
    70–71.
  32. Brown,
    Indian Wars and Pioneers,
    71–72; Jenkins,
    Recollections,
    179n; “raised a hideous yell . . . ,” Houston
    Telegraph
    (later known as
    Telegraph and Texas Register
    ), June 5, 1839.
  33. Houston
    Telegraph,
    June 5, 1839.
  34. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    47.
  35. Siegel,
    Poet President,
    102-3; Lamar Papers 1049,
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    2:437–40; White,
    News of the Plains and Rockies,
    2:150; Austin
    Daily Bulletin,
    December 15, 1841. TheTexans had surrendered to Mexican authorities in New Mexico in scattered groups in September and October 1841, but apparently by December word had not reached the Austin paper, which received its information in a roundabout way via the head of the Santa Fe Trail in Missouri and then through New Orleans. See Bancroft,
    Arizona and New Mexico,
    322–23.
  36. Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    71; proclamation, Lamar Papers 1972,
    Papers of Mirabeau
    Buonaparte Lamar,
    488–95; Connor, “Austin, 1839–1842,” 79.
  37. White,
    News of the Plains and Rockies,
    2:150; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    71–72; Bancroft,
    Arizona and New Mexico,
    323.
  38. The term “cow-boy” originated with these bandits, who initially had rounded up abandoned Mexican cattle in the area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande and driven them into Texas for sale. From there, they expanded into general banditry, although “cowboy” ultimately came to mean anyone who worked cattle for a living. See DeShields,
    Border Wars of Texas,
    190; Dobie, “Mustang Gray,” 110.
  39. Lamar Papers 1742,
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    3:350–51.
  40. Lamar Papers 2081, ibid., 3:563–65. Kinney’s questionable allegiance is discussed in Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    93–94.
  41. Lamar Papers 2081,
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    3:563–65.
  42. Linn,
    Reminiscences,
    322.
  43. Ibid., 322–24. Linn translated for the survivor when he gave a deposition on the massacre to the authorities in Victoria. Gray’s story is told in Dobie, “Mustang Gray: Fact, Tradition, and Song.”
  4: A Great Captain and a New Weapon
 
  1. Houston to J. Pinckney Henderson, February 20, 1844, in Williams and Barker,
    Writings,
    4:268.
  2. Lockhart, “Jack Hays’Visit to Washington, Texas,” 3.
  3. Hays is the subject of many scattered pieces, but only one serious biography,
    Colonel Jack Hays: Frontier Leader and California Builder,
    by James Kimmins Greer. An abridged version that deletes most of the material on Hays’s life after he left Texas was published as
    Texas Ranger: Jack Hays in the Frontier Southwest.
    Aside from Greer’s work, the most complete biography is “Jack Hays, the Intrepid Texas Ranger,” a compilation edited by J. Marvin Hunter and published as a series in
    Frontier Times
    magazine in 1927. The series was reprinted in pamphlet form the following year. Much of Hunter’s material was taken from an unpublished manuscript, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays, the Texas Rangers, Incidents in Texas and Mexico, Etc.,” compiled by Hays’s friend and associate Maj. John Caperton, who got most of his material from Hays himself. The biographical sketch in the text is derived primarily from Hunter’s initial installment in
    Frontier Times,
    Vol. 4, no. 5 (February 1927), and from Greer,
    Colonel Jack Hays,
    15–21. Houston mentioned his friendship with Harmon Hays in a letter to John C. Hays, September 14, 1842, in Williams and Barker,
    Writings,
    4:144–45.
  4. Brice,
    Great Comanche Raid,
    3.
  5. Henry W. Karnes to Albert Sidney Johnston, secretary of war, January 10, 1840, Winfrey and Day,
    Texas Indian Papers,
    1:101–2; Johnston to Fisher, January 30, 1840, ibid., 1:105–6.
  6. Matilda Lockhart never completely recovered from the abuse and died within three years of her liberation. See Wilbarger,
    Indian Depredations,
    3–4.
  7. Brice,
    Great Comanche Raid,
    22–25; Wilbarger,
    Indian Depredations,
    23–24; DeShields,
    Border Wars,
    289–90.
  8. Brice,
    Great Comanche Raid,
    26–27; DeShields,
    Border Wars,
    294–95.
  9. Brice,
    Great Comanche Raid,
    28–33; Linn,
    Reminiscences,
    338–41; Houston
    Telegraph,
    August 19, 1840.
  10. Brice,
    Great Comanche Raid,
    29.
  11. “Brazos,”
    Life of Robert Hall,
    53–54.
  12. Ibid., 54-55; Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    17; DeShields,
    Border
    Wars,
    299–301; Wilbarger,
    Indian Depredations,
    31–33; Felix Huston to Archer, August 12, 1840, Houston
    Telegraph,
    August 26, 1840; Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    84–85.
  13. Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    86–89.
  14. Brice,
    Great Comanche Raid,
    69; Greer,
    Colonel Jack Hays,
    34–39.
  15. An Act to Complete the Organization of the Militia, January 18, 1841, Gammel,
    Laws of Texas,
    2:115–16; Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    91–92.
  16. Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    21.
  17. Greer,
    Texas Ranger,
    10.
  18. Sowell,
    Early Settlers and Indian Fighters,
    20.
  19. Robinson, “The Forgotten Fight at Bandera Pass,” 23.
  20. Roemer,
    Texas,
    132.
  21. DeShields, “Jack Hays[’] Fight on the Gaudaloupe [
    sic
    ],” 1.
  22. Lamar Papers 2432,
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    4:1:234; Hunter, “Jack Hays,” 4:5:28; Robinson, “Forgotten Fight at Bandera Pass,” 23. “Jaeger” or “Yager” generally refers to the U.S. Model 1841 rifle, although it might also mean the so-called Kentucky rifle, also common on the frontier.
  23. Wilson,
    Colt, an American Legend,
    10.
  24. Ibid., 16.
  25. Wilbarger,
    Indian Depredations,
    72.
  26. Koury,
    Arms for Texas,
    9–10.
  27. Ibid., 29.
  28. Hockley to Albert Sidney Johnston, March 28, 1839, reprinted in ibid., 78–81.
  29. Memucan Hunt, Secretary of the Navy, to Captain E. W. Moore, April 29, 1839, in ibid., 29; Moore quoted in ibid., 42.
  30. Greer,
    Colonel Jack Hays,
    94–95.
  31. Hays to Archer, July 1, 1841, Lamar Papers 2431,
    Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
    4:1:234. There are several conflicts between these accounts. In such cases, Hays’s report to Archer is used.
  32. Lamar Papers 2432, ibid., 4:1:234–35.
  33. Lockhart, “Jack Hays’Visit to Washington, Texas,” 1–2.
  34. Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    27.
  35. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    111–12.
  36. Ibid., 112. Near the end of the nineteenth century, Creed Taylor, who had served with Hays’s Rangers in the 1840s, mentioned the Enchanted Rock Fight, which he said occurred in 1841, although he admitted he “was not with him” in that fight. James T. DeShields recorded Taylor’s reminiscences as “Jack Hays[’] Fight on the Gaudaloupe [
    sic
    ],” 2.
  37. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    111.
  38. Opinion of the Secretary of State on the Financial and War Policy of the Country, December 22, 1841, in Jones,
    Memoranda and Official Correspondence,
    124–25.
  39. James,
    The Raven,
    320–21.
  40. Houston to Margaret Lea Houston, December 29, 1841, Roberts,
    Personal Correspondence,
    155; Houston to Hays, September 14, 1842, in Williams and Barker,
    Writings of Sam Houston,
    4:144–45; James,
    The Raven,
    321.
  41. Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    18–19, 117.
  42. Sowell,
    Life of“Big Foot”Wallace,
    55.
  43. Ibid., 55–58.
  44. Ibid., 58–59; Hogan,
    Texas Republic,
    258.
  45. Sowell,
    Life of “Big Foot” Wallace,
    90–91; Richardson,
    Texas,
    120; Brown,
    Indian Wars and Pioneers,
    140–41; Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    63–68.
  46. Sowell,
    Life of “Big Foot” Wallace,
    94.
  47. Houston to Hays, September 14, 1842, in Williams and Barker,
    Writings of Sam
    Houston,
    4:144–45.
  48. Hunter, “Jack Hays,” 28–29; Caperton, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays,” 11–13.
  49. Greer,
    Colonel Jack Hays,
    94–95.
  50. Wilkins,
    The Legend Begins,
    175.
  51. Thomas G. Western to Sam Houston, June 16, 1844, in Winfrey and Day,
    Texas
    Indian Papers,
    2:72–73; “some sixty-five or seventy warriors . . . ,” Maverick,
    Memoirs,
    76–77; “two cylinders and both loaded,” Rufus Perry to John H. Jenkins, in Jenkins,
    Recollections,
    145. The fight is reconstructed from several sources that do not entirely agree on minor points, but generally tell the same story. Mrs. Maverick heard it from Hays twelve days after the fight, upon his return to San Antonio.
  52. Thomas G. Western to Sam Houston, June 16, 1844, in Winfrey and Day,
    Texas
    Indian Papers,
    2:73.
  53. Bridges,
    Black Powder Gun Digest,
    51–53; Rose,
    Gen. Ben McCulloch,
    68.
  5: Bound for the Rio Grande
 
  1. Richardson,
    Texas,
    121–23; Fehrenbach,
    Lone Star,
    262–66. Jones’s life and career are discussed in Gambrell,
    Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas.
  2. Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    30.
  3. Ibid., 30; Weems,
    To Conquer a Peace,
    55–58.
  4. Jones to Taylor, August 6, 1845, U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Executive Document No. 60, 30th Congress, First Session (hereinafter cited as HED 60): 83–84.
  5. “reputation as a partisan,” Taylor to AG USA, September 14, 1845, ibid., 107; Bliss to Hays, September 12, 1845, TAGF.
  6. Grant,
    Personal Memoirs,
    53.
  7. Sowell,
    “Big Foot” Wallace,
    122. Sowell was born in 1848, five years after his cousin J. L. Shepard was shot for drawing a fatal bean. The memory remained in the family, however, and Sowell knew many equally bitter survivors of the lottery.
  8. Taylor to AG USA, November 19, 1845, HED 60:114; Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular
    Irregulars,
    24.
  9. “Brazos,”
    Life of Robert Hall,
    77.
  10. Local residents don’t usually consider the Arroyo Colorado to be a branch of the Rio Grande, the river proper (and international boundary) being the main or southern channel. The area between the arroyo and the main channel is, in fact, a large delta island.
  11. Henry,
    Campaign Sketches,
    59–65; Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    24–25. Unless otherwise stated, all distances along the Rio Grande, where the author was born, reared, and presently lives, are overland, and do not account for the various bends and twists of the river that can double or triple the figure.
  12. Henry,
    Campaign Sketches,
    77–79; Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    25; Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    63.
  13. Henry,
    Campaign Sketches,
    83.
  14. Taylor to AG USA, April 26, 1846, HED 60:288; Brooks,
    Mexican War,
    108. Wilkins (
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    25) listsWalker’s company as having ninetyoneprivates. Brooks’s figure isused here because of timeliness of his account.
  15. Kuykendall, “Col. Samuel H. Walker,” 1–3; Webb,
    Texas Rangers,
    84; Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    24; Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    70.
  16. Kuykendall, “Col. Samuel H. Walker,” 7.
  17. Weems,
    To Conquer a Peace,
    126.
  18. Eisenhower,
    So Far from God,
    74; Henry,
    Campaign Sketches,
    85; Taylor to AG USA, May 3, 1846, HED 60:289–90; Brooks,
    Mexican War,
    108.
  19. Taylor to AG USA, May 3, 1846, HED 60:288–89; Brooks,
    Mexican War,
    108–9; Lee,
    Three Years Among the Comanches,
    71–72.
  20. Taylor to AG USA, May 5, 1846; Brown to Taylor, May 4, 1846, both HED 60:292–94.
  21. Taylor to AG USA, May 20, 1846, ibid., 299.
  22. Holland, “Diary of a Texan Volunteer,” 1–2.
  23. Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    36–41; Caperton, “Sketch of Colonel John C. Hays,” 42–43.
  24. Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    26.
  25. “Arms turned in by Cap[tain] Walker, July 22, 1846,” Walker Papers. These arms were turned in by Walker when his company’s initial enlistment expired, and before being incorporated into the First Texas. Interestingly enough, none of the revolvers were turned in, although some accessories were.
  26. McCulloch’s life is covered by Victor M. Rose in
    The Life and Services of Gen.
    Ben McCulloch.
  27. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    26.
  28. Ibid., 26.
  29. Grant to Julia Dent, July 25, 1846, Grant,
    Personal Memoirs,
    918. Not until the twentieth century were United States regular officers empowered to exercise full military control and discipline over state troops in federal service. Duringthenineteenth century, they were primarily the responsibility of their own officers, who often were elected by the men they commanded and like wise could be removed.
  30. Oates, “Texas Rangers in the Mexican War,” 66.
  31. Lane,
    Adventures and Recollections,
    56.
  32. Clayton and Chance,
    March to Monterrey,
    31; Bauer,
    Mexican War,
    87; Brooks,
    Mexican War,
    163.
  33. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    53.
  34. Clayton and Chance,
    March to Monterrey,
    37.
  35. Ibid., 37; Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    59.
  36. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    60–61. Reid suggests this celebration was held in Matamoros, but Lieutenant Dilworth’s diary (Clayton and Chance,
    March to
    Monterrey,
    37) indicates the first units of Rangers had arrived in Reynosa on June 21. Reid may have compiled anecdotes from several different companies, presenting them as personal experiences.
  37. Holland, “Diary of a Texan Volunteer,” 11.
  38. Ibid., 12. Much of Holland’s diary for July 1846 is a litany of illness and death. Aside from climate and terrain-totally different from the pine forests of east Texas-tropical fevers and the deplorable sanitary conditions of military camps claimed the lives of many troops, especially volunteers, during the months they spent along the Rio Grande in the Mexican War. Construction crews occasionally discover large numbers of graves at the sites of the American camps on the Mexican side of the river.
  39. Ibid., 19.
  40. Ibid., 12.
  41. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    56–57.
  42. Ibid., 57–58.
  43. Well into August, Taylor did not believe the Mexicans would attempt to defend the city. By the end of the month, however, he had information on Monterrey’s fortifications and Mexican defense preparations and realized he would have to fight. See Bauer,
    The Mexican War,
    89.
  44. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    46–47; Clayton and Chance,
    March to Monterrey,
    36.
  45. Clayton and Chance,
    March to Monterrey,
    35.
  46. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    66. In
    Buffalo Hump and the Penateka Comanches,
    Jodye and Thomas Schilz do not mention any depredations by Buffalo Hump along the Rio Grande in 1846, although they say (32–33) that the following year he led a major raid deep into Coahuila and Chihuahua. General Taylor, however, reported “extensive depredations upon the Mexican inhabitants of Mier.” Taylor to AG USA, August 3, 1846, HED 60:402.
  47. Wilkins,
    Highly Irregular Irregulars,
    65; “to have a parley . . . ,” Reid,
    Scouting
    Expeditions,
    66.
  48. Reid,
    Scouting Expeditions,
    67–68.
  49. Ibid., 68–74.

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