Post by plutronus on Aug 16, 2020 10:05:27 GMT
Interesting reading....
From: swco.ttu.edu/WestTexas/indexes/CycloneAugust%2007.pdf
Page: 3 ~ 5
The Frontier of Texas in the seventies was turbulent
Page: 3 ~ 5
The Frontier of Texas in the seventies was turbulent
The line of counties beginning with Clay on the north and including Jack, Young, Parker, Stephens, Eastland, Erath, Comanche, Brown, McCullough, Menard, Mason, Kimble, Kerr, Real, Uvalde, and Val Verde were constantly beset with dangers from marauding Indians, organized bands of thieves and notorious outlaws. Menard county had its rival bands of cattle thieves. Kimble county outlaws attacked Fort McKavett horse thieves under the very shadow of the officers’ mess. Mason county suffered from inroads of thieves from Llano county.
On June 25, 1874, Wilson Hey, county judge of Mason county wrote to Governor Coke as follows:
"At the request of the citizens of this county I would respectfully represent to you that parties from Llano and other counties are continually depredating upon the cattle of said citizens: that during the last month parties of Llano County... in open violation of the law have been gathered and driving cattle from Mason county without having them inspected as the law directs. And it is a positive fact that some of our citizens havehad to go to Llano, a distance of twenty-five miles, and take from herds the very same milch-cows that they had more than once taken from herds before, and the cows having been driven from their range and their calves left in the pens and when forbearance ceased to be a virtue and warrants were sworn out for the depredators they made open threats that if they came after them with the sheriff, that they would...fight."
Comanche county was endangered by the presence of John Wesley Hardin and Jim Taylor, leaders of a band of desperate characters. On May 28, 1874, the business and professional men of Comanche to the number oftwenty-three memorialized the Governor in the following language:
"Your petitioners, citizens of Comanche county, respectfully represent that the county of Comanche is infested with a band of murderers and thieves headed by the notorious John Wesley Hardin and Jim Taylor that renders the lives and property of peaceable citizens unsafe. They represent that on the 25th day of May, 1874, that said Hardin and Taylor came into the town of Comanche and wantonly murdered one Charlie Webb, the deputy sheriff of Brown county, who was then peaceable and quietly attending to his private business. They further represent that they come in such large numbers that they invariably escape before a sufficient number of citizens can be armed and brought together. They further represent that in order to protect themselves they are compelled at great expense and neglect of their usual peaceable vocations to keep a large number of armed men in the field and they therefore pray your excellency that you would detail twenty-five or thirty men of Capt. Waller’s command of the frontier troops to be stationed at the town of Comanche to be subject to the orders of the sheriff of this county and that they be especially charged with the capture of the said John Wesley Hardin and Jim Taylor and their co-adjutors. That the unrest among the citizenry was genuine is borne out in Captain J. R. Waller’sreport to Major Jones."
"At the request of the citizens of this county I would respectfully represent to you that parties from Llano and other counties are continually depredating upon the cattle of said citizens: that during the last month parties of Llano County... in open violation of the law have been gathered and driving cattle from Mason county without having them inspected as the law directs. And it is a positive fact that some of our citizens havehad to go to Llano, a distance of twenty-five miles, and take from herds the very same milch-cows that they had more than once taken from herds before, and the cows having been driven from their range and their calves left in the pens and when forbearance ceased to be a virtue and warrants were sworn out for the depredators they made open threats that if they came after them with the sheriff, that they would...fight."
Comanche county was endangered by the presence of John Wesley Hardin and Jim Taylor, leaders of a band of desperate characters. On May 28, 1874, the business and professional men of Comanche to the number oftwenty-three memorialized the Governor in the following language:
"Your petitioners, citizens of Comanche county, respectfully represent that the county of Comanche is infested with a band of murderers and thieves headed by the notorious John Wesley Hardin and Jim Taylor that renders the lives and property of peaceable citizens unsafe. They represent that on the 25th day of May, 1874, that said Hardin and Taylor came into the town of Comanche and wantonly murdered one Charlie Webb, the deputy sheriff of Brown county, who was then peaceable and quietly attending to his private business. They further represent that they come in such large numbers that they invariably escape before a sufficient number of citizens can be armed and brought together. They further represent that in order to protect themselves they are compelled at great expense and neglect of their usual peaceable vocations to keep a large number of armed men in the field and they therefore pray your excellency that you would detail twenty-five or thirty men of Capt. Waller’s command of the frontier troops to be stationed at the town of Comanche to be subject to the orders of the sheriff of this county and that they be especially charged with the capture of the said John Wesley Hardin and Jim Taylor and their co-adjutors. That the unrest among the citizenry was genuine is borne out in Captain J. R. Waller’sreport to Major Jones."
On May 30, 1874, Waller wrote:
"My company was mustered in on Monday, May 25th. Since which time I have been in active service trying to arrest the John Wesley Hardin gang of murders that are preying on the lives of the citizens of this county.... The people of this county have forwarded petitions to the governor asking that my command be kept here until the county is cleaned of the desperadoes as there is a great deal more danger from them than from the Indians."
"My company was mustered in on Monday, May 25th. Since which time I have been in active service trying to arrest the John Wesley Hardin gang of murders that are preying on the lives of the citizens of this county.... The people of this county have forwarded petitions to the governor asking that my command be kept here until the county is cleaned of the desperadoes as there is a great deal more danger from them than from the Indians."
There were serious Indians disturbances in this region, however. Big-Foot, the Kiowa chief, was active during the moonlight nights ofeach succeeding month. He slipped from the Fort Sill Reservation with ease and daring, andt he frontier settlements from Red River to lower Burnett county felt the rigor of his cunning and ruthlessness. His band murdered the Johnson family in Burnett county. He charged the Williams ranch settlement in Brown county in open daylight and made good his escape.
Santanta and his band murdered a group of government teamsters in Jack county. The Millsaps, Lovings, and Landrums were attacked in Parker county, the Fraziers were murdered in Palo Pinto county.
So great was the peril of the settlers on the frontier, when the legislature met in 1874, a bill was passed to reorganizing the state ranger force and providing for a battalion of rangers of six companies of seventy-five mounted men each to be stationed along the frontier counties from Red River to the Rio Grande. The bill was approved by Governor Richard Coke on April 10, 1874, and Adjutant General William Steele began preparations for the mustering into service of the new organization.
Each company was assigned one captain, one first lieutenant and one second lieutenant. The second general order issued by General Steele on May 6, 1874, gave directions for the organization of the force. Captains will proceed at once to the organization of their company, calling to their aid the lieutenants assigned to them.
The period of service will be twelve months unless sooner discharged. As it is expected that the force will be kept actively employed during their term of service, only sound young men without families and with horses will be received. Persons under indictment or of known bad character or habitual drunkards will be rejected.
The captains in the force drew mostly a salary of one hundred dollars. Lieutenants received seventy-five dollars, sergeants fifty dollars per month, while the salary of corporals and privates was forty dollars per month. Each man furnished his own horse and saddle and revolver. The adjutant general’s department furnished each man with a breech-loading rifle at cost, the price of the arm being deducted from the first month’s pay. The state also furnished ammunition for all classes of arms as well as subsistence for both men and horses.
Each company was equipped with draft animals and wagons, tents, blankets, cooking utensils and pack saddles. Captain Jeff Maltby of Burnett county was named as commander of Company E and was directed to recruit his men from the citizenry of Burnett, Brown and Coleman counties. Captain Maltby was a native of Illinois. He came to Texas prior to the War-Between-the-States and was living in Burnett county at the beginning of the war (Civil War).
He served as captain of Company G, Seventeenth Texas Volunteer Infantry from the outbreak of the war until February 19, 1863, at which time he resigned his commission because of poor health. He returned to his home in 1863 and was one of the leaders of a group of determined men who fought the Indians during the perilous days of 1863-1865.
When provision for the organization of the Frontier Battalion was made by the legislature in 1874, the friends of Captain Maltby put him forward for appointment as major of the battalion. Governor Richard Coke chose Major John B. Jones as commanding officer for the new force and Captain Maltby was forced to be content with the command of one of the companies of the battalion.
First Lieutenant James Connell and Second Lieutenant B. F. Best were the other commissioned officers of Company E. Maltby, Connell, Best and thirty Burnett county men left Austin, Texas, May 10, 1874, for Brownwood to complete the organization ofthe company. They carried arms and ammunition for Captain Waller’s company at Comanche and for Company E as well. They reached Brownwood on June 5, 1874, and proceeded with the enlistment of recruits from Brown and Coleman counties. That the youngmen of the frontier counties were eager for service is attested in the filling of the quota of the company on June 6, one day following the arrival of the officers in Brownwood. Temporary provisions for maintaining the company were left to Captain Maltby, and he made a contract with John Gilbert, a merchant of Brownwood, to furnish the necessary supplies until Major Jones could order the company’s provisions from Dallas. Feed for the horses was bought locally. The firm of McPeters and Nichols of Brownwood contracted to furnish shelled corn for the company’s needs at one dollar and forty cents per bushel. Corn was bought in varying quantities from one hundred to six hundred bushels at a time.
The month of June 1874 was spent in scout duty in Brown, San Saba, and Lampassas counties. A small detachment of the company was under the direction of the sheriff of Brown county, aiding in the arrest of numerous thieves who were at that time being harbored by some of the disreputable citizenry. The remainder of the company under the command of Captain Maltby went into camp at the mouth of Mud Creek on the Jim Ned in the western section of Brown county.
Under the terms of the law providing for the force, the ranger companies were to be maintained under strict military discipline. That Company E was far from this is attested in a communication from Major John B. Jones to Adjutant General William Steele dated August 9, 1874. James reported to Steele that he had visited the headquarters of Company E and found Captain Maltby absent in Burnett county, Lieutenant Connell was away on sick leave, while Lieutenant Best was absent in Brownwood.
The camp was in a slovenly condition with the men all idle. The horses were neither hobbled nor side-lined and were being guarded by only one man. On August 15, 1874, Jones wrote to Maltby and directed him to maintain more strict discipline over his men. His letter was a virtual ultimatum to the captain either to improve his company or resign. That Jones had found conditions as he described is borne out in an episode which occurred on the night of August 17, 1874.
A detail of twelve men under Corporal Henry Sackett had escorted Major Jones from camp Mud Creek to Menardville. On their return to camp they camped for the night a few miles below the mouth of the Concho River. That night a small band of Indians surprised the rangers and drove away their horses, leaving them forty miles from their headquarters without mounts. Major John B. Jones Immediately following the visit of Major Jones, Lieutenant Connell resigned and Lieutenant Best became first lieutenant. B. S. Foster became second lieutenant.
General order No. 8, issued by Adjutant General Steele and dated November 15, 1874, reduced the personnel of all companies of the battalion toone lieutenant, two sergeants, three corporals, and twenty-five enlisted men.
On December 13, 1874, Captain Maltby and Lieutenant Best were relieved and lieutenant B. S. Foster became the commanding officer of the company.
The Indian depredations on the frontier were always perpetrated during moonlight nights, when the light aided them in locating horses. In entering the territory of Brown, Coleman and other counties below these, the Indians chose trails by certain geographical eminences. These were Caddo Peak in central Callahan county, Robinson’s Peak in western Callahan county, Table Mountain in north eastern Runnels county, and Santa Anna Mountain in eastern Colemancounty. The rangers came to watch these places with interest and rarely failed to find the trail of depredating bands around these mountains.
One of the activities of Company E was to clear the country of the troublesome Indians. On July 30, Captain Maltby reported to Jones. Scouting parties first twenty days. July 24, Lt. Best and 21 men to guard Table Mt. Pass struck Indian trail and divided. Sgt. Israel and 10 men in pursuit. Met six Indians coming in. Two Indians killed and two mortally wounded.
On October 30, he wrote:
"On October 19, Sargt. Israel and 16 menon scout to Table Mountain. On night of 19, near the Wiggins Ranch five Indians ran in and tried to stampede the horses, killing A. Trotter’s horse. The horse being side-lined and hobbled, the guards ready to receive them, all they got was a few needle cartridges and returned rather in a hurry; not wishing horses at that time."
Later in November another brush with Indians was the incident which served the purpose of ridding the frontier of Big-Foot andh is troublesome band. A detachment of Maltby’s troops were on a scout in the vicinity of Santa Anna mountain. They found the trail of a band of Indians coming in from the northwest. The trail was so plain the men were able tofollow it at a brisk gallop. The Indians were overtaken on the waters of Clear Creek in Brown county, five miles west of Brownwood. As it was growing dusk the Indians were charged and two of them were killed and scalped, others wounded but lost in the darkness and brush. Big-Foot and his braves escaped southward into San Saba county where they stole several horses then turned back through Coleman county and headed toward Table Mountain. Three days later Captain Maltby and eight men picked up their trail and followed it westward to Valley Creek in Runnels county. They located the Indians in camp just as darkness approached. As they approached nearer, the ground became sandy and their horses’ feet made but very little noise. In this cautious manner they rode up behind a clump of small trees and brush and to within two hundred yards of the fire, where they halted and made a careful survey of the camp. They discovered that horses were tied south of the fire and that one horse was tied west of the fire and their position was east of the fire. Two Indians seemed to be on guard, as they walked about to the fire and back to the horses. The horse west of the fire was from every appearance Jim Brown’s race horse, Gray Eagle, and his rider was a woman. The other five Indians were busy around the fire cooking beef which they had killed when they made this halt.
There were others about attending to the horses that they had ridden through the day. All the horses that were tied around the fire were fresh horses for the Indians to get away on in case they were overtaken. As they were so busy cooking, our party saw that plenty of time was given them to mature their plan of attack. The charge was sudden and desperate in strict keeping with the Texas Rangers. At the sound of the horses’ feet, Big-Foot and his lieutenant sprang to their horses, but before Big-Foot could mount, Captain Jeff’s six shooter spoke its voice of death and Big-Foot’s horse fell dead. Big-Foot then turned and aimed his Spencer rifle, but before he could pull the trigger Captain Jeff’s pistol spoke again, and it’s leaden messenger of death went to the mark, knocking the hammer off of the Indian’s gun and driving it into his cheek, then glanced down striking him in the jugular vein and breaking his neck. The blood spurted high and Big-Foot fell to rise no more. In this fight the Indian band was practically wiped out and their death had a most salutary effect. Only a few Indians ever came into this section following the death of Big-Foot. Scouting for Indians and chasing them was not the sole mark of the frontier company. With the spread of the cattle kingdom stealing on the frontier became a grave problem. The report of Lieutenant Best for April 1875, is indicative ofthe condition.
He wrote:
“Scouting and searching for thieves.” The report of Lieutenant Best for April 1876, reads as follows: "On April 9, Sargt. Israel and seven men started to execute a warrant issued by chief justice of Coleman county, to arrest one C. King, charge of stealing one yoke of steers and trading them to W. L. McAuley for a pony. Started after dark, rode to Twin Mountains on Bayou. Next day arrested said C. King within three miles of Green’s ranch. Returned to head of Deep Creek Bayou, camp Colorado; delivered prisoner up to court who took the pony in possessiona nd sent prisoner on his way rejoicing. "
His report for February 1877, read:
“Arrested two thieves who had stolen property from Joe Smith on Elm Creek in Taylor county. Eight rangers followed, arrested and took themto jail in Eastland.” On orders from Major Jones, Company E moved from Camp Colorado to Kickapoo Creek in Concho county. For April the report runs: “Arrested cattle thieves. Guarded prisoners at request of Judge of Coleman City. Arrestedmurderer and took him to Austin.”
Coleman was not the only town on the frontier that needed the protection of the rangers during the turbulent seventies. Menardville suffered much from the rivalry of thieving bands located in Kimble and Menard counties. The Menard county men lived in the vicinity of Fort McKavett. Upon the arrest of a member of either of the groups there was sure to be trouble for the sheriff when the case was called for trial. Company E was called upon to furnish court protection in Menardville six times between September 1877 and December 1878.
A tragedy occurred at Fort McKavett that is indicative of the times:
January 15, Lt. Reynolds and scout returned from Ft. McKavett where some Negroes robbed Ben Johnson and George Stevens (teamsters of the Bat’l.) of their pistols and when ordered to surrender by Lt. Reynolds they replied they would die first, and fired, doing no damage, and then a fight took place between the rangers and the negroes which resulted in the killing of three Negroes, our loss was one man wounded (Tim McCarty) from which he later died. Lieutenant N. O. Reynolds succeeded to the command of Company E in September 1877. The entire company moved to Comanche at this time upon orders from Major Jones for the purpose of guarding John Wesley Hardin during his trial for the killing of Charles Webb, a deputy sheriff of Brown county. Hardin was escorted from Austin, where he had been held in jail since his arrest in Florida. Upon arrival in Comanche, Reynolds found that feeling against Hardin was strong. He took precautions to meet possible mob violence by placing the rangers inside the jailyard and the jail itself. The trial of Hardin was conducted without interruption and he received a sentence of twenty-five years in the penitentiary for the killing of Webb. Company E was called on for guard duty and a detail under Reynolds escorted Hardin to the penitentiary at Huntsville.
Photo
Outlaw Sam Bass
Less that a year following the handling of Hardin, Reynolds and his company were called upon to assist in the capture of Sam Bass. At the time Bass and his band made their appearance in Round Rock, Company E was stationed at San Saba. Major Jones, learning of the plans of the outlaws to rob the bank in Round Rock, sent word for Lieutenant Reynolds to lose no time in rushing a detail of his company to aid in the capture of Sam Bass and his band. Reynolds received the message around seven o’clock in the evening. In company with Sergeant Neville and six privates he set out for an all-night ride. The rangers arrived in Round Rock just after noon, but too late to take part in the gun battle that was fought in the street between the outlaws and two members of Company E who had accompanied Major Jones from Austin along with two local officers and a Travis county deputy sheriff. A detail of the company under the leadership of Sergeant Neville found Bass during the afternoon and brought him to Round Rock where he died from wounds suffered in the fight with officers under the command of Major Jones.
[Travis Robert Havins (1890-1976) was a history professor and chairman of the department of social studies at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. The son of a sheepherder, Havins worked his way through college, earning a BA from Howard Payne in 1927 and an MA from the University of Texas in 1931. He completed his PhD from the University of Texas in 1941 before serving the Army Air Force during World War II. He served on the Texas Prison Board from 1947 to 1953 and is recognized for helping reform the state’s prison system. He was the author of numerous articles and several books, including a history of Brown County. In 1959, he was made a fellow of the Texas State Historical Society.]
Santanta and his band murdered a group of government teamsters in Jack county. The Millsaps, Lovings, and Landrums were attacked in Parker county, the Fraziers were murdered in Palo Pinto county.
So great was the peril of the settlers on the frontier, when the legislature met in 1874, a bill was passed to reorganizing the state ranger force and providing for a battalion of rangers of six companies of seventy-five mounted men each to be stationed along the frontier counties from Red River to the Rio Grande. The bill was approved by Governor Richard Coke on April 10, 1874, and Adjutant General William Steele began preparations for the mustering into service of the new organization.
Each company was assigned one captain, one first lieutenant and one second lieutenant. The second general order issued by General Steele on May 6, 1874, gave directions for the organization of the force. Captains will proceed at once to the organization of their company, calling to their aid the lieutenants assigned to them.
The period of service will be twelve months unless sooner discharged. As it is expected that the force will be kept actively employed during their term of service, only sound young men without families and with horses will be received. Persons under indictment or of known bad character or habitual drunkards will be rejected.
The captains in the force drew mostly a salary of one hundred dollars. Lieutenants received seventy-five dollars, sergeants fifty dollars per month, while the salary of corporals and privates was forty dollars per month. Each man furnished his own horse and saddle and revolver. The adjutant general’s department furnished each man with a breech-loading rifle at cost, the price of the arm being deducted from the first month’s pay. The state also furnished ammunition for all classes of arms as well as subsistence for both men and horses.
Each company was equipped with draft animals and wagons, tents, blankets, cooking utensils and pack saddles. Captain Jeff Maltby of Burnett county was named as commander of Company E and was directed to recruit his men from the citizenry of Burnett, Brown and Coleman counties. Captain Maltby was a native of Illinois. He came to Texas prior to the War-Between-the-States and was living in Burnett county at the beginning of the war (Civil War).
He served as captain of Company G, Seventeenth Texas Volunteer Infantry from the outbreak of the war until February 19, 1863, at which time he resigned his commission because of poor health. He returned to his home in 1863 and was one of the leaders of a group of determined men who fought the Indians during the perilous days of 1863-1865.
When provision for the organization of the Frontier Battalion was made by the legislature in 1874, the friends of Captain Maltby put him forward for appointment as major of the battalion. Governor Richard Coke chose Major John B. Jones as commanding officer for the new force and Captain Maltby was forced to be content with the command of one of the companies of the battalion.
First Lieutenant James Connell and Second Lieutenant B. F. Best were the other commissioned officers of Company E. Maltby, Connell, Best and thirty Burnett county men left Austin, Texas, May 10, 1874, for Brownwood to complete the organization ofthe company. They carried arms and ammunition for Captain Waller’s company at Comanche and for Company E as well. They reached Brownwood on June 5, 1874, and proceeded with the enlistment of recruits from Brown and Coleman counties. That the youngmen of the frontier counties were eager for service is attested in the filling of the quota of the company on June 6, one day following the arrival of the officers in Brownwood. Temporary provisions for maintaining the company were left to Captain Maltby, and he made a contract with John Gilbert, a merchant of Brownwood, to furnish the necessary supplies until Major Jones could order the company’s provisions from Dallas. Feed for the horses was bought locally. The firm of McPeters and Nichols of Brownwood contracted to furnish shelled corn for the company’s needs at one dollar and forty cents per bushel. Corn was bought in varying quantities from one hundred to six hundred bushels at a time.
The month of June 1874 was spent in scout duty in Brown, San Saba, and Lampassas counties. A small detachment of the company was under the direction of the sheriff of Brown county, aiding in the arrest of numerous thieves who were at that time being harbored by some of the disreputable citizenry. The remainder of the company under the command of Captain Maltby went into camp at the mouth of Mud Creek on the Jim Ned in the western section of Brown county.
Under the terms of the law providing for the force, the ranger companies were to be maintained under strict military discipline. That Company E was far from this is attested in a communication from Major John B. Jones to Adjutant General William Steele dated August 9, 1874. James reported to Steele that he had visited the headquarters of Company E and found Captain Maltby absent in Burnett county, Lieutenant Connell was away on sick leave, while Lieutenant Best was absent in Brownwood.
The camp was in a slovenly condition with the men all idle. The horses were neither hobbled nor side-lined and were being guarded by only one man. On August 15, 1874, Jones wrote to Maltby and directed him to maintain more strict discipline over his men. His letter was a virtual ultimatum to the captain either to improve his company or resign. That Jones had found conditions as he described is borne out in an episode which occurred on the night of August 17, 1874.
A detail of twelve men under Corporal Henry Sackett had escorted Major Jones from camp Mud Creek to Menardville. On their return to camp they camped for the night a few miles below the mouth of the Concho River. That night a small band of Indians surprised the rangers and drove away their horses, leaving them forty miles from their headquarters without mounts. Major John B. Jones Immediately following the visit of Major Jones, Lieutenant Connell resigned and Lieutenant Best became first lieutenant. B. S. Foster became second lieutenant.
General order No. 8, issued by Adjutant General Steele and dated November 15, 1874, reduced the personnel of all companies of the battalion toone lieutenant, two sergeants, three corporals, and twenty-five enlisted men.
On December 13, 1874, Captain Maltby and Lieutenant Best were relieved and lieutenant B. S. Foster became the commanding officer of the company.
The Indian depredations on the frontier were always perpetrated during moonlight nights, when the light aided them in locating horses. In entering the territory of Brown, Coleman and other counties below these, the Indians chose trails by certain geographical eminences. These were Caddo Peak in central Callahan county, Robinson’s Peak in western Callahan county, Table Mountain in north eastern Runnels county, and Santa Anna Mountain in eastern Colemancounty. The rangers came to watch these places with interest and rarely failed to find the trail of depredating bands around these mountains.
One of the activities of Company E was to clear the country of the troublesome Indians. On July 30, Captain Maltby reported to Jones. Scouting parties first twenty days. July 24, Lt. Best and 21 men to guard Table Mt. Pass struck Indian trail and divided. Sgt. Israel and 10 men in pursuit. Met six Indians coming in. Two Indians killed and two mortally wounded.
On October 30, he wrote:
"On October 19, Sargt. Israel and 16 menon scout to Table Mountain. On night of 19, near the Wiggins Ranch five Indians ran in and tried to stampede the horses, killing A. Trotter’s horse. The horse being side-lined and hobbled, the guards ready to receive them, all they got was a few needle cartridges and returned rather in a hurry; not wishing horses at that time."
Later in November another brush with Indians was the incident which served the purpose of ridding the frontier of Big-Foot andh is troublesome band. A detachment of Maltby’s troops were on a scout in the vicinity of Santa Anna mountain. They found the trail of a band of Indians coming in from the northwest. The trail was so plain the men were able tofollow it at a brisk gallop. The Indians were overtaken on the waters of Clear Creek in Brown county, five miles west of Brownwood. As it was growing dusk the Indians were charged and two of them were killed and scalped, others wounded but lost in the darkness and brush. Big-Foot and his braves escaped southward into San Saba county where they stole several horses then turned back through Coleman county and headed toward Table Mountain. Three days later Captain Maltby and eight men picked up their trail and followed it westward to Valley Creek in Runnels county. They located the Indians in camp just as darkness approached. As they approached nearer, the ground became sandy and their horses’ feet made but very little noise. In this cautious manner they rode up behind a clump of small trees and brush and to within two hundred yards of the fire, where they halted and made a careful survey of the camp. They discovered that horses were tied south of the fire and that one horse was tied west of the fire and their position was east of the fire. Two Indians seemed to be on guard, as they walked about to the fire and back to the horses. The horse west of the fire was from every appearance Jim Brown’s race horse, Gray Eagle, and his rider was a woman. The other five Indians were busy around the fire cooking beef which they had killed when they made this halt.
There were others about attending to the horses that they had ridden through the day. All the horses that were tied around the fire were fresh horses for the Indians to get away on in case they were overtaken. As they were so busy cooking, our party saw that plenty of time was given them to mature their plan of attack. The charge was sudden and desperate in strict keeping with the Texas Rangers. At the sound of the horses’ feet, Big-Foot and his lieutenant sprang to their horses, but before Big-Foot could mount, Captain Jeff’s six shooter spoke its voice of death and Big-Foot’s horse fell dead. Big-Foot then turned and aimed his Spencer rifle, but before he could pull the trigger Captain Jeff’s pistol spoke again, and it’s leaden messenger of death went to the mark, knocking the hammer off of the Indian’s gun and driving it into his cheek, then glanced down striking him in the jugular vein and breaking his neck. The blood spurted high and Big-Foot fell to rise no more. In this fight the Indian band was practically wiped out and their death had a most salutary effect. Only a few Indians ever came into this section following the death of Big-Foot. Scouting for Indians and chasing them was not the sole mark of the frontier company. With the spread of the cattle kingdom stealing on the frontier became a grave problem. The report of Lieutenant Best for April 1875, is indicative ofthe condition.
He wrote:
“Scouting and searching for thieves.” The report of Lieutenant Best for April 1876, reads as follows: "On April 9, Sargt. Israel and seven men started to execute a warrant issued by chief justice of Coleman county, to arrest one C. King, charge of stealing one yoke of steers and trading them to W. L. McAuley for a pony. Started after dark, rode to Twin Mountains on Bayou. Next day arrested said C. King within three miles of Green’s ranch. Returned to head of Deep Creek Bayou, camp Colorado; delivered prisoner up to court who took the pony in possessiona nd sent prisoner on his way rejoicing. "
His report for February 1877, read:
“Arrested two thieves who had stolen property from Joe Smith on Elm Creek in Taylor county. Eight rangers followed, arrested and took themto jail in Eastland.” On orders from Major Jones, Company E moved from Camp Colorado to Kickapoo Creek in Concho county. For April the report runs: “Arrested cattle thieves. Guarded prisoners at request of Judge of Coleman City. Arrestedmurderer and took him to Austin.”
Coleman was not the only town on the frontier that needed the protection of the rangers during the turbulent seventies. Menardville suffered much from the rivalry of thieving bands located in Kimble and Menard counties. The Menard county men lived in the vicinity of Fort McKavett. Upon the arrest of a member of either of the groups there was sure to be trouble for the sheriff when the case was called for trial. Company E was called upon to furnish court protection in Menardville six times between September 1877 and December 1878.
A tragedy occurred at Fort McKavett that is indicative of the times:
January 15, Lt. Reynolds and scout returned from Ft. McKavett where some Negroes robbed Ben Johnson and George Stevens (teamsters of the Bat’l.) of their pistols and when ordered to surrender by Lt. Reynolds they replied they would die first, and fired, doing no damage, and then a fight took place between the rangers and the negroes which resulted in the killing of three Negroes, our loss was one man wounded (Tim McCarty) from which he later died. Lieutenant N. O. Reynolds succeeded to the command of Company E in September 1877. The entire company moved to Comanche at this time upon orders from Major Jones for the purpose of guarding John Wesley Hardin during his trial for the killing of Charles Webb, a deputy sheriff of Brown county. Hardin was escorted from Austin, where he had been held in jail since his arrest in Florida. Upon arrival in Comanche, Reynolds found that feeling against Hardin was strong. He took precautions to meet possible mob violence by placing the rangers inside the jailyard and the jail itself. The trial of Hardin was conducted without interruption and he received a sentence of twenty-five years in the penitentiary for the killing of Webb. Company E was called on for guard duty and a detail under Reynolds escorted Hardin to the penitentiary at Huntsville.
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Outlaw Sam Bass
Less that a year following the handling of Hardin, Reynolds and his company were called upon to assist in the capture of Sam Bass. At the time Bass and his band made their appearance in Round Rock, Company E was stationed at San Saba. Major Jones, learning of the plans of the outlaws to rob the bank in Round Rock, sent word for Lieutenant Reynolds to lose no time in rushing a detail of his company to aid in the capture of Sam Bass and his band. Reynolds received the message around seven o’clock in the evening. In company with Sergeant Neville and six privates he set out for an all-night ride. The rangers arrived in Round Rock just after noon, but too late to take part in the gun battle that was fought in the street between the outlaws and two members of Company E who had accompanied Major Jones from Austin along with two local officers and a Travis county deputy sheriff. A detail of the company under the leadership of Sergeant Neville found Bass during the afternoon and brought him to Round Rock where he died from wounds suffered in the fight with officers under the command of Major Jones.
[Travis Robert Havins (1890-1976) was a history professor and chairman of the department of social studies at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. The son of a sheepherder, Havins worked his way through college, earning a BA from Howard Payne in 1927 and an MA from the University of Texas in 1931. He completed his PhD from the University of Texas in 1941 before serving the Army Air Force during World War II. He served on the Texas Prison Board from 1947 to 1953 and is recognized for helping reform the state’s prison system. He was the author of numerous articles and several books, including a history of Brown County. In 1959, he was made a fellow of the Texas State Historical Society.]
