Eastland County, Texas - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1904

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read)

In 1861 news did not travel fast in Eastland County, for it lay on the very border land of civilization, wiili its three or four scattered settlements.

Recruiting agents went where some degree of suc?ess might attend their patriotic efforts, and it was not anitl 1864 that men in this section were called upon to lear arms.

ernment to make every man feel the burden of war tliai the frontiersman was impressed, or even that he might take part in the civil strife caused by the black man, but he was called upon to repel systematically the invasions of the red man.

Prior to 1868, Eastland, Shackelford and Callahan Counties were under the jurisdiction of Comanche County. After this date Eastland was attached to Palo Pinto.

At every meeting of the Legislature laws were passed for the procection of the frontier. They were adhered to as closfeiy as the conditions and times would permit, and that v/as all the law required. About the 1st of February, 18C4, Eastland was organized jinder the Conscript ijaw for military purposes .

* Forty men were required to form a company, and at that time it took every man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five in the Counties of Eastland, Shackelfoid and Callahan to muster the required number.

Think of the rich fields of corn and cotton and grain that thrive in our County to-day; of the handsome and substantial houses that dot its surface; of the many beautiful churches, school houses, public buildings, and of the whirring machinery; of the eighteen to twenty towns with their three hundred to three thousand in-

36, Section 3, General laws of the Timth Legislature reads: "That the commissioned officers of each company of fifty men or more shall consist of a Captain and two Lieutenants; if less than fifty men, two Lieutenants," etc. However, the spirit of the law was met in these frontier counties.

liabitants; then, in imagination, wipe out all these farms and housL's and towns; fill the primeval forests and prairies, without a \cstige of a shack of any kind, with the snarlmg, hungry animals, and the fiendish, treacherous Indians, and you have a picture of the territory rra versed by those early guardians of our country. Flannagan's Banch, McGough Springs and Jewell marked the wt.stem limit of the white man's tread in Eastland in 1864.

As three of these men lived in Comanche County - Joseph Dudley, William Fisher and S. C. Shirley - there were, really, only twenty-eight mien in E^astland. A

*It was not known until after the war closed that four or five of these men were deserters from the army. Ike Ward was arrested during the war, taken to Arkansas, courtmartialed and shot as a deserter.

few months after the organization of this company, however, all the available citizens of Callahan and Shackelford Counties were added to it, making the required forty, and First Lieutenant Gilbert was made Captain, J. B. McGough, First Lieutenant, and N. H. Kuykendall, Second Lieutenant.

The Company was divided into three squads, and each man was required to serve ten days out of thirty. The starting place was Nash's Spring, half way between McGough Springs and Jewell, and the incoming scout was always met by the outgoing squad, thus keeping a lookout committee continuously on duty.

Several days after Le.e's surrender a detachment of Gilbert's Comtpany arrived at Blair's Fort. There they received the sad news from Lewis Keith, who had just returned from Louisiana, and the Company disbanded.

When the danger of being "pressed" into the Confederate Army had passed, it is said that at least onethird of the meji in Eastland County moved back across the Brazos River. That this was a fact, the census of 1870 proves, as the entire population numbered only eighty-eight. The only wonder is that any remained, as there was no Government protection at all until the next Legislature met.

All honor to the brave men and women who still possessed their homes and held the line of civilization in Eastland ! All honor to the gray hairs of those who fought for her in those perilous times, and who still live among us ! Eternal honors be to the glorious manhood and womanhood that creates pioneers !

Histor T Op Eastland Ou Untt Chapte'E Viii

On the 8th of August, 1864, J. L. Head, Corporal, led out eight men for a ten days' scout, camping the first night at McGough Springs. On the morning of the 9th the men went west till they struck the Leon, near where the Texas Central Railway now crosses it. There they discovered a large Indian trail leading southeast, the signs indicating there were were at least thirty-five or forty Indians, some riding, some walking. The men, knowing they were down to steal horses, pushed hard on after themj. The trail crossed Kash's Creek about three miles east of Carbon, where the Indians killed a beef for breakfast, then continued south until they reached the present location of the W. W. Boone place, one and one-half miles north of Jewell. It was then the Gilbert ranch.

"There we overhauled them, seven of us - Harris York's horse having given out, he had pulled for the ranch. We fought them at long range for awhile, until we saw we had no sort of showing, when our Commander ordered a retreat to the Gilbert Ranch for reinforcements. At the two ranches we got five more men, making our number twelve, with Sing Gilbert, our Captain, in command.

three hundred 5'ards south of Ellison's Spring, in Uncle Billy Jones' field, we discovered them. Our Captain ordered a charge and led it up to within thirty or forty feet of their line.

"Think of it ! Twelve men, armed with muzzle-loading riiles and shotguns and pistols, charging right up to a line of forty Indians, and most of them on foot and coming to meet us !

"Captain Gilbert ordered a halt. We fired on them, but they kept coming. Our Captain ordered us to fall back. We turned right in their faces, and on that turn is where they got in their deadly work.

Indians wore shields that would turn our bullets, and were armed with bows and arrows, which, at sliort range, were more accurate and deadly than rifles and six-shooters.

"On that turn * our Captain was shot inthe neck with an arrow, and died in less than two hours. Button Keith's horse fell, and they killed him right there. Jim Ellison received a deep arrow wound in the hip, which disabled him for life. Tom Caddenhead was shot through the thigh just below the hip joint and pinned to the saddle, and Torti Gilbert was shot twice through the arms. Two mien killed and three disabled in less time than it takes to make the statemient. Five out of twelve knocked out and not a load left in a gun or pistol !

*Mr. Keith was unmounted in this direful retreat and separated from his party a few awful minutes, hut recovered his horse and escaped unhurt.

Histor Y Ob' Eastland Uo Ujvty

wen- then sent to the Grabe Keith Ranch, fifteen miles a\\ay, to the Gilbert Ranch, twelve miles, and to ALansker"s, eight miles, to let them know of the trouble. About nine o'clock that night my father, J. J. Keith, started to Stephenville to have graves prepared for the two dead men - that being the nearest graveyard. The distance was thirty-five miles, and not a settler at that time between the two places.

arrived at Stephenville at daybreak, and heard bells, and horses running on the hill east of town. Believing that Indians were stealing the horses, he alarmed the town. Joel Dodson and another man, however, had heard the belk and running horses, and, taking their guns, had gone to investigate. While crossing the Bosque they heard a noise in the bed of the creek above them. Listening and sky-lighting they decided there were Indians near and iired, whereupon the savages ran off, leaving five bloody pallets and two * guns they had picked up on the battle ground the day before at Ellison's Spring, proving that they were the same Indians and at least five of them were wounded.

"On the eleventh of August, Captain Gilbert and Button Keith were consigned to their last resting places at Stephenville, and the curtain was dropped on the bloodiest battle with Indians ever fought in Eastland.''

The fight began on the hill west of the Miethodist church and was intensely exciting as the little band, chasing the Indians northwest, fired as they ran, the Indians as vigorously returning the attack. Mr. McGough says: "There were many shots fired - the Indians having guns. Albert Henning was wounded, and I was fortunate enough to hit the Indian who shot him."

Iiistor Y Of Eastland Go Untt

killed this Indian, but the timber growth being dense, the Scout deemed it best not to follow farther, especially as the Indians had fled, leaving the large bunch of horses they had stolen and were driving to the reservation.

A few years later, a Mr. Sublett, formerly of Comanche, discovered the grave * of an Indian near Cisco, and from the headdress he was supposed to have been a chief. As McG-ough fired six shots at the chief who had wounded Henning, the discovery gave weight to his opinion that he had wounded the Indian unto death.

In the month of Novem'ber, 1868, another Scout, composed of Messrs. Baker Ballew, Andrew Tarter, George Bugby, J. Peter Davidson and the Allen brothers, Sam, William, Joe and Luther, discovered Indian signs at Mansker Lake. The trail which led East was hard to follow. Evidently the Indians were few in number and had purposely traveled Hpart. The men

*Near Cisco is an Indian grave, where even yet parties frequently find trinkets. Whether or not this is the grave above referred to is not known, but the prevailing opinion is that it is the same.

'V^Tien they had gone thus tediously a mile or two, however, a black hound pup, belonging to Mansker which had attached itself to the scout, suddenly scented the trail and was ofE on a long run, never looking to the right or left, as the men loped hard after himi all the day long. It is said that a dog seldom took up a trail in this way, but when one did it was safe to follow the lead. It proved so in this in- Fi anee.

Late in the evening, when two of the men had fallen a mile or two beliind, their horses having failed, the Scout came upon the Indians, eight in number, at the head of Highsaw Cove, a branch of Barton's Creek. As soon as they sr.w the * hound, they recognized it as their Nemesis, and each Indian greeted him with twc rounds of amMunition. The leader of the scout, Mr. Ballew, ordered a charge. Then followed a fast and furious fight. The Indians who had dismounted were at a great disadvantage. To escape they had to climb up over rocks and knoll right in the face of the Scout, but succeeded in escaping in the gloom of the deepening night, leaving only one man on the field, together with their horses and blankets, eight in nunaber. As the sagacious dog was dead, and, in the light of the moon coming over the horizon, each man would stand out as a target for the Indians hiding amiong the rocks, the Scout wisely decided to be satisfied with the result,

From the dead Indian's attire, he was recognized as the leader of the band. His handsome, fringed buckskin suit, his quiver full of arrows and large, strong bow made of mulberry and his shield * were part of the trophy the men carried off. Not without regret it must be recorded that they also carried his scalp.

"Look here, boys!" one of the me,n called out after the Indians had escaped, "Look here ! Some Indian has a badly wounded foot," and he held up a shattered stirrup lying near.

On the bank of Palo Pinto Creek in the northeast of the county, one of the men discovered a moccasin Irack. Like true frontiersmen, they followed the trail on the road for several miles with the keenest anticipation without a thought of danger.

*Mr. William Allen still has in his possession the bow and the shield. The latter was made from the hide of a buffalo's head, cut round, and is about one-half inch thick. A strap of leather on the under side, which was worn over the thumb, protected the body, and not being: held firmly, a bullet, when it struck the shieli, would glance off instead of passing through. The shield measures twenty-two inches in diameter.

"Finley," alert and on the true scent as became a .frontier dog, dashed ahead of the wagons. The owner of the moccasin, discovering the wagons, turned out of the road and hid under the brush and grass. "Finley" was not to be outwitted by a "redskin," so he followed and began barking loudly.

On the Indian's rising up to ask for protection, Lige Littlefield opejied fire and did not know, until the bullet had done its deadly work, that he had instantly killed a lone and deserted squaw. "Finley" did not know the difference and barked a chorus over the remains of the vanquished. The Indian fell on William. Allen's Ranch, one-half mile from his house, and from one foot being badly mutilated, it was supposed she was the one wounded in the skirmish on Highsaw Cove.

At the head of this cree.k where the fight occurred stood a solitary tree. As the vScout turned, leaving the dead Indian there, one of the men said, "God has prepared a sentinel to watch over your miouldering dust."

Frank Sanches was out hunting stock, and stood '.rad watched a numerous drove passing on down to the Leon for water, hoping to find some of his strayed twc- 3"ear olds. Imagine his surprise, as the last yearling was nearing him and he was about to turn and retrace his steps homeward, to see a small boy's head bobbing up just behind the calf. On the child's approach he found it was a white boy who had been captured by the Indians. He had escaped and was following the stock,

It was about this time and in the same locality that Henry Martin, a son-in-law of Mr. Mansker, was killed. He was separated from other memlbers of a party who were attacked by Indians while rounding up cattle, and lost his life.

A great fight with Indians took place on this creek in the northwestern part of the County. Three Indians and one white man, Mjr. Lathan, were killed. Mr. Eufe Atwood has a skull supposed (from trinkets found near) to be that of the chief of the party. Mr. J. B. Loyd, who has a son and daughter living in Cisco, was one of the scouts.