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PAGE EIGHTTRET) ERICK!THE OLD FRONTIER; EVENTSOF LONG AGOrtion. Indians killed along theguns which had evidently been»By W . K. BaylorClear Fork of the Brazos and furnished them by the soldiers Hubbards Creek had on them ! if indeed the soldiers were notblankets issued reservation.Our front !er in 1855 wasroughly bounded by the counties of Grayson, Benton. Parker. Pale Pinto. Eastland, Brown. Lampasas, Burnett, Kendall. Bexar and southeast of San Patricio There were a few settlements of adventurous ranchmen beyond this line with some military posts such as Belknap in Young county and CampThere was some suspicionagainst the Indians on the lower reservation as being responsible for some of the crimes the frontier and notice was served on them that any Indian caught oil the reservation would be killed and the Comanches were notified that they would be dealt with in the same manner'*»' *v v doing some of the firing themselves. Strange, is it not, that1soldiers who had at all times failed to give our citizens the least of protection, arc now found killing, scalping and stealing from them? Not once in all the dreary years prior to this time were Indians told these same soldiers would protect the American flag aroundhim and defied the world tofindfire upon it. But now wewas on the Brazos RiverCooper some forty mites south j tension, indeed to a break-west. The lower reservation i |n„. *i»he cry was heard,, ., . „ everywhere. “Run the Indiansnear where the city of Graham now stands. The Comanche reservation was at Camp Cooper on the Clear Fork of the At this time what is now known 1Conditions had grown to a the Indian, the least useful ofofas the Panhandle was truly anunknown land,” as was much ofthe western part of Texas.ateSomething like two-thirds of the state was held by the Cor anches and another tribe allied with them, the Kiowa. TheKiowa was a full brother tothe Comanche in all that was revolting and inhuman and as was his brother, an inveter-thief. The Comanche is known, in Texas history as early as 1699. He was truly the Arab of the new world. His hand was against every man and every man’s hand wasagainst him. All other Indianswere his enemy save his ally the Kiowa, and he killedscalped them wheneverwherever he could.His depredations upon whites began w’hen the Soan-iard first entered his territory in say 1775, at San Antonio and other points, whom they massacred and slew for many yearsTheir depredations upon the Anglo-Americans began when Austin’s colonist and other immigrants gradually pushed the Indians westward and northward, but they contested every foot of the ground and their withering carcasses and bleach-bones could be found inandandtheout of Texas.” While the feeling was thus at fever heat, the Indians enacted another chapter horrors wrhich doom so far as remaining longer on Texas soil was concerned In Jack county they surprised the Mason and Cameron fames, killed Mason and his wife scalped them and mutilated their bodies. They killed Mrand Mrs. Cameron, their bodies, took two of their children, a boy and a girl, off with them and becoming alarmed. dropped the children and fled after having cut the little boy’s throat with intent to murder him, but the little fellow recovered, and I saw him after he was grown. Also in Jack county the Indians attacked the house of Calvin Gage in his absence, killed Mrs, Gage and her mother, Mrs. Sanders, and took captive two of Mrs. Sander’s daughters and a little boy The boy was killed soon after being captured. The girls were carried twenty miles, then stripped of their clothing and left to their fate. In the sameall the creatures who ever lived 1 upon the earth, securely wrapped fn the American flag andin effect defying the defenders of Texas to fire upon it. During the fighting five or six Texans were killed and wounded. Three or four Indians were killeddead on the spot.During the time the Indianswere firing upon the Texans an Indian rede out from among his companions, making signs and conducting himself in such a manner as to induce the Texans to believe he bore some message of peace. Col. Baylor met him and as the Indian seemed to want to shake hands Col. Baylor obliged him by giving him a hearty shake and pointing toward the head of the column, told the Indian to go there, which he did. Upon reaching which place, Lieutenant-Colonel Hammer motioned the Indian to ride with him. In a short time, the Indian Hammer if he was the Captain Lieutenant Colonel Hammer told him he was. The Indian becamenervous and began to raise his gun to shoot, but Col Hammer was on the lookout and at once drew his pistol, shoticounty, just after the aboveuhe Tndian and killed him. Col events, Captain H. A. Hamner, ctoi aft^rwnrHs thawas scouting in the western•ngmany of our frontier counties. In' 1855 the Texas Indianswere settled upon the reservations as before mentioned, except the Comanches. Only five hundred of them came in and located on the reservation others remaining in the Pun-remammg in handle country.The Indians being on reservations and being fed and clothed by the general government, people thought they would have a long breathing spell if indeed Indian depredations did not cease entirely and so ventured beyond the limits of our frontier as above outlined. Quite a number of the people settled along the Clear Fork of the Brazos, our family among the rest. This was in the year 1857In the year 1856, there having been practically no trouble with the Indians, we thought it safeto venture out, and did so feeling a thrill of joy at having ourTnrli m troubles finally settledpart with a few men and suddenly came upon seven Indians who had just killed a white woman and her infant. Captain Hamner and his men killed four of the Indians, and the! others ran into the lower reservation. After Captain Hamner and his men had chased remaining Indians around the outskirts they came upon woman and child above 11 mentioned. From the foregoing it was quite evident thatlower reservation Indians were either murdering along j our frontier or were knowingly;giving aid to those who were of- j fending, which made them as guilty as those actually committing the murders and theftsThe Indians were highly indignant over this killing andthreatened vengeance on Jack county, and particularly Jacks-boro, Captain Hamner’s homeThev made all kinds of demands | sjghfc.for Captain Hammer and threatened a massacre unless he wasdelivered to them. News of the threatening of the Indians w-as heralded all along the frontier Companies were hastily raised and hurried to J ick county andBaylor said afterwards that w'hen he met the Indian and gave him the handshake he saw distinctly treason in his look that seemed to sugar over his villainy, that black, glistening snake eye seemed to say: “I amgoing to commit damnable assassination.” For this re asp n the Indian was made to go to the front and where, if he undertook to carrv out theofcarryvisit, he could be promptly | attended to. jBy this time It was clearly apparent that the Indians were being aided by the United States troops and no attack could be made upon them without at the same time attacking the govern- j ment troops, which was never1 contemplated, so no attack was lt;made, but the Indians continued, to harass the Texans as they;moved on. They -would suddenlyappear, fire on the Texans and as suddenly disappear behind the hills and timber out ofFinally the Texans ar-: rived at the ranch of a man who sympathized with the Indians, but who was absent from home and and who, no doubtIndians aiding]was among the them by acts and encougaging them by words. The ranch-
Newspaper Details
Fredericksburg Standard
Fredericksburg, Texas, US
Fri, Jan 30, 1931
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Max B.
USA 04 Aug 2020
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