The Life and Times of William Douglas Isbell

William Douglas Isbell b. 1816 m. 1843 d. 1877

-----Olivia Elvira Jackson
Martha Jane Isbell b. 1846 m. 1865 d. 1899
-----Abraham Reed Wood
Katie Ellen Wood b. 1881 m. 1897 d. 1953
-----Gustav "Gus" William Treybig
Ella Treybig b. 1900 m. 1923 d. 1997
-----Williamlee "Tom" Ervin Brooks
Marjorie Dolores Brooks b. 1935 m. 1953
-----Wesley Ray Beauchamp Sr.
The following sketch of Mr. Isbell's life appeared in the 1872 issue of the Texas Almanac:

"Was born in the town of Greenville, Green county, Tennessee, on the 15th day of June, 1816; in 1833 I
run away from my father and lived in Abingdon, Virginia; I told my father a lie and he whipped me
severely for it, as he hated a liar; I have often been in Andrew Johnson’s tailor shop, in Greenville, and
had contests with boys for the binding or edging torn from cloth; I frequently chopped wood as a favor
for Mrs. Cardy, who was Andy Johnson’s mother-in-law; Mr. Cardy was a club-footed shoemaker in
Greenville;

"I emigrated to Texas in the fall of 1834, and living on Cummings’ Creek. In the spring of 1835 I went on
my first campaign with Capt. R. M. Williamson, who was called three-legged Willie; John H. Moore,
Liester, Rabb, Eastland, Goheen, Ned Burleson, R. M. Coleman, Col. Neill, and others were in the
company; we were absent about sixty days on the upper Brazos, and lived mainly on beef.

"In October, 1835, I joined Capt. Thomas Alley’s company, at Gonzales, and marched about the 13th of
October, 1835, under command of Gen. Stephen F. Austin, who had been elected commander of the
"Army of the People,” for San Antonio; I belonged to that division of the army commanded by Col.
Frank Johnson and Col. Wm. T. Austin, which stormed San Antonio in December, 1835.

"After the surrender of Gen. Cos I went to Mill Creek, now Austin county, and planted a crop, and then
joined Gen. Sam Houston, on the Colorado, on his retreat from Gonzales; participated in the battle of
San Jacinto, on the 21st of April, 1836, as a member of Capt. Mosley Baker’s company, served out my
three months’ time and then returned to Mill Creek and worked out my crop of corn.

"In the winter of 1836 I went to the town of Brazoria and kept bar for Mrs. Jane Long, who had a
tavern in Brazoria. I lived in Houston from the winter of 1837 till 1840; wagoned to the west for Major
Bennett.

"In 1841 I made an Indian campaign under Mark B. Lewis and Tom Green; returned by way of San
Antonio and there joined Capt. Jack Hays’ company of Rangers and served about six months;

"since the winter of 1842 I have lived in Washington county and in Burleson county, where I now am
staying. I have five children by my first wife, and have three by my present wife, one boy six years old,
one two years old and one boy ten months old; I have eight children living, and have buried two boys
and one girl. Of course I have never seen my present wife and younger children, as I have been entirely
blind for fourteen years."
"In the spring of 1835 I went on my first campaign…." W. Isbell

Indian encounters began to accelerate throughout 1835 in the wake of the Rio Blanco battle. Noted
Texas Ranger George Bernard Erath wrote in 1844 that, 'The war with the Indians began in 1835.'

While battles with Indians had occurred since the first white settlers arrived many years before, Erath
was correct in noting that 1835 was a true turning point in "the war." The continued heavy flow of
immigrants, the continued Indian depredations and the revolution with Mexico during this year forced
Texas' provisional government to take new steps to protect its frontiers.

Among the more important steps was the legal creation of the Texas Rangers during 1835. This fabled
body was organized in several stages, as will be seen.

The Killing of Chief Canoma: May-June 1835

Within two weeks of the San Marcos battle, a Brazoria-bound party of traders was attacked by a party
of Tawakonis armed with bows and arrows. The traders fired on the Indians, killing one and causing the
others to flee. A description of this battle was published in the May 2, 1835, edition of The Texas
Republican in Brazoria.

The Indians considered to be "wild tribes" by the early Colorado River settlers were the Wacos,
Tehuacanas (Tawakonis), Ionies, Anadarkos, Towash and other related tribes of the Caddoan
confederation. These tribes along the upper Brazos and Trinity rivers had become openly hostile
toward white settlers by the spring of 1835. They even felt that the white settlers along the Colorado
were a separate "tribe" of whites who were more hated than those along the Brazos River.

The settlers along the Falls of the Brazos River, in present Falls County near the town of Tenoxtitlan,
experienced relative peace with the local Indians in the early l830s. One noteworthy exception
occurred when a stranger named H. Reed from the United States was slain by Tonkawa Indians in 1832
near Tenoxtitlan following a horse trade between Reed and the Indians in which they felt cheated.
Revenge against this small band of Indians was exacted by a small band of Caddos led by the friendly
Chief Canoma.

Canoma pursued these Indians, recovered Reed's horse and saddle and brought them back to his
father. Canoma's faithful Caddos, numbering about thirty, were living near Tenoxtitlan in I835, when
tensions again increased in Robertson Colony.

The Bastrop area citizens were concerned enough with the presence of hostile Indians to form a
committee of safety and correspondence, with an initial meeting held on May 8, 1835. In a second
meeting on May 17, a formal committee of five was created, of which Edward Burleson was a member.
These members were charged with handling communications concerning Indian hostilities.

The colonists in late May 1835 employed Chief Canoma of the Caddos to go among the hostile Indians
to make peace taIks and to try and return two small children that had been taken captive. After visiting
several tribes, Canoma returned and reported that the Indians he had seen were willing to make peace
with the settlers along the Brazos River. At least half of the Indians, however, very much opposed
making peace with the white settlers along the upper areas of the Colorado River. Canoma further
reported that a band of these most unsettled Indians were on the move toward the white settlement
at Bastrop.

From the Falls of the Brazos, the townspeople elected Samuel McFall to run ahead and warn the
Bastrop citizens. Bastrop was the uppermost white settlement of any site on the Colorado River in
I835. The local residents had been forced to band together to protect themselves from neighboring
Waco, Tawakoni, Kichai and Comanche raids. Consequently, a strong log stockade or fort was erected
in the center of the little town. In the event of a serious Indian attack, the townspeople could take
shelter inside.

McFall, a lean and quick man of six feet three inches height, ran the distance on foot and is said to have
been a faster runner than most saddle horses of the time. Before he could arrive, a party of eight
Indians made a vicious attack on June 1. On the road from San Felipe to Bastrop, they attacked the
wagon of Amos R. Alexander near Cummins Creek.

Alexander, a Pennsylvania native, had brought his wife and two sons to Texas in the spring of 1833.
They settled in Bastrop and eventually opened a store and hotel. ln April 1835, Amos and son, Amos Jr,
went to the coast to get a supply of goods they had ordered. They hired two other men to serve as
teamsters to haul their goods. The Alexanders were attacked by lndians on June 1 at Pin Oak Creek
about thirty-five miles from Bastrop.

Amos Alexander was killed outright. His son was on horseback and was shot through the body. The
younger Alexander rode full speed from the scene of the attack toward Moore's Fort at La Grange, the
last town they had passed. He met the second wagon being hauled by the two brothers his father had
hired as teamsters. The three started for Moore's Fort, but the young Alexander died from his wounds.
His body was laid under a tree and covered with leaves and moss.

The teamsters reached La Grange and John Henry Moore helped them raise a party of men. Moore,
thirty-five, was a native of Tennessee who had settled on the Colorado River in 1821 as one of Austin's
Old Three Hundred. By 1828, he owned the twin blockhouse known as Moore’s Fort which was located
in La Grange, the town he had laid out and named in 1831.

As this attack was going on, two immigrants had stopped at the home of frontiersman John Marlin
near the Falls of the Brazos. While these men lay sick, their horses wandered off beyond the Little River
toward Brushy Creek. Marlin employed Canoma and Dorcha to bring the horses back. In good faith for
their services, Marlin presented one of the Indian chiefs with a new shirt.

As Chief Canoma, his wife, son and his other Indian companions net out to assist the white settlers,
other frontiersmen were unwittingly on a collision course with these do-gooders. A party of volunteers
from Bastrop was formed under forty-six-year-old Captain Edward Burleson, a North Carolinian who
had migrated to Texas in 1831. A soldier under General Andrew Jackson in the Creek Indian War of
1813-1814, Burleson would become one of the most respected frontier leaders in early Texas history.
This Bastrop party included Stephen Townsend, Spencer Burton Townsend, Moses Townsend, John
York, William lsbell, Jesse L. McCrockIin, and George A. Kerr, among others. Captain Burleson’s men
set out to follow the trail of the Indians who had killed the Wagoner and his son. Finding the bodies of
the Alexanders, they buried them and rode in pursuit of the killers, tracking them as far as the three
forks of the Little River, where the trail was lost.
Burleson's force met up with the small group of La Grange area volunteers under Captain John Moore.
The united force of sixty-one men proceeded up the Little River to a spot about fifty miles above the
falls of the Brazos. One of Moore's volunteers, John Rabb, described Burleson's men as a "don't care a-
looking company of men as could be found on top of the ground."

While the party rested at camp for two days, volunteer John Bate Berry and several others went out
hunting. In the process, they encountered a lone Caddo Indian whom they captured and brought back
to Captain Burleson. The Indian professed to being honest and friendly, even offering the fact that he
was traveling with several other Indians. Burleson and Moore's men went to the Indian camp, taking
the Caddo, two Cherokees and two Indian women as prisoners. These prisoners, of course, included
Chief Canoma and Dorcha. Several volunteers trailed one of the Indians into the brush near Brushy
Creek and found that the Indians had two well shod and cared for American horses. Most Indians did
not possess horses that had been properly shoed unless the horses were acquired from more civilized
persons.

Assuming their possession of shod horses made them guilty, Robert Morris Coleman of Captain
Burleson's Bastrop company decided Canoma's party was guilty of the Alexander murders and tried to
shoot one of them on the spot. John Rabb intervened, and Canoma's party protested that the horses
they had were runaways. They were thereafter held captive by the Texan party.

The Indians were taken into custody and the volunteer party proceeded on its hunt. Burleson
reportedly promised Canoma and his son a fair trial once the party returned to Bastrop. Moses
Cummins wrote to Empresario Sterling Robertson on June 10 in hopes that Robertson could dispatch a
letter to Burleson immediately to "prevent some mischief" from befalling those he considered
"innocent Indians".

It was too late. Despite Burleson's good intentions, he was unable to control the wild want for
vengeance some of his men displayed. Ignoring control of their captains, the volunteers voted forty to
twenty-one to execute these prisoners for the murder of the Alexanders. Coleman and eight others
carried out the actual executions, lashing Canoma and his son to trees and shooting them to death.
Canoma's wife was left to wander back to the settlements alone. At least two of the white volunteers,
Stephen Townsend and John Rabb were opposed to the killings and left their party rather than watch.
Rabb later noted that one of the executioners took a piece of skin from a dead Indian's back and
formed it into a razor strap. As for the psychology of these eye-for-an-eye killings, settler Cummins
wrote, "Such men, in such a state of mind, are not apt to discriminate between guilt and innocence."

This eye-for-an-eye vengeance mentality was typical of the early Texas Indian wars. The killing of Chief
Canoma set the stage for a marked increase in Indian hostilities and expeditions during the summer of
1835.

Chief Canoma's wife, upon returning to the Falls of the Brazos, quickly informed the other Caddos of
the murder of her husband and son. Choctaw Tom, the most senior Indian leader left among them,
stated that he could not blame the Coloradian settlers tor the mishap, but that all the Indians would
now make war on the settlers.“

Choctaw Tom's Caddos then left the settlement and joined other Indians out in the country. The
younger Indians promised settler John Marlin that they did not intend any harm upon him or other
"friendly" settlers near the Falls.“
Coleman’s Rangers Attack Tawakonis: July 11, 1835

In the wake of the Canoma episode, another volunteer group was organized to protect the frightened
settlers. Texas records show that Robert Morris Coleman was elected captain of a small frontier ranger
company in Robertson's Colony. Although no muster roll of Coleman's company has survived, he
reportedly employed between eighteen and twenty-five men. From June 12, 1835, Coleman served as
two months and fifteen days “on the frontier as Capt. of Mounted Riflemen.” He had been ordered to
assume this command by the Committee of Safety upon his return from the Burleson/ Moore
expedition in which Chief Canoma had been killed."

Captain Coleman, thirty-six, was from Christian (later Trigg) County, Kentucky, and had come to Texas
in I831. He had been granted twenty-four labors of land in Robertson's Colony on February 1, 1835,
located in present Lee County on the West Yegua River, not far from Bastrop. Three of his rangers were
Bastrop citizens well-known to the Indians. Coleman later wrote to Safety Committee Chairman Henry
Rueg of his company's activities.“

The wanton outrages of the Indians not only upon our frontier, but in the midst of our
settlements call for redress. I on the 2nd July left the town of Bastrop with a company of
men for the purpose of chastising those menaces to civilized men.

Coleman's men crossed the Brazos River at Washington on July 4, 1835, and made a campaign against
the Tawakoni Indians living near Tehuacana Springs in present Limestone County. His men were not
discovered until they were east of the Brazos and near the village on July 11. There, they fell in with an
estimated one hundred Indians, mainly Tawakonis, with some Caddos and Ionies also.

According to pioneer John Holland Jenkins, Coleman’s men used the cover ot darkness to crawl up into
the very midst of the Indians and wait for daylight before starting the battle. The point man was Jesse
Halderman, a store owner in Bastrop who had come to Texas from Kentucky in 1831. Halderman was
appointed to give the signal for attack but actions hastened his signal. Jenkins later wrote:

Some dogs commenced barking, and one of the Indians arose and walked out to see
what was the matter. He soon showed that he discovered the concealed whites, so
Halderman, realizing their danger, fired, thereby giving signal for the fight to begin. It
was a fierce and heavy fight, although Coleman's eighteen men were struggling against
an entire tribe. He was at last forced to retreat; three men - Halderman, Bliss and
Wallace being badly wounded, and one Mr. Wallace being killed.

Other sources state the name of the ranger killed to have been John Williams and that as many as four
others were wounded. In return, Captain Coleman's men managed to kill a number of the Indians in
the village. The Indians were too numerous for the remainder to fight, and were reportedly spurred on
by the fact that they recognized three Brazos men among their assailants.

"We had a severe battle,” Coleman wrote. “One fourth of my men was killed and wounded. We took
their encampment by a charge and the battle ended.” Coleman's party fell back to Parker's Fort, where
they arrived on July 11. The wounded men of his company were left under charge of a doctor and
Coleman headed back to Robertson‘s Colony to report the events of his campaign.
Coleman returned to Viesca, the capital of Robertson's Colony, where he wrote a letter to Henry Rueg,
the Political Chief for the Department of Nacogdoches, on July 20, 1835. Coleman outlined a plan for a
ranger battalion to attack the Indian threat he and his men had just encountered.

Those Indians must be chastised or this flourishing country abandoned, and again
become a wilderness. I now, Sir, propose to levy a general tax on the citizens of Texas,
sufficient to pay and provision 200 men. Let them be stationed in four garrisons [with]
50 men in each. Let those garrisons he established high up on the different rivers and
placed under the command of a man calculated to command and the country will be
safe.

Coleman's call to action is significant because it laid the groundwork for the formal ranger battalion
that became known as the Texas Rangers. His plan for organizing the troops under a central command
was an idea that was legally put into effect several months later on October I7, I835. Coleman, in fact,
was immortalized on the historical marker for Coleman County, Texas (named after him) as the
“organizer of the first company of Texas Rangers. Since loosely organized ranger companies had
operated since the 1820s, this statement on the marker is best clarified as Coleman being the organizer
of the first Texas Ranger company legally recognized by the provisional government of Texas.

Ironically, Coleman would be commissioned one year later as the colonel commanding a three
company ranger battalion serving in remote frontier outposts, just as he had recommended.

Colonel Moore’s Ranger Expedition

Word of Captain Coleman's fight at the Tawakoni village spread quickly through the Texas colonies.
Within days of his appeal for the creation of a ranger battalion, volunteers began assembling at
Tenoxtitlan in Robertson's Colony.

Four volunteer companies are known to have been organized at Tenoxtitlan during the latter days of
July 1835. The first of these companies organized was that of Captain Philip Haddox Coe on July 9,
1835. His twelve-man unit was later considered to be "Rangers under the command of Col. John H.
Moore". Coe was born on January 10, 1800 in Georgia, from where he had recently come to Texas and
settled in present Washington County. One of his rangers, forty-three-year old William Tom, was a
veteran of the Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans battles of the War of 1812 and had only moved his
family to Washinglon-on-the-Brazos as of February 1835.

The second company, under Captain George Washington Barnett, was raised on July 20. Barnett’s
muster roll shows that he took command of a "Co. Volunteers raised for the purpose of defending the
frontier against Indian depredations, under the command of Col. J. H.
Moore."

Two other volunteer companies were mustered into service on July 25 under captains John Henry
Moore and Robert McAlpin Williamson. Frontiersman Edward Burleson was also reported to have
raised some volunteers from the upper Colorado settlements who joined these forces.

Captain Moore, who had led volunteers during the recent June expedition, again raised a La Grange
company. Captain Williamson, for whom Williamson County was named, commanded a "mounted rifle
company". Born in Georgia in 1806, he had been stricken at age fifteen by an attack of white swelling,
which confined him to home and left him a cripple. His right leg was drawn back at the knee, which
forced him to be fitted with a wooden leg from his knee to the ground. While confined, he studied
law, mathematics and foreign languages. By age twenty, he was practicing law in Georgia. He
emigrated to San Felipe de Austin in 1821, mastered the Spanish language and edited The Cotton Plant
from 1829-1831, one of the first Texas newspapers. His wooden leg earned him the nickname "Three-
Legged Willie," although most of his closer friends just called him Willie.

On July 31, these four companies marched from Tenochtitlan for Parker's Fort on the Navasota River to
gain up with Captain Coleman's company. Captain Williamson was later reimbursed for spending forty-
five dollars cash for beef for the troops. According to Edward Burleson, Williamson bought the cattle
from Samuel Frost, who was then living near Parker's Fort about the last day of July.

Upon arriving at Fort Parker, the volunteer companies were formally organized in a battalion. This
became the first true ranger battalion ever organized in Texas, although independent ranging
companies had been employed during the past decade to supplement militia forces operating from the
various colonies.

The men elected John Moore as the colonel commanding the five small companies. Moore's spot as
commander of the La Grange rangers was filled by twenty-seven-year-old Michigan native Michael R.
Goheen. Captain Goheen's company of "volunteer rangers” was confirmed by James Neill to have
participated in the campaign against the Indians from July 25 to September 13, 1835.

Goheen was assisted by First Lieutenant William Mosby Eastland. John Moore was later paid $294.66
for one month and twenty-two days of service as colonel at the rate of $170 per month. Forty-five-
year-old James Clinton Neill, who had fought in 1814 Seminole Indian battle at Horseshoe, was elected
adjutant of the command.

Although some men had fought Indiana in Texas previously, thirty-four-year-old William lsbell,
Colorado River area settler new to Texas, was typical of the men of this ranger campaign:

In the spring of 1835, I went on my first campaign with Capt. R. M. Williamson, who was
called Three-Legged-Willie, John H. Moore, Lester, Rabb, Eastland, Goheen, Ned
Burleson, R. M. Coleman, Col. Neill, and others were in the company. We were absent
about sixty days on the upper Brazos, and lived mainly on beef.
Although some accounts of Colonel Moore‘s 1835 Indian campaign only mention four ranger
companies participating, a study at the audited military claims of men participating in this campaign
clearly shows that there were five total companies. This includes the company originally under Moore
that passed to Captain Goheen. Moore later gave testimony of the service of the other companies
under his command. In a deposition written by him before the Fayette County court, it states that

in the year 1835, he commanded an expedition against the Indians, which said
expedition was composed of the companies of captains Williamson, Barnett, Coe,
Goheen and Coleman.

Military papers of Captain Robert Coleman show that he was still at Parker's Fort on August 5, 1835. He
wrote a note this date that “I bought of Silas Parker, for the use of the company under my command"
more than one thousand pounds of beef at three cents per pound, thirty-seven bushels of corn at two
dollars per bushel, and twenty-five pounds of bacon. He also acknowledged that two men at Parker’s
Fort had cared for the wounded men of his company “from the 11th day of July up to this time" for
which was claimed fifty-five doIlars."

A search of available Republic of Texas records fails to reveal a complete list of those men who served
under Captain Coleman on Moore's campaign. A large percentage of his men appear to have joined
with the companies of captains Goheen and Williamson before the campaign's end. The pension
papers of Michael Kinnard, for example, state that he participated in an 1835 Indian expedition led by
Captain Robert Coleman. Kinnard's audited military claims, however, show that he was later honorably
discharged from active service by Lieutenant William Eastland of Captain Goheen's company on
September 13.

One of the men under Captain Barnett's command was George Bernard Erath, who had arrived in
Texas an 1833 at age 20. He had been born January 1, 1813 in Vienna, Austria and sailed to New
Orleans in 1832. He left Austria partially because of the country's mandatory military service, yet now
volunteered his service. Once in Texas, he became a partner of Alexander Thomson in surveying, the
new territory.

Colonel Moore's ranger expedition departed Parker's Fort in early August. The mounted volunteers
moved northeast toward the Tawakoni village as George Erath later recorded.

After waiting for the swollen Navasota to run down, we marched on to the village. Texas
lndians never allowed themselves to he attacked by a hundred men together; they had
evacuated the village, and we had nothing to do but occupy it. We found sixty acres in
corn, which was just hard enough to be gritted, and by making holes in the bottom of
the tin cups we carried we fashioned graters, and supplied ourselves with bread. There
were also numbers of pumpkins, water-melons, muskmelons, peas and other
vegetables, such as were then raised by lndians in their primitive agriculture.

Colonel Moore‘s troops left the Indian village two days later and moved about twenty miles over the
prairie. Late in the afternoon, the troops came within a mile of a belt of timber which extended along
Post Oak Creek, a tributary to the Trinity River. Advance scouts suddenly reported Indians up ahead in
the timber. All of the men were formed into battle lines.

Moore and his adjutant, lames Neill, “took as much precaution as if we were about to fight such
formidable foes as Creeks, Cherokees, and Seminoles - foes the two had faced in their younger days
under Jackson,” wrote volunteer Erath. After approximately fifteen minutes of parading and
maneuvering, the order was to charge across the two to three hundred yards through post oak timber
over the boggy soil.

The officers were strict about keeping the men in line. From Captain George Barnett's ranger company,
privates Samuel McFaIl and George Erath, darted far ahead of the rest of the volunteers on their
horses. It was not, however, by their own choice. as Erath recalled.

I was riding a young horse which had been caught a colt from the mustangs, that was
fiery. When the order came to charge, it darted forward ahead of all the rest, and I
found myself alone in the advance. Next came McFall, who was also on a wild horse, too
eager for the fray. The officers shouted to us to come back into line, but our efforts to
obey were in vain. Our steeds had determined to give un a reputation for bravery
which we did not deserve.
Erath's daughter recalled that this incident even helped earn her father the nickname “The Flying
Dutchman." Around the Texan campfires that night, the episode drew great laughter.
The charge against the Indians itself proved futile. As the companies advanced across the field, they
were met by their own scouts who brought news that the half dozen or an Indians they had found had
since fled while Moore's troops had prepared for their charge. Nearly one hundred strong, the Texas
volunteers succeeded only in capturing one Indian pony this day.

Colonel Moore's troops continued marching for several more days in pursuit of the Indians. Time spent
waiting for swollen streams to run down and for mud bogs to become passable brought grumbling
from the troops that Texas Indians could easily keep out of sight of such a large party.

The expedition did encounter a small camp of Wacos. They attacked immediately, killing at least one
Indian and capturing five or six others. Moore’s force learned from their prisoners that a larger body of
Indians was camped shortly ahead of them. With darkness falling, the troops waited until daylight to
pursue. A short distance away, they found the remains of a large Indian encampment, abandoned so
fast that some Indians had cut the stake ropes to their horses.

The Texans and their horses: were well worn from weeks of pursuing the Indians. Among the volunteer
companies, there arose a division among those wishing to end the campaign and those desiring to
return home. Colonel Moore was harshly opposed to turning back on this expedition. Many of the men
from the Brazos area refused to carry on and they turned back for home in late August.

Captain Barnett's company disbanded on August 28 and Captain Coe's company mustered out of
service on August 31. Captain Robert Coleman was paid as a captain of rangers through August 28,
I835. George Erath of Captain Barnett's company later summarized the balance of the Moore
expedition.

The main body of the lndians were never overtaken; but several small scattering parties
were met, with which there was some skirmishing. The Texan forces kept daily
diminishing, and in two months the expedition closed.

Although Captain Coleman turned for home at the same time as Captains Coe and Barnett, a portion of
his men continued on. Some are shown to have been later discharged by Lieutenant William Eastland
of Captain Goheen‘s company. As first lieutenant of the "First Company of Volunteers", Eastland was
paid at the rate of two dollars per day for this expedition. When the expedition was closed out, he
signed the discharge papers. He also signed a promissory note for Private George W. Lyons who had
“by an unavoidable accident lost his rifle gun" during the campaign. Another of his men, Private
William Connell lost "his rifle, gun pistol and other property" during the expedition.

Colonel Moore continued his expedition against the Indians for another two weeks before turning
home. He commanded the companies of captains Goheen and Williamson during this time. They
covered the country-side up the Trinity River as far as to its forks, where the present city of Dallas
stands. Passing over to and down the Brazos River, Moore's expedition crossed to where Fort Graham
was later constructed, without encountering more than five or six Indians on several occasions.

The volunteers experienced several incidents with the Indians during their return home. The Indians
captured at the Waco village created their own problems for their Texan captors. Notable among the
prisoners was a Waco woman and her bright young girl of about three years of age. The Indian woman,
apparently distraught over her captivity, somehow managed to steal a knife one night in camp on the
Brazos River and she brutally killed her own daughter before attempting to kill herself.

This attempt did not succeed, but the Texans found her near death when checked at morning. Edward
Burleson, deciding that the suffering Indian woman would bleed to death shortly, asked for a volunteer
to kill her to spare her further suffering. Oliver Buckman of Captain Williamson's company came
forward for the mercy mission. Taking her to the edge of the river, he drew his large, homemade hack
knife. Gazing straight into her face, Buckman “severed with one stroke her head from her body, both of
which rolled into the water beneath."

En route home, Moore's rangers discovered two Indians on foot about a half mile from them. The
Indians were moving toward a timber grove another half mile beyond. Those of the company with the
best horses immediately took off in pursuit. The young Indians were fast and swiftly raced into the
woods to take cover ahead of their pursuers. The whites attempted to surround the thicket and then
selected several of their men to enter the thicket and drive the Indians out.

The Texans found and shot one Indian, and continued hunting the second one in the woods. Moses
Smith Hornsby of Captain Goheen's company finally spotted him and fired, but missed the Indian. The
Indian quickly returned fire and struck Hornsby in the shoulder. Suffering from his wound, Hornsby
hollered, “Here's the Indian!” and stumbled from the brush.

One of WiIIiamson's rangers, William Magill, heard the cry of Indian and raised his rifle. In his haste to
kill, he fired at the first person to rush from the brush, hitting his fellow man. MagiII's shot shredded
poor Hornsby's arm. A physician attached to the company examined him and decided that an
amputation would be required to save his life. Hornsby solidly refused to lose his arm, stating that he
preferred death. “After Iingering along in great pain for a day or two," he got his wish and was buried
with the honors of a volunteer soldier.

Lieutenant Eastland wrote that Smith Hornsby:

faithfully discharged the duties of a soldier until about the first of September, at which
time in an encounter with a parcel of Indians, said Hornsby was badly wounded and in a
few days thereafter died in consequence of said wound.

The Texans practiced an interesting burial custom in the field in order to protect a body from being
further mutilated by Indians. After covering up the corpse, the ground was packed smooth and flat
above it. A campfire was then kindled on this spot and left burning to conceal the fact that a body lay
underneath.

Adjutant James Neill took up his own little experiment for returning destruction to the enemy tribes.
He had procured some type of smallpox virus and had this bacteria injected into one of the Indians his
men had captured. This Indian was then released and allowed to carry the infection back to his tribe.
Neill was never able to ascertain the success or failure of his little experiment.

Without any further incident, Moore's men made their way back to their settlements and disbanded.
The volunteers were drummed out of service on September 13, 1835, in the town of Mina in present
Bastrop County. Captain “Willie” Williamson was later paid for service through September 13, and
Republic of Texas auditors determined he was due $1,005 for his expenses as company commander.
Early historian Henderson Yoakum wrote that this early ranger expedition was a great service in its
display of force to the Indians. This campaign also tended to discipline the volunteers, and prepare
them for the toils and triumphs that awaited them at home.
"In October, 1835, I joined Captain Thomas Alley's Company at Gonzales…." W Isbell

In September 1835 Colonel Domingo Ugartechea, the military commander at San Antonio de Béxar
sent a force of 100 soldiers under Francisco de Castañeda to reclaim a small cannon that had been
given to the citizens of Gonzales. The request angered the Texians, who immediately sent couriers to
other Anglo communities to ask for assistance. For several days the Texians stalled and reinforcements
began to arrive. On October 2, the Texians attacked the Mexican force; under orders to avoid
bloodshed, Castaneda and his men withdrew. This Battle of Gonzales is considered the official opening
of the Texas Revolution. Encouraged, a small group of Texians then went to Goliad, where, at the
Battle of Goliad, they succeeded in driving off the small Mexican force garrisoned at Presidio La Bahia.

Fearing that strong measures were needed to quell the unrest, Santa Anna ordered General Martín
Perfecto de Cos to lead a large force into Texas. When Cos arrived in San Antonio on October 9 there
were 647 soldiers ready for duty. When Goliad fell to the Texians, Cos lost his line of communication to
the coast. Convinced that the Texians would soon attack San Antonio, he chose to take a defensive
position rather than launch an attack against the Texian army.
Stephen F. Austin was elected to lead the new Texian Army.

Two days after the Texian victory at Gonzales, respected Texian leader Stephen F. Austin reported to
the San Felipe Committee of Public Safety that "War is declared—public opinion has proclaimed it
against a Military despotism—The campaign has commenced". His letter concluded: "One spirit and
one purpose animates the people of this party of the country, and that is to take Bexar, and drive the
military out of Texas. ... A combined effort of all Texas would soon free our soil of Military despots."
Colonists continued to assemble in Gonzales, and on October 11 they unanimously elected Austin, the
first empresario granted permission to settle Anglos in the state, as their commander-in-chief.
Although Austin had no official military training, he was widely respected in Texas for his sound
judgement, and he had led several excursions against raiding Indian tribes.

Austin's first order was that the men should be prepared to march at 9 am the following morning. For
the rest of the day, the men practiced firing and retreating in lines. Austin issued a string of orders,
including barring men from indiscriminately firing their weapons and instructing them to keep their
weapons in good repair at all times. He also felt it necessary to, in his words "remind each citizen
soldier that patriotism and firmness will but little avail, without discipline and strict obedience. The
first duty of a soldier is obedience." A later order instructed that "All riotous conduct and noisy
clamorous talk is specially prohibited". Austin also organized elections for regimental officers. John H.
Moore, who had led the Texians in the Battle of Gonzales, was elected colonel. Edward Burleson, a
former militia officer in Missouri and Tennessee, was named Lieutenant Colonel, and Brazoria
merchant Alexander Somervell was elected Major.

On October 12, the Texian army numbered approximately 300 men, drawn primarily from Austin's
colonies and the DeWitt Colony. About half of the men had entered Texas in the 1820s; the others
were newer arrivals who had lived in the area less than 5 years. Several had official militia experience
while they lived in the United States, and others had joined companies within Texas to counter Indian
raids. Almost all of the men were proficient with firearms, as hunting was a primary source of food.
The men crossed the Guadalupe River that morning and paused to await further reinforcements from
Nacogdoches.
On October 13, Austin led the Texian Army toward San Antonio de Bexar, location of the last large
garrison of Mexican troops in Texas. Some of the Texians had no weapons; those that did had little
gunpowder or shot. As the army marched, Ben Milam formed a makeshift mounted company to scout
ahead. On October 15 one of the scouting parties briefly skirmished with a ten-man Mexican cavalry
patrol; no injuries were reported and the Mexican soldiers soon retreated to Bexar.

The Texians arrived at Cibolo Creek, several miles east of Bexar, on October 16. Austin requested a
meeting with Cos, but Cos declined to meet with a man he said was commanding an illegal force. A
Texian council of war decided to remain in place and wait for reinforcements. The following day they
reversed their decision, and Austin moved his army to Salado Creek, 5 miles from Bexar. Over the next
several days, reinforcements and supplies arrived from various English-speaking colonies. One of the
new companies, commanded by James C. Neill, brought 2 new six-pounder cannon with them. The
reinforcements brought the Texian official strength to 453 men, although only about 384 of them were
available for duty. On October 24, Austin wrote the Committee of Public Safety in San Felipe that he
had "commenced the investment of San Antonio", and that with additional reinforcements he believed
the town could be taken in a matter of days.

Meanwhile, Cos worked to fortify the town squares in San Antonio and the walls of the Alamo, a
mission-turned-fort near the town. By October 26, Cos's men had mounted 11 cannon - 5 in the town
squares and 6 on the walls of the Alamo. An eighteen-pounder cannon, with a much longer range than
the other Mexican artillery, was positioned inside the Alamo chapel. Additional Mexican soldiers
arrived in Bexar, and on October 24 the Mexican garrison stood at its highest number, 751 men.
Although the Mexican soldiers attempted to restrict access to and from the city, James Bowie was able
to leave his home and join the Texians. Bowie was well known throughout Texas for his fighting
prowess; stories of his exploits in the Sandbar Fight and his search for the lost San Saba mine were
widely reported. Juan Seguin, a government official in San Antonio, arrived with 37 Tejanos on the
morning of October 22, and later that day an additional 76 men joined the Texian Army from Victoria,
Goliad, and the ranches south of Bexar. According to Barr, the presence of the Tejanos helped to "blur
the essence of ethnic conflict", providing evidence that the Texian response was not simply an
overreaction by American immigrants.

Even with the additional men, Austin realized that his army was not large enough to prevail in a full
assault on Bexar. The Texians thus prepared for a siege, looking for a position that was, in the words of
historian Stephen L. Hardin, "near Bexar, yet defensible against a sortie; in a position to block enemy
communications arriving daily". On October 22, Austin named Bowie and Captain James W. Fannin co-
commanders of the 1st Battalion and sent them on a reconnaissance mission. By the end of the day the
Texians had seized the Espada mission from Mexican pickets. On October 24, Austin informed the
Committee of Public Safety that he had initiated a siege; in his opinion, the city could be taken in a few
days if Texian reinforcements arrived quickly.

Austin sent Bowie and Fannin to find another good defensive spot on October 27. Rather than return
immediately to Austin, as their orders specified, Bowie and Fannin instead sent a courier to take Austin
directions to their chosen campsite, the former Mission Concepción. The scouting party camped along
the San Antonio River near the mission, which was approximately 2 miles from San Antonio de Bexar
and 6 miles (9.7 km) from the Texian camp at Espada. An angry Austin, fearing that his army would be
easily defeated now that it was split, issued a statement threatening officers who chose not to follow
orders with court-martial. He ordered the army to be prepared to join Bowie and Fannin at first light.
Hoping to neutralize the Texian force at Concepción before the remainder of the Texian Army arrived,
Cos ordered Colonel Domingo Ugartechea to lead an early-morning assault on the forces at Concepcion
on October 28. The Texians had a good defensive position, surrounded by trees, which left the Mexican
cavalry no room to maneuver. The Mexican infantry soon found themselves outgunned, as their Brown
Bess muskets had a maximum range of only 70 yards, compared to the 200-yard effective range of the
Texian long rifles. The Texians were short of ammunition, however, and although Mexican ammunition
was plentiful it was poor quality. In several cases, Mexican musket balls bounced off Texian soldiers,
causing little damage other than a bruise. The Battle of Concepción lasted only 30 minutes; at that
point the Mexican soldiers retreated towards Bexar.

Less than 30 minutes after the battle ended, the rest of the Texian Army arrived. Austin felt that the
Mexican morale must be low after their defeat and wanted to proceed immediately to Bexar. Bowie
and other officers refused, as they believed Bexar was too heavily fortified. The Texians searched the
area for any Mexican equipment which had been abandoned during the retreat. They found several
boxes of cartridges. Complaining that the Mexican powder was "little better than pounded charcoal",
the Texians emptied the cartridges but kept the bullets. One Texian, Richard Andrews, died and one
was wounded, while estimates of the Mexican dead range from 14 to 76.

On November 1, Austin sent a note to Cos, suggesting that the Mexican army surrender. Cos returned
the note unopened, with a message that he refused to correspond with rebels. Austin sent men to
reconnoiter the town's perimeter and discovered that the fortifications within the city were stronger
than the Texians had believed. On November 2, Austin called a council of war, which voted to continue
the siege and wait for reinforcements and more artillery before attacking. Members of the Texian army
were impatient to begin the fighting however. Austin complained to the provisional government on
November 4 that "This force, it is known to all, is but undisciplined militia and in some respects of very
discordant materials." He followed this note with a strong plea that "In the name of Almighty God,
send no more ardent spirits to this camp!"

The siege continued, and soon additional reinforcements arrived under Thomas J. Rusk, bringing the
Texian army to 600. Cos also gathered reinforcements, bringing the Mexican army to 1,200 and
discouraging the Texians even further from making any direct assaults on the city.

Sam Houston arrived in San Felipe expecting to gather for a meeting of the Consultation government,
but since many of the members were fighting in the siege of Bexar, Houston instead went to the Texian
army outside San Antonio. When Houston arrived in the camp, Austin offered him command of the
army, but Houston declined and went ahead gathering the members of the Consultation. The members
were released from the army for the meeting (except for Austin and William B. Travis) and returned to
San Felipe. There the delegates agreed to fight to uphold the Constitution of 1824 rather than Texas'
independence.

Houston was named general-in-chief of all Texas forces, except those fighting around San Antonio, and
Stephen Austin was authorized to travel to the U.S. to gain support for their cause. Edward Burleson,
who had been serving as Austin's second-in-command, was elected Major General and Commander-in-
Chief of the Volunteer Army to replace Austin.

The Texian people had little or no experience as professional soldiers, and by early November many
had begun to miss their homes. As the weather turned colder and rations grew smaller, many soldiers
became sick, and groups of men began to leave, most without permission. On November 18, however,
a group of volunteers from the United States, known as the New Orleans Greys, joined the Texian
Army. Unlike the majority of the Texian volunteers, the Greys looked like soldiers, with uniforms, well-
maintained rifles, adequate ammunition, and some semblance of discipline. The Greys, as well as
several companies of Texians who had arrived recently, were eager to face the Mexican Army directly.
Encouraged by their enthusiasm, on November 21, Austin ordered an assault on Bexar the following
morning. Several of his officers polled the soldiers that evening and discovered that fewer than 100
men were willing to launch an attack on Bexar; Austin then cancelled his orders. Within days Austin
resigned his command to become a commissioner to the United States; Texians elected Edward
Burleson as their new commander.

On the morning of November 26, Texian scout Erastus "Deaf" Smith rode into camp to report that a
pack train of mules and horses, accompanied by 50–100 Mexican soldiers, was within 5 miles of Bexar.
For several days, the Texians had heard rumors that the Mexican Army was expecting a shipment of
silver and gold to pay the troops and purchase additional supplies. The Texians had been fighting
without pay, and most wanted to charge from camp and loot the expected riches. Burleson ordered
Bowie to investigate, but warned him not to attack unless necessary. After Bowie recruited the army's
12 best marksmen for the expedition, there was little doubt that he intended to find a reason to attack.
Burleson managed to stop the entire army from following by sending Colonel William Jack with 100
infantry to support Bowie's men.
About 1 mile from Bexar, Bowie and his men spotted the Mexican soldiers crossing a dry ravine. This
was likely near the confluence of the Alazán, Apache, and San Pedro Creeks. After a short battle, the
Mexican soldiers withdrew towards Bexar, leaving their pack animals behind. To the surprise of the
Texians, the saddlebags contained not bullion, but freshly cut grass to feed the Mexican horses trapped
in Bexar. Four Texians were wounded in the fighting, and one soldier deserted during the battle.
Estimates of the number of Mexican casualties ranged from 3–60 killed and 7–14 wounded. Their
victory allowed the Texians to believe that, although outnumbered, they could prevail over the
Mexican garrison. The Texians believed that Cos must have been desperate to send troops outside of
the safety of Bexar.

Texian morale began to drop severely, and with winter approaching and supplies running low, Burleson
considered withdrawing into winter quarters. In a council of war, Burleson's officers overruled his
decision to withdraw, and the army stayed. One of the officers who adamantly opposed the
withdrawal was Colonel Ben Milam. Undaunted, Milam stalked into the Texian camp and called out
"Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" 300 soldiers cheered their support for Milam.

Reports from a captured Mexican soldier and escaped Texian prisoners alerted Burleson that Mexican
morale was just as low. Burleson ordered a two-column attack. One attack was to be carried out by
Milam's troops, and the other was to be carried out by those of Colonel Francis W. Johnson. On
December 5, Milam and Johnson launched a surprise attack and seized two houses in the Military Plaza
(one of the houses seized belonged to the in-laws of Jim Bowie). The Texians were unable to advance
any further that day, but they fortified the houses and remained there during the night, digging
trenches and destroying nearby buildings.

On December 7, the attack continued, and Milam's force captured another foothold in the city.
Included in the attacking forces was George W. Glasscock who had fought with Abraham Lincoln in two
Illinois Militia units during the Black hawk War in 1832 (the city of Georgetown and Glasscock county
would later be named for him). However, Milam was killed while leading the attack. Colonel Johnson
subsequently took command of both his and Milam's men and continued the street fighting, gradually
driving the Mexicans back into the city. Cos withdrew into the Alamo, where he was joined by Colonel
Ugartechea and 600 reinforcements, but it was too late. Cos entrenched his position, and Texian
artillery pounded the fortified mission.

As the Texians advanced closer to the plazas, Cos realized that his best defensive position would be
within the Alamo Mission just outside Bexar. In his official report to Santa Anna, Cos wrote that "in
such critical circumstances there was no other measure than to advance and occupy the Alamo which,
due to its small size and military position, was easier to hold. In doing so, I took with me the artillery,
packs and the rest of the utensils I was able to transport.” At 1 a.m. on December 9, the cavalry began
to pull back towards the Alamo. Colonel Nicolas Condell, his small force of 50 men from the Morelos
and Tamaulipas units, and two cannon remained as the rear guard at the plaza. Years later, however,
Sanchez Navarro maintained that Cos was not planning to abandon the town but wished to move the
wounded to the relative safety of the Alamo.

Inside the Alamo, Cos presented a plan for a counterattack; cavalry officers believed that they would
be surrounded by Texians and refused their orders. Possibly 175–soldiers from four of the cavalry
companies left the mission and rode south. According to Barr, Cos ran after the horseman to tell them
to stop and was almost run down. For a brief period, those in the mission believed that Cos might have
been killed. Sanchez Navarro said the troops were not deserting but misunderstood their orders and
were withdrawing all the way to the Rio Grande.

By daylight, only 120 experienced infantry remained in the Mexican garrison. Cos called Sanchez
Navarro to the Alamo and gave him orders to "go save those brave men. ... Approach the enemy and
obtain the best terms possible". Sanchez Navarro first returned to his post at the plaza to inform the
soldiers of the imminent surrender. Several officers argued with him, explaining that "the Morelos
Battalion has never surrendered", but Sanchez Navarro held firm to his orders. Bugle calls for a parley
received no response from the Texians, and at 7 am Sanchez Navarro raised a flag of truce.

Father de la Garza and William Cooke came forward to escort Sanchez Navarro and two other officers
to Johnson, who summoned Burleson. When Burleson arrived two hours later, he found that the
Mexican soldiers did not have written authorization from Cos. One of the Mexican officers was sent to
bring back formal permission for the surrender. Burleson agreed to an immediate cease-fire, and
negotiations began. Johnson, Morris, and James Swisher represented the Texians, while Miguel
Arciniega and John Cameron interpreted. The men haggled for much of the day before reaching terms
at 2 a.m. on December 10.

According to the terms of the agreement, Mexican troops could remain in the Alamo for six days to
prepare for the trip to the Mexican interior. During that time frame, Mexican and Texian troops were
not to carry arms if they interacted. Regular soldiers who had established ties to the area could remain
in Bexar; all recently arrived troops were expected to return to Mexico. Each Mexican soldier would
receive a musket and ten rounds of ammunition, and the Texians would allow one four-pound cannon
and ten rounds of powder and shot to accompany the troops. All other weapons and all supplies would
remain with the Texians, who agreed to sell some of the provisions to the Mexicans for their journey.
As the final term of their parole, all of Cos's men were required to pledge that they would not fight
against the Constitution of 1824.

At 10 a.m. on December 11, the Texian army paraded. Johnson presented the terms of surrender and
asked for the army's approval, stressing that the Texians had little ammunition left to continue the
fight. Most of the Texians voted in favor of the surrender, although some termed it a "child's bargain",
too weak to be useful.
The Siege of Bexar was the longest Texian campaign of the Texas Revolution, and according to Barr, it
was "the only major Texian success other than San Jacinto". According to Barr, of the 780 Texians who
had participated in some way in the battle, between 30 and 35 were wounded, with 5 or 6 killed.[63]
Historian Stephen Hardin places the Texian casualties slightly lower, with 4 killed and 14 wounded. The
losses were spread evenly amongst Texas residents and newcomers from the United States. Although
some Texians estimated that as many as 300 Mexican soldiers were killed, historians agree that it likely
that a total of 150 Mexican soldiers were killed or wounded during the five-day battle. About two-
thirds of the Mexican casualties came from the infantry units defending the plazas. To celebrate their
victory, Texian troops threw a fandango on the evening of December 10. Governor Henry Smith and
the governing council sent a letter to the army, calling the soldiers "invincible" and "the brave sons of
Washington and freedom". After the war, those who could prove they had participated in this
campaign were granted 320 acres of land. Eventually, 504 claims were certified. At least 79 of the
Texians who participated later died at the Battle of the Alamo or the Goliad Massacre, and 90
participated in the final battle of the Texas Revolution, at San Jacinto. The Texians confiscated 400
small arms, 20 cannon, and supplies, uniforms, and equipment. During the siege, Cos's men had
strengthened the Alamo mission, and the Texians chose to concentrate their forces within the Alamo
rather than continue to fortify the plazas.

Cos left Bexar on December 14 with 800 men. The soldiers who were too weak to travel were left in
the care of the Texian doctors. With his departure, there was no longer an organized garrison of
Mexican troops in Texas, and many of the Texians believed that the war was over. Johnson described
the battle as "the period put to our present war". Burleson resigned his leadership of the army on
December 15 and returned to his home. Many of the men did likewise, and Johnson assumed
command of the soldiers who remained. Soon after, a new contingent of Texians and volunteers from
the United States arrived with more heavy artillery. According to Barr, the large number of American
volunteers "contributed to the Mexican view that Texian opposition stemmed from outside influences.
That belief may have contributed in turn to Santa Anna's order of 'no quarter' in his 1836 campaign."
Santa Anna was outraged that Cos had surrendered. Already in preparations to move a larger army to
Texas, Santa Anna moved quickly on hearing of his brother-in-law's defeat, and by late December 1835
had begun to move his Army of Operations northward. Although many of his officers disagreed with
the decision to march towards the Texian interior rather than take a coastal approach, Santa Anna was
determined to first take Bexar and avenge his family's honor.
"…then joined Gen. Sam Houston, on the Colorado, on his retreat from Gonzales; participated in the
battle of San Jacinto, on the 21st of April, 1836…" W. Isbell

The army under Gen. Houston had remained on the Colorado until the March 26th. It had increased to
about thirteen hundred men, who were in high spirits, and anxious to meet the enemy. They were
now, considering the short time which had elapsed since they took the field, and their character of raw
recruits, in an admirable state of subordination. The enemy, in the mean time, in several divisions, had
advanced eastward. The advance of one division under Gen. Sezma, had reached the Colorado on the
22d.

On the 26th Gen. Houston, having intelligence of the approach of other forces of the enemy above and
below him, and thinking his position insecure, fell back upon the Brazos. This movement has been the
theme of much discussion, has excited a good deal of angry feeling, and Gen. Houston has been much
blamed.

On the 27th, Gen. Houston, with the main body of the Texan army, reached the Brazos at San Felippe,
from whence, for the sake of a secure position, he proceeded some distance above, to Grosse's
Retreat, leaving a force of about two hundred men under Capt. Baker to guard San Felippe, and
sending another small detachment farther down, to Old Fort, to guard the crossing there. At Grosse's,
Gen. Houston availed himself of a steamboat, with which to move his troops suddenly to any point
they should be needed.

On the 29th, there was a false alarm of the approach of the enemy on San Felippe, whereupon the
inhabitants hastily moved their goods across the Brazos, and set fire to the town.

Early on the morning of the 10th of April, the advance of the enemy's cavalry appeared at San Felippe,
and soon after the main body. Gen. Houston kept a most vigilant eye on their movements. They were
prevented from crossing the river at San Felippe by the high water, as well as by the force opposed by
Capt. Baker.

On the 11th, it was ascertained that a division of the enemy had begun to cross the river at Old Fort,
and that another division had reached Brazoria by way of the coast ; whereupon Gen. Houston made
preparations to cross his troops over the river, which was effected on the 12th.

From the Brazos, Gen. Houston took the line of march eastward, to "Donahue's," at which place roads,
running in the direction of Nacogdoches and Buffalo Bayou, intersect. Having previously, from the
Brazos, sent dispatches East, to the Red Lands — threatening to carry the war to their doors if they did
not turn out — and also orders to volunteers from the United States, then advancing to join him, to
halt and fortify on the Trinity, Gen. Houston, on leaving Donahue's, was about to take the road in the
direction of Nacogdoches, but circumstances fortunately directed his march towards Harrisburgh.

The division of the enemy, which had now crossed the Brazos, was commanded by Santa Anna in
person, who, not knowing the force and position of Gen. Houston, seems to have thought that the war
was over, and that Texas was won; he, therefore, hastily proceeded to take possession of the small
towns of Harrisburgh and New Washington, which places he caused to be burned on the 17th and
20th. But he was mistaken — and never was man more awfully mistaken; the Texans were close upon
him; on the 18th they arrived opposite Harrisburgh.
During the day, very opportunely for the Texans, and unfortunately for the enemy, a Mexican courier
was taken by that most able Texan spy and brave soldier, Deaf Smith. By this courier Gen. Houston got
possession of dispatches and documents showing the situation, numbers, plans, and movements of the
enemy. On the morning of the 19th, the Texan army crossed and proceeded down the right bank of
Buffalo Bayou, to within about a half mile of its junction with the San Jacinto. Here, on the morning of
the 20th, they took up a position in the edge of timber
skirting the Bayou, having the timber in the rear, and in front an extensive prairie, interspersed with a
few islands of timber.

Fortunately for the Texans, they had now received two pieces of artillery, and, more fortunate still,
were about to meet with but one division of Santa Anna's army, and that commanded by himself in
person: having thus the chance of striking a decisive blow, with comparatively little risk.

They had occupied their position but a short time when Santa Anna came marching up in front, with
his army in battle array. He was repulsed by a discharge from the Texan artillery, whereupon he fell
back, and with his infantry occupied an island of timber about a quarter of a mile distant from the left
of the Texan encampment; a little more remote, to the right of the same, he planted his artillery ; and
at an intermediate point, his cavalry.

During the day there were several skirmishes between the two armies. One of the most important, as
substantially related by Gen. Houston, was between the Texan artillery and the Invincibles of Santa
Anna. Just as the former had reached the summit of a swell in the prairie, the latter, in their imposing
uniform of high white* caps and white pantaloons, appeared dashing down an opposite swell. The
Texans opened a fire of their artillery, when the Invincibles, taken by surprise, broke and retreated. In
the result of this affair, the Texans not only had a decided advantage over the enemy, but gained
confidence. The Invincibles had yielded.

Another action of some importance was towards the close of the day, between about eighty men
under Col. Sherman and the enemy's cavalry. This was at the distance of about three quarters of a mile
from the Texan camp, near the San Jacinto, where the enemy had then taken a position in the edge of
the timber skirting the river, from whence, in front of their camp, they had thrown up a considerable
breastwork. Sherman went out to reconnoiter and to get possession of the enemy's artillery, supposed
to be at an intermediate point between the two encampments; with the understanding that he was to
be sustained by a body of infantry under Col. Willard, which was at the same time drawn out.
Not finding the piece of artillery, which had been removed, Sherman proceeded to reconnoiter. Seeing
the enemy's cavalry drawn up in front of their entrenchment, ready for an engagement, he charged
upon them, drove them back behind their infantry, sustained the fire of the latter for some minutes,
and then, in danger of being surrounded and cut off by superior numbers, after having performed
some feats of daring chivalry, retreated, with the loss of advantage, though not of credit.

During the morning of the 21st, the enemy, reinforced by five hundred choice troops under Gen. Cos,
were seen actively engaged in fortifying their position. It was time that the great conflict for the soil of
Texas should be decided; the Texans were impatient; delay would only increase the already great
disparity of the forces opposed.

Gen. Houston held a council of his officers. It was determined to attack the enemy at their breastwork.
Gen. Houston relied upon the impetuosity of the Texans in a charge; he was not deceived. He gave
orders for the bridge over Sim's Bayou, on the only accessible road to the settlements on the Brazos, to
be destroyed, to prevent all escape; and at half past three o'clock
P. M. the army began to move in three divisions. The General himself lead the van. They moved on
with the stillness of death; not a drum, nor fife, nor voice was heard. Every one was rousing his soul for
the conflict.

When within two hundred yards of the enemy, they were formed in line of battle, and received with a
shower of musket balls and grape shot. They then marched to the attack with trailed rifles — silent,
but swift and determined. When within seventy yards the word was given, "fire!" — and an
instantaneous blaze poured upon the enemy the missiles of destruction, literally mowing them down
into the arms of death. Then the word "charge!" was given, accompanied by the soul-stirring tune of
"Yankee Doodle."

The effect was electrical; language cannot describe it's exhilarating power; new ardor seized the souls
of the Texans; their native country, her victories and her power, came to their minds; they felt that
they were invincible, "Yankee Doodle" was heard above the roar of arms ; and, with the shoot of "the
Alamo," they rushed upon their foe, — and victory rewarded their valor, and vengeance atoned for
their wrongs.

Seven hundred Mexicans lay a sacrifice to the shades of departed heroes slaughtered at the Alamo and
Goliad. Thus ended the glorious battle of San Jacinto, and the Mexican dominion in Texas.
"I went to Mill Creek, now Austin county, and planted a crop.… then returned to Mill Creek and
worked out my crop of corn." W. Isbell

The area now known as Austin County was selected by Stephen Fuller Austin in 1823 as the site for his
colony, the first Anglo-American settlement in Texas. Those families which followed Austin settled on
the west bank of the Brazos River, above the mouth of Mill Creek. In July, 1824 the general land office
was opened at San Felipe de Austin, the unofficial capitol of the Anglo-American settlements in Texas.
At this time titles were issued for the amount of land allowed by the contract of colonization, which
was 640 acres for each single man or head of the family, 320 acres for a wife, 160 acres for each child
and 80 acres for each slave. These early settlers usually built near streams where water could easily be
found and an abundance of wood for building and fencing material, as well as where fuel would be
readily available.

Austin county, in its southern portion, includes the inland margin of the level prairies. In the northwest
the boundary lines of the county run over rolling hills which rise to an average height of fifty feet above
the intervening valleys. Some hills are more than a hundred feet in height and afford views of very
beautiful and extensive landscapes. The general surface of the county rises from southeast to
northwest about three hundred feet. The streams course to the southeast as do most others in Texas.
One considerable tributary of the Brazos river crosses the county. This stream now called Mill creek,
was known to the Spaniards as the Palmetto (from a species of dwarf palm common to the Mississippi
valley which grows profusely on its lower course.) This stream is formed by the union of two principal
branches, the east and west Mill creeks, having their sources in Washington county, and an immense
number of tributary rivulets which flow in from all sides in Austin county.

In 1824 Mrs. Cummings and her three sons, John, James and William, settled on Mill creek a mile or
two above its mouth. There the Cummings brothers built a saw and grist mill propelled by the water of
Mill creek. This was the first mill of the kind erected in Texas; not long thereafter the first cotton gins
were established. Soon San Felipe, the first true urban community to develop within the Austin colony,
ranked second in Texas only to San Antonio as a commercial center. By 1830 small herds of cattle were
being driven from San Felipe to market at Nacogdoches. Cotton, however, the chief article of
commerce, was carried overland by ox-wagon to the coastal entrepôts of Velasco, Indianola, Anahuac,
and Harrisburg. Unreliable water levels and turbulence during the spring rains discouraged steamboat
traffic on the Brazos as high as San Felipe, and the stream's meanders rendered the water route to the
coast far longer than land routes. After 1830, however, steamboats gradually began to appear on the
lower Brazos, and by 1836 as many as three steamboats were plying the water between landings in
Austin County and the coast.
"In the winter of 1836 I went to the town of Brazoria and kept bar for Mrs. Jane Long…" W. Isbell

Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long was called the "Mother of Texas," even during her lifetime, because of
the birth of her child on Bolivar Peninsula on December 21, 1821. She was not, however, as she
claimed, the first English-speaking woman to bear a child in Texas. Censuses between 1807 and 1826
reveal a number of children born in Texas to Anglo-American mothers prior to 1821.

Jane was born on July 23, 1798, in Charles County, Maryland, the tenth child of Capt. William Mackall
and Anne Herbert (Dent) Wilkinson. Her father died in 1799, and about 1811 her mother moved the
family to Washington, Mississippi Territory. After the death of her mother around 1813, Jane lived with
her older sister, Barbara, the wife of Alexander Calvit, at Propinquity Plantation near Natchez, where
she met James Long when he was returning from the battle of New Orleans.

The couple married on May 14, 1815, and for the next four years lived in the vicinity while James
practiced medicine at Port Gibson, experimented with a plantation, and became a merchant in
Natchez. When Long left for Nacogdoches in June 1819, Jane and their daughter, Ann Herbert, born on
November 26, 1816, remained with another sister, Anne Chesley, a widow, because of advanced
pregnancy. Twelve days after the birth of Rebecca on June 16, Jane hastened to join her husband.

She left with her two children and Kian, a black slave. While with the Calvits, now living near
Alexandria, Louisiana, Jane became ill. She continued on while still recovering, and it was August
before she reached Nacogdoches. Within two months she had to flee with the other American families
towards the Sabine when Spanish troops from San Antonio approached the frontier outpost. James
Long was returning to the stone fort from a visit to Galveston Island and managed to meet Jane near
the Sabine.

Jane returned to the Calvits' where she found that little Rebecca had died. About March 1820 James
Long took Jane to Bolivar Peninsula on Galveston Bay, and she claimed to have dined with Jean Laffite
on Galveston Island. The Longs returned to Alexandria for their daughter on their way to New Orleans
to seek support for Long's cause.

Jane missed sailing to Bolivar when at the last minute she returned to Rodney, Mississippi, for her
daughter Ann, whom she had left with Anne Chesley. Jane and Ann waited in Alexandria until Warren
D. C. Hall came to guide her overland to Bolivar. Jane Long was not the only woman at Fort Las Casas
on the peninsula. Several families remained in the little community surrounding the military post when
Long left for La Bahía on September 19, 1821.

Instead of returning within a month as promised, Long was captured at San Antonio and taken to
Mexico City where he was "accidentally" killed on April 8, 1822. Pregnant again, Jane stubbornly
waited for her husband even when the guard and the other families left Bolivar. She was all alone
except for Kian and Ann when she gave birth to her third daughter, Mary James, on December 21,
1821.

Lonely and near starvation, Jane welcomed incoming immigrants heading for the San Jacinto River
early in 1822. She abandoned her vigil and joined the Smith family at their camp on Cedar Bayou. By
mid-summer she moved farther up the San Jacinto River, where she finally received word that James
Long had been killed.
She traveled to San Antonio in September to seek a pension from Governor José Félix Trespalacios, her
husband's former associate. She arrived on October 17, 1822, and remained ten months without
success in her quest, after which she returned, disappointed, to Alexandria in September 1823.

Jane Long returned to Texas with the Calvits after the death of her youngest child on June 25, 1824.
She received title to a league of land in Fort Bend County and a labor in Waller County from empresario
Stephen F. Austin on August 24, 1824. She did not live there, preferring San Felipe until April 1830,
when she took Ann to school in Mississippi.

They lived with Anne W. Chesney Miller until January 1831, when Ann James married Edward Winston,
a native of Virginia. The newlyweds and Jane made a leisurely pilgrimage back to Texas, where they
arrived in May. Jane bought W. T. Austin's boarding house at Brazoria in 1832, which she operated for
five years. The Bolivar Peninsula Cultural Foundation, which maintains Jane Long’s memorabilia, states
that Jane held a ball at her boarding house in Brazoria when Stephen F. Austin returned in 1835 from
prison in Mexico. It was at the ball that Austin made his first speech favoring Texas independence from
Mexico. The foundation claims that during the Texas Revolution in 1836 Jane fled Brazoria ahead of
the advancing Mexican Army and that she saved the papers of Mirabeau Lamar, which included his
original history of Texas.

In 1837 the widow, age thirty-nine, moved to her league, a portion of which she had sold to Robert E.
Handy who developed the town of Richmond, the county seat of Fort Bend County. Jane opened
another boarding house and also developed a plantation two miles south of town. She bought and sold
land, raised cattle, and grew cotton with the help of slaves (twelve in 1840).

Her plantation was valued at over $10,000 in 1850. By 1861 she held nineteen slaves valued at $13,300
and about 2,000 acres. When the war ended, she continued to work the land with tenants and briefly
experimented with sheep. In 1870 she lived by herself next door to Ann who had married James S.
Sullivan; Ann died in June, leaving the care of Jane to the grandchildren.

By 1877 Jane was unable to manage her diminished estate valued at only $2,000. She died on
December 30, 1880, at the home of her grandson, James E. Winston, and was buried in the Morton
Cemetery in Richmond. Folklore and family tradition hold that Jane was courted by Texas's leading
men, including Ben Milam, Sam Houston, and Mirabeau B. Lamar, but that she refused them all.

Her history depends primarily on her own story told to Lamar about 1837, when he was gathering
material for a history of Texas. In 1936 a centennial marker was erected in her honor in Fort Bend
County.
"I lived in Houston from the winter of 1837 till 1840; wagoned to the west for Major Bennett."
W. Isbell

Major Valentine Bennet migrated to Texas about 1830. He was with the Brazoria and Columbia boys in
the battle of Velasco, where he was shot down, receiving severe wounds in the hip and face. He joined
De Witt's Colony and located his head-right on the Guadalupe River, having his citizenship at Gonzales,
introducing his family there in 1838.

He was one of the notable "Eighteen" who at that place stood for the defense of the cannon when the
Mexicans came on to remove them in 1835. He thus was one of the first to enroll in the army of Texas,
and became of considerable service to General Stephen F. Austin in drilling the citizen soldiers who
gathered to the defense of Texas, and were organized into an army by that statesman, at that
Lexington of Texas.

He soon received from General Austin a commission in the army, and continued with energetic
constancy in public service, participating in the siege of San Antonio de Bexar; and, ranking as major in
the quartermaster and commissary department, remaining in the army until after the battle of San
Jacinto.

He was also major in the same department in the Santa Fé expedition, and chainmate to George W.
Kendall in one of the dungeons of Mexico. Returning from that imprisonment late in 1842 to his home
at Gonzales, he again took a prominent part in the defense of that frontier, by co-operating with his old
companion-in-arms, Captain Caldwell in hurrying forward volunteers to meet the Mexican forces under
General Woll, who was advancing upon San Antonio.

He was, by his well-known devotion to Texas, able to raise immediate supplies of subsistence from
voluntary contributions of the citizens; and thus furnished many squads of poorly provisioned
volunteers with jerked beef, and such small stores of corn as could upon the instant be collected.

Finding from the dispatches of Colonel Caldwell that the Mexican advance was likely to be formidable,
he in person hurried to the assistance of that officer at the well-known battle-field of the Salado, and
joined in the pursuit of the defeated enemy, continuing until the Texans returned to their homes. He
then assisted in organizing the Somerville expedition and remained in the service of the Republic until
his death, which occurred at Gonzales in July, 1843.

The following notice of him was at the time published in the New Orleans Picayune:

ANOTHER SANTA FÉ PRISONER DEAD. Major Valentine Bennet, one of the members of the
unfortunate Santa Fé expedition, died at Gonzales, Texas, on the 24th of July, of the cramp
colic. Major Bennet was one of the companions of Mr. Kendall in his dreary march to the city of
Mexico, and was imprisoned in the same quarters. He was a man far advanced in life, and was
one of the earliest and bravest defenders of Texas, and bore an honorable part in the most
sanguinary conflicts of the young Republic. He was a man of sterling integrity and honest
deportment.

The following incident showing Major Bennet's ready humor, as told by some of those who were
present at its occurrence, will perhaps bear mention: General Sam Houston and some of the members
of the cabinet were one day discussing the adoption of a Texas uniform for the army; Major Bennet
passing hurriedly by was thus good-humoredly accosted by the General,
 "Well, major, what uniform do you recommend for our boys?"
"Oh rags, rags! They are the only uniform which we can procure at present," said the major, as
he passed on amid loud bursts of laughter from the General and all who were near.

Major Bennet wrote the following letter to his children in Gonzales after his capture on the Santa Fé
Expedition:

Dear children, I am here a prisoner near Mexico. I expect to leave in a few days, about 180
miles on the road to Vera Cruz the bearer of this will give you every information respecting our
capture, it is uncertain how long I may be detained. Do not feel any anxiety about me, as I am in
good health and doing as well as I could expect. Go on in the path of virtue and you will be sure
to be prosperous and happy. Your affect. Father V. Bennet. San Cristoval Feby 3d 1842.

After independence, Major Bennet traveled to Ohio and returned with his son Miles Squier Bennet to
the Republic in 1838 where he resumed his quartermaster activities to supply the largely volunteer
army of the Republic. Son Miles served as his clerk and close associate in those activities and the latter
recorded their times together in a diary which was the basis for subsequent newspaper articles about
the times. Major Bennet was often frustrated by the unwillingness of local residents to assist in
outfitting the largely still volunteer army of The Republic of Texas as illustrated in the two letters below
that are in the Texas Archives:

Pine Point, Decr. 20th, 1838. To Wm. G. Cooke, Qr. Mast. Genl.
Sir--We arrived at this place this evening under as good circumstances as could be expected. I
have obtained provision for the troops and we shall leave in the morning.---I shall use every
exertion to provide for them but. Sir, I can assure you it will be a hard matter unless 1 can have
money to do it with. I find that people be quite unwilling to part with their provisions without
money. I wish, Sir, if possible you will send me some money for that purpose by my son, who is
the bearer of this letter. I will be responsible for any amt. you may please to send by him. We
can not find the two yoke of oxen that were lost and I take this opportunity of sending you a
description of them, which if you will please give to Dr. Mulrine, I have no doubt he will recover
them. Of one yoke, the lead or near ox is white & red with a bald face, six years old, a part of
the left horn is broken off. The off ox is of deep red or brown color. Of the other yoke, the near
ox is white except his shoulders and head, which are of deep red or dun color, with a very small
white spot high up in his forehead. The off ox is of a coal black color, has a lump on the right
jaw, Both oxen has a swallow fork cut out of the left ear. I believe none of these oxen have any
brands upon them. I have the honor to be Yours, etc. V. Bennet, Qr. Master.

Col. Wm. G. Cook, Qr. Mast. Genl. Sir---I have much trouble in getting the artillery from this
place. Everything worked against me. The inhabitants would rather render me no assistance at
all. I am much indebted to Col. Eastland's Company for their assistance in getting the cannon
over the river. I could not get any hands at all. I have written to the Secretary of War to send us
harness but I have had no return. There has been no arrival of any public property of any kind
from the East. Since receiving your communication, I have written on to the Secretary of War
urging him to forward everything as fast as possible. I shall do everything in my power to
facilitate the business. I shall furnish the troops as soon as they arrive and push them on as fast
as possible. I have the honor to be with much respect, Yours, V. Bennet.
"In 1841 I made an Indian campaign under Mark B. Lewis and Tom Green…" W. Isbell

Captain Lewis’ Expedition: March 20–June 4, 1841

In the first half of 1841 veteran Captain Mark Lewis––a former Frontier Regiment captain and veteran
of the 1839 Cherokee War––was leading a volunteer expedition from the Austin area. They were
pursuing raiding Indians toward Mexico.

More than 130 Texans, including Major George T. Howard, went on this six-week foray. Lewis’
expedition included two volunteer Texan companies, as well as Chief Flacco and twenty of his Lipan
Indians. Captain James Dunn headed the small Victoria Company. His second-in-command, Lieutenant
Anson G. Neal, had previously served as a second lieutenant and assistant quartermaster for the Texas
Army during 1836-1837. Private Joseph Sovereign, a native of Portugal, was a veteran of the battle of
San Jacinto. Serving as adjutant of the expedition was Captain William Bugg, who had briefly
commanded the Victoria area company for two days.

The other volunteer company, known as the “Fayette Volunteers,” was headed by Captain Thomas
Green, another San Jacinto veteran who had helped man the Twin Sisters cannon. Green, for whom
Tom Green County would later be named, was second in command under Major Lewis.

Green’s company included such veteran rangers as Rufus Perry and Dewitt C. Lyons, who had made his
first ranger expedition in 1835. Captain Green recorded that Lyons “was enrolled on the 20th day of
March last to serve in a campaign against the Indians.” In the service papers of First Sergeant James P.
Longly, Green recorded that his company was “on the campaign of 1841 against the hostile Indians up
the Colorado and Concho.”

Captain Green and his second lieutenant, Griffith H. Jones, later testified that Colden Denman served
under “Captain James Newcomb” on Lewis’ 1841 expedition. Newcomb was, of course, the first
lieutenant and acting commander of Captain Dolson’s Travis County Minutemen at this time. “Colden
Denman was a soldier in the spy company commanded by Capt. James Newcomb in the year 1841, in
an expedition against the Indians under the command of Maj. Mark Lewis,” Green and Jones affirmed.

Denman was assigned to Lieutenant Newcomb’s spy unit from Captain Murry’s company for this
expedition. Pay rolls and muster rolls for the Travis County Minutemen show James Newcomb and four
of his spies to have been in continual operation in the field from late March through September 6,
1841, although little idea of their specific actions is given.

The expedition prepared itself at Austin, the capital town which had grown to more than 1,200 citizens
by early 1841. Texas Sentinel editor George W. Bonnell wrote in the March 25 edition that leader Mark
Lewis “has the right sort of boys––real buck-skin hawk-eyed fellows, who would as soon sleep in a
creek as not.”

Major Lewis moved out from Austin in the direction of Chihuahua, following the Colorado River far
beyond its settlements. They continued to the San Saba River, where he sent his first report to
Secretary of War Archer. After that time in late May, Captain Lewis was undecided whether to leave
the Nueces River area and Rio Frio entirely (south of San Antonio in present McMullen County) and to
move in “the direction of the Moras.” Las Moras Creek is a tributary of the San Saba River. His other
dilemma was whether to instead occupy the passes between the headwaters of the San Saba River and
its intersecting streams, while detaching his volunteers into small pursuit parties.

The Indians, by all evidence, had broken up their camps and scattered. Lewis figured this was “either
for the purpose of finding game more plentifully, or of eluding pursuit.” Veteran ranger Cicero Rufus
Perry was among Mark Lewis’ volunteers on this expedition into far western Texas. “We started to
Chihuahua but did not get farther than the head of the Colorado,” he wrote. “We then turned back by
the head of the Concho thence to San Saba, Llano, then to the Nueces.”

Lewis decided to occupy the main passes between the headwaters of the San Saba and its adjoining
streams. He noted that there were smoke signals and trails from many hunting parties “passing
through the country in various directions.” He felt that it would be impossible to intercept a significant
force of the scattered Indian bands. It would therefore be a waste of his men to keep them all gathered
together to attack each small band of Indians at one point. Lewis thus split his forces about May 18.
The Lipan scouts accompanying Captain Lewis’ force were sent to the head of the Llano River (spelled
phonetically as “Yano” by Lewis) to search for fresh Indian trails in that direction.

The Lipans returned with intelligence that they had found a small party of Comanches near “the Road.”
CaptainWilliam Bugg was ordered on May 20 to take twenty men and go in pursuit of these
Comanches. His force soon came upon this band and killed three of them. Among those going out with
Bugg was Rufus Perry, who was acting as an interpreter for Major Lewis.

"We struck one party of Indians between San Saba to Llano. We killed all the bunch there was.
The first Indian I ever scalped and the last, I promised Miss Elisor Haynie to bring her a scalp.
Her brother Jack [Haynie] was with me when I shot the buck down. He fell as though he was
dead, and we thought he was, but when I went to raise his top knot, he raised with me. I tell
[you] we had a lively time for a while until old Butch got the best of him."

On the same day, May 20, Lieutenant Gillespie was detached with ten men in pursuit of another Indian
party. He came upon them, but these Indians hastily abandoned their horses and fled into the cedar
brakes and mountains. Gillespie’s party returned without killing any Indians.

Captain Green took twenty men and four Lipan scouts on the following day, May 21, and commenced
pursuit of a party of Indians whose trail Green’s men had discovered. They followed this trail for an
estimated sixty miles. Forty of these miles were over rugged mountainous area where the volunteers
had no water. Green’s force overtook the Indians in the valley of the Nueces River. The Indians
discovered Green’s men in time to make good on their escape. One Indian was killed by the Texans
before he could flee.

Captain Lewis “lost no time in examining the country for other parties, and in the evening of the same
day, killed another Indian and captured a prisoner.” Lewis’ group was led by young Flacco, the Lipan
guide. Rufus Perry later stated that Lewis’ command “struck a trail and followed them to the Nueces.”
In addition to capturing the Indians’ camp equipage, they also “took one squaw.” According to Perry,
the Lipans took liberties with their female prisoner and even offered two of the Texan volunteers a
turn, which was declined.

The way the friendly Indians did to keep her was to sleep with her, each one every night as their time.
Young Flacco told me to tell Colonel Lewis that he and me could sleep with her when they all went
around, as he was commander and I interpreter, but we did not, but let them have her to themselves.
Reporters of the Republic era often speculated that female captives of the Comanches were raped,
regardless of whether the victims made such reports. In this instance, the Lipans were obviously more
barbaric than the Comanches.

Lewis and his fellow commanders found the pursuit impossible to wipe out an entire band of Indians.
Those who escaped from each encounter with the Texan volunteers quickly had smoke signals “rising
in every direction.” With such alarm spread through the area, Lewis found further pursuit of the
Indians to be fruitless.

On May 21, Lewis’ volunteer expedition thus turned to march back for San Antonio from the Nueces
River. About twenty miles above the Presidio Road on the Nueces, a trail was found by the Lipans. It
appeared to have been made by three or four hundred horses, and was judged by the scouts to be
about fifteen days old. Captain Lewis wrote:

"It was my impression, from the size of the trail, and its course when first discovered, that a
large body of Comanches had concentrated for the purpose of attacking the settlements on the
San Antonio, but upon following it to their first camp on the river, it was ascertained to be a
body of Cherokees. Their route continuing down the east bank of the river, induced the
impression that it was their intention, either to unite with a party of marauding Mexicans,
which have for some months past infested the main road from the Rio Grande to San Antonio,
or make a descent upon the frontier, at some point least protected."

Lewis’ party decided to make a forced march to try and catch up. Upon moving a short distance down
the trail, however, the Lipan guides reported the Indians to have crossed over the San Antonio River
and to have gone in the direction of Presidio. From some Mexicans residing around San Antonio,
Captain Lewis learned that this Indian force had reached Presidio about mid-May. “From the size of
their camp, there must have been about two hundred & fifty men, women and children,” wrote Lewis.

Lewis’ men returned to San Antonio, where they heard numerous reports of Indians being in that
vicinity. His men spent the next few days following up on these various reports before moving against
anyone in particular. John Twohig, an Irish storekeeper and 1835 Béxar siege veteran, furnished flour,
salt, coffee, and sugar for the men under Major Lewis when they appeared “out of provisions on his
arrival at San Antonio.”

On the evening of May 28, a force of sixty to eighty Indians appeared near San Antonio and killed a
Mexican citizen and drove off some cattle. “As little time as possible was lost in collecting volunteers,”
Lewis related. Mark Lewis apparently did not join this pursuit party from the style of his writing. He
was in Austin on June 2, where he wrote a report of his most recent expedition to Branch Archer.
"…returned by way of San Antonio and there joined Capt. Jack Hays’ company of Rangers and served
about six months." W. Isbell

June: Hays’ Uvalde Canyon Fight: June 29, 1841

Captain Jack Hays had returned to San Antonio in May and disbanded his rangers. He was allowed to
reactivate his unit on June 1, 1841, although he was the only member mustered for a while. He signed
up five men on June 12 and another nine men on June 23.

In June 1841, President Lamar sought to help the sagging Texas economy by claiming the town of Santa
Fe, which lay in the western extremes of Republic territory. He hoped to cash in on the trade value of
the profits now going to St. Louis and Mexican towns. Claiming this territory would add to the
international prestige of Texas. Establishing a trade route between the Texas Gulf Coast and Santa Fe
had long been suggested. Stephen F. Austin had even supported the idea in 1829. Major William
Jefferson Jones had pushed the proposal to Lamar in February 1839, and Lamar had addressed the
Texas Congress on the subject again in November 1839, pointing out all of the advantages the Republic
could reap from such a trade road. This plan came to the spotlight again in April 1840, when an
American trader resident of Santa Fe, William G. Dryden, came to Austin with a letter of introduction
to President Lamar.

With the collapse of the Texas Army, Lamar now had a good number of men to volunteer for the Santa
Fe Expedition. Colonel William Cooke, discharged from the army on April 30, joined. On May 8, Major
George Howard and captains William Houghton, John Holliday, John Kennymore, and Collier Hornsby
were all discharged, and they would also join up. John S. Sutton took command of one of the Santa Fe
companies. Famed ranger commander Mathew "Paint" Caldwell took command of another company.

Commanded by Hugh McLeod and George Howard, the Santa Fe Expedition numbered 321 men as it
set out on June 19, 1841, from Kenney’s Fort on Brushy Creek, twenty miles north of Austin. McLeod’s
expedition struggled through the southwest, often lost and ultimately split in its search for Santa Fe.
Mexican authorities learned of the expedition and sent troops to intercept it. One of the Texans
contacted the senior Mexican officials and arranged to surrender the Texan forces. With the promise
that they would soon be released, the Texans surrendered. They were instead treated as prisoners of
war and marched on foot into Mexico. Men died along the march. Many others were held in
Mexican prisons until released in April 1842.

Just as the Santa Fe Expedition was preparing to depart the Austin area in mid-June, Captain Jack Hays
was forming up his unit of Béxar County Minutemen in San Antonio for another patrol into Indian
territory. Hays had been originally commissioned to command a company of rangers during early 1841.
The December 26, 1840, resolution, however, had only provided that these ranger companies could
exist for four months. Béxar County, however, had been authorized on February 4, 1841, to operate a
company of minutemen who would range as needed for short periods of duration.

In her memoirs, San Antonio resident Mary Maverick refers to Captain Hays’ company as
“Minutemen.” The public debt service papers of men serving under Hays in late 1841 show that the
government considered them to be minutemen, as well. The men who served under him as of July
1841 were issued claims for their “services in Captain Hays’ company of minute men in 1841.”
 Capt. Hays’ Rangers: June 1–July 1, 1841

Captain: John Coffee Hays

Privates:
S. P. Ball 1 John M. Carroll 2 Antonio Coy 3
Addison Drinkwater 1 Peter Fohr 3 Francisco Granado 1
G. H. Grubbs 1 William Isbell 1 Joseph Miller 3
Robert Pollett 1 Benjamin Prior 1 Benjamin Prior Jr. 1
John Slein 1
Note: Captain Hays paid from June 1, 1841.
1 Enlisted June 23, 1841.
2 Served June 12–21, 1841 only.
3 Enlisted June 12, 1841.
Source: Texas State Archives muster rolls.

Hays had exactly twelve other rangers under his command by late June and made preparations to go
out on expedition again in response to renewed depredations. A party of Indians had driven off cattle
from settlements around San Antonio. Only one man, Private John Carroll, departed his command on
June 21 after only serving ten days.

He set out on June 27 from San Antonio with his thirteen man company. He was joined by a twenty-
man Tejano unit under Captain Flores. They “took the trail, which led us in the direction of the Canyon
de Ubalde.”

Uvalde Canyon was some fifty miles west of San Antonio at the headwaters of the Frio River. Although
referred to as Canyon de Uvalde by early frontiersmen, this area in present Real and Uvalde counties is
now known as the Frio Canyon. Near the canyon, Hays found that the Comanches had a main camp.
Being too small in number to attack the main camp, he hid “his men in a place of concealment, and
taking with him a Mexican, went forth to spy out the strength and situation of the enemy.”

At a point within two miles of the entrance to the canyon, he and his companion discovered a party of
about ten Comanches who appeared to be traveling down from their main camp, heading toward the
vicinity of San Antonio. Gathering his company, Hays wrote, “I immediately attacked them.”

Among those foremost in the charge were Hays, Joseph Miller, and John Slein, a man new to the
company. Slein had recently joined Hays’ command at San Antonio to see the action, but had not been
with him on his previous missions. As recalled by Hays in his later years, only one of the fleeing Indians
was shot down by Slein before they retreated into a thicket.

"He was shot by a man who did not belong to the company, a man who was connected with
some mercantile house in New York who went out to Texas to sell goods, and while there he
fell in with the Rangers, and went along with this little party just to see the fun. He had a
double-barrel shot gun, and killed this Indian."

In an account he wrote of this battle in 1844, Hays offered more details. Charging them fiercely, the
Indians retreated into a small thicket, fighting, however, in their retreat, disputing every inch of
ground. The thicket being too dense to charge, Hays had it surrounded by his men, whilst he and two
of his men entered the thicket and commenced a contest which was one of a most daring and trying
nature. Hays and his two companions were soon . . . joined by another soldier [Slein]; these four kept
up the fight until every Indian was killed. The Indians had but one gun, and the thicket being too dense
to admit their using their arrows well, they fought under great disadvantage, but continued to struggle
to the last, keeping up their war songs until all were hushed in death.

Being surrounded by horsemen, ready to cut them down if they left the thicket, and unable to use their
arrows with much effect in their situation, their fate was inevitable–– they saw it and met it like
heroes.

In his 1844 recounting of the battle, Hays claimed that his rangers killed ten of twelve Indians. In his
report immediately following the expedition, however, he listed that eight of the ten Comanches
encountered were killed and the other two were taken as prisoners.

One of his rangers, Joseph Miller, was wounded but “not severely.” The captured Comanches were a
“squaw” and another Indian “desperately wounded.” It was rare for the Comanches to leave an able
fighting man behind to be taken. “This is the only instance on record of a Comanche’s surrendering to
the whites under any circumstances,” noted Hays in 1844.

Hays’ men took all of the Comanches’ horses and property. He hoped to continue on to their main
camp, but he found the distance to be much greater than his “much jaded” horses could bear. He was
also concerned with coping with their main body, which greatly outnumbered his own forces.
“Although within two miles of their encampment,” Hays reluctantly decided to withdraw to Béxar to
tend to the injuries suffered by Private Miller.

His thirty-six-man party reached San Antonio on the morning of July 1, 1841. Once he could
successfully recruit a larger unit, Hays vowed to soon “proceed to the encampment, the situation of
which I have now ascertained.”
-----

Hays’ Fight on the Llano: July 24, 1841

Captain Jack Hays was good on his word. On July 1, he had vowed to the Texas government that he
would begin raising a large force of men to return to the scene of his June 29 Uvalde Canyon fight with
the Comanches. With reinforcements, he fully expected to return and whip this band.

Mary Maverick later wrote of how Captain Hays had come to be feared and respected by many of his
enemies. Hays displayed such rare military skills and daring, that very soon by consent of all, he was
looked upon as the leader and his orders were obeyed and he himself loved by all. In a fight he was
utterly fearless and invincible.

Maverick wrote that Hays’ rangers operated in the same fashion as the other counties’ minutemen
during 1841. Each volunteer kept a good horse, saddle, bridle, and arms, and a supply of coffee, salt,
sugar, and other provisions ready at any time to start on fifteen minutes warning, in pursuit of the
marauding Indians. At a certain signal given by the Cathedral bell, the men were off, in buckskin clothes
and blankets, responding promptly to the call.

For nearly two weeks in July, Captain Hays recruited and put out the word that he planned to make
another expedition. He succeeded in raising 25 rangers, “some ten or fifteen from Gonzales.” He also
raised a like number of Lipans and Tonkawas, raising his total force to about fifty men. Hays’ muster
rolls show that the Indians were under Chief Flacco, the brave son of Lipan Chief Castro and a veteran
of many a Texas Ranger expedition.
Hays’ core unit was truly functioning as the Béxar County Minutemen. In his reports and subsequent
descriptions of his various Indian fights, he consistently wrote of the men under his command in a
different manner. If someone was temporarily attached to his company––such as the Gonzales
volunteers for this expedition––was wounded or killed, it would not necessarily even make his report.
All, however, including Chief Flacco’s Lipans, were listed on the muster roll that Hays filled out for this
July expedition.

Hays’ core unit of rangers included all twelve men who had made the Uvalde Canyon fight two weeks
prior. During the first four months of 1841, when Hays had operated a specific ranger company, he had
only been authorized to operate with fifteen men. By the subsequent February 4 law for the county
minutemen, Hays could operate between twenty and fifty-six men for short periods of time, as
conditions warranted their service.

His July expedition would consist of 43 men, including Flacco’s seven Lipans and eight Tejanos not
normally assigned to him. The balance of his company included San Antonio merchants and Gonzales
volunteers who enrolled on July 12. Among the new recruits from San Antonio were six men who had
served as rangers in Captain Antonio Pérez’s company through May 20: Antonio Coy, Francisco
Granado, Martin Salinas, Antonio Sánchez, Melchor Travieso, and John O. Trueheart.

Hays’ rangers and Flacco’s Lipan Indians departed San Antonio on July 12 and proceeded to the point
on the Frio River where he had recently engaged the Comanches. Hays had good intelligence that the
Indians were still in the vicinity. In a report of his summer 1841 expedition, he wrote, “I had been
informed they were still encamped in a considerable body.”

Hays found that these Indians had taken fright and had fled their campground, “after having murdered
some prisoners then in their camp.” His men doggedly pursued the fleeing Comanche forces for more
than a week.

"I followed on their trail, which led me through the rugged passes at the head of the western
branch of the Rio Frio [in present Real County]. We pursued at a great disadvantage, the Indians
having designedly picked the worst road possible, and burned the whole country. Our horses
and men were much starved and worn down by the time we had reached the head waters of
the Llano, where we discovered from the freshness and extent of the trails, there was a large
encampment."

In a later account, Hays said that they had traveled “far into the mountains, where the white man had
never before made a track.” Some of his Indian spies became alarmed at the size of the trails they
began discovering. Fearing that they were facing overwhelming odds, these spies on July 23 led Hays’
rangers “from the main trail upon a smaller one, some eight miles below.” The next morning, July 24,
Hays’ expedition was discovered by a party of Comanche hunters, who fled to sound the alarm.

“We pursued as fast as the condition of our horses would permit,” wrote Hays. He rode ahead with
two dozen of his men who were mounted on the best horses. About a mile short of the Comanche
camp, the rangers were met by about fifty Comanche warriors, who came to cover the retreat of their
families. “A running fight ensued between these and a few of our best horses; which lasted some two
hours, over six miles of rugged country.”

During this pursuit, Hays’ rangers likely passed through present Real County into Edwards County,
some twenty miles west of present Kerrville. Early Texas Ranger historian Walter Prescott Webb
dubbed this Hays fight as “the Battle of the Llano.” Hays felt that he had happened upon about two
hundred Comanches, with about six hundred head of horses. The main body of the Comanches
retreated slowly while they skirmished with the rangers, to allow their women and children to move
away.

This long running fight completely exhausted the rangers’ worn horses. In his papers, Mirabeau Lamar
collected an account of this expedition written by Jack Hays. Following Hays’ own testimony is an
interesting anecdote of Hays and the gallant Lipan leader Flacco’s action in the Llano battle.

Capt. Hays’ Béxar County Minutemen: July 1–August 31, 1841

Captain: John Coffee Hays

Privates:
John S. Adams 1
Martin Delgado 4
Archibald Fitzgerald 4
Damacio Galvan 7
Nathaniel Harbert 4
Carlos Larso 4
John L. Milner 4
Robert Patton 4
James Perry 4
Benjamin Prior Jr. 2
John Slein 12
John O. Truehart 4
S. P. Ball 2 Antonio Coy 3
Addison Drinkwater 2 Pedro Espeniso 5
J. A. Flores 5 Peter Fohr 6
Francisco Granado 8 G. H. Grubbs 9
Jacob Jackson Humphreys 4 William Isbell 2
Samuel H. Luckie 4 Joseph Miller 6
William H. Moore 10 John C. Morgan 4
Samuel Pepes 4 Pedro Pérez 5
Robert Pollett 2 Benjamin Prior 2
Martin Salinas 11 Antonio Sánchez 5
John Trapnell 4 Melchor Travieso 5
Florencio Vasquez 5 John Young 4

Lipan Apache Rangers:

Flacco 5 Plasedonce 5 Colquie 5 Tom 5
Juan 5 Wash 5 Antonio 5
Note: Captain Hays paid from June 1,1841.
1 Served 7/5–8/31/1841.
2 Served 6/23–8/31/1841.
3 Served 6/12–8/10/1841.
4 Served 7/12–8/31/1841.
5 Served 7/12–8/2/1841.
6 Served 6/12–8/31/1841.
7 Served 7/4–8/31/1841.
8 Served 6/23–7/20/1841.
9 Served 6/23–8/4/1841.
10 Served 7/5–8/31/1841.
11 Served 8/2–8/31/1841.
12 Enlisted 6/23/1841. Killed in action on July 24, 1841.
Source: Texas State Archives.

This battle was fought on the extreme head of the Llano (pronounced Yano). In the fight, the Indians
would retreat, form a line, and prepare for battle. On one occasion, Capt. Hays charged alone within a
short distance of the enemy intending to discharge his piece, and retreat. But his horse, seizing the bit
in his teeth, dashed off and ran entirely through the Indian ranks. Flacco, perceiving this, followed his
leader in rapid pursuit and broke through the lines and came off safely with his Captain. Their escape
was a miracle. After the fight, Flacco remarked that he never would be left behind by any one; but that
his Capt. was “Bravo too much.”

During his horse’s wild run, Captain Hays shot one Comanche who had halted his horse to take aim at
the “charging” Texan. Chief Flacco reportedly “tried to get his scalp, but the other Indians were too
quick for him.” Flacco instead raced on after Jack Hays, who amazingly survived his run through the
midst of the Comanches and quickly circled back around them toward his own rangers.

In his expedition report, written soon after returning to San Antonio, Hays specifically cited Chief
Flacco and Demacio Galvan for their “service and bravery” in combat. “From the bloody saddles upon
the trail,” Hays estimated that that his company had killed or wounded eight to ten Comanches. “We
fought at great disadvantage,” he wrote. The Indians were plentiful enough that they were able to
retrieve all of their dead and wounded on the run. In return, Hays’ report states that “we had one man
wounded in the hand & [another in the] breast.”

In relating his experiences as a Texas Ranger to a fellow ranger who later compiled his biography,
“Captain Jack” offered more specific details on these wounds. “As they advanced, the Indians
commenced upon them, and shot [John] Trueheart in the neck badly, also shot Hays in the finger, and
killed the other man.”

The “other man” killed was Private John Slein, the merchant who had joined Hays’ rangers on June 23,
just in time to see some action in the June 29 Uvalde Canyon fight. One month later, he had found
action with Jack Hays again on the Llano River, but this time it was too much. The ranger pay roll for
Captain Hays which covers the period of June 1 to August 31, 1841, simply shows his service ending on
July 24, with the notation “killed.”

Why Captain Hays did not mention the death of Slein in his brief action report is strange. Slein was a
relatively new merchant volunteer, perhaps not considered by Hays to be one of his full-time rangers.

After turning back to the Comanche camp, they found a murdered prisoner. “We found a Mexican
prisoner swinging by the heels, shot and lanced to death,” wrote Hays. There appeared to be another
large camp in the direction of the head of the San Saba River and one upon the head of the Guadalupe
River. “In our plight,” he wrote, “pursuit was useless.”

Hays’ minutemen turned back toward San Antonio, “carrying Trueheart on a litter. He finally
recovered.” Flacco’s Lipans left the rangers’ company on August 2 and the remaining Béxar men
reached town on August 4. Hays’ payrolls show that his men were paid half their normal wages in
August, distributed to the men by their captain.

The whole countryside upon the Llano, Pedernales, and Guadalupe rivers had been burned by the
Indians. Hays believed this was done to cut off grass supply for his rangers to prevent their expedition.
Hays wrote his campaign report to Secretary Archer on August 13. His men had suffered from great
“fatigue and deprivation,” but he was very commendable of his rangers.

Several years later, he claimed that this expedition had been successful in encouraging the Comanches
to avoid raiding Béxar. “This was the last of the Indian difficulties about San Antonio. They never made
their reappearance, except one or two small thieving parties who were run off without much
difficulty.”
----------
The Legend of Enchanted Rock

After operating with as many as forty-five men in August 1841, Captain Jack Hays trimmed his Béxar
County Minutemen unit to a more efficient size. Muster and pay rolls show that he returned to the
field with only nineteen privates under his command on September 1. Public debt papers for his
September company show Hays to be “Capt. of Minute Men in 1841.”

All of the nineteen rangers now operating with Captain Hays had been under his command for the
Uvalde Canyon expedition in late June, where Joseph Miller had been wounded. Hays’ own hand
wound and John Trueheart’s chest wound from their recent July 24 Llano River fight were not serious
enough to keep them from their horses in September.

Hays’ rangers were out for a full month from San Antonio, disbanding again on October 1, 1841. The
interesting thing about his command this particular month is that little has been recorded about what
specifically his men did on this expedition. Captain Hays was in San Antonio on September 14, 1841, on
which date he signed discharge papers for one of his men. His note specifically says that the paper was
signed “under my hand at the city of San Antonio on the 14th Sept. 1841.”

In August 1841, the citizens of San Antonio elected Hays to be the Béxar County surveyor. He had
located numerous land titles throughout 1840. He employed deputy surveyors, but would personally
only locate five land certificates during the remainder of the year due to his obligations with his ranger
command.

There are many legends and tall tales of Jack Hays and his heroics on the Texas frontier. Muster rolls,
pay rolls, military reports, and other documents keep pretty good tabs on this ranger leader for the
first eight months of 1841. His only other recorded command during the balance of 1841 occurred on
this expedition of September 1 to October 1, 1841.

Among the legends attached to Hays is that of Enchanted Rock, an engagement where he fought off
Comanche attackers by himself for some time. If an action report was written by Captain Hays
concerning this battle, it has long since disappeared. Contemporary newspapers also made no mention
of any Enchanted Rock battle during the early 1840s. Historian Walter Prescott Webb, in fact, chose to
skip past this Hays fight in his groundbreaking 1935 book, The Texas Rangers. In spite of the lack of
significant direct evidence, John Coffee Hays himself told the tale often enough to at least make one
consider it plausible.

The first published account is found in Samuel Chester Reid Jr.’s The Scouting Expeditions of
McCulloch's Texas Rangers, which was published in Philadelphia in 1847. Reid learned of the exploits of
Jack Hays around campfires during the Mexican War.

Capt. Hays’ Béxar County Minutemen: Sept. 1–October 1, 1841

Captain: John Coffee Hays

Privates:
Samuel Adams S. P. Ball Antonio Coy
Addison Drinkwater Archibald Fitzgerald Peter Fohr
Damacio Galvan Nathaniel Harbert Jacob Jackson Humphreys
William Isbell Joseph Miller * William H. Moore
 Robert Patton Robert Pollett Benjamin Prior
Benjamin Prior Jr. John Trapnell John O. Truehart
John Young
* Discharged September 20, 1841.

The Enchanted Rock story was also told early on by John Caperton, who wrote a manuscript on the life
of John Hays sometime after Hays moved to California. Caperton had first joined the rangers in 1848,
and he heard the stories from Hays during that time. They traveled together for California in 1849,
where Hays became the sheriff of San Francisco County, with Caperton as his deputy. It is possible that
Caperton included his version of Enchanted Rock after seeing it in print from Reid’s 1847 account,
which he mentions in his text.

It is not inconceivable that a minor Indian battle on the far extremes of the Texas frontier could escape
newspaper attention. In researching the Texas Rangers from 1835 to this point, I have described
several small engagements between Indians and frontiersmen that were not formally published in any
newspaper.

Some survive only in audited republic claims or other military papers. Aside from the Béxar County
company under Hays, several other 1841 county minutemen companies have very little documentation
of their scouts and skirmishes. Perhaps Captain Hays wrote a report of his September 1841 expedition
which has been lost with other adjutant general’s records. Perhaps a minor shootout in which he
captured no prisoners or gathered no significant intelligence did not warrant a detailed report from
him. Remember that during his July 1841 expedition, one of his rangers was killed. He did not even
mention this death in his report. Only Hays’ pay roll and Caperton's sketch of Hays remain as testament
to the man who did not return.

Reid wrote that Hays was “out with a party of some fifteen or twenty men.” In A. J. Sowell’s Early
Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas, he wrote that “Hays was on a scout with about twenty
of his men near the head of the Pedernales at a place called then the ‘Enchanted Rock.’” Published in
1900, Sowell certainly had had access to Reid’s 1847 account. The number of men present for this
expedition exactly matches Hays' September expedition. Caperton says that Hays was out “with 25 or
30 men” on this particular scout.

The fact that Samuel Reid was told of the Enchanted Rock story in 1846 lends some credence to its
authenticity. Concerning Jack Hays, “many were the stories that went the rounds in camp of his
perilous expeditions, his wild and daring adventures, and his cool and determined bravery.”

Reid’s source for the Enchanted Rock fight told him that this had happened “in the year 1841, or
‘42.”With only about twenty men with him, Hays’ September 1841 muster roll fits this count well. His
other expeditions of 1841 are well documented, and his adventures in 1842 are more well known. The
best fit for Enchanted Rock would be between September 1841 and early 1842, when comparatively
little is known of the movements of Jack Hays’ rangers.

By March 1842, Captain Hays had been ordered out by General Edward Burleson to pursue a Mexican
force under General Rafael Vásquez which had invaded San Antonio. A search of audited republic
claims and pension papers shows that Hays had no fewer than thirty-nine men under his direct
command in March. Therefore, his muster roll of twenty men in September 1841 looks to be a better
numeric fit to the party he had with him at Enchanted Rock.
It is obvious from Samuel Reid’s hand-me-down version of Enchanted Rock that he had never
personally seen the granite formation. He describes a hollowed-out bowl in the center of the hill
“sufficiently large to allow a small party of men to lie in, thus forming a small fort, the projecting and
elevated sides serving as a protection.”

Reid called Enchanted Rock “a high, round hill, very rugged and difficult of ascent.” This rock is actually
a solid granite mass, the second largest formation in the United States, falling only behind Stone
Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia. It is not difficult to climb, with its sloping sides. There are many
covered places for a person to hide, but also enough cover that others should have been able to slip up
on a person hiding in the rocks.

Llano County’s granite mass is the subject of a number of old Indian legends. Comanche and Tonkawa
Indians both held the rock in high reverence because of the powers they felt it held. They supposedly
offered sacrifices at its base. Some believed that it was haunted by an Indian princess who threw
herself off the rock when she saw her tribe being slaughtered by another. Enchanted Rock can take on
a sinister look with the way it glitters on clear nights after a rainstorm. On cool nights after a very warm
day, some have reported that the cooling surface can make creaking noises. This no doubt led to some
early Indians believing that they could hear screams at night from the rock.

The Reid account and the Caperton/Hays account at least agree on the basic facts. While out scouting
west of San Antonio near the Pedernales, Captain Hays became cut off from his men when a band of
Comanches attacked them. According to Hays’ biographer, his men made camp on the bank of nearby
Crabapple Creek while scouting on a tributary of the Pedernales. The guards watched the horses and
kept a sharp lookout for Indians at the camp. James Kimmins Greer says that Jack Hays went out alone
the next morning to make a scout in the vicinity of Enchanted Rock. He was armed with only a rifle,
two Colts acquired originally by the Frontier Regiment, and a bowie knife.

He encountered three Indians on horseback and quickly found himself in a race for his life, as he later
related to his friend John Caperton. As we have no direct account of this skirmish, I will leave the
reader to peruse what Caperton claims to be straight from his friend Hays.

"Being mounted on a fine horse, he ran, and they took after him, and were presently joined by
five or six more. They pursued him from point to point, his horse easily keeping in advance of
theirs, and when they came near enough he would halt, and they would stop, and pass a shot
with him.

"This continued for several miles, Major Hays going in the direction he thought his men would
come from, but he saw nothing of them. His horse began to show fatigue, and the Indians were
crowding him pretty closely. He could hear the yelling in every direction, and knew that he was
in the vicinity of their large encampment.

"He rode on, the number of his pursuers increasing, and presently he saw before him in the
valley a large rock standing alone, somewhat like a sugar loaf in shape, a celebrated peak,
known as the “enchanted rock,” so called from the curious lights that were sometimes seen
about it, probably some electrical phenomenon. He made a dash for this rock, the Indians close
by, they having run him eight or ten miles."

Hays leaped off his horse and left him at the base of the hill. Shoving one of his Colt pistols back into
his belt, he furiously scrambled up the face of Enchanted Rock as the Comanches wheeled their horses
to a halt. According to the Caperton account, Hays reached the top and “found some loose rocks,
which he hastily piled up to form a kind of shelter.” As opposed to Reid’s description of a large bowl
that could safely hide a number of men, Caperton's account is more plausible. There are a number of
small caves and indentures along the back sides of Enchanted Rock that would have offered good
protection to an individual.

Loose rocks could have certainly been found to pile up. The Indians paused a brief while at the base of
the little mountain as they prepared to take on “Devil Jack.” They fired some shots up at him, but his
rock hiding place made them ineffective. The first Comanches who tried to climb up the hill were sent
scrambling when Captain Hays fired shots down at them.

Hays was conservative, only firing when the Comanches advanced too close to his little rock hideout.
To his good fortune, Captain Hays had acquired two of the army’s Colt five-shooter pistols. Between
firing his rifle and going through the reloading process, he therefore had five shots per pistol to
dispense as needed during the reload.

There is no record of how many Indians he may have killed or wounded. Reid simply says that Hays
“defended himself for three long hours,” during which time “he felled them on all sides.” The Caperton
account makes no claim to the number of Comanche casualties. He contends that the captain held off
his attackers “for an hour or two.”

Finally, Captain Hays must have sensed that the end was near for him. Despite their losses on the
slopes of Enchanted Rock, the Comanches had continued to gather reinforcements from their camp
some two miles away. Near the base of the rock, an estimated one hundred Indians had gathered.
They began raising a terrible yell as they prepared for their final assault on the hill.

Fortunately for Hays, the remainder of his company had heard the cracks of his rifle and the yelling
during the past hours. They made their way near the base of the granite hill and came to his aid. The
Caperton/Hays account depicts the closing scene of Hays’ ordeal.

"Hays, lying there thought he was gone, as he could not resist a combined effort of this kind on
the part of the savages. Just then, however, to his great relief, his men appeared in sight, having
heard the firing and the yelling of the Indians. They fought their way through them, and
compelled them to fall back, and thus rescued their commander."

After surviving his tightest escape, John Coffee Hays was believed by the Indians to be leading a
charmed life. To the Tejanos who served under him, he was commonly referred to as “Capitan [Kap-ee-
tan] Jack.” To the Indians, he was less reverently regarded as “Devil Jack.”

Being heavily outnumbered, Captain Hays’ company likely departed the Enchanted Rock area quickly
and made their way back to San Antonio for reinforcements. There is no muster roll evidence that
Captain Hays took another ranger force into the field during the last three months of 1841. As of
October 16, he was still in San Antonio, working to collect pay for his recent minuteman company. He
likely continued to operate in the field in his roll as deputy county surveyor, as evidenced by a
promissory note he wrote to John Twohig that day. He advised merchant Twohig to provision Benjamin
Prior and his son with “what ever provisions that they may want.” Hays promised to collect
compensation when he collected the second half of his rangers’ pay.
The authenticity of Enchanted Rock will probably always be doubted by some. None, however, can
contest the bravery and fighting skills of this unique Texas Ranger captain. And those who fought with
him in the 1840s and heard the campfire stories about his solo fight at Enchanted Rock never spoke
out against the veracity of his story.

His reputation was equally strong among his Indian foes. On a later occasion, some Indians came into
San Antonio to make a treaty. Several chiefs were overheard as they pointed to Jack Hays and spoke of
him. One chief pointed to his companion and said, “Blue Wing and I, no afraid go to hell together.”
Then, pointing to Captain Hays, the chief said, “Capitan Jack, great brave. No afraid go to hell by
himself.”
"…since the winter of 1842 I have lived in Washington county and in Burleson county, where I now
am staying." W. Isbell

During the winter of 1842 Isbell moved to Washington County. Washington County records show that
William Isbell married Olivia E. Jackson on January 30, 1843. They had eight children, three of whom
died at an early age. The maps of Washington and Grimes counties of this time show Isaac Jackson,
Olivia's father, owned property just across the Brazos river from Washington on the Brazos, in Grimes
county. The plot is dated August 11, 1824 to I. Jackson.

Isbell was blinded in an accident in 1856. He moved to Burleson County at some point, where in 1860
he owned a farm valued at $600 and $2,700 in personal property. Olivia died in 1865.
On October 12, 1866, William married Mary Jane Woods Franklin, a widow. They had six children,
three of whom died young. "I have never seen my present wife and younger children," he ended his
personal narrative, published in the 1872 Texas Almanac, "as I have been entirely blind for fourteen
years." He died at the Burleson County community of Prairie Mound on December 11, 1877.

A Burleson county map from 1856 shows the acreage he owned in 1856. It also appears owned by a
William Isbell in 1867, 1878 and 1884. It appears his heirs kept it in the family.

William Douglas Isbell is buried in the Tehuacana Cemetery in Mexia, Limestone County,Texas, USA.
Located in Burleson County Probate

Estate of William}
Isbell Deceased } July 23rd 1880

Edward Peeves having reported under oath that he has not sold
the lands of the Estate of Wm Isbell decd under the order of the Court
at the last March Term there of and extended at the last Term
It is ordered that said order of sale be extended and that said,
Adms be permitted to sell said land at private sale.

And then this under land grants:

Texas General Land Office

Land Grant Search

County: Burleson
Abstract Number: 155
District/Class: Milam Scrip
File Number: 000606
Original Grantee: Isbell, William
Patentee: Isbell, William (Heirs)
Title Date:
Patent Date: 12 Jul 1881
Patent No: 205
Patent Vol: 33
Certificate:
Part Section:
Survey/Blk/Tsp: 1
Acres: 160