Frontier Times Magazine

"The Remarkable Life Story of Quanah Parker

2023-09-03

"The Remarkable Life Story of Quanah Parker"

Quanah Parker, the celebrated Comanche chief, passed away suddenly at his home on the Comanche reservation, located four miles west of Cache, Oklahoma, on February 23, 1911. He had a truly extraordinary life. Parker was born in 1844, the son of Peta Nocona, a renowned and fierce Comanche chief, and Cynthia Ann Parker, a white woman from a pious family near Groesbeck, Limestone County, Texas. Cynthia Ann was captured by Comanches and Kiowas led by Peta Nocona in 1836, eight years before Quanah's birth.

Before 1847, when the Comanche tribes were restricted to government-prescribed reservations, Quanah's life was marked by scenes of violence and bloodshed. He witnessed and participated in numerous deadly encounters between his father's Comanche people and the white settlers to whom his mother belonged.

The story of Quanah Parker's life truly begins in 1833 when his maternal grandfather, John W. Parker, and her father, Silas M. Parker, along with several relatives, emigrated from Cole County, Illinois, to Texas. They settled in Limestone County, near the present site of Groesbeck. This pioneer community, known as Parker's Fort, was situated on the west side of the Navasota River and remained peaceful as they cleared land, cultivated crops, and lived off the plentiful game. However, the outbreak of the Texas Revolution in 1836 forced them to abandon their homes temporarily and seek refuge on the Trinity River due to fears of Mexican forces and their Indian allies.

After General Sam Houston's victory at San Jacinto, the settlers returned to Fort Parker, unaware that a tragic fate awaited them. On May 19, 1836, the fort was attacked by a band of Indians, resulting in the deaths of several settlers, including Quanah Parker's grandfather, father, and others. Cynthia Ann Parker, along with other women and children, was taken captive.

In the chaos that followed, Cynthia Ann and her daughter, Prairie Flower, were separated from the rest of the captives and eventually integrated into Comanche life. Prairie Flower passed away in 1864, and Cynthia Ann in 1870; they were buried in Foster's graveyard in Henderson County, Texas. Quanah Parker later reinterred his mother's remains near his home in Cache, Oklahoma, in 1910.

Quanah Parker was a striking figure, tall and commanding, with a strong physique and piercing eyes, embodying the image of a warrior. He possessed wisdom and prudence, acting as a bridge between his Comanche heritage and the rapidly changing world around him. As the head chief of the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches at the time of his death, he played a pivotal role in pacifying his people and encouraging them to adapt to reservation life. Parker believed strongly in education, and several of his fifteen children received college educations.

His dedication to peace and understanding between cultures earned him respect, and he traveled widely, gaining insight into the ways of the white settlers. In a speech he delivered at the Dallas Fair, he remarked on the similarities between individuals of different races, noting that some people, both Native American and white, were "no good," emphasizing their shared humanity.

Quanah Parker's legacy extends to the naming of Parker County in honor of his mother's family and Quanah, Hardeman County, named after him. His influence on his people, his commitment to education, and his role as a bridge between cultures make him a remarkable and enduring figure in history.

Taming the Savage Apache Followers of Geronimo .

2023-09-03

The Apache way of life has undergone a profound change. Once fierce warriors, they have embraced a path of peace and civilization. Gone are the traditional blankets and moccasins, replaced by the attire of white traders—store-bought clothes and sturdy brogans. In this transformation, the Apaches have also become farmers, tilling the soil. Their children, once captives of war, now receive education in Indian schools, making them the only prisoners of war in the entire United States.

Among all the Native American tribes, the Apaches were notorious for their bloodthirstiness and cruelty. Their brutal frontier attacks horrified the world a quarter of a century ago. Until the capture by Miles and Lawton, they terrorized the entire border, even extending their warfare into Mexico.

In 1876, due to complaints from the Mexican government about Geronimo and his Apache followers raiding Sonora, the United States relocated the Apaches from their reservation to San Carlos, Arizona. However, Geronimo and his band of half-naked warriors repeatedly fled back to Mexico, leading to their return to San Carlos. In 1882, Geronimo resumed hostilities, raiding Sonora once more. He and his band were later cornered in the Sierra Madre mountains by U.S. troops under George H. Crook.

The Apaches' cruelty was legendary; they often tortured for sheer sadistic pleasure. Even young Apache boys took delight in tearing apart live birds, mice, or any game they captured. As they grew into men, their viciousness intensified, terrorizing the entire region. Settlers were mercilessly murdered, ranches burned, and men, women, and children slaughtered and scalped. In gruesome acts, they would strip prisoners, bury them near ant hills to be consumed by ants, and carry out other unspeakable atrocities.

John Joy Sr., a determined pioneer, dedicated his life to avenging the brutal murder of his wife and daughter by Comanches. He pursued the Indians relentlessly, becoming an expert in Indian woodcraft. His reputation as an avenging Nemesis grew, and he was known to camp alone in the wilderness, always ready to defend himself with his trusty rifle.

In 1872, tragedy struck again when Mrs. Hazlewood's husband, Peter Hazlewood, was killed during an Indian raid. She married again and eventually settled in Ingram, Kerr County.

The Taylor and McDonald ranch, established near Harper, Texas, was a testament to the resilience and determination of these pioneers. The settlers' clothing was handmade or obtained through trade, reflecting the harsh conditions they faced.

Mrs. Hannah Taylor, after surviving captivity, felt a divine calling to become a preacher in the Methodist circuit. Her fervent sermons were filled with shouts of praise for her deliverance.

Matthew Taylor, her husband and a Methodist circuit rider, bore witness to the changing Texas frontier and the challenges faced by pioneers. They found strength in faith, family, and their unwavering determination to build a new life in the Texas wilderness.

In these trying times, spinning wheels, weaving blades, and warping bars were essential tools in every frontier household, enabling them to create their own clothing and adapt to their ever-changing surroundings.

AN INDIAN’S SPEECH

2018-08-11

From J. Marvin Hunter’s Frontier Times Magazine, July, 1927

Justice C. H. Crownhart

(Red Jacket was chief of the Wolf clan, Seneca nation based in western New York).

The Indian's philosophy of his religion, compared with the white man's religion, is well stated in a speech of Indian Red Jacket to the Missionary Cram which follows:

"Friend and Brother: It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken His garment from before the sun and has caused it to shine with brightness upon us, our eyes are opened that we see clearly; and our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit and Him only"

“Brother, this council fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we come together at this time. We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives us great joy: for we now consider that we stand upright before you and can speak what we think. All have heard your voice and all speak to you as one man. Our minds are agreed.

"Brother, first, we will look back a little and tell you what your fathers have told us and what we have heard

"Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising sun to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of the Indians. "

But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, granted their request, and they sat down among us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return. They called us brothers. We believed them and gave them a larger seat. At length their number had greatly increased. They wanted more land: they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight against Indian, and many of our people were destroyed.

_____________________________________

Never miss a story!

Free downloads

Join our Facebook group here

_____________________________________

"Brother, continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to His mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter.

"Brother, you say that there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree as you can all read the book.

"Brother, we can not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in their way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive, to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.

"Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all, but He has made a great difference between His white and His red children. He has given us different complexions and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for His children,

"Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in their place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again all that you have said,"

20,000+ more pages of Texas history, written by those who lived it! Searchable flash drive or DVD here

$129.95

Option 2

Get 352 issues packed with stories like the one you just read

$99.95

CLICK HERE

*********

Prefer to read hard copy magazines?

Click here to get your 6 hard copy FRONTIER TIMES MAGAZINES

BRUTE COURAGE AND ENDURANCE OF THE INDIAN

2018-07-26

From J. Marvin Hunter’s Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1937

A GREAT DEAL has been said, about the endurance of the Indian and the desperate manner in which a redskin would fight when wounded or when brought to bay without being wounded, when escape seemed hopeless. The fact is that the Indian, like the tiger or any other brute, knew nothing else but to fight when brought to bay. He never gave quarter himself and he expected no quarter from his white enemy. An instance of determination and brute courage displayed by a wounded Indian once was described to us by an old Texas Ranger and Indian fighter, who said:

"Many years ago I was with a party of eight citizens who followed the trail of a bunch of Indians making a raid into the settlement southwest of San Antonio. About 10 o'clock one morning we overtook the Indians as they were crossing the bed of a small dry stream, but in which there was a pool or lake of water, and here the Indians stopped to let their horses drink. We fired upon them whilst at this pool and two of their number fell. Then we charged them and they scattered, according to their natural tactics. A short distance from the stream one of our party killed the horse of one of the warriors and the Indian himself was wounded, though we did not know then the extent of the wound. This Indian crawled into a small ravine near where his horse fell, and myself and two companions dismounted and approached. I called to him in Spanish telling him that if he would quit fighting we would not hurt him, and would do what we could for his wounds. I do not know whether he understood me or not, although many of the Comanches did speak Spanish. He made no reply, but as we approached him, arrows from his bow whizzed by us at frequent intervals. He was down on his back, propped against the side of the small ravine, or gully, and we could see that he sprung his bow by placing it over his right foot, and adjusting the arrow with his left hand. We were near enough to see that he was bleeding from several wounds, but he apparently had no idea of giving up the fight. Finally one of my companions made a 'good Indian' of him by shooting him in the head. When he was dead we examined the body and found that his right arm and left leg were broken and that he was shot through the spine. We camped that night at that pool, after returning from a fruitless pursuit of the rest of the party, and we hollowed a shallow grave with our hatchets and butcher knives, and we laid that dauntless son of the forest to rest without scalping him, and piled a large quantity of rocks over his lonely grave."

_____________________________________

Enjoying this story?

Join our Facebook group here

Never miss a story!

Free downloads

_____________________________________

Another instance of Indian stoicism and indifference to death is related. A good many years ago there lived in Blanco county, Texas, then a sparsely settled section subject to frequent Indian raids, a family named Tanner. One member of the family, Sol Tanner, became quite noted as an Indian fighter, and in 1858 he became captain of a company of Texas Rangers. Prior to his elevation to the rank of captain, however, when a party of citizens was made up to follow a raiding band of Indians, Sol Tanner was always among the first to respond to the call and reach the rendezvous, and was usually chosen to lead the party. He was a dare-devil sort of fellow, and no scheme was too wild or foolish for him to take part in. On one occasion, Sol Tanner came upon a small party of Indians, the latter being taken completely by surprise. The Indians scattered like partridges and a running fight ensued. Tanner and one companion, who were well mounted, pursued one of the fleeing Indians until the warrior had discharged his last arrow at his pursuers. The Indian's horse was failing fast and his pursuers gained on him rapidly. Instead of killing the Indian, Tanner, who was an expert cowboy, fixed his lariat and roped or lassoed the Indian, dragging him from his horse. The Indian was stunned by the fall, and the two white men bound his arms behind him, took his tomahawk and hunting knife from him, then tied him on a horse and brought him to the Tanner ranch as a prisoner. There was a vacant cabin at the ranch, and in this cabin the prisoner was placed. Food and water were offered to the Indian, held to his lips in fact, his arms being tied, but he closed his teeth and refused to take anything into his mouth. The white men did all in their power to assure the Indian of safety, and induce him to take sustenance. His captors were in a quandary as to what disposition to make of their prisoner.

On the evening of the fourth day it was evident that the prisoner intended to die by starvation unless otherwise dispatched. Several neighbors came in and a consultation was held. Some of them wanted to turn the Indian loose, but they knew of course that if this was done, and he reached his people in safety, that he would be on the warpath again as soon as an opportunity offered. A vote was taken as to whether the prisoner should be released or executed, and the latter proposition carried. Accordingly the prisoner was taken into the woods about half a mile from the ranch, shot to death, and buried under a large spreading oak.

For a very limited time! Get yours here.

THE CARANKAWA INDIANS

2018-07-22

From J. Marvin Hunters Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1948

J. H. Kuykendall

Both history and tradition preserves the names of several tribes of Indians, which had become extinct, or blended with other tribes, before the State was colonized by Anglo-Americans in 1821, at which time the tribes with which the settlers came in contact were the Comanches, Wacoes, Towacannies, Ionies, Kechis, Lipans, Tonkawas, and Carankawas. The last named were the most remarkable. The men were of large stature, six feet high, and the bow of every warrior was as long as his body, and as useless in the hands of a man of ordinary strength as was the bow of Ulysses in the hands of the suitors of Penelope, but when bent by one of the sons of Anak, it sped the "yard cloth" arrow with deadly force two hundred yards. These Indians navigated the bays and inlets with canoes, and subsisted, to a considerable extent on fishes.

They were believed by many of the early settlers to be cannibals, but it is probable, that the only cannibalism to which they were addicted, was that occasionally practiced by the Tonkawas, if not all the Texas Indians. This consisted of eating bits of an enemy's flesh at a war dance, to inspire them with courage. A dance and feast of this kind I once witnessed on the Colorado, where the Tonkawa tribe was encamped. A party of its braves on a war tramp slew a Comanche, and upon their return to their tribe, brought with them a portion of the dried flesh of their slain foe. This human tasajo, after being boiled was partaken of by the warriors, with cries of exultation. It is remarkable that this anthropophagous rite is practiced by some of the black savages in Africa. An English missionary, speaking of a negro tribe on the Zambezi, called the Ajawa, says, "Under some circumstances they eat man as other tribes eat lion, to make them brave." They told us of a certain chief called Neria, against whom the Ajawans fought for a long time without success, and who sustained his cause almost single-handed. When at last he was overpowered and slain, his body was cut into minute portions and eaten by the Ajawa warriors that they might be valiant as he. To return to the Carankawas.

_____________________________________

Never miss a story!

Free downloads

Join our Facebook group here

_____________________________________

Their thievish and murderous propensities early involved them in war with Austin's colony, by whom they were repeatedly defeated with heavy loss, in consequence of which, in 1825, they fled west of the San Antonio River, whither they were pursued by Austin at the head of a strong party. When Austin arrived at the Waanahuila Creek, six miles east of Goliad, then called La Bahia, he was met by a Catholic priest with a message from the Indians, that if he would desist from the pursuit, they would never after that time range east of the San Antonio River. The colonists agreed to this and returned home. The Carankawas did not long keep this promise; but in a short time returned to the Colorado, and again committed depredations, for which they were again scourged by the colonists. Efforts were made by the Catholic missionaries to christianize these Indians, and the Mission Refugio, thirty miles south of Goliad, was built for that purpose. But the Carankawas were proof against all civilizing influences. At length, about the year 1843, forty or fifty men, women and children, the sole remnant of this tribe, which twenty one years before had numbered more than one thousand, emigrated to Mexico and were permitted to settle in the State of Tamaulipas. At this time it is probable that the Carankawa Indians are entirely extinct. I am not positive whether any of the other tribes mentioned at the beginning of this chapter are verging on extinction, but it is well known that they have rapidly diminished in number, and the conclusion is inevitable that in a score or two of years, all the smaller tribes and bands will become as extinct as the mammoth and the mastodon which preceded them. The Comanches, being still a large tribe, with extensive hunting grounds, will last somewhat longer; but they, too, are fast approaching the termination of their tribal existence; and the child is now born who will live to say, "The Comanches are no more."

Click here to get your own 20,000 page Texas history library!

INDIAN MUSIC

2018-05-14

From J. Marvin Hunter’s Frontier Times Magazine, June, 1947

Indian Music While the music of the American Indian is not, as often suggested, a part of American folklore music, it is nevertheless the oldest form of musical expression known in America.

Existing before the coming of the white race, it was crude and primitive and barbaric when first heard and primitive it has remained, in spite of the influences of the Jesuit missionaries and the secular forces of civilization.

But the charm of Indian music surpasses its musical content, and has long challenged the greatest composers to the harmonizing of its thin, sweet melodies and insistent rhymes. Edward MacDowell, greatest of American composers, based his "From an Indian Lodge" on an original Indian theme.

Thurlow Lieurance, who lived among the Indians and had been formally adopted into a tribe and given an Indian name, contributed many rare and interesting songs based on legendary and actual music of the red man. Each song is carefully annotated and the music seems entirely logical to the experience.

Charles Wakefield Cadman composed much music in the Indian "mood." Frankly measuring the reactions of this vanishing race to the familiar emotions of the usurper, Cadman succeeds in expressing a delicacy of sentiment and heroic strains with unfailing emphasis and charm. But Cadman's music is, nevertheless, Indian music translated from the Indian as he is into the Indian he is believed to be.

For the Indian music differs from all other music in that it is essentially music of worship, save in the instances of mourning or love-making, and the fiery urge to make war against an enemy.

The Indian worships nature, every phase of which, to his mind, represents a manifestation of "the Great Spirit." The first Indian whose chance blow against the hollowed trunk of a tree believed that the "voice of the forest" spoke to him as an entity, a soul malignant or beneficent. And he worshiped that voice and endeavored to reproduce it in his rituals.

The first drums were made of hollow logs, covered with the skin of a wild animal, and beaten with a club padded with skin. Other forms of the drum were the skulls of enemies, with the tops cut off and replaced by membranes of animals. On this he made horrible but satisfactory music to his victorious ears.

Likewise the Indian who listened long to "the voice of the rain" strove to conciliate this force of nature necessary to the growing of crops and preservation of the lives of his people by making rattles of dried turtle shells, strapped together over dried beans or the claws of animals.

"The voice of the feathered spirits," represented in the song of the birds, was reproduced by the means of flutes, the first being two pieces of rounded cedar fastened together to form a tube and blown in at one end. Thurlow Lieurance made a collection of Indian flutes which will be preserved by the Nation. Many of them are made of cunningly wrought woods, and from stone, laboriously bored out and carved in intricate patterns.

"The voice of the wind" is fittingly represented in the shrill or deep-toned chanting of men and women, while to the silent deities, the sun, moon and stars, ritualistic chants at once impressive and awe inspiring.

The Navajo Indians have passed down through the ages a series of invocations to the rising sun which possess dignity and exquisite tonal value. These have been carefully collected, and Charles Wakefield Cadman is now arranging them in form for solo, chorus and orchestra.

While at Taos last summer the writer paid a visit to Snow Deer, a famous Indian artist, whose paintings are being eagerly collected by connoisseurs from all parts of the country, in search of a drum which possessed a "history," and Snow Deer promised to procure it.

_____________________________________

Love Texas history?

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP

Never miss a story!

Free downloads

_____________________________________

A fragment of an Indian song recently heard sung at an Indian fair in Santa Fe was thoughtlessly hummed. Picking up a small drum, made of a discarded cheese box, over which a skin was stretched, with throngs of leather serving as "hand holds," Snow Deer said:

"That is a most sacred song, but sometimes men of other tribes sing it as a drinking song in derision of those who use it only in the kiva! "

(The "kiva" is a sacred house of the Indians, dug deep into the earth like an inverted cone and entered only by means of a long ladder).

Snow Deer, tapping the drum lightly with his fingers, then sang under his breath a song in quick rhythm with words which sounded as follows:

"Hi yo, wit se nah O

Hi O wit se nah O

Hi O O O O

Hay ne hi ne bah! "

Inside the tiny pueblo the eyes of the watchful Indians gleamed like agates. From the low opening, but across the valley, through which a creek runs at mad pace to the four-storied pueblo where many Taos families live like bees in a honeycomb, on the flat roof a slender Taos woman, wrapped like an Egyptian in a long black shawl, stood motionless, silhouetted against a crimson sky..

The Indian song depends largely upon pitch for its understanding. In the "love calls," the pitch is slightly flattened to express emotional excess. In the "war songs " the music is sharpened as the song and dance take on intensity, until it finally becomes a series of "yips " or animal-like cries, which are indescribable.

Watching the Indians perform the Apache war dance (forbidden except in exceptional instances) and hearing the wild, fierce syllables rising to falsetto, one feels his hair rising involuntarily from the scalp and suffers a sort of vicarious scalping in sensing the more realistic emotions of the forefathers to whom the music came not as a diversion, but a foreboding.

The Indian almost never sings without dancing, and never before spectators. That the Indian mother sings her lullabies and that the lover plays his plaintive "love calls" on a flute we know from accurate account. But even the songs of mourning, sung by the women alone, are slow, veiled accents accompanied to a dismal series of movements or steps.

When a dance is about to begin in. the long street of an Indian village the signal is given from the kiva by raising a pole on which is hung feathers, skins of animals and sacred emblems of the tribe. The musicians carrying the drums come first, and take their positions. Then the warriors, with the women of the tribe (each woman walks two paces in the rear of the men) march in orderly procession to the beating of the drums. Beginning with a deep, guttural note, endlessly repeated and very resonant, the song is taken up by one drummer and then by others, until the selected chorus fires the dancers into movements which quicken into frenzied pounding of the earth with the bare feet and the rattling of turtle shells tied under the knee joint.

Persons hearing the drum beats from an Indian village during the progress of an Indian dance, which begins early in the morning and ends at sunset, often find their nerves becoming rasped and frayed with the insistent rhythm until they literally fly from the sound of the music. This reaction is quite involuntarily, but so well known that Eugene O'Neill employs it with terrible effect in his play "Emperor Jones." The association of drum beats and heart beats can not be explained except in terms of race consciousness, dating back to a time when man lived in physical terror of his life.

A song of combat is represented by four symbols, first, the sun, source of light and knowledge and indicative of vigilance; second, the warrior pointing to the heavens and the earth, signifying power and dauntless prowess; third, hidden behind the moon, symbolic of secrecy and craft, and fourth, the warrior, personifying Venus.

20,000+ more pages of Texas history, written by those who lived it! Searchable flash drive or DVD here

$129.95

Option 2

Get 352 issues packed with stories like the one you just read

$99.95

CLICK HERE

SOME LOST TRIBES OF TEXAS

2017-08-08

Mrs. Julia Jones, Houston, Texas

From J. Marvin Hunter’s Frontier Times Magazine, June, 1941

Recently, there has appeared a most interesting work by Dr. John R. Swan, ton, ethnologist of Smithsonian Institute. In this work is compiled all remnants of the languages of a number of extinct Indian tribes, who disappeared from the earth about two hundred years ago, but who for a time had their parts iii making the history of Texas.

These were tribes of wandering Indians, who bore the unsavory reputation of being cannibals as well as nomads. This fact, no doubt, is what led to their extermination, for all the savage peoples, those practicing cannibalism, naturally, were the most loathed. Many of them were hunted down and massacred, while others, unfitted for changed conditions of life imposed upon them by the coming of the whites, died off in rapidly increasing numbers.

At the most, they were small, and most primitive groups, living all along the Texas Coast and extending westward along the Mexican border. They "speak a babel of tongues between which it is difficult to find any traces of relationship," wrote a Spanish explorer and mapmaker of the seventeenth century.

No record was made of the greater number of these languages. Of others, a very incomplete vocabulary was made by Spanish priests and explorers. Dr. Swanson asserts that there can be no doubt that originally, perhaps many centuries before the .coming of white men, the whole area from Texas westward was occupied by these primitive, babel, tongued peoples. The Aztec and Navajo drives toward the east cut them in two, leaving the Texas tribes squeezed against the powerful Muskogeans to the east.

These original Texans, who are being saved from complete oblivion by parts of their languages, are the Karankawans, the Coahuiltecans, the Tanma, lipecans and the Janambrians, all of whom demanded much attention during the eras when the whites were establishing dominion over the land. Our most famed mission, the Alamo, called originally `San Antonio de Valero' was built in hopes of educating and Christianizing the Coahuiltecans.

_____________________________________

Never miss a story!

Free downloads

Join our Facebook group here

_____________________________________

These four larger tribes left fair, sized vocabularies. Of others, we have a much more fragmentary record. These are the Alachoines, Parchaque, Chomes, Pamais, Mesealeros and Yorkicas. Of one tiny tribe living on the San Antonio River, only a single word, their own name, Payaya, is yet alive.

The one tribe best known to Texas pioneers and historians, was the Karankawas, a most warlike people, feared by other Indians as well as by whites. They first appeared in history in 1685, when the French explorer, La. Salle, attempted to plant a colony in their territory on the Texas coast.

After the advent of Austin's colony, in 1823, there was frequent conflict between the Karankawans and the colonists, in which the Indians lost heavily, though the whites suffered also. During the Texas Revolution, somewhat to the surprise of Texas leaders, and altogether against their wishes, the blood-thirsty savages sided with them against Mexico, though efforts were made to compel their neutrality.

In 1844, this tribe murdered a family living on the Guadalupe River, and then, to escape white vengeance, fled. Part of them escaped across the Rio Grande into Mexico. The remnant left behind found temporary refuge in one of their old retreats. Resorting to their earlier atrocities after a number of years had built up their man power, they again were hunted down by vengeful ranch owners, and well nigh exterminated, this in 1858.

Fleeing again, the tribe made its way to the Coast, and there lived as best it could for many months. Then, apparently seeing no future, they made way with the weaker members of the tribe, while the others crossed over to a sand-bar, and there invited death by starvation. This is said to be the one and only instance of group suicide by Indians.

AN INDIAN SHOWS HIS GRATITUDE

2014-07-22

[From J. Marvin Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine, March, 1926]

O. T. Word was raised on Caddo Creek, in Hunt county, and when he grew up to manhood, visited his kinsman, Capt. Buck Barry, one of the most noted Indian fighters of his time and whose home was in Bosque county. At the time of this visit Buck Barry commanded a company of rangers and shortly after his arrival the Tonkaways brought in an Indian which they had captured on the headwaters of the San Saba. This Indian was kept under guard by Barry's men several weeks and became an elephant on "Uncle" Buck's hands. He was a quiet, innocent looking sort of cuss, gave the boys no trouble, ate voraciously and seemed always on the alert. His bead-like black eyes took in everything. Every movement, every happening was closely observed and every man's face was studied, by the savage as if he were making a mental photograph of his features. At length, Uncle Buck said to O. T.: "Orville, I don't know what to do with that cussed Indian. I hate to kill him; that would look like murder to shoot a prisoner, and I can't afford to turn him loose. Should I set him at liberty he would kill and scalp some woman, or child before he crossed the border, steal a horse and get away. If we keep him here, we will have to hold him under guard and feed him and if we give him all he wants in the way of grub he will eat us out of house and camp. So I have decided to turn him over to you. I know that you have no scruples as to shooting an Indian. You take him out on the prairie, say three or four miles and leave him. You can report to me when you get back and say he got away. They never get away on horseback,"

Mr. Word took the Indian as directed, but he had no notion of following Uncle Buck 's suggestions. He did not have the heart to kill a poor unarmed captive that had never harmed him. The Indian was on foot while O. T. was well mounted. When they had reached a point about five miles from camp he made the Indian promise to be good on condition that he set him free. The savage had picked up enough English to make himself understood and after making all fair promises he seemed to distrust something and when O. T. drew his pistol and told him to hit the turf a runnin, the Indian hesitated. Evidently he was afraid the white man's gun would go off too soon. Looking O. T. squarely in the eye and without a tremor he pointed upward and said, "Shoot heap up; no shoot me; me run mighty heap." "All right," said O. T., "hit the breeze" and as the Indian bounded away like a scared mustang Word opened fire—in the air.

On his return to the camp O. T. made a true report to the Captain. He told him the Indian had "got away."

Some fifteen or twenty years later Mr. Word was in the territory not far from Fort Sill with cattle. A large number of Indians had gathered around his camp and among these an old breech-clouted Indian who came up, took him by the hand and wanted to hug him. It was the Indian that "got away." His greeting was of the genuine savage cordiality. He told the other Indians that here was the man who saved his fife. He told O. T. that, he was poor and had no ponies to give him, but he had a nice fat dog that would make a fine mess for his entire outfit. This offer was declined with thanks. O. T. had never cultivated a taste for roast dog. The Indian told him he would do better than that. He would give him a present that he would admire and accept. He hurried off and in a few hours he returned with an outfit that would give an ordinary man a nightmare to look at. The Indian had brought his harem of six wives arid insisted that O. T. take his choice, and if one was not sufficient he might pick out any two of the best looking. One of the wives had found a terrapin while being brought in and while her lord was trying to reward his former benefactor by the gift of a wife, this woman threw the terrapin into the camp fire, covered it with live coals and after a brief time, drew it forth, broke its shell with a rock and ate the half cooked thing with wolfish relish. Mr. Wood said that after a brief inspection of the gifts offered be was compelled to decline the generous proposition, whereupon his erstwhile friend, the Indian, seized a pair of raw hide hobbles and whipped the wife that had eaten the terrapin. He was wroth because she had not given it to her dusky husband.

But the Indian didn't seem to understand why his former rescuer refused to accept such a noble gift. Turning to his women the old savage said something in the Indian dialect that Mr. Wood didn't understand, but he knew it was something concerning, himself. When the Indian had spoken every one of the six squaws made a dash for him and tried to hug him. Mr. Word tore around for awhile and at last they chased him up on the mess wagon where he seized a blacksnake whip and laid about him with such force and effect that he soon put them to flight. The bucks, with the grateful husband, roared with shouts of laughter during the unique performance.

Mr. Word was convinced that the Indian has many faults, but he has the virtue of gratitude and never forgets a favor.

20,000+ more pages of Texas history, written by those who lived it! Searchable flash drive or DVD here

$129.95

POLICING THE NAVAJO RESERVATION

2014-05-13

[From Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1938]

During the past few months I have had some very interesting correspondence with Mr. Fred W Croxen, Chief of the Navajo Indian Police Patrol, with headquarters at Window Rock, Navajo Agency, Arizona. Mr. Croxen very kindly sent me a picture, taken quite recently, of the organization of which he is chief, and which maintains order and administers justice on the great Navajo Reservation. In this connection he writes:

"A short history of the Navajos is as follows: They originally came from Northern Asia, working their way down the North American continent to their present location in Northeastern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, and Southeastern Utah. Many words of their language are identical to those used by present natives of Northern Asia (Mongolia). It is not known how long it took these people to make this migration, but probably many generations. They call themselves `Dinah,' meaning `people,' and claim that the other Indian tribes, such as the Apaches, are off-shoots from their tribe. Their habits, method of living, summer and winter hogans (houses,) are nearly the same as accounts we read and pictures we see of natives of the high, cold, desert parts of Northern Asia. They were, and are, a very independent and rather nomadic people, are growers of livestock, horses, cattle and sheep, but principally sheep. Also, they do some farming in the way of raising corn, pumpkins, melons, and some Their principal diet is mutton. corn-bread and coffee. in the beans. early days they preyed on surrounding tribes and the New Mexico Mexicans, stealing farm products from surrounding pueblo tribes and sheep from the New Mexicans. In the year 1863 Colonel Kit Carson, assisted by Colonel Chavez, led a body of New Mexico soldiers into the Navajo country, and after much fighting, nearly the entire tribe was captured and taken to Boska Redondo, Fort Sumner, New Mexico. There were approximately 8,000 captured, and after five years, during which time many died or were killed, they signed a treaty in which the less than 5,000 remaining promised to return to their former (present) location and war no more. This return was made during the year 1868. Since that, time they have increased to approximately 50,000, and their Reservation covers 17,000,000 acres in Northeastern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, and Southeastern Utah. The women and some of the men are great blanket weavers, and the men and some of the women follow silversmithing and are very proficient in these trades, being surpassed by none. They have their own government within themselves, their Tribal Council being headed by Chairman Henry Tallman, an educated Navajo, who has done his hitch in a regiment of United States Cavalry at Fort Bliss. They have their courts, presided over by full blooded Navajo Indian judges. Their police force is made up of their own people, and it is needless to state that these judges and police are all very proud of their positions and are conscientious in their work."

Mr. Croxen gives the names of his Indian patrol force and the Navajo Indian Judges in the Law and Order organization, which appear in the accompanying illustration, beginning at upper left hand corner, as follow:

Top Row, Navajo Policemen:

NAVAJO CHARLEY.

LOUIS CHAVA.

PETER WOODY, Chief of Navajo Police at Shiprock, New Mexico.

MIKE SALAGO.

SALAGO NEZ, tall policeman.

JESS WILLARD, who lives up to his name when necessary.

JOE WALKER, Chief of Navajo Police at Fort Defiance, Arizona, a Carlisle School graduate, who has two wives and 1,400 sheep.

HOSKA THOMPSON, (meaning a warrior) also a Carlisle School graduate.

JOE WILSON.

CLAIRE GEE, graduate of Phoenix, Arizona, Indian School.

CHARLEY FOSTER, an Indian medicine man, who never attended school, but speaks, reads and writes English.

JACK JOHNSON, whose father was a negro and mother a Navajo woman. Did not attend school, but speaks English and some Spanish. Is a policeman with over eleven years with the force. He is a first class investigator, and really an artist with the "billy" when needed. Jack is respected all over the Reservation. He has two wives and one son, who he is putting through school, and insists that he is going to have a better chance than his dad had.

Second Row down:

JOHN DAW, an old scout of Indian war days, who has been a policeman for forty years. He wears a Veteran of Indian Wars medal on the right side and when he will talk, which is seldom, he can tell of notches on his rifle for Indians, Mexicans and white outlaws. Note his six-shooter and handcuffs are very much in evidence, and they are always well cleaned and in first class condition.

YEA YAZZIE, so named because he was a great Yea Bi Chi dancer before he was grown. He is also a Navajo medicine man.

GERONIMO CASTILLO, a full blooded Navajo, and a real policeman. He was educated in school and speaks good English and Spanish, as well as Navajo.

DINAH NEZ, (meaning tall Indian) with black scarf around his neck, cannot speak English, but fearless to a fault, and is sending his children through the Indian schools.

REID JENSEN, Chief of Police at Leupp, Arizona, is well educated and is a prominent court interpreter in the State and Federal Courts.

HOSKA BURNSIDES, jailor at Fort Defiance and interpreter for the Indian court.

JAMES OLIVER, an educated Indian, who has done his hitch in the army.

BEN WEST,

FRANKLIN YAZZIE, with Sam Brown belt, an educated Indian with over twenty-one years as a policeman.

BILLY BECENTI, the fat Indian with heavy string of beads and earrings, is chief of Police at Crown Point, New Mexico, and a full brother of the old Indian Chief Becenti, now deceased.

JIM LARGO, an old policeman of long experience and a good one.

EARL BECENTI, brother of Billy Becenti, and a good policeman and investigator.

FRANK MOORE, with white shirt, a real husky, a fine policeman, who does not speak English, but is very proud of his position.

OSBORNE ANDERSON, a Choctaw boy, who is clerk of the court for the whole Reservation.

Lower Row:

FRED W. CROXEN, Chief of the Navajo Patrol, is a former Forest Ranger, and has had several years with the Border Patrol on the Mexican border.

TOM DODGE, son of Navajo Chief Chee Dodge, is legal adviser to the Navajo Indian Judges.

BILL SAWYER, Indian Judge at Tuba City. Arizona.

SAM JIM. Indian Judge at Crown Point. New Mexico, who says he went to school more to play baseball than to study. Note his turquoise necklace, two bracelets and four rings.

JUDGE JOHN CURLEY, a graduate of Phoenix Indian School and later took a three years post graduate course. He is a grandson of Navajo Chief Ganado Mucho.

JUDGE SCHOOL BOY. does not sneak English, is strong for advancement and is a medicine man.

JUDGE SLOWTALKER seldom says anything. but is a real orator in the Navajo language when he does talk

JUDGE JIM SHURLEY assistant to the Chief of Navajo Patrol cowpuncher, former customs officer on the Mexican border, and former deputy sheriff.

In the "Handbook of American Indians," Bulletin 30, published by the Bureau of Ethnology in 1910, we find this description of the Navajos:

"NAVAJO.—An important Athapascan tribe occupying a reservation of 9,503,763 acres in N. E. Arizona, N. W. New Mexico, and S. E. Utah. Here they are supposed to remain, but many isolated families live beyond the reservation boundaries in all directions. Their land has an elevation of abou6,000 feet above sea level. The highest point in it is Pastora peak in the Carrizo Mountains, 9,420 feet high. It is an arid region and not well adapted to agriculture but it affords fair pasturage. For this reason the Navajo have devoted attention less to agriculture than to stock raising. There were formerly few places on the reservation, away from the borders of the Rio San Juan, where the soil could be irrigated, but there were many spots, apparently desert, where water gathered close to the surface and where by deep planting crops of corn, beans, squashes and melon were raised. Within the last few years the government has built storage reservoirs on the reservation and increased the facilities for irrigation.

"It may be that under the loosely applied name Apache there is a record of the Navajo by Onate as early as 1598, but the first to mention them by name was Zarate-Salmeron, about 1629. They had Christian missionaries among them in the middle of the 18th century, but their teachings did not prevail against paganism. For many years previous to the occupancy of their country by the United State s they kept up an almost constant predatory war with the Pueblos and the white settlers of New Mexico, in which they were usually the victors. When the United States took possession of New Mexico in 1849 these depredations were at their height. The first military expedition, into their country was that of Colonel Alex W. Doniphan. the First Missouri Volunteers, in the fall of 1846. On behalf of the United States Doniphan made the first treaty of peace with the Navajo November 22, of that year, but the peace was not lasting. In 1849 another military force, under the command of Col. John N. Washington, penetrated the Navajo land as far as Chelly Canyon, and made another treaty of peace on September 9, but this treaty was also soon broken. To put a stop to their wars, Col. Kit Carson invaded their territory in 1863, killed so many of their sheep as to leave them without means of support, and took the greater part of the tribe prisoners to Ft. Sumner at the Bosque Redondo on the Rio Pecos, New Mexico. Here they were kept in captivity until 1867, when they were restored to their original country and given a new supply of sheep. Since that time they have remained at peace and greatly prospered.

"There is no doubt that the Navajo have increased in number since they first became known to the United States, and are still increasing. In 1867, while they were still prisoners and could be counted accurately, 7,300 of them were held in captivity at one time; but owing to the escapes and additional surrenders, the number varied. All were not captured by Carson. Perhaps the most accurate census was taken in 1869, when the government called them to receive a gift of 30,000 sheep and 2,000 goats. The Indians were put in a large corral and counted as they went in; only a few herders were absent. The result showed that there were somewhat fewer than 9,000, making due allowance for absentees. According to the census of 1890, which was taken on a faulty system, the tribe numbered 17,204. The census of 1900 places the population at more than 20,000, and in 1906 they were roughly estimated by the Indian Office to number 28,500.

"According to the best recorded version of their origin legend, the first or nuclear clan of the Navajo was created by the gods in Arizona or Utah about 500 years ago. People had lived on the earth before this, but most of them had been destroyed by giants or demons. When the myth says the gods created the first pair of this clan, it is equivalent to saying that they knew not wthence they came and had no antecedent tradition of themselves. It is thus with many other Navajo clans. The story gives impression that these Indians wandered into New Mexico and Arizona in small groups, probably in single families. In the course of time other groups joined them until, in the 17th century, they felt strong enough to go to war. Some of the accessions were evidently of Athapascan origin, as is most of the tribe, but others were derived from different stocks, including Keresan, Shoshonean Tanoan, Yuman, and Aryan ; consequently, the Navajo are a very composite people. A notable accession was made to their numbers, probably in the 16th century, when the Thkhapaha-Dinnay joined them. These were people of another linguistic stock—Hodge says `doubtless Tanoan'—for they wrought a change in the Navajo language. A later very numerous accession of several clans came from the Pacific coast; these were Athapascan. Some of the various clans joined the Navajo willingly, others are the descendants of captives. Hodge has shown that this Navajo origin legend, omitting a few obviously mythic elements, can be substantiated by recorded history, but he places the beginning at less than 500 years.

"The Navajo are classed as belonging to the widespread Athapascan linguistic family, and a vocabulary of their language shows that the majority of their words have counterparts in dialects of Alaska, British America and California. The grammatical structure is like that of Athapascan tongues in general, but many words have been inherited from other sources. The grammar is intricate and the vocabulary copious, abounding especially in local names.

"The appearance of the Navajo strengthens the traditional evidence of their very composite origin. It is impossible to describe a prevailing type; they vary in size from stalwart men of 6 feet or more to some who are diminutive in stature. In features they vary from strong faces with aquiline noses and prominent chins common with the Dakota and other northern tribes to the subdued features of the Pueblos. Their faces are a little more hirsute than those of Indians farther east. Many have occiputs so flattened that the skulls are brachycephalic or hyper-brachycephalic, a feature resulting from the hard cradle-board on which the head rests in infancy. According to Hrdlicka they approach the Pueblos physically much more closely than the Apache, notwithstanding their linguistic connection with the latter. In general their faces are intelligent and pleasing. Hughes (Doniphan's Expedition, 1846) says of them: `They are celebrated for intelligence and good order... the noblest of American aborigines.' There is nothing somber or stoic in their character. Among themselves they are merry and jovial, much given to jest and banter. They are very industrious, and the proudest among them scorn no remunerative labor. They do not bear pain with the fortitude displayed among the militant tribes of the North, nor do they inflict upon themselves equal tortures. They are on the whole a progressive people.

"The tribe is divided into a number of clans, 51 clan names having been recorded, but the number of existing clans may be somewhat more or less. Two of these are said to be extinct , and others nearly so. The clans are grouped in phratries Some authorities give 8 of these, others 11, with three independent clans; but the phratry does not seem to be a well defined group among the Navajo. Descent is in the female line; a man belongs to the clan of his mother, and when he marries must take a woman of some other clan. The social position of the woman is high and their influence great, They often possess property in their own right, which marriage does not alienate from them.

"The ordinary Navajo dwelling, or hogan, is a very simple structure, although erected with much ceremony. It is usually conical in form, built of sticks set on end, covered with branches, grass and earth, and often so low that a man of ordinary stature can not stand erect in it. One must stoop to enter the doorway, which is usually provided with a short passage or storm door. There is no chimney; a hole in the apex lets out the smoke. Some hogans are rude polygonal structures of logs laid horizontally; others are partly of stone. In summer, `lean-to' sheds and small inclosures of branches are often used for habitations. Sweat houses are small, conical hogans without the hole in the apex, for fires are not lighted in these: temperature is increased by means: stones heated in fires outside. Medicine lodges, when built in localities, where trees of sufficient size grow are conical structures like the ordinary hogans, but much larger. When built in regions of low-sized trees They have flat roofs. Of late substantial stone structures with doors; wiring and chimneys are replacing the rude hogans. One reason they built such houses was that custom or superstition constrained them to destroy or desert a house in which death had occurred. Such a place was called chindi-hogan, meaning `devil-house.' Those who now occupy good houses carry out the dying and let them expire outside, thus saving their dwellings, and indeed the same custom is sometimes practiced in connection with the hogan. No people have greater dread of ghosts and mortuary remains.

"The most important art of the Navajo is that of weaving. They are especially celebrated for their blankets, which are in high demand among the white people on account of their beauty and utility; but they also weave belts, garters, and saddle girl's —all with rude, simple looms. Their legends declare that in the early days they knew not the art of weaving by probably taught to them by the Pueblo women who were incorporated into the tribe. They dressed in skins and rude mats constructed by hand, of cedar bark and other vegetal fibres. The few basket makers among them are said to be Ute or Paiute girls or their descendants, and these do not do much work. What they make, though of excellent quality, is confined almost exclusively to two forms required for ceremonial purposes. The Navajo make very little pottery, and this of a very ordinary variety, being designed merely for cooking purposes; but they formerly made a fine red ware decorated in black with characteristic designs. They grind corn and other grain by hand on the metate. For ceremonial purposes they still bake food in the ground and in other aboriginal ways. For many years, they have had among them smiths who fabricate handsome ornaments with very rude appliances, and who undoubtedly learned their art from the Mexicans, adapting it to their own environment. Of late years many of those who have been taught in training schools have learned civilized trades and civilized methods of cooking."

It must be borne in mind that the above was published in the "Handbook of American Indians" almost thirty years ago, since which time the Navajo population has steadily increased from 28,500 to about 50,000, and the area of the reservation now takes in some 17,000,000 acres. To police and patrol this reservation must be some task, but from the account Mr. Croxen gives of the members of his force, it seems that the task is being well performed.

20,000+ more pages of Texas history, written by those who lived it! Searchable flash drive or DVD here

$129.95

Option 2

Get 352 issues packed with stories like the one you just read

$99.95

CLICK HERE

*********

Prefer to read hard copy magazines?

Click here to get your 6 hard copy FRONTIER TIMES MAGAZINES

EMILY, THE INDIAN SQUAW

2014-03-25

By Buren Sparks

[Romance, heartache, heroism, & martyrdom make up this riveting account - from Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1940]

The above title is the crude, trite inscription printed upon the headboard that once marked the grave of a Western martyr. The simple marker has been lost through careless hands, but the story of the Indian girl lives on in the heart and memory of the pioneers who yet live in the town of Fort Davis.

Fort Davis, one of the far-flung Western forts, was established in 1854. It was named in honor of Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War. It had the most picturesque setting of any post along the border. It was located in the heart of the Davis mountains and between the two beautiful canyons, Limpia and Musquiz. Most of the old buildings are still standing and hundreds of tourists each year visit the stately ruins. Many of them stand in reverence as they try to call up or visualize the famous characters that once rode in and out of the adobe enclosure.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, so many of the soldiers went over to the side of the South, that the post was abandoned by the government. For six years it was without a garrison. During that time the Indian depredations grew steadily worse. It was not until June, 1867, that it was re-occupied. In that year four troops of the 9th Cavalry rode in and took quarters in the old fort. The 9th Cavalry was a negro regiment officered by white men. Most of the buildings that stand today were built during the regime of these troops.

After the re-occupation of the fort, the little settlement of Fort Davis, located in the heart of the Apache country bore the brunt of the Indian predations. One night several large freight outfits camped on the outskirts of the little town were on their way over the Chihuahua Trail. Early the next morning the citizens were awakened by the war whoops of the Apaches. The surprise was complete, and had it not been for the cool heads of the fighting freighters the little town might have have been annihalated. Many dead and wounded Indians were left upon the ground following their repulse. Among them was a young Indian girl, who was badly wounded. Living at the fort was a Mrs. Easton, mother of Lieut. Thomas Easton. This good woman, rather than let the wounded girl go to the post hospital, took her to the quarters occupied by her son. There she nursed the Indian maid back to health, and kept her for a companion and servant.

For two years she lived happily with the white family. They named her "Emily ." She soon fell in love with Lieut. Easton and in her shy and unobtrusive way, attended his wants like a slave.

But one day another family came to make their home in the little town hard by the fort. Their name was Nelson, and in the family was a very beautiful daughter by the name of Mary. Lieut. Thomas Easton, on being introduced to the newcomer, fell for her charms immediately. The occurrence, however, did not escape the keen eyes of the Indian lover. She became moody, and for hours at a time she would sit and gaze into the distant mountains. Soon after, the announcement reachad the garrison that Tom and Mary were engaged. That day Emily disappeared. Mrs. Easton felt no alarm when she first discovered her departure, as she believed that Emily would return in a few hours. But hours stretched into days, and still she did not return. The alarm was given and soldiers and citizens rode forth in search of the disconsolate maid. For days the search went on in canyons, caves, and the valley to the south, but still no Emily. Weeks passed, the months stretched into years, with no word from the girl. Trappers, freighters and scouts could find no clues.

_____________________________________

Enjoying this story?

Join our Facebook group here

Never miss a story!

Free downloads

_____________________________________

The apaches were out for trouble again; they were getting bolder and their raids became more frequent. The soldiers were kept busy and the command was constantly on the lookout for another attack on Fort Davis.

One night during this period of anxiety, a sentry heard some one as they tried to pass him. Thinking it might be an Indian, he called, "Halt, or I shoot!" The sound of running feet was the reply.

The sentry raised his gun and fired in the direction of the fleeing figure. The shot was answered by the scream of a woman. The soldier ran to the fallen woman and, picking her up, carried her in his arms to the quarters of the commanding officer. When they flashed a light in her face. they saw that it was Emily, the Indian girl, and that she was fatally wounded. They at once sent for Mrs. Easton. When she reached the side of the wounded girl, Emily, with failing breath, gasped out: "All my people come to kill and to scalp —I hear talk—by light of morning, so I come that Tom no get killed. Good-bye"—and the faithful Indian maid was gone.

The Indians did come, and in such numbers that the little settlement would have been wiped out had it not been for Emily's warning. Her body was placed among the soldier dead, and on a simple board was written the inscription that forms the title of this chapter.

Later the bodies of the soldiers were removed for interment at Arlington, near the nation's capitol, but Emily's body lies on the outskirts of the little town that was saved by her martyrdom.

20,000+ more pages of Texas history, written by those who lived it! Searchable flash drive or DVD here

$129.95

Option 2

Get 352 issues packed with stories like the one you just read

$99.95

CLICK HERE