Vol 16 No. 10 - July 1939

Mysteries Of The Chisos Are Unfolding

By J. Marvin Hunter.

Account of geological, historical and archeological characteristics of the Chisos Mountains, and Emory Peak in Big Bend region of Texas.

Mentions: Dr. Robert T. Hill * Presidio * Langtry * St. Helena Canyon, Mariscal Canyon * Alpine * Terlingua * The Elmo Johnson ranch * Castalon * Bravo del Norte * Dr. Sedtzler

When Camels Nearly Upset History

Except for the fact Jefferson Davis' popularity in Washington fell into a complete eclipse after the War Between the States the history of the West and South might have been different. Instead of the West's being won and developed by the bronco, it might have been famed by the camel. Sitting Bull might have, been hunted down by a caravan of sharp-shooting United States soldiers; Southern cotton farmers might boast of "40 acres and a camel," and Gene Autry might have followed Tom Mix in a roaring clash across the Nation's silver screen on a swaying dromedary.

Research in the graduate school of Tulane University by Miss Annie E. Kidd, has unscrambled much of the fact from legend about seemingly fantastic War Department effort to win and defend, then develop the South and West, with Asiatic camels.

Jefferson Davis, United States Secretary of War before he was president of the Confederates States backed the venture. But official support had vanished when the United States went back to peace-time pursuits in 1865. The strange thing about the plan was that it worked, as far as it was tried. Here is the story.

Mentions: Major Henry C. Wayne * Lieut. David Dixon Porter * Secretary of War, John H. Floyd * Lieut. E. F. Beale * Fort Defiance in New Mexico * Fort Mojave in California * Lieut. Edward L. Hartz * Sterling Price * Fort Tejon, Calif * Samuel McLaughlin *

KNEW BEN THOMPSON.

Colonel R. P. Smyth of Plainview, Texas, writes in the article of his personal reminiscences of the enigmatic outlaw.

Mentions: the Austin Greys * the Knights of Pythias * Phil Abraham * Billy Sims *

Dick Dowling And His Forty-Three Irishmen

By Elizabeth Rullman

Recorded on History's pages are countless true deeds of valor; some not so true, others more or less biased. The names of many heroic men are lauded to the skies, many carved on monuments lofty and high, and some are familiar in almost every home. But there are thousands whose deeds rank with the most renowned, and their names are merely mentioned in these volumes of history, and still unending numbers, who gave their all in enterprise of bravery, are quite unknown.

In Texas there was one, a conqueror, whose name should be emblazoned among the most illustrious. His deed, the most courageous, ranking not a whit below that of any distinguished human of the world, should be proclaimed by friend and foe, and many monuments should be erected in every Texas city to inspire the coming generations, of a deed that was wholly self-planned and most skillfully executed. This noble hero was Richard W. Dowling. Here is his story.

Mentions: His forty-three Irishman were: Engineer, N. H. Smith. Privates: John Hassett, William Gleason, Edward Pritchard, Thomas Dougherty, Michael Carr, Charles Rheins, David Fitzgerald, Thomas Hagerty, Timothy Hurley, Michael Monahan, Timothy Huggins, John McGrath, Alexander McCabe, Matthew Walshe, John McKeefer, James Fleming, Patrick Sullivan, Jack W. White, Patrick Fitzgerald, Michael Sullivan, Timothy McDonough, Patrick McDonell, Thomas McKernon, Thomas Sullivan, Patrick Clare, James Corcoran, John Hennessey, Patrick Abbott, John Flood, Hugh Deagon, John McNealis, Peter O'Hare, Maurice Powers, Michael Egan, Michael Delaney, Abner Carter, Daniel Donovan, Terence Mulhern, Daniel McMurry, John Wesley, Patrick Malone, John Anderson.

Further Mentions: the little town of Sabine, situated on the Sabine River * a Federal or Northern fleet, consisting of four gun boats, the Clifton, Sachem, Arizona and Granite City, manned by sharpshooters, under command of Admiral Farragut, with the aid of Lieutenant Frederick Crocker * Major General W. B. Franklin * Captain Odium * Dr. George H. Bailey * General Magruder * Lieutenant Crocker

Bowie's Official Report Of San Saba Fight

Some time ago we published an account of Bowie's battle with Indians on the San Saba river in 1831. This battle is generally believed to have taken place on Calf Creek, in McCulloch county, while some believe it was fought at Bowie Spring on Celery Creek, a few miles north of the present town of Menard. Rezin P. Bowie wrote an account of the fight, and it is given in Yoakum's History of Texas. This article is the official report of the battle made by James Bowie, who was in charge of the little band of men who went from San Antonio to search for the silver mine that now bears Bowie's name:

Mentions: the Political Chief of Bexar * Tahuacanoes * Ysayune, the Comanche captain * Caddoes * Mr. Buchanan * Mr. Thomas McCaslin * Daniel Buchanan * James Coryell, Mateo Dias, Cephas K. Ilam, Jesse Wallace, Sr. Gonzales

TEXAS BRANDS

Brands! The very word spells romance. The days of the open range. A day gone by but still living in song and story. A day when Texas vas one great ranch. A day when thousands of cattle roamed the open range. when the cowboy was the first Citizen of Texas. When the Chisholm Trail was the First Highway of Texas. When a man was not a men unless he was expert at the "shoot big iron". Some of the old brand designs of the day tell the romantic story of the glorious period. Maybe it wasn't civilization at its height but it was a period of life, adventure and thrills.

Mentions: A brand granted to Don Juan Joseph Flores on July 1, 1762 at San Fernando de Bexar by Don Angel de Martos y Navarrete, governor of the province of Texas. This is the earliest brand issued in Texas… * H. T. Collier in Reeves county * H J. Collier of Pecos, Texas * the "Hash Knife" outfit * Mrs. Virginia Hay * Dave Dillingham * Ben Thompson * Mr. Edward Spruell * Mrs. Willie V. Gerhardt * Judge A. V. Pue * Rev. J. E. Fuller, pastor of the Bandera Methodist church * the Montague brothers, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walker, Jack Walker, Elmo Newcomer, Bill Newcomer, Rudolph Schott, D. E. Conwill, Rankin Conwill, D. O. Tallman, Mrs. Claud Stevens, Mrs. Howard Eckhart, Mrs. Florence Fenley, I. E. Adamietz, Mrs. Sidney Saathoff, Allie Gerald Langford, and Rudolph Schott * Charlie Eckhart * Dr. Z. Fuller * Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Fleenor of Bandera * Little Miss Eva Lois Fleenor * Tex Elam and Bruce and Charlie Montague

On A Mexican Mustang Through Texas

By ALEX E. SWEET and J. ARMOY KNOX

This is part of a serial account of two daring adventurers who colorfully describe their exciting and sometimes humorous happenings on their trip through the wilds and wiles of Texas during the 1870's.

(Continued from Last. Month)

Mentions: the Fort Stanton Indians * Gen. Ord * Lieut. Bullis * Jose Tafoya; Lieut. F. D. Sharpe, 20th infantry; and P. C. Gilbert * the agent, Mr. Godfrey * Donohue's ranch * Sanze Ranch * R. W. Barry and Juan Diez * Fort Duncan * George Taylor and Dick Taylor, * Steel's ranch on the Nueces river * Nicholas Coalson's sheep ranch * Camp Wood * Henry Dill, stage driver, killed at El Muerto, Texas, Aug. 1, 1877 * Sandy Ball, killed four miles west of El Muerto, Aug. 1, 1877 * Gabriel Valdez and Horan Parsons * Bass Canyon, near Van Horn's Wells * Point of Rocks, in Limpia Cayon * Librado Galindo, Petro Rentirio, Julian Molino, Martin Lara, Remulo Montoga, and Madaleno Villalobos * Mr. Doty, killed near Brady City, McCulloch county, Texas, Jan. 16, 1878 * John Sanders, stage driver * Frederick B. Moore, killed at San Ygnacio, McMullen county, near the line of Duval county, April 17, 1878 * Vicente Robeldo, a shepherd, killed near Brown's ranch, Duval county, Apr. 17. 1878 * Guadalupe Basan * the Soledad ranch, Duval county * John Jordan, killed at Charco Escondido, Duval county, April 18, 1878 * Antonio Valdez * Margarito Rodriguez * Gen. J. E. Johnston * Gen. Tom Green *

Granite Monument To Jesse Chisholm

By T. U. Taylor, Austin, Texas

Jesse Chisholm died at Left Hand Springs on March 4, 1868, five miles east of Greenfield, Oklahoma. He had been in the northern part of Blaine county at the salt springs, converting the brine into salt and on returning with James R. Mead, P. A. Smith, and Joe Van (colored boy) he camped on March 3 at this historic spot, Left Hand Spring. It was the famous camping ground and there were many Indians there at that time. A bear had been killed and its meat was cooked in a brass kettle and everyone ate their fill. Jesse Chisholm during the night contracted an aggravated case of ptomaine poisoning and there were no doctors within 100 miles. He died early March 4, 1868. His home was over 59 miles away and there were no roads, only trails, and no means of rapid travel and no embalming process. The friends decided to bury him in the old Indian burying ground at Left Hand Spring. In 1939 a granite marker was erected on the selected spot at Left Hand Spring.

Mentions: James R. Mead * Joseph B. Thoburn * Alvin Rucker * The firm of Driscoll and Moritz * Dave Dillingham * James Cooper and Billy Weizbrod * the Battle of Horseshoe Bend * Edward's store * Tehuacana Creek * Comanche Peak in Hood county, Texas * the town of Wichita * Gibson to Edwards * Chisholm Spring to Choteau near Lexington * Sahkahkee McQueen Chisholm * Paden, Okfuskee county * Wewoka * Fort Gibson in Eastern Oklahoma * Chief Left Hand Spring * Greenfield *

Dr. Richard Fox Brenham

By Houston Wade

So this is the story of the heroic death February 11, 1843 of the man for whom the present city of Brenham is named. This worthy Texas hero was the son of Robert Brenham and his wife, who was Miss Mary M. Fox before her marriage. This accounts for the Fox as the middle name of Dr. Brenham. The ancestry of this great man has been traced without a break to Governor John West of Virginia, who was a brother of Lord Delaware, and from him back to England where his ancestors were of the oldest and best landed gentry as far back as William of Normandy, also known as William, the Conqueror; son of a tanner's daughter. His rich life and courage is the subject of this account.

Mentions: Frankfort, Woolford county, Kentucky * Transylvania College, of Lexington, Kentucky * Mr. Stanford Woodward * Cooke county, near Gainsville, in North Texas * left Brushy Creek, near Austin * General Hugh Melipod * George Van Ness * Captain Archibald Fitzgerld and Thomas Hancock. Miss Cazenau, a daughter of Congressman William L. Cazenau, of Austin * George Wilkins Kendall * Captain Claudius Buster * George Van Ness and Thomas Hancock * John Higgerson * Captain J. G. W. Pierson * John Lyons * Patrick Lyons * Thomas Jefferson Green * Colonel William G. Cooke, a hero of San Jacinto * George Wilkins Kendall * Captain Archibald Fitzgerald * Captain Chauncey Johnson * the Dawson Massacre * George Van Ness * Thomas Hancock * John Higgerson was a Fayette county man, * Nicholas Mosby Dawson *

Fence-Cutting Days In Texas

By Ira Aten.

Lengthy and detailed article of fence-cutting wars in Lampasas County, Brown and Navarro County, Tx. Also includes account of the first installation of barbed wire in Texas By John Cogswell

Mentions: Adjutant General W. H. King * Judge Blackburn * Camp Leona, near Uvalde * Jim Ned country, north of Brownwood * Captain William Scott * Mr. Gilbert * Governor L. S. Ross * Richland * Jim King * Chas. A. Culberson * John Cogswell * General W. H. Mabry * Sergeant Ira Aten * Francis Smith & Co * R. W. Low and A. E. Noel, of Brown county * Kaufman * Captain L. P. Seiker *

The Big Bend State Park

By W. B. Tuttle.

Mentions: Persimmon Gap * Dog Canyon * Tornillo Creek * Boquillas * Green Gulch * the Chisos Mountains * the Burnham Ranch * Boot Canyon * the Carmen Mountains. and the Fronteriza Moutains * Mariscal Canyon * Santa Helena Canyon * the Green Ranch at Glenn Springs *

The Savage Jibaro Head Hunters

By J. Marvin Hunter.

Interesting diversion from Texas history, this article on the The Jibaro Indians, who in their own language are called Shuara, inhabit the virgin forests around the great rivers Pastaza, Morona, and their affluence, regions politically divided between Ecuador and Peru, and still form one of the most numerous and most important tribes of South America.

BOUGHT WIFE FROM INDIANS

Eighty years ago Texas established on the De Cordova Bend of the Brazos, in Hood county, one of the far flung outposts of its northwest frontier. Charles Barnard, Indian trader, was the father of the settlement. Barnard had built a mill at Glen Rose several years before, but settlers came in too fast for him, so he sold out and moved fifteen miles north, into the heart of the wilderness that then marked the Brazos bottoms. He erected a double log house, which still stands, with outbuildings for his stock of merchandise, then set out for Waco to buy goods with which to enter a career of barter with the Comanches, who were overrunning the country. This was in the late 1850s. At Waco, Barnard bought not only his goods, but a wife as well - Her name was Cavassos. This is the story.

THE EDITOR'S BOX

Mentions: Mrs. Jennie Rodgers, of Pipe Creek, Texas * Mrs. J. W. Scott * Mrs. Cinda Perkins * Jeane Harrison * Mrs. J. T. Rodgers * Miss Alberta Roby * Rev. and Mrs. J. W. Scott * the Leon Valley school * Fred Reynolds * Donald Graham * Jesse Chisholm * P. J. Blackmon * M Maurice Brown, of Patricio, Texas * Mrs. G. M. Lance, 615 South Winnetka St., Dallas, Texas * an early settler at Conroe, Montgomery county, Texas * Wilson Strickland, or James Strickland, Amos Strickland, David Strickland, and Henry Strickland * Mrs. Mary A. Bell, Mrs. G. T. May and Mrs. Coonie Chandler of London, Texas, and Mrs. W. A. Peril of Kerrville * the old Shreiner store in Kerrville * Mr. and Mrs. Louis Heyen, of Hondo, Texas * Mrs. Simon Rohlf * the H. J. Mesch ranch, about two miles below Tarpley * Mrs. Cleora Davenport's ranch, 12 miles south of Bandera