Vol 24 No. 07 - April 1947

Battle of Palo Duro Canyon

Sergeant John B. Charlton

Sergeant John B. Charlton, who died at Uvalde in 1922, furnished Frontier Times Magazine with this account of General Meckenzie's decisive battle with Indians in Palo Duro Canyon. Sergeant Charlton was with Mackenzie's troops during the six years that intrepid General operated on the border.

Mentions: Lone Wolf's band , Lieutenant Williams Thompson , Blanco Canyon , Yellow House Canyon , Fort Concho , Tule Canyon , Wagonmaster James O'Neal , McCabe, an Irish-man and one of the scouts ,

Lest We Forget

J. Marvin Hunter, Sr.

“For some years Mrs. Applewhite was custodian of the Alamo in San Antonio, and when because of advancing age she retired from that position, she was succeeded by her daughter, Mrs. Leita Small, who held that position as custodian for twenty years, until her death a few months ago. Mrs. Small was one of the most patriotic Texas women I ever knew, and she was most gracious and courteous to the thou-sands of visitors who came from all parts of the world to view the "cradle of Texas liberty." Mrs. Small once remarked to me: "It is surprising how many ask questions which every Texan and resident of the entire Southwest should know from childhood. Sometimes I wonder how intelligent people can ask the things they do."

"Wasn't the battle of the Alamo fought during the Civil War?" This absurd question was asked in all sincerity by a Texan, while visiting the Alamo chapel. He seemed to be man of education, but displayed a regrettable ignorance of the history of the State. During another conversation overheard in the Alamo, a lady inquired of her companion, "Did Fannin and Bowie get killed here?" She chanced to be half right.”

The Fredonian Rebellion

From Brown's History of Texas

Story of the Fredoinian Rebellion in 1824 when Hayden Edwards and his brother, Benjamin Edwards, declared their area around Nacogdoches a free and independent nation: the Fredonian Republic. The Fredonian Declaration of Independence was written and duly signed. The plan almost worked except for two things: support suddenly caved in on the part of Indians and others who were in favor of the rebellion, and word of a mass of Mexican troops coming to squelch the rebellion.

Mentions: Norris, a brother-in-law of James Gaines , Louis Procela , Saucedo , Sepulveda , Benjamin W. Edwards , Baron de Bastrop , Victor Blanco , B. W. Edwards , John Dunn Hunter , Ellis P. Bean , Harmon B. Mayo , Joseph A. Huber, Burrill P. Thompson, John Spron and W. B. Ligon , Harmon B. Mayo, Benj. W. Edwards , John Bags , Martin Parmer , Richard Fields , John Dunn Hunter , James Cummins, from Austin's colony, , Colonel Mateo Ahumada ,

The Battle of Abobe Walls

J. Marvin Hunter, Sr.

Account of the battle of Adobe Walls, where twenty-eight straight-shooting plainsmen held five hundred Comanche Indians at bay for five days, and with their withering rifle fire finally brought conviction to the Indians that the scalps of the twenty-eight were not worth the price it would take to get them, is a desperate adventure of frontier days in the Panhandle of Texas. Here is the story.

Mentions: John J. Clinton, who died at Abilene, Texas, June 1, 1922, and who at one time was Abilene's chief of police , Hutchinson county, Texas, seventy-five miles northeast of Amarillo , Anadarko , Antelope Jack, a notorious frontier gunman , Billy Dixon , two Shadley brothers, , a man named Tyler.

When Gen. Sherman Came to Texas

Austin Callan

If General W. T. Sherman had come to Texas immediately following a certain historical march through Georgia, he would have been given a "warm reception." Just then all Texans were incensed over what was called " an unwarranted devastation of Southern territory," under the direction of a leader who had promised to leave the country so desolate that a crow couldn't fly across it, and the very name of Sherman was hated.

In 1871, however, the General set out for an inspection of the numerous military posts in the Southwest and his itinerary included a visit to Texas. Here is the story.

Mentions: Earl Van Dorn, Fitzhugh Lee, Sul Ross , the Schellenberger family , Fort Richardson and Fort Griffin , Satank , Satanta, Big Tree , Henry Warren , Kicking Bird, Lone Wolf , Sam Lanham , E. J. Davis , General Grierson.

Only Indian Reservation In Texas

Written by I. A. Coston in 1924

“The most unique community of the entire Southwest is, beyond doubt, Indian Village in the eastern part of Polk county, Texas, the present home of a small remnant of Alabama Indians, all that are left of a once proud race, decimated by the inroads of disease and civilization of the white man. Here on the pine-covered hills of East Texas can be found today thirty-five families of the Alabama tribe, the ever steadfast friends of the white man, barely eking out an existence on a reservation of two sections of land given them by the State of Texas, in 1854, through the influence of General Sam Houston.” Here is the story.

Mentions: Fort Toulouse , John Scott chief of the Alabamas , Mr. and Mrs. M. V. Currie , Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Chambers.

When The Overland Stages Rumbled Through Texas

M. K. Wyatt

Included in the romantic history of early days, is the fact that the first overland mail route to connect the east and the west of what is now the United States passed through southern part of Oklahoma and the western part of Texas at the time the route was established, in 1858. Here is the story.

Mentions: William B. Dinsmore, William G. Fargo, James V. P. Gardner, Marcus L. Kinyon, Alexander Holland and Hamilton Spencer, , James Buchanan , Thomas Janes , Commodore Vanderbilt , Captain Harrison.

The Old Line of Texas Forts

William C. Stewart

The leading officers of the Confederacy cut their war-teeth in Texas. The elastic line of frontier forts, ever advancing westward, proved a valuable training school for the men who were to command both the gray and the blue in the conflict between the States. Lee, Johnston, Forrest, Sherman, Longstreet, and a host of other Civil War officers saw service in Texas at one time or another in the two decades preceding the war. This is the story.

Mentions: Fort Phantom Hill and Fort Belknap , Fort Chadbourne, named for Theodore L. Chadbourne , General Fitzhugh Lee and Major George Thomas , Fort Concho , Col. J. J. Abercrombie , Fort Phantom Hill , Col. Carlos Waite, Major Cable Sibley and Lieut. C. Givens , Larry Chittenden , Gen. W. G. Belknap , Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston , the Mormon Rebellion , Mark Rapier , Camp Colorado , Fort Mason , Jim Ned Creek in Coleman county , Major Earl Van Dorn , Richard W. Johnson , Chickamauga , Capt. Theodore O'Mara , Gen. J. B. Hood , Capt. E. Kirby Smith , Gen. Fitzhugh Lee , Brig. Gen James P. Major , Gen. George B. Crosby , Fort Bliss , Fort Stockton , Fort Clark, and Fort McIntosh , Fort Concho , Fort Gates, Coryell county , Fort Richardson, Jack county , Fort Elliot, in the Panhandle , Fort Worth, Tarrant county , Fort Graham, Hill county , Fort Griffin , Fort Mason , Fort McKavett, Menard , Fort Inge, Uvalde , Fort Griffin, in Shackelford county , Gen. Beauregard , Major Hardee , Fort Ringold , Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston , Hergesheimer , Gen. Winfield Scott , Gen. Thomas J. Rusk , Felix Huston.