The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1874-08-15

llltliHflN llNl Nll lll' i'ilhnl fnNNk'H
sullcnly bat proudly moved of IN pos.
session Ofnll their gains, McCulluch,
IN the Zcul Of his youthful herOlsm,
plead with the men "a follow him ~ u
charge into their midst hut Older
hrnds hcsiInicd and the Hrlur Ut youth
was controlled 10y their hcsltnncy.
Chagrlncd beyond measure, Met 'ul-
loch quit the command, nnd resolved
% he IN NJ the death, riding day and
night, by u circultOus route, passed
the Indians and actually succeeded In
playing distinguished part with en-
tirely different troops, In the over
victory on the 18th, three
days later.
The Indians, with their immense
booty, slowly retreated, followed for II
day or 80, In the distance, by the force
previously named, reinforced by one
or two small detachments.
But while these events were trans
piring, other portions of the country
were rallying in detachments and COM
panies. Details must be omitted. The
writer was in II position To see most
and understand every movement from
beginning to end. We, however, omit
many interesting details and acts of
patriotic heroism, and must be content
to say that during the night of August
| |, eighty-seven men arrived, by differ
ent routes, on Plum creek, near where
Lockhart now stands, and near the
trail made by the Indians in their de-
scent towards the coast, having learned
they We're retreating by that same
Al fnhnGn N, A fn "A nIpI in
small companies by Captains Matthew
Caldwell, of Gonzales. james Bird, of
Gonzales, and Lafayette Ward, of
Jackson. The writer was II boy in
Captain Wards company.
General Felix Huston, with one
man, Joined us about midnight. We
knew the Indians were still below,
placed sentinels tour miles below on
their trail to report their approach, and
our company, after four days and
nights march, with one hours sleep,
laid down to rest. We slept from one
o'clock to daylight, when the spies an
nounced the approach of the enemy
three or foursmiles distant. In ten
minutes every man and boy was in
his saddle. We all looked to Cald-
well as our leader--a perfect man in
Indian warfare--but, when paraded,
he first put the questions: "Boys, there
are eight hundred to one thousand In
dians--they have our women and chill
dren prisoners--they have repulsed our
men below--we are eighty-seven strong
Il believe we can whip HI out of
them! Boys shall we tight"' The an
swer was auniversal "les! yes! Fight!
E,,htui
The noble old warrior, i'll the mod
esty of his nature, then moved that
General Felix Huston (then major gen.
era of militia) be invited to take the
chief command. Nobody wished it so,
but every one voted aye. We all
thought that Burleson, Caldwell, Ben
McCulloch and such men should be our
leaders in Indian warfare, and had no
relish for a militia general as such, es-
pecially when he had never been in an
Indian fight. Every body had unbound
ed confidence in the fearless courage OF
Felix Huston; we believed as the say
ing goes, that he would fight saw
mill, but common sense, and especially
that common sense peculiar to the
frontier Texas boys of that day, told
us that the man competent to COM
mand large armies in civilized warfare
might be wholly deficient in conduct
ing q fight against wild and wary saw
ages. In short, we wanted old Point
Caldwell to command us, and didn't
want Major General Felix Huston
but our old favorite, speaking
almost in n whisper, said: "Boys,
CRAFTY me and say ayeW and we did.
Very well. We were then on horse
back and at once marched from our
camp, along trail in the timber, to
an open glade, separated from the
main prairie by skirt OF elms on Il
branch. just there owen Hardeman,
u youth, NOW an honored citizen OF
Caldwell county, and another man
came dashing up among us, saying to
our commanders: "Colonel Burleson,
with one hundred men ana thirteen
Tanchua Indians, is near by ana wants
you to wait for him!' SO said we, we
will wait-eighty-seven or us-one
hundred with Burleson ana thirteen
friendly lndians-total Two hundred
that will do. Wecan whip the enemy,
recover our women ana chlluren ano
much of the property, AND we wait
ed. While waiting, the INDIANS, WIFI
their seven hundred pack mules ano
three thousand loose animals, came IN
full view and were passing opilqueiy
across our front, bedecked WITH every
manner of fancy ribbons, streamers
and gaudy ornaments, wholly uncon.
scious of our proximity sangulne OF
immunity from further attack and
singing savage songs or Victory, plrou'
.t inn tln nvplrla ana having n