The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1875-06-19


tho village They found, n lhoif anf
pfisc, "liulial0 llump with hla band
u Comnntloa (iho vofy onol W.
wofo hunting, oncafnpod tl,ofo,
trading and gambling with The
Wiohitas, THO scouts concealed
themselves until after dark, aud
then stole two C0mnnoho hOrsoa
and returned a. mo 10 report tho
facts, With difficulty convinced
Major Van Dorm that tho Indians
could DO relied upon, aud Induced
him to turn the direction Of his
columns, and by forced march we
reached the village At sunrise Octo
Der lat, 1858, surprising and almost
completely destroying that band Of
the Comanchcs, capturing their
horses, tents, supplies aud several
prisoners, among whom captured
the white girl named "lizzio,'
subsequently, raised and educated
by my mother, and now with her in
California, and of whose family or
parentagc no trace has boon discov.
cred. For their services Major Van
Dorm gave tho Indians Of my com
mand the spoils captured, horses,
etc. | received for my pay dan.
gcrous gun shot wound, still n pain
ful reminder of the occasion, to-
gether with petition, signed on
the battlefield by every United
States officer present. requesting
my appointment by tho govern
mont in the regular army, for distin.
guished gallantry, and after due
time came complimentary order
from General Winfield Scott, which
documents | still have, but have
never made or attempted to make
use of them.
This led to my constant service on
the frontier, in command Of ranging
companies, until the year 1860,
when, under q commission from
Governor Houston, | was stationed
near Belknap with ranging com.
pany for frontier protection, and
about the last of November party
of Comanches came into Parker
county and committed serious dc.
predations, etfecting their escape
with many stolen horses. This Gre
ated great excitement on the from
tier, and, in cooperation with q body
of seventy volunteer citizens, under
the command of Captain Jack Gu
[ington, of Palo Pinto, and in com
mand of forty Of my own men, and
a sergeant and twenty men of the
United States cavalry, sent at my
request by Captain N. g. Evans,
commanding at Camp Cooper, |
determined TO follow these Indians
to their villages and punish them.
On the 18th day of December,
early in the day, on the headwaters
of Pease river, near some cedar
mountains, came suddenly upon Il
village which they were preparing
to abandon, having the horses
packed, etc The citizen company
was several miles in the rear, and
twenty Of the rangers were on foot,
their horses having broken down,
as we had been travcrs ng Il sand
desert for several days, and subrist
ing our horses entirely on the bark
aud limbs of small cottonwoods.
With the twenty rangers and
twenty United States troops, ! de-
termined to attack at once, as we
were not then discovered, and we
could take them at disadvantage,
and in less than half an hour we
had complete possession Of all their
supplies and three hundred and
fifty head of horses, killing many
of them and completely scattering
the others. During the fight two
Indians, well mounted, attempted
to escape to the mountains, about
six miles distant, and Lieutenant
Tom Killiher, being we'll mounted,
started in pursuit of one, and Lieu
tenant Somerville and myself after
the other. Lieutenant S. being Il
heavy man, his horse soon failed,
and | had the chase TO myself for
two miles, when | came up with
Mohee, the Comanche chief Of that
party of Indians, and, after short
fight | killed him, and took posses.
sion of his shield, quiver, lance and
head dress, which are now with the
archives at Austin. In few min
utes Lieutenant Tom Klliher came
back to where | was, with an In
dian squaw and young child in
his arms, and bitterly cursing his
luck for having run his favorite
horse 80 far and so hard just to catch
an old squaw. After looking at her
for the second time | told Tom he
had captured white woman, which
he refused to believe until directed
his attention to the color of her
eyes. On the way back to where
the thickest of the fight had oc-
CURED | came upon small Com
anche boy who had been picked up,
first by Lieutenant Sublet, and
thrown down, and then by others,
with like result, and, fearing that
he might eventually be killed by
some of the more reckless men, |
took him up behind me and carried
him back to where / went into
camp, and there named him
"Pease," and he is the boy now
about Waco. AT the camp | called
up a Mexican who had been raised
by the Comanches, and through him
soon gained sufficient information of
the woman to convince me that she
had been captured in childhood
from some of the early Texas set
tiers, and her account of her cap
ture by the Indians justified the
opinion that she was one of the
Parker children. On reaching the
settlements, information was con-
veyed to her uncle, and he came to
see her, and soon, by aid of Mex
lean interpreter, convinced himself
that she was Cynthia Ann Parker,
his niece, who had been from her
early childhood with tho Indians