Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-02-19

he permanently settled on the Brazos il
Fort Bend county. From that time for.
ward he participated actively In all TAI
vicissltudss Of the early times OF Texts
much Of the time acting as captain o.
small parties of "minnit men" in defense
of The country against hostile Indians
especially the warlike Corsnchua's, VINO
were at that time very troublesome. As
such he fought the Carsnchus's In Sep.
TENDER, 1924, in BraZoris county, at q
creek which took its name from the fight,
and is now known as STONES Creek"
The particulars of this engagement are as
follows:
JONES CREEK FIGHT.
About this period (ls24), news reached
the settlements thst small party OF emf
lgraDts, en- route from the mouth OF the
Brsz1s to Aus,in's colony, had been cut
of and murdered by the Caranchuas. To
prevent re occurrence of such outrsges,
Col mel Austin now ordered Captain Ran
dali jones, with a company Of twenty
three men, to proceed down the BrszJs
and along the coast as far Is Mstigorda
Day; and, shOuld he discover the party Of
IodIsns that had massScred the em1grsnte,
to show them no mercy. He was further
instructed to attack guy party Of CArap-
chua Iudiaps who showed signs OF hostil-
ity (a)
Accordingly, ia September, Captain
Jones proceeded with small comosny
nY wster doWo to the mouth of the river
Here they were visited hY small party OF
IndIans, who, seeing the warlike pr ps-
rstions Of the whites, appeared quite
friendly. The I1disns now informed
Captein JONES that ABOUT thirty OF their
tribe we're ercamped on a smsll tributary
o; the San Bernard ~. and about seven
miles distant; also that ten or twelve
more Rad gone TO B1iley's, higher up on
the Brsz IS, to parchase ammunition.
Convinced that the Indians were Sc
cretly preparing To maize al attack, Jones
at once sent two of his Company up the
river 70 raise additional force. On ar
irving at BAiley's the two men found
eight or ten of the settlers already col
lectsd there TO watch the maneuVering OF
the Iadlsrs, who had come for Gmmuni-
ton.
The Indians showed such bold and M
rnlstakable signs If hostility t6At ihe
small company OF colonists sought Is
vorable opportunity. and attacked them
Just Sc dayb-esk on the following MORN
ng. In this attack the whites were sue
cessful, killiog several Indians and drlV-
ing the others away. Ignorant OF what
had treuspired, aud imp silent at not re
ceivipg the additional force sent for, Cap
tain Jones now returned up tho river op
posise the CaranehuA camp (Netore al
luded toy, where he embarked with his
company. Here they concealed them
selves un'il dark, when they SEM out
pies to discover the exact locality OF the
Indian camp.
| The spies returned at midnight, having
failed TO and the camp Opce more con-
cealIng themselves, the men remained
perfectly quiet all the next day. just at
shutdown, the Indians commenced howl
| ing and weeping over their dead and
| wounded, who hsd been brought into
camp by The defeated party from BsileJ's.
Having thus Gscertained the situation
Of the IDdisn camp, which was on the
west bank of the creek, where it widens
nus into lake before emptyIng into thu
SSH B-rnArd, Jones now started in thai
direction, crossing the creek halt mile
shove, and coming down on the west side
Arriving within sixty yards Of the
enemy the company halted to wait for
daVbresk (e) AS soon as it WAS light
enough to Zee the sights on their rides
they discovered the Indisns, who We're
encauped immediately upon the margin
of the steam, surrounded by heavy
gro WITH OF cane aud tall grass. Captain
Jouss now 70 med his men aud advanced
rapidly to the attack. Upon the first dis
charge the savaees hid themselves n the
long grass, from which they returned the
Dire with balls and arrows. The whites,
who were now entirely EXPOSED to y
heavy fire OF balls and no less
destructive arrows, soon retreated up
the creek, recrossing II and going in the
direction of tae settlement. The Indians
pursued them till they crossed the creek
Just ct shi5 time, sad as he WAS crossing
the stream in the rear Of his Company,
Captain Jones, observing an Indian point
ing su arrow st him, shot him down.
Thus ended the engagement known as
the "Jones creek Indian fight" This was
very closely contested fsht, In which
the whites lost three Of their number
Young Bailey, Singer and Spencer. The
Indians lost 2tseen of their number
kllled, and there were several wounded
on both sides. The whites returned
home and the indians retreAted westward
acrosR the St. Bernard" d. !
On October -, 1924, he was married to
Miss Polly Andrews. AS there Was no
priest in the county they were married by
nond' They named their first child Wiley
Martin. Captain Jones reared highly
respectable family, and thence forward,
Till age asserted its supremacy, was oil
that patriotism and good citizenship i'm
ply, bis courage snd experience in Indisn
wATfsre rendering him coubly useful. He
served in the first revolutionary coRver-
ZION at San Felipe in Novem ser, 1885
Captain Jones continued to reside at his
old Fort Bend home iii late In life when
ne lost his eyesight, sitter which he re-
moved to Houston, where he died 8. the
residence Of bis son-in-lsw, Judge Gus
ave Cook, in 1878, aged eighty-six years.
Ia Yoakum, Vol. !, p. 294: (bl Jones Journal;
(cl Devices Letters; I'D J. T. Dsshields in
linz Ian Wars of Texas"
JAMES T. DKSHIxLDs.