Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-05
A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS.
How the Famous Bowie Brothers Whip
ned HundIed Sarac-as

A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS.
How the Famous Bowie Brothers whip
ped a Hundred Savages.
Col. John S. Moore of New Orleans.
grand nephew of the celebrated Jim Bowie.
the inventor of the knife which bears his
name, and one of the Almo heroes. con-
tributes the following to the archives of
the Almo Monument association, says a
San Antonio correspondent of the st. Louis
Globe-Democrat:
In 1873 small party of adventurous
spirits, eleven in number, consisting of
Rein P. and James Bowie, their two
servant boys Messrs. Buchanan, MacalIne.
sons, left San Antonio to visit the old San
Saba silver mines. On the morning of
the third day of their journey they were
visited by an Indian, who claimed to be a
messenger from Chief Isaonia, and whose
medal he exhibited as his credentials.
bearing them a warning from Isaonia that
about 100 unfriendly savages were on their
trail. Rein Bowie, who spoke many
Indian dialects, conferred with the mes
senger in his tongue. after which he adj
vised his party to select favorable spot
and entrench themselves. A position was
chosen near a hill, where the ground was
covered with few trees and some thick
underbrush, amidst which a spring guShed
from the earth. Working all night, the
travellers finally completed breastwork of
sod around the thicket. They placed the
servants. horses, and pack-mules in a COW
cred situation at the spring, and rested
awhile to await events. About 6 in the
morning. when the sun lit up the hill in
front of them, it revealed its summit COW
cred with Indians, who hoisted white
flag. After consultation Rez Bowie and
Buchanan passed outside the trench works
to parley with them As they approached
the hill the savages waived their flag and
called out: How dye do? How dye
do? aud fired ON them at the same time.
Several bullets passed through Bowie's
buckskin huLtilg blouse, leaving him I'M
scratched Poor Buchanan was not so
fortunate, for a bullet struck his leg, break
ing it. As Buchanan fell, Bowie caught
him by the ARM and lifting him by the
shoulder, started to carry him back to
shelter Eight Indians armed with toma- !,
hawks pursued Bowie, who, thus heavily
burdened, could i'll have defended himself,
but his party fired from their intrench-
ments on the advancing foes, killing four
of them, and the remaining four ran back
to their shelter.
Firing now began In earnest between
the opposing forces, and fortunately the
Indians could not discover what number of
men were concealed in the bushes back of
the little Notifications. The small force
reduced by two-for, in addition to Buchan-
an being wounded, Masculine was killed
fought increasingly the entire day. Those
engaged In the fight said that the contrast
in the manner of the two Bowies was most
striking. James passed from one point to
another, giving orders, looking, and firing.
At the same time Rein maintained the
silence, raised his gun with cool
ness and deliberation, bringing down
redskin at each shot. During the night
the Indians passed the time mourning their
dead, and with the coming of day vanished
as quietly as they had appeared. The
whites now made preparations for return
ing to San Antonio Poor Masculine was
buried and rocks piled over his grave to
secure it from depredations of WOLVES.
The great trouble was what to do with
Buchanan. Rein Bowie, ever prolific IN
expedients, made a strong decoction of oak
bark by boiling the bark In water This
he thickened with corn-meal, and, spread
ing it on a cloth and sprinkling 1T with
he formed poultlce which he
wrapped about Buchanan leg Around
this he tightly sewed a covering of buck
skin, and, packing the patient on his horse,
off the party started After several days
travel Bowie examined Buchanan's leg,
and finding it in fair way to recovery,
renewed the same dressing, and under this
rough and singular treatment the limb re-
covered entirely. This party of men never
made another attempt to reach the San
Saba mines.
The Advantages of Smoke1ess Powder.
The hereditary Prince Of Meiningen, the
Emperor s brother-in-law, recently publish
ed In Greek magazine an article written
in Greek on the repeating rife and thenew
smokeless powder He says about the
after that at present the soldiers hear, to-
gether with the kissing, also the thud of
5he bullet as it strikes so that before the
narksmaD can aim a second or third time
at them, or at least before they are wound
I'd, they can often escape from an enemy
whose position they have discovered; but
n future the outposts, not knowing from
what direction they are being shot at, will
)ften be mistaken, and not be able to protect
themselves. The reconnaissance will
become more difficult and
'1SKy. w men al present Inc vanguard Oh
he cavalry is approaching the place from
which an enemy is shooting at them. they
know by the noise of the bullets and the
smoke Of the powder how far the enemy
position extends, and even in case the
cavalry Immediately with
Travis, those superficial observations can
be of great Importance to the commander.
But if neither shooting is to be heard nor
the smoke seen, then not only will the first
requisites for quick reconnoitring of the
enemy s position be wanting, but erroneous
conclusions will also be drawn. By using
/ small-bore repeating rife, the enemy can
ait the outposts of an opposing force at
onger ranges than hitherto, and perhaps
1T such distance that the noise of his shoot
ng be altogether unheard
The Rev. Father Goldsmith is writing
, history of the Chippewa Valley.