Evening star., 1900-07-14
TO FIGHT THE MENICANS.
Old MfssOurian Rode Thousand
Miles on Horseback to Do 1t.

Old Missourinn Rode n Thousand
Miles on Horseback to Do 1t.
| From the st. Louis Republic.
| James s. Barker. a Missouri farmer. is a
veteran of the Mexican war He rode on
| an old farm horse a thousand miles in the
| spring of 1S47 to join Col Jack Hayes, then
at Austin, Texas. recruiting for Gen. Zach
ary Taylor's army. The distance is about
80 miles direct. but this patriotic horseman
| couldn't find all the roads running straight,
| and he frequently had to make wide de-
tours to find ferries ani good fordng
places. He crossed the Missouri river at
Boonviile the ice. He took provisions
with him, but the simple statement that he
was bound for the war insured him Il hos
ptable welcome wherever he could find a
cabin in the thinly settled country.
Mr.. Barker didn't have to go to war. He
was Independent Missouri hunter and
trapper. and there was no conscription. But
the news that filtered through to his little
northern Missouri home led him to think
his country needed him. and he laid aside
his pursuit of deer foxes, wildcats and the
like for the more exciting one of hunting
men,
When he reached Austin the horse that
had carried Mr.. Barker so faithfully on his
long journey, evidently thinking it had done
enough. lay down and died. Mr.. Barker
got new mount and sailed forth with
Col. Hayes regiment in quest of Gen. Tay-
lor, but before reaching him the regiment
received orders to reinforce Gen. Winfield
Scott, who was then passing on to Vera
Cruz This was the first regiment to REIN
force Gen. Scott after entering Mexico. and
it was enthusiastically welcomed by the
weary American troops
Vera Cruz fell in March, and there was
hard lighting in Cerro Gordo and at ia
lapa, in both of which Engagements the
Americans were victorious. Mr.. Barker
fought in nearly all the great battles of
the Mexican war until he was mustered out
at Vera Cruz April 80, 1S4S. He then
went to New Orleans, and made his trip
home on steamboat, a ride far less inter
esting, he says, than his journey to the
south on horseback.
Mr.. Barkers was the first regiment equip
ped with Colts revolverS, and this early in
vention of a repeating arm was regarded as
something not far short of a marvel. The
soldiers We're encouraged to practice pistol
shooting while riding rapidly on horseback
and they became so expert that the Mex
lean officers found it hard work to keep
their men in line when Jack Hayes and mis-
double-sixers got in among them.
Among the mementos of his Mexican war
experience Mr. Barker has a cane from a
bullet-riddled tree at Churubusco, a gold
ring with three diamonds. a present from
the Alcalde of Mexico, after the city's sur
render to Gen. Scott, and a copper grape
shot he found at the Alamo in July, 1S47
MIR. Barker was born at Jersey Shore
"a. April u, 1s2l. He has been Mssou-
rian since his removal here on June l. 1S42
with the exception of the time he was
shooting at the Mexicans under Gen Santa
Ana. He is yet strong and mentally vigor-
Gus, and can easily do full days work
on his farm or take hand with the boys
on a hunt. He now lives between Shelbina
and Shelbyville, near the proposed line of
the Eldon and St. Louis railroad.