The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-01-16

30 quick and fast while we were riding
nc TOP speed that / remember nv
horse went back on her launches. cut.
ing the same In the effort 10 stop
short Then from the middle of our
circle of horses we opened fire with
the Colts sx.shootng rifles We killed
every Indian except one that got q.
way to spread the wholesome tale. but
the fellows had charged us so closely
that several of them lying PROSTATE
we could have touched with our ride
butts without moving from where VIC
stood.
I'VE had among us in that fight n
remarkable young chap who behaved
extraordinarily during the fight Hif
parents had been scalped by Indians
and he had been captured and raised
among the Comanches and was deyot-
ing the days Of his natural life bring
ing down Indians to avenge the death
of his parents. But he had acquired
Indian habits and Indian tactics and
throughout the fight danced around
from spot to spot hoping to make a
difficult target Of himself exactly In
the manner of the ignorant reds them.
selves who felt safer when moving
about, not knowing that to a white
shot there is after all little difference
whether a target move or stand still
so long as it presents a reasonable
mark. BY the way, it was in that fight
that | was shot here through the
cheek. The missile just grazed me but
laid part of the cheek open to the bone
as neatly as if cut with a surgeons
knife.
I'm 1853 I had worked up the line
to a captaincy and was then with tho
frontier battalion Of state troops with
a headquarters camp at Deer Fork on
the Brazos. The Comnaches had been
particularly active. They would swoop
down on the white settlements and
after working stealthily within the
white lines would run off, driving sto-
len stock ana killing and burning all
within range. So we decided to give
them q dose of their own medicine
and we took wagon loaded with so
rangers, followed by similarly load
ed one and about a 100 friendly
Tahuahuacan Indians.
1--WE camped that evening, conceal
ing our force, and sent cut scouts.
Our enemy, the scouts reported were
hunting buffalo, and their camp was
just a few miles ahead. We moved
during the night, and at daybreak
came within sight of the Comanche
| lodges. Eighty of these we counted,
which, allowing four male fighters to
a lodge, brought up the fighting force
to something like 300 braves. Just at
sun up a hostile Indian on horseback
| appeared and at once excitement
| broke loose among my own Indians,
and they yelled and gave the whole
scheme away, for the solitary rider,
of course, heard them. The Tahuahua-
! cans were ordered out front, so that
we conld keep the rangers as a sort
of surprise. Then we charged rails
! ing the Texas yell and bearing down
on the Comanches like a living ava
lanche. The fight proved one sided.
! About those days the mere yell of the
| rangers was enuogh to strike terror
to the heart of a small band of Indi-
ans, and here though the enemy was
! in sufficient numbers to make resis-
lance, there seemed a thousand rang
ers the way they were spread out. The
! Comanches cut and ran, deserving
everything and spreading fanlike so
that it was impossible almost to fol-
low any one band. So we decided to
come back, having slain more than so
of them. All about US we could make
out Indians sllulking at a safe distance
in the hills, and we were just ready to
proceed to a proper footing Of the
place to recover stolen goods when a
second and much larger outfit of In
dams hove up out of nowhere and pre-
pared to give us a fight.
Zone huge Indian on the opposite
side dared any Indian on our side 10
come out to fight him single-handed,
and five of the Tahuahuacans went
down in single combat before we
turned the rangers loose. After all, the
fight made was more spectacular
than bloody The instant the rangers
were released the Indians fed for dear
life, and only those that blundered in
to range were killed or dropped.
But think I'll have to ask you to
leave, young man" said the old colo
mel kindly. when l get on my favor
lite topic there is no telling where I'll
stop, and I have work to do this morn
ing. It's like living life over again to
rehearse the stirring days Of the past,