The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902 Page: 220
370 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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220 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
he sent a second dispatch to the commanding officer at San Diego,
stating which way the trail had gone. He took it at daylight, fol-
lowing with the jaded horses of the evening previous, which had
served to bring his party together. The raiders met Margarito
Rodriguez about ten miles west of Charco Escondido, and mortally
wounded him. From him Gravis learned that a white man lead
the party, but whether an American or a Mexican he could not tell.
This was early on the morning of the 19th, and in Encinal County.
The Indians drove a large herd of horses before them.
From Fort Ewell it was noted that they had their advance, cen-
ter and rear guard. Many were identified as Kickapoo Indians.
Again they divided into minor parties. One of these stopped a
cart, destroyed its contents and stripped its drivers-two boys-
naked. This party, immediately after, attacked a wagon train,
and, though reinforced by another, were driven off after killing a
mule. Near here they shot and killed a shepherd and cast his body
upon the live coals of his camp fire. Mr. Gravis hotly continued
the pursuit, and from about that point sent a courier to the com-
manding officer of the U. S. troops at Fort Mclntosh, Laredo. The
raiders, in small parties, now swept across the country and carried
off all the desirable horses in their way.
On the evening of the 19th, Mr. Gravis overtook the main body
-again concentrated--as they converged together upon entering
Webb County to cross the Rio Grande, distant then, about eighteen
miles. They had been in the country six days. Once had they been
within fourteen miles of Fort McItosh; again they approached
within twenty miles of it. They had passed with thirty miles of
the U. S. cavalry at San Diego, and at no time during these six
days had they been over sixty miles from a IT. S. Government Post.
Yet such is the extended character and sparsely settled condition
of this district that such occurrences do take place and escape the
notice of the military.
Gravis charged gallantly. The prompt and daring reception
which the Indians gave him frightened his Mexican allies and they
retired. He continued the skirmish, but a reinforcement to the
raiders compelled him to withdraw to the timber to prevent being
surrounded and cut off. The raiders did not continue to follow,
but pressed in hot haste to the Rio Grande, and strewed their trail
with the clothing previously plundered on the route.
Gravis had a wonderful race. More than a hundred miles had he
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902, periodical, 1902; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101021/m1/226/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.