The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 310
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
alike, that now dotted the northeastern Texas woods. By August, Brown
was suffering from what the regimental surgeon called "herpetic erup-
tion upon the skin with considerable excoriation between the thighs"
or, in layman's terms, saddle sores. When Brown told his superiors that
he was "sick, sore, and worn out riding," an unsympathetic Montgom-
ery, still smarting from Bootes's takeover, bluntly told him to get a car-
riage. Brown angrily reported to headquarters that Montgomery was
negligent, incompetent, lazy, hasty in his decisions, unjust, anti-Negro,
anti-bureau (he did not even know that there were bureau subdistricts),
and in league with the town's former rebels. Bootes, claimed Brown,
was irritated by the bureau's presence and constantly sick. Most of the
duties of the job were handled by 1st Lt. Gregory Barrett, Jr., the as-
sistant subassistant commissioner, and a regimental staff officer. Brown
begged for a new posting, one in which he could be his own man.
Otherwise, he threatened to quit all together.18
After two weeks recuperation, Brown was reluctantly in the saddle
again. While on an inspection in Bowie County, accompanied by the
local subassistant commissioner, William G. Kirkman, and a cavalry es-
cort, he was fired upon from ambush by the noted brigand, Cullen
Baker. Uncertain how many men Baker had with him, Brown spurred
his horse and led the escort out of gunshot range. Kirkman's horse was
played-out from the long day's journey, so he was left in the dust, a lone
target for the ambushers. Only the escort's corporal bravely stayed be-
hind to cover Kirkman's slow withdrawal. Angrily Kirkman reported
Brown's actions to headquarters, utterly unimpressed by Brown's hasty
abandonment of him on the field.'"
Although headquarters chose to ignore Kirkman's complaint, the
staff did not fail to respond to Brown's repeated request for a station of
his own. There was a catch, however, in the new assignment. As Brown
passed through Clarksville headed for Paris, he picked up the records
of the Thirty-seventh Subdistrict from the former agent, Ist Lt. C. S.
Roberts, and learned the truth.20 Roberts told Brown that the area con-
'sSurgeon J. F. Reed to AAAG, Aug. 13, 1867, LR, AC, T; Brown to AAAG, Aug. 15,
1867, ibid.
19 Kirkman to AAAG, Sept. 4, 1867, Ibid.
20The exchange of agents is in Roberts to AAAG, Oct. 3, 21, 1867, LR, AC, T, AAAG to
Roberts, Oct sg, 1867, LS, AC, T; Special Orders No. go, Sept. 28, 1867, TFB. It was made
possible by the resignation of many of Griffin's political appointees (hke Albert H. Latimer,
Hardin Hart, and Anthony M. Bryant), who were now more interested in serving the new pro-
visional state government than in the federally appointed bureau positions. It also necessitated
the abolition of the Thirty-eighth Subdistrict, headquartered at Greenville. See Special Orders
No. 9go, Sept. 28, 1867, TFB. Before receiving the Paris agency, Brown had mulled over the
idea of a state political job for himself; see Brown to AAAG, Aug. 26, 1867, LR, AC, T.310
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990, periodical, 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101213/m1/366/: accessed May 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.