Massacre on the Nueces River; story of a Civil War tragedy. Page: 13 of 39
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i0 THE MASSACRE ON THE NUECES RIVER
little settlement, all now wasted and destroyed, it was most
grievous.
They had fenced and cultivated about twenty acres of good
land on the side of the valley, cleverly irrigated by the stream
running through it. Now the crops were trampled and des-
troyed, and not a living thing was to be seen on the place; even
the bee-hives in front of the comfortable log house were over-
turned and empty. The poor little furniture in the living-room,
and the loom in the kitchen, had been smashed; all this had
been done by some of our marauding parties by our Captain's
orders. It made one utterly ashamed to be serving with such
men; but there was no help for it now!
The following day we struck the Guadalupe river, and, travel-
ing up its course, soon passed beyond the region of the settle-
ments. The stream itself was most beautiful, running clear and
strong over a rocky bottom and between high cliffs crowned
with giant cypress-trees. Here and there it would open out into
cool, shady pools, just deep enough for a delightful swim. By
one such as this we made our noonday halt, and soon were
cooling our fevered skins in such a bath as made full amends for
the burning heat of the morning's ride. Then on again, still
following the river, over ground rising more and more, and
growing more and more difficult for the wagon to follow us over.
The next day we left the main stream of the Guadalupe and
struck across to its southern branch. There about midday, we
found a deserted camp of the men we were after. It was ad-
mirably situated in the midst of cedar-brakes, and had been
left perhaps four or five days before, after being occupied for
quite a month.
These. Germans apparently meant business, for they had cut
rude human figures on the trunks of some of the big trees,
and had used them for targets for their rifle practice. From
their "sign" I reckoned there were about 160 of them, and the
event proved I was not far wrong.
The trail led about west, towards the Rio Grande, and it was
evident from the direction, and from the start they had, that our
scout would be a long one. So we concluded to halt where
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Williams, R. H. & Sansom, John W. Massacre on the Nueces River; story of a Civil War tragedy., book, Date Unknown; Grand Prairie, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2409/m1/13/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .