Massacre on the Nueces River; story of a Civil War tragedy. Page: 31 of 39
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28 THE MASSACRE ON THE NUECES RIVER
posed victims of the second party's joke were being unmerci-
fully teased and made fun of, a third party of hunters came in
and unwilling to acknowledge themselves victims of the same
joke failed, until too late to do any good, to tell that they had
also seen strangers who acted so suspiciously that they had come
back at once to report the circumstances.
But even in the midst of the joking and jollity, there were
duties to be performed, for by the time the sun was fairly down,
the horses had all been caught and tied, and a night guard de-
tailed and instructed. Then came a feast on the game that had
been killed during the day, and after that, some of the young
men amused themselves by wrestling, turning somer-saults,
playing leap-frog and like games. When they had tired them-
selves, speech-making began, some of the subjects of the
speeches being "Fatherland," "America," "Citizenship," "Civil
War" and "Refugeeing to Mexico." The speeches were inter-
preted to me by Major Tegener, a German and English scholar,
and I thought them suited to the occasion.
The speaking at an end, I called Major Tegener to one side
and said to him: "Are you entirely satisfied, Major, that our
boys saw no strangers around this evening? Because," said
I, "I fear they did see strangers, and if they did, it means harm
to us," and continuing, I suggested that as he had never put me
on guard duty, he should do so that night. He replied that there
was no need of me doing guard duty at any time, and as far
as that particular night, the guard had been detailed and in-
structed. I then asked him to instruct the guard to call me at
two o'clock in the morning, and he promised to do so. A mo-
ment later I said: "Major, you can if you will, get ready and
leave here in thirty minutes. The moon is shining and the
night air will give us cool traveling. Suppose you pull right
out from here, and cross over into Mexico before halting again."
Much more I said to the same purpose, and it evidently set the
Major to thinking seriously. At any rate he said he would con-
fer with others of the party, and if they thought as I did, the
march would be resumed as quickly as possible. But when he
broached the subject to Captain Kuechler and Lieutenant De-
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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/m1/31/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .