History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 234

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~3 IHTOYO TXA

and courageous. The reservation policyNecessary
though it be-brings them all to
an abject level, the plane of lazy beggars and
thieves. The Comanche is most qualified by
nature to receive education and for adapting
himself to the requirements of civilization of
all the Southern tribes, not excepting even
the Cherokees, with their churches, schoolhouses
and farms. The Comajiches, after
waging an unceasing war for over fifty years
against the United States, Texas and Mexico,
still number 16,000 souls-a far better showing
than any other tribe can make, though
not one but has enjoyed privileges to which
the Comanche was a stranger. It is a shame
to the civilization of the age that a people so
susceptible of a high degree of development
should be allowed to grovel in the depths of
heathenism and savagery. But we are digressing.

"The loud and clamorous cries of the eettiers
along the frontier for protection induced
the Government to organize and send out a
regiment under Colonel M. T. Johnson, to
take the field for public defense. But these
efforts proved of small service. The expedition,
though at great expense to the State,
failed to find an Indian until, returning, the
command was followed by the wily Comanches,
their horses stampeded at night, and
most of the men compelled to reach the settlements
on foot, under great suffering and
exposure.
"Captain 'SulI' Ross, who had just graduated
from Florence Wesleyan University, of
Alabama, and returned to Texas, was commissioned
a captain of rangers by Governor
Sam Houston, and directed to organize a
company of sixty men, with orders to repair
to Fort Belknap, receive from Colonel Johnson
all government property, as his regiment
was disbanded, and take the field against the

redoubtable Captain Peta Nocona, and afford
the frontier such protection as was possible
with his small force. The necessity of vigorous
measures soon became so pressing that
Captain Ross soon determined to attempt to
curb the insolence of these implacable ene.
mies of Texas by following them into their
fastnesses and carry the war into their own
homes. In his graphic narration of this
campaign, General L. S. Ross says: 'As I
could take but forty of my men from my
post, I requested Captain N. G. Evans, in
command of the United States troops at Camp
Cooper, to send me a detachment of the
Second Cavalry. We had been intimately
connected on the Van Dorn campaign, during
which I was the recipient of much kindness
from Captain Evans, while I was suffering
from a severe wound received from an Indian
in the battle of the Wichita. He promptly
sent me a sergeant and twenty-one men well
mounted. My force was still further augmented
by some seventy volunteer citizens,
under the command of the brave old frontiersman,
Captain Jack Cui reton, of Bosque county.
These self-sacrificing patriots, without the
hope of pay or regard, left their defenseless
homes and families to avenge the sufferings
of the frontier people. With pack mules
laden down with necessary supplies, the expedition
marched for the Indian country.
"'On the 18th of December, 1860, while
marching up Pease river, I had suspicions
that Indians were in the vicinity, by reason
of the buffalo that came running in great
numbers from the north toward us, and while
my command moved in the low ground I
visited all neighboring high points to make
discoveries. On one of these sand hills I
found four fresh pony tracks, and, being
satisfied that Indian vedettes had just gone,
1 galloped forward about a mile to a higher

-31

HISTOR Y O EAS

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History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. (Book)

History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties.

Book containing a brief overview of the state of Texas and more specific focus on six specific counties, with extensive biographical sketches about persons related to the history of those places. An alphabetical index of persons who are included follows the table of contents at the front of the book.

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Lewis Publishing Company. History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties., book, 1893; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29785/m1/239/ocr/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .

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