The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers; or, the Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico--1846; including Skirmishes with the Mexicans, and an accurate detail of the Storming of Monterey; also the Daring Scouts at Buena Vista together with anecdotes, incidents, descriptions of country, and sketches of the lives of the celebrated partisan chiefs, Hays, McCulloch, and Walker. Page: 63
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BILL DEAN'S STOR B. 63
intry, with a detachment of artillery under Captain Holmes, was
marching to the same point by land, and our company was ordered
J act as the advance guard. The incidents of the march are
unworthy of relation, for most of the distance was accomplished in
early morning and late evening; as the heat was too great for
the infantry to march at mid-day.
We could not but pity the poor fellows as they toiled through
the mud and water which were sometimes nearly waist deep, for
they seemed nearly ready to sink with fatigue. The road was
exceedingly bad, and the sun excessively hot, and when the poor
footmen would reach their camp at night, they would drop upon
the ground, as if completely worn out and exhausted.
Our first camping place was at the town of " old Reynoso," it
being the former town site, but the houses having been once
washed away by an overflow of the Rio Grande, the inhabitants
removed to a high point lower down the stream, and built the present
town of Reynoso.
Early on the next morning we were again upon the road, and
after another hard day's ride, encamped in a pleasant place, expecting
the next day to reach Comargo.
The fires gleamed brightly, and as we reclined upon our blankets
around them, many a good tale was told of border life, and
its wild excitements. Among the rest, the following has found
its way into the columns of the " Picayune," and we give Mr.
Kendall's version of it to the reader.
,McCulloch's Rangers, after a very hard day's ride, had bivou.
acked one night last summer in a beautiful musquit grove between
Reynoso Viejo and Comargo, a barranca protecting one side of the
encampment from a surprise, while the steep banks of the Rio
Grande served the same purpose on the other. The horses had
all been watered, fed and curried, the first relief of the guard
posted, and the Rangers, after drinking their coffee, were reclining
about on their blankets, spinning long yarns of their adventures,
when Bill Dean told a story that wound up the entertainments
of the evening, in theatrical parlance, and caused an outbreak
at the termination that came nigh stampeding the entire
cavallada. Bill had joined McCulloch's men for the trip, and the
recollection of his humorous tale about chasing the prairie fire a
mile and a half, trying to cook his horse meat, secured him a most
patient hearing.
" Those who know any thing about the emigration of Germans
into Texas, are well aware that thousands of them have made
Indian Point, near Port Lavaca, a grand rendezvous before leaving
for the interior settlement of New Braunfels, or the frontier station
on the Pierdenales, the Llano, or the San Saba. Bill said
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Reid, Samuel C., Jr. The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers; or, the Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico--1846; including Skirmishes with the Mexicans, and an accurate detail of the Storming of Monterey; also the Daring Scouts at Buena Vista together with anecdotes, incidents, descriptions of country, and sketches of the lives of the celebrated partisan chiefs, Hays, McCulloch, and Walker., book, 1859; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38096/m1/67/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.