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: 64
251 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.View a full description of this book.
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64 BILL DEAN'S STORY.
that he visited the Point last spring, when some five thousand
Germans were encamped there, and was present at one of the
most thrilling and heart-rending scenes it had ever been his lot
to witness. So far as his individual knowledge went, neither
ancient nor modern history made mention of any case which
might be considered as anywhere near parallel.
" Among the emigrants, remarked Dean, was a young, pretty,
red-cheeked girl, the pride of the party, who strolled out alone one
day to gather wild flowers in the chaparral. Her ramblings carried
her farther than she intended, and when she turned to retrace
her steps she found that she was lost, poor thing-bewildered and
perplexed in a tangled maze. In vain she strove to recollect the
position and bearings of the camp she had left, all so joyous, a
short hour before-reason had fled its throne. In an agony of
doubt she ran to and fro in the chaparral, every step taking her
farther from her friends, and darkness at length found her completely
exhausted, and crazed with thoughts of Indian peril and
of starvation. Her sufferings during that dreadful night, continued
Bill, you must fancy for yourselves-I shall not attempt to depict
them.
" With the early morning light she was again on her feet. She
gazed in every direction, she ran in every direction; but no sight
of her friends gladdened her longing vision. While thus engaged
she was discovered by a Mexican girl, whose father had a small
rancho some five miles from the Point; and now when succour
was at hand the lost one fled at its approach. The Mexican girl
called upon her in soothing terms; but she heeded her not. The
former then went to her father, hard by, and told him that some
poor straggler from the camp of the strangers was in the bushes,
and to all appearance lost and bereft of reason. The old man
mounted his horse, went out in search, and soon came up with
her; but she fled at his approach as from one of the wild denizens
of the prairie. The old man, in the kindness of his heart,
with soft accents attempted to arrest her flight. She heeded
him not. He knew that she must belong to the German camp,
that she was lost, that she was crazed, and he determined to
rescue her. Coiling the lariat or leather rope which hung to
his saddle in his hand, he set off full speed after the bewildered
and frightened fugitive, threw it gently over her head, and thus
checked her flight. To call his daughter, thinking that she might
better assist in soothing the poor girl, was his first impulse; to
proceed with her to the camp of her friends, and deliver her safely
to those who must be but too anxious for her, was his second.
"*Great was the joy of her relatives, gladdened were the hearts
of all who knew her, as she was brought into camp; but soom
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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/m1/68/: 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.