Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 107 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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96
INDIAN TWARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
and ribbons, with his baggage. Thlls document
being Eldridge's instructions as commissioner, was
brought out, read and explained by Bee. Jim Shaw
was greatly excited, and had evidently believed
what he said; but Eldridge bore himself with great
composure and firmness. After the reading Jim
Shaw said: " I beg your pardon, Joe, but I have
been misled. I thought the Delawares were to
make the treaties. We will go no farther, but go to
our own country, on the Missouri river
will start
to-morrow, and will never return to Texas." Eldridge,
alarmed at this unexpected phase of affairs,
appealed to the trio to stay and guide him, as the
President expected them to do; but they seemed
inflexible. To proceed without them was madness,
and in this dilemma Eldridge sent for Jose Maria,
the noted chief of the Anadarcos, who had been so
severely wounded in his victorious fight with the
whites, in Bryant's defeat near Marlin, in January,
1839. He explained to him the facts just related,
and asked him if he would escort him back into the
settlements. Greatly pleased at such a mark of
confidence
his keen black eyes giving full expression
to his gratified pride
he promptly and solemnly
promised to do so.
On the next morning, while Eldridge was packing
and mounting for his homeward march, surrounded
by his promised escort of one hundred
Anadarco warriors, well mounted and armed with
bows and lances, with Jose Maria at their head,
Jim Shaw sent word to Capt. Eldridge that he had
changed his mind and would continue the trip. An
interview followed and a full understanding was
entered into, acknowledging Capt. Eldridge as the
sole head of the expedition ; but after this the manner
of the Delaware trio was formal and reserved, and
their intercourse long confined to business matters.
Continuing the march, they next reached the
principal village of the Wacos, whither they had
been preceded by Acoquash, with the two released
Waco girls, who greeted them warmly. During
their stay he was their guest, and most of the time
had his family on hand. It was a little odd, but
his friendship was too valuable to be sacrificed on
a question of etiquette. Here the Delawares
announced that it would be necessary to send out
runners to find the Comanches; that this would
require fifteen days, during which time the trioShaw,
Connor and Second Eye -would take the
peltries they had on hand to Warren's trading
house down on Red river, for deposit or sale, and
return within the time named. During the delay,
Eldridge camped three miles from the village, but
was daily surrounded and more or less annoyed by
the Wacos, men, women and children. The wife ofAcoquash became violently ill, and he requested his
white brothers to exert their skill as medicine men.
Mr. Bee administered to her jalap and rhubarb,
which, fortunately for them, as will be seen later,
speedily relieved and restored her to health.
The runners returned on time with rather encouraging
reports; but the essential trio, so indispensable
to progress, were absent twenty-eight instead
of fifteen days, causing a loss of precious time.
Their next move was for the Wichita village, at
or near the present site of Fort Sill. They were
kindly received by this warlike tribe, who had heard
of their mission and promised to attend the council
at Bird's Fort.
They next bore westerly for the great prairies and
plains in search of the Comanches, Acoquash and
his wife being with them. It was now in July and all
of their provisions were exhausted, reducing them
to an entire dependence on wild meat, which, however,
was abundant, and they soon found the tallow
of the buffalo, quite unlike that of the cow,
a good substitute for bread. They carried in
abundant strings of cooked meat on their pack
mules.
After twenty days they found Indian"' signs" in
a plum thicket, " the best wild plums," wrote Young
Bee, "I ever saw." They saw where Indians
had been eating plums during the same day, and
there they encamped. Pretty soon an Indian,
splendidly mounted, approached, having a boy of
six years before him. He proved to be blind, but
a distinguished chief of the Comanches
a man
of remarkable physique, over six feet in height, a
model in proportions and his hair growing down
over his face. He told the Delaware interpreter
the locality in which they were, and that the town
of Payhayuco, the great head chief of the
Comanches, was only a few miles distant.
As soon as the blind chief's boy
a beautiful
child, handsomely dressed in ornamented buckskingathered a supply of plums, they mounted
and returned to their town, accompanied by a few
of the Delawares. In the afternoon a delegation
of the Comanches visited Eldridge and invited him
and his party to visit their town. Promptly saddling
up and escorted by about 500 Comanche
warriors, in about two hours' ride, they entered
the town of the great chief
PAYHAYUCO,
and for the first time beheld the pride and the glory
of the wild tribes-the Comanche Indian in his
Bedouin-like home. With considerable ceremony
they were conducted to the tent of Payhayuco, who
was absent, but the honors were done by the chief
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/107/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.