Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 123 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS
1114
position untenable while he passed over and occupied
Texas soil in his hostile movements against
people with whom we were at peace. But in truth
he was ready to rob and slay Texians as well as
Mexicans.
The company continued in active service till the
expiration of their period of enlistment, when on the5th of November, 1851, they were mustered out at
Fort Martin Scott. As previously stated, they
were mustered in at Fort Merrill by Capt. Gordon
Granger, afterwards a distinguished Union General
in the war between the States. They were mustered
out by James Longstreet, an equally distinguished
General on the Confederate side in the same war.Governor Fitzhugh Lee's Hand-to-Hand Fight with a Stalwart.
Warrior in 1855.I am unable to give the date or precise locality
of the incident about to be narrated; but it was
about 1855, and not far from one of the U. S. military
posts then on our western frontier, and the
facts are derived from Capt. Hayes, the only witness
of the scene. The hero of the occasion was
Fitzhugh Lee, then a young Lieutenant of cavalry
in the United States army, afterwards distinguished
as a General of cavalry in the Confederate army and
still later as Governor of Virginia. He is a nephew
of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and a son of Com. Sidney
Smith Lee, deceased, of the United States navy.
Capt. Hayes (then, I think, a lieutenant), and
Lieut. Lee, on the occasion referred to, were roaming
through a forest when they espied a large and
robust warrior quite near and mounted on horselack.
As soon as he discovered them he gave a
stentorian war whoop and darted off through the
timber, pursued by Lee and Hayes. The chase continued
for a considerable distance, first one and then
the other party gaining ground, till finally, owing
to thick brush on the bank of a creek, the Indian
was forced to abandon his horse and seek concealment,
in doing which he leaped down the creek
bank where it was about ten feet high.
The pursuers dismounted, Lee passing down
the creek on one side and Hayes on the other.
In a little while Hayes saw Lee stoop down and
pick up a fine blanket, dropped by the Indian, and
called to him to be cautious, as the owner must be
near at hand. He had scarcely done so when the
savage sprang from behind a ledge of rocks, not
over four feet distant, and with a wild yell, seized
Lee, and a life and death struggle began. The
Indian was much the stronger of the two and
very soon had Lee down. The former had a
lance and a bow and arrow on his back whileLee liad a pistol and carbine, but, at the first
onset, the lance and carbine, respectively, were
dropped. Lee, being agile, rose to his feet, tightly
clenched by his antagonist, but was again thrown
to the ground. His pistol fell and rolled beyond
the reach of either. Lee rose a third time and was
again thrown, when they rolled over and over each
other. Lee, with his left hand, seized the Indian's
throat and endeavored to suffocate him, but his
hand was seized by the savage and restrained.
Lee continued his efforts
they again rolled over
each other and finally Lee found himself on top and
renewed his choking operation; but at the same
instant discovered that they had rolled within reach
of his pistol, seizing which, unseen by the Indian,
he held it near the ground and fired, the ball passing
throurgh the In(lian's cheeks.
The savage then made a powerful effort to
"turn " Lee and get possession of the pistol. In
the language of Capt. HIayes: " Each man fought
with sul)erhuman strength, andl each knew that it
was a battle unto death."
In all this time, and it was but a moment, Capt.
Hayes had seen the struggle and hastened to reach
the spot in aid of his friend, for he dare not fire
unless immediately at them, lest he might kill Lee,
but he was delayed by brush and the bluff in crossing
the creek. "But," says he, " just as I reached
Fitz he fired again and the ball went crashing
through the Indian's heart, killing him. Lee then
arose and I said to him: That was a close call,.
Fitz. He replied: 'Yes, I thought I was gone.'
Afterward I asked him how in the world he managed
to turn the heavy Indian? In his own peculiar
way Fitz replied: ' I tell you what saved my life,
Jack. When IL was a boy at school in Virginia I
learned a little trick in wrestling that the boys.
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/123/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.