Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 58 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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50
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
wards that they had sustained a loss in killed equal
to double the number of the Texians, besides many
wounded. It was believed that Euclid M. Cox,
before receiving his death wound, killed eight or
ten.
The Surveyors' Fight ranks, in stubborn courage
and carnage, with the bloodiest in our historywith
Bowie's San Saba fight in 1831, Bird's victory
and death in Bell County in 1839, and Hays'
mountain fight in 1844, and others illustrating similar
courage and destructiveness.
THE SLAIN.
Of the twenty-three men in the fight seventeen
were killed, viz.: Euclid M. Cox, Thomas Barton,
Samuel Allen,
Ingraham,
Davis, J. Hard,
Asa T. Mitchell, J. Neal or Neill, William Tremier,Spikes, J. Bullock, N. Barker, A. Houston, P.
IA. Jones, James Jones, David Clark, and one
whose name is not remembered.
Those who escaped were William F. Henderson,
Walter P. Lane, wounded as described, and Burton,
who escaped together; Violet, wounded as described;
William Smith, severely wounded in the
shoulder; and the man slightly wounded, who
escaped towards the east -6. Messrs. Love and
Jackson, though not in the fight, justly deserve to
be classed with the party,. as they were on hazardous
duty and performed it well, besides relieving
Lane and then participating in the interment of the
dead.
In the year 1885, John P. and Rev. Fred Cox,
sons of Euclid, at their own cost, erected, under
the shadow of that lone tree, a handsome and befitting
monument, on which is carved the names of
all who were slain and all who escaped, exceptingthat one of each class whose names are missing.
The tree and monument, inclosed by a neat fence,
one mile west of Dawson, Narvarro County, are in
plain view of the Texas and St. Louis railroad.
NOTE. This William Smith, prior to this disastrous
contest, but at what precise date cannot be
stated, but believed to have been in the winter of
1837-8, lived in the Brazos bottom. The Indians
became so bad that he determined to move, and
for that purpose placed his effects in his wagon in
his yard, but before starting his house was attacked.
He barred his door and through cracks
between the logs fired whenever he could, nearly
always striking an Indian, but all his reserve
ammunition had been placed in the wagon and the
supply in his pouch was nearly exhausted, when
Mrs. Smith opened the door, rushed to the wagon,
secured the powder and lead and rushed back.
Balls and arrows whizzeA all about her but she
escaped with slight wounds and immediately began
moulding bullets. She thought not of herself but
of her little children. Honored forever be the
pioneer mothers of Texas and thrice honored be
such as Mrs. Smith. It was my pleasure afterwards,
personally, to know her and some of her
children, and to serve on the Southwestern frontier
with her fearless husband, an honest Christian
man. One of their sons was the late Prof. Smith
of Salado College, a son worthy of such parents.
Mr. Smith crippled so many of his assailants that
they retired, leaving him master of the situation,
when he removed farther into the settlements.
There is one fact in connection with this affair
that, as a TEXIAN, I blush to state. There was an
able-bodied man in Mr. Smith's house all the time
who slunk away as the veriest craven, taking
refuge under the bed, while the heroic father and
mother "fought the good fight and kept the
faith." I have not his name and if it were known
to me would not publish it. as it may be borne by
others of heroic hearts, and injustice might be
done; besides, the subsequent life of that man must
have been a continuing torture.Karnes' Fight on the Arroyo Seco, August 10, 1838.
From the beginning of 1837, to his death in
August, 1840, Henry W. Karnes, a citizen of San
Antonio, stood as a pillar of strength and wall of
defense to the Southwestern frontier. He was ever
ready to meet danger, and often commanded small
bodies of volunteers in search or pursuit of hostile
Indians. He had numerous skirmishes and minor
encounters with them and was almost invariably
successful.In the summer of 1838, in command of twentyone
fearless volunteers, while halting on the Arroyo
Seco, west of the Medina, and on the 10th day of
August, he was suddenly and furiously assailed by
two hundred mounted Comanches; but, ever alert
and prepared for danger, in the twinkling of an eye
his horses were secured and his men stationed in
their front, somewhat protected by a ravine and
chaparral, and fired in alternate platoons, by which
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A history of pioneers in Texas and their confrontations with local American Indians.
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/58/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.