Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 66 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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58
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
of Indians. The only weapon in the house was an
old rifle with a defective flint lock. With this Malathiel
heroically endeavored to defend his mother
and her children. The negro men, having no means
of defense, managed to escape. Mrs. Campbell
caused Pamelia, the elder daughter, to take refuge
under the puncheon floor, with her little brother
George, enjoining upon her silence as the only means
of saving herself and the child. The son soon
found that the gun lock refused to work, and the
mother sought to ignite the powder with a brand of
fire, but in doing so stood so near the door that an
Indian, forcing it slightly ajar and thrusting in his
arm, nearly severed her arm from her body. The
door was then forced open, the Indians rushed in,
and in a moment tomahawked unto death Mrs.
Campbell, Huldah and Fountain. Malathiel, knife
in hand, sprang from the room into the yard, but
was speedily slain by those outside. While these
things were being enacted in the house Pamelia,
with little George, stealthily emerged from her hiding
place and nearly escaped unobserved; but just
as she was entering a thicket near by, an arrow
struck the back of her head, but fortunately it
glanced around without entering the skull, and she
soon reached Fort Houston to report her desolation.
The Indians robbed the house of its contents,
including six feather-beds (leaving the feathers,
however), a keg of powder, four hundred silver
dollars, and a considerable amount of paper money,
which, like the feathers, was cast to the winds. At
daylight the bloody demons crossed the Trinity
eight miles away, and were thus beyond pursuit
by the small available force at hand; for the west
side of the river at that time teemed with hostile
savages.
Pamelia Campbell, thus spared and since deprived
by death of the little brother she saved, yet
lives, the last of her family, respected and beloved,
the wife or widow of Mr. Moore, living on Cedar
creek, Anderson County.
THE LAST RAID.
The last raid in that vicinity was by one account
in 1841, by another in 1843, but both agree as to the
facts. A small party of Indians stole some horses.
They were pursued by Wm. Frost, who escaped
from the Parker's Fort disaster in 1836, and three
others. They came upon the Indians while they
were swimming the Trinity at West Point. Frost
fired, killing an Indian, on reaching the bank a
little in advance of the others, but was instantly
shot dead by a warrior already on the opposite
bank. The other three men poured a volley into
the enemy yet under the bank and in the river.
Four were killed, when the remainder fled, leaving
the horses in the hands of the pursuers.
In 1837 there was a severe encounter in Maine's
prairie, Anderson County, but the particulars are
not before me, nor are those attending the butchery
of the Killough family, which led to the battle of
Kickapoo, and was one of the impelling causes of
the expulsion of the Cherokees and associate bands
from the country.
In the accounts here given some conflicting statements
are sought to be reconciled. The unrecorded
memory of most old men, untrained in the habits
of preserving historical events, is often at fault.
Unfamiliar with the localities, it is believed that
substantial accuracy is attained in this condensed
account of these successive and sanguinary
events, illuminating the path of blood through
which that interesting portion of our beloved State
was transferred from barbarism to civilization.Some Reminiscences
First Anniversary Ball in the Republic
of Texas, and other Items of Interest.
The following relating to the first anniversary The invitation to the first or Independence ball
celebration of Texian Independence and the battle ran thus: of
San Jacinto, respectively given at Washington,
March 2d, 1837, and at the newly laid out town of WASHINGTON, 28th February, 1837.
The pleasHouston,
April 21, 1837, will doubtless interest ure of your company is respectfully solicited at a
the reader. party to be given in Washington on Thursday, 2d
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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/m1/66/?rotate=0: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.