Recollections of Early Texas (30 page)

General James E. Slaughter was
called
commander, but
John S. Ford in reality led and ordered our force of nearly eight hundred Confederates. The Federals had evacuated Brownsville and had gone out to Brazos Island, where they had a considerable force with a good position, well-fortified, holding two or three gunboats in readiness for action. In May, after Lee's surrender, though this was not known to our men at that time, a great deal of cotton was coming into Brownsville, and Ford still held his force there, probably intent upon saving what cotton he could, and when the Yankees entered the place once more, capturing the picket posts and several of our men, he determined to drive them back to the island. So mustering his force and taking four pieces of artillery he advanced upon the Yankee force, which was comprised of about one thousand men.

Ford managed to carry on light skirmishing until he could secure a good position, masking his artillery with his cavalry. When everything was ready the cavalry moved aside and all of the pieces of artillery were discharged at once and unexpectedly to the Yankees, it seemed, who commenced retreating after two or three volleys, and were finally driven back to the island. We captured in all about one hundred and twenty of them—no Confederates were killed, but several were wounded. It was then learned from the Yankee prisoners that the war was over.
²

After the war I settled down to the quiet life of a farmer,
though there were still many exciting camping trips and bear hunts, a few of which I will give in this concluding chapter of my reminiscences.

I owned a pack of the very best trained dogs ever known. For bear hunting they positively could not be surpassed. If I were gifted in the art of making pen portraits, I would like to call them up before us here and show them as I would tell of their respective merits. Ah, they are before my memory now, ready for Mr. Bruin. Here they are—Watch, Caesar, Hector, Brindle, and Florida. No matter what difficulties or complications might occur on a hunt, I could always depend on my faithful dogs. Watch was the most intelligent animal that I have ever seen. He was famous for his wonderful sagacity and had warm friends among all classes everywhere. I could tell by their first bark what game the dogs had struck, and when Watch was in sight I could tell even on a cold trail the size of the bear they were after; he would run along and smell the bushes on either side, just as high as the bear in his flight had touched them, and I could make him attack anything anywhere. I could make him understand what I intended him to do first—indeed to mere animal instinct he added a vast amount of knowledge, reason, and forethought. He would show that he noted many things in our lives. Cold weather, he learned, was most suitable for bear hunting, and sometimes in the night, when everything was freezing, he would come to my bed and in the most eloquent and impressive dog language beg me to take him hunting.

There were two noted localities for bear near us then—Hornsby's Bend, twelve miles below Austin, and the other in the Eblin Bottom, twelve miles below Bastrop. Although bear was abundant in these places, few hunters tried to enter the almost impenetrable tangle of dogwood and greenbrier, of which the dense thickets were composed. A few of us were ready for almost anything of that kind, however, and I
can recall exciting times in those old thickets. I remember two bear hunts with Jonathan T. McGehee, which will serve as specimens of many others we enjoyed in those times. First, we camped the night before the hunt within about a mile of the Eblin thicket. Next morning, a cold and frosty one, we entered the thicket on foot, followed by Watch, with his faithful fellows. Instantly he started a bear. There was a fine race through the thicket which stood on the banks of the Colorado and into that, bruin, who had the hounds at his heels, plunged and crossed before I could shoot. The river was quite wide at this point, probably more than a hundred yards. McGehee went around to find a ford while I stood to watch and cheer on the dogs, which had the bear “bayed” on the opposite side. I stood at my post for a considerable time, growing more and more impatient, listening every instant to hear the report of his gun. At last I could stand it no longer, and determined to cross then and there at all hazards, so I cut a couple of green grapevines, and rolling two dead chunks into the water, I tied them together with the vines, thus making me a raft. Then I undressed and put my clothes and gun on my impromptu raft. I plunged into the ice-cold water, and shoving my raft before me, I swam as if it were for dear life. When once across I drew on my clothes, grabbed my gun, and soon joined the dogs in the contest. They already had him up a tree. I shot him out and had him dressed before McGehee came upon the scene.

Another time we entered the terrible thicket in Hornsby's Bend. That was the most dense and impenetrable tangle of brush and brier I have ever seen. After a few sniffs around, Watch struck his trail, where he had been to water in the river, and of course had taken refuge in the thicket. We went into the brush well-clothed, at about nine o'clock, and had about four hours of constant running and struggle before we could get the slightest chance for a shot. Finally, however, I
fired at a venture, guessing the whereabouts of the bear by the bend and break and crash of the bushes. The ball went through both thighs of the bear and passing on killed my dog Hector, greatly to my sorrow. Although wounded, the bear again made for the river, but while yet in the open bottom the dogs treed him, whereupon we soon killed him—and a fine, fat bear he was. Poor bear meat is the very poorest, most unpalatable meat in the world, but bear liver, on the other hand, is always good.

When I came out of the brush in Hornsby's Bend the small amount of clothing left on me was in tatters; indeed, no part of the pants and shirt survived except waist band and collar. Besides this my flesh was most terribly torn and scratched. I even had thorns in my head.

I would risk life itself once on a chase. This was the last bear ever seen in that thicket, which is now under cultivation. When bear could not be found near home, I have taken my dogs and gone a hundred miles to find them, and now, even after sixty years of the best hunting, I believe I would ride twenty-five miles to see a fresh bear track.

Biographical Notes

Biographical Notes

C
HRISTOPHER
B. A
CHLIN
was a member of Jack Hays's Texas Ranger company, which he joined in 1840. He was wounded in the Battle of Bandera Pass in 1841, served as orderly sergeant during Woll's invasion, was wounded three times in the Nueces Canyon fight in 1844, three times soon afterward in a personal encounter with Indians, and several more times in the fight on the Frio River in 1845. He served as captain of Company B in Hays's regiment during the Mexican War. After the war he moved to California with Hays.

Achlin was wounded more often than any other Texas Ranger, yet lived to die a natural death, though the exact date is not known. Henderson,
Colonel Jack Hays, Texas Ranger,
21, 39, 57, 59, 64, 71; Sowell,
Early Settlers,
58; Traylor, “Benjamin Franklin Highsmith,”
Frontier Times,
XV, 316; Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
78.

A
MOS
R. A
LEXANDER,
his wife Hannah, and two sons, Lyman W. and Amos, Jr., came to Texas from Pennsylvania in the spring of 1833. They settled at Bastrop where, after returning to New York for supplies, they opened a store and hotel.

In April of 1835 Amos and Amos, Jr., went to the coast to get a supply of goods they had ordered. They hired another man and his young brother to help them haul the goods. On June 1, just as they reached Pin Oak Creek, about thirty-five miles from Bastrop, they were attacked by a party of Indians. Amos Alexander was killed instantly and Amos, Jr., who was riding a horse, was shot through the body. He turned and rode full speed back toward Moore's Fort at La Grange until he met the other wagon driven by the two brothers. They started together for Moore's Fort, but after going about a mile, Amos, Jr., died from
his wound. He was put under a tree and covered with leaves and moss.

The teamsters reached John H. Moore, who raised a party of men, commanded by Burleson, which went out and buried Amos and his father. The old man had been scalped and his body badly mutilated. The Indians were so close that the powder from their guns scorched the clothes of the Alexanders when they were ambushed. The Indians had plundered the wagon, taking everything they could carry and destroying everything else.

Alexander had approximately two leagues of land in Texas and a 12-acre farm lot and a building lot in Bastrop. Alexander's wife Hannah died in November of 1849 and Lyman Alexander was appointed administrator
de bonus non
of Alexander's estate. E. H. Alexander, “Amos Alexander and His Son Killed by Indians,”
Frontier Times,
IV, 40–41; Probate Records, Bastrop County, File A-1; Register of Spanish Archives; Wilbarger,
Indian Depredations in Texas,
207–208.

E
DWARD
B
LAKEY
came to Texas in 1832 from Kentucky with his parents, John and Nancy Blakey. John Blakey died of fever only a few weeks after reaching Brazoria. Undaunted, Mrs. Blakey made her way with her family to Bastrop, settling two miles west of the town on her headright league and labor. During the Runaway Scrape, Edward Blakey returned with Jenkins on furlough and stayed with his mother and sisters, but his brother, Lemuel Stockton Blakey, remained with Billingsley and was one of the nine Texans killed at the Battle of San Jacinto. His two sisters married Jonathan Burleson and Noah Smithwick. After the death of Edward Blakey, the last man of the family, Captain Jonathan Burleson and his wife moved to the Blakey league, so as to protect his mother-in-law. Mrs. Blakey died in 1852, leaving no one to carry on the Blakey name. Dixon and Kemp,
Heroes of San Jacinto,
160, 455; Smithwick,
Evolution of a State,
133, 156–157; Sowell,
Early Settlers,
17–18; Sowell,
Rangers and Pioneers,
57; C. R. Wharton,
San Jacinto, the Sixteenth Decisive Battle
(1930), 130–131.

J
ONATHAN
B
URLESON,
a brother of Edward Burleson, was born in Tennessee in 1808. He moved to Texas in 1832 and
settled in Travis County below Austin. He participated in the Siege of Bexar and was detailed to guard the baggage at Harrisburg during the Battle of San Jacinto. He married Nancy B. Blakey in 1833 and settled on his mother-in-law's league two miles west of Bastrop. He was in the Battle of Brushy Creek in 1839 and served as a captain of the Texas Rangers until 1845. He died December 3, 1879, and was buried on his property near Bastrop. His wife died ten years later. Brown, “Annals of Travis County,” V, 44–47; L. W. Kemp, Harrisburg Roll.

J
ULIAN
C. C
ALHOUN,
born in Tennessee in 1815, moved to Texas and settled first at Bastrop, but later moved to his 640-acre farm in Fayette County. He was a gunsmith and farmer by profession. His wife Jeanette was born in 1818. They had six children, one of whom was born in Arkansas in 1836. Burlage and Hollingsworth,
Abstract of Land Claims; U.S. Census,
1850, Fayette County, 162.

J
AMES
C
AMPBELL
received a league of land in Lavaca County on November 27, 1832. He was instrumental in laying out the town of Walnut Springs in 1838 and served under Burleson in the Cordova Rebellion. Brown,
Indian Wars,
62–65; Burlage and Hollingsworth,
Abstract of Land Claims,
610; Sowell,
Early Settlers,
415, 431.

H
UGH
M. C
HILDRESS
was born in Tennessee about 1801. He received title to a league of land in Williamson County on October 31, 1832. He was a member of Tumlinson's Rangers and was wounded in the leg during the Hibbans fight. He returned to Bastrop after the Runaway Scrape and served on the jury of the first meeting of the County Court in May of 1837. A Methodist minister, he was also a proficient fiddler, dancer, hunter, and Indian fighter. Preachers who could do nothing but preach and pray found themselves without a job in early Texas. He was still living in Bastrop in 1838, but is listed as living in Burleson County in the 1850 census. Jesse Billingsley Papers (Archives Collection, University of Texas Library); Brown,
Indian Wars,
90; Burlage and Hollingsworth,
Abstract of Land Claims,
610; Police Court Records, Bastrop County, A, 10; Ray,
Austin
Colony Pioneers,
307–308; Smithwick,
Evolution of a State,
155, 207;
U.S. Census,
1850, Burleson County, 432.

W
ILLIAM
A. C
LOPTON
was born in Tennessee in 1815. He moved to Bastrop, Texas, in 1837. He and his wife Mary had a son, William A. Clopton, Jr., in 1840. They also had a daughter who later married Charles Cottingham. Clopton was second lieutenant in Company B during the Mier Expedition. He was released on September 16, 1844. Bastrop County Scrapbook (Archives Collection, University of Texas);
U.S: Census,
1850, Bastrop County, 172; Wade,
Mier Expedition,
I, 123.

S
AMPSON
C
ONNELL
and his wife Sarah J. Connell settled at Bastrop in an early day. He served in Jesse Billingsley's Mina Volunteers and participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. In 1838 he paid L. C. Cunningham $5.00 for preparing a “government paper,” probably his donation certificate for 640 acres of land for his army services. He received his title to the land on September 14, 1838. He was granted more land in Caldwell County, but died in Washington County in 1847. His son, Sampson, Jr., was made administrator of his estate on March 29, 1847. Burlage and Hollingsworth,
Abstract of Land Claims,
164; L. C. Cunningham Papers (Archives Collection, University of Texas Library); Dixon and Kemp,
Heroes of San Jacinto,
163; Kemp, San Jacinto Roll; Smithwick,
Evolution of a State,
134.