Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos, 1535-1900

8 INDIAN TROUBLE

68 INDIAN TROUBLE c h a p t e r 8 In 1858, nothing short of military occupation stood a chance of stemming the tide of violence along the Devils—a realization that spawned important developments on the river. In spring, Captain Larkin Smith, his junior officer Zenas R. Bliss, and the men of SevenA Company, Eighth Infantry, marched from Fort Davis to Camp Hudson and relieved a First Infantry company.LieutenantTheodore Fink and G Company, Eighth Infantry, were absent, possibly on scout, but they soon returned and Hudson became a two-company post.1 Several adobe buildings already marked the ten-acre reservation, but by summer’s end the garrison would complete a hospital and erect a barracks and multiple two-room officers’ quarters using a limegravel mix known as pizet. “These houses were very comfortable, cool in summer and warm in winter,” recalled Bliss, “and could be plastered more easily than the adobe houses, the gravel furnishing a surface for the plaster to adhere to.” A quartermaster’s office of canvas supplemented the buildings, while a corral, parade grounds, and gardens graced the outlying area.2 Despite Hudson’s move toward a fully realized post, however, hostiles continued to haunt travelers. As westbound expressmen approached Dead Man’s Pass on the night of May 26,they learned that Indians had been sighted on sentineling hills ten miles ahead. “For 20 miles we looked for a Red Devil in every bush, and expected every moment to hear the wild shout which would likely be the death knell for some of us,” passenger Phocion R.Way recorded in his diary. Fortunately, the heavily guarded stage negotiated the stretch safely and gained refuge for the night at Camp Hudson. INDIAN TROUBLE 69 “It is far from any habitation, in a barren waste surrounded by hostile Comanches ,” wroteWay,“but it is a beautiful place.”3 On June 4,the Department ofTexas ordered Hudson and other posts along the mail line to allow the Giddings company to build sheds and corrals “sufficiently near to receive . . . protection.”4 Soon afterward, Giddings looked to the upper Camp Hudson in 1860. N. S. Haley Memorial Library, Midland,Texas. 70 DEVILS RIVER Devils and established a relay station of native rock 200 yards west of sprawling pools of clear water at a cost of $1,000.A hundred yards southeast of the station, which stood just west of the next-to-last crossing for El Paso-bound stages,abundant wood and fine grazing nurtured a popular campground.Although known as Beaver Lake Station, the stand actually lay four road miles downstream near what was later Juno.5 During the same period, Giddings also set up stations at Howard’s Spring6 and inside the lower Devils canyon on the west bank of First Crossing.With completion of the latter rock structure,7 stage drivers could change teams three times as they rolled across the Devils country. “I kept at each station from Clarke [sic] to San Elizario from 18 to 30 head of stock,” Giddings recalled in 1891.“. . . I also had at each station between Clarke and [Fort] Quitman from four to seven well armed men, with a liberal supply of provisions for the men, mail guard, passengers, etc.” Equally vital was forage for the mixed-breed Spanish andTexas mules, reason enough for each station to maintain a store of ten to thirty tons of hay and fifty to 200 bushels of corn.8 Whether by mail coach, emigrant wagon, or saddle stock, travelers coursed Beaver Lake Station in 1867. Topographical sketch, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel E. J. Strang, National Archives. INDIAN TROUBLE 71 the Lower Road almost daily with significant amounts of property, yet the US Army continued to struggle with protection. “It is important that this road be well guarded, but I have not the force to do it,” observed Brevet Major General D. E.Twiggs on August 24.9 On September 17, Twiggs expressed concern that Comanches, Kickapoos, and other hostile tribes might unite in a war against frontierTexas.10 Despite warrior activity, small parties sometimes dared the Devils trail without escort.In September the Hudson sutler,whose last name was Dunlop,and his clerk,Ned Gallagher,headed out for Fort Clark and stopped for the night in a hidden ravine thirty miles from Hudson.Awakened by a passing caravan before daylight , they investigated and learned that El Paso-bound wagoners Hall and McComb...