Savage Frontier Volume III 1840-1841: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas

CHAPTER 11. "ACTIVE AND ENERGETIC MEASURES"

253 Edward Tarrant was not satisfied with the result of the Village Creek expedition. Immediately upon returning to the settlements, he began working to raise another, larger force to return to the area of the Cross Timbers near present Fort Worth. General James Smith, a gallant warrior of the Creek War under General Andrew Jackson, was commander of the Third Brigade of the Texas Militia in the Nacogdoches area. He had previously commanded ranger battalions in 1836 and in 1839. By early June 1841, Smith was also busily organizing volunteers from the Nacogdoches area for an expedition into the Cross Timbers area. As he was writing a report to President Lamar on June 13 in Nacogdoches, Smith was handed intelligence from Captain David Gage out in the field. Gage had taken his Nacogdoches County Minutemen out to pursue Indians near Nacogdoches.1 Captain Gage’s Nacogdoches County Minutemen had been organized in early April. When the unit formed on April 4, Gage’s muster roll shows that he initially recruited thirty minutemen. During the next week, he would pick up another dozen men, and would only increase his company size significantly when his unit actually went out on campaign in July. David Gage had initially taken some of his men––Robert Hulme, James B. Reid, Thomas M. Hawkins, William Vardeman, and WilliamAnderson––out on a three-day scout fromApril 6–10, CHAPTER 11 “Active and Energetic Measures” June 1841 1841. Another small group––First Lieutenant Alston Ferguson, S. W. Vardeman, Berry Green, Thomas Ramsay, Wilson W. Cochran, and Jackson Grayson––made a weeklong scout from April 12–18. Between April and October 1841, Captain Gage’s company made eleven recorded scouts or expeditions for Indians varying between just a few days to nearly a month in duration. Seven men––Kalib Farmer, James F. Lane, Robert L. Lane, Peter Moore, James Smith, J. P. Smith, and H. M. Smith––were enrolled with the Nacogdoches County Minutemen, but made no recorded scouting missions. Without any depredations during the next month, he maintained only small forces of scouts. Service papers for scout Hezekiah Charty show that he served nineteen days in the field between April 6 and April 27, as compared to his captain’s three days of service. After nearly a month off duty, Gage took out some of his men from May 7–10. The majority of the Nacogdoches rangers were then off duty until renewed Indian activity in the county compelled Captain Gage to call his men into service on June 4, 1841.2 In his report to General Smith, Gage wrote that he believed that there were fifteen Indians in the raiding party, which moved out toward the Trinity River. Gage set out with seventeen of his minutemen––Lt. Ferguson, Robert Hulme, James Reid, George Vardeman,Thomas Maxwell, Berry Green, James Moore,Thomas Ramsay, Wilson Cochran, Thomas Hawkins, Hezekiah Charty, Matthew R. Birdwell, William Vardeman, Fletcher Howith, John L. Lane, Isaac G. Parker, and A. H. Reed. Shortly into the pursuit , Captain Gage’s spies discovered the Indians and fired on them. They later believed that they had killed seven of the fifteen Indians, “as they could not discover the trail of but eight, from that place.”3 General Smith reported that Gage followed the Indians closely until his horses gave out. He then pursued them on foot. Eight to ten miles east of the Trinity River, Gage discovered another eight Indians. His men followed them to the river and set up an ambush. Smith wrote: When the Indians attempted to cross the river, he charged upon them, killing seven out of eight of the Indians, without the loss of a man, killed or wounded. 254 SAVAGE FRONTIER They were making their way directly in the course of the village discovered by General Tarrant. The fight took place about fifty or sixty miles north of Fort Houston. General Smith sent his second dispatch on to President Lamar via his aide, P. S. Hollingsworth. +++++ Chandler’s Cross Timbers Fight: June 9, 1841 Captain Eli Chandler’s busy Robertson County Minutemen had returned to Franklin on the night of May 25 from their most recent expedition. They were in town only a few days before gearing up to go out again. Chandler departed Franklin on Friday, June 4, 1841, with 41 men of his company. “Being convinced of the necessity of active and energetic measures, on my part, to...