Texas history

Texas Indian Tribes

Akokisa. The name Akokisa, spelled in various ways, was given by the Spaniards to those Atakapa living in southeastern Texas, between Trinity Bay and Trinity River and Sabine River. (See Atakapa under Louisiana.)

Alabama. Alabama Indians came to Texas early in the nineteenth century, and the largest single body of Alabama still lives there on a State reservation in Polk County. (See Alabama.)

Anadarko. The name of a tribe or band belonging to the Hasinai Confederacy.

Apache. The Jicarilla and other Apache tribes raided across the boundaries of this State on the northwest and west in early times, but the only one of them which may be said to have had its head-quarters inside for any considerable period was the Lipan.

Aranama. The Aranama were associated sometimes with the Karankawa in the Franciscan missions but were said to be distinct from them. Although a small tribe during all of their known history, they held together until comparatively recent times, and Morse (1822) gives them a population of 125. They were remembered by the Tonkawa, when Dr. A. S. Gatschet visited the latter, and he obtained two words of their language, but they are said to have been extinct as a tribe by 1843. While their affiliations are not certainly known, they were undoubtedly with one of the three stocks, Karankawan, Tonkawan, or Coahuiltecan, probably the last mentioned, and will be enumerated provisionally with them. (See Coahuiltecan Tribes.)

Atakapa, see Akokisa above and under Louisiana.

Bidai. Perhaps from a Caddo word signifying "brushwood," and having reference to the Big Thicket near the lower Trinity River about which they lived. Also called:
Quasmigdo, given as their own name by Ker (1816).
Spring Creeks, the name given by Foote (1841).

Connections. From the mission records it appears that the Bidai were of the Atakapan linguistic stock.

Location. On the middle course of Trinity River about Bidai Creek and to the westward and southwestward.

History. The Bidai were living in the region above given when first known to the Europeans and claimed to be aborigines of that territory. The Franciscan mission of San Ildefonso was founded for them and the Akokisa, Deadose, and Patiri. In the latter part of the eighteenth century they are said to have been chief intermediaries between the Spaniards and Apache in the sale of firearms. The attempt to missionize them was soon abandoned. In 1776–77 an epidemic carried away nearly half their number, but they maintained separate existence down to the middle of the nineteenth century, when they were in a village 12 miles from Montgomery. They have now entirely disappeared.

Population. Mooney (1928) estimates for them a population of 500 in 1690. In 1805 there were reported to be about 100.

Connection in which they have become noted. The name is perpetuated in that of a small creek flowing into Trinity River from the west and in a village known as Bedias or Bedais in Grimes County, Tex.

Biloxi. Some Biloxi entered Texas before 1828. In 1846 a band was camped on Little River, a tributary of the Brazos. Afterward they occupied a village on Biloxi Bayou in the present Angelina County, but later either returned to Louisiana or passed north to the present Oklahoma. (See Mississippi.)

Caddo Tribes. Under this head are included the Adai and the Natchitoches Confederacy (see Louisiana); and the Eyeish, the Hasinai Confederacy, and the Kadohadacho Confederacy in Texas.

Cherokee. A band of Cherokee under a chief named Bowl settled in Texas early in the nineteenth century, but they were driven out by the Texans in 1839 and their chief killed. (See Tennessee.)

Choctaw. Morse (1822) reported 1,200 Choctaw on the Sabine and Neches Rivers, and some bands continued to live for a while in eastern Texas. One band in particular, the Yowani Choctaw, was admitted among the Caddo there. All the Choctaw finally re-moved to Oklahoma. (See Mississippi.)

Coahuiltecan Tribes (See Coahuiltecan Tribes)

Comanche Tribes (See Comanche Tribe)

Creeks, (See Muskogee, under Alabama.)

Deadose. An Atakapa tribe or subtribe in south central Texas. (See Louisiana.)

Eyeish, or Haish. Meaning unknown. Also called
   Aays
   Aix
   Aliche
   Yayecha, etc.

Connections. The Eyeish belonged to the Caddoan linguistic stock, their closest relatives probably being the Adai, and next to them the peoples of the Kadohadacho and Hasinai Confederacies, with which, in fact, Lesser and Weltfish (1932) classify them.

Location. On Ayish Creek, northeastern Texas, between the Sabine and Neches Rivers.

History. In 1542 the Eyeish were visited by the Spaniards under Moscoso, De Soto's successor. They are next noted in 1686–87 by the companions of La Salle. In 1716 the mission of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores was established among them by the Franciscans, abandoned in 1719, reestablished in 1721, and finally given up in 1773, the success of the mission having been very small. Their proximity to the road between the French post at Natchitoches and the Spanish post at Nacogdoches seems to have contributed to their general demoralization. Sibley (1832) reported only 20 individuals in the tribe in 1805 but in 1828 there were said to be 160 families. Soon afterward they joined the other Caddo tribes and followed their for-tunes, and they must have declined very rapidly for only a bare memory of them is preserved.

Population. In 1779, 20 families were reported; in 1785, a total population of 300; in 1805, 20 individuals; in 1828, 160 families. (See Caddo Confederacy, under Louisiana.)

Connection in which they have become noted. Ayish Bayou, a tributary of the Angelina River on which they formerly lived, perpetuates the name of the Eyeish.

Guasco. A tribe or band which attained some prominence from the importance attached to it in the narratives of the De Soto expedition. (See Hasinai Confederacy.)

Hainai. An important band of the Hasinai Confederacy.

Hasinai Confederacy (See Hasinai Confederacy)

Isleta del Sur, see Pueblos under New Mexico.

Jicarilla. The Jicarilla ranged into this State (Texas) at times. (See Colorado.)

Kadohadacho Confederacy (See Kadohadacho Confederacy)

Karankawan Indian Tribe (See Karankawan Indians)

Kichai or (more phonetically) Kitsei. Their own name and said to mean "going in wet sand," but the Pawnee translate their rendering of it as "water turtle." Also called:

Gfts'ajl, Kansa name.
Ki-0i'-tcac, Omaha name.
Kietsash, Wichita name.
Ki'-tchesh, Caddo name.
Quichais, Spanish variant.
Quidehais, from French sources (La Harpe, 1831).

Connections. The Kichai were a tribe of the Caddoan stock whose language lay midway between Wichita and Pawnee.

Location. On the upper waters of Trinity River, and between that stream and Red River. (See also Oklahoma.)

History. It is probable that in the prehistoric period the Kichai lived north of Red River but they had gotten south of it by 1701 when the French penetrated that country and they continued in the same general region until 1855. They were then assigned to a small reservation on Brazos River, along with several other small tribes. In 1858, however, alarmed at threats of extermination on the part of the neighboring Whites, they fled to the present Oklahoma, where they joined the Wichita. They have remained with them ever since.

Population. Mooney (1928) estimates a total Kichai population of 500 in 1690. In 1772 the main Kichai village contained 30 houses and there were estimated in it 80 warriors, most of whom were young. In 1778 the number of Kichai fighting men was estimated at 100. The census of 1910 returned a total population of only 10, and that of 1930 included them with the Wichita, the figure for the two tribes, nearly all Wichita however, being 300.

Connection in which they have become noted. Their name Kichai is perpetuated in the Keeche Hills, Okla.; Keechi Creek, Tex.; a branch of the Trinity, Keechi; a post hamlet of Leon County, Tex.; and perhaps Kechi, a post township of Sedgwick County, Kans.

Kiowa. This tribe hunted in and raided across northern Texas. (See Kansas.)
Koasati. Early in the nineteenth century bands of Koasati had worked over from Louisiana into Texas, settling first on the Sabine and later on the Neches and the Trinity. In 1850 the bulk of the entire tribe was in Texas but later, partly it is said on account of a pestilence, they suffered heavy losses and most of the survivors returned to Louisiana, where the largest single body of Koasati is living. Among the Alabama in Polk County, Tex., there were in 1912 about 10 of this tribe. (See Alabama and Louisiana.)

Lipan. Adapted from Ipa-n'de, apparently a personal name; n'de meaning "people." Also called:

A-tagui, Kiowa name, meaning "timber Apache"; used also for Mescalero. Cances, Caddo name, meaning "deceivers."
Hu-ta'-ci, Comanche name, meaning "forest Apache" (Ten Kate, 1884, in Hodge, 1907).
Huxul, Tonkawa name. (See Uxul.)
Na-izh ..'fi, own name, meaning "ours," "our kind."
Nav6ne, Comanche name (Gatschet, MS., B. A. E.).
Shi'Tni, former Mescalero name, meaning "summer people"(?).
Tu-tsan-nde, Mescalero name, meaning "great water people."
Uxul, Tonkawa name, meaning a spiral shell and applied to this tribe because of their coiled hair.
Yabipai Lipan, so called by Garces in 1776.

Connections. T his is one of the tribes of the Athapascan linguistic stock to which the general name Apache was applied. Their closest relations politically were with the Jicarilla, with whom they formed one linguistic group.

Location. The Lipan formerly ranged from the Rio Grande in New Mexico over the eastern part of the latter State and western Texas southeastward as far as the Gulf of Mexico. (See also New Mexico and Oklahoma.)

Subdivisions. The Lipan were reported during the early part of the nineteenth century to consist of three bands, probably the same which Orozco y Berra (1864) calls Lipanjenne, Lipanes de Arriba, and Lipanes Abajo.

History. The position of the Lipan prior to the eighteenth century is somewhat obscure, but during that century and the early part of the nineteenth they ranged over the region just indicated. In 1757 the San Saba mission was established for them, but it was broken up by their enemies, the Comanche and Wichita. In 1761–62 the missions of San Lorenzo and Candelaria were organized for the same purpose but met a similar fate in 1767. In 1839 the Lipan sided with the Texans against the Comanche but suffered severely from the Whites between 1845 and 1856, when most of them were driven into Coahuila, Mexico. They remained in Coahuila until October 1903, when the 19 survivors were taken to northwest Chihauhua, and remained there until 1905. In that year they were brought to the United States and placed on the Mescalero Reservation, N. Mex., where they now live. A few Lipan were also incorporated with the Tonkawa and the Kiowa Apache.

Population. Mooney (1928) estimates that the Lipan numbered 500 in 1690. In 1805 the three bands were reported to number 300, 350, and 100 men respectively, which would seem to be a too liberal allowance. The census of 1910 returned 28.

Connection in which they have become noted. The Lipan were noted as persistent raiders into Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Their name has been given to a post village in Hood County, Tex.

Muskogee. A few Muskogee came to Texas in the nineteenth century, most belonging to the Pakana division. Two or three individuals lived until recently near Livingston, Tex. (See Alabama.)

Nabedache, Nacachau, Nacanish, Nacogdoche, Nadaco, Namidish, Nechaui, Neches, and one section of the Nasoni. Small tribes or bands belonging to the Hasinai Confederacy.

Nanatsoho, Nasoni (Upper). Small tribes or bands connected with the Kadohadacho Confederacy.

Pakana. A Muskogee division. (See Muskogee above and also under Alabama.)

Pascagoula. Bands belonging to the Pascagoula, entered Texas from Louisiana early in the nineteenth century, and one band lived on Biloxi Bayou, a branch of the Neches, for a considerable period, together with some Biloxi Indians. All had disappeared in 1912 except two Indians, only half Pascagoula, living with the Alabama in Polk County. (See Mississippi).

Patiri. A tribe associated with the Akokisa, Bidai, and Deadose in the mission of San Ildefonso west of Trinity River. Since related tribes are said to have been put in the same mission in that period (1748-49), it is believed that the Patiri spoke an Atakapan language. Their former home is thought to have been along Caney Creek.

Pueblos. There were two late settlements of Pueblo Indians, Isleta del Sur and Senecfi del Sur, near El Paso, Tex., composed principally of Indians brought back by Governor Otermin in 1681 after an unsuccessful attempt to subdue the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande. Senecii del Sur was, however, actually in Chihuahua, Mexico. The people of these pueblos are now almost completely Mexicanized. (See New Mexico.)

Quapaw. Between 1823 and 1833 the Quapaw lived with the Caddo Indians in northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas, and one band of them known as Imaha were reckoned as a constituent element of the Caddo Confederacy. (See Arkansas.)

Senecli del Sur. (See Pueblos above.)

Shawnee. A band of Shawnee entered eastern Texas for a brief period during the middle of the nineteenth century. They were afterward moved to Oklahoma. (See Tennessee.)

Butterfield Overland Mail

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The Butterfield Overland Mail, also known as the Oxbow Route, the Butterfield Overland Stage, or the Butterfield Stage, was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the United States mail from St. Louis, Missouri through Arkansas, Indian Territory, New Mexico, and Arizona, ending in San Francisco, California,

Contents
[hide]

1 Origins and history
2 Route discontinued
3 Route
4 Stations in Indian Territory
5 Modern remnants
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Origins and history

The stage was an early operation of American Express and Wells Fargo.

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company had the government mail contract from September 15, 1857. Originally all of the Overland Stage owners had submitted routes with relay stations and frontier forts that were north of Albuquerque, New Mexico territory; they had no knowledge of what was called the ox bow route.^{[citation needed]}

John Warren Butterfield (who was in a partnership with the principals of Wells Fargo for the American Express company) was paid $600,000 (USD) to get the mail between St. Louis and San Francisco in 25 days.^{[citation needed]} At that time it was the largest land-mail contract ever awarded in the US.^{[citation needed]} It was required by contract to go through El Paso, Texas and through Fort Yuma near present day Yuma, Arizona—the so-called "Oxbow Route". The western fare one way was $200 with most stages arriving 22 days later at its final destination.^{[citation needed]}

This route was an extra 600 miles further than the central and northern routes through Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah. However the southern route was free of snow.

With the American Civil War looming the competing Pony Express was formed in 1860 to deliver mail faster and on a central/northern route away from the volatile southern route. The Pony Express was to succeed in delivering the mail in 10 days. But the Pony Express failed to get the mail contract.

Butterfield's assets as well as those of the Pony Express were to wind up with the Wells Fargo partners.^{[citation needed]}

A correspondent for the New York Herald, Waterman Ormsby, remarked after his 2,812 mile trek through the western US to San Francisco on a Butterfield Stagecoach thus: "Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what Hell is like. I've just had 24 days of it."^{[citation needed]}

Employing over 800 at its peak, it used 250 Concord Stagecoaches and 1800 head of stock, horses and mules and 139 relay stations or frontier forts in its heyday. The last Oxbow Route run was made March 21, 1861 at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Route discontinued

An Act of Congress, approved March 2, 1861, discontinued this route and service ceased June 30, 1861. On the same date the central route from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Placerville, California, went into effect. This new route was called the Central Overland California Route.^[1]

Under the Confederate States of America, the Butterfield route operated with limited success from 1861 until early 1862 using former Butterfield employees.^{[citation needed]} Wells Fargo continued its stagecoach runs to mining camps in more northern locations until the coming of the US Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

[edit] Route

Statehood
The Establishment of Fort Worth

Tarrant County, Texas

In 1845, Isaac Spence and a partner obtained the rights to open a trading house on the Trinity. A.G. Kimbell and partner had previously established a post somewhere between Fort Worth's hospital district and the Botanical Gardens, which was operated for about a year by Edward Terrell and John P. Lusk until they were temporarily captured by hostile Indians. In September, Spence reported to officials in Austin that Ranger Colonel Smith and two Indian chiefs helped him select the site called Marrow Bone Spring.

…the most suitable place for the Trading House and the one where all the Indians wish it to be placed. I have put up a House 36 feet long by 16 feet wide with a frame roof, covered with two foot boards nailed and enclosed with half logs as pickets fastened together in a substantial manner, I am putting up some other necessary outbuildings for our convenience comfort and security all of which I am having enclosed with strong and substantial pickets.

Map of Imperial Texas from the book, Blood & Treasure, by Donald S. Frazier

Texans were divided on the issue of statehood. Pioneers wanted all the border protection they could get but generally were against surrendering control to any government, much less one as distant as Washington on the Potomac. Many Texans believed if there was to be an alliance with a distant power, it should be Britain, who coveted San Francisco and offered expansion of Texas territory to the Pacific.

Andrew Jackson

Acquiring Texas had long been one of Andrew Jackson's dreams. He sent his protégé, Sam Houston, there in 1832 to cool the Indians in the name of the United States. The hero of the Battle of New Orleans could hardly sit still for a British Texas. He spurred another protégé, James Polk, into the presidency on the platform of immediate Texas annexation. Liberal conditions included the U.S. delivery of cash, soldiers and forts while Texas retained all its public land, the right to fly its flag at the same height as the stars and stripes and divide itself into six states. That is, assuming of course, there could ever be an agreement on which state would get the Alamo.

Sam Houston

It was the public land issue that caused the United States trouble in its negotiations with the Indians. It promised but couldn't deliver Texas soil to the Comanches, nor could anything do much to curb western expansion. Following the treaty at Bird's Fort when Houston was confronted with Comanche complaints about the absence of a permanent border, he sadly shook his head and said, "If I could build a wall from the Red River to the Rio Grande, so high that no Indian could scale it, the white people would go crazy trying to devise a means to get beyond it."

On December 29, 1845, Texas became a state, sparking a war with Mexico. As the armies moved to the south, the frontier was left unprotected and the governor ordered new Ranger companies to protect the settlements. Companies were sent to Bryant's Station, about eighteen miles south of today's Temple, Torrey's Trading House near today's Waco and stationed at the trading house at Marrow Bone Springs. Captain Andrew Stapp's company from Collin County took charge of the Marrow Bone Station. He subsequently split his force, ordering William Fitzhugh to establish an outpost on the Elm Fork of the Trinity, about ten miles south of the Red River. (An 1852 Peters Colony map indicates the outpost to be about three miles southeast of Gainesville off of Farm Road 372.) Stapp's men were ordered to maintain contact with Fort Washita, located near Durant, Oklahoma about forty-five miles northeast of Fitzhugh Station. Enlistments ran out in February of 1847 and the reorganized company was given to Fitzhugh, along with a promotion. He sent part of his men thirty miles south to Hickory Creek where they built a post on the edge of Denton. (The Peters Colony map shows the Hickory Creek Station about one mile northeast of Pilot Knob or about two hundred yards southwest of where I-35W crosses Hickory Creek.)

Map from the book, The Fort in Fort Worth, by Clay Perkins

In the summer of 1847, Lieutenant Colonel Peter H. Bell was overall commander of the Ranger companies on the frontier including Middleton Tate Johnson's. They were stationed near Torrey's on the Brazos and Captain Shapley Ross' was ordered to establish a post on the North Bosque, fifteen miles above Torrey's. In January of 1848, Johnson was ordered to move his company to Marrow Bone Springs which they renamed Kaufman Station but was widely known as Johnson Station.

Indian agent Neighbors argued against these moves because along with a lax policy, they encouraged white settlement far to the west. (Dillingham Prairie in southern Jack County was first cultivated in 1847.) In May of 1848, Captain John Conner led his company to Smith Station on Richland Creek, about four miles west of today's Milford. Early in 1849, most of the companies were mustered out and the army was to station dragoons in their place. Colonel Johnson claimed Marrow Bone Springs, as the last of the Peter Colony contract had expired. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the army was only manning Torrey's and Conner's Station, which left him and countless other settlers on the northwestern frontier unprotected. The army responded by establishing Fort Worth.

Samuel H. "Paddy" Starr

Major Arnold and his dragoons built the original post at Cold Springs and then reestablished it on the bluff of the Trinity where Tarrant County Courthouse now stands. Major Starr arrived on Christmas Day, 1849 with badly needed reinforcements. They had come up the Trinity as far as the port at Buffalo on the steamboat, Jack Hays. Together the soldiers completed the newly designated "Fort" Worth the next year. During the next few years, Arnold and Starr organized and conducted vigorous patrols and occasionally punitive strikes between the fort and the Red River. Starr went on to earn a heroic record and the loss of an arm during the Civil War, after which he returned to the North Texas frontier and established the post at Jacksboro in 1866.

It's always gratifying to find dedicated people involved with our pioneer history. Lea Ann and I were on a field trip to the reenactment at Fort Richardson the Fall of 2001 where we spotted Willard Thomas being assisted in adorning a sash which topped off his Dragoon General's uniform. Unfortunately, we are having trouble getting the pictures on the web at this time but just the same, meeting Willard was a fortunate occurrence. He gave us a tour of the Heritage Room in the courthouse as well as Heritage Park, just to the northwest, which overlooks the Trinity where the traildrivers used to bed down their herds. We then visited the Pioneer Rest Cemetery and admired the new memorials installed honoring the unknown soldiers who are now known thanks to Willard's dedicated efforts. I also include Willard's short history of the fort in Fort Worth.

Click here for Julia Kathryn Garrett's description of Fort Worth history from her book, Fort Worth, A Frontier Triumph. She was a legendary history teacher at Arlington Heights High School and an invaluable figure in the preservation of Texas History.

Fort Tour Systems, Inc.
817.377.3678
Email: rick@forttours.com

John Glanton's Gang

S. Chamberlain

Samuel Chamberlain

In his memoirs My Confession: the Recollections of a Rogue, Samuel Chamberlain narrates the demise of John Glanton's gang of scalp hunters, operating in northern Sonora and in New Mexico and Arizona (some of the particulars of this text are not accurate- dates, etc.- but it provides a first hand account of life in a scalping party). Chamberlain had left Boston and had gone West- the beginnings of an eventful life, only a small portion of which can be found here. In 1844 his father died and he traveled to Illinois; in 1846 (at sixteen) he enlisted in the "Illinois Foot Volunteers," and Private Chamberlain went to war against Mexico. Three months later he was discharged in San Antonio and immediately signed up with the First Regiment of the United States Dragoons. According to Army records on March 22, 1849, he was listed as a deserter- he had left his regiment for Glanton's gang (Chamberlain claimed that he was discharged in Mexico and had signed onto an expedition to California as a civilian when he joined Glanton). The next documented record of Chamberlain appears at the Alcalde of Los Angeles; on May 9, 1850 the survivors of the Glanton massacre, of whom Chamberlain presumably numbered, arrived there and reported an "Indian uprising" on the Colorado River.

J. Glanton

According to Chamberlain, John Glanton was born in South Carolina and migrated to Stephen Austin's settlement in Texas. There he fell in love with an orphan girl and was prepared to marry her. One day while he was gone, Lipan warriors raided the area scalping the elderly and the children and kidnapping the women- including Glanton's fiancee. Glanton and the other settlers pursued and slaughtered the natives, but during the battle the women were tomahawked and scalped. Legend has it, Glanton began a series of retaliatory raids which always yielded "fresh scalps." When Texas fought for its independence from Mexico, Glanton fought with Col. Fannin, and was one of the few to escape the slaughter of that regiment at the hands of the Mexican Gen. Urrea- the man who would eventually employ Glanton as a scalp hunter. During the Range Wars, Glanton took no side but simply assassinated individuals who had crossed him. He was banished, to no avail, by Gen. Sam Houston and fought as a "free Ranger" in the war against Mexico. Following the war he took up the Urrea's offer of $50 per Apache scalp (with a bonus of $1000 for the scalp of the Chief Santana). Local rumor had it that Glanton always "raised the hair" of the Indians he killed and that he had a "mule load of these barbarous trophies, smoke-dried" in his hut even before he turned professional.

When Chamberlain first encountered "Crying Tom" Hitchcock (one of Glanton's scalp hunters) near Tucson, the former supposedly had been tied up in the sun as punishment by a commanding officer for defying orders and sketching the Mission of San Xavier del Bac. Hitchcock cut him down and for his efforts was similarly punished. From Hitchcock, Chamberlain learned that Glanton and his army of Indian hunters had been employed by the Governor of Sonora Don D. José Urrea and decided to run away and join Hitchcock and Glanton. The pair set off towards Frontreras, and on the way Chamberlain got his first taste of his new life. They encountered an Apache war party which began to charge; according to Chamberlain he "drew a bead on a big chap and fired." The wounded soldier "gave a wild startling yell, and by his hands alone, dragged himself to the brink of the deep barranca, then singing his death chant and waving his hand in defiance towards us he plunged into the awful abyss"- saving his scalp from the Anglos. Apparently, Chamberlain's shot had also dispersed the rest of the party since he makes no other mention of them; at any rate the pair soon reached the rest of the hunting party.

Judge Holden

Glanton's gang consisted of "Sonorans, Cherokee and Delaware Indians, French Canadians, Texans, Irishmen, a Negro and a full-blooded Comanche," and when Chamberlain joined them they had gathered thirty-seven scalps and considerable losses from two recent raids (Chamberlain implies that they had just begun their careers as scalp hunters but other sources suggest that they had been engaged in the trade for sometime- regardless there is little specific documentation of their prior activities). Second in command to Glanton was a Texan- Judge Holden. In describing him, Chamberlain claimed, "a cooler blooded villain never went unhung;" Holden was well over six feet, "had a fleshy frame, [and] a dull tallow colored face destitute of hair and all expression" and was well educated in geology and mineralogy, fluent in native dialects, a good musician, and "plum centre" with a firearm. Chamberlain saw him also as a coward who would avoid equal combat if possible but would not hesitate to kill Indians or Mexicans if he had the advantage. Rumors also abounded about atrocities committed in Texas and the Cherokee nation by him under a different name. Before the gang left Frontreras, Chamberlain claims that a ten year old girl was found "foully violated and murdered" with "the mark of a large hand on her throat," but no one ever directly accused Holden.

Indian Warfare

The day after Chamberlain arrived, Glanton and several others left Frontreras to cash in the scalps; on the way they encountered a camp of Sonorans. The desperadoes disguised themselves as Apaches and raided the camp for supplies. Three Mexicans were killed and scalped (to be redeemed by their government); five women were "collected"- three of whom were scalped (for the same purpose) because they were old and ugly. The Sonorans returned to battle the "Indians," interrupting their orgy, and the remaining women were killed and scalped. The Sonorans were driven off, but several of Glanton's party were injured too. After this the gang decided to follow rumors of gold and El Dorado and began north towards New Mexico. On their way, they terrorized Arizona, impersonating Apaches, killing and scalping farmers (presumably to maintain their contract with the government), and cashed in their scalps too. From this point on Chamberlain narrates the events leading to the end of Glanton and his group. In New Mexico (after finding no El Dorado), they were attacked by an Apache war party; they lost fourteen of their party (out of about forty). The scalpers fought and then ran and secured a small wooded position around the only source of water in the area; from there they were able to drive off their attackers.

Chamberlain with an Apache in his Sights

(from S. Chamberlain's sketches)

At the end of the battle, Chamberlain counts about twenty-five Indian fatalities but makes no mention of scalping in this encounter. As a result of the fight though, an additional four scalpers were deemed too badly injured to continue. The party was forced to draw straws to assign the gruesome duty of executing their partners.

The Yumas

From there the headed north, losing two more of the party from injuries sustained in the previous battle. By this time they had reached the Colorado River and decided to follow it to the Gila River- path that would take them through the Grand Canyon. Eventually they wound their way to the Gila and a new plan. The Yuma Indians there had set up a ferry about four miles south of the junction of the two rivers to take settlers into California. Glanton and Holden came upon their new El Dorado; the gang would "seize [the ferry], kill the Indians if they objected, capture the young girls for wives etc." The gang seized the ferry and nine girls and drove off the unarmed natives; they then began constructing a rock fort to defend their new possession. When a party of Indians came demanding the return of their possession and women, Glanton proposed that he would keep all he had taken and that the natives should provide him with food or he would raze their village and kill all of them. The Indians attacked, but Glanton and his men killed four with concealed pistols- they were subsequently scalped "by force of habit." Glanton left briefly to get provisions; he ran afoul of the law and returned empty-handed but with an interesting piece of information. A group of Sonorans were traveling home from the gold mines with plenty of gold; Glanton's plan to ambush them was struck down, but Chamberlain had had enough. He and three others plotted to desert.

Chamberlain Rescues Holden from the Yumas

On the day that they were to escape, the Yumas attacked- Glanton had been killed- and Chamberlain and his companions set out over the 130 miles of desert toward California. Twenty miles from their camp, they saw Holden fleeing from the Yumas. They had surrounded him armed only with clubs; he had "brained" one using his rifle as a club, but a dozen had cornered him. Chamberlain killed one and chased the others off, and so Holden briefly joined their escape party which ended at Los Angeles in 1850.

The party had abandoned Holden by that point, and the fate of the other three fugitives remains unknown. Chamberlain stayed in California for a while, then returned to Boston and married. He joined a volunteer regiment during the Civil War and was named a brevet brigadier general of volunteers in 1865. Samuel Chamberlain died in Massachusetts in 1908.