Archive for the 'Texas' Category

The Comanche Indian Reservation

abilenet August 29th, 2008

The Texas legislature passed a law on February 6, 1854, that established the Brazos Indian Reservationqv for the Caddos, Wacos, and other Indians, and also provided four square leagues of land, or 18,576 acres, for a Comanche reserve to be located at Camp Cooper on the Clear Fork of the Brazos in Throckmorton County. In compliance with the treaty of August 30, 1855, about 450 of the Penateka or southern Comanches settled on the reservation and were to be taught farming. The location had good hunting and water and had been selected by Maj. Robert S. Neighbors. The principal Indian village, established in a bend of the river, consisted of several hundred Indians and their chief, Ketumsee, who lived there with his wives and many children.

Until the arrival of troops of the Second United States Cavalry, the Comanches were restive and difficult to control, but thereafter they acceded to the suggestion of Indian agent John R. Baylor to begin their farming effort. Baylor sent a farmer and laborer to assist them, and the first crops were planted-corn, melons, beans, peas, pumpkins, and other vegetables. The Comanches cultivated the crops remarkably well, but extreme drought kept them from producing all they needed.

A number of other factors prevented the Comanche reservation from being as successful as the one on the Brazos: the Kickapoos and northern Comanche bands raided the settlements, and the reservation Indians received the blame; the Penateka band itself was divided, Chief Sanaco leading away from the reservation a larger group than that which remained under Chief Ketumsee; the reservation was too near the old Comanche trails to Mexico and to the west, and loiterers and troublemakers intruded from those trails; the reservation Indians left the reservation on hunting expeditions or to join marauding bands; unprincipled traders sold whiskey to the Comanches; the Indians were inadequately protected by federal troops, largely infantry untrained in Indian warfare; state troops were slow to intervene when federal aid was insufficient; and white settlers were hostile to the Indians.

On March 29, 1858, therefore, Major Neighbors recommended the abandonment of the Comanche reservation (as well as the Brazos reservation) and removal of the Indians to Indian Territory. Orders for their complete removal were issued on June 11, 1859. The two groups were consolidated at the Red River, and on September 1 Neighbors delivered them to agency officials in Indian Territory.


This article is the work of and used by permission of Don Frazier.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

George D. Harmon, “The United States Indian Policy in Texas, 1845-1860,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 17 (1930).
Lena Clara Koch, “The Federal Indian Policy in Texas, 1845-1860,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 28 (January, April 1925).
Kenneth F. Neighbours, Indian Exodus: Texas Indian Affairs, 1835-1859 (San Antonio: Nortex, 1973).
Virginia Pink Noël, The United States Indian Reservations in Texas, 1854-1859 (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1924).

The Tonkawa Indians of Texas

abilenet August 22nd, 2008

The Tonkawa Indians were actually a group of independent bands, the Tonkawas proper, the Mayeyes, and a number of smaller groups that may have included the Cava, Cantona, Emet, Sana, Toho, and Tohaha Indians. The remnants of these tribes united in the early eighteenth century in the region of Central Texas. The Yojaune Indians, who were actually a Wichita tribe, were absorbed by the Tonkawas in the second half of the eighteenth century. The name Tonkawa is a Waco term meaning “they all stay together.” Traditionally, the Tonkawas have been regarded as an old Texas tribe, but new evidence suggests that the Tonkawas migrated from the high plains as late as the seventeenth century. In addition, the Tonkawas proper might have been only a small element of the fragmented tribes that migrated to Texas.

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Transportation in Early West Texas - The Butterfield Overland Mail Route

abilenet August 8th, 2008

In 1857 a congressional act authorized the establishment of a mail contract to convey letters twice weekly, in both directions, between St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, in the east and San Francisco, California, in the west. The act also stipulated that four-horse coaches suitable for carrying passengers would carry the mail. A final requirement was that the trip should take no more than twenty-five days. John Butterfield and Associates won the contract, agreeing to compensation of $600,000 per year, plus receipts for passengers and express.

Butterfield began his Southern Overland Mail operation on September 15, 1858. By necessity, this route wound its way through West Texas. Moving from the two eastern termini (St. Louis and Memphis), the routes converged into one at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The distance between Fort Smith and San Francisco on this route totaled 2,795 miles—probably the longest route for horse-drawn conveyances in the history of the United States. The route crossed into Texas from the Indian Territory at Sherman. From there it moved west to Gainesville, Jacksboro, Fort Belknap, and Clear Fork Station. Other prominent West Texas stops included Fort Phantom Hill (just north of present-day Abilene in Jones County), Mountain Pass (in the western part of present-day Taylor County), Fort Chadbourne, Carlsbad, Pope’s Camp, Hueco Tanks, and Franklin (present-day El Paso).

The Butterfield Route proved quite beneficial to settlement in West Texas. Community leaders all along the route clamored to have the line stop in their town. They believed that with communication and transportation would come progress, law, and safety on the frontier. By early 1859, these communities got their wish. Butterfield made Sherman a distribution point and Texas settlements therefore gained postal service.

The Butterfield Line used Concord coaches, which had room for five or six passengers, although more could be crowded in. Passengers desiring a one-way trip from Memphis or St. Louis to San Francisco could expect to pay an average of $200. The trip was quite uncomfortable, and as the coaches went through large stretches of Indian country, the journey was also dangerous. The owners encouraged passengers to travel armed in case of a hostile attack. If a passenger decided to lay over at a stop, he would lose his seat, and might have to wait as long as a month before another one came available. Nevertheless, in the two and a half years of its operation, the Butterfield Overland Mail line never suffered an Indian attack, nor did it ever miss its twenty-five day travel deadline.

The Butterfield Overland Mail service in Texas stopped in March 1861, when they amended the contract to modify the route northward. The early promise of steady transportation and communication in West Texas came to an end, and with the Civil War and the Indian Wars, it would be decades more before those goals could be achieved.


This article is the work of and used by permission from Don Frazier.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Conkling, Roscoe P. and Margaret B. The Butterfield Overland Mail, 1857-1869. 3 vols. Glendale, California: Clark, 1947.
Hafen, LeRoy R. Overland Mail, 1849-1869. Cleveland: Clark, 1926.
Ormsby, Waterman L. The Butterfield Overland Mail. San Marino, California: Huntington Library, 1942; rpt. 1955).
Richardson, Rupert N. “Some Details of the Southern Overland Mail.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 29 (July 1925).
Williams, J. W. “The Butterfield Overland Mail Road across Texas.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 61 (July 1957).
Williams, J. W. “The Marcy and Butterfield Trails across Texas.” M.A. thesis, Hardin-Simmons University, 1938.

Nubia Texas

abilenet August 5th, 2008

As a young man growing up in Taylor County, I had never heard of the town of Nubia. Seems it was too small in the 1970’s to notice. But, as I’ve read about the history of the county, I’ve learned that Nubia, Texas was once a thriving community with several business, churches, one which was led by a female preacher, a Mary Lee Cagle, schools and a post office of its own. One person told me they believed that Nubia was an African American community, based on the presumption that it was named after the region of Africa that is part of Egypt. There seems to be no evidence to support that theory however.

Things changed for Nubia during World War II and the town has never recovered from the situation the government put them in. Here is a small snippet from the Handbook of Texas Online about this once thriving community that is all but lost to time.

Nubia is on Farm Road 126 ten miles south of Merkel in western Taylor County. Sheep and cattle ranchers began to settle the area in 1874; they had to haul lumber for homes from Fort Worth since the railroad did not arrive in Taylor County until 1881. To attract eastern buyers, publications such as Our Homes and Country displayed pictures of the land and housing of the Nubia community. Early businesses included a general store, a barbershop, a cotton gin, and a drugstore. In 1888 a post office was established in the general store, and in 1900 the first school was built. In 1917 the Nubia post office closed, and that same year the Nubia and Riney school districts consolidated to form I.X.L. District 27, which was named after a ranch. Around that time there were ninety-two students in the two-teacher school. Cotton, gooseneck maize, and wheat were the principal local crops. Cotton was taken to Abilene and Coleman to be processed before Nubia got its own gin. Several farmers raised sugarcane to make syrup. The establishment of Camp Barkeley by the United States Army in 1940 caused problems for rural Nubia. The government purchased or leased much of the land in the region. Ranchers received small payments, but both buildings and terrain suffered from military maneuvers. During this same period modern agricultural machinery and techniques reduced the demand for farm labor and led to a decline in the area population. By 1947 Nubia had one business and a population of twenty. In 1986 the community reported no businesses and fewer than twenty people. In 2000 the population was two.


http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/NN/hrn28.html

http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/women/

Charles Long Remembered

abilenet July 26th, 2008

As a child growing up in the Abilene area, I saw my share of locally generated commercials on the television.  One series of commercials that has never left my mind were those with “Charles Long of Middlebrook Ford in Anson,” as was always stated at the end of the commercial.  I remember Mr. Long with his Levi pants and western-styled shirt claiming the virtues of purchasing your next vehicle from him.   Continue Reading »

The Texas State Genealogical Society Is Coming to Abilene

abilenet June 2nd, 2008

I recently sat down with Joy Wiley of the Abilene Public Library, at which time she told me that the Texas State Genelogical Society is coming to Abilene for their annual conference.  This conference, the 48th, is hosted by the West Texas Genealogical Society and will take place at the MCM Elegante Suites, 4250 Ridgemont Drive here in Abilene, on October 24th and 25, 2008.  The conference will host a number of vendors as well as experts in the genealogical arena.  Listen in on this conversation as Joy explains what will be available at the conference to amateur and professional genealogists alike.

 
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 Interview with Sharon Spinks, Author of Law on the Last Frontier

abilenet May 20th, 2008

I recently had the privilege to assist in an interview with Sharon Spinks, the author of a book about her grand-father-in-law, Arthur Hill, titled, Law on the Last Frontier.  The interviewer, “Texana Review” owner and moderator Ed Blackburn, talks with Sharon about why she wrote this book, the stories in the book and, of course, Arthur Hill.  Join us for this enlightening interview with Sharon Spinks, Ed Blackburn and yours truly behind the camera.

See this podcast at http://texanareview.typepad.com/posts/2008/05/sharon-spinks-t.html

 

Trouble in Buffalo Gap

abilenet December 14th, 2007

This episode is a recreation of a Time magazine article published September 12, 1960, titled, “Trouble in Buffalo Gap.”  Join us for this lighthearted look at the life of the Marshall of Buffalo Gap during this time.

 
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Buffalo Days, Stories from J. Wright Mooar. Chapter 1 - The Sharps Rifle

abilenet August 4th, 2007

The Sharps Rifle was a series of rifles designed by Christian Sharp and manufactured by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company of Hartford CT beginning in 1850.    Listen to a story about the rifle as told by J. Wright Mooar, Buffalo Hunter.
Thanks to Robert Pace for his use of the material from his book, “Buffalo Days, Stories from J. Wright Mooar.”  Music is provided by Joseph Firecrow is entitled, “Morning Star Rise.”  Mr. Firecrow’s music can be found at music.podshow.com.

 
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Buffalo Days, Stories from J. Wright Mooar. Introduction and Prologue

abilenet July 23rd, 2007

J. Wright Mooar was a famed buffalo hunter who later told his stories to a friend.  These stories were printed in a now unpublished magazine and have been collected into a book by Robert Pace of McMurry University.  Join us as we read the Introduction and Prologue from this book edited by Robert Pace entitled, “Buffalo Days, Stories from J. Wright Mooar.”  This is the first in a series of readings from the book.

 
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