It will be remembered that the Indians commenced their depredations
in Parker County during the year 1859, and so it was in Jack County.
There was living in the above named county in 1859 a lady by the name
of Mrs. Calhoun. She was the mother of six children and supported
herself and family by her own exertions. In the spring of 1859, Mrs.
Calhoun had been washing one day at a spring not far from the house
and had left some articles of clothing there. She sent two of her
children to get them, a lad about nine years old and a girl seven.
As they did not return as soon as she expected she became alarmed
and went out to look for them. Imagine the poor woman's horror when
she discovered a party of Indians rapidly moving off from the spring.
She ran to the place as fast as she could and called to her children,
but receiving no answer and seeing nothing of them she hurried back
to the house and dispatched one of her children to Jacksboro to tell
the people that Indians had carried off a part of her family. A company
of fifteen men was quickly raised. Six men from Johnson County joined
them, making their total number twenty-one. They took the trail of
the Indians, and after following it for about forty-five miles they
came up with an old squaw, who was carrying the little girl on her
back. She endeavored to hide in the brush, when she made such a desperate
resistance that the enraged men killed her.
They then followed on the trail of the Indians who had
possession of the little boy, and fifteen miles beyond they overtook
them.
The whites charged on the Indians, who retreated as
fast as they could, but the horses they were riding were pretty well
broken down whilst those of the Texans were comparatively fresh, and
they were soon overtaken. The Indians immediately abandoned their
horses, and leaving them and the little boy, took to the brush for
safety, where they scattered in every direction. Finding it impossible
to follow their trail any longer, the Texans started for home, and
it was not long until the two little children were soon presented
to their distressed mother, who had given them up for lost.
The above story is from the book, Indian Depredations
in Texas, by J.W. Wilbarger. |