Detachment of Capt. Dillahunty's Company Encounters a Band of Wild Indians Near Old Black Springs
Capt. J.H. Dillahunty
Near the close of the Civil War, and about 1864, F.C. Ham, Dick
Evans, Bill Low, Ryan Herrington, Bryant Herrington, Spruell and three
or four others, belonging to Capt. J.H. Dillahunty's company, and
commanded by J.W. Sheek, were returning from a scouting expedition,
and had stopped to warm near a fire, about three miles northeast of
old Black Springs in Palo Pinto County. The two Herrington brothers,
Spruell, and Bill Low, left the crowd and started home. But they had
only gone about 600 yards when several Indians charged upon them.
The rangers retreated back to the fire where their comrades were still
warming. Here the savages whirled their horses and went about one
mile south, where they were overtaken. A running fight followed and
the citizens rescued a number of stolen horses.
School was in session at Old Black Springs, and the pupils could
plainly hear the firing.
Note: Author interviewed Martin Lane, and A.M. Lasater, who heard
the firing and who were attending school at Black Springs at the time.
The above story is from the book, The West Texas Frontier, by
Joseph Carroll McConnell. |