August 28, 1861; Sierra Blanca, Texas: With troops withdrawn from the frontier to fight in the Civil War, travel through south and west Texas grew more hazardous. In August 1861 James E. Terry and four companions attempted to take mail from El Paso to San Antonio. Due to increased reports of Indian attacks along the road, Terry chose to pack the mail on mules and try to make a fast ride to Fort Davis. After passing Fort Quitman without trouble, the riders negotiated Canon de Los Lementos (Quitman Canyon), a rough shortcut through the 6,000-foot Quitman Mountains, then turned southeast down the dry valley between the Quitman Mountains and Devil's Ridge.
The next water supply was at the heel of Devil's Ridge at Eighteen Mile Hole, or Tinaja de Las Palmas. The five riders were almost there when fifteen mounted Apaches charged them from out of the brush, while a larger party of warriors on foot came at them from another direction. Terry and his men cut the mules loose and ran for a rocky hill above the water hole. Reaching high ground, they whirled around and blasted the Indians with all the weapons they had. One warrior died instantly, and several others went down wounded.
Through the day and into the night, the Texans kept the Apaches at a distance with their Sharps rifles. They took turns shooting, maintaining a moderate fire while keeping the other weapons fully loaded and ready to repel a charge. By daylight the Apaches had collected their dead and wounded and disappeared. The Texans edged down the hill and wearily walked to the next station, at Eagle Springs. Terry later wrote that it was well the Mescaleros let them alone, "for [we] were in a humor to make a wicked fight, and many a warrior would have been laid out before the stage guard would have been destroyed."
