November 15, 1854; Valentine, Texas: When David Wasson gave up his battle with Henry Skillman to control the San Antonio to El Paso mail routes merchant George H. Giddings, who had a financial interest in Skillman's enterprise, agreed to pool his resources with Skillman. Their first mail and passenger coach headed for El Paso on 1 November, led by George Gidding's brother, Frank, and James Hunter. Skillman and merchant A.C. Rand, along with two Mexican guards, followed behind them one day later.
Heavy rain slowed both parties, but on the night of 14 November, Skillman caught up with Giddings at El Muerto Springs, near present-day Valentine, Texas. They breakfasted together the next morning. Skillman hit the road earlier, promising to wait for Giddings at Eagle Springs. Giddings began rolling soon after, but before he could catch up to Skillman, about fifty Mescalero Apaches caught up with him.
Hunter called out, "Stop, boys. We have got to fight these fellows. Sideline the mules." The Indians reined up about 200 yards away and called out, "Amigos!" When their leader came forward, Hunter told guard Louis Dixon, who could speak Spanish, to warn them to stay back if they were really friends. The warriors pulled back and began circling, One of them waved a soldier's bloody jacket that had belonged to a dispatch rider they had killed a week earlier, west of Fort Clark. Instead of charging Giddings, however, the Apaches sped off after Skillman.
Reaching Skillman's coach, the Apaches tried their ruse of feigned friendship again, but like Hunter, Skillman was skeptical. When he waved them away, the warriors opened fire. Things began to get hot when Giddings's coach galloped up, broke through the circling warriors, and joined Skillman. "The prettiest part of the fight was now coming on, and the fun was not stopped 'till sundown," a coach passenger recalled.
The fifteen straight-shooting Texans coolly met the circling Indians and held off their repeated charges. Some Mescaleros climbed a rise a few hundred yards away and began lobbing bullets into the Texans' position. Two passengers were wounded and several mules were hit, including Skillman's favorite. Giddings hitched up the teams to pull out of range while Skillman covered him.
Eyewitnesses said that Skillman was an excellent rifle shot, and he killed three Indians from 300 yards. Rand fired a dozen times with his Sharps. Eventually the Texans' sure, steady, fire drove the Indians out of range. The warriors continued the siege from a distance until nightfall, then they finally left. About five Indians were killed in the fight. When the expressmen reached El Paso and told their story, they were treated as heroes.
