April 1842; Fannin: In March of 1842, Gen. Antonio de Santa Anna sent an army under Gen. Rafael Vasquez, on an expedition north of the Rio Grande, during which Mexican forces easily captured San Antonio, Refugio, and Goliad. Families in west Texas fled east, and Texas president Sam Houston moved the government from Austin to Houston. One of these families were the Gillelands. Johnstone and Mary Barbour Gilleland moved from Pennsylvania to Texas in 1837, eventually settling in northern Refugio County, where Johnstone served with Capt. John J. Tumlinson's Texas Rangers. Johnstone and Mary's daughter Rebecca Gilleland, ten years old at the time of the Vasquez invasion, remembered how her family "frequently had to flee through blinding storms, cold and hungry, to escape .... The whole country was in a state of excitement. Families were in constant danger and had to be ready at any moment to flee for their lives."
In the Gillelands' case, however, it was Indians, not the Mexican army, they had to fear. Taking advantage of the confusion, Comanches and other Indians began raiding out toward the Texas coast. One warm spring evening in April 1842, the Gillelands and their two children, Rebecca and her younger brother William, were outside their home when a war party of Comanches surprised them. Johnstone ran for his rifle, but he was killed before he could reach it. Mary clutched Rebecca and William to her side and prayed for a moment before a warrior cut her down. The Indians dragged the children away, and a white renegade Texan riding with the Comanches threatened to cut off their hands and feet if they did not stop crying.
The raiders took what they wanted from the home and rode north. Recent incursions of the Mexican army had alerted the settlers and caused many local militia companies to organize. Lt. A.B. Hannum and Dr. A.T. Axsom of the Matagorda Riflemen were near the lower San Antonio River with men of other units, waiting for the Mexican army's next move. Also among the party was Albert Sidney Johnston, who would later become a Confederate general. When news of the Gilleland raid arrived, Hannum quickly obtained reinforcements and followed a broad, fresh trail he had recently spotted, headed north.
The Comanches never stopped moving. Carefully avoiding settlements, they crossed the river and rode through the night. In the morning, figuring it was finally safe to do so, they halted to rest near present-day Fannin, the site of the an 1836 battle during the Texas Revolution, in present Goliad County. No sooner had they stopped than the volunteers caught up with them. The Comanches saw the soldiers approaching and formed a battle line.
As one ornately dressed warrior pranced out in front on his pony, Hannum shot him off his horse, and the remaining Indians took to the woods. The volunteers dismounted and ran after them, planning to battle them from tree to tree. The Indians never stopped running, however, even leaving behind weapons, shields, and horses. Rather than bother with their captives, the Indians clubbed Rebecca on the side of her head and lanced William. Rebecca shook off her blow and made her way over to her badly wounded brother. Praying ardently, she carried him to the edge of the woods. Seeing horsemen approaching and believing they were Indians, she went back to hide in the timber. Then she heard friendly voices calling her name. Gathering up her strength, she carried the nearly lifeless William out to the prairie, where Hannum and his men found them.
The boy was in bad shape; blood flowed from his wound every time he breathed. Back at camp, Dr. Axsom immediately got to work and was miraculously able to patched the child up. He later published the details of the operation in the New Orleans Medical journal. Dr. Axsom continued to care for William for some time, while Rebecca stayed with a Presbyterian minister, Dr. William Blair, in Victoria. The children later went to live with an aunt in Galveston. William recovered from his wounds and grew up to become a prominent Austin citizen. Rebecca Gil leland Fisher gained fame as president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She was known as the "Mother of Texas" for her work in educa tion, politics, and religion.
