November 21, 1874; Menard, Texas: In the fall of 1874, Capt. Cecil Rufus Perry's Company D, of the newly created Frontier Battalion, camped near the San Saba River in Menard County. About six miles away, two Texas Rangers, William Trewick and Scott Cooley, were hunting stray cattle to slaughter for provisions for their company. The two rangers spotted eleven Comanches heading west. The Indians saw them too, but the warriors did not come after them, which the rangers viewed as peculiar. The pair tried to lure the Indians toward the ranger camp by making a short charge and turning around, but the Indians did not fall for the ruse. Cooley sent Trewick to ride back and get the rest of the company while he tried to "loose-herd" the Indians. Cooley got too close, however, and his horse took a bullet in the leg, so he rode back to camp.
Back at the camp Trewick told Maj. John B. Jones, commander of the Frontier Battalion, about the Indians, and Jones headed out with thirty-five men. Soon Cooley also showed up at the camp and reported to Perry. The captain stayed behind with a few men and sent Cooley out with eleven rangers, under the command of Lt. Daniel W. Roberts. The Indians were riding fast, and Roberts chased them twenty miles before catching up. About fifteen miles south of present-day Menard, Texas, the Comanches turned to fight.
The chief charged at Roberts, firing a Spencer, and hit Roberts's horse. Other Indians were armed with six-shooters. The Texans replied with their Winchesters and a short, sharp fight ensued. Roberts shot and killed the chief, and another ranger killed a warrior nearby. A ranger was shot in the chest. When the Indians had emptied their pistols, they threw them away and went to bows and arrows while they rode off, with the Texans right behind. A few fleeing Indians were hit, and several of their horses were killed.
After a three-mile chase, the Comanches again attempted a stand. Cooley, Charles Bartholomae, and a few other rangers trapped three warriors in a cluster of rocks and brush. Bartholomae fired his last three pistol bullets at a warrior, but all missed. While the Indian nervously tried to nock an arrow, another ranger killed him with a shot from his Winchester. At this point, part of Jones's force, under Lt. L. P. Beavert, got into the action, killing another Comanche and wounding one.
After the long chase, nine of the eleven Indians were dead. A few rangers scalped some of the dead Comanches. Surprisingly, one warrior was captured--taking combatants as prisoners was almost unheard of in Indian warfare. When his horse was killed, the warrior stopped and made signs of surrender. Equally surprising, the Texans took him into custody rather than shooting him, and they prevented the other rangers from killing him later. The captured Comanche was taken to Austin and put on display in the opera house for twenty-five cents' admission. When the adjutant general heard about the exhibition, he put a stop to it and had the Indian placed in prison, where he soon caught a disease and died.
