April 21, 1841; Corsicana: One Texas militia company, organized in Robertson County in March 1841, was led by Capt. Eli Chandler, a forty-two-year-old South Carolinian who had come to Texas in 1835. In early April, Indians raided along the Navasota River, killed a man, and chased off eight horses. Chandler pursued the raiders unsuccessfully. On 16 April, Chandler got word of a group of Indians living on Pecan Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River, in present-day Navarro County. He and his forty-five-man company from Franklin marched north. They were later joined by seven more volunteers.
On the night of 20 April, the Texans discovered a deserted village of twenty-eight lodges. The next morning they followed the Indians' trail about five miles up Pecan Creek, where they ran into eight or ten Comanches. When the Indians veered off, Chandler gave chase, but after about three miles they eluded him. Realizing the trail was a fake, Chandler countermarched back to the main trail and returned to the abandoned village, where he took up a smaller trail. After one mile the volunteers ran into the same Indians, this time on the real trail to the new village.
In pursuit of the Comanches, Chandler led one column down the trail, while Lt. William M. Love took another detachment along a path that followed a ridgeline between two parallel creeks. With little space to maneuver, the Texans chased the warriors for five more miles. The Indians outraced them, but not by much, and they got to the village barely in time to shout a warning. It was enough, however, and many of the Indians got away before the Texans opened fire. The village was surrounded by nearly impenetrable thickets, so Chandler had his men dismount. The Texans scoured the brush for the fleeing Comanches, but nearly all of them escaped.
Chandler reported three Indians killed and several wounded. Only one Texan was wounded. The militia collected nine mules and twenty-three horses, along with powder, lead, axes, pelts, and other items, in total worth more than $3,000. They burned the village and rode back to Franklin.
