September 25, 1857; Santa Catarina, Texas: As a result of the army's new policy allowing soldiers to sell unclaimed captured stock, the soldiers in Capt. Charles J. Whiting's command divided $400 in proceeds from selling the horses they had recovered from Comanches in the Wichita Mountains in August 1857. Now noncommissioned officers and enlisted men had extra incentive to round up stolen horses whenever they could.
In mid-September, Sgt. Charles Patrick, Second Cavalry, left Fort Mclntosh and drove his twelve-man detachment of Company I through heavy rains during a seven-day pursuit of Comanches with stolen stock. After sixty hours and 160 muddy miles, they finally caught their quarry near Santa Catarina, in present-day Starr County, Texas. Patrick and his squad killed one Indian and wounded four in the chase, and they captured eleven horses. Though this was less than one animal apiece, each worth perhaps twelve to fifteen dollars (depending on its condition), that amount was approximately the same as an enlisted man's monthly army wages. In other words, each trooper had to sell only one horse to double his income for the month,
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