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January 2013 NORTH TEXAS STAR STORYTELLER & RAMBLER Page 2

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North TexasStarOUTDOORS ALONG THE BRAZOS

Don Price

3

THE SAGA OFROBERT SIMPSON NEIGHBORS

Jim Dillard

8

CHASING OUR TALESSue Seibert

6

GONE...AND FORGOTTENWynelle Catlin

14

J 2013 NORTHTEXAS STAR STORYTELLER & RAMBLER P 3


3/20


Most writing, from the ordinary to the sub-lime, springs from a very basic need of onehuman being to communicate with anotherhuman being.

One writes for the same reason one talks,

because one has something to say.If you dont have anything to say a theme

going absolutely nowhere it wont come outright on the word processor or with pencil andpaper no matter how hard you try.

This truth is often overlooked, even at timesby successful writers who have been publishedfor years.

Yet nothing else is as important to a writerwho wants to polish his craft, to reach his goal,

the plateau of which is prose poetry, as to scorea hit with a great essay, a great theme.Here is one of the very best: Abraham

Lincolns Gettysburg Address, a great themeenhanced by the deliverance of prose poetry,which is Lincolns style.

If the point you are trying to make is notrational, youve wasted your time as well as thereaders. Experience is a great teacher, and allof us have to learn.

Writing is not easy work. Thinking is nevereasy, especially for those of us who have shortattention spans. But writing today will havebeen worth it someday, if only to yourselfbecause youll know you tried.

Who knows? Perhaps youve your ownGettysburg Address just waiting to burst fromyour heart.

Laboring through the difficult parts will bringout that elusive element deep within you, andits known as your own style.

It is hoped you will have found your balanceby now, a benchmark, but youll still have to

check your compass when it gets foggy.Quality writing from your own hand is as

valuable to you as a gyroscope is to a shipscaptain in a tumultuous sea. If you lose yourown way, your best writing will turn out to be

your own GPS. Kind of amazing, isnt it?No book in the library will fully supply you

with the knowledge that will uncover your ownstyle, for your style is really a mirror of yourown personality.

As Cicero said about 2000 years ago, Youare what you write. Your style is everythingthat you are, your attitude, your philosophy, thewhole quality of your mind, even your imagi-nation.

Bringing out your own style will emit moreconfidence in yourself and even in your ownfriends, more awareness within you and others,but you can expect another benefit from writ-ing it will make you a better reader.

This alone is worth all the effort; the readingof classics will be an unconscious means ofimproving your literary style.

Our Boyce Ditto Public Library is an excel-lent place in which to start:

Saul Bellow is there, in Boyce Ditto, havingwon the Nobel Prize in Literature with a star-tling work titled Herzog, a story about a con-fused protagonist who sent many personal let-ters to the most influential men in America.The more letters Herzog wrote, the better hefelt about himself. He never mailed the letters.

Sinclair Lewis is also there in Boyce Ditto,having been the first American awarded theNobel Prize in Literature in the early 1930s.His Elmer Gantry should be required readingfor every high school student.

Continued on page 4

Outdoors Along the BrazosW h y W e R e a d a n d W r i t e

By Don Price

January 2013 NORTHTEXAS STAR STORYTELLER & RAMBLER Page 4


4/20

From page 3John Steinbeck and his Grapes of Wrath

are also in Boyce Ditto, another Nobel Prizewinner in Literature. Having read this classic

will deepen your understanding while yourewatching Ken Burns 2- part series on TV(last month) titled The Dust Bowl. Bothvenues are about the same thing, the hard-ships of West Texas and Oklahoma farmers.With prolonged drought, it can happen again.

After reading a few classics by Noble win-ners (pun intended), youll be able to feel outanother writer and what he is attempting tosay, if he says it well, how the effect is creat-

ed.Edgar Allen Poe, for example, is a master

at creating a mood in his short stories, such amaster of mood that he can have you lookingunder your own bed before youve turned thefirst page. You can find E.A. Poe in theBoyce Ditto Public Library.

If you stay at this reading of Library ofAmerica classics (our library has over 100volumes, the books with the black covers,

easy to spot) long enough, youll be able tospot bad writing well within the first chap-ter.

Then youll be able to appreciate goodwriting with relish because youll knowhow it got that way, how it affected you,and how easily E.A. Poe could have youlooking under the bed not once but severaltimes.

Heres where youll benefit: You (the

writer) will often score A++ if youve got-ten your point across with a timely Letterto the Editor essay. Timing is everything.

In everyones life there are times ofdoubt, so it would be a good idea for youto step aside from the mainstream of ourhectic technology for a few moments ofintrospection, yes, a few moments toabsorb the wisdom of Abe Lincoln.

Even the finest writers sometimes have tofind a balance, just as the Barnum & Baileytightrope walker, through a review, thestudying of their own early manuscripts.

Then you can be sure you can communicateto the reader, cogently through written words;youll develop the craft of saying what youmean. The therapy derived from this kind of

work will make you feel good about yourself,like the protagonist in Herzog, remember theguy who wrote all those letters to VIPs butnever mailed them?

Language is the greatest achievement ofman. It helps you to understand others. Bestof all, it helps you to understand yourself.

Your essay is the mirror of your mind. It isyou. Of the thoughts of most men, creativeminds seem to be those that love life most.

Walt Whitman, the poet, comes to mind.Robert Frost, of course. Our Boyce DittoPublic Library has the complete works ofboth.

And so style takes its unique shape from aChristian attitude more than it does from theprinciple of competition. Moderation is thekey, perhaps. One doesnt need an impressiveIQ but rather a leaning toward commonsense.

Everything has a bottom line. If you arestill with me, if youve read this far, Id betterclose before the cellphone crashes the mood,the effect of what Ive been trying to say witha thousand words:

What a man is, rather than what he knows,will at last determine his style. And writingwill make a remarkable improvement even ifyou keep nothing but a personal diary. Youcant lose with a deal like that.

What you and I should be concerned with isInformation Overload, yes, along with a fivesecond attention span. How much wisdomcan one glean from this, a five second judge-ment call?

Doesnt anyone show concern that we seemto be on the fiscal cliff with both InformationOverload and distractions?

Doesnt anyone see how much we areaddicted to technology? There is no time towaste, while reflecting on the wisdom of AbeLincoln, only multi-tasking.

Faster, faster, faster.




5/20




6/20


Acouple of months ago I told you about Larry Jones ancestor,John Westmoreland Jones, who was a Texas Ranger duringthe Indian wars. He lived outside of Weatherford. I also told

you about my ancestor, Robert Devon Uncle Bob Routh, who wasa Ranger at the same time in Brown County, Texas. Today I wouldlike to devote my column to other Rangers who were in our NorthCentral Texas area to fight the Indians in the 1800s.

After the column aboutJones appeared, I heardfrom Marie Polk, ofMaries MotherlodeAntiques, on North MainStreet in Weatherford. Shescanned a photo she had ofsome Texas Rangers whowere gathered for, I think, asort of reunion in 1908.

They included Tom White,E. H. Lige Putman, BillyMcCauley, Capt. FrankJohnson, Homer White,Oscar Roundtree andBuster Jones. Interestingly,Homer White was shot andkilled later the same yearby E.S. Stokes at theWeatherford Train Station.

Another story of localRangers was told by DoyleMarshall in A CryUnheard: Instead ofbeing captured by the Indians on the Texas frontier, white men werenormally put to death at the scene of battle. An exception was NelsonLee, a 48-year-old former Texas Ranger captured by the Comanchesin 1855 as he and fellow drovers moved a herd of horses westerlybetween San Patricio and El Paso. All but four of Lees party werekilled by the band. The survivors were captured and taken to the main

Comanche camp for the purpose of satisfying the vengeance of theComanches by slowly torturing the four to death. Fortunately for Lee,an alarm clock in his possession was thought by the superstitiousComanches to have supernatural powers, and Lee was spared becausehe was able to manipulate the clock.

Each time visiting Indians were in camp the proud chief sent forLee to demonstrate his strange powers with the little metal box.Because of the magic of the alarm clock and Lees dramaticapproach to displaying it, the various bands were eager to trade forhim. Consequently, during his three years captivity he belonged tothree Comanche bands. The last two traded an inordinate amount ofgoods for him. One of his chiefs, Big Wolf, entered into a solemn

league and covenant with Lee.The captive promised to remain inpeaceable possession of the chiefand to not attempt to escape. Inconsideration of Lees promise, BigWolf swore to make a skeletonof Lee in short order if he attempt-ed to leave.

During the span of three yearsof captivity Lee never advanced

beyond the rank of untrusted ser-vant of the chief. After killing thechief, Lee made a daring escapefrom the band. During his captivityLee apparently never adjusted inany respect to the Comanche life,although he took a Comanche wifewith whom he lived until hisescape.

Yet another local Ranger tale tells

us about the Battle of Stone Housesin 1837. In the middle of Octoberof 1837 a company of TexasRangers chased a raiding party of

Keechi Indians up the Colorado River. Lt. A.B. van Benthusen and 17men split from the main group and went north to the Brazos River,where them met up with over 150 Keechi warriors on Nov. 10. TheKeechis turned to fight and lost their leader on the first attack, butthey immediately elected a new leader. They set the prairie on fire,where 12 Rangers were killed. Eight survived and managed to make

their way to a settlement on the Sabine River on Nov. 27. The battlewas named Stoned Houses because the location where it took placehad three stone mounds that looked like the houses of the Indians. Itwas located about 10 miles south of Windthorst, Texas.

A Palo Pinto County settler, Simpson Crawford, served as a Texas

Chasing Our TalesBy Sue Seibert

T E X A S R A N G E R S I N N O R T H C E N T R A L T E X A S



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Ranger and also fought in the Mexican War. He came to Palo PintoCounty from Titus County and before that from Kentucky. He settledin the Keechi Valley area of the Peters Colony and married MaryBrown. Crawford was also a successful cattle rancher.

Probably the most famous Texas Ranger scout in the Palo PintoCounty area was Charles Goodnight. He served as a scout, guidingthe Rangers to rescue Cynthia Ann Parker when she had been recap-

tured by the Comanches. Of course, he was a cattle rancher and laidout the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail over which thousands of long-horns when to market in New Mexico. His ranch was also in theKeechi Valley.

Tennessee native William Carroll McAdams came to Texas in the1840s and served as a Texas Ranger, fought in the Mexican War, andacquired land that is now under Possum Kingdom Lake in northwestPalo Pinto County.

Richard Coffey moved his family to Parker County, Texas, in 1855.While living there he served in the Texas Rangers and assisted Capt.Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the rescue of Cynthia Ann Parker on Dec.18, 1860.

Norman Underwood was bornin New York on Aug. 1, 1825,and died Jan. 5, 1892. He went toParker County in 1852. He wason the tax list at that time.Norman and his wife, ElizabethElkins, had 10 children, includ-ing Mary Ellen Underwood.Normans older brother, Edmund

(Edward), was a Texas Rangerwho later bought and sold landin Fannin County, Texas.

Brice Woody was born on Feb.11, 1832, in Roane County,Tenn. He married in October1855, in Parker County, Texas,to Missouri A. Miller. Theirs wasthe first marriage in ParkerCounty. Woody served in

Captain Thompsons TexasRanger company from October1859 to May 1860. They had 10children.

John Woody, who served as theParker County sheriff in 1866,was also a Texas Ranger. He wasmarried to Leah Morris.

In 1860 Capt. J.J. Curetonorganized a company of Texas

Rangers in Palo Pinto County.

Among these men were J.J. Cureton, Capt. R.W. Pollard, 1st Lt. M.D.Sanders, 2nd Lt. J.H. Baker, 1st Sgt. Ben Milam, 1st Cpl. J.L. Daves,2nd Cpl. M. Anderson, John Anderson, Charles Allen, G.W. Baker,William Brown, W.H. Blevins, Allen Baker, Abe Blevins, T.B.Blevins, J.P. Brown, S.M. Blevins, Front Ball, M. Bragg, NathanBragg, Jesse Bragg, W.A. Bell, John Bell, J.H. Coffee, J.H. Chick,Samuel Church, P.A. Chamberlain, Simpson Crawford, W. Grammer,

Thomas Grammer, James Dulin, G.W. Dodson, John Dalton, J.M.Elkins, W.J. Eubanks, J. Farris, John W. Flinn, Jack Flint, PhillipGeorge, Charles Goodnight, W. Henclewood, J.P. Hales, S.G. Harper,W.R. Hill, E.G. Hall, T.R. Harris, Geo. Harris, W. Hullum, Bev.Harris, C.T. Hazlewood, Pate Jones, Parker Johnson, Jacob Lemons,J.G. Moss, B.B. Meadows, Elisha Mayse, Cavelle Mayse, Rich Moss,W.J. Moseley, W.Y. Moss, Thomas Nelson, John T. Porter, J.T.Pollard, W. Porter, W.M. Peters, J.W. Robertson, Peter Robertson,Squire Robinson, J. Runnels, G. Huff, T.W. Robertson, WilliamShirley, J.N. Sparks, C.C. Slaughter, V. Simonds. W.N. Shultz,Thomas Steward, James Sanders, John Standley, W. Strong, I.P.Volentine, D.F. Wells, George Williams, James Yancey, H. Williams,

D.C. Smith, N.J. Deaston,Thomas Alley, M. Southerlandand Robert Wood. These menprotected the Texas frontier dur-ing the Civil War years.

The Texas Indian Wars beganbetween settlers and Texas andSouth Plains Indians when thefirst Europeans and Spanish set-

tler came to Texas, and by 1821full-time Ranger militia compa-nies were formed to fight theComanches. By 1823 Stephen F.Austin saw the need for suchforces and created a militia of 10hired men to protect the frontier.Soon settlers were organizingtheir own companies of Rangers,and after the Republic was creat-

ed Texas formed mountedRanger patrols on fast horses topursue and fight Comanches ontheir own terms.

The Texas Rangers are an hon-orable part of law enforcementfor the State of Texas, and theyhave served this state from 1823until the present. We are certain-ly proud that they are a part of

our local history.



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J y g

The Saga of Robert Simpson Neighbors part 7By Jim Dillard

(This is the seventh and final part of a serieson the life of Robert Simpson Neighbors whowas a soldier in the army of the Republic of

Texas, Texas Ranger, prisoner of war,legislator and Indian agent for the Republic

of Texas and State of Texas.)

The group of men from Erath County thatattacked Choctaw Toms hunting camp atIndian Hole on Elm Creek in Palo Pinto

County on Dec. 26, 1858 and killed seven wasbut the vanguard of a much larger movementand force that was organizing throughout theregion. The stage was now set for a volatileconfrontation between Maj. Robert SimpsonNeighbors Indians located on the two reserva-tions in North Texas and a mob of lawlesscivilians bent on removing them from Texasonce and for all.

Little did they know that the actions they

were about to take would only serve to plungethe Texas frontier into 15 years of fear, blood-shed and Indian raids more violent than theyhad ever seen.

When Major Neighbors received word of themassacre he left San Antonio by stage on Jan.6, 1859, for the Brazos Reservation. In Austin

he met with Richard B. Hubbard, United StatesAttorney for the Western District of Texas,who advised him that the United States courts

had no jurisdiction over the matter. However,Governor Runnels assured Major Neighborsthat measures would be taken to arrest thoseresponsible. He also issued a proclamation for-bidding the unlawful assembling of armedbands to attack the reservations and encour-aged local authorities and peace officers toarrest the offenders.

In Waco affidavits were issued for the appre-hension of Garlands band by Judge N.W.

Battle, who issued writs to Captain Ford toarrest the offenders. Attorney Edward J.Gurley was employed as counsel for theIndians. Major Neighbors arrived at the BrazosReservation on Jan. 22 and made arrangementsfor the Indian victims to travel to Waco to

Continued on page 10



9/20

J y g

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From page 8testify and give evidence of the attack and murders. He also learned thata commission of citizens represented by George B. Erath (for whomErath County is named,) J.M. Norris and Dixon Walker, with an escort of12 men, had arrived at the Brazos Reservation to help resolve the situa-tion and prevent further hostilities.

According to the commissioners, an amicable agreement wasreached whereby the Indians agreed to remain on the reservation and notattack the local population of white citizens. Major Neighbors laterlearned the Indian chiefs on the reservation had made no such agreementwith them.

Problems soon arose over attempts to have the responsible men arrest-ed when Captain Ford, then stationed at Camp Leon near Cora inComanche County, declined to act. Citing that no civil authority had anypower to give him an order, he would onlyassist after local authorities had exhaustedall means to make arrests. In the end,Captain Ford did not attempt to make anyarrests for fear of starting a civil warbetween his forces and the offenders. Localsheriffs also refused to get involved and themurderers went unpunished.

By March 1859 tensions were mounting asnews spread that a large band of citizens hadgathered several miles above the mouth ofRock Creek in Palo Pinto County andplanned to attack on the reservations.Captain Ross notified Major Neighbors, who

was then in San Antonio, to return, statingthat your presence is much needed, as itwill require all the influence that can bebrought to bear to reconcile the Indians.

Fearing an attack, Capt. Ross sent a couri-er to Major Thomas at Camp Cooper forassistance. Captain John King of the FirstInfantry who had just arrived at theComanche Reservation was dispatched tothe Brazos Reservation and arrived there on

March 23 with one company of infantry. Afew days later a wagon was sent to FortBelknap to obtain a small cannon.

Major Neighbors immediately hired a carriage and departed SanAntonio on March 14 to once again make the long weary trip to theBrazos Reservation via Camp Colorado (located on Jim Ned Creek inColeman County), Camp Cooper and Fort Belknap, arriving there onMarch 23. He remained there until March 28 and since no attackoccurred returned to San Antonio. Captain King and his troops alsoreturned to Camp Cooper. Another company of troops under Captain

Plummer arrived at the Brazos Reservation on April 10 and set up camp.Major Neighbors finally came to the realization that his Indian reserva-

tion experiment was nearing its end and that, for the benefit and securityof the Indians then on the Texas reservations, they must be moved acrossthe Red River into Indian Territory. Civil unrest and lack of support atstate and federal levels now doomed the success of his efforts. The pos-

sibility of an attack on the reservations by local citizens remained likelyunless a solution was soon reached.

On April 19 he received official orders and authority from actingCommissioner of Indian Affairs Charles Mix to abandon the reservationsand the Indians removed where they can be protected from lawlessviolence, and effective measures adopted for their domestication andimprovement. Ironically, he also learned that he had officially been

appointed as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Texas by PresidentBuchanan for a four year term effective March 1, 1859.Major Neighbors conducted a census on the two reservations and

reported to Superintendent Rector in Indian Territory there were 258Tonkawa, 204 Tawacano, 171 Waco, 380 Comanche, 244 Caddo and 235Anadarko, for a total of 1,492 Indians on the Texas reservations.Although the welcomed news of the pending removal of the Indians

from the reservations in North Texas quicklyspread across the frontier, there were still indi-viduals determined not to wait for Neighbors tocomplete the undertaking.

John R. Baylor and other citizens from sur-rounding counties continued to make threatsagainst the agents and reservation Indians. Ameeting was held in Galconda (present day PaloPinto) where Baylor made speeches using verythreatening language against them. After hearingthese reports, Major Neighbors recommended tothe commissioner in Washington that the Indiansbe removed as soon as possible since their secu-rity could not be guaranteed much longer.

Despite known threats to his life along the roadsleading back to the frontier, Major Neighborssaid farewell to his children and frail wifeElizabeth Ann, who was expecting their fourthchild any day, and left San Antonio on May 17 toreturn to the Comanche Reservation.

In route Neighbors wrote his wife a touchingletter from Leon Springs, 26 miles north ofAustin: My Dear Wife I hope you are recon-ciled to my leaving. We are in the hands of an all

ruling Providence and we cannot disobey hismandates. It is my destiny to sacrifice myself for others I cannot saymuch Kiss the children and may the Great Ruler of the UniverseBless and Guard you I will return to you as soon as possible

Even while on his return trip to the reservations, some 500 men hadgathered in Jacksboro under the leadership of John R. Baylor and PeterGarland and were in the process of proceeding to the reservations toattack. Women from the town had made them a banner to carry into thefight inscribed with the quote Necessity Knows No Law. From theirRock Creek Camp on May 21, 1859, the mob divided. Half of the men

led by Peter Garland headed toward Camp Cooper on the Clear Fork ofthe Brazos to attack and capture artillery from the infantry units stationedthere. The rest under John R. Baylor advanced onto the BrazosReservation. It appeared the final showdown was at hand and the fightthat was to ensue would be a decisive victory for the citizens.

Continued on page 12

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11/20

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From page 10However, as the force approaching the Comanche Reservation neared

their objective, dissension arose among the ranks and most of the mendecided to return to their homes rather than face the cannons of the UnitedStates military unit at Camp Cooper. Early pioneer Henry Belding fromPalo Pinto County who was with this group recorded that Captain Howardwho was leading this group feared they would be defeated and ordered aretreat. It had rained heavily and travel conditions were miserable for the

men. They returned to Rock Creek in Palo Pinto County and disbanded totheir homes.

At the Brazos Reservation, a similar scenario played out when Baylorand his so-called Army of Defense came face to face with Capt. J.B.Plummers unit and his cannon. They retreated but not before killing an80-year-old Indian man and a woman working in her garden. This actionenraged Indians on the reservation who pursued the invaders to the MarlinRanch, located 8 miles north of the agency. A group of 50 to 60 Indians ledby Anadarko Chief Jose Maria attacked them and killed seven of the men.Five Indians were wounded plus one of their warriors (Caddo John) killed

before they returned to the reservation.Baylors party moved back to Dillingham Prairie in Palo Pinto County

near Rock Creek where some organized into smaller units and othersreturned to their homes. Charles Goodnight, school teacher J.H. Baker of

Palo Pinto, Jack Cureton, and W.C. McAdams from Palo PintoCounty were among the men who moved onto the Brazos

Reservation and participated in the fight at the Marlin Ranch.Neighbors arrived at the Comanche Agency on May 25 and

while there learned of the birth of his son,Ross Simpson Neighbors. He knew he was

nearing the end of his work in the Indianservice and longed to return to SanAntonio to be with his wife and

children. The wheels werealready turning in Washington

to facilitate the removal pro-cess as orders were forward-ed for the military to per-

form escort duty for theIndians to the leased

district lands east ofthe North Fork of theRed River between the

98th and 100th meridianin Indian Territory.

Superintendents Neighbors andRector were to jointly locate asuitable site for the Indians to

live.Following the recent con-

flict between local citizensand Indians on the two

Indian reservations, GovernorRunnels appointed a partisancommission to further investi-

gate Major Neighbors admin-istration of the reservations.

The commissioners arrived at the Brazos Reservation on June 16 and heldan inquiry on the state of affairs. Neighbors despised the continued barrageof accusations against him and the Indians and defended his record, pledg-ing to relocate the Indians as soon as possible. He was notified that to pre-vent another uprising, a force of 100 state troops would be sent to helpkeep the Indians on the reservations. They would come from McLennanand Bell counties and be commanded by Commissioner J.M. Smith or JohnHenry Brown.

On June 26, 1859, Superintendent Neighbors, along with the head chiefsof the Indians on the Texas reservations, set out for Fort Arbuckle wherethey conferred with Superintendant Rector. A suitable site was selected onthe Washita River near the mouth of Sugar Creek in present Caddo County,some 4 miles east of present Anadarko, Okla.

Much to Major Neighbors chagrin, the Texas force of 90 men undercommand of John Henry Brown arrived on July 11 and set up camp nearthe Brazos Reservation at Caddo Springs on the Brazos near the east lineof the reserve. Neighbors saw their presence as nothing more than an elec-tioneering tool of Governor Runnels who was up for re-election and sought

to appease to the local citizenry with a show of state force. Their role wasto help keep Indians on the reservation until they could be removed andprevent any additional uprising from the local citizenry in the surroundingcounties.

Neighbors feared this state force would only serve to heighten tensionsamong the Indians as they made preparations for relocation across the RedRiver. Conflicts soon arose over the authority of the state force and UnitedStates Army troops under Captain Plummer, then stationed on the reserve,but no additional attacks were made. Four additional companies of troopswere also being relocated to the reserves to protect the Indians as they were

moved northward. Neighbors hoped to have the Indians on the move byJuly 30 for the 15-day journey it would take to reach their new home.He began making necessary preparations for moving the Indians, which

included contracting some 80 wagons and Mexican ox-drawn carts, pur-chasing provisions to feed the Indians on the trip and accounting of allgovernment and Indian possessions left behind. Since the government hadnot yet provided the necessary funding for the move, the entire operationwas carried out on credit and faith. Movement of Indians from both reser-vations was coordinated and military units put in motion to protect theIndians during their exodus. Maj. George H. Thomas (during the Civil War

his moniker would become The Rock of Chickamauga) at Camp Cooperwould escort Major Neighbors and the Indians with two companies of theFirst Infantry and two companies of the Second Cavalry.

The 1,051 Indians and military escort from the Brazos Reservationmoved to their first camp site on Salt Creek located 3 miles north of theagency near the Belknap Road crossing and were joined there by Maj.Neighbors on July 31, 1859. They traveled toward the Red River for sevendays and arrived at a camp site 2 miles below the mouth of the Big WichitaRiver where they rendezvoused on the same day with Colonel Leeper and370 Comanches from the other reservation. On Aug. 8, Major Neighborsescorted the Indians, four companies of troops, agency personnel and team-sters across the Red River at Steens Crossing and safely out of Texas.

Neighbors wrote in a letter to his wife, If you want to hear a fulldescription of our Exodus out of Texas read the Bible where the children ofIsrael crossed the Red Sea. We have had about the same show, only ourenemies did not follow us to Red River. If they had the Indians wouldhave in all probability sent them back without their interposition of Divine



13/20

Providence. Major Neighbors officially delivered the Indians to AgentBlain of the Wichita Agency on Sept. 1, 1859. (six Indians died on thetrip and one was born.)

Major Neighbors wrote to his wife that before he left he spoke to theIndians who had assembled and shook hands with over 1,000 warriors,many who cried like children on his leaving, including old Tonkawa ChiefPlacido. Others clung to me and refused to let me go. When I rode offfrom them, they threw themselves upon the ground, yelling, in the wildest

grief, so that it required all my fortitude to leave them. But leave themhe did on Sept. 6, 1859, along with 20 civilians and agency employees,Agent Ross and his two sons, Peter and Robert, Colonel Leeper, a wagonand two ambulances.

Since the military units thatescorted them across the RedRiver had since returned to theirduty stations, danger existedalong the roads from hostileIndians, renegade white horse

thieves and murderers. JohnBaylors men were also likelystill in the area and looking forrevenge. Several of MajorNeighbors friends encouragedhim not to return to San Antonioby way of Belknap, but hebelieved there was no danger indoing so.

The trip back from Indian

Territory was met with dangerand on the second day out theywere attacked by wild Indianswho wounded Colonel Leeper and stole three of their horses. Severalof the raiding Indians were killed including one white man with shortred hair whose face had been covered with paint. At the Red Riverthe water was at flood stage and a log raft had to be constructed toferry them back to Texas soil. When Major Neighbors and his partyreached the Brazos River crossing just west of Fort Belknap on theevening of Sept. 13, its waters were also too high for crossing. They

were forced to camp there for the night before resuming their triptoward Camp Cooper.On the morning of Sept. 14, 1859, Major Neighbors went into the

small town of Belknap located one-half mile east of the fort to con-duct business. He had declined an offer by Major Thomas at FortBelknap of an escort to go with him. He spent two hours in the officeof County and District Clerk William Burkett writing reports to windup his accounts as Texas Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Heremarked to Burkett that he was now free from his government dutiesand could return to his sweet wife and children in San Antonio neverto leave them again.

Soon after Major Neighbors and a Mr. McKay left Burketts officeto visit Colonel Leeper in the post hospital at Fort Belknap, a gunshot rang out. Mr. McKay went back into the clerks office and said,Major Neighbors is killed! As the two men had walked down thestreet, they were approached by Patrick Murphy, one of Neighborsformer antagonists, with gun in hand, who confronted him and asked,

I understand that you have said that I am a horse thief. Is it so?Neighbors replied, No, I never did. At that moment Murphys

brother-in-law, Edward Cornett, stepped out from behind a chimneyand put a double-barreled shotgun to Neighbors back and pulled thetrigger. Neighbors exclaimed, Oh, Lord and fell mortally woundedto the ground.

Witnesses testified to Sheriff Edward Wolfforth that Cornett was thekiller. He was eventually indicted by a Young County grand jury but

failed to appear for trial. Cornett was killed on May 25, 1860, byWolfforths posse in the hills around Fort Belknap while attemptingto arrest him for trying to kill Dennis Murphy, his wifes father or

brother of the same name.Being a Mason, an emblematic

white apron was placed onNeighbors body while it lay instate. Robert S. Neighbors wasreportedly buried the followingmorning in the civilian cemetery

located just east of Fort Belknapand his personal possessions for-warded to his wife in San Antonio.A historical marker has been erectedat the cemetery near an old rockvault in which he is believed tohave been buried, although there arevarious accounts concerning theexact location of his grave.

There were several theories as to

the reason for his assassination,some believing he was killed out offear by those who thought he would

seek prosecution against them for their role in the mob uprisingagainst Indians on the reservations. Others theorized it was a matter ofpersonal animosity on the part of Cornett toward Neighbors, who did noteven know him. In the years following his murder and the beginning ofthe Civil War, the frontier of Texas once again languished into a lawlessregion dominated by brutal Indian raids, livestock thefts and the death ofmany settlers. The line of civilization literally receded a 100 miles during

this period and people began to fort up or return to communities to theeast until the military returned to the region after the war. The Indian warscontinued until 1876 when the Comanches were finally forced onto reser-vations in Indian Territory.

Robert S. Neighbors left a legacy of honesty and integrity as a loyal ser-vant to the cause of protecting the Indians in Texas from those whosought to annihilate them. Many descendants of those Indians he escortedinto Oklahoma remain there today. From his upbringing as an orphan tothe climax of a life devoted to service and duty, he is truly a Texas herothat should never be forgotten.

(Sources: Robert Simpson Neighbors and the Texas Frontier 1836-1859, by Kenneth F. Neighbours; Rip Fords Texas, by John SalmonFord; Painted Pole: The Beldings and Their Ranches in Palo PintoCounty, by Barbra Gibson; Charles Goodnight: Cowman andPlainsman, by J. Evetts Haley; The Handbook of Texas Online atwww.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/index and other Internetsources.)

Photo taken byAndy Dillard

at Fort BelknapCemetery



14/20

There were three of us, white hairshining as we scrambled liketeenagers up the steep hillside.

We were looking for the remains ofDegress Cemetery near Cundiff in north-eastern Jack County.

We had gotten over a barbed wire fencethat was mostly lying on the ground. Ihad to hold on to shrubs and low-lyingtrees until we reached the top of the steep

hill. Then we waded through dried grassand bushes, brushed past prickly pears,and stumbled over rocks hidden in driedweeds before we saw the scatteredremains of the cemetery.

Larger sand rocks which could haveonce been headstones were scattered hap-hazardly, knocked about by time and cat-tle. Briars, brush, stickery weeds madethem difficult to find. And we had to

watch where we stepped because of holesmade by burrowing animals. Only twomarkers were custom made of granite andthey were broken away from their baseand lying on the ground.

A longtime student and writer of JackCounty history I had never heard of thiscemetery nor the one-time community ofthat name until Sandi Argo of the JackCounty Herald-Gazette told me about it.

She and her husband had once lived near-by and had fenced it to keep the cattleaway. But that fence was long gone bythe time the three of us scrambled up thehillside to the plateau where the remainsrested.

The three of us were my brother,Neeley Tipton and me. My brother and Ihad been driving along the highway nearCundiff one Sunday afternoon when I

saw the sign--Degress Lane.Remembering that Id wanted to get moreinformation about Degress Cemetery eversince Sandi had told me about it, we

turned in, and followed the lane toTiptons ranch house. And yes, he knewabout the cemetery, he would be glad totake us there, but it would have to beanother day as he was shipping some cat-tle. Already had them penned up, and atruck on the way.

So my brother and I went back, on anice Sunday afternoon, to the TiptonRanch settled by Neeleys grandfather in

1902.I said hello to Neeleys wife, who

was Lucille Damron, playmate of mychildhood in Jermyn. Neeley said wecould walk to the remains of the ceme-tery but it was snaky and brushy so wegot into his pickup truck. He drove downOld Highway 24 which had the honor ofbeing the first road to be paved in JackCounty begun in 1924 and finished two

years later. For the base, sand rock hadbeen brought in and smashed by menwith sledges.

Neeley drove a short distance down thehighway, filling us in about history of thearea. He turned down a lane to JackGrace Ranch and said we were on a roadthat was once the Butterfield Stage route.It had been in use as a road since the1850s when the route had gone from

Decatur to Jacksboro.A short distance more and we dipped

down into a gully that crossed LickBranch which had no water in it. Thoughit once did. Lick Branch was so-namedbecause there was a salt lick where deerand cattle came. Early settlers also gotsalt there.

Degress, pronounced d-grass, hadbegun as a stagecoach stop where travel-

ers could rest, and the horses or muleschanged. The town which grew up alongthe banks of Lick Branch, became a siz-able and thriving community which

GONE AND FORGOTTENBy Wynelle Caitlin



15/20

ncluded churches, a school, general store, blacksmith shop, cottonin, post office.Then in 1892, the founder of nearby Cundiff, got the post officeoved to Cundiff. Since there was no longer a stagecoach service,hen the post office was moved, Degress slowly faded away. And the

emetery which holds some 30 to 35 graves became derelict andntended.

The only markings we could read were on the two smaller four-sidedranite steles, lying on the ground. We managed to turn one overnough to read the information: Annie Stovall, b. Nov. 20, 1886, d.

Sept. 19, 1887. On its neighboring side of the stele was inscribedilliam Stovall, b. Aug. 27, 1872, d. Jan. 1886. Neeley said the steleas erected for a brother and sister. The other fallen granite marker

said George M. Pultz b. July 1877, d. May 14, 1893.We searched among the fallen sandstone rocks for recognizable

nscriptions. Some had had names chiseled in them but were no longereadable.

A sunken place was where a Campsey had been buried and the bodyug up and moved to Post Oak.There were remains of fences, but they hadnt been intact for a long

ime, not even the one Sandi Argo and her husband built when theyived nearby.Carefully, the three of us made our way down the steep hillside,

sadly leaving behind those long-ago people who had lived and beenuried there.And had since been forgotten.



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