The Famous Dove Creek Fight | voicesfromthepast

Chapter 8.

THE FAMOUS DOVE CREEK FIGHT.

THROUGH the courtesy of some of the few survivors of the famous Dove Creek fight, we give below a sketch of the marches and history of the fight from the time march was taken up until it ended.

Mr. George Scrutchfield of Clifton has furnished us with data taken from the diary of his father, the late Judge Scrutchfiield, who was a member of the party. Judge Scrutchfield kept tab on the dates and many interesting incidents that the students of today have not heard of, and which are not only a part of the history of Texas, but are interesting to read.

There are only six survivors of this fight that are now living in Comanche county, these being Jack Wright, John Anderson, George Jaynes, Aaron Cunningham, Dave Cunningham, Dick Cunningham.

We are pleased to be able to give our readers an account of this expedition, which was the biggest Indian fight that ever took place in Texas, and while not written in the Texas histories, it was a turning point in her history. Without the Dove Creek fight Texas’ history would no doubt have been different from what has been recorded.

The following is taken from the diary of Judge Scrutchfield:

“Friday, Dec. 16, 1864. Order came for the militia to meet at Meridian on the 18th. Capt. Gillintine had discovered a camp and trail of Indians on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, 35 miles above Port Phantom Hill. Capt. Totton and I started to Waco in the evening and rode until late in the night.

“Dec. 17. We got to Waco, bought 6,000 caps, got four Tonks for trailers. Captain left that night for home. I stayed.

“Dec. 18. Came home with the Indians.

“Dec. 19. Reached Meridian at 9 o’clock in the night in the rain.

“Dec. 20. Reached Wiley’s store in the snow.

“Dec. 21. Reached Stephenville. Snow deep.

“Dec. 22. Camped 6 miles above Stephenville.

“Dec. 23. Marched to Jamison’s Peak and camped, horses stampeded in the night. ‘

“Dec. 24. Stayed in camp all day. Huntea horses.

“Dec. 25. Marched all day; camped above Flanigan’s ranch.

“Dec. 26. Reached Camp Salmon. Company organized. Whole strength, 500 men.

.“Dec. 27. Marched all day and camped at night in mesquite flat on Hubbard’s Creek.

“Dec. 28. Left camp in the evening and marched five miles and camped.

“Dec. 29. Marched three miles and camped.

“Dec. 30. March all day. Camp on the Clear Pork. No grass. Very cold.

“Dec. 31. March half day to grass. Kill several buffaloes.

“Jan. 1, 1865. Marched to Elm Creek, close to Indian trail. Camped and killed several buffaloes in the evening.

“Jan. 2. Marched to Little Elm Creek on the trail. Went out in the evening" and killed a buffalo. Saw the Double Mountains, high topped hills on the head of the Brazos.

“Jan. 3. March on trail to head of Elm Creek and camp in a flat.

“Jan. 4. March on trail to Oak Creek.

“Jan. 5. Reached the Colorado.

“Jan. 6. (Manuscript to dim to decipher.)

“Jan. 7. Camped on the Concho. At 9 o’clock express came from Capt. Fossett that the Indians’ camp was discovered 35 miles distant. In saddle in ten minutes. March until 2 o’clock. Halt, form a line and issue caps. March on until day the 8th, dismount, load g"uns, mount and ride on across Spring- Creek. Join Fossett wdth 200 men. Made the attack. Got whipped. Twenty men killed and 25 wounded. Fell back 6 miles to Spring Creek, a running creek.

“Jan. 9. Stayed in camp; snow 15 inches deep.

“Jan. 10. Marched down the Concho carrying the wounded on litters — snow deep — starvation in the camp. Camped on the Concho.

“Jan. 11. March all day.

“Jan. 12. Stayed in camp and sold the Indian horses. Two men dead; still carrying corpses on litters.

“Jan. 13. March all day and camp at night in the bed of a creek.

“Jan. 14. Reach settlement on the Concho.

“Jan. 15. Bury the dead and cross Colorado River and camp on Elm Creek.

“Jan. 16. Camp on Muke Water.

“.Tan. 17. Cross Pecan Bayou.

“Jan. 18. Cross the mountains.

“Jan. 19. Cross the Leon.

“Jan. 20. Reach Mills Creek.

“Jan. 21. Reach home.”

The following was told to us by Uncle John Anderson, who is well known to the people of Comanche, and who has displayed his wonderful memory in giving the sketch as he has, which follows:

“James H. Mabry and Capt. Gillintine are buried one mile above the mouth of the Concho, at Bruce McCain’s. After the battle was over we marched to the mouth of the Concho, where we pitched camp. I was acquainted with Bruce McCain, and I went to him and asked if he would let us have some lumber to make coffins for our comrades; he stated that he would let us have the lumber, but that he would have to take it from the walls of his house, which he

did. He tore a petition from the house to furnish us the lumber to bury the two dead.

“Gillintine was killed in the Dove Creek fight. He, Capt. Cunningham and myself were behind a second bank, side by side loading our guns, and Gillintine walked behind us and said he was going to get upon the bank and said he was going to get a shot at the Indians. We tried to get him not to do it, that he would get killed, and he said he was going to try one shot. He got up there and walked about one step and his gun fired. He turned and handed his gun to me, and I asked him if he was hurt, and he said: ‘John, I am a dead man.’ I let him down. I took his gun and let the hammer down and started with him and met some of his men and turned him over to them, and I went back to where Capt. Cunningham was, and he had moved, and they all commenced falling back into the valley.

“We were then right in range of the Indians, and I told Scratchfield that there was no use for us to sit there in line as targets for those Indians. They had long-range guns and overshot us was all that saved us. He said: I won’t move without Capt. Cunningham moves.’ I said: 'I will see the Captain,’ and I went and told him how the thing was. He said: ‘Totton will rally the men, I never will.’

And some of the men spoke up and said: ‘We had better get away from here;’ and Ike Richardson came along and said: ‘John, I want a drink,’ and I said: ‘I do, too.’ I sent my canteen to Mabry and we started up the creek, and I cast my eyes into the thicket to our left and told Ike to look into that thicket. When he did, he turned to me and said: ‘Ha! ha! I don’t want any water either.’ And we didn’t go on after the water. We went on up on the hill and there were eight or ten boys stopped, and it was right from there that I killed two Indians, and I think I killed the one that had killed Noah Bibles.

“Capt. Gillintine died Monday evening just as the sun went down. Sam Burnes was left in the thicket. They went back later and got him and buried him. A number were sent back to the battle field the next day to bury the dead that he had left. Among these I remember, Ike Richardson, who afterward died at Hamilton; Daye Smith, who was once sheriff of Hamilton, and who died there; Bill Poole of Falls county and Jim McCabe, Capt. Totten, probably Sam Powers, and several others I cannot recall. I met them as they reached the top of the hill, and Totten asked me if I wanted to g:o with them. I told him I would

if there was no more running:, and he stated there would positively be no running: this time. And I went. The dead were buried on the Concho river just about one mile above where it runs into the Colorado river.

“George Jaynes, who now resides in Comanche, was cut off from the crowd by the Indians, and left on the battle field, though not wounded. I met John Jaynes going back to hunt him that evening, and I told him that George was not killed. He slipped into camp after dark that night. He said the Indians w^ere packing up to leave when he left there.

“Some have the mistaken idea that Capt. Totten was a stranger in this county at the time of this expedition, and that he was a coward. I was with him during the march and in the battle, and no braver man has ever faced the enemy upon any battle field. I had known Capt. Totten several years before this time, he having been one of the boys of this country. He did not know the meaning of the word surrender, and, in fact, was too determined in the fight. While he was a modest man and had plenty of friends, he believed that he was fighting for his friends and his country, and was a stayer all the way through. Alter the war he went to Brazil, and I understand that since that time he came back and went to Illinois. I do not know whether he is still living.”

Uncle Dave Cunningham, who needs no introduction to you, shows a remarkable recollection in the following history of this fight; his account parallels the two preceding, and is as follows:

“In December, 1864, Capt. Gillintine, Erath county with a scout of rangers, while on the upper Brazos discovered a large Indian trail leading: off in a southwesterly direction. He followed the trail until he satisfied himself that they were too strong: for his small force, and also that their presence in the country, he believed, meant disturbance and trouble. He immediately gave the alarm throughout the settlements, and all the available force in the counties of Erath, Johnson, Bosque, Coryell, Hamilton, Comanche, Brown and Coleman were mustered with orders to meet at Camp Selman on Deep Creek, now in Stephens county.

“When Capt. Gill in time returned home he dispatched word to Capt. Barry, who at the time was on the frontier with troops. Barry forthwith sent a squad of his men into the Colorado country to watch the movement of the Indians until Gillentine could get his force ready, which took several days. We started from Comanche on the 21st of December with forty men under command of James Cunningham, with Lieut. J. A. Wright and Jessie Greene, and

succeeded in reaching Camp Selman three or four days later, where reinforcements from the several counties before mentioned rallied. Our force numbered about four hundred strong. With Capt. Totten in command, we resumed our march. We struck the trail on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. It lead in a southwesterly direction and crossed the Colorado about where Colorado City is now located, thence to the North Concho.

“After several days travel, and when in camp on North Concho, one night about 9 o’clock a courier rode in from Barry’s men who were under command of Barry’s men who were under command of Capt. Possett, and reported that the Indians were encamped on Dove Creek about forty miles distance. Orders were given to saddle at once. A detail was ordered to take care of the pack mules and to follow on the next morning. Fossett sent word for us to be there two hours by sun or we would be too late for the light. A forced march all night, facing the coldest south wind that mortal man ever experienced, brought us to the place where Barry’s men were camped about 8 o’clock on the morning’ of January 8, 1865.

“On our arrival we found Fossett’s command located and secreted in a clump of timber, within a mile and a half of the Indians’ camp. A war council was held by our officers and the plan of attack quickly agreed upon. The Indian encampment was on a creek and was about three quarters of a mile in extent. The plan agreed upon was that Fossett should attack on the west or upper encampment, and Totten the lower or eastern division. All things in readiness, with about five hundred men, the attack was made, and Fossett captured between six hundred and a thousand horses upon his first charge into the Indians’ camp, and detailed a few of his men to hold them in the valley until the fight was over. But the fight was not over as soon as the captain supposed it would be, for in his first charge he lost several men, killed and wounded, together with several horses. In fact, the fight was so hot that Capt. Fossett had to retreat. He took a position on a hill, but the Indians soon made him leave. All this time Capt. Totten’s men were fighting down the creek, but to

little purpose, as the Indians being: well fortified in a dense thicket, we had to dismount and leave our horses some distance north of the Indians’ encampment and wade Dove Creek, which was from knee to waist deep, to get at the Indians. This we did several times, and in consequence suffered great loss, as we were laboring: under great disadvantages.

“On account of this the men became very much discouraged and a stampede was imminent.

“Capt. Fossett was completely cut off from us. We had lost heavily. The Indians had recaptured their horses. It was thougfht best to retreat, which we did. But it was a hard matter to make us do so in order, Capt. Cunningham’s company bring: up the rear of the retreat.

“Dr. Bateman took position on a little mountain north of the Indians’ encampment so he could receive and care for the wounded men as they fell back to the rear, which he did with promptness. He said he fought five hours and thirty minutes before the retreat commenced. While we were retreating, the Indians flanked us on both sides and came up in the rear. They used long-range guns and killed several of our men on the retreat. After traveling about one mile, we halted and made another fight, and drove the Indians back to their camp, this being the last attack made by Totten’s men.

“All this time Capt. Fossett was fighting on the creek above (or west) of us. We then moved north to Spring Creek, carrying our wounded on blankets and horses as best we could. We struck camp about sunset. Capt. Fossett fought in self defense nearly all day. He was cut off from Totten’s command early in the engagement and never saw any chance to join us during the day. Fossett came into our camp between sundown and dark, with his men terribly cut up. They had fought like demons all day.

“After we were all in camp, an examination showed that we had lost and left twenty-six killed on the battleground, and sixty wounded, of which several died afterwards. We lost sixty or seventy horses killed and disabled in the fight.

“Just after dark it set in to snowing and snowed all night. The following morning the ground was covered from a depth of one to three feet with the fleecy covering. Our pack mules were completely cut off from us by the storm. We were out of provisions and started to travel, but the snow was so deep we could not, so we had to return to our camp-fires and await the melting of the snow. We had nothing to subsist on but horse meat. Our pack had some provisions, but were completely hemmed in by storm some thirty miles distant. After the snow had melted a little, we moved down the Concho as best we could, carrying our wounded on litters made of two poles strapped to two mules or horses. About the third day we intercepted our pack mules. They had enough provisions to give us a fine supper.

“While we were in the Colorado country it was thought best to have some beeves, and a detail was made to go to the nearest cattle and follow on. Rev. S. H. Powers was put in command of the detail for that purpose. He went and procured the beeves and followed on until the snow storm, which obliterated our trail until he too, as the pack mules did, had to take his own course. But luck was on our side. The beef men struck our trail after the snow storm and followed on until they overtook us, which was about three days. They secured eighteen or twenty beeves which were killed, and the most of them eaten that night.

“The next day we marched on down the Concho, reaching Chism ranch about two days later. There we obtained some provisions and camped that night.

“The following day Capt. Totten with about fifty men went back to the battlegrounds, gathered up the dead and buried them the best they could.

“The night after the battle the Indians built fires all over the encampment, packed up and started across the staked plains in the worst snow storm that we have any history of in this part of Texas. They must have suffered terribly with cold, as I learned afterwards that the loss they sustained in the fight and their travel across the plains that night was seventy or eighty; our loss being, as before stated, twenty-six left on the battle-field, several dying afterwards.

We captured about seventy-five head of horses. The four Tonkawa Indians, that we had with us, deserve the credit for this, for when they saw that it was a bad fight, they gathered the stock and pushed for the pack mules.

“We made our way home from the Chism ranch at the mouth of the Concho River as best we could, gathering up just such provision as we could get.

“Thus the Dove Creek expedition and fight was ended.

“The battle was fought on the 8th day of January, 1865, between five hundred Texas Rangers and fifteen hundred or two thousand Indian warriors, on the lonely plains south of Dove Creek, and on this battleground lie the remains of twenty noble braves, there to await the call of the Master at the resurrection.”