Indeed, and Linnville never came back after that blow, tho John Linn himself went on to prosper, being in the right place at the right time twenty years later when railroads were coming in big.
I am sometimes accused of being politically correct, I prefer to look at it as looking at the whole picture. All sources seem to agree that the blunder Felix Huston made at Plum Creek was to dismount his force so as to form a static line of battle, as if the Comanches and Kiowas would assault their line like cavalry.
The experienced Indian fighters present were dismayed and one, Ed Burleson, had had the foresight to invite Chief Placido and his thirty Tonkawas.
The BEST source for all things Texian I have found is Stephen L. Moore's excellent "Savage Frontier" series, difficult reads precisely because they are filled with such detail.
http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Frontier-Volume-Riflemen-1835-1837/dp/1574412353The Tonkawas are most often consigned to mere footnotes in the history books, but Ed Burleson and later Texas Ranger Captain RIP Ford reported quite differently.
At that time preying upon Comanches was what the Tonks pretty much did for a living. Moore has it that after running 25 miles on foot overnight to join in the fighting, Placido and his men inflicted most of the Comanche casualties and took possession of ALL the captured horses, plus creeped everybody out later that night by barbecuing one of the Comanche dead.
Birdwatcher
