Fascinating to think that twice in each trip I cut across the trail of the massive Comanche raid on the coast, so many years ago.
Yep. Every time I take I 35 to Austin, somewhere around San Marcos was where the Great Comanche Raid crossed, going down August 4th, and coming back August 12th.
Author Steven L. Moore (Savage Frontier Vols I thru IV) can be a tedious read as he tends to stick to a strict timeline of events, meaning the narrative can jump all over the place geographically between unrelated events. However his style works really well here, you get a sense of events unfolding as it was for the participants.
Meanwhile, down around Victoria....
on Friday, August 7, the Comanches moved from Spring Creek, moving the 3 miles back into Victoria. The Comanches proceeded to burn one house and robbed several others but they were quickly discouraged from doing any more execution. The local men were well armed and they put up enough heavy gunfire to convince the Comanches to move on. They opted to move down towards the lower coastal settlements, rounding up more cattle as they went.
The settler Cyrus Crosby had gone into Victoria early on August 7 leaving his family behind. During his absence the Comanches captured his 25 year old wife. That evening or during the early morning hours of the following day, her small child became hungry and began crying. When the mother was unable to quiet the child, one of the Indians grabbed a baby, threw it down, and speared it before the horrified mother.
The Comanches then turned to the east, across the prairie in the direction of Linville on the coast, 20 miles away. They camped for a portion of the night on Plácido Creek, on the Benavidez Ranch about 12 miles from Linville.
If I go back through the narrative, there’s about twelve additional recorded deaths of settlers and slaves in the path of the raid. I haven’t mentioned them for purpose of brevity. Considering the numbers of Indians involved, the casualty list seems surprisingly short. Perhaps because they stayed together in a cohesive group.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
