1873 to 1881, eight years encompassing some of the most notable in Texas history. Twenty-six patrols, many exceeding two months in duration. Incessant patrolling despite forbidding terrain and climate, bringing sure retribution against even small groups of Apache, Comanche and Kickapoo raiders. I can’t think of any other Western figure that was quite the equal of John Latham Bullis when it came to bringing some degree of law and order to the Frontier.
Much of his success was made possible by the services of the Black Seminole Scouts whose own frontier saga stretched more than seventy years from 1830’s Florida into the 20th Century serving along the Border.
Popular Texas Historians have been a particularly bone-headed bunch. Prob’ly true of most places but especially true of Texas where, in order to spin a particular cherry-picked narrative, much is ignored or written out of the script. Case in point; Bullis and his scouts. Even most Texans had never heard of those guys.
Prob’ly in a large part due to their activities, the frequency of Indian raids in the area was decreasing markedly by 1880. The Scouts remained active however…
Among their other duties, Bullis and the Black Seminole sometimes escorted civilian prospecting parties. During one such expedition in early 1880, he and his 30 scouts were closely observed by Burr G. Duvall who kept a diary of the trip to theBig Bend area [probably a descendant of the Burr Duval who died at Goliad, 1836].
“Bullis has made quite a reputation on the frontier as a scout. I was much impressed with his quiet determined look and would consider him a man who, as the Texans say, ‘would do to tie to’ “.
Duvall noted that the Black Seminoles religious element was highly developed. “Every night they have a sort of camp meeting, singing prayers and reading the Bible, which, among these lonely hills, sounds weird and peculiar.”
Bullis was among those Frontier heroes who was afterwards able to transition smoothly into a more ordinary mainstream existence. Likely as a result of knowledge gained during expeditions like this he invested shrewdly in regional mining concerns, accumulating a fortune in his later years.
He even got the girl too (actually he was married twice, his first wife, a local Latina out of San Antonio, died of some cause during his Texas years).
Louis L’Amour (not just a Texas Historian I know) really shoulda thrown a Sackett in the mix and wrote a book about these guys.
Next up, April 14th, 1881; the last Indian raid in Texas…
Was up near Real county, Campwood?
