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No reason why a fire can't be lit under this thread so it can be ridden fer another ten miles or so.



Yeah he did, but he walked the walk and talked the talk.
Some photos, some better'n others.

First off, not too far from where I live, a familiar sight in Texas; one of those 1936 State of Texas historical markers, but this one more melancholy than most.



Marking the demise of one Moses Lapham, and ten stalwart companions. Like Hays he was a surveyor, a highly hazardous profession at that time and place. But apparently such wholesale mortality of young men was not uncommon in those years. Dunno what, if any, cost to the Comanches in this one.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fla37



In the background lies Leon Creek, modern Highway 90 following the course of the old Spanish road.

It looks green and rural in the shot, but appearances can be deceiving, Just about a half mile or so upstream lies one of the more notorious neighborhoods in this town. Downstream of this point the creek meanders across Lackland AFB and Kelly Field. Point of interest; a certain doted-on Corpus Christi pit bull was first located abandoned at that very spot, hanging around a pile of construction trash that had been dumped.

Nowdays there's "DO NOT EAT THE FISH CAUGHT HERE" signs all over; a legacy of decades of dumping along the creek. The marker too is surrounded by the shards of beer and wine bottles thrown against it. But in 1838 this was a fording place along the Camino Real, a forested strip running along the creek, said creek winding across across an open plain dotted with big old live oaks.

It was reportedly Comanches what did Lapham and his friends in, taking out the four of them and then maybe waiting for the rescue party the next day.

I wonder though what the REAL story was. This was in 1838, before the area was inundated with Anglos, and just five miles west of Old San Antonio, along an active trading route. I'm guessing at least some of the local Bexareno inhabitants prob'ly knew the Comanches were there.

Speaking of Comanches raiding in and around established towns, here's Ford's take on Comanche raids in the new settlement of Austin: Beginning in 1846, between two and five full years after Hays "changed the balance of power" with them newfangled revolvers, that a full 40 miles deeper yet into Comanche country west of Austin.

And here, after his extensive service with the Rangers in the Mexican War, IIRC Ford describes his own first actual foray against Comanches (weren't the last), here writing in his usual third person...

In 1848 Indian alarms were not infrequent in Travis County, and even in the city of Austin, the capital of Texas. In those days a gentleman seldom rode into the country any distance without carrying arms. It was not safe to ramble in the suburbs of the town unarmed.

Mr. Horst lived within the corporate limits of Austin. He was attacked by Indians on his way to market. Early in 1846 the writer noted hearing the "check" of billiard balls, the howling of wolves, and the yelling of Indians while he was standing on Congress Avenue.

Austin was a bona fide frontier town. The Indians had killed a goodly number of people within the city and nearby. The citizens would get together and make a reconnaisance in the adjacent country, usually with little effect.

Early in 1849 depredations were committed in various localities south and west of Austin. It was known that Indians often passed down the valley of the Colorado River, which was almost unsettled above the capital.

It was a known habit of theirs to go out by the same route by which they came in. A suggestion was made to raise a company of citizens, move up the Colorado, and endeavor to intercept the murdering marauders. John S. Ford was elected captain of a detachment of a little more than twenty men.

After having ascended the river about twenty-five miles, we found a fresh Indian trail. It was followed two days with a good prospect of overtaking the savages. The second day, in the evening, small fires were built and coffee made - a very indisrete proceeding.

At night a heavy rain fell. It was probable the Indians and whites were camped near each other. The redskins discovered us and left in a hurry. The trail could not be followed the next morning. The scout was not a success.


What was REALLY going on about that time was that the Comanches would be whupped later that same year by a massive Cholera epidemic brung out onto the Plains by the 49'ers, said germs carrying off most of the Southern Comanche bands plaguing Austin.

The usual story, first disease and then the unstoppable power of population demographics sweeping everything in its path. Even so, IIRC the Austin/San Antonio region would STILL suffer from occasion Indian raids as late as 1873, thirty years after Walker's Creek.

Birdwatcher