Good points.
Meanwhile, maybe fifteen miles east of Victoria on the morning of the 9th, the Comanche force passed between Tumlinson and Owen going north. One can only imagine the sentiments of those who had been two and three days on the trail when finally catching sight of the enormous Comanche host. Captain Owen had sent three men forward as scouts, one was killed and one outran his pursuers, the third received some hard-won mementos.
John Menefree, a San Jacinto veteran and Texas Congressman, was struck in the body with seven arrows piercing him. He somehow managed to escape and hide in some drift brush along the creek bank until the Comanches passed on. Menefree walked and crawled to a nearby ranch the following day.
He had managed to pull the seven arrows from his own body. Although suffering from serious blood loss, he survived, and would keep the seven arrows in his Jackson County home for years. Mostly I'm impressed that he had the foresight to hang onto them arrows and bring them along even in his extremity, musta been a born optimist...
As for Tumlinson's party...
...they finally came in sight of their adversary about 10am. They were located about five miles south of DeLeon's ranch and were issuing from the woods onto the verge of the prairie. One wonders what it was like to finally come upon the enormous host they had been trailing for days.
Gonzales volunteer Washington Miller found the Comanches to be "hideously bedaubed after their own savage taste". Some wore feathers. Others were "sporting huge helmets of buffalo or elk horns - armed with glistening shields, with bows and quivers with guns and lances, and mounted on their chargers, dashing about with streamers" flying behind them. He estimated the Comanche force to be "from 400 to 500" Tumlinson advanced and dismounted to attack. Actually dismounting to inflict accurate rifle fire has been a much-maligned tactic in print, but it seems to have been a standard one among the Eastern Tribes when out on the plains, and was used by the aforementioned Captain Bird when inflicting casualties at a rate of six to one in 1839. The trick being to reserve your fire such that some members of the group are alsways loaded. Worth noting that those Comanches on this raid who were armed with rifles did the very same thing.
A large number of their warriors encircled the Texans to keep the Texans at bay while other Indians herded their large drove of horses forward A tactic attempted again at Plum Creek.
Alfred Kelso, sheriff of Gonzales, drew first blood this day. His target was a daring turkey-plumed Comanche chief with lance and shield. As the Comanche moved tauntingly close, Kelso dropped him from his horse with a well-directed shot.
Washington Miller continues... "They whirl about us, exibiting the most admirable feats of horsemanship and, being continually in motion, were less liable to be struck by our balls, But it was seldom they withdrew from their daring sallies without leaving upon the ground some indubitable evidence of the skilled use of our arms. Discovering the fate of several of their number, they became more wary, and kept at a more respectful distance.
Those among them using escopetas and rifles dismount and play upon us from the grass, at about one hundred and fifty paces."Moore records that Ben McCulloch for one was agitating for a charge on the Texan's part, but that Tumlinson held back out of regard for the condition of his men and their horses. Indeed, Moore writes that the Texans were suffering excessively from the heat, their first move after this twenty-minute skirmish being to seek water.
Again, ya gotta be on the Texas Coastal Plain in August to fully appreciate their condition.
What followed for the next two days with Tumlinson's force was a sort of prolonged standoff, Tumlinson's group along with thirty-seven men of Owen's force trailing close behind the Comanches, even stopping for the night close on their tail. The Comanches unwilling to face Tumlinson's rifles, most of the rangers on played-out horses.
Meanwhile Ben McCulloch had separated from the group on the evening of the 9th.
Captain McCulloch, seething with anger that he had been unable to bring Tumlinson to force a charge all day, decided that the Texans had missed their golden opportunity. Ben McCulloch turned his GOnzales company over to a lieutentant and departed with three trusted men.... Riding hard for Gonzales throughout the night. He was determined to find more men who would aid him in fighting the Indians. Hard to second-guess the situation form this distance, but worth noting that even such worthies as Sheriff Kelso stayed with Tumlinson. Also worth noting that McCulloch and his three companions all had horses that would stand the all-night trip.
McCulloch made it to Gonzales on the 10th, and dispatched one of his companions to find Burleson.
He dispatched Gipson with a note to the Colorado River to raise up edward Burleson to join with recruits. McCulloch asked Burleson to designate the crossing at Plaum Creek as the rendevous site for volunteers that could be raised. No word on how the worthy Gipson managed to endure through his prolonged ordeal but word did get though, most likely reaching Burleson early on the 11th, the same day Burleson departed from Bastrop.
While the weary and saddlesore Gipson was hurring to Burleson, Tumlinson's men did make a charge at some point on the 10th of August, scattering some Comanches and recovering some of the loot, but the Rangers were simply unable to press the advantage. Afterwards, they resumed their position, shadowing the Comanche force, Tumlinson sending a small group of the best-mounted men ahead, to Plum Creek.
So the stage was set....
Birdwatcher
