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Fascinating info

Reinforcing the notion that "unexplored winderness" or whatever was mostly an American conceit (not trying to be negative here, just the way it was).

Anyhow... the Comanches believed whupped at Plum Creek in August of 1840. Flush with notions of victory, an expedition of about 180 men under Major George Howard set out from San Antonio about October 1, eaded West, looking to carry the war to the Comanches.

On irritating commonality among Texas history books is the use of terms like "headwaters of the Nueces" as if the average reader had a clue where that was. Anyhow, a whole ten days later Howard's force was just 100 miles Northwest, having found no Indians, said expedition by that time "on the headwaters of the Nueces"


From the "picture worth a 1,000 words" dept.... here's an actual map of the Nueces...




Uvalde lies 70 miles down modern Hwy 90 from San Antonio.

It may be significant that Moore makes no mention of Howard bringing any Indian Scouts. Howard and his 180 men, including such notables as Matthew Caldwell and, as it turned out, Ben McCulloch, would spend six weeks traversing a route that in places crosses the most scenic of our Texas Hill Country, scoring what amounted at best to an incomplete victory against the Comanche band they encountered.

About the 11th Howard's "spies" (scouts) locating the trail of a large Comanche camp headed southwest in the direction of modern Fort Clark/Brackettville at the headwaters of Las Moras Creek (I believe the westernmost faint blue line on the above map). Las Moras Springs/Brackettville/Fort Clark being about thirty miles west of Uvalde along that same Hwy 90.

Howard wrote...

Upon reaching the headwaters of the Nueces, the spies reported fresh sign and it was evident we were in the vicinity of a considerable encampment of Indians.

Perhaps on the advice of the likes of Caldwell and McCulloch, Howard divested the column of most of its supplies and attempted to steal a march on the Indians, however the trail was lost in the dark and the column halted until morning.

The men were halted, ready to move on at any moment. The guides however could not dicover the trail during the night. At daybreak (of October 13), it was found on our right, and I dispatched Captain Caldwell, Mr. McCulloch and a Mexican to examine it. They soon returned and reported to have seen Indians, and that we were discovered.

A mad ten-mile rush ensued, the Comanches scattering from their camp in advance of the Texans such that only about four were caught and killed, including a young woman apparently killed in cold blood after being captured and bound. The Comanches were however forced to abandon most all of their possessions, including many horses, their tipis and their winter food supplies. Interestingly, Howard mentions capturing "several Indian rifles". Also, no mention of items identifiable as coming from the Great Raid in this particular camp.

For the most part, their horses played out, pursuit ended at the camp, some of the party chasing the Comanches for another five miles but being unable to come up with them.

Would the victory have been more complete if Howard had used Indian scouts? Hard to say, but a person who had grown up on the Plains in tune with the "moccasin telegraph" might have known better where to look, might have better been able to conceal Howard's force on approach, and might possibly have been better able to follow such a large trail in the dark.

Relatively bloodless as it was, the sacking of the camp must have served notice of a sort through Comancheria. Comanche camps had been attacked by parties of that size before, even well inside Comancheria, but this time it was Texans doing it.

Over the next four weeks Howard's force drifted northeast to the "head of the Frio River" (one of the blue lines just east of Barksdale on the map) and from there to the "head of the Guadalupe". At which point a second map becomes appropriate. Here's the Guadalupe...



Note that Jack Hays would fight major engagements with Yellow Wolf's Comanches on the squiggly part of the Guadalupe north of San Antonio in 1841 and again in 1844.

Finding no Indian sign, Howard headed north, essentially jumping watersheds...

From the Guadalupe I proceeded to the head of the Llano, and despatched a party to the San Saba, under Captain Cunnigham.

This next map is actually of the Colorado, however the San Saba, Llano and Pedernales (Flint) Rivers are all tributaries of that stream, the San Saba flowing past modern Brady, TX.

The Llano is the next river down, the Pedernales the one below that.



Absolutely spectacular as the scenery in that unspoiled era must have been, it was likely a dreary march. Seeking to impose a sort of "radio silence", Howard permitted no hunting, indicating that he did indeed expect to come upon Indians at any minute. Nine men separated from the main column and shot a deer, and the camp of these men was attacked that same night. Whether it was the shot that had precipitated the attack is debatable, surely a force the size of Howard's would have been shadowed by that time, especially after the the events of October 13th at Las Moras Springs.

On November 5th, a detachment of Howard's force surprised and attacked a travelling party of twenty Indians, presumed to be Comanches, but after a prolonged pursuit succeeded only in capturing some jettisoned baggage. The following day Captain Cunningham and his thirty men returned from their unventful scout of the San Saba, the whole party returning to San Antonio via the Pedernales.

One thing of note was their discovery of the fresh trail of a large party riding shod horses, heading northwest, deeper into Comancheria. This they correctly assumed was the trail of a second major expedition led by Col John Henry Moore.

So, a relatively uneventful expedition tying up the services of 180 men for six weeks. The Indians were probably right about one thing though; most often on such expeditions, once desirable country had been explored by White men, members of the party remembered it and later came back to settle. If it hadn't been before, that particular slice of Comancheria was now familiar ground.

Birdwatcher