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Just another aside on geographical mobility.... this here is the old Spanish Trail, 1,200 miles, stretching from Santa Fe to Los Angeles...




In its heyday Walkara, the Paiute Bandit (AKA "The greatest horsethief that ever lived") and his men raided and traded along all of it. Pretty much in the same period as the events occurring in Texas that we have been discussing here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkara

This guy is probably a familiar historical figure to Utah residents here. Surprised the heck out of me when I first learned of him. What are the odds of some obscure Great Basin Indian learning both Spanish and English, organizing a band of brigands, and raiding and slaving on that scale, over that large an area?

The easy mobility of the thing surprised me too; this guy was raiding Southern California, and driving thousands of horses clear to New Mexico.

His burial however was one of the more unpleasant occurrences in Western History. He was buried on a high mountain in a tomb built of rocks and boulders. At least two women and two small children were slaughtered and placed in there with him.

Worse, a boy was confined alive inside the stinking mortuary and left to die, despite his entreaties for days to be released, much to the amusement of Walkara's henchmen.

One of them occasions where you'd contemplate being dropped into history for a moment, AK-47 and several 30 round mags on hand

Birdwatcher