Footprints of Texas history

Preface

I have tried in these pages to present some facts in Texas History which would he interesting to children in the Second Grade. Every child should read History Stories at an early age, because they have great value in forming the character of the young. Children love the marvelous in Fables and Fairy Stories, but they often ask, "Is that story sure enough?*- which shows that they thirst for the truth.

Every teacher believes that the way to fix History and Geography in the mind is to carry on the study of them at the same time. The Geography questions at the end of some of the stories are merely suggestive. The teacher can furnish many more, so that a child can gain much information about his own State.

I desire to express my thanks to Mr. Sowell for the use of cuts from his book on Texas Indian Fighters, and for material for Indian stories; and to Mr. Sterling Fulmore for the designs for the other cuts and for the cover; to Judge Raines for assistance ; and to the State Library, which is rich

11 PREFACE.

in valuable and interesting works on Texas History. I have used also as aids Thrairs History and Wooten's History, and Under Six Flags. I am indebted to Miss Jessie Sayers for the poems entitled The Land We Love, The Bonnie Blue Flag, and Texas, Name to Us So Dear.

Austin, Texas, August 23, 1901.

CONTENCS.

Texas 1

Air of Dixie 1

The Happy Hunting Ground 1

The Horned Frog 3

The Rabbit 4

The Wolf chat Ate Little Red Riding-hood .... 5

The Land of Tent? 6

Indians '^

Bows and Arrows 10

Big Foot 13

^'Big Foot'^ Wallace 15

Wallace's Dogs 18

Cynthia Ann Parker 19

Iron Jacket . . . . • 23

Putnam Children 24

What the Indians Thought of Red Hair 26

Bowie's Brother's Indian Fight. 1 27

Bowie's Brother's Indian Fight. II 30

Bowie's Brother's Indian Fight. Ill 31

Black Jim Bowie 32

La Salle 35

Bean 38

A Bold Pirate 40

IV CONT^BNTS.

The Treasure 43

The Father of Texas 44

How the First Texaiis Lived 46

Austin in Mexico . 48

The War 50

Battle Hymn 51

The First Battle 52

Milam a Prisoner in Mexico 53

ConcejDcion 54

The Grass Fight 55

Ben Milam 58

Independence Day 60

The Twin Sisters 61

The Great Hunter 62

The Texas Spy 63

The Indian Fighter 63

The Flag 64

Travis' Letter from the Alamo 65

The Fall of the Alamo. 1 66

The Fall of the Alamo. II (TS

A Brave Boy 70

Fannin 71

The Runaways 'f4

Burning of Gonzales 76

San Jacinto. 1 77

San Jacinto. II 78

San Jacinto. Ill 79

A Great Man 82

CONTENTS. V

A Letter from Houston 84

Bonnie Blue Flag 86

Texas \'. 87

The War Without Any Blood 88

The Cart War 88

The Black and White Beans 89

Drawing Beans . 91

Prisoners 94

Wallace a Prisoner in Mexico . 94

The Texas Seal 97

A Texas Norther 98

The Blue and the Gray 98

Young Sidney Sherman 101

The First Railroad in Texas 1(J2

A True Soldier 103

Death of Albert Sidney Johnston 103

The Land We Love 105

TEXAS.

Above, above such skies of blue,

Below, below such flower-sown sod,

While ever and ever between the two Go the wonderful winds of God,

AIR OF DIXIE.

Texas is the land for me;

On a winter morning the wind blows free;

Away, boys, away down South in Texas !

In Texas land where I was born in.

Early one fine summer morning;

Away, boys, away down South in Texas !

In the happy land of Texas, hurrah, hurrah ! In Texas land we^ll take our stand. And fight and die for Texas land, Hurrah, hurrah ! hurrah for the boys of Texas !

THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUND.

A long time ago there was a tribe of Indians traveling. When they first set eyes on the rolling

)i FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY.

plains of Texas, decked with carpets of beautiful wild flowers and grass, the}^ called out, "Telias ! Tehas !" which means the Happy Hunting Ground. From that we took the name Texas.

No wonder they liked it. Droves of wild horses

HAPPY HUNTING GROUND.

would snort and run out of sight when they came within a few hundred yards of them. Deer roamed the prairie in herds of hundreds. The deer were so tame that you could draw them to you by placing a red flag in the bushes. When one was shot the rest of the herd would run up and gather around him to see wliat was the matter. Black bear hid in the cane brake, Wolves howled.

The prairie was alive with buffalo, trampling morning, noon, and night, to drink at the river; wading, plunging, and snorting in the water; climbing the muddy shores, and staring with wild eyes at the passing canoes. The Indians could hide and shoot them as they came to drink. Sometimes they killed twelve in three days, besides deer and geese.

The music of little birds was sweetly rolling through the air, giving life to the country in which they lived. Quails lived here. There were many buzzards and sea birds near the Gulf.

[Name ten birds and tell where you have seen them.]

THE HOENED FROG.

The horned frog is between the frog and the lizard. He is from three to five inches long. His feet are those of a lizard; his body, part frog and part lizard ; his tail, part lizard and part pollywog. His head has scales going up and back like horns ; two of them are longer than the rest. Two lines of horns go down his body. He is a dark gray, with white spots all over him. His eyes are black.

like two bird-shots. His mouth is large, as if it might swallow you.

He moves like a frog and a lizard, — a hop, skip, and crawl; mostly a crawl.

If a frog was as big as an elephant, wouldn^t you be afraid of him?

When you take him into your hands he looks at you Avith his little dark eyes, which seem to say, "I would not hurt you for the world V'

You may turn him over and tickle him ever so much, yet he will keep his temper. Little children, don't you like to play with him? Did you ever drop him down the back of your waist, at the neck, that lie might tickle you as he crawls upward or downward on the naked flesh?

Once a stranger was walking along, when out of the grass near by ran what he thought was a centipede, and he was afraid of it. He got a stick about ten feet long and mashed it. It was a horned frog.

He is a pet with all who know him. He takes his meals on flies and tender grass, and his drink he gathers from the night dew.

THE EABBIT.

The rabbit is called mule-eared from his long ears. The ears are tipped with white, and while

:^o6tprints of texas history. 5

sitting still they keep them moving up and down, as the butterfly does his wings when sitting on a flower.

Are rabbits not graceful and fast, and pretty to look upon as they bound away? They are so swift and strong that it is hard for any dog but the greyhound to catch them.

If your dog Tray should see a rabbit jump up within ten feet of his nose, he would give a bark and bound after him. He would follow for awhile, then stop and look at the rabbit, drop his tail, hang his head, and come back.

THE WOLF THAT ATE LITTLE RED EIDING-HOOD.

Little boy and girl, it may be that the bad 0I4 wolf that ate Little Riding-hood lived here in our forest. Maybe some Texas woodman came and killed him. He growled and tried to run away, but they caught him. Thus died the wicked old wolf who ate up Little Red Riding-hood, who ;iYent to take her grandmamma a basket of fruit and cakes. Do you not think he was served right ?

These wolves are called lobos or loafers. Their backs are curved like a hyena's. They carry their heads close to the ground, as if smelling for something. They are as big as a large dog. Their hair is shaggy. Did you ever see one?

[Name ten animals that live in Texas.]

THE LAND OF TENTS.

You like to go out camping for a few weeks every summer, don't you? But how would you like to live in a tent all the time ? That is the wav

WIGWAMvS.

the Indians lived. They called their tent a wigwam.

The wigwam is bufPalo skins sewed together and made into the form of a tent. The skins are held up by polos. Tlie women can take these tents down in a few minutes when they want to find a better hunting ground. If I were a hunter I think I would pitch my tent here in Texas. The prairie swarms with noisy wild fowl. Geese and other flocks fly here and there crying, "Conk, conk/' as they fly. Cranes, like armies, march over the plains. Prairie chickens rise on the wing. There are many blackbirds.

[Draw a wigwam.]

INDIANS.

An Indian mamma tells her little boy : "If you go on the warpath, do not turn around when you have gone part way, but go on as far as you were going and then come back. I would not cry if I were to hear that you had been killed in battle." This is what makes a man to fight and to be brave. Love your friend and never desert him.

Indians have odd names. Peace Maker, Skin

Shirt, Dull Knife, and Lone Wolf are men's names.

An Indian is quiet in peace; in war his eyes beam and he moves quickly. When they want to

TEXAS RANGERS TRAILING INDIANS.

make signs to eacli other across the prairie, they pile up wet and dry grass and set it afire. A smoke in a little while goes up into the air with a puff.

When they come home from a l)uffalo hunt thev

J'OOTPRINTS OP TEXAS HISTORY. 9

have a dance. A fire is made in the center of a level piece of ground. Their faces and their bodies are painted. The chief dances up and down singing to the music of a gourd filled with rocks ; then all join hands and dance around. They make gestures to show all that takes place in the chase, —the helter-skelter run after the game, firing of guns, bellowing and falling of bulls. At length all march around as if burdened with game.

They wear strings of beads in their noses and ears. They hide their corn in holes in the ground. The red man thinks that a great spirit sits behind the clouds and watches over his arro'.vs as they

fly.

Indians are cruel. They hide for days to get a chance to attack a place. They are too fond of drinking; perhaps that is why God has let them be driven out from iheir hunting grounds.

They do not wliip their children. If they do wrong, sometimes their mothers blacken their faces and send them out of the lodge. When this is done they can not eat until it is washed ofi"; at times they are kept a whole day in this way. They love their little children. The children are polite to their papas and mammas and all older people. The women have all the work to do. Indians can hear and see better than you can. The Texas Indians like to ride. They are good horsemen.

lO FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY.

BOWS AND AEROWS.

You know that the bows and arrows made by you boys are not very strong. They will not even kill a small animal. An Indian with his bow will send an arrow through a horse or a man. He sends his arrow at eighty yards into the heart or eye of his game, and with ease tips birds from the tops of the highest trees.

The Indian boy's first lesson in life is to shoot with a bow. He is given a small bow with blunt arrows^ so he will hurt nobody, and with these he shoots at marks.

By and by, when he has learned, he is given small arrow-points, and with these he shoots birds, squirrels, and small animals. As he grows older he is given the long bow, and at last the strong bow.

Let me tell you how to make a good bow and arrow. First, we will begin with the arrow. The rods must be cut in the arrow season; that is, late in the fall when the wood is hard. They must be straight and smooth.

The sticks are as thick as your little finger. They are two to two and a half feet long, wrapped with strips of rawhide or skin. This keeps them from bending. The sticks are then hung up over

FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY. ll

the fire to be dried. After two weeks tlie bark is scraped off. The wood is then tough and of a yellow color. Then they must be cut the sauie length. Each man has arrows of a different length.

Then the notch is made for the bow-string. A little gutter is made in all arrows, to let the blood run out.

The arrow-head is made of steel or stone. It is shaped like a heart and has a stem an inch long. The sides are cut out like saw teeth. The steel arrows are sold to the Indians for furs.

The wood is wrapped firmly to the arrow-head with deer or buffalo skin, which has been made soft in water.

Then tlie feathers are put on. They are pulled from the quill and put on the shaft of the arrow. Three feathers are put on each shaft. The arrow is painted and then it is ready for use. It takes an Indian a day to make an arrow for which he gets ten cents.

Would you like to know how he poisons his arrows ?

A rattlesnake is made to put his fangs into the liver of a deer while it is warm. The arrow heads are thrust into the liver and left there for half an hour, when they are drawn out and laid in the sun to dry. A thin yellow scum sticks to the arrow, and if it but so much as touches the skin it is certain to poison to death. The Indians carried these arrows in the skins of rattlesnakes, and they were very careful of them, but sometimes horses, dogs, and children would get them. So at last the Indians stopped using them.

Years ago each Indian war party carried a liver wrapped in a piece of buckskin, and it, with many arrows, was packed on a pony called a "dead horse.^'

The bow is four feet long and one and one-half inches wide. At one end the bow-string is notched into the wood and made fast, while at the other end two notches are cut in the wood, and the string at that end of the bow is made like a slip-knot or loop.

When the bow is to be used, the man sets the end to which the string is made fast firmly on the ground, and then bends down the other end until the loop slips into the notch. This is called stringing the bow. The bow is never kept strung except when in use.

The wood used in making bows is ash, hickory, elm, and cedar.

[Draw a bow and an arrow.]

BIG FOOT.

Big Foot was an Indian chief. This name was given to him because men could trace him by the size of his footprints. He was a Waco Indian. He used to go into a town and steal the horses.

One time Captain Ross and three men were riding along, when they came to a hill on which there were some live-oak trees. Looking out over the country they saw Big Foot and four other Indians. Ross said: ^^A horseman comes this way riding like the wind ! He has turned ! How he rides ! See him wave his arms and hear him yell ! Let us overtake him !" Off they went and caught up with him. It had been raining for days and both guns and bow-strings were wet. They fought with guns and knives. Not a gun was fired, not an arrow was shot, and yet they got back all the horses, and all the Indians were killed.

A few days after the whole tribe surrounded and entered Ross' house. He was sick with fever. His little son, who was years afterwards Governor, went out and asked them what they wanted, and they said they wanted watermelons. He showed them the way to the patch, and they helped themselves and went away. At that time they killed

FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY.

many people all around Austin^ the capital of our State. The}^ ran after a man named William Barton, who lived across the river from Austin at the spring which bears his name. Finding they were t

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going to catch up with him, he stopped on top of a hill and made a sign as if he w^ere beckoning to some one to come and help him. The Indians stopped a moment. During that time he rushed home. His neighbor was killed in his sight. Another party of Indians came into the town of Austin before sundown and hid themselves in the brush along a small stream which flows through the western part of that city. Two children, a boy and a girl, who came out to drive up the cows, the Indians took in sight of their mother. Her screams could be heard for miles. A party of men heard her and ran after them. The Indians got away and crossed the river at Mount Bonnell. Months after the boy was brought back and taken to his mother. He said the Indians camped six miles from Austin, and his little sister fought the Indians bravely. But they took her to the top of a hill, a long way from the camp, and in a short time came back Avith her scalp hanging from one of their belts. This little boy took some men to the spot, where they found her bones and clothing.

"BIG FOOT" WALLACE.

One night the Big Foot Indian came to Austin, and in prowling around stole something from a man named Gravis, and then went to the cabin of Fox and Wallace.

The next morning Gravis trailed the Indian to the doorstep of Wallace, and without trying to trace him any further, waked Wallace up and told

BIG FOOT WALLACE.

him he had been stealing. Wallace also wore moccasins and made a large track, but he was so angry at Gravis that he was about to whip him on the spot, and made a grab at him. Gravis got out of the way and told him to prove himself clear and there would be no fight. Wallace sai;l he could do that, and at once went to the Indian's track and placed his foot in it with the moccasin on and made Gravis come up close enough to look at it, and showed him how much longer the Indian's track was than his. So Gravis begged pardon and walked oif. Fox came to the door and saw the whole thing, and while Wallace was standing in the Indian's track he laughed and said : ^'Xow, Wallace, when the Big Foot Indian is not around, we v/ill call you 'Big Foot.' " Others took up the name, and so it came al)out that when some cne would say something about Big Foot another would ask, "Which do you mean, the Indian or 'Big Foot' Wallace? So the name stuck to him.

Afterwards Fox was one day hoeing a small patch of corn surrounded by a brush fence, when Big Foot, the Indian, shot him from the fence, AVallace now wanted to kill the Indian, and took the trail.

18 FOOTPRIXTS OF TEXAS HISTORY.

WALLACE'S DOGS.

Wallace had four clogs of which he thought a great deal. Their names were Rock, Ring, Speck, and Bias. Rock was his Indian dog. Wallace couhl always tell by the way he acted when Indians were around. If it was night he would take his blanket and gun and dogs and stay in a thicket near by until morning. The dogs would lie down by him without making any noise.

One time Rock gave the sign of Indians just Iwfore daylight, c^nd Wallace took his gun and watched until dawn. He hissed the dogs out to see if they could find the trail. He soon heard them barking loudly. Coming to the spot he saw an Indian down in a gully and the dogs around him. He was keeping the dogs from taking hold of him In' throwing his blanket over their heads. Wallace raised his gun to shoot, but he saw the Indian was not armed, and calling the dogs off, made signs for the Indian to come up. He had no arms but a small knife, and that was broken. He had no arms to kill game, and he was nearly starved. He had broken his knife trying to open a terrapin. Wallace took him to his cabin, gave him all he could eat, and left the dogs to watch him.

CYNTHIA ANN PAEKER.

A man by the name of Parker, with the help of nine other families, had come out to Texas and built a fort; that is, all the cabins were built together with a wail ten or twelve feet high outside to make them safe.

Early one morning about two or three hundred Indians came to see them. They held up a white flag when near the cabins, as if they were friendly, and asked where they could find a water-hole and a nice camping place, saying they were hungry and wanted some fresh beef. Mr. Parker was afraid not to do what they wanted him to do, so he went out to see them. When he came back he said he thought they wanted to fight, but he would, go again and try to make friends. As soon as he got among them they gave loud yells, surrounding and killing him. Like wild animals, their first taste of blood made them want more.

They stormed the fort. Most of the men had gone to the fields to work. There were fifteen children and ten women. They took mothers from their children. They made Mrs. Parker put her little girl Cynthia Ann, nine years old, and her son John behind two Indians on horseback. A man from the fort soon took Mrs. Parker from

FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY.

them. One tribe took John, who got away in a few months; another took Cynthia Ann, who lived with them twenty-five years.

That night the Indians brought out and placed in the center their prisoners and began their

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MASSACRE OF DAWSON'S MEN, dance. One lady had a little baby three months old; they tore it from her, tied a rope around it and dragged it around, knocking it against things until they thought it dead, then they gave it back to the poor mother, who had to see all this without being able to help the baby. As the mother held it to her breast, seeing it was still alive, they snatched it away again and dragged it through the prickly pear bushes until it was dead. Then the poor mother dug a grave for it with her knife.

Cynthia Ann grew up with the little Indian girls and boys, waiting on the squaws; in time she seemed to forget all about her own people. If the white men and Indians were fighting, she would be as eager to run from the whites as the others. Some white men tried to get her to tell them whether she wanted to go back home, but she would not say a word. When she grew up she married an Indian chief. She seemed to be happy, with her children playing around her, and waiting on the big chief.

Governor Ross was fighting with the Indians at a river, and took some of them. Cynthia Ann was among those he caught. Looking at her, he saw she had l)lue eyes, but was burnt as dark as an Indian. He found out her story, and took her and her children among white people; but she never seemed happy. She died in a few years. She missed the wild life.

2.3

FOOTPRINTS OF TEXAS HISTORY.

IRON JACKET.

IRON JACKET.

The Comanches were fighting Indians. They fought so much that no one felt safe. So the State ordered a hundred men and some friendly Indians to try to take the camp of Iron Jacket, the Comanche chief.

He wore a coat made of iron, from which he received his name. The Indians said that he could not be killed by the bullet of tne white man. He would fight right m the front.

The camp was spied out by some Indians with our men, and taken by surprise. Iron Jacket fought hard. The bullets did not seem to hurt him.

At last a shot from Eoss killed him. Ross took all the horses, men, and other things at Iron Jackets camp ; among them was his little son N"opo. He was raised by the Ross family.

[Colorado means red. Ask your teacher to tell you the m.eaning of some other Indian names.]

24 FOOTPRINTS 0¥ TEXAS HISTORY.

PUTNAM CHILDREN.

One bright day Matilda Lockhart^ James Putnam and his two sisters, one older than he, went to the river bottom to gather pecans. For some time they picked up the nuts, and their merry laughter rang out through the forest. At last it was time to go home. Their baskets were full of nuts and they were hungry for dinner. The l^askets and bonnets were gathered up and the children ran from the bottom to the edge of the prairie.

But what a sight now met those merry eyes ! The laughing voices were hushed and the cheeks were pale with fear. There, in a few feet of them, rode a band of wild, painted Indians.

The poor little ones could not gef away. With a wild shout the Indians ran around them, and reaching from their horses, grabbed the screaming children, and holding them in front, dashed away to the woods.

When the children did not come home their mammas and papas became uneasy. They began to search among the pecan trees for them. The smallest child was only six years old. When they came to the spot where the children were taken, oh, how they felt ! A bonnet here, a bonnet there, an overturned basket and pecans scattered all about, told them the story. On the ground lay little Jimmy's hat. The ground was torn up by the horses' hoofs. They knew too well what had become of their little ones. No timt^ was to be lost. They rushed back and got a few men and were soon on the trail of the Indians. The trail led up the river and was hard to keep, as the country was rough.

Once where the Indians halted the tracks of the children could be seen in the sand. This was near New Braunfels. Here they had to give up ihe hunt until they could get more men. After a while they came to an Indian camp. A spy slipped up and found out that the children were there. The papas could hardly keep from going by themselves to get them. They fired into the camp as soon as it was light enough for the men to see to shoot. An Indian gave a loud yell. The time for battle had come, and they made a rush to fight their way to the middle of the camp where the children were. There were only a few Avhite men, but they fought hard. The fight was against them. Fresh swarms of Indians kept coming in. Loud 3^ells rent the air, arrows flew on every side, tomahawks were raised on high. Our men had to give up all hopes of getting their little children.

After a long time two of the children were swapped for some beads. The eldest girl became the wife of a chief and would not leave. She wanted to spend the rest of her life as an Indian.

Thirty years after a white man bought an old woman from the Indians and brought her to his home to live. She could not remember her name or where she had been taken from by the Indians. When they came to the river she said she thought she had seen that country before. James Putnam, who lived near there, was sent for to see if he could find out whether this was his sister. He knew her by a scar caused by a burn on one of her arms.

WHAT THE INDIANS THOUGHT OF EED HAIE.

Henry Karnes was a man who made his living by catching wild animals in traps and selling their fur.

He liked to fight with the Indians; that was the reason he came to Texas. He was a spy; Deaf Smith was a friend of his.