Indian Skirmish on Bull Creek?

This blog is broken into the following major sections:

• Overview
• Photos
• Misc. Notes / Documentation
• Speculating: Who Might Ben Keller Have Been?
• Historical Context & Plausibility for Such a Skirmish
• More Reading, References

 (Note: this article continues to be updated as we make subsequent visits, do more research)

 

Overview

 

Despite the known utilization by Native Americans of Bull Creek it was a bit of a surprise when in June of 2020 the Travis County Historical Commission was contacted about a boulder in the canyons of Bull Creek in northwest Austin that purports to be the burial of someone killed in a skirmish with Indians. The weathered epitaph engraved on the boulder reads, as best one can tell (epitaph is carved all uppercase; uppercase letters in parens are what I think is there; lower case letters in parens are guesses):

HERE LIE(S) BEN KELL(Er)

SHOT SIX INJINS FROM HIS HORSE

THERE WERE FORTY TO HIS REMORSE

OKT 5 1854 NOV 1(8 year)

The boulder was discovered some years ago after a new subdivision was built; residents who saw the boulder then, before bits eroded off, think the name was “Keller”. The boulder is large, not likely to have been brought in from somewhere else (uncertain), or to have been placed over a burial, so if there is a burial it is, or was, nearby (again, uncertain).

“OKT” is of course short for Oktober in German, and Keller a common German name; we know Bull Creek was the home of German settlers in the 1850s. Or perhaps “OKT” is simply a phonetic misspelling, as is “INJINS”.

 

One thing that might strike the modern reader as odd is the use of rhyme in the epitaph. But as Terry Jordan explains, this was once a thing. (Jordan, 1982, pp.60-63. Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy)

The skirmish does not appear to be in popular texts of the late 19^th / early 20^th century such as Wilbarger’s Indian Depredations in Texas. But that is not surprising. In a report to Texas Governor O.M. Roberts in 1880, "Expeditions for Frontier Defense from 1855 to 1879", the report said much happened (skirmishes, raids) that was "never reported and of which there is no record anywhere".

Bull Creek School was a one room log cabin that sat at today's intersection of Loop 360 and 2222. The 1936 Defender (a yearbook for rural schools) says it was started in 1867 "during the time when Indians were prevalent." Romantic nostalgia? Maybe not. In 1936 children who attended school there in 1867 were likely alive; definitely their children and grandchildren. It is reasonable that the Defender is recording a remembrance of the Bull Creek community of 1867.

Bull Creek was remote into the last half of the 19^th century as illustrated by the ability of Unionists to mount resistance there against the Austin based Confederacy during the Civil War. There was an Indian skirmish at Defeat Hollow near Hudson Bend ca. 1870 that went unrecorded until the 1960s during interviews with longtime residents. My own family oral history recalls Indian activity near today’s Volente, again ca. 1870. And Preece Ranch (River Place / Steiner Ranch) descendants have oral history of Indian activity, date unknown, but after 1859 when the ranch began. All these – as with the mystery boulder – occurred along the Old Burnet Road corridor that ran from Austin along today’s FM 2222, across Bull Creek, to Bullick Hollow Rd and past Comanche Peak (next to the Oasis), Anderson Mill, Volente, Travis Peak and then to Burnet, Texas, a favorite campsite of the Comanche on Hamilton Creek.

But who was Ben Keller? Thus far nothing has been found in news of the time, GLO land or County Clerk deed records, nor census, to tie a Ben or Benjamin Keller or Kelley to such an incident or the property in general [see Deed Trail]. The date “OKT 5 1854” on the boulder is quite visible, and we thought initially this was the date of death. But on a subsequent visit to the boulder off-camera flash photography was used, a technique used for reading badly weathered headstones. Those photos revealed more letters in the epitaph, but most significantly part of a second date, “NOV 1(8)". Unfortunately, the year was on rock that broke off; we have not yet found the missing piece.

Given this is a purported burial, it is then likely that “OKT 5 1854” was a date of birth, and “NOV 1(8)" the date of death. That whoever buried Ben K. knew his month and day of birth would seem to indicate some degree of familiarity, e.g. family. Although we don't have a year of death, the epitaph would indicate he was old enough to be a skilled marksman with firearms. That combined with the history of Texas and Indian conflicts can provide a ballpark guesstimate: Ben K. would have been 18 years of age in 1872. This is a date that jives with known skirmishes in Central Texas. For example, 1872 is the year of the Deer Creek Battle that took place south of Johnson City, just 37 miles to the west. More on this below.

It may be the case Keller was part of a family that, as we say today, was "living off the grid" and hence just simply does not show up in the census records. Richards tells this story about some families living in the valley of Bull Creek. "In every hollow for many years there were as many as fourteen to sixteen families camping in tents or living in caves to be found in the hollows, earning their living by cutting cedar and burning it for charcoal, then selling it in Austin. At the head of Pfluger Hollow is a large cave, worn by hundreds of years of water erosion. There a family lived for many years, raising eight children in the cave.". While Richards is I believe referencing the early 1900s, this seems equally believable during Reconstruction in Texas. And if Ben Keller had been a member of a family financially dependent on harvesting cedar and perhaps even moonshine on land they didn't own (see Deed Trail & Moonshine below) there would have been little incentive to report a death.

In 1874 cedar was big business in Austin while Indian raids continued.

 

At this point there are many open questions ...

Is this perhaps a hoax? If so, why a hoax in a remote location few would have seen? In other cases where there is historic and modern graffiti etched into rock, there are usually multiple authors; one signature begats the next and that the next. One example of a boulder in an Austin park is covered with engraved graffiti from the late 19th century forward. There is no indication of graffiti, engraved or drawn, on the burial rock; if it was a hoax, not enough people saw it to "chip in" on the joke ("Kilroy was here"). And if a hoax, why not something more "sensational"? Finally, if a hoax, the perpetrator's reference to a party of forty Indians was either quite a coincidence or reveals knowledge of raiding parties in Reconstruction Texas. More on this topic below.

 

Did the skirmish happen at the location of the rock? Perhaps the epitaph commemorates a battle that took place elsewhere, Ben's body returned home for burial. Possible, although funerary practices of the mid-19th century of persons killed in remote locations usually involved burial close-by. A check of military records (Ancestry.com, All U.S., Registers of Deaths in the Regular Army, 1860-1889) hasn't produced hits thus far. Or maybe he was killed nearby, then buried here. Either way, why was the body buried on property that thus far the deed trail indicates family did not own? One explanation: there was no cemetery; see below.

 

No burial has yet been found. What would explain that? The search has been cursory; perhaps we looked in the wrong place. Perhaps the burial was shallow (very likely given the terrain) with stacked rock (abundant in the area) and over time the above ground remains have vanished. Another possibility; perhaps Ben was initially buried elsewhere, the burial rock moved to this location. There are a number of similar size boulders that seem a bit out of place; perhaps they were moved here from elsewhere. Or the site may have been a quarry. See more below.

The location of the boulder is being withheld at this time for its protection; a “notice of unverified cemetery” has been filed with the Texas Historic Commission and TCHC is working with THC's regional archeologist.

 

Read more below as continue research.

Photos

 

Click to enlarge photos

Bob Ward (right) holds a reflector sheet to help highlight engraved letters. Off-camera flash photos of the boulder were taken on a subsequent visit to bring out more detail.

Boulder epitaph highlighted for easier reading

 

 

This stereograph titled No. 32 Hunters' Retreat, Bull Creek-Austin, Texas was taken by H.B. Hillyer ca. 1867-1886. Was Ben Keller part of a hunting party on Bull Creek that found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time? Click to enlarge.

October 2020 members of the Travis County Historical Commission, both archeologists, performed surface "scraping" in search of a grave shaft. While nothing was found on this trip, additional field work is planned.

Subsequent Visits; More photos 

 

Travis County Historical Commission has made subsequent visits to the site with their archeologists looking for evidence of a burial, doing metal detection. The goal is not to dig up a burial, but rather try to detect disturbed soil to indicate the presence of burial. Click to enlarge photos.

 

Photos of Inscription

 

After clearing brush completely from the rock we've done additional off-camera flash photography. It is hard to get a single photo of the whole rock with all letters legible so most of these are images of single words. Notice chisel marks. Click to enlarge photos.

Best attempt at a single photo of entire rock with legible epitaph. You'll need to enlarge too see.

REMORSE

THERE WERE

LIES. Bottom of S visible

HERE

 

Misc. Notes

Shape of Rock. One aspect of the rock itself we didn't immediately appreciate: it's shape, and the orientation of the text. The rock either naturally or was shaped to be a triangle, with the epitaph engraved parallel to the base. This then raised the question, was the rock originally raised, resting on the base, in which case it would have appeared as a headstone, text parallel to the ground. Photo below best illustrates. This would further argue against a casual hoax: between shaping and engraving, a good amount of time was invested in the rock.

Was the rock shaped to be a headstone resting on its base?

 

Cemeteries. Bull Creek residents were over time served by five cemeteries. In order of proximity to the burial rock; earliest burial based on Find A Grave in parens:

Pleasant Valley (1897), Preece (1885), Oak Grove (1887), Jolly (1870), Pond Springs (1859)

Early German Bull Creek settler Ernst Wilhelm “William” Thurm is said to have been buried in Oak Grove in 1887; His wife Johanne Christiane "Caroline" Hoff Thurm was buried in 1897 in Pleasant Valley Cemetery (speculation is that at the time of her death Bull Creek road to Oak Grove was impassable due to flooding; a problem to this day). The Preece family cemetery is pretty much just that, the Preece family. Jolly cemetery was the cemetery for Jollyville and is not located along Bull Creek. Pond Springs is the oldest, not on Bull Creek, and indeed some folks from Bull Creek were buried there before cemeteries along Bull Creek proper were established; one Preece is buried there as well, his death pre-dating the Preece family cemetery.

 

Point being, at the time of Ben Keller's death, let's say ca. 1872, there was likely no cemetery on Bull Creek. The only cemetery up and running was likely Pond Springs, the furthest away; maybe Jolly; neither on Bull Creek. This puts into perspective how remote Bull Creek was during this period. In short, Ben Keller's burial may have been an "off the grid" burial out of necessity; the cemeteries along Bull Creek proper (Pleasant Valley, Oak Grove, Preece) were just not yet established.

 

Deed Trail. Josiah Fisk, namesake of Fiskville, TX, was the first owner of the property but would have never lived there. As noted in the application for the historical marker for Fiskville, Josiah Fisk purchased many acres of land around Bull Creek and other places in Travis County from people owning headrights and sold the land to settlers. The original grantee was Robert Compton. In 1850 Fisk surveyed and tried to patent the property (GLO File Number 000099). The property was caught up in the Thomas Jefferson Chambers land grant issue which drug on in the courts with Chambers, then his heirs, until 1925. Fisk was sued by Chambers (Austin American-Statesman, 23 Oct 1936) and the patent application was rejected in 1858 (GLO District/Class: Court of Claims, File Number 001712). Then in 1860 Fisk simply purchased the property outright from Chambers as previously surveyed (Travis County Deed Records Deed Record 161, Page 496). When the Civil War broke out, Fisk, a Union supporter, left Texas. After the war he returned briefly, then left again never to return. In 1900 he sold the property to a Mr. Burney (Travis County Deed Records Deed Record 161, Page 496). Fisk passed away in 1901 near Chicago Illinois. This tells us that ca. 1870s, the estimated death of Ben Keller, the property was unoccupied by the owner, Josiah Fisk. Nor is any mention made in the deeds of a cemetery plot or burial.

 

Janet Long Fish Interview. An interview of Janet Long Fish that included history of Bull Creek was conducted in 2000; the transcription of that interview is on file at the Austin History Center. In the interview, discussing an Indian trail that ran along Shoal Creek she said (p.17): "The Shoal Creek Trail tied into the Bull Creek setup. And the Shoal Creek Trail—it’s hard to look at the river now because the lake is covering a lot of what was bottom land, and we forget that you could come right below Mount Bonnell. And this is what the Indians did, they came up Shoal Creek, and they turned left at Thirty-fifth Street. They went below Mount Bonnell, and then they went below Mount Bonnell and on up. Now, how far up Bull Creek they went, I don’t know. I know the Comanche Trail out by Lake Travis is a continuation of the Shoal Creek Trail ... And they [Indians] went up the trail and below Mount Bonnell. Whether they went [up] Bull Creek, I don’t know. They [Indians] killed a man who was—one reliable source says he’s German; the other one says he’s Irish..". Unfortunately Fish does not provide her sources; and in the context of the entire interview it isn't clear the deaths she mentions were associated with Bull Creek, versus say Shoal Creek. Still the interview piques one's curiosity as to whether the incident on Bull Creek was a known event that has been orally passed down if we could just find someone that remembers their grandparents or great grandparents talking about it.

 

Speculating: Who Might Ben Keller Have Been?

  

A couple of theories on who Ben Keller might have been that might explain what we know, and mostly don't know about him. Pure speculation.

Bootleg Moonshine on Bull Creek

Moonshine was a profitable livelihood for many on Bull Creek, well documented, dating back to at least the 1860s (probably earlier). See Ken Roberts’ The Cedar Choppers. Even before prohibition, this was illegal. As reported in a 1921 news article, in 1861 “Federal Revenue Officers” raided and had a shoot-out with moonshiners in Bull Creek's Stillhouse Canyon (hence the name). The article from 1921 tells about the 1861 raid & shootout: “Three-score years ago [from 1921] Federal officers were busy [along Bull Creek trying to] locate the source from which certain residents of Austin ... were receiving their supply of moonshine ... They found Stillhouse Springs which to this day bear that name, and there, also, they found a still in operation in a sort of half-cave which is known ... as Stillhouse Cave ... This moonshine mixture was reputed to be triple-distilled and was guaranteed to have 'some kick'". That 1861 raid didn’t put an end to moonshine production along Bull Creek. During prohibition a 1923 article says “Caves in Bull Creek Hills Furnish Safe Retreats for Moonshine Gangs; Officers Get Clue to Nest of Stills”. That same year another article said "BULL CREEK LIQUOR TRAFFIC AMOUNTS TO $2000 PER MONTH: SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT WORKING HARD TO STAMP OUT MOON-SHINE OPERATIONS." The Austin Statesman, 1923, Feb 04. Roberts and news articles document stories into the 1930s and later of bootlegging operations that made runs from Bull Creek into Austin. If Ben Keller had been a member of a family financially dependent upon a moonshine operation on Bull Creek, any skirmish with Indians might well have gone unreported for fear of Federal intervention; the raid of 1861 would have been fresh in their minds. This would have especially been the case given they didn't own the land; the owner, Josiah Fisk, was not living in Texas and it seems unlikely they were "renters".

 

German Rock Masons

Another explanation as to who Ben Keller might have been, and why he doesn’t show up in records: perhaps he was contract labor brought in from elsewhere because of his skills; specifically, a German rock mason, or related to one. 

 

Ken Roberts comments on the Germans that settled along Bull Creek (p.39): “The Germans [...worked hard in the...] fencing of the valley with stone walls built with thousands of hours of family labor ...”. Dry stacked rock walls are of course something commonly associated with the Germans of the Texas Hill County (Cox). Cox relates the story of a Louis Grosz, born in Hueffenhardt, Germany in 1853, and came to Texas when he was 18. Close to Ben Keller's birth and estimated year of death. "[When] Grosz finally reached the Hill Country he had to go to work to repay the $50 his uncle had advanced him for his passage to Texas. His first income came from laying rock fences at 50 cents a day". Later he married and raised eleven children, had other jobs, but continued to hire out as a rock fence builder the rest of his life, employing his sons as they grew. "Like railroad workers laying track, the Grosz’ stayed in the field until they finished a job, moving their camp site as their enduring handiwork slowed progressed across a field."  

 

Bringing this theme to Bull Creek, from Richards: "About 1871 ... [Louise Thurm Waechter] husband, August, brought a German rock mason to live on the place and build a house for them. The rock was quarried [on their property]". Louise Thurm was daughter of William & Caroline Thurm, German settlers on Bull Creek. August Waechter too was German (Roberts, 2018 p.39). In 1871 Ben Keller would have been 17. Not to say he was related to the German rock mason the Waechter family brought in (but who knows?) but in this time-frame Bull Creek Germans are building rock fences and rock houses, bringing in German rock masons, using local limestone they are quarrying themselves. And since they were "brought in" likely would have been transient and hence “off the grid”.

 

There is the fact that Keller is a German name, and that “OKT” in the rock’s epitaph could be for Oktober in German. But there is more to question the connection to rock masonry: there are other boulders in the area of the burial rock that bring to question if the site was a stone quarry; if indeed the burial rock was from the quarry. It and the other boulders on site are comparable to remnants from the Davis quarry in NW District Park. And who better to engrave an epitaph than a stone mason.

 

We know local limestone was of good quality and in use in buildings in Austin. An article in 1879 commented on the quality of local limestone used in the Sampson-Hendricks Building completed in 1860, located at 622 Congress (Austin American-Statesman, 12 Jan 1879, p.2). And we know that Bull Creek’s limestone was apparently of good quality. In 1881 a search for a quarry for the new capitol building was underway; an article in the paper reported: “Materials For Capitol Building. The Report of the Commissioners to the Building Board ... we have visited a great number of stone quarries in Travis, Williamson and Burnet Counties". One location was Bull Creek: "Along Bull creek canon (sic) are immense hills of magnesian (sic) limestone of very fine textures and excellent susceptibulature (sic) under the chisel ... The excavations made at Champion's quarry, about a mile from the mouth of the canon (sic) and nine miles from Austin, expose ledges ranging from one to two feet in depth.” (Weekly Democratic Statesman, Vol. 10, No. 50, July 21, 1881, p.2). The major objection to Bull Creek for the Capitol was the cost of getting the granite to the Capitol grounds. While the location of the Champion quarry is not known, the Champions were early settlers to Bull Creek in the general location of the burial rock. That is not to suggest the burial rock was part of the Champion quarry (we don’t know) but that quarries in that area of Bull Creek existed and were in use. Other news articles indicate the presence of quarries on Bull Creek.

 

Historical Context & Plausibility for Such a Skirmish

 

"There Were Forty" 

The inscription on the rock states there forty Indians in the skirmish. Aside from the fact head counts in any battle are always suspect, with a tendency to inflate the number, the question remains, is forty a plausible number in relation to other skirmishes of that time period in Texas? Reviewing newspapers of that period, the number forty crops up over an over. Perhaps not coincidentally, platoons in today's US military ranges from 15-45; surprisingly close to the 20, 30 and 40 head counts often cited in reports of Indian skirmishes. It may be an optimum size tactically for a fast moving force. Brunkow* (p.30) "Raiding occurred throughout the 1800s as a method for extracting wealth from those who held it, as well as to exact revenge on enemies. Usually consisting of a small band of from four to forty Indians, raiding parties were led by the “pipeholder” who was expected to know the routes, landmarks, and target locations. Using scouts to ride ahead of the main body of attackers, Indians traveled quickly and quietly to raid objectives."

Some examples in Central Texas ca. 1870s:

• To Austin's south, "about forty Indians" were involved in a skirmish with the 4th Cavalry near San Antonio in 1870 [The Galveston Daily News, 20 Apr 1870]
• To Austin's north, in 1871 "some thirty or forty Indians" raided the Gatesville area [The Galveston Daily News, 9 Dec 1871].
• The "Deer Creek Battle" of 1872 near today's Johnson City involved a force of approximately 30 Indians [Roberts].
• The much written-about battle atop Packsaddle Mountain in 1873 involved a force of about 20+ Indians [Roberts] .
• In 1874 "A band of forty Indians made a raid through Burnet, San Saba and Brown counties.." [Denison Daily News, Vol.2, No. 26, March 25, 1874]. This example in particular seems to indicate travel along the Colorado River.
• 1873 "... a party of Indians appeared among the sheep and stock ranches ... on the San Antonio road [from Laredo], the ranches being from three to twelve miles apart along the road, and off on either side of the road ... There were about forty, and they afterward divided."
  (The Austin Weekly Statesman, 23 Oct 1873, p.2)

In this last example from 1873 notice it says: "There were about forty, and they afterward divided." Dividing the party after a raid may have been a technique to complicate being tracked; pursuers would have to pick one trail or another, or likewise divide their party. It may have also been used to target multiple locations. A party of thirty to forty divided is fifteen to twenty; yet another common reference made to raiding party size. Additionally, as Brunkow notes, a raiding party may have also used scouts in advance of the larger party; this may account for some references to very small parties which otherwise beg the question, why risk a raiding party so small?

 

In summary, burial rock's claim of a raiding party of forty is quite plausible for this period.

*Brunkow, Corey. "The Future of Raiding: Lessons in Raiding Tactics from the Indian Wars and Law Enforcement." Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA, 2009

 

Timetable & Map of Raids on Texas Counties During Reconstruction

For context here's a map (Texas wide) and timetable (Travis and surrounding counties) of documented raids and skirmishes during Texas Reconstruction when the incident purported by burial rock would have occurred. 

 

The map shows Texas counties (less El Paso) listed in the Special Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of Texas (pp. 28-39) having experienced raids during Texas Reconstruction for the years 1865 through 1875. The report details persons killed, wounded, or captured, and property (horses, mules, cattle and sheep) destroyed or stolen. A common theme in most of raids was the acquisition of horses and cattle. Raids were a way to reestablish shrinking horse herds, so important to, for example, the Comanche lifestyle and economy. Additionally, cattle became a substitute for the dramatic decline in game, and in particular buffalo. "Cattle theft by Indians was a common hazard of early settlers in Texas. Though the Indians more often stole horses, when their food supply was short, they drove off and butchered beeves, dairy cows, and oxen. Sometimes they stole beyond their needs to avenge wrongs or to drive White settlers from their hunting grounds" (Cattle Rustling, Handbook of Texas).

 

On the map, each blue pin represents one county. The black dot (see arrow) marks the location of burial rock on Bull Creek. Red diamonds show the location of raids and skirmishes chronologically by year and county nearest burial rock: Shingle Hills (Travis, 1864), Defeat Hollow at Comanche Peak (Travis, after 1868), Round Mountain (Blanco, 1869), Deer Creek fight (Blanco, 1872), Packsaddle Mountain fight (Llano, 1873). More on these below. 

 

To illustrate the distances undertaken in some raids, the square at bottom shows the last documented Comanche raid into Mexico in 1870 attacking Lampazos, Coahuila, Mexico; a distance of 80 to 100 miles below the border depending upon border crossing (Adams, David B. "Borderland: Northern Nuevo León and the Indios Bárbaros, 1686-1870" The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 95, No. 2 (October 1991), pp. 204–220).

Click to enlarge

To bring the focus closer to Travis County and the burial rock, here's a timetable of Indian-Texas encounters from 1864 to 1875 in Central Texas. It is not an exhaustive listing and focuses on Travis County and nearby counties, particularly those through which the Colorado and its tributaries, the Pedernales and Llano, flow leading to Bull Creek. Those in bold are the five red diamonds on the map.

 

1864 Lohman killed at Shingle Hills, Travis County
1866 30 horses stolen, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)
1866 Raid on Doublehorn Creek, Burnet County 40 horses stolen, party of 15 to 25, The Dallas Daily Herald, 8 Dec 1866, p.1

1866 - 1871 1142 horses and mules stolen, 35 killed, Gillespie County (Adjutant General Report, p.38)

1867 29 horses stolen, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1867 Attack on Friend family, Llano County (Handbook of Texas)

1868+ Defeat Hollow at Comanche Peak, Travis County (Owens, Perkins, Sikes, Denney)

1868 1150 head cattle stolen, Kimble County (Adjutant General Report, p.32)

1869 Emma Jones killed, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1869 F. M. Smith killed, stole 49 horses. Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1869 Thomas and Eliza Phelps (AKA Felps) killed near Round Mtn., Blanco County

1870 25 horses stolen, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1870 5 horses stolen, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1870 Captain Habey killed, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1870 45 horses stolen, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1870 Whitlock family attacked, Llano County (Handbook of Texas)

1870 “Party of eighteen Comanches came down into Burnet, stole about one hundred horses, and left for the mountains." (Wilbarger p.626)

1870 "about forty Indians" were involved in a skirmish with the 4th Cavalry near San Antonio in (The Galveston Daily News, 20 Apr 1870)

1871 40 Horses stolen, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1871 31 Horses stolen; killed 2 girls, Burnet County, (Adjutant General Report, p.35)

1871 Indian raid near San Antonio "A party of fifteen or twenty ... stole a lot of horses from a ranch within five miles of the city..." (Austin Weekly Statesman, August 1871, p.4.) Bexar County.

1872 "Indians passed down to Llano county, through Burnet, and came to within three and half miles above Bluffton, and what is there called the "Colorado Saline". (Austin American-Statesman, 20 Feb 1872, p.2). This is a reference to the Bluffton-Tow Salt Works. Native Americans were aware of the salt deposits: "The Cowans [early settlers] were directed by local Indians to a salt bed near the Colorado River ... developed into a successful saltworks." (Tow, TX, Handbook of Texas)

1872 "... from a citizen of Blanco county that [on] the road leading from Austin to Fredericksburg" a large party of Indians attack citizens (The Galveston Daily News, 4 Jul 1872, p.3)

1872 Deer Creek Battle, Blanco County

1873 Packsaddle Mtn. Fight, Llano County

1873 Three incidents, numerous horses stolen. Kimble County (Adjutant General Report, p.32)

1874 Two incidents, 60 horses stolen, Gillespie County (Adjutant General Report, p.38)

1874 "A band of forty Indians made a raid through Burnet, San Saba and Brown counties..." (Denison Daily News, Vol.2, No. 26, March 25, 1874).

1874 Several incidents. Attacks on citizens. Horses stolen. Kimble County (Adjutant General Report, p.32)

1874 "... a great many horses being stolen by Indians". Llano County (Austin American-Statesman 30 Aug 1874, Sun p.3)

1875 6 horses stolen, attempted captures, Gillespie County (Adjutant General Report, p.38)

1875 Several incidents. Three citizens killed. Horses stolen. Kimble County (Adjutant General Report, p.32) 

 

Notes, More Reading, References (no particular order)

 

The location of the boulder is being withheld for its protection and is on private property. The location has however been logged with the THC in their archeological database as TV-C249 so it can be located for future preservation and study.

 

Historical overview of Bull Creek

https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2020/01/bull-creek-historical-overview.html

More on Preece Ranch, Unionist resistance from Bull Creek during Civil War
https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2020/03/travis-countys-texas-ranger-dick-preece.html

More on Comanche Peak
https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2020/07/comanche-peak-travis-county-texas.html 

Bull Creek School
https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2017/10/bull-creeks-pleasant-valley-school_24.html

H.B. Hillyer "Hunters' Retreat" photo purchased for publication from DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs. More information at http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/jtx/id/1234

Richards, Cathryn. Valley of Cascade Creek. Written in 1961 but unpublished. Copy at Austin History Center. 

Roberts, Dan Webster. Rangers and Sovereignty. In May 1874, Dan W. Roberts (Daniel Webster Roberts) was given his commission as second lieutenant of Company "D" of the Ranger Battalion; he would remain with them for the next eight years, later becoming Captain. His account of his time with the Texas Rangers, Rangers and Sovereignty, was published in 1914. Describes Blanco County's Deer Creek Fight near today's Johnson City in 1872, and Llano's 1873 Packsaddle Mtn. fight.

Cox, Mike. Rock Fences (2008). Retrieved 5/5/2017 from http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Rock-Fences.htm

Roberts, Ken. The Cedar Choppers. 2018

Thurms, Early German Settlers on Bull Creek. https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2018/02/thurms-early-german-settlers-on-bull_16.html 

 

Fiskville. Application to the Texas Historical Commission for a Historical Marker, April 27, 2004. William McGarry, M.Ed., Stephanie Neely, Sam Williams, Lisa Kerber, Ph.D., Ernestine Thompson. Provides a good bio of Josiah Fisk. Fiskville history marker itself is viewable on HMDB https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=25884