Refugio County Press (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 21, 2013 Page: 4 of 16
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Page 4A
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013
Hefugto (Emm to fflve&s
Swing for Woodsboro now officially accepted
Contributed photo
A swing for the Woodsboro square, donated in honor of William and Tomiko Kennedy, was offi-
cially accepted by Robert Blascke on Saturday, Feb. 9. Seated with the honoree were six of the seven
children. Pictured (front row) are Sherri, Judi, Bonnie; and (back row): Steve, David and Kevyn.
WOODSBORO — An official presen-
tation gift to the town of Woodsboro in
the form of a structurally rugged swing,
was observed and officially accepted by
Robert Blaschke on Saturday, Feb. 9, in
the town square.
The swing was donated to the town
three years ago, but not officially accept-
ed, although much used.
A permanent plaque was put in place,
which read Donated to the Town of
Woodsboro in honor of William and
Tomiko Kennedy.
Whooping Festival starts today
Greetings Baysiders and other inter-
ested parties. Port Aransas is holding
their annual Whooping Crane Festival
(today) Thursday through Sunday, Feb.
21-24 and are sponsoring two tours
on the Fennessey Ranch on the Friday
and Saturday, Feb. 22-23. If you’re
interested Contact the Port Aransas
Chamber of Commerce by calling 800-
45-COAST or 361-749-5919.
Waves from
Bayside
By Jeannie Dahl
You can also visit their website at
www.portaransas.org and click on
“Whooping Crane Festival”. Saturday,
March 2, the Bayside Ladies Guild will
be holding their 2nd annual “Backyard
Bazaar” behind Bayside’s Community
Center, and if it’s anything like last
year’s it should be a huge success.
This year, they will be selling home-
made taquitos, barbecued brisket
sandwiches and drinks. So bring a
friend and come on down to Bayside’s
Community center Saturday, March 2
from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. In the mean time
remember to keep it real, keep it safe
and as always GWG.
Texas frontier forts lagged behind the moving frontier
^▼^he State of Texas
■ I Tried to define and
I defend its advanc-
ing frontier with
a string of new forts in
the 1850s. In the Spanish
colonial period, the pre-
sidios that accompanied
the missions were used
to secure Spanish claim
JRrfngtn Cnrmhj Press
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Jeff Latcham &
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Co-Publishers
Kenda Nelson,
Editor
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Entered as periodical postage at
the Post office in Refugio, Texas
78377 and additional entry office.
The Refugio County Press will not
be held responsible for any omis-
sions, deletions, or typographical
errors other than to correct the
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Postmaster:
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Refugio County Press, P.O. Box
10, Beeville, Texas 78104.
to Texas. Under Mexican
governance, Mexico built
ten forts to help control
Anglo-European immigra-
tion and collect customs
duties.
Mexico expected the
colonial settlements of
the empresarios to defend
themselves and Mexico
from the Comanche.
Following Texas’s annexa-
tion as a State and as a
prelude to the war with
Mexico in 1846, the U.S.
built several new forts
along the Rio Grande.
The Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo in 1848 ended the
threat of Mexican inva-
sion, but left the threat
of Indian attacks on the
westward movement of
settlers and on wagon
trains to the 1849 gold
fields in California.
Settlers pressured the
U.S. Government for pro-
tection. One part of the
Federal Government’s
response was to build a
line of new forts in Texas,
eventually numbering
some 40. Another part
was a push to move the
Indians to reservations,
mostly in Oklahoma,
known as Indian Territory
after 1856.
The earliest ten forts in
Texas were built between
1849 and 1852, starting
with three along the Rio
Grande (Brown, McIntosh
and Duncan), passing
through Fort Martin Scott
near Fredericksburg and
ending in the north with
Get back to the fairgrounds for the
5th Annual PRCA Rodeo
Saturday, February 23rd!
Gates open at 6:00 p.m.
Rodeo: 7:00 p.m.
with
Johnny Bush
after Rodeo
Full Concessions by Texas Roadhouse
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Coastal Bend
Chronicles
By C. Herndon Williams, Ph.D.
Fort Worth. But these
forts were obsolete as
soon as they were built,
with eager settlers always
pushing beyond their
dubious protection. The
forts were always inad-
equately garrisoned and
were easily avoided by
raiding Indians. Many of
these forts were quickly
abandoned and more forts
farther west were built in
the period 1852 to 1861.
Fort Belknap, founded
in 1852, was the northern
most of these later forts
and the closest to Indian
Territory. It was a fort
without defensive works
and most of the early
buildings were wooden
huts or jacals. A number
of forts were established
farther west in the home-
land of the Apache and
in the raiding path of the
Comanche: Forts Stockton
Lancaster, McKavett,
Davis, Quitman and Bliss.
The purpose of these
forts was to provide a liv-
ing place for cavalry who
would conduct wide-rang-
ing patrols for marauding
Indians who had left the
reservations. The forts
also provided a nucleus
for settlements, since the
military needed material
support.
Many of the Cavalry’s
patrols were not success-
ful, because the Indians
were very adept at eva-
sion, knowing the coun-
try better than the white
soldiers. One successful
patrol was led by a Lt.
Schuyler, seeking Apache
who had fled the reserva-
tion. His patrol consisted
of two experienced non-
commissioned officers,
nine cavalrymen, four-
teen Apache scouts, 25
pack mules plus civilian
skinners. They had two
of the best Apache guides
as trackers. They were
plagued by cold, wind and
deep snow in the high
country.
On the fourth night, the
trackers spotted two fires
in the snowy distance.
Indian camps!? Although
the soldiers had already
covered 27 miles that day,
they spent a brutal night
walking in circles in the
snow since a campfire
would betray their pres-
ence. At daybreak, in a
swirling blizzard, they sur-
prised the nearest Indian
camp, killing 15 hostile
Apache. The gunshots
alerted the other camp
whose inhabitants fled.
Despite this early suc-
cess, the patrol slogged
on through the cold rain
and snow for another two
weeks before sighting
another Apache. After six
weeks on the move, the
patrol returned to the fort.
Unfortunately, their best
Apache scout drowned
while crossing a river. The
picture of Apache scouts
helping the Army to track
other Apache shows the
fractious nature of Indian
relationships.
The building of so many
forts was in response to
public pressure to ‘do
something’ about the
“Indian problem” in the
rapidly moving frontier.
There was also a flurry of
treaty-making with vari-
ous Indian bands. While
the treaties were not hon-
ored by either side for long,
the net result was to move
the Indians either toward
the reservation or extinc-
tion. The Army was com-
pletely ineffective in keep-
ing settlers from encroach-
ing on Indian land pledged
by treaty. The wholesale
slaughter of the buffalo for
their hide in the 1870s and
1880s sealed the Indian’s
fate.
How could the outcome
have been any different?
White settlers were will-
ing to live in peace (for
awhile) only when they
got the plot of Indian land
that they wanted. Indian
culture was too divided to
unite against white immi-
grants when the Indians
held the advantage in
numbers. It all seems so
inevitable.
Herndon Williams is
affiliated with the Bayside
Historical Society and the
Refugio County Historical
Commission. He is the
author of the book, Texas
Gulf Coast Stories, pub-
lished in Dec 2010 by The
History Press. Email at
cherndon8695@sbcglobal.
net
Butler Oil
Tool Company
Recognizes
Marvin B.
Null, Jr.
for
40 Years
of dedicated service
Thanks, Marvin!
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Delaney, Tim. Refugio County Press (Refugio, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 21, 2013, newspaper, February 21, 2013; Refugio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth741114/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dennis M. O’Connor Public Library.