The Llano News (Llano, Tex.), Vol. 121, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 13, 2010 Page: 7 of 20
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Llano Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Llano County Public Library.
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The Llano Newt
October 13. 2010*7
History
£
Serving the Comanche Moon:
Settlers Prepare for Indian Raids
by Rarylon Hallmark
Russell
When Anglos first made
the decision to cross the
Colorado River and take up
land that fronted the Texas
frontier in the earl\ 1850's,
the settlers knew one thing
they would have to contend
with was the threat of Indian
hostilities It was known
from the start that this same
land, w hich original!) served
as the home of the Lipan
Apache before the more
aggressive Comanche groups
swooped down from the
Plains and forced the
Apaches to relocate
elsewhere, was still
considered prime hunting
grounds for the more fierce
Indian tribes, especially the
Comanche and their later
allies, the kiovv&s
The line of frontier forts
that had recently been
established across the entire
north and western regions of
occupied Texas gave
potential settlers some
confidence that military
protection was near by But.
when Ft Croghan in Burnet
County remained a
garrisoned fort for only six
years, official Iv closing its
gates permanently in 1X55.
those families who had
settled on the w estem side of
the Colorado River now
faced the reality that the
closest calls for help would
be too far remov ed from their
homes to do any good Ft
Mason, which opened in
1851. followed later by Ft
Mckavctt. were way too
many miles away for any
quick response to Indian
raids, especially in eastern
Llano County . Ft Martin
Scott, in Fredericksburg, had
long been unable to offer
effective protection
What became a reality
very quickly was this If
any one was going to help the
newly settled families west
of the Colorado River deal
with Indian problems, help
would HAVE to come from
the settlers themselves By
the time any outside help
could arrive, circumstances
had deteriorated too rapidly
for any successful plan of
action It became evident
that the Indians intended to
make regular monthly foray s
into Llano County, mostly
dunng the day s around the
full moon, which became
known as the Comanche
Moon Most Indian tribes
were highly superstitious
about darkness, considenng
it extremely ill-fated to
attempt certain activities,
especially if warfare was a
possibility Besides that, it
was practical to travel at
night by the light of the full
moon, which enabled the
Indian bands to come and go
more freely across the vast
Texas terrain
Many people have the
mistaken idea that the
Indians who frequently
Llano County in its early
day s of settlement came here
to w reak hav oc on the settlers
themselves Quite the
contrary, most of the time
Their intent was rarely to
cause physical harm to
any one, for in doing so. they
would also be subjecting
their own people to greater
chances of death and injure
Their MAIN REASON for
making the monthly
pilgrimages was to steal
horses, which gave them
excellent trading barter with
other Indian tribes or trading
posts Captives were often
taken with the same goal in
mind
In the early days of Llano
County's history, horses were
rated highest among most
family's list of valuable
possessions A good horse
was easily worth around
$I(H). whereas a man's land
was lucky to be worth a
dollar an acre They were not
just important because of
their value, they were a
necessity for survival
Besides their use for
transportation, they were
& A A
"''House Leveling -
w
The Llano News
P o Box 1*7. l lano. TX 7864V • J25-247.44T.V • FAX V2S-247-JJW
(USPS 316-700)
Serving Llano. Llano County and the
Highland Lakes Area since I88‘>
Published weekly at 105 E Main Street. Stc A
Llano. Texas 78643
Entered in the Llano Post Office as pcnodical postage paid
in Llano. Texas under the Act of Congress of 1878
KEN WESNER • PUBLISHER
TOM SUAREZ • PHOTOGRAPHER
ART DLUGACH • SPORTS
CAROL SHEPPARD • OFFICE MANAGER/CLASSIFIED
LOREN A PEREZ • COMPOSITION
DINA JORDAN • ADVERTISING SALES
COLUMNISTS/CORRESPONDENTS
Kay Herring. Marily n Hale. Vera Homg. Sarah Franklin.
Tommi My crs. Mary Rhodes. Mary Arm Scott
SUBSCRIPTION RATES LLANO AN!) BURNRT COUNTIES I vc» UV 2 vtar*
S47 lilaewhcr* n lex*. I year U2. 2 yean *S7
Out of Slate * I year *•><■ i y«*n STn
All payable m advance rrveneaa call for a .pwtr
r*e Umo .Vewr aolieila lewen to We ednot cwaniing umm* of local Mlereal I nlet,
rnual he »«md and no lonjat than two standard page*, doublc spaced and typed if
poaaihle A day-lime phone number must also be included We will not accept political
letter, endnrwna or nppoam* a particular candidate The Hall reaervea the right to adit
all lemra according to accepted alandard. For further information call The/Ju«. Vew.
at J2V247-44JJ. FAX 347.JJM thenewa^vennm net
POSTMASTER Send Addraaa Change* to The l lano New*. P O Box. 1ST, l lano.
Tens* 7S64J
needed for the successful
operation of ranching and
farming
The Indians became very
proficient in their ability to
steal horses, especially
dunng night time Replacing
these animal was not only a
big expense, it was not easy
to find horses that were
available for purchase
Settlers realized it was up to
them to prevent the Indians
from taking their stock, so
they began to devise their
own plans of action to thwart
the Indians from
accomplishing their goal
Isaac Bylef (Ike)
Maxwell. my great
grandfather, who had come
to Llano County from
Arkansas in 1854 at the age
of seventeen, had received
land from the Davis family
follow ing his marriage to the
youngest Davis daughter not
long after Llano County was
officially organized The
property he settled on was a
little west of what would
become the community of
Bluffton in northeast Llano
County He is credited with
coming up with the idea of
the “Maxwell Dummy
Settlers had observed that the
Indians, w ho usually traveled
in small bands no laigcrthan
ten or eleven, and often
included squaws, were
reluctant to bother the homes
and out buildings of settlers
if men. especially men with
guns or pistols, were around
the house Most males
owned both types of
... weapons, according to Texas
Archival records, which
document the men furnished
their own horses, equipment,
and weapons when they
served as scouts for the
frontier regiments during the
Civil War Even though the
Indians were highly skilled
archers, bows and arrows
were less effective in close
range confrontations
To make the Indians think
a homestead was well
“manned.' life-like
dummies, often holding a
rifle. Were put on porches or
other places on the property
to make the Indians
reconsider raiding the
premises ' During those
times when men had to be
away from their families for
any length of time, it became
customary for the
womenfolk to wear men s
clothing while they went
about their normal outside
chores, in hopes the Indians
would bypass their corrals
later that night
Indians were equally
adept and stealthy when it
j&HV.
.--yfr
n
Ikt Maxwell, who devised several creative ways to prevent Indians from stealing
his stock, is shown in front of his BlufTton home, which w as built pre-1860, with
his last wife and two of their sons.
came to entering gated
corrals and barns, where
horses were penned up at
night, and stealing them
before the owners could
detect what was occurring
To prevent this from
happening, men. such as Ike
Maxwell would pin a heavy
cord to their night clothing
while they slept The cord
would be looped through the
natural holes in the log cabin
homes and attached to the
gate opening into the corral
In the night, should an Indian
try to open the gate, the tug
on the cord would awaken
the man of the house who
would then grab his nflc and.
hopefully, once again prevent
the Indians from stealing his
horses Other families in
Llano County used the
portholes built in the walls of
their homes to not only shoot
weapons from inside the
house, but also to attach a
rope tied to a particular horse
or cow on one end to a bell
inside the house on the other
end
The Atkison family lived
on Campground Creek, one
of the tributaries that emptied
into the Colorado River
slightly- south of Bluft’ton
One thing they did to prevent
the Indians from taking their
better quality horses was to
hide the horses in the middle
of low. heavily wooded and
brushy areas Because of the
Indian's fear and
superstitious feelings about
dark places, they were
reluctant to enter such
locations, even if horses were
the reward
The biggest deterrent to
Indian raids, without a doubt,
was the formation of posses
The settlers had long learned
help from the military or
Texas Rangers would not
arrive soon enough to do any
good Since prompt action
was a necessity, the men in
the area quickly organized
and readied themselves to
pursue the Indians on their
own to retrieve stolen horses
or captives The Indians
likewise learned Very quicklv
that the men in Llano County
were not to be taken lightly
The men had shown they
were stubborn and dogged
enough to do whatever was
necessary to regain their
losses, even if it meant many
long hours or day s of hard
riding and difficult tracking
One one occasion, my
great great grandfather.
Caleb A Dav is, and four
other men from the greater
Tow Valley community, are
said to have followed a
particular band of Indians all
the way to the upper portions
of the Concho River before
successfully getting back
their horses Often, if the
pursuers showed that much
determination, once thev
caught up with the raiding
band, the Indians would
release whatever they had
taken rather than take a
chance one of their own partv
might be killed or wounded
After all. there were more-
horses for the taking
somewhere at another
time Is it any wonder the
Indians learned to refrain
from stealing horses from
Llano County settlers until
AFTER they had completed
foray s on other residences
further east or south? It w as
not wise to prematurely stir
up the men of Llano County
except during the return trip
to the Indian camps, because
the Llano citizens would not
hesitate to chase down the
offenders
For a posse to be
successful, it was necessary
for at least some of the men
to be skilled in tracking It
also helped to have a good
basic knowledge of
astronomy since Indians also
used certain stars to guide
them across the Texas
landscape The worst that
could happen would be rainv
weather, which darkened the
skies and covered fresh
tracks
The times the Indians
PHOTOGRAPHY
ffe
Spooks, Ghosts, Goblins, Witches, Monsters, Heroes and
Warlocks!!! ( and Princesses)
$15 will get you a sitting and 1 sheet of prints, (a sheet is
1-8x10, 2-5x7, 4-3x5, or 8-wallet)
Must be in Halloween Costume
Additional Sheets only $10
On Site Photo Printing
(size 4x6, 5x7, 8x10,11x14,16x20 and
any size in-between)
Full Service Photography Studio
Sittings start at $79.95, includes 4
sheets of prints
)C> PM 4:13
Now Taking Appointments
For Christmas Portraits
70 Different Designs
For Christmas Cards
719 Ford Street
Llano,TX 78643
325-247-5800
most often chose to attack the
homes of settlers was when
the men of the family were
not present If the Indians
had knowledge that there
were no men around, their
chances of encountering
adverse repercussions was
greatly lessened A lot of the
time this was true, but the
women of the county who
were trapped inside their
dwellings were willing to do
whatever they could to
protect their children and
their homes Often, the
methods they chose were
enough to make the Indians
reassess their intentions and
direct their actions
elsewhere If not deterred in
some way. most likely some
members of the family would
be killed, some captured, and
the house most likely burned
to the ground What types of
things did the women use to
discourage the Indian
attacks'1 Whatever was
available at the time of the
crisis
School age children who
walked to and from their
homesteads to the school's
location, generally made the
trek in groups The
philosophy that there was
safety in numbers was
practiced as those children
whohved furthest away from
the school house would meet
at the homes of their nearest
student neighbors, then all
w ould proceed to the school
house together, picking up
others as they made their
pilgrimage
Ironically. the one method
that would definitely thwart
Indian attacks had a
desperate, but simple,
solution MOVE
Circumstances being what
they were in Llano County
dunng the da\ s of the Indians
resulted in many families
doing just that The
realization that the living
conditions on the Texas
frontier was much too
stressful and filled with
constant uncertainty forced
families to either retreat to
safer locales, such as
Williamson County, to the
east, or to move further west
to be in closer proximity to
Ft Mason or Ft Mckavctt
After the Civ il War began
in 1861. officers and troops
stationed at all the frontier
forts were soon transferred
back east to fight in the war
With the forts abandoned,
even more families felt it was
in their best interests to leave
Llano County, at least for a
w hile Lack of any military
presence m the area would
serve as further incentive for
the Indian tnbes to increase
their raiding practices
Those families in Llano
County w ho stay ed arc to be
greatly admired Their
bravery and persistence
should be an example to us
of what we can both endure
and accomplish when times
get really tough They taught
us we can also survive
today s “Comanche moons ”
: r
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The Llano News (Llano, Tex.), Vol. 121, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 13, 2010, newspaper, October 13, 2010; Llano, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1037903/m1/7/?q=%22%22~1&rotate=0: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Llano County Public Library.