The Junior Historian, Volume 15, Number 1, September 1954 Page: 17
32 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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THE JUNIOR HISTORIAN
INDIAN DEPREDATIONS IN
UVALDE TERRITORY
by LAWRENCE R. SMITH
Uvalde High SchoolT ROUBLE with the Indians in the
Uvalde County area began during
the Spanish period when Juan de
Ugalde, for whom the county and town
were named, was sent to expel the Co-
manches who were threatening settlers
on the Rio Grande. Throughout the
territory lived the Coahuiltecan, Lipan
and Mescalero Apache, Comanche, and
Tonkawa Indians. The Coahuiltecans
lived toward the Rio Grande border and
south of Uvalde, while the Apaches were
to the west, the Comanches to the north,
and the Tonkawas to the east.
In 1849 a civilian colony sprang up
around the United States military post
at Fort Inge, and Reading W. Black
came in 1853 and started laying out
Uvalde. Other small settlements had
sprung up, and the inhabitants of these
communities lived on the extreme edge
of the frontier exposed to Indian
attack.
Only the Tonkawas were relatively in-
offensive. They moved about between
the Two-Mile Water Hole and Chalk
Bluff on the Nueces, and occasionally
they stole from the settlers. The other
tribes not only stole supplies but also
stole and killed horses and oxen, and
murdered and scalped the settlers.
The Comanches were the first to raid
in Uvalde. In the late winter of 1856
the Indians stole two horses from the
ranch of Uncle Johnny Fenley on the
lower Sabinal settlement and killed the
work oxen on the Grid Thompson
Ranch. Citizens of Uvalde County or-
ganized two militia companies, the men
on the Sabinal River commanded by
John Davenport and the Leona settlers
by. Reading W. Black. They recovered
the horses but the six Comanches
escaped.
In less than a month Indians killed
a cow belonging to Aaron Anglin andstole several horses. About a month later,
John Leakey, founder of Leakey, was
visiting at the Anglin Ranch. Think-
ing Indians were outside, he rushed
into the dark with a pistol. An arrow
narrowly missed his head. The Indians
did not attack that night and the next
morning Leakey, Grid Thompson, Hen-
ry Robinson, Sabe Barrymore, and Silas
Webster pursued them. In the flight that
followed Barrymore was hurt and
Leakey was wounded nine times but
lived. The Indians escaped and several
days later were bathing in the Leona
River when they were taken by surprise
by the settlers. Only a few succeeded in
getting out of the water.
On October 28, 1859, Indians raided
the Patterson settlement. John Daven-
port was killed on the road between the
Sabinal River and Rancher. When the
settlers, under the command of Lieuten-
ant William B. Hazen from Fort Inge,
overtook the Indians, all but one Indian
were killed.
In 186o Leonard Eastwood, John
Speers, and R. A. Sanders, after eating
a breakfast at the Eastwood Ranch, left
on their rounds for the day. Sanders
went up the Leona River, and was am-
bushed and killed by raiding Indians.
The same band of Indians pursued
Speers and Eastwood that afternoon.
They shot Eastwood from his horse and
killed him. Speers was wounded and
finally recovered.
On February 25, 1861, George Her-
bert rode into town on a run. "Boys, the
Injuns are at the ranch," he reported.
He had discovered a number of In-
dians, held them off with his six-shooter,
and then came to town. There was no
one at the ranch when the men from
town arrived. Frank Robinson discov-
ered a daughter of the Kelsey family,
a girl of sixteen, on the back gallery.I7
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 15, Number 1, September 1954, periodical, September 1954; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391347/m1/19/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.