The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 346
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
November he and Rezin P. Bowie, with seven other Americans
and two servants, set out from San Antonio for the fabled Spanish
mine on the San Saba River. The expedition was halted only a
few miles from the abandoned San Saba Mission by perhaps the
most desperate Indian fight recorded in Texas history. Each of
the Bowie brothers wrote an account of it, Rezin's much the more
detailed and vivid.15 Each implied in his narrative that he was
leader.
One hundred and sixty-four Tawakoni, Waco, and Caddo war-
riors surrounded the Bowie men, who had camped for defense in
a thicket near water. A number of the Indians had rifles. At one
time grass fires they started drove the Americans to such despera-
tion that they resolved to huddle back to back, fire their last shots
and then "fight with knives as long as a single man was left alive."
But they came through the fire and used knives and sticks to dig
up dirt to add to rocks for fortification. After thirteen hours of
siege, there were about forty dead and thirty wounded Indians,
against one dead and three wounded white men.
Back in San Antonio, James Bowie was "granted permission"
to raise an expedition against the Tawakoni Indians. He estimated
that they had two thousand horses worth capturing. A rumor
spread that the object of the expedition was to "further the views
of speculators in mines." A hot advertisement against the rumor
was published;16 if the expedition was made, notice of it has
eluded this searcher.
Bowie kept on riding, riding, riding, among the Indians, against
record of these two notes, but Edward S. Sears, "The Low Down on Jim Bowie,"
Texas Folklore Society Publications, No. XIX, emphasizes them. I did find all the
other court material adduced by Sears. Record of the Bowie notes could easily have
been misplaced or stolen; further search might locate it. The writer is confident
that Sears saw it.
15Rezin P. Bowie's account of the fight is in Mary Austin Holley, Texas (Lex-
ington, Kentucky, 1836), 161-173; James Bowie's account is in J. C. F. Kyger,
Texas Gems (Denison, Texas, 1885), 130-134, and in John Henry Brown, History
of Texas (2 vols.; St. Louis, 1892), I, 170-175. James Bowie's account is in the
form of an official report; the original should be in the Bexar Archives. In the
first chapter of the writer's Coronado's Children will be found a full treatment of
the Lost San Saba Mine legend, including Bowie's hunt for the silver.
o6Texas Gazette, January 1o, 1832. The communication against rumor-mongers
is not signed but bears all the marks of having been communicated by either
James or Rezin P. Bowie. Official "permission" for the expedition should be
somewhere in official papers, but this newspaper announcement of it is all the
writer has seen.346
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/375/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.