Texas Almanac, 1990-1991 Page: 46
611 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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46 TEXAS ALMANAC 1990-1991
Fredericksburg cut and dressed the sandstone for Fort
Concho's permanent structures. The rafters and
beams were of pecan wood, and many of the floors
were large slabs of stone. A sundial was erected on the
parade ground by the enlisted men while they were
waiting for construction materials to be delivered.
Although the Butterfield Overland Mail coaches
never resumed operations on the route through Texas
after the Civil War, stage and mail service was avail-
able on the frontier. Ben Ficklin, who had supervised
implementation of the famous Pony Express in Mis-
souri in 1860, provided stagecoach service between
Fort Smith and San Antonio beginning in 1868, with
stops at Sherman, Jacksboro, Fort Griffin, Camp Colo-
rado, Fort Concho, Fort McKavett, Menardville, Rock
Springs, Mason, Loyal Valley, Fredericksburg, Boerne
and Leon Springs. In 1869, Ficklin extended the service
on to El Paso. A town named for Ben Ficklin was estab-
lished on the Concho River across from the Concho
mail station and was chosen the county seat of Tom
Green County in 1875.
Across the Concho River from the fort, Bart Dewitt
established a trading post, which was called, logically
enough, "Over-the-River." The name was later
changed to Santa Angela in honor of DeWitt's wife,
Carolina Angela de la Garza. Over the years, the name
evolved into Santa Angelo, which the federal govern-
ment arbitrarily changed to San Angelo when it estab-
lished a post office there. Soon after sheep were
introduced into the area about 1877, San Angelo be-
came a market center for the sheep and wool industry
that grew up around it. However, it was little more
than a collection of "jacales," or huts, and adobe
houses for many years. After a disastrous flood in Au-
gust 1882 totally destroyed the town of Ben Ficklin, San
Angelo was named the county seat of Tom Green Coun-ty. With the coming of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1888,
San Angelo grew into a major shipping point for sheep
and wool and eventually became the nation's largest
sheep and wool market and a trading center for the
counties surrounding Tom Green.
But although forts were in place and towns were
growing, the Plains Indians were still resisting
encroachment by the whites on their homelands. The
Treaty of Medicine Lodge, signed in Kansas in 1867 by
the U.S. government and representatives of the Co-
manches, Kiowas, Arapahoes and Southern
Cheyennes, was the last in a long line of treaties made
with the Southern plains tribes. As usual, neither the
government nor the Indians abided by the terms of the
treaty. The Indians agreed to live on a reservation in
Indian Territory and learn agriculture. They were to
leave white settlers in peace and not interfere with the
building of railroads across the plains. In return, the
government promised to provide seeds, tools and
guidance in crop-raising, to provide annuity goods -
blankets, tobacco, coffee, etc. - on a regular basis for
a period of 30 years, to furnish troops to protect the
reservation and to keep peace among the Indians, and
to forbid white bison hunters to hunt south of the
Arkansas River, leaving to the Indians the Staked
Plains and the Texas Panhandle, along with a bison-
rich region of Oklahoma. But the Indians did not want
to cultivate crops; the annuity goods were in short sup-
ply; the reservation facilities were not ready to receive
the Indians; the arrival of the troops was delayed; and
the federal government did not have the authority to
forbid Texas citizens from hunting on Texas soil: Pub-
lic lands in Texas belong to the state, not to the federal
government. That was the situation that confronted
President U.S. Grant when he took office in March
1869.The Final solution
President U.S. Grant, seeking to solve the vexing
Indian problems, proposed to reform the Indian Bu-
reau. Traditionally, the agency was used to pay politi-
cal debts with appointments to office without thought
to qualifications. Grant's new Indian policy, inaugu-
rated on March 4, 1869, called for religious denomi-
nations to nominate candidates to supervise the Indian
agencies. Grant hoped to restore integrity to Indian
service and to attract agents who were sincerely inter-
ested in the welfare of the native Americans.
The most enthusiastic response to the president's
offer was from the Society of Friends - the Quakers -
and the new policy was soon known as the "Quaker pol-
icy." The Quakers were peace-loving, industrious and
eager and soon were in charge of many of the Indian
agencies. Among the most notable was Lawrie Tatum,
the agent for the Kiowas and Comanches at Fort Sill.
The Secretaries of War and Interior placed reservation
Indians under the exclusive control of the Indian
agents, who would distribute food and blankets to their
charges and who could call upon the military for assis-
tance. All Indians found off reservations without offi-
cial permission would be considered hostile.
The Indian raids, however, never stopped. The "kid
glove" approach worked no better than the steel fist.
William T. Sherman, commander-in-chief of the
army, arrived in San Antonio on April 28, 1871, deter-
mined to personally inspect the frontier. Accompanied
by Inspector-General Randolph Marcy, two staff mem-
bers and 15 cavalry troops, Sherman traveled to Fort
Richardson by way of forts Mason, McKavett, Concho,
Griffin and Belknap. The party found abandoned fields
and blackened remains of homes along the way, but no
signs of recent Indian activity. On May 18, however,
the day after Sherman's arrival at Fort Richardson, a
wounded man named Thomas Brazeal staggered into
the fort with a horrifying story of a massacre on the
very road Sherman's party had just traveled. Henry
Warren, a government freighting contractor, had been
hauling shelled corn to Fort Griffin in a train of 10 wag-
ons, accompanied by 11 other men. A war party of 100
or more Kiowas and Comanches attacked the train on
the Salt Creek Prairie, about 20 miles west of Jacksbo-
ro. Seven of Brazeal's companions were murdered,
one of them chained to a wagon wheel and roasted
alive. Five men escaped into nearby timber. The Indi-
ans also made off with 41 mules. One story holds that a
Kiowa medicine man, De-ha-te, had restrained the
warriors from attacking Sherman's party, predictingthat a larger group that could be more easily captured
would come along the road later.
The Salt Creek Massacre, possibly coupled with the
knowledge that chance alone had saved his life, con-
vinced Sherman that only the strongest of measures
would halt the Indian raids. He assigned Col. Ranald
Mackenzie to hunt down the perpetrators of the mas-
sacre. Mackenzie, accompanied by nine officers, 193
enlisted men, 16 Indian scouts and two post guides,
started in pursuit on May 19. The group moved west
along the old Butterfield Road across the Salt Creek
Prairie. Meanwhile, Sherman rode to Fort Sill in Indi-
an Territory, arriving May 23, where he informed Indi-
an agent Lawrie Tatum of the massacre. The horrified
Quaker notified the commander of the fort, and four
days later, when the Indians came for their usual
rations, the leaders of the massacre, chiefs Eagle
Heart, Satanta, Big Tree and Satank, were arrested.
Mackenzie's pursuit was frustrated by heavy rain-
storms, which wiped out any tracks, and flooded riv-
ers. He rejoined Sherman at Fort Sill, where he found
his quarry in the guardhouse. Playing a major role in
the capture and detention of the leaders of the mas-
sacre were the black troops of the 10th Cavalry - the
famed Buffalo Soldiers.
Eagle Heart escaped. Then, shortly after the wagon
train had left Fort Sill on June 8 to transport the chiefs
to Fort Richardson for trial, Satank, chanting a death
song, suddenly drew a knife and attacked a guard. Sa-
tank was killed, and his body was left beside the road
for members of his tribe to pick up. Three weeks later,
a grand jury indicted Satanta and Big Tree. Tried in
the 13th District Court by Judge Charles Soward, they
were found guilty by the jury and sentenced to be
hanged. In August, against the advice and pleas of
army officers but under pressure from northern
groups, mostly Quakers, Gov. E.J. Davis commuted
the sentences to life in prison. The two chiefs were
transported to prison in Huntsville on Sept. 12.
The new relentless-pursuit policy of the army that
was prompted by the Salt Creek Massacre brought
slow but definite results. Under orders from Gen. J. J.
Reynolds, commander of the Department of Texas,
Ranald Mackenzie began amassing his troops. During
June and July 1871, he assembled the largest concen-
tration of troops in Texas from posts along the border,
as well as forts McKavett, Concho and Griffin - a
force totalling 600 men, 100 pack mules, and a large
group of Tonkawa scouts. The force moved out on Aug.
2. The first sortie was fruitless. Searching for a band
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Kingston, Mike. Texas Almanac, 1990-1991, book, 1989; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162512/m1/48/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.