Sixty years in Texas Page: 196 of 398
5 p. l., 384 p., incl. illus., plates, ports. front. (port.) 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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182 SIXTY YEARS IN TEXAS.
the Cherokee National, and found some improvements
there, and one evening, just after we camped,
several men rode into our camp. They were talking
loud, and seemed to be excited. One of them, that
seemed to be the principal spokesman, said that war
had been declared and Lincoln had ordered out 75,000
troops, and they were now marching south.
He said his property was all niggers, and he was
going to enlist in the army at once, and expected to
fight the Yankees to a finish, and he thought every
true Southern man should shoulder his musket and
go and meet the enemy and give them
. We
agreed with him, and said that was just the thing to
do, but we had started to the gold mines, and we had
"Pike's Peak or bust" inscribed on our wagon sheets,
and could not possibly turn back now. The men left
us, and they seemed to be very anxious to get to the
front. They were actually spoiling for a fight.
We moved along day after day, and at last reached
the border of bleeding Kansas, and the people
there seemed to be spoiling for a fight about as bad
as the men we left in the Cherokee National, and
when we reached Fort Leavenworth and Leavenworth
City, all was excitement. We could see squads
of infantry drilling in every direction, and companies
of cavalry dashing about, and blood and war seemed
to be in the air. Most of the Southern States had
seceded before we left home. Texas was in the Secession
Column, and we did not think any attempt
would ever be made to force her back'into the Union
again. We sold our cattle, all but the teams, bought
our supplies, loaded our wagons and headed for
Pike's Peak and the far West. If I had remained in
Texas I should have joined the Southern army without
any hesitation whatever.
But this trip put me to thinking. I read the
Northern papers, and I studied about the institution
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Jackson, George. Sixty years in Texas, book, 1908; Dallas, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20205/m1/196/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.