Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 363 of 894

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308

INDIAN VWARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
WILLIAM KINCHIN DAVIS,
RICHMOND.

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It is difficult for men and women of this later
generation, familiar with life upon peaceful farms
and in towns and cities, to form a mental picture
of the physical aspect of Texas sixty years ago, or
to conceive of the hardships, privations and dangers,
incident to colonial life at that remote period.
Here and there, only, the smoke from a settler's
cabin chimney curled upward on lonely prairie or
in primeval river bottom and forest.
Weak and timid souls kept aloof from such a
land. Brave, adventurous, hardy spirits poured

after the disbanding of Somervell's army on the
Rio Grande, marched into Mexico with other
Texian troops and in December, 1842, participated
in the remarkable and brilliant battle of Mier, in
which he was severely wounded and which resulted
in the surrender of the Texians under stipulations
that were afterwards violated with customary Mexican
perfidy. The men were marched afoot, guarded
by Mexican cavalry, toward the city of Mexico.
He was one of those who made their escape at the
hacienda of Salado and were recaptured, after sufi
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WM. K. DAVIS.

into its confines--a race to which a San Jacinto
was possible and that laid the foundation for the
institutions we enjoy. We have selected one of
these men, the late William Kinchen Davis, for the
subject of this memoir.
He was born in the State of Alabama on the llth
day of November, 1822; came to Texas during the
month of February, 1830; when fourteen years of
age (in 1836), helped build a fort at the mouth of
the Brazos river and in 1839 served in a campaign
against the Indians around the head of the Brazos.
Capt. Davis took part in the Somervell expedition
in 1842, as a member of Boski's command and

fering untold horrors from thirst, hunger and
exposure while wandering about lost in the mountains.
After their recapture, Santa Anna sent an
order for every tenth man to be shot, the victims to
be selected by lot. As many beans as there were
prisoners were placed in a jar
black beans to a
number corresponding to the number of men that
were to be killed and white beans for the rest.
The jar was well shaken and the gaunt, and miserable,
yet still dauntless veterans were ordered to
advance one by one and take a bean from the jar.
As soon as this grim lottery of death was at an
end, the unlucky holders of black beans were foully