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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

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second born. Margaret was the eldest. She married
Robert Patten, and they located in Green
Briar County, Va., where she reared a large family
and there died. George was the third born. He
located in Calloway County, Mo., where he married
and reared a family of children. He served in
the Mexican War in 1846 as a volunteer from White
Sulphur Springs, Va., under Capt. Caldwell,
landing at Vera Cruz, and marching to the city of
Mexico under Gen. Winfield Scott. He received
a wound at National Bridge which resulted
in the loss of his left eye. He draws a Mexican
veteran's pension of $25.00 per month. Elizabeth
was the youngest of the family. She married
Washington Black, and located with him in. Kansas,
near Council Grove, where they reared a family
of twelve children.
Col. Level lived at and in the vicinity of his
native home until 1846, when he came to Texas
on a prospecting tour. He found the country in
an unsettled condition, and in active preparation
for war with Mexico. He immediately identified
himself with the cause of its people and volunteered
for service against Mexico as a soldier in Capt.
Wilder's company, Col. Wood's regiment, which
was known as the Eastern Regiment of the Texas
Mounted Rangers. The regiment immediately
proceeded to the front, crossing on their way to
join Gen. Taylor the ground of the recently fought
battle of Palo Alto on the Resaca, in what is now
Cameron County, Texas, where, Col. Level relates,
the partially decomposed bodies of dead Mexican
soldiers lay in large numbers.
The rangers crossed the Rio Grande, joined Taylor's
forces at Marine, Mexico, and advanced to and
took part in the storming and capture of Monterey.
Col. Level served through his term of enlistment, a
period of six months, and received an honorable
discharge from the service. Col. M. B. Lamar was
recruiting a company of picked men from the discharged
men at Monterey for one year and in the
spring of 1847 was ordered to Beuna Vista; but,
owing to sickness, Col. Level did not go. After
leaving the army he went to Washington County,
Texas, and there spent one year raising cotton.
When the gold excitement of 1849 broke out in
California, Col. Level prepared to go to the gold
fields and proceeded as far as San Marcos, Texas,
and there,owing to business miscarriages, abandoned
46

his purpose. In the fall of that year he rejoined
the ranger service, enlisting under Col. Rip Ford,
and spent three years in active campaigning along
the Rio Grande frontier, participating in numerous
Indian fights and skirmishes. Col. Level was
wounded in a fight with Comanche Indians and
also had his horse twice shot from under him at a
point about forty miles east of Corpus Christi.
After a continuous service of three years, Col. Level
tried farming on the Rio Grande above Laredo,
with indifferent success, however, owing to overflows
of the river which ruined his crops, and the
theft of his stock by Indians. He next worked one
year for Chas. Webb, who had a contract for furnishing
the United States garrison at Fort Ewell
with supplies. About the year 1856 he received the
appointment of mounted inspector of United States
customs at Laredo, at the hands of his former acquaintance,
Hon. E. J. Davis (later Governor of
Texas) and held the position until 1861. The war
between the States then broke out and he served on
the Rio Grande until late in 1863 and then opened
a wagon-making shop in Laredo and conducted it
successfully for a period of about twelve months,
when he sold out and successfully associated himself
with Thomas Ryan in the ranch business, raising
sheep and cattle, in which business he is still
engaged.
Col. Level has never married. His life has been
one of continued activity. As a soldier he was
brave and aggressive and was a stranger to fear.
The State never had a more genial, courtly and
respected citizen. Now in the sunset of an active
and successful career, the writer finds him at old
Monterey, Mexico, surveying the scenes of his old
stamping ground where, a full fifty years ago, he
fought for and materially contributed to the defeat
of his country's enemies. Col. Level is a venerable
lookingman of stalwart and erect physique and bears
with becoming grace and fortitude the slight infirmities
that have come to him with the advancing
years. He has the esteem and full confidence of a
wide circle of old-time acquaintances who are ever
delighted to meet him and recount the experiences
of by-gone days. He is a splendid type of the
Texas veteran and the author takes pleasure in
presenting herewith a life-like portrait of one whom
all Texian and Mexican War veterans delight to
honor.

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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/837/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .

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