The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 34, July 1930 - April, 1931 Page: 51

History of Fannin County, 1836-1843

their knees. The house, a one-roomed structure, was unchinked
so that Mrs. Kitchens and the girls could be plainly seen as they
moved about in preparation of supper. Suddenly the Sabbath
stillness was broken by three shots, two of which took effect, one
in the foot of the elder Kitchens, and one in the foot of Dan
Kitchens. The men ran into the cabin instantly, forgetting in
their haste their guns and powder horns. Kitchens, however,
without a moment's delay walked out into the hail of bullets and
handed the weapons to the defenders of the house. Now the fight
began in earnest. The men fired continually. Mrs. Kitchens
assisting with an old-fashioned pistol, while the girls molded bul-
lets. A burly negro who accompanied the marauders made an
attempt to reach the door but was shot down by Kitchens, while
Stevens killed an Indian who was trying to secure a horse tied
to a wagon in the yard. This staunch defense so discouraged the
savages that they desisted from their attack and fled to the security
of the adjacent timber. No sooner were they gone than Kitchens
sent young Dan to the Dugan place for aid. The pioneers there
had heard the firing and were upon the alert. A party was dis-
patched to the assistance of the attacked house, but the Indians
had been beaten so effectively that they did not renew the attack.1
It may be well in the course of this narrative to pause long
enough to correct some misapprehensions concerning the chronology
and exact events in the Warren vicinity immediately after the
attack on the Kitchens family. Various popular histories of
Indian depredations have confused the story of this attack with
that of the subsequent fight at the Dugans. Even John P. Simp-
son falls into an error when he places Joseph Sowell's raid into
the Indian Territory after the battle at the Dugan house.2 But
since this fight took place on the night of November 15, and as
Sowell himself was killed on the night of October 31, obviously
the cause of his raid was the battle at the Kitchenses which occurred
August 1.8
1Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas, 405-411.
'Simpson, "Death of Sowell," Carter, History of Fannin County, 48.
'An account of the fixing of these dates may be interesting as well as
instructive. Two entries in the Dugan family Bible establish three im-
portant dates. First, we read, "Daniel V. Dugan was killed by Indians
July 27, 1841." Reference to a perpetual calendar will show this day
to have been Tuesday. Catherine Dugan Taylor mentions that the at-
tack on the Kitchens family occurred on the following Sunday, which
was August the first. The data of the attack on the Dugan house is