From Texas: The Land of Beginning Again, The Romance of the Brazos<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Published in 1952<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transcribed by Linda J. Nichols<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At last we come to Hood County. The waters of the Brazos wind through the middle of it, passing Granbury, the county-seat, where one remarks the ancient court-house in the plaza. Pausing by the banks of the Brazos where the steel bridge crosses we gaze upon the magnificence of Comanche Peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an awe-inspiring pile of masonry, high and visible for miles around. It is a long, flat mountain with a leveled top. Much history has been made on and about it. Little of it has been recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in the 1830\u2019s on the earliest maps of this country, the surveys showed the peak. It acted as a marker and aiming-point for the surveyors and cartographers. The Santa F\u00e9 Expedition guided on it and crossed the Brazos near it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The county was not created until 1866. Lipan in the northwest corner was named for the Indians who dwelt near here\u2026Thorp Springs [sic], an early college town, was where the foundations of Texas Christian University, now at Fort Worth, were laid\u2026Cresson is a rancher\u2019s cross-roads town\u2026Acton has the cemetery where Davy Crockett\u2019s widow lies buried\u2026Tolar is where the Norse folk abound to indulge in hard-ground agriculture\u2026Mambrino is a farmer\u2019s hamlet nestling among the high oaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Texas Republic Congress on January 14, 1843 passed a law setting up a military post near Comanche Peak and Torrey\u2019s Trading Station on Tehuacana Creek. This was done in 1844 and Fort Spunky came into being. An Indian agent was stationed here and it was used as a fort-settlement until Fort Belknap came along farther west in the 1840\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They claim that Indian smoke-signals went up often from Comanche Peak and were visible for a great distance away. The Indians could do strange things with smoke\u2026make it go straight up despite a cross-wind that was blowing at the time, or make it spread out, or spiral flat at the top, or disappear in a sudden puff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If you\u2019d see one of them signals,” says Uncle Ed, wrapping his thin legs about each other and crossing his elbows on his knees, “you wuz boun\u2019 to see another un answerin\u2019 him from a hill way off yonder.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Did they ever teach y\u2019all how to handle smoke, Uncle Ed?” a goggle-eyed youngster at the Reunion asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Nope,” the old man spits emphatically. “The redskins war plenty particular not to learn no white man them tricks. But we got so we could figger them out after we\u2019d see\u2019d them purty often. They could say anything they wuz a mind to. I\u2019ve see\u2019d three or fo\u2019 signals in the air at one time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hood County is in the very heart of the Grand Prairie. The oaks and sturdy pecans abound. Mesquite in the flats and cedar on the bald knobs\u2026hardy land with many a bare stretch\u2026treeless for miles and then thick woods. High hills\u2026Johnson\u2019s Peak, Top Mountain and Little Round Top\u2026but none as high and imposing as old Comanche!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have drilled and drilled in Hood for oil and sometimes they get “showings.” The wild-catters still persists [sic].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We pick up Indian lore as we go along. Flacco, Chief of the Lipans, was a brave and friendly ally of the whites, but Castro was a mean and unreliable old redskin who followed along after him\u2026They had a fight near Hanna\u2019s Mill on the Paluxy when fifteen settlers shot it out with twenty Indians and the whites won\u2014with not a dead man on either side! Nathan Holt in 1859 was out looking for his cattle on the bank of the Brazos and the murdering Indians killed him and shot his horse full of arrows, just for meanness, sending the crazed animal galloping home to the cabin with the terrible news to Nate\u2019s little family. The Indians did really scalp a Negro here once, no matter what the tradition says, for back in 1863 when Jeremiah Green and five white men were out hunting cattle and were set upon by sixteen Indians every white man was killed. Jerry, the Negro slave, was found wandering about, his scalp lifted. He died a few days later. Seven Lipans came through here heading down east on Squaw Creek and gathered up about two hundred settlers\u2019 horses, but a posse of settlers came out of Thorp Settlement and pursued them. They came up on them in a ravine, where they had taken refuge, surrounded and killed every last one. Wilbarger says they scalped every dead Indian except a squaw who was discovered disguised in man\u2019s clothing. Two whites were wounded and one of them died later on. They named Squaw Creek after this occurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today it is pleasant and peaceful along the banks and you can find many a good fishing-spot or swimming-hole in old Hood. The pastures are green and the shade of the trees inviting. No great industry, just a seasonal income for farmer and rancher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SOURCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Texas: The Land of Beginning Again, The Romance of the Brazos. Written by Julien Hyer. 1952: Texian Press, Waco, Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Texas: The Land of Beginning Again, The Romance of the Brazos Published in 1952 Transcribed by Linda J. Nichols At last we come to Hood County. The waters of the Brazos wind through the middle of it, passing Granbury, the … Continue reading