On the trail of Comanche horse thieves

Rancho Santo Domingo, Texas

March 8, 1851

Dear Mom,

Well here we are at another stopping place in the “ Wild Horse Desert .” That's what our map calls this part of Texas. This whole area below the lower Nueces River to Laredo and down to the Río Grande is overrun with herds of wild horses left over from the Spanish occupation. It is also overrun with mustang camps trying to capture the horses and sell them. Valentin says the horses are the main drawing card for the hostiles. He says the Comanches wouldn't amount to anything if they couldn't get good horses. So when the settlers moved into their horse trapping grounds they let the mustangers trap the horses and green-break them, and then they steal them and save the time and effort of trapping and breaking! Pretty smart, I guess.

When we left Ojuelos we went southwest until we cut the hostiles' trail again and followed them to Rancho Alberca. When we stopped there the people told us the Indians had been there three days past and stole 12 head of horses and three young mules. When they left they were still headed south so we struck out after them and cut their sign about five miles out. Just before we got to Rancho Las Animas we saw a bunch of buzzards circling and feared the worst for the people there. But Valentin said it east of the rancho so we rode over there and found two dead horses, which must have have wounded in the raid at Rancho Alberca. One had the Alberca brand and the other was a Trinidadian.

Well, we rode on into Las Animas and the people said the hostiles were there the day before, but didn't get any stock because they have stout log pens and a rock house to “fort up” in. The Indians weren't too interested in a stiff fight so they only stayed around about an hour, hollering and riding around the ranch and then took off south again. The caporal of the rancho says he counted 16 hostiles, but there must be more because he didn't see their stolen horse herd and some of them had to be watching after it. One of the Indians was riding a red mule and the caporal thinks he was a chiel from the way he looked and acted. He had on an army coat and a Mexican sombrero slung on his back and was using a long-barreled rifle, which is very unusual for an Indian. The caporal said he rode closer to the fort than the rest of the hostiles and paraded back and forth and put on quite a show of bravado before they rode off.

After filling our canteens and water casks at Las Animas, we struck out again and arrived at Santo Domingo just at sundown. The Sgt. decided since we were getting so close to the hostiles it would be a good idea to test our percussion caps to see if they are any good before we have need of them. He picked 10 caps at random and fired them in a musket without a charge. Two of them snapped and so he was about to choose 10 more to test when I told him about Valentin and the corroded caps (I didn't tell him we threw them away). So he had me pick out 10 of the corroded ones and six of them snapped. Then he had all the troopers remove all the corroded caps from their supplies and picked 10 at random from the remainder and all of them fired. I sure am glad we decided to test those caps! Out of 330 caps we picked out 87 that were corroded. The Sgt. gave them to me to keep until we get to Ft. Merrill so he can write a report to headquarters concerning the possibility of surveying all remaining caps for evidence of corrosion. I tied them up in an old sock and put them in my valise so there is no chance I'll get them mixed in with good ones and try to use them against the hostiles!

Well, I've got to go now and help Valentin. We are going to change the shoes on our horses to be sure their feet are in good shape. Valentin says he doesn't want his horse to be impaired in any way if he is chasing Indians or being chased by Indians.

Write when you can.

Your son,

Henry

(Jim Warren is an archaeologist living in George West.)