Caught in a hurricane

By Jim Warren

Fort Merrill, Texas
26 October 1850

Dear Mom,

Well, praise the Lord! Here we are back at the fort and all in one piece! We didn't know if we would make it for awhile. We got caught out on the bald open prairie in a "hurricane." You can't believe how strong the wind can blow and how much it can rain when it does it for 14 hours straight!
We got in to Indianola just after noon of the 20th and rode right down to the docks because Lt. Underwood was convinced that McDonough would try to sign on to a ship and head back up east, and he was right. The first thing we found was the mule. Smith had sold him to a freighter and he had him in harness and was loading his wagon when Valentin noticed Mr. Altman's brand on him. The Lt. questioned the freighter and found that Smith had sold him the mule for $35 and went off looking to sign on a ship. The Lt. had me write up a warrant for $35 to the freighter and we took charge of the mule. Then at the first shipping office we came to we found that three "William Smiths" had signed on the Philadelphia Clipper as ordinary seamen. One of them was probably our Smith so the Lt. asked where the ship was. Well, the clerk said "See that sail out there? That's it." We looked around and saw a sail almost disappearing on the horizon! He said it sailed about three hours before we got there.
So, Lt. Underwood decided we had done all we could in the "Smith episode" and had recovered the mule in good shape with new shoes and all so we could head back to the fort. He got all the details on the ship's schedule and plans to send word to New Orleans to arrest one of the "William Smiths" when the ship docks there. The shipping clerk said they tried to talk the ship captain out of leaving in the face of a big storm, but he thought the hurricane was coming up from the south and he was headed north and could outrun it. Anyway he felt he would rather take his chances in open water than to get caught at the Indianola docks.
Well, we left right away since the wind was getting stronger and the Lt. said we needed to get away from the coast as far as we could before the storm hit land. We only got about ten miles when dark caught us at a creek, so we camped there for the night. Just before daylight it started raining little hard showers so we got up and got everything ready and at first light crossed the creek. The rain got worse and the wind did too, until about three o'clock we could hardly sit our horses, so we got a little protection from the wind. We couldn't set up camp or light a fire for the wind and rain so we picketed the horses and mule and rolled up in everything we had to try and stay warm. We couldn't stay dry! I don't know how hard the wind blew, but it felt like it would carry us away if we stood up. You couldn't even hear the man next to you if he yelled at the top of his voice. The little oak trees bent over to the ground and the limbs flailed us just like someone with a cat-o-nine-tails. We were all afraid to move for fear of blowing away. We couldn't check the horses or anything except hold on to our blankets and wrap ourselves around some of the trees.
Sometime in the wee hours of the morning the wind and rain just stopped all of a sudden and it got deathly still. All we could hear was the creek running and a bunch of birds hollering. We got up to check on the animals and found that they had broken the picket rope and were every one gone. Some of the men wanted to try to catch them before they got too far away, but Valentin told Lt. Underwood not to let them leave camp because we were only in the "eye" of the storm and pretty soon the wind would get up again from the other direction. Was he ever right! The calm didn't last 30 minutes until we heard this moaning sound afar off and then the rain came down again in veritable sheets and then the wind hit as stout as ever! Well, we just rolled up in soggy blankets and set our teeth for another blow. I know that is the longest night I ever spent. It finally began to get a little light and the wind died a little and then the rain let up, but didn't quit completely all the day. We mustered about daylight and to our surprise were all accounted for except no animals.
I've got to go up to the Adjutant's office now and work on the Company reports so I'll write some more later.

Your son,
Henry

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