| Memoirs of a Texan: Redemption Sample |
| Robert Savage is part of another massive cattle drive to Kansas. Thanks to a finance arrangement set up by Jim Cobb, his brother, Charles, is also running his own cattle. The herd is even larger than the massive drive of 1866 and is nearly as good with multiplication of invested capital. On the ride home with Doss, Charles, and the other ramrods, Robert comes across a massacre. Outside Wichita, Kansas Wednesday, June 19, 1867 The drovers wanted more of Isak Bramwell’s good food and paid him to leave later with them. Me and Charles and the other ramrods went with Doss on the trip back to Texas. We made good time without the chuck wagon. Nothin’ much happened ‘til we got ‘bout twenty miles west of Wichita. We come across a cattle drive led by Ev Brown, one of Doss’ long time friends. I remembered him from the drive I took to Missouri before the war. Good man. Ev had stopped the drive to help a group of homesteader families. Jayhawkers killed the men and older boys. Then they raped and cut the women and older girls. Took all the stuff they could load on a wagon and headed back to Indian Territory. I seen many battlefields in the war, but never where the Yankees or we took it out on the women and kids. I wanted to track down the bastards and kill ‘em. I wudn’t by myself. Brown wuz short handed and could not spare any of his drovers, but sent three back with the survivors to Wichita where they could be tended. The same Jayhawkers rustled two hundred of his cattle the night before after killing one of the drovers and wounding another. Brown wuz mad but, as much as he wanted to, couldn’t track down and settle with the Jayhawkers. We come along at just the right time to help out. He asked Doss, “Can you take care of this?” Doss nodded and asked Ev, “What do you know of these Jayhawkers?” Ev replied, “They’re not just thieves, but mean and rotten to the core. From what I learned from the women and my drover who fought with them, there were twelve of ‘em led by a Confederate deserter named Calvin Poulter and a Comanche half-breed who calls himself Red Shirt.” I saw Doss’s jaw tighten as the names were mentioned. “Can you take me to where they wuz last seen?” Doss asked. Ev nodded, excused himself, called for his ramrods, and instructed ‘em on where to take the cattle for the next night and where Ev expected to catch up with ‘em the next day. At the same time, Doss gathered me, Charles, and the others and explained, “I’m goin’ after the Jayhawkers. Any I don’t kill, I’ll hang. I’ve got a history with Poulter and Red Shirt. Sorry I didn’t take care of ‘em then. It’s personal and I don’t ask any of you to join me, but I’d appreciate help from any who’ll ride with me.” I spoke for the group, “We’ll go with you, Cap.” Charles added, “Ain’t no forgivin’ what they done. Without the Kiowa ridin’ with us, could’a been any of us they killt on the trail.” Ev led us back to where the cattle wuz took. The trail led south where the Jayhawkers likely had a camp. Not hard to track two hunnerd cattle. They had a two day start, but we could overtake ‘em easy. They couldn’t push the cattle more’n ten to twelve miles a day. On the trail, I learned Doss’s nephew wuz killt by Red Shirt on a drive to Missouri before the war. Poulter worked for Doss ‘til Doss caught him stealin’ from the chuck wagon. Not the theft, but the lack of concern for safety of the herd and drovers angered Doss. Poulter wuz drunk and banged pots and pans lookin’ for a bottle he thought the cook had hid. Doss pistol whipped Poulter ‘fore sending him home. Durin’ the war, Poulter rode with Confederate raiders in Kansas and Missouri. He formed his own gang of cutthroats at the end of the war. Doss found the Jayhawkers on the second day out. He ordered us to follow ‘em ‘til dark, but stay out of sight. At night, the Jayhawkers did as he expected. They built a big campfire, cooked their food, and ate it. Brought out whisky bottles, got drunk, gambled, cussed, argued, and fought with one another ‘til they passed out around the campfire. No one stayed up to serve as sentry. They didn’t even guard the cattle they took. Doss told us, “Jayhawkers steal from homesteaders and undermanned cattle drives. Lawmen can’t pursue ‘em into Indian Territory. This bunch has likely outrun posses that came after ‘em. They won’t be lookin’ for us.” In the early morning, we snuck up on their camp. “Get close ‘fore you shoot. These are animals and deserve no mercy. We’ll hang any left alive when we have mornin’ light.” Doss ordered. Dawn came and we circled their camp. Not a stir. They slept ‘round the fire. We closed in. ‘Bout fifty feet out, one of the Jayhawkers raised his head, shouted, and reached for his rifle. We shot six in the first round and gunned down three others as they tried to get up and run. Four got away. One of the Jayhawkers panicked and ran directly at me. I aimed my pistol and put a bullet through his head. When I turned him over, I saw a youngster, maybe a younger brother or a son, likely no older than sixteen. If life wuz fair, he would’ve grown up in a carin’ family. Instead, we caught him with a pack of dogs and gunned him down. I had no problem with it. Don’t matter what he dun ‘fore the Jayhawkers. He run with ‘em and took their lot. I thought back to the young man I caught thievin’ from us outside Opelika, Alabama and set free. I wondered if he had enough backbone to break away from his no good family. Maybe he ended up like this‘un. We run down the other three, includin’ Calvin Poulter. Lassoed and dragged ‘em back to camp. In early mornin’ light, we found an oak tree with limbs high enough to string ‘em up. We had eight – Poulter, two others that wuz roughed up, and five wounded and still alive. We got Red Shirt in the first volley. The evil bastard sat there cussin’ us. It pleasured Doss. He wanted Poulter and Red Shirt to know who sent ‘em to Hell and wanted ‘em cussin’. Doss took the scriptures to heart. Jesus forgave the thief on the cross who repented. He didn’t want last minute salvation for Red Shirt’s and Poulter’s hate filled souls. We pistol whipped two of the Jayhawkers ‘fore we tied ‘em up and put ‘em on horseback. One of ‘em spurred his horse to ride off and caught a pistol to the head. Then we hung him. Doss fitted a noose over the head of each Jayhawker, drew the rope drawn taut, and tied each rope over the limb. For each hangin’, he said, “God forgive you for we have seen what you dun and cannot.” He used a leather strap to swat the horse and send it out from under the condemned man. When the first limb wuz filled, we used a second limb on the other side of the tree to hang the other four. Doss wrote a note and tacked it on the tree. “Jayhawkers caught by a posse of cattlemen. Leave them where they hang.” We left the Jayhawkers danglin’ for buzzards, coyotes, and crows to eat. ### The Jayhawkers had a wagon they stole from the homesteaders. In it, we found food stores, valuables taken from the farms, and $192 in coins and currency. We agreed to take what we recovered in the wagon, along with the stolen cattle, the Jayhawkers’ horses, saddles, money, and firearms, back to Wichita to help the homesteader families. The Jayhawkers had better rifles and pistols than ours. We took theirs and tossed in ours. We did the same with their horses and saddles. We came out ahead and figured the homesteaders would get about as much for our stuff. We returned to Wichita and turned over what we took off the Jayhawkers. Too late to catch up with Ev Brown and, besides, Doss knew Ev would want the homesteader families to have the cattle the Jayhawkers stole from him. The Sheriff asked Doss about what happened to the Jayhawkers. He told him, “They died resistin’ arrest.” The sheriff nodded and thanked Doss and us for goin’ after ‘em. “By law, I can’t go across county line. I’m grateful a former Texas Ranger Captain with good men came along to rid Kansas of this pack of vermin” he said. Nacogdoches, Texas, Friday, July 5, 1867 I felt good about what we dun. Our third drive, next year, will follow the same trail we did this year. Talkin’ with the cattle buyer and folks in Abilene I learned there’d be more drives for the meat packers back east. John Ferguson told me Yankees had a taste for Texas beef and it would grow. I took care of things pretty good. Maybe some of Jim Cobb and Andy Blaylock rubbed off on me. Me and Charles went on with Doss and the other ramrods to Sherman, Texas and then split to go home. From there, we’d move on to settle accounts in Beaumont. He said nothin’ ‘bout payin’ me back, but Charles wuz keen to repay Andy and the Major. When we got back home, me and Charles found Pa’s sore joints wuz worse. He could barely get up from bed and go to work at the Feed Store. We talked about it and came up with an offer. We had enough money to take care of the family. Charles wouldn’t take no for answer. He would put in half. I couldn’t argue too hard as he, too, was now a man of wealth with prospects. It wuz settled. We sat down with Pa away from Ma and Janet. I said, “Pa, you took care of us all your life. It troubles Charles and me to see you crippled up, goin’ to work every day in pain. We know you’ re hurtin’ and too proud to tell anyone. God, in his mercy, gave Charles and me a stake. You helped considerable in suggestin’ Doss Williford to us. We want you to sell your share of the Feed Store, stay home, and look after Mother and Janet. We’ll be sending $50 a month and if you need more we’ll send it.” Pa’s eyes filled with tears as he replied, “I hope and pray you never come to the place where I am. I can no longer take care of my family. Your mother and I always wanted you boys to have a better life than we had and now you have. I don’t want you spendin’ any of that money on me. I’ll do what I always dun and feed my family.” Charles said, “All we are or hope to be is because of you and mother. It’s not charity we’re offerin’, just to give back a little of what you gave us.” We saw something we never seen before. Pa broke down and cried. He said, “I ain’t never took a dime from no one I didn’t earn and I ain’t startin’ now.” I put my arm around him. “Take it as a loan. When you and Mother pass, Charles and I’ll take the house, sell it, and get our money back.” Pa laughed, wiping away his tears with a gnarled hand and said, “I may be crippled, but I ain’t stupid. This house won’t sell for even ten months of what you and your brother want to give me.” “All right, look at this way. Janet’s a sweet girl and we love her, but she ain’t much to look at. She’ll have a hard time findin’ a good man to marry. What if we send fifty dollars each month to take care of our sister?” Pa put up his hands and said, “Your sister ain’t ugly. But you boys are right. I can’t take care of my family. We’ll starve if’n I don’t get help and, with two rich sons, I reckon I’ll take help from you. But, God knows, it’s a bitter pill to swallow.” ### If I ever needed proof of a just God, I came across Charlotte Ellis in town. She wuz embarrassed like. I wuzn’t. “Howdy do,” I said, like we wuz friends which we wuz. She said, polite like, “How have you been, Robert?” I smiled and told her all ‘bout the last drive. Told her my share wuz up to twenty thousand. I scratched my chin like I wuz thinkin’ and told her, “You know, I think I might run it up to a hunnerd thousand ‘fore the cattle bizness dries up.” Then I said, “Give my regards to your mother,” and walked away. Jim wuz right. Doin’ well’s the best revenge. Had to admit Luke McNeil wuz a good man, but he’d work a lifetime and never see a hunnerd thousand dollars particularly with Charlotte spendin’ what he made. I learnt somethin’ in meetin’ up with Charlotte. I felt nothin’ for her. Much rather marry Sara if she’ll have me. Just as purty and a whole lot nicer. ### When we met up with Jim and Andy, I let Charles do most of the talkin’. He dun well. Handled hisself like he knew what he wuz doin’. Paid back his loan from Jim, Andy, and me and thanked us. I wuz proud of him. Pa and Ma would’ve been too. Jim took us back to his office for drinks where we all treated Charles as an equal and he wuz. Jim and Andy asked ‘bout a drive next year and there wuz no doubt we would go. When Jim asked what I thought, I told him “We can stop goin’ to Mexico for cattle. Texas ranches run down durin’ the war. There putting’ out calves now. We’ll pay more for ‘em but drive ‘em less and get a better price in Abilene.” I think Jim already knew and, like he usually did, Andy went along with Jim. We settled on puttin’ forty thousand dollars into the next drive. It would be two drives if we ran our cattle with Doss. Charles pointed out somethin’ we learned on the drive. “Good market in Colorado. We could run a couple thousand head with Charles Goodnight.” Andy pressed us on prices and I had to admit we didn’t know how much more we could get runnin’ cattle to Colorado. Jim suggested we take all the cattle we could with Doss and take whatever wuz left on the Goodnight drive. We discussed and agreed to do it. Starting the next drive around San Angelo made sense. Charles would go with Doss to Abilene and be our man on the drive. I would do the same with Goodnight if we could work out a contract. I didn’t look forward to it. I knew Doss, didn’t know Goodnight. We wouldn’t have Medicine Blanket’s braves on the drive to Colorado. |
| Medicine Blanket Kiowa War Chief, 1967 |
| Lt General John Bell Hood, CSA generals and many think the most foolhardy. He lost an arm and leg in service to the Confederacy |
| General Stand Watie, CSA Cherokee Mounted Rifles The last Confederate general to surrender to the Union Army |
| Texas Governor Edmund Davis, 1870-74, Republican Pictured here as General First Texas Cavalry, USA Infuriated Texans by raising taxes to provide universal child education and fund the integrated State Police |
| Texas Governor Richard Coke, 1874-76, Democrat US Texas Senator, 1877-95 Governor after Reconstruction |
| Charles Goodnight Pioneer Texas Cattleman He blazed the Goodnight-Loving Trail to the Colorado mines |
| Oliver Loving as a young man Loving died in gunfight with Indians far from home. His partner, Charles Goodnight, sealed the coffin and brought Loving's body home for burial. |
| William Callicot, one of McNelly's Rangers, 1875. and cross-draw holster, typical of Rangers of the period |
| Jayhawkers raid Kansas town, 1859 |
| General Albert Sidney Johnstown, CSA. Commander West. Killed in a freak accident West. Killed in a freak accident at Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh). |
| Curtis Textile Mill, Lowell< Massachusetts, 1866 |
| General Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA. Illiterate cavalry general historian Horton Foote identifies as one of two 'geniuses' in the Civil War. The other 'genius' was Abraham Lincoln. |
| Sullivan (Sul) Ross. Former Confederate officer and later President of Texas A&M. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
