Indian Papers of Texas and the Southwest, Vol. IV

PREFACE

THIS VOLUME of Texas Indian Papers deals with the period from 1860 through 1916 and completes the series which was be- gun in 1959. The story related in this book is the tale of how the Indians of the plains fought to the bitter end to maintain their land and their freedom. On the one side is the Indian, supported in most insta.nces by United States government agents, and on the other is the United States Army officer, the Texas Ranger, and outraged citizens upon whom depredations had been committed. Regardless of the ultimate victor, the docu- ments transcribed herein reflect a tale of destruction and death. The original copies of the Texas Indian Papers were found to contain such a diverse assortment of material that a set of rules could not be established to cover every problem in editing. Par- ticularly helpful suggestions have been supplied by Clarence E. Carter, Historical Editing (1952) and the sections on "The Copying of Manuscripts" and "The Editing and Printing of Manuscripts" in the Harvard Guide to American History (1955). Also examined for style and for suggestions were Charles Gulick and others (eds.), Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (1920- 1927), Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker (eds.), Writ- ings of Sam,, Houston (1939-1943), Eugene C. Barker (ed.), Austin Papers (1924-1928), and William C. Binkley (ed.), Offi- cial Correspondence of the Texan Revolution, 1885-1886 (1936). The documents are listed in chronological order. In almost . all instances the originals have been copied verbatim et litera- tim. Words or letters have been supplied only when the docu- ment was illegible or torn, or where the orthography was such as to render its meaning doubtful. The printed copy was read numerous times against the original manuscript, and [sic] was inserted only when there was a feeling that a doubt would re- main in the reader's mind about a st.range spelling, a date, or a fact. When an original document was not ·used, a notation has been given. An effort has been made to maintain consistent spelling with reference to proper names, localities, Indian tribes, and the like. Guides used for such spellings were F. W. Hodge (ed.), Handbook of American Indians North of Mex-ico (1907), W. P. Webb and H. Bailey Carroll (eds.),\Handbook of Texas (1952), and the Southwestern Historical Quarterly.