239
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1861
settlements and the trading-posts where they are sold, and that from this point stealing parties strike for our settlements, leav- ing others in charge of the animals already taken. To punish these Indians, as well as to ferret out the parties who purchase our horses from them, required an able force, and was a work requiring much time and privation. The duty of raising troops for this expedition was assigned to Col. M. T. Johnson, of Tar- rant County, to whom was issued orders on the 17th of March to raise a sufficient number of mounted rangers to repel, pur- sue, and punish the Indians now ravaging the north and north- western settlements of Texas, with full liberty to dispose of the force under your (his) command, at your (his) discretion. In pursuance of this order, Col. Johnson raised five companies of rangers of 83 men, commanded by Captains Smith of McLennan, Darnell of Dallas, Woods of Fannin, Fitzhugh of Collin, and Johnson of Tarrant. These rendezvoused at Fort Belknap, where they were joined by two companies under command of Capts. Ed. Burleson and W. C. Dalrymple, and on the 23d of May the expedition started for the Indian country. ' The several reports of Col. Johnson to be submitted will fur- nish a full statement of the progress of the expedition. A por- tion of the troops were ordered back by Col. Johnson from Old Fort Radsminske the 30th of July. The others penetrated the Indian country beyond the line of Kansas, and after enduring many privations returned to Fort Belknap, where they were disbanded by order of the Executive. Although no Indian depredations were at that time reported, the Executive, to guard against their repetition, ordered Capt. L. S. Ross of McLennan, on the 11th of September to raise a company of seventy men, and to take his station beyond Fort Belknap,, where he arrived on the 17th of October. On the 6th of December information reached the Executive of the most appalling outrages committed by the Indians in Jack •and Parker Counties. Orders were immediately sent forward to Capts. Thos. Stockton, of Young, and James Barry, of Bosque County, to raise each twenty-four men, and proceed to cooperate with Captain Ross in protecting the settlements. These troops did not then enter the service, but on the 17th of December an order was issued to Capt. A. B. Burleson to raise seventy men, which was followed by orders to Capt. E. W. Rogers, of Ellis. on the 26th of December, and to Capt. Thomas Harrison, of Mc- Lennan, on the 2d of January, to raise each seventy men, all of whom have now gone forward to Fort Belknap, where Col. V•l. C.
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