P.APERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR 275 a Fort & that he would have the families protected provided they would remain & & the men would make a crop - To this they agreed - The fort was built, The arrangement for making a crop was this, They were to work for each other; 5 or ;6 working to day & 5 or 6 more, 1 working the next; thus taking it in rotation until all had done an equal portion of labor; as soon as one man's field was dispatched, they commenced on another's - Whilst the men were at work, a party of soldiers were station in the field as a guard against the Indians.. Capt. Stout being authorized to augment his force, if necessary obtained in this population 19 additional recruits - this enabled him to garrison the fort, & still allow soldiers enough to protect the laborers at work - In this manner they continued from the 26th Deer. !838 (the day Stout arrived there) until the fall, when the families returned to their re- spective homes in security, with the fruits of a good crop, as good as had ever been raised in the settlemet - Captain Stout was not con- fined to any point - but receiving orders from Genl. Rusk, he raised 72 men in January 1839 and was deputed to continue in constant serv- ice for six months, ranging from the Cross Timbrs down to Lake Soda - During this 6 months service, he was active & vigilant but was not able to accomplish much owing to his scanty supply of sub- sistence and other hindrances - McIntire on Choctaw Bayou in Fan- nin Co. had two sons, 14 and 11 years old killed; Garner & Camp in a few days after in the same Co. were way laid & killed. A man that same morning was also killed at his residence; Keithley was his name Keithley was from arkansaw, Camp from Geo. Garner's nativity un- known - The boys were killed 29th Jany - The others were killed 8 or 9 Febry - These were the only murders of that winter & spring in that section. Their deaths went unrevenged ; the indians could not be caught & were not retaliated upon - Capt. Stout however, erected several forts, which gave protection to the families - Fort Sherman, Fort Rusk, De Kalb; ai::sisted at English's, Montague, & at Coffin's station. His force was disbanded in June. - On the 23rd.. July 1839, a few days after the Cherokee fight, Blanket- ship was killed by the Cherokees near the Sabine - Captain Stout had some difficultv in holdinl? his men together at Fort Sherman. Some of them had been enlisted for three months only; their time expiring, some 7 or 8 of them, resolved to l!'O home. The Cant. forbid it: a difficulty ensued; but the Captain being sustained by Lieut. John M. Watson, and 2 others, the rebellious soldiers were forced to continue their aid 3 months longer. The ring-leader was kept confined for some time until he manifested repentance. Capt. Stout acted in this matter under the an [sic] act which said that men enlisted for one tour (which is 3 months) may be compelled to extend t4eir service to two tou?R (6 months) if the exigencies of the country required it - He had alim order from Genl. Dyre to pursue the course he did - Capt. Stout in May 1839 brought in the wa.gl?ons, 5 in number. which Ru11k had left on the middle nrong of the Trinity called Clear Fork -- They had however been much damg-ed by the Indians, who had taken . off many of the irons & had abused the woodwork also b~ chopping it with their hatchets - Cant. John Emherson. who had resided 20 vears on Red River. rai11ed a Company in the spring of 1839, a month· or there about, before the
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