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From Raw Frontier:
Armed Conflict Along the Texas
Coastal Bend by Keith Guthrie
Page 2
A substantial block
of Spanish land grants were made
in present-day Wilson and Karnes
counties, largely in an area known
as the Rincon between the San Antonio
River and Cibolo Creek. It appears
that ranches in this area were granted
in the early 1750s; however, these
early grants appear to be missing
from the Spanish archives in the
General Land Office in Austin. The
earliest instrument on record is
a joint grant issued to Andres Hernandez
and Luis Menchaca for fifteen leagues
and twelve caballerias of land. (7)
7. Robert H.
Thornhoff, El Fuerte Del Cibolo.
Sentinel of the Bexar-La Bahia
Ranches (Austin: Eakin Press, 1992),
26-27.
Page 3
Rancho de San Miguel
de Amoladeras was owned first by
Miguel Guerra and later by his widow,
Dona Josefa Quinones, and was located
near present-day Panna Maria.
Page 100-102
Alfred Iverson "Babe" Moye
of Kenedy was introduced to violence
when a young man by the name of Silvers
was killed by the sheriff in Helens,
Karnes County. Shortly afterward
he saw the gory scene of the murder
of the Stringfield family. Probably
seeking to get away he signed on
with an outfit to pick up a herd
above Uvalde and take them north
to Kansas. Looking for horses, the
young man found a bunch of Indians
that chased him back, flinging arrows
at him all the way. They started
the 1,500 cattle and soon arrived
at the Red River after fighting off
Indians trying to steal their horses
at night. Upon arriving at Abilene,
Kansas, the young cowpoke who left
Helena because of murders, discovered
the town was full of gunslings like
John Wesley Hardin, Buffalo Bill
Thompson, Manny Clements, and Gip
Clements. After losing all of his
money gambling in the Bull head Saloon,
which was run by Thompson and Hill
Coe, City Marshall Will Bill Hickock
offered the cowboy some good advice
- "leave it alone." The
next year he signed on with CHoate & Bennett.
He finally signed on with W.G. Butler,
and together with his brother, Andy
Moye, they got into trouble in Ogallala
and had to leave in a hurry. (43)
Helena looked better after each trip.
The Burnell Butler
family, destined to become one of
Karnes County's leading groups, came
to the area in 1852 in oxcarts from
Scott County, Mississippi. Oddly
enough, Butler, who was deaf and
dumb, did not start buying land until
after the Civil War when barbed wire
was invented and people started fencing
their land. Up until that time it
was all open range. (44) Butler settled
his family close to Wafford's Crossing
on the San Antonio Rivier, and leased
land on which to graze his cattle.
As the Butler family and others were
taming land in the area, the great
drought of 1863 hit, drying the San
Antonio and Nueces rivers to a trickle.
Stock that roamed free, unfettered
by fences, migrated across the Nueces
River to an area west of the river
where the drought had not been so
severe. With most able-bodied men
serving in the Confederate Army,
work on cattle ranges came to a standstill.
In 1864 the drought was broken and
a group of about forty-five young
and old men, headed by Uncle Billy
Ricks of Oakville, spent a month
in the trans-Nueces area, headquartered
at San Diego, rounding up their branded
cattle and their calves. About 500
head were returned to Karnes County
ranges. By 1868 W.G. Butler took
a herd of cattle up the trail to
Abilene, Kansas, marking a return
to near normal conditions in Karnes
County. During the next decade he
put a number of drives on the trail
and increased his heards and land
to over 100,000 acres, plus an additional
25,000 leased, on which he ran 10,000
head of cattle. His last drive was
in 1886 and up until that time he
participated in one to three drives
each year. It has been estimated
that he delivered over 100,000 head
of cattle up the trail. P.B. Butler
joined his brother in drives in the
years 1874, 1875, and 1876. In 1878
P.B. Butler endured storms and trail
problems to deliver 3,500 head to
Dodge City, Kansas. One of his last
drives was in 1879 when he took a
heard of 3,500 head to Nebraska,
holding them between the North and
South Platte Rivers until all were
sold. (45) All drives from the area
originated in Round Pens, just west
of Kenedy, where the ranchers had
built rail fences that encompassed
acres and acres of land where cattle
could be held until the herd was
ready to move.
The cattle drives
during and after the Civil War contributed
greatly to the survival of people
in the area in the postwar period.
Men like Bill Butler and Monroe Choate,
who organized and led most of the
drives out of the area, were largely
responsible for gathering, organizing,
and financing these drives. Much
needed employment kept idle hands
busy and until the railroad came
to the area in the mid-1880s the
cattle drives were practically the
only source of income. "These
men were great," Mrs. Charlotte
Nichols reminisced, "but it
was the women who were the glue that
kept families and communities together.
That's how Karnes County survived."
No doubt the Butler
family, especially William Green
Butler, had a profound influence
on the cattle business in South Texas.
In fact, he put his stamp on Karnes
County in many ways. Perhaps Mrs.
Nichols, a member of the Butler family,
best described the role that Bill
Butler played in the troubled times
in Karnes County.
"The Civil
War had a big influence on his life.
When he got back to Karnes County
times were rough - Now law, no order
to anything. He, with his military
training, took it upon himself to
help with the law and order in Karnes
County. He was very definite in his
views in what was right and wrong.
If you did right it was fine, and
if you did wrong it was bad. He killed
twenty some odd people, but he was
always acquitted at court trials
by pleading self defense.He told
his grandson that there was only
one person he regretted killing.
He had taken a herd of cattle to
Indianola and was on the way back
with his pockets full of gold. He
saw this man approaching him and
he didn't know what he wanted - he
wouldn't stop coming - I had to shoot
that man because I didn't know what
he was going to do. He must have
been a domineering character, positive
and a firm believer in what was right
and wrong. He was a leader. He became
on of the roughest men in Karnes
County. Later he started buying property
- he owned half of Karnes County
and the Nichols the other half. He
would buy the property for back taxes."
Bill Butler's first
cattle drive was during the Civil
Ware. His superior found out that
he was a rancher and knew where herds
of cattle could be found, so he sent
him to Karnes County where he rounded
up 500 head of cattle and headed
them back toward Arkansas to feed
the hungry Confederate soldiers.
This was at a time when the Yankees
were overrunning the area and about
the time he arrived at his base the
Yankees captured it (47) and the
herd of cattle and took Butler as
a prisoner. He and several other
men were ordered to stack the captured
rifles, but they just kept on walking
and escaped. (48)
43. Ibid., 455-457
44. Interview on March 18, 1996 with Mrs. Charlotte
Nichols at her home in Kenedy. The Butlers came
to Karnes County in 1852 and the Nichols in 1854.
Her husband was W.G. "Bill" Butler's
grandson. She is considered an authority on Butler
history.
45. Hunter, The Trail Drivers of Texas, 480-485,
715-718; Charlotte Nichols Interview.
46. Charlotte Nichols Interview.
47. The Battle of Arkansas Post, January 1, 1863.
Letter written by Josephine Mills in Arkansas to
her friend Lizzie Choate in Karnes County, dated
2-5-1863. Letter in possession of Mrs. nichols; copy
Keith Guthrie.
48. Charlotte Nichols Interview.
Page 105
It was sometimes
called the Old Frieghter Road, but
it was generally referred to as the
Cart Road, named after the so-called
Cart War of 1857 that brought the
focus of the entire nation to the
trail. Beginning on Lavaca Bay at
Indianola or Lavaca, the trail wound
its way through present-day Calhoun,
Victoria, Goliad, Karnes, Wilson,
and Bexar counties into San Antonio
via Goliad Street. For the German
settlers who were bound as far as
north as Fredericksburg, the journey
was resumed after taking time to
rest oxen and replenish supplies.
Page 110-112
A writer in Helena
described the situation in this manner: "Another
favorite sport of the natives was
looting the great freight wagons
carrying goods from Indianola to
San Antonio." Evidently the
none-too-scrupulous people of Helena
felt justified in stealing from all
freighters as long as bad feelings
existed between the Texian and the
Mexican drivers.
American freighters
in the Helena area also slippe into
Mexican camps at night and cut the
spokes of the wagon wheels so that
the wagon would crash the next morning
when they started. This led to shooting
and Mexican deaths. A battle took
place on Cibolo Creek in Karnes County.
The Mexican carts and American wagons
formed two giant hollow circles and
fired away at each other. No lives
were lost, bu evidently the Mexicans
accepted the fact that they were
beaten and retired, leaving the trade
to the Americans.
In September of
1857 a train of seventeen carts,
under the leadership of W.G. Tobing,
headed out of San Antonio and was
attacked near Helena by a group of
men with blackened faces. Two Mexicans
were killed and a number wounded,
and on American attacker was wounded.
There were other murders and goods
stolen from Mexican carts. San Antonio
merchants raised such a howl that
Maj. Gen. D.E. Twiggs began offering
escorts to wagon trains, mainly those
carrying government supplies. This
did not stop the trouble and a mob
headed by Colonel Wilcox appeared
and threatened to sack the town of
Helena. A lynching party was narrowly
avoided. Feelings of the people of
Karnes County exploded in a public
meeting held on December 4, 1857,
at the Helena courthouse to consider
the Cart War and the meddling of
Governor E.M. Pease, mentioned above.
John J. Linn, a Victoria merchant
and a hero at the Battle of San Jacinto,
had these terse words concerning
the warfare on the Cart Road: "The
authorities of Goliad COunty seemed
to regard the whole thing with supine
indifference, as they made no efforts
whatever either to suppress the crimes
or to bring the criminals to justice." Lynch
law took over. During the height
of the trouble the Mexican drivers
made a new road out of Goliad that
ran twelve to fifteen miles to the
left of the main road for a short
distance. (12) A train of carts loaded
with United States government supplies
was attacked in Karnes County on
September 12, 1857. one Mexican cartman
was killed and several wounded. (13)
Governor Pease finally called out
a company of seventy-five men to
put an end to the Cart War after
the matter was aired in the legislature.
No doubt the complaint lodged by
the Mexican minister in October of
1857 to federal authorities influenced
Pease's action. (14) The problem
did not go away over night. The Houston
Telegraph and Register weighed into
the Cart War with several pronouncements.
One article on December 19, 1857,
expressed their opinions: "There
is evidently a large amount of prejudice
existing among our people against
the greaser population, which often
breaks out in acts of violence and
lawlessness, altogether indefensible." Again
on January 10, 1858 the paper reported
on the meeting held earlier in Karnes
County: "They don't like the
'means' the governor has provided
for the purpose, troops traveling
with wagon trains, and authorized
their representatives to oppose the
payment of the troops he [the governor]
has employed." On October 18,
1858, the Nueces Valley of Corpus
Christi reported that General Twiggs
furnished a military escort to accompany
the Mexican teamsters and protect
the government stores from San Antonio
to Indianola.
Perhaps the Mexicans
received relief from Governor Pease
and through the intervention of the
Mexican minister (15) at Washington,
but to a large extent Mexican cart
drivers retired from the scene. The
American wagon trains dominated the
road until such time as the railroad
retired them to museums.
12. Didear,
Helena of Karnes County and Old
Helena, 18-21; Linn, John J., Reminisces
of Fity Years in Texas (Austin:
State House Press, 1986), 253;
Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History
of the North Mexican States and
Texas, 1531-1899, (New York: McCraw
Hill book Company, 1967), 2:219.
13. Wortham, History of Texas, 4:232.
14. Pennybacker, New History of Texas, 256-7.
15. Homer S. Thrall, Pictorial History of Texas (New
York: Thompson Co., 1879), 772-73.
Bibliography
Guthrie,
Keith. Raw Frontier: Armed Conflict
Along the Texas Coastal Bend.
San Antonio, TX: Marion Koogler McNay
Art Museum, September 1998.
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