The Council House Fight

Especially with the Texas capital's move to Austin, now Lipan Apache and Penateka Comanche had wandered into the picture. Raids along the Brazos and Colorado Rivers caused a frontier officer to write the War Department that he was "convinced that speedy relief must be had, or depopulation will necessarily soon ensue. The whole country is literally swarming with redskins." Of main concern were the Comanche raids in and around San Antonio and as far east as Gonzales, where in 1838 four children had been kidnapped, two from the Putnam family and the two Lockhart children, John and Matilda. Despite the best efforts of posses and Rangers, the marauders snuck back to their Comanche territory with plunder and the children.

Distracted by the Cherokee campaign through the summer months and the chase by General Burleson that led to the Christmas Day attack on the last of the Texas Cherokees on the San Saba River, Hugh McLeod, adjutant general, and Mirabeau B. Lamar's administration left the western frontier to the militia. Col. Henry Karnes, commander of the forces at Bexar, organized his meager, poorly provisioned troops into roaming companies with only minimal effect. A chase up the San Saba in 1839 led to a confrontation with a band of Comanches at their winter camp. Ranger John H. Moore and a hundred volunteers took the village by surprise but did not succeed in recapturing any of the kidnapped children spotted during the battle. In the midst of the fight the Texans lost their mounts and were forced to walk back to Austin in the February cold.

Despite repeated forays into the settlements and inadequate response by the outposts, a Comanche council decided in January, 1840, to negotiate a peace treaty with the Texans. Karnes reported in a message to Albert Sidney Johnston that the Comanches "refused to treat with the Cherokees, who, along with Mexican agents, solicited them with large presents to enter with them in a war against the Republic." The representatives of the Penateka assured Karnes that they would sit with his people to talk whenever he suggested. Karnes agreed to contact his government but stipulated that no negotiations would take place "without the release of the American Captives, and the restoration of all stolen property; besides giving guarantees that future depredators on our property should be delivered up for punishment." The Comanches agreed to his terms and promised to return within thirty days.

Secretary of War Johnston appointed McLeod and William G. Cooke as special commissioners for the negotiations and sent additional companies of soldiers to Bexar under the general command of Lt. Col. William S. Fisher and his First Regiment. McLeod wrote President Lamar on March 17 from San Antonio that the army was preparing for the negotiations, but no word had yet come from the Comanches. "The troops are in fine condition," he wrote, "well satisfied, and both men & officers delighted with the Country, and their quarters."

Colonel Fisher designated the old stone Council House in San Antponio as the meeting ground. Situated on the corner of Main Plaza and Market Street, it adjoined the city jail and provided a strategic location for controlling the situation. The council room was large enough to accommodate both parties, but there was only one entrance. With soldiers stationed all around the square, an outbreak of violence could be managed.

Mary Maverick, Capt. George T. Howard, and Hugh McLeod were eyewitnesses to the events that day. On March 19 two Comanche scouts arrived in the city and informed McLeod and Cooke that the peace party was on its way. Soon the citizens and soldiers saw sixty-five men, women, and children riding and walking casually toward the plaza. Twelve of the Penateka principal chiefs, led by Muk-wah-ruh, greeted the commissioners stoically and were led into the Council House. Several women accompanied them inside and stood against a back wall while the rest of the party waited outside.

A handful of Comanche boys began to play on the street while Bexar citizens watched, fascinated. Lt. Edward Thompson's brother, a judge from South Carolina residing in Houston and visiting his kin, soon engaged the boys in a game. Seeing their small bows and arrows, he challenged them to shoot at coins and paper money that he leaned against a nearby fence. From across the street, Mrs. Mary Maverick and her neighbor, Mrs. Higginbotham, watched the boys shoot the targets with remarkable accuracy. Cordoning the Council House as soon as the chiefs went inside, Capt. Howard's company waited near the entrance while Capt. William Redd's men stood at ease around the back. Bexar Sheriff Joseph Hood visited with Capt. Redd from the front porch of the jailhouse.

Inside their home, Samuel Maverick sat at the dining table with his brother-in-law Andrew Adams and their guest, Capt. Mathew "Old Paint" Caldwell, in from Gonzales. George W. Cayce, a young man in his late teens who had delivered some papers to Maverick from his father in Matagorda County, was also there. When the Comanches appeared at the plaza, Cayce and Caldwell wandered into the yard to watch. Jinny Anderson, the Maverick's black cook, worked in the kitchen house out back and kept an eye on the four children in her care. Dozens of Anglos and Mexicans wandered around the plaza.

Inside the large council room, McLeod and Cooke stood facing Muk-wah-ruh, with Colonel Fisher at the doorway. A handful of soldiers stood at wary attention with their rifles resting in their arms. Lt. William M. Dunnington stared at Muk-wah-ruh throughout the proceedings. One of the women threw back the long blanket around her to reveal the tiny shape of a young white girl, weakened by starvation and physical abuse. Her nose had been cut and burned to the bone, and she had scars on her shoulders and legs. Fifteen-year-old Matilda Lockhart looked half her age and was in a pitiful state. She had been a captive and slave for two years.

Colonel Fisher, barely able to contain himself, stepped forward and demanded to know where the other captives were. "We have brought in the only one we had," replied Muk-wah-ruh through an interpreter. "The others are with other tribes." Colonel Fisher knelt and spoke quietly for a moment to Matilda. In a shaky voice she told him that many other captives were in the camp where she lived; she had seen some of them that morning.

Colonel Fisher stood up and silence filled the room, interrupted by the flippant voice of the principal chief: "How do you like answer?" he asked. Colonel Fisher responded: "I do not like your answer. I told you not to come here without bringing in your prisoners. You have come against my orders." At this moment McLeod turned toward the door and motioned for a company of soldiers to come inside. Captain Howard led his men in, and they arranged themselves in a line facing the chiefs. Colonel Fisher continued, " Your women and children may depart in peace, and your braves may go and tell your people to send in the prisoners. When those prisoners are returned, your chiefs here present may likewise go free. Until then we will hold you as hostages." The interpreter refused to translate Colonel Fisher's words. Colonel Fisher demanded that he do so, his eyes never leaving Muk-wah-ruh. Haltingly, the interpreter mumbled the Penateka translation.

Instantly and as one, the eleven chiefs behind Muk-wah-ruh strung their bows. Colonel Fisher ordered the soldiers inside the Council House to "Fire if they do not desist." Most of the rifles had already been raised into position as he spoke. The Comanches made the first move. One of the chiefs lunged for the only door out of the room. Captain Howard grabbed the man by his shirt collar. The chief stabbed him in the side but was shot down at the entrance. The first shot brought a firing of arrows and rifles at nearly point-blank range. Smoke filled the room, and the officers shouted orders as the firing continued. Lt. Dunnington was shot through by an arrow, but he turned before he fell and fired his pistol into the face of the closest Comanche. "His brains bespattered the wall; he turned around and exclaimed, 'I have killed him, but I believe he has killed me, too.'" The twelve chiefs and three women lay dead inside in a matter of seconds. Lt. Dunnington died twenty minutes later.

On the plaza, the sounds of gunfire and shouting from inside the building spurred others to action. Two Indian boys strung their bows and shot Judge Thompson through. Another turned and killed young George Cayce where he stood. Capt. Caldwell ran across the plaza unarmed, grabbed a rifle from a warrior, shot him, and beat another to death with the gun until it splintered into pieces. He fell when a rifle ball pierced his leg, but he propped himself against the Council House wall and threw rocks at the enemy as they ran by.

The warriors outside made a break around the back of the building and ran right into Captain Redd's company. The fighting was hand to hand for several minutes, and four Comanches were killed. Pvt. Frederick Kaminski died in the pitched battle. Sheriff Hood started down from the jailhouse porch and was shot in a hail of arrows. Some of the warriors broke through Captain Redd's line and made for the river several blocks away.

Back in the plaza Pvt. Robert J. Whitney lay dead near the entryway of the Council House. Across the street Thomas Higginbotham ran from his house and was severely wounded before he could get to the street. His wife knelt in shock nearby. Next door, Mary Maverick stood transfixed as bullets and arrows passed her. Two Indian boys lay dead in the street; one was the son of Muk-wah-ruh. Gunfire sounded as the Comanches rushed inside buildings around the square. When two warriors headed toward the Maverick house, Mary turned and raced them to the door, pulling down the heavy bar lock just ahead of them.

Sam Maverick and Andrew Adams sat serenely at the dining room table, oblivious to the noise. Mary yelled, "Here are Indians!" Sam grabbed his rifle and headed for the front door as Andrew joined his sister in a race to the backyard. At the rear exit they saw Jinny standing in the backyard with the four children crouched behind her wide apron. She held a large rock overhead and screamed at the Comanche a few feet away, "If you don't go 'way from here I'll mash your head with this rock!" The Indian disappeared behind the kitchen house before Andrew could get off a shot with his pistol, but he chased the Indian and killed him before he reached the riverbank.

Mary hurried to the front of the house just in time to see Col. Lysander Wells riding into the plaza. Unaware of the action, he had stumbled into the middle of the battle. As he pulled up his mount, an Indian leapt onto Wells from the shadows of a building, and the two struggled on horseback. Colonel Wells managed to pull his pistol from its holster and shot the Indian point blank. Then he rode toward the river, firing his pistol at straggling Indians and shouting orders to passersby and soldiers.

Mary saw three Indians lying at the edge of her lawn, two not moving. Higginbotham's journeyman walked over to the wounded Comanche and pointed his pistol at the Indian's head. Mary cried out, "Oh don't, he is dying!" The man laughed and said, "To please you, ma'am, I won't, but it would put him out of his misery," and walked away. From across the plaza, McLeod hollered at her, "Are you crazy? Go in or you will be killed." But Mary went looking for her children.

At the river, the Texans fired into the water as the Comanches retreated. Only one, later identified as a "Mexican renegade," managed to escape. On the square McLeod, Colonel Fisher, and Capt. James C. Allen coordinated the fight that continued. A number of Comanches had hidden in buildings, and a house-to-house search resulted in the deaths of another half-dozen warriors and the capture of twenty-nine, including two old men. One survivor hid in a stone kitchen house off Soledad Street and refused all attempts to be captured. Hours later, as night fell, two Texans crawled into the structure and dropped a burning candlewick ball soaked in turpentine down the chimney. The fiery weapon struck the warrior on his head. He threw open the door and was killed instantly by gunfire.

The Council House Fight ended with thirty-five Comanches dead, including the twelve principal chiefs who had entered the meeting room. Seven soldiers and citizens had died, and eight were seriously wounded. It was thought that Higginbotham and Judge Thompson, the latter shot through the lungs, would not live, but both survived. Medical care was extended through the night by several volunteers under the direction of Dr. Eduard Weidemann, a Russian-born physician who lived in San Antonio.

McLeod wrote his official report the following day and sent it to President Lamar. The report appeared on April 4 in the Richmond Telescope and Texas Register. In San Antonio, McLeod declared a twelve-day truce against the Comanches in the area. He sent one of the captured squaws to take the news to their camp and prepare for an exchange of prisoners. Chief Piava came to San Antonio on April 3, and the next day seven children were exchanged for some of the Comanche prisoners. The children told of the horrors at the camp when word of the fight came and how the Indians "howled and cut themselves with knives, and killed horses for several days. And they took the American captives, thirteen in number, and roasted and butchered them to death with horrible cruelties." The rest of the jailed Comanches were moved to Mission San José. By the end of April nearly all had managed to escape.

In retaliation for the Council House Fight, a large band of Comanche warriors drove down through the Texas settlements in July, almost to the coast, where they burned the town of Linville before turning around. With captives and a mile-long caravan of plunder, the Indians headed for the safety of their Comancheria, but they were surprised at Plum Creek on August 12 by two hundred Texans. The decimation of the war party effectively brought an end to the hostile presence of the Penateka inside the Texas frontier.

On August 19, 1840, McLeod wrote Johnston from Austin, "I got here a few days just in time to be too late for the skirmish with the Linnville plunderers." He noted that several adjustments would be made to the frontier defenses as a result of the fighting, and that "the military will make a campaign from San Antonio against the Comanches."

Paul N. Spellman, Forgotten Texas Leader: Hugh McLeod and the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, 1999