Transcriber's Note: The Index (Contents) and the List of Illustrations
have been moved from the end of the text to beginning of the text.
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained
as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with underscores:
_italics_.
[Illustration: _The Fight at Adobe Walls._
(From an Oil Painting by Miss Gwynfred Jones,
Hansford, Texas.--Copyrighted.)]
LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF "BILLY" DIXON
OF ADOBE WALLS, TEXAS PANHANDLE
A Narrative in Which Is Described Many Things Relating to the Early
Southwest, with an Account of the Fight Between Indians and Buffalo
Hunters at Adobe Walls, and the Desperate Engagement at Buffalo Wallow,
for which Congress voted the Medal of Honor to the Survivors.
COMPILED BY
FREDERICK S. BARDE
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA
COPYRIGHT, 1914
BY MRS. OLIVE DIXON
PRINTED BY THE
Co-Operative Publishing Co.
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA
INDEX
Page.
CHAPTER I.
Preface--Introductory--What "Bat" Masterson Said of "Billy"
Dixon--How the Story of His Life Was Written--Mrs. Dixon's
Devoted Industry in Setting Down the Facts of Her Husband's
Life--Fascination of the Plains Country 10
CHAPTER II.
Dixon's Birth and Boyhood--Death of His Parents--From West
Virginia to Home of Uncle in Missouri--Lured by Romance of
Plains, the Boy Starts in Search of Adventure--Reaches
Leavenworth, Kas., and Becomes a Bull-Whacker--Across the
Plains--Hires to Farmer McCall 17
CHAPTER III.
To Fort Harker with a Drove of "Shave-tails"--Kills His
First Buffalo--The Medicine Lodge Treaty--Approaching
Indians--Stirring Scenes--General Harney--Satanta and His
Horse--Back to Fort Harker--Prairie Fires 46
CHAPTER IV.
To Baxter Springs, Kas., in 1868--Hauling Munitions of War
to Camp Supply for the Custer Expedition--All the Mules
Stampede in Harness--Now Eighteen Years Old and as Hard as
Nails--Begins Hunting Buffaloes for their Hides--Establishes
a Road Ranch South of Hays City--Lost at Night 76
CHAPTER V.
Dodge City in 1872--Dixon Never Danced or Gambled--"Cranky"
McCabe--Dangerous Country South of the Arkansas--Indian
Scare--Name at Boiling Spring on the South Pawnee--Sham
Duel--On the Cimarron in 1873--Prowling Cheyennes--Company
M and the Al Frio--History of Buffalo Spring 104
CHAPTER VI.
Down in the Texas Panhandle--Ruins of Original Adobe Walls
--Back to Dodge City--Fitting Out of Big Expedition to
Hunt Buffaloes--The Tempestuous and Spectacular Fairchild
--Night Camp in the Plains Country--Dancing on a Dry Buffalo
Hide--Floods and Quicksands--Meets Jim and Bob Cator--Fun
with Fairchild 142
CHAPTER VII.
The Buffalo-Hunters Establish Themselves at Adobe Walls and
Erect Buildings--Origin of old Adobe Walls--A Long Circle in
Search of the Best Hunting Grounds--Roaring of the Vast Herd
--Business Begins in Earnest--Caught in Canadian Quicksands
--News at Adobe Walls of Indian Outbreaks--Dixon Forms Hunting
Partnership with Hanrahan--Location of Buildings at Adobe
Walls--Fancied Security 171
CHAPTER VIII.
A Thousand Indians Attack Adobe Walls at Dawn--Dixon Tries
to Save His Horse--Escape of Billy Ogg--The First Mighty
Warwhoop--The Battle Begins--Indians Charge to the Sound
of A Bugle--Bugler Shot--Dixon's Marksmanship--Indians no
Match for Hunters--Running for Supply of Ammunition--The
Shadlers and Billy Tyler Killed 200
CHAPTER IX.
Dixon's Fall in Rath's Store--Companions Fear He is Shot
--Dead Warrior's Lance--Dismal Cawing of Pet Crow--Wounded
Horses--Killing an Indian at 1200 Yards--Henry Lease Goes
for Help--Old Man Bellfield and the Black Flag--Death of
William Olds--Lost Relics 218
CHAPTER X.
Depredations of Indians--Quanah Parker--Buffalo-Hunting
Abandoned--Departure for Dodge City--Dixon Becomes a Scout
Under General Miles--Back to Adobe Walls with Lieutenant
Frank Baldwin--Indians Kill George Huffman in Sight of
Soldiers--Terror of the Negro Cook--Pleasing Story of
Dixon's Dog--Fannie and Her Pups 237
CHAPTER XI.
Dixon's Most Perilous Adventure--Buffalo Wallow Fight--
Terrible Suffering of Wounded Companions--Rescues Amos
Chapman--Indians Charging Upon all Sides--Saved by a
Cold September Rain--The Long, Dreary Night--Death of
Smith--Dixon Starts for Aid--Meets Wagon Train Escorted by
Major Price--Heartless Indifference to Wounded Men--Help
Comes from General Miles--The Medal of Honor Awarded 254
CHAPTER XII.
Blizzard Experience--Shooting at Jack Stilwell's Ear--
Indignation and Horror of Old Army Officer--Rescue of
the Germain Captives--Finding of Julia and Adelaide in
Gray Beard's Deserted Camp--Pitiable Objects--Catherine
and Sophia Carried to the Staked Plains--Restored by Chief
Stone Calf--With Captain Nolan on the Staked Plains--No
Water--Finds Double Lakes and Saves Command 281
CHAPTER XIII.
Back to Civilian Life--Builds His Home at Old Adobe Walls
--Plants First Alfalfa in Panhandle--The Dixon Orchard--
Appointed Postmaster--Candy and Chewing Gum for the
Cowboys--Married in 1894--Serves as Justice-of-the-Peace
and Sheriff--Panhandle Pioneers--Changing Conditions--Breaking
up of Big Cattle Ranches--Dixon Goes Further West to Cimarron
County--Would Live it All Over Again--Helped Build an Empire
in the West. 301
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page.
_The Fight at Adobe Walls_ _Frontispiece_
From an oil painting by Miss Gwynfred Jones, Hansford, Texas,
from her sketches of the battleground, as corrected by "Billy"
Dixon.
_Buffaloes--"Just As They Looked in the Old Days."_ 28
_Satank, the Old Tiger of the Kiowas_ 58
_Indian Ration Day at Fort Sill, Oklahoma_ 64
_Wood-Hauler Found Scalped Near Fort Dodge_ 82
There are few photographs of this kind in existence.
_"Billy" Dixon in His Prime as a Scout and Plainsman_ 106
_Indian Camp of Buffalo Hide Tepees_ 128
In this camp Chief Kicking Bird, Kiowa, was poisoned by his
enemies, because of his unwillingness to sanction the Indian
warfare against the United States government.
_James H. Cator, Zulu, Texas, Panhandle Pioneer_ 160
_"Billy" Dixon's Log Homestead on Site of Original Adobe Walls_ 172
_Chief Quanah Parker of the Comanches_ 202
_High Bluff East of Adobe Walls on which Dixon Killed Indian
at 1200 Yards_ 232
_Ermoke and His Band of Murderous Kiowa Raiders_ 256
These Indians are typical of the kind that roamed the
Plains country.
_Drew Dixon, Son of "Billy" Dixon--"A Sure Shot, Like
His Father"_ 274
_"Billy" Dixon, as He Appeared in Recent Years_ 302
_Dixon Orchard at Adobe Walls_ 308
_Adobe Corral Built by "Billy" Dixon_ 312
PREFACE
After many years, the solicitation of friends and early associates
moved the subject of this volume to consent to the publication of such
of his experiences on the frontier as he believed might be of interest
to those persons who find pleasure in reading of the perils and
hardships encountered in those far-off days by men and women who
forsook the comforts of more civilized surroundings to risk their lives
in making habitable the wilderness.
The pioneers themselves were not inclined to feel that their exploits
were so extraordinary as to be of use in the making of books. Their
long abode in silent places made them taciturn; and their lack of
liberal knowledge of the rules of writing and their unwillingness to
risk the appearance of conceit left them reluctant to relate their
adventures for the printed page.
Posterity, however, has a claim upon these fore-runners that may not be
lightly thrust aside. The history of this struggle to subdue the wild
places should be preserved and can be gathered only from the lips of
the records of participants. In a few years the latter will have all
vanished, as the frontier itself has faded into a memory. From camp
fire tales have grown the legends of heroes.
"I fear," said "Billy" Dixon, half humorously, "that the conquest of
savagery in the Southwest was due more often to love of adventure than
to any wish that cities should arise in the desert, or that the
highways of civilization should take the place of the trails of the
Indian and the buffalo. In fact, many of us believed and hoped that the
wilderness would remain forever. Life there was to our liking. Its
freedom, its dangers, its tax upon strength and courage, gave a zest to
living especially to young men, unapproached by anything to be found in
civilized communities. Therefore, let it be said that if there was
bravery and heroism, it came less by design than it did from the
emergencies of accident and surroundings, and that usually it was
spontaneous."
Though a taciturn man, Mr. Dixon made strong friendships and
entertained the warmest affection for the men with whom he had been
associated in pioneer days. Mr. W. B. ("Bat") Masterson, writing lately
from New York City, said in an appreciative letter:
"I first became acquainted with Billy Dixon on the buffalo range in the
fall of 1872 and continued to know him well and intimately for several
years thereafter. The last time I saw him was at Sweetwater, a small
hamlet just off the Military Reservation at Fort Elliott, Texas, then
called Cantonment, in the spring of 1876.
"Billy Dixon was a typical frontiersman of the highest order. The
perils and hardships of border life were exactly suited to his stoical
and imperturbable nature. This does not mean that Billy was not a
kind-hearted, generous and hospitable man, for he possessed all these
admirable qualities to a high degree but he was cool, calculating and
uncommunicative at all times.
"I was with Billy in the fight at Adobe Walls in June, 1874, between
the buffalo-hunters and that fierce band of warriors composed of the
best fighting men of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Comanche and Kiowa tribes,
numbering fully one thousand braves. Billy and I occupied the same
window the first day of the battle and I hope we did our share in the
fight. Billy was an extraordinary fine shot with a buffalo-gun and he
never overlooked an opportunity that first day to demonstrate his
unerring aim whenever and wherever an Indian showed his head. We were
scouts together afterwards in General Miles' command which left Fort
Dodge, Kansas in the early part of August, the same year, for the
Panhandle country where the hostiles were assembled in great numbers.
While I was not with him, I am quite familiar with all the details of
the fight in the buffalo wallow on the north bank of the Washita River
in which Billy and Amos Chapman and four soldiers stood off a large
band of hostiles for an entire day. It was largely due to Billy's
heroism on that occasion that the party was saved from complete
annihilation."
The publication of this volume was decided upon in the fall of 1912.
Mr. Dixon was in vigorous health, and became greatly interested in the
undertaking. His memory was remarkable for its tenacity, which enabled
him to recall the past with ease and accuracy.
At our home on our claim in Cimarron County, I took down from his
dictation the greater and the essential part of the present narrative.
I kept note-books in every room, and sometimes carried them to the
corral, that I might be in readiness to set down what my husband might
say as he was moved by reflection or inquiry to talk of the past. Many
of his pioneer friends learned of his plans, and encouraged him to
persevere until the work should be accomplished. The material grew
until there was an armful of manuscript, and the ground had been fairly
covered.
Little did we suspect that Death--the enemy from whom he had escaped so
many times in the old days--was at hand, and that the arrow was set to
the bow. During a winter storm early in 1913 he was suddenly stricken.
He went unwillingly and complainingly to his bed, regretting that what
he believed was a trivial illness should pull down a man who never
before had known a day's sickness. Pneumonia developed, and he expired
March 9, 1913, insisting with his last breath that he would recover.
Interment took place in the cemetery at Texline, Texas, under the
auspices of the local Masonic Lodge. Mr. Dixon for many years had been
a consistent member of that order.
In the publication of this volume, I wish to acknowledge my obligations
to Mr. Frederick S. Barde, of Guthrie, Oklahoma, who compiled the
manuscript and carried the book through the press, and also to those
pioneers of the Panhandle, Mr. Chas. Goodnight and Mr. James H. Cator,
friends of many years, whose counsel and suggestions were helpful in
many ways.
MRS. OLIVE DIXON.
Life of "Billy" Dixon
CHAPTER I.
In no other country could there have been found a region so inviting,
so alluring, so fascinating, to the spirit of adventure as the Great
Plains. How it gripped the imagination of young men, sons of pioneers,
between the Mississippi and the Alleghanies, in those early days! How
it called to them, and beckoned to them to forsake their homes and
journey westward into the unknown!
Vast and undisturbed, it stretched from the British Possession to the
Rio Grande. It was a natural stage on which was enacted the most
picturesque and romantic drama of the nineteenth century. Its
background was the Rocky Mountains, from whose towering ramparts the
Plains swept down toward the east, giving an unobstructed view of the
stirring panorama that for more than half a century was unrivalled for
its scenes of daring and conquest.
The Plains were marvelously adapted to the needs of uncivilized
people, who derived their sustenance from the bounty of the wilderness
and to the heavy increase and perpetuation of the animal life upon
which they subsisted. Upon its level floors, enemies or game could be
seen from afar, an advantage in both warfare and hunting. The natural
grasses were almost miraculously disposed to the peculiarities of soil
and climate, affording the richest pasturage in the green of summer
and becoming even more nutritious as the seasons advanced toward the
snows of winter. This insured the presence of enormous numbers of
herbivorous animals, such as the buffalo, the antelope and the deer,
from which the Indian derived his principal food and fashioned his
garments and his shelter. His only toil was the chase with its
splendid excitement, and his only danger the onslaught of tribal
enemies. The climate was healthful and invigorating. In all the world
could not have been found a more delightful home for primitive men.
That the Indian should have resisted with relentless and increasing
ferocity every effort to drive him from this paradise was natural and
justifiable from his point of view. In those days, he felt that to go
elsewhere meant starvation and death for his family and tribe. Above
all, he firmly believed that the country was his, as it had been from
the beginning, and that the white man was cruel, merciless and wrong
in depriving him of his old home--a home that the white man did not
need and would not use.
North and south across this gigantic stage the teeming animal life of
the Plains, especially the buffaloes moved regularly with the
procession of the equinoxes. The first grass of spring to which the
Cheyennes gave the poetic name, _mah-nah-see-tah_--had scarcely
made green the landscape before it was darkened with moving herds
northward bound, in obedience to the primal instinct that pulses more
deeply with the coming of spring. The pastures were endless, and the
moist earth vibrant with the sounds of the fresh season. Everywhere
wild flowers were springing from the sod. The water-holes were full,
and the sandy rivers flashing in the sunshine. Clouds of water-fowl
swirled and descended upon the bars, to rest in their flight to their
nesting grounds. The eagle in the sky and the lark in the grass were
alike free to raise their young, far from the intrusion of man. The
Indians, with their women, children, dogs and ponies, moving dimly on
the far-off Plains, were native to the scene, and passed unnoticed by
the other denizens of the solitude.
Once more the pageant of the wilderness moved on its mysterious way,
this time from north to south. The storms of spring and summer had
rolled their thunder through the solitude and reddened the sky with
their lightning. The rains had spent themselves. The season of
creation and growth had passed. The Plains were shaggy with brown
grass. Soon frost would sharpen the air, and snow come on the cold
winds and whiten the earth. The buffaloes, the deer and the antelope
had thicker and warmer coats; the bear was growing drowsy, and hunting
his winter cave; the wild turkey flashing a finer bronze; the prairie
chicken, the crane, the mallard and the goose were fat and succulent
beyond other days.
Of all this domain the Indian was lord and master. There was none to
dispute his sway. The stars in the sky were his night companions, and
the sun his supreme benefactor by day. All were his servants. His race
multiplied and was happy. Food and shelter were to be found upon every
hand. The white man had not come, bringing disease and poverty.
In savagery, a more delightful existence could not be found. What joy
of physical living, with strength, health and contentment in every
village. There were wars, to be sure, but feats of daring appealed to
the brave, and there was love of fame and honor, just as there was
inside the walled cities beyond the Atlantic, where, from a
comparative standpoint, men were less civilized than their western
brothers who fought with bow and arrow, war club and tomahawk.
The fruitful summers were given over to idling in pleasant places--in
a village beside a stream, or in the foothills of the mountains. There
was singing and dancing and the telling of old tales. The women looked
after the household, ever watchful of the little girls and the young
women of marriageable age. The plaintive notes of the love-flute could
be heard in the dusk of twilight. The warriors trained the boys and
the young men in horsemanship and the use of arms, subjecting them to
tests of physical endurance, even pain, that they might grow to be
strong, invincible men.
There is something beyond description that clutches a man's heart and
imagination in the Plains country. Whether it is the long sweep of the
horizon, with its suggestion of infinity, touching upon melancholy, or
that wide-arching expanse of sky, glittering by night and glorious by
day, may not be determined, yet no man is ever quite his former self
after he has felt deeply the bigness, the silence and the mystery of
that region.
Trackless and boundless, the Great Plains at first offered to the
adventurous traveler the many dangers that come from losing one's way
in the wilderness. The sun and the stars were guides for direction,
but not for water, wood and pasture. Travel was not made certain and
continuous until countless feet and hoofs and wheels had worn trails.
The making of trails is one of the most primitive acts of man, and it
seems incredible that this should have been done within such recent
times in this country. The most noted of all these trails was the
Santa Fe Road or Trail that led to Santa Fe, New Mexico, from
Westport, Mo., where it was joined by smaller highways from points in
the surrounding country.
The heart swells with emotion at remembrance of the wild, free life
along those old trails, and knowledge that they have vanished forever
brings a feeling of deep regret. Railroads, to be sure, meet modern
needs, and have changed the wilderness into gardens, but,
nevertheless, beyond and above all these demands of a higher
civilization, with its commerce and its feverish haste, remains the
thought that something worth while has been lost, at least to those
who found joy in braving dangers and in overcoming the obstacles of
primitive conditions. What a living, moving, thrilling panorama
stretched along the old trails! How vast the wealth that rolled past!
The end came when the Santa Fe railroad reached Raton in 1880.
Thenceforward, wind and rain and the encroaching grass began their
work of obliteration. Only gashed river banks and scarred hillsides
guard from the destroying years the last vestiges of what once were a
nation's highways. The snow-swept summits of the Spanish Peaks look
down no more upon the crawling ox-trains, nor does the swart Apache
watch stealthily on Rabbit Ear Mountain to see if a weakly guarded
train is coming down the Santa Fe Road. There are two pretty Spanish
names for Spanish Peaks--"Las Cumbres Espanolas" and "Las dos
Hermanas," (The Two Sisters). The Ute name is "Wahtoya" (The Twins).