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John Henderson Halts the Indians

Michael has a BA in History & American Studies and an MSc in American History from the University of Edinburgh. He comes from a proud military family and has spent most of his career as an educator in the Middle East and Asia. His passion is travel, and he seizes any opportunity to share his experiences in the most immersive way possible, whether at sea or on the land.

Palo Pinto County, Texas

    During 1862, while John Henderson was riding alone on Barton's Creek, south of Gordon, near the Palo Pinto-Erath County line, he was charged by a large band of Indians. After running for one or two miles his horse began to weaken, so Henderson ran into a dense thicket, tied his horse and hung up a red blanket which he had in his possession. Indians were always extremely shy of anything unusual. So this large band of savages stayed back a considerable distance during the remaining part of the day. When night came, John Henderson slipped out and after crawling almost a quarter of a mile, made his way to the nearby settlement. Later in company with others he went back to his horse which was still tied in the thicket.

    Note: Author personally interviewed Mrs. Wm. Mingus, who lived near at the time.

The above story is from the book, The West Texas Frontier, by Joseph Carroll McConnell.

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