19 Feb Search for family tree- February 19, 2022
Contents
WITH RUSSIA POISED TO INVADE THE UKRAINE…
** I thought a couple of articles from the past would help us look through their lens of the times at the specter of war.
The top article is from 1918 when the Central Powers of Germany and Austria Hungary had their eyes on the Ukraine. The second combines the campaign for prohibition into indicting those in the liquor business as being indirect supports of Germany in WW1.
The bottom Canadian article predicted the Confederacy was doomed just due to the simple math of war.
WHO SHOULD GET THE CROWN JEWELS?
Italy’s Former Royals Demand Return of Crown Jewels 75 Years After the Monarchy Was Abolished.
https://people.com/royals/italys-former-royals-demand-return-crown-jewels/
Elena of Montenegro served as Queen of Italy, Empress of Ethiopia, and Queen of Albania. Some of the Italian crown jewels below
IN HONOR OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Continuing from two weeks ago- The next day some of the white men took all the white women to Red River County, and we stayed in that County for about three weeks. By that time, General Tarrant had made up about four companies of men, brought them up to what is now known as Fannin County, and stationed them right where the Court House now stands to protect those who had settled on the frontier. The women were then brought back from Red River County, and those men, with some others of the settlers, built a fort about two hundred yards from where Judge Inglish then lived on his land. General Tarrant then divided his four hundred men into two companies. He would send one to hunt the Indians, and he would keep the rest on guard at the fort. He would send the others to the west to meet the Indian on the warpath when the first returned. General Tarrant appointed my boss Colonel of that army, and he and General Tarrant would take it time about with the men going out west. The Captain of the first company was Thomas Journey; the second company was Mr. Washburn. General Tarrant took the first trip west with his men, ran on a little Indian village of wild Indians, and scattered them. There was no man in the village; only a few women and children left. He caught one woman and a boy. All the men were supposed to be out on the warpath. Our men took all the horses that were left and the woman and the boy and brought them back home, and when the General had rested a few days, he started to go home and take the prisoners, the woman, and the boy. At that time, there was no road through the country as there is now, and he had to go from here to Red River and take the trail leading from there to Bowie County, and he had to cross at the Rocky ford. The day that he left here, he stayed all night at the Rocky ford on Bois d ‘Arc and some time that night the Indian woman lay down and watched the General and his Captain until they went to sleep, then she slipped out and cut the General’s fine horse loose, jumped on him and made her escape. The General’s horse was a very fine, large, black one, but he never got him anymore. It left the General afoot. After he lost his horse, it seemed to break him up. He never went west with us anymore after that. The next trip out west was made by my boss and Captain Washburn and his company of soldiers. I went out west with them. When my boss came back from the Mexican War, he brought me a gun and taught me how to shoot it. I was small, but I could shoot all right. It was a short gun, and I could handle it easily. When we started from here on an Indian hunt, my boss told me that if they got in a fight with Indians, I must kill one, and I was in hopes every day that we would find some Indians so that I might get a chance to shoot one. We marched on several days. After a while, we struck the plains, found some water, and struck camp for the night. The next morning we took the plains and traveled in the hot sun. It was in July, and you know how warm it was. Not a shade to go under to cool a little. We traveled all day without a drop of water. About dark, we stopped. The Colonel gave orders for every man not to take his saddle off, as we were liable to be attacked by Indians at any time. He then told the men to form a line around the horses and hold to the ropes and guns. No one to strike or speak loud. Well, we all sat there all night, suffering for water. My mind changed that night. I had been hoping for two or three days that we might find some Indians so that I might shoot one, but that night I was afraid that they would come. I was suffering from a lack of water, and I did not wish to see him until I could get some water. We traveled the next day until about three o’clock. About that time, we all rode right up to a creek – a good big creek, running right through the plains; not a stick of timber to be seen, and from the looks of the bottom of the creek, it had been six months since it had water in it. It was the driest creek I ever saw. We were then worn down and so weak that we could hardly get up again when we got off our horses. The men all stopped on the creek bank and talked with each other about what course to take. They decided to follow the creek down to see if they could find any water. We followed it all that evening. About sunset, we came to where there was a fall in the creek’s bed, and it had washed out a large basin, and it was about half full of water. It was about twenty feet wide and about fifteen feet deep in the middle of the hole. It was miserable and horrible-looking water. The wild beasts had watered there for quite a while. It was a sand rock in the bottom of the creek, and the bank was so steep that nothing could get out after it got down to the water. There were about a dozen dead animals in that hole. On top of the water, the scum and foam looked an inch thick, and it was working with live worms from side to side. The Colonel called to the men and said, you must not drink but one swallow of that water; that they had been starving so long they must only drink a sip at a time. A sip at a time will not hurt you so much. But that did no good; the men pitched into it and never stopped until they got through. My boss would give me a sip at a time till I got enough. The men began to throw up and groaned all night long in an hour. We never unsaddled our horses and expected to be surrounded by Indians at any minute. They would have had an easy time taking us in if they had come that night. We sat up all that night, holding our horses. Some of the men were too sick to set up. The next morning, we wanted to leave that place, but some men were too sick to ride, and we stayed with them until about noon. By that time, they were all able to ride, and we struck out for the head of the Red River. We traveled until near sundown when we struck the timber of the river, and then we found some good water. That night we camped there, but we were very much exhausted and half sick. From there, we started home. We got back here to Fort Inglish all safe. We were not bothered by Indians the whole trip, and it was a blessing to us, for we could not fight them. After we had starved two days and one night without water, and having to use the water we did made us all feel feeble and bad. But we had the good luck not to be captured by the Indians while in that fix.
