OCTOBER 13:

October 13, 1656:  For several years, the Dutch and the local indian tribes near New Amsterdam and Pavonia have been fighting.  Hackensack chief, Oratamin, negotiates a peace between the warring parties.  It is another ten years before another major conflict erupted.

1812 Queenston Ontario - James Secord, of the 1st. Lincoln Militia, badly wounded in the Battle of Queenston Heights. The following May, Queenston is again invaded by the Americans, this time successfully; all men over 18 made prisoners of war, but due to his wounds, Secord allowed to stay in his home with his wife, Laura Ingersoll Secord, and three US officers billeted in the house. In June, 1813, the couple overhear the Americans planning a surprise attack on Lt. FitzGibbon and his Mohawk warriors at Beaverdams. Laura walks 32 km to the Decew house where FitzGibbon is staying; her warning and a decisive American defeat leads to the salvation of Upper Canada.

October 13, 1864:  On this date Little Buffalo, with 700 of his fellow Comanches, and Kiowas, launched a series of raids along Elm Creek, ten miles from the Brazos river, in north-western Texas. Sixteen Texans and some twenty indians were killed in the fighting with the settlers and the rangers in the area.
 

BACKGROUND:

Unable to find any Indian accounts of this, I can only offer the following ...

The first, from http://rebelcherokee.tripod.com/milliedurgin.html
 
 

In the fall of 1864, the Civil War was going on east of the Mississippi and the eastern part of now Oklahoma, known as Indian Territory. Men from Texas were occupied with the war, many were away from home. The Kiowa and Comanche were roaming the plains. They had signed a treaty with the Confederate States to not attack the gray-clad soldiers, but were still roaming and raiding.

A Comanche war Chief, Little Buffalo came to the Kiowa village near Rainy Mountain in the Wichita Mountains of southwestern Oklahoma. He held council with the Kiowa and persuaded them to go with him to raid the well protected settlements of Texas along the Brazos River. He stated there was much loot to have, because the Forts Belknap, Richardson, and other frontier army posts were almost deserted because of the war in the east. There was little to fear from the soldiers.

The Kiowa were at first hesitant about joining because of the treaty with the Confederates, but the lure of the rewards of the raids soon persuaded them. The Comanche soon clinched the bargain by presenting the Kiowa with a genuine peace pipe (sic), if they would join him. This was a strong argument, as a genuine peace pipe could only be obtained from the vicinity of the Pipe Stone Quarry in Sioux Country in the Dakotas. Many lives had been lost by the plains Indians as they journeyed north for their pipes..

The school bells were ringing in the settlements along the Brazos when the 75 men of the raiding party headed south. They rode one horse and led another, changing off periodically, covering much distance in a day of hard riding, always ready for quick flight if there was too much resistance. They moved south, crossing the Red River about where BurkBurnett, TX is now. On October 13, 1864, Little Buffalo and his band of raiders arrived at the point where Elm Creek empties into the Brazos.

At the mouth of Elm Creek a part of the band, (they had divided into several groups probably planning to attack several farms and ranches at the same time) ran across Joel Myers and killed him. A mile and half away, another group attacked the Fitzpatrick Ranch, while the men were away. At home were Grandma Fitzpatrick, her daughter Susie Durgan, Susie's three children, Lottie, Millie, and the baby, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick's 15 year old son by another marriage, Joe Carter. The family was served by a negro family, Britt and Mary Johnson, who also had three children.

Grandma Fitzpatrick, (also known as Mrs. Clifton and Mrs. Carter, having been married three times) saw the Indians at a distance and got her family and the negro family into picket defense. Mrs. Fitzpatrick yelled at the Indians to not take her horses, but they ignored her and charged the picket fence.

Sue Durgan took her place at one point and Mary Johnson, armed with a flint gun, started firing as the Indians were breaking through the fence. Mary was doing great work with the gun and the Indians opened fire killing one of her sons, Jimmie, and Sue Durgan. Sue had hidden her little daughter Millie under the bed in the house. The Indians charged the house, taking anything of value, those still alive were taken prisoner, and the house was torched. As the house was blazing, one of the Indians returned to it as little Millie was crawling out from under the bed. The Indian that returned to the blazing house became Millie's foster father.
 

*****
 

The second, from http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbaylor/1elmcree.htm
 

THE INDIAN RAID IN YOUNG COUNTY, TEXAS By Henry C. Williams of Newcastle, Texas

On October 18, 1864, about six hundred Kiowa and Comanche Indians came down from the Indian Territory and made a raid on the settlers located on Elm Creek in Young County, Texas, where it empties into the Brazos River, about ten miles up the Brazos River from Fort Belknap. At the time of this raid, I lacked ten or twelve days being seven years old. This raid was made about six months before the termination of the War Between the States, and, as far as I know, the history of this raid has never been written.

Fort Belknap was established by the United States Government in 1851 at a crossing of the Brazos River by the old California Trail, and was near the center of Young County, Texas. According to a map which is in the history of an expedition from Austin, Texas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, there is shown and designated on a map in that history a trail called the Chihuahua Trail, runnin' from Fulton, Arkansas, at the head of the navigation of Red River, west through the northern portion of Texas to El Paso, and thence to Chihuahua, Old Mexico. This trail is shown on this map to cross the Brazos River at or near Fort Belknap. According to reports, it is stated that this trail was established by the Spaniards while this territory belonged to Spain, and that it was used by the Spaniards long prior to 1820. As far as I can find out, there was no use made of this trail after 1824, when Mexico seceded from Spain, until 1849, when the gold rush to California begin. In 1859 my father, Judge H. D. Williams, and my mother, Mrs. Sallie Williams, came from Kaufman County, Texas, to Young County, Texas, and established a cattle ranch on the South bank of Elm Creek, about a mile from where it empties into the Brazos River. At that time I was a two year old boy. Some of the relatives of my mother came with my mother and father and established their homes in close proximity to my father's ranch. Some of these people may have located their ranches near the mouth of Elm Creek prior to the advent of my father and his family. Within two or three miles of the mouth of Elm Creek, this little settlement consisted of about twelve families.

Young County was organized in. 1856, and the county seat was established at Fort Belknap, where the United States Government maintained a fort, and some Texas Rangers were also stationed between 1851 and 1861. In 1861 the United States abandoned Fort Belknap on account of the War Between the Staws, and the six or seven companies of cavalry were removed from that Post, and a great many of the inhabitants moved East on account of fear of the Indians. Shortly after the War broke out the County was disorganized, and the records of the County moved to Jacksboro, Texas, in Jack County, about thirty miles east, and the County was not reorganized until 1872, and the county seat was then located at Graham, Texas. In 1857 the United States Government established a stage coach route from St. Louis, Missouri, along this old California Trail, and the contract for the carrying of mail on the stages as well as passengers was made with a man named Butterfield, and the old settlers at and near Fort Belknap called this trail alternately the California Trail, and the Butterfield Trail. I have heard it stated that more emigrants passed over this trail from the states to California between 1849 and 1861, than over any other trail crossing the continent. The Indians were very bad about attacking the emigrants and the stage coaches were always aaccompanied by United States troops as a guard against the Indians. The United States cavalry and the Texas Rangers had their Western headquarters at Fort Griffin in order to protect the emigrants, the settlers, and the stage coaches. These soldiers and the Texas Rangers left at the beginning of the War. There were quite a few settlers in Young county at this time, on account of the fact that they could get protection from the Indians. There was a settlement between Fort Belknap on the mouth of Elm Creek, and during the Civil War this little settlement on Elm Creek in Young County, consisted of about fifty or sixty people. Three of the young men from this settlement went into the Confederate Army, to wit, Charles Allen, Tom Corney, and Thornton Hamby. Charles Allen and Tom Corney lost their lives in the war; Thornton Hamby lived until about five or six yens ago. He raised a family, and died in Baylor County, Texas about six years ago. Charles Allen, who was my mother's brother, lived with my father and mother, as his wife was dead, and he had one child, David Allen, who is now living in Newcastle, Young County, Texas, and who was five years at the time of this Indian raid. My mother raised him to manhood. Mr. Allen lost two boys. killed in action in France in 1918. They were in the 142nd Infantry, Thirty-sxith Division.

In October, 1864, when this raid was made by the Indians on this little settlement on Elm Creek, as I recollect there were about fourteen families living there. Mr. Peter Harmonson lived on the east bank of the Brazos River from the mouth of Elm Creek. Mr. Roland Johnson and family ranched about one and onehalf miles down the river below the mouth of Elm Creek. At or near the mouth of Elm Creek the Widow Fitzpatrick ranched. Her first husband was killed before the Civil War, and she remarried a man by the name of Fitzpatrick, who disappeared before the Civil War and was never heard of again. Just about the beginning of the Civil War, Mrs. Fitzpatrick's daughter, Susan, married a man by the name of Durgan, and after two girl children were born to them he disappeared. Nothing has been heard of him since. His disappearance occurred sometime about the first of the year 1864. Mrs Fitzpatrick also had a young boy about twelve or fourteen years old. At her ranch house lived a free Negro by the name of Britt Johnson, with his wife and three children. Other families lived at ranches on the south bank of Elm Creek, just west of Mrs. Fitzpatrick, and it was about two miles from Mrs. Fitzpatrick's house to the George Bragg ranch, which was the west end of this settlement. The McCoy ranch was on the north side of Elm Creek, about two miles away. The Charlie Newhouse ranch was about fifteen miles up Elm Creek in Throckmorton County.

At the time of this raid my father and Negro Britt Johnson had gone to Weatherford, Texas, which was the nearest trading post at that time, to obtain supplies for this settlement. Mr. George Bragg's two boys were away that day on a hunt. Thornton Hamby had just returned on a furlough from the Confederate Army and was at his father's ranch. You will see from this that when the Indians made this raid on this little settlement six of the men were not at home.

On the morning of October 13, 1864, a band of about six hundred Indians came down on the east bank of the Brazos River and had a skirmish with Mr. Peter Harmonson and his boys, just about opposite the mouth of Elm Creek. Mr. Harmonson and his boys escaped to the cross timbers, which was a short distance away, and obtained their safety. The Indians crossed the Brazos River just below the mouth of Elm Creek, and in the valley of the river they met a man by the name of Joel Myers, who lived at Fort Belknap and was out hunting a yoke of oxen. They killed and scalped him there. The Indians proceeded a short distance west and attacked the house of Mrs. Fitzpatrick. At this place there were three women, Widow Fitzpatrick, her widowed daughter, Mrs. Susan Durgan, and a Negro woman, the wife of Britt Johnson. When Mrs. Susan Durgan saw these Indians coming she grabbed her gun and went out in front of the ranch house to protect herself and her children, and she showed as much gallantry, selfsacrifice, and bravery as any woman who ever lived. The Indians got into a controversy as to who should have Negro Britt Johnson's oldest child, a boy, who was then about twelve years old, and they settled this controversy by killing this Negro boy. They then took captive the remaining seven, two women and five children. Two of the children were Lottie Durgan, aged three years, and Millie Durgan, aged eighteen months, the grandchildren of Mrs. Fitzpatrick. The two Negro children were under ten; Mrs. Fitzpatrick's only boy was about twelve years old.

A short distance west of the Fitzpatrick ranch lived Mr. Thomas Hamby. With him lived Tom Wilson and family. The three men at the Hamby ranch, Thomas Hamby, his son, Thornton Hamby, and Tom Wilson, were branding cattle at their cattle pen close to the house. When these three men discovered what was going on at the Fitzpatrick ranch they notified the rest of the family and the women and children in the Hamby and Wilson families fled down to the bank of Elm Creek and hid in a cave on the bank of the creek. Then the three men got on their horses and took their guns and pistols in order to defend themselves. Thornton Hamby , being a soldier and used to warfare, took charge of the situation. Thornton Hamby and his father, and Mr. Thomas Wilson could have easily gone down the hill and hidden in this cave and protected themselves from the Indians and remained safe. Thornton Hamby thought not of himself but considered the terrible plight of the families up the creek. He directed Tom Wilson to proceed as rapidly up the creek as he could to notify the settlers the Indians were coming and for them to hide out, then he had his father go with him out in front of the Indians and check them in order that Wilson could have time to notify the settlers. Thornton Hamby and Thomas Hamby stood off the Indians shooting at them and checked their march as much as they could, retreating slowly. The first house west of the Hamby ranch was that of William Bragg and family. They escaped and hid as did the Hamby family. The next ranch was that of my father, Judge H. D. Williams. I was there and distinctly remember Tom Wilson riding to my father's house and giving the alarm. The shooting between the Hambys and the Indians could be heard distinctly a few hundred yards away. When Tom Wilson gave us the alarm he told us that Thomas Hamby and Thornton Hamby were fighting the Indians off in order to give us an opportunity to escape. At that time there were at our residence two visiting ladies and some children, I do not remember how many; there was one young man visiting there by the name of Joe Callen, who was nearsighted. He jumped on his horse and escaped across the creek. My mother and the two neighbors were left with the children and no one between them and the Indians except Thornton Hamby and his father.  My mother huddled together the children and took her baby girl ten months old, in her arms, and fled across Elm Creek, and then recrossed the creek so as to deceive the Indians, and get into a bend of the creek that was thick with brush and briars. She had five of her own children with her and her nephew, David Allen, a boy five years old, who still lives at Newcastle as stated above. There was a visiting boy there by the name of Rube Johnson, and he and my oldest brother, Sam Williams, were about fifteen years old, and they both took their guns and stood guard over these defenseless women and children. There were three women and nine children. The Indians robbed our house and tore up everything in it, and destroyed all of the provisions, bedding and clothing, but failed to find these helpless women and children. By the time Tom Wilson got this little band of women and children hidden, Thornton Hamby and his father were so badly pressed that they had retreated and gotten as far as my father's house; there they joined Tom Wilson, and I never shall forget the fighting that occurred there between the three men and that band of Indians. Thornton Hamby then decided he must make a desperate effort to get to the George Bragg ranch and there notify that family, so the three men made a wild ride for the George Bragg ranch, and the Indians pursued them like wild beasts. When they arrived at the George Bragg ranch they jumped off their horses and fled into the picketed house, consisting of two rooms, and before the door could close, an Indian shot Tom Wilson through the heart with an arrow. He pulled it out and died immediately. The Indians surrounded the George Bragg house, and that must have occurred from all reports, shortly after noon. In the Bragg house there was one old man, George Bragg. His two grown sons were away. Then the three men came, and started a siege of this little picket house, where there were five white women, a Negro girl, and, as I recollect, some children Thornton Hamby planned the defense and the people inside loaded and reloaded the pistols and guns for him, and he did the firing. One of the Indians was so desperate that he came up to the house with a pick and started to dig one of the pickets up so he could go in and massacre these people. Old man Thomas Hamby saw him through the crack of the pickets and he reached his pistol and shot this Indian in the head. Thomas Hamby was too old to put up much of a defense. Thornton Hamby was shot once, and after his father, Thomas Hamby, had been shot four times it placed him in a helpless condition, and all defense rested on Thornton Hamby. He gallantly withstood the siege all afternoon, and none of the women and children were hurt. That night the Indians left. While this siege was going on at the Bragg ranch, a large number of the Indians were wounded, and some of them killed. No one knows how many Indians were killed and wounded because the Indians took off both their killed and wounded. It has since been ascertained that the Chief was killed at this Bragg ranch fight. His name was Little Buffalo.