The European settlers at Quihi Lake were not armed and did nothing to threaten the Indians. 5 Settlers west of Castroville had troubles with Indians. However, when the Mexican War began, Hays and most other Indian fighters left for the War their departure left the frontier settlements unprotected. 4 Until 1846, Hays and his company of rangers protected Castro’s Colony. 3 Indian incursions south and east of Indian trails between Las Moras Creek and the Leona River were frequent until about 1857. All were in constant conflict with hostile Native Americans.

Before February 1843, there were no Anglo settlements west of San Pedro Creek (on San Antonio’s west side today), but between 18, fifteen small settlements were established west of the Medina River. They surmised that it was, “a large Comanche warpath which filled us with much astonishment, close together, 25 deep worn and much-used trails made a great road, which told us that this was a highway by which each year the Comanche of the North desolate Durango and Chihuahua.” 2ĭuring this turbulent period, the line of settlement in south Texas continued to move westward. 1 In 1849, when a survey party led by Captain Whiting reached the Pecos River, they were surprised to find a heavily used trail between Buffalo Gap and Comanche Springs. Northern Comanche raiders stole an estimated 10,000 horses and mules from the states of Durango and Chihuahua during the winter of 1845-1846. The frequency and intensity of Native American raids into Texas and northern Mexico seemed to increase during the Mexican War. Indian raids into Texas and northern Mexico continued during the Mexican War.

This exaggerated, but mostly accurate, portrayal of an early Texas Ranger first appeared in Harper’s Weekly on July 6, 1861.Ĭourtesy of The Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas. Santleben passed away the following year in 1911.Caricature of a Texas Ranger. His book that recounts this period, A Texas Pioneer, was first published in 1910. No student of western literature or the history of Texas and Mexico should miss this thrilling truthful account.Īugust Santleben was a German born frontiersman who spent the vast majority of his life on the Texan-Mexican border. It is a book that transports the reader to the world of the nineteenth century frontier when life was tough and frequently short. Through the course of the text Santleben recounts tales of staging and freighting through Texas and Mexico and clashing with Indian, Mexico, and American thieves. His book, A Texas Pioneer, is often revered as one of the greatest frontier memoirs of the Old West. The family settled in Medina County, Texas, and Santleben grew up experiencing life on the wild American frontier. Just three and a half months later his parents decided to leave Germany to emigrate to America. August Santleben was born in 1845 in Hanover.

A Texas Pioneer by August Santleben