|
CHAPTER VII O. T. Tyler, Hugh Sheridan, R. G. Grant, Robert Barnard Wells Among the early comers to Ft. Gates were O. T. Tyler, Hugh Sheridan and A. G. Grant. Each in his peculiar way, had quite a lot to do with the early settlement, organization and development of the Ft. Gates settlement. Following, is a brief biographical sketch of each of these interesting persons. O. T. Tyler O. T. Tyler was born at Brookfield, Massachusetts in 1810, and in 1834 came to Texas, then a Mexican province. In l849 he settled in Coryell county, or rather in what later became Coryell County. It was O. T. Tyler who first started agitation for the organization of a new county to be named for James Coryell. When the county was organized in 1854, he became its first Chief Justice, as pointed out in a previous chapter, although he was never a lawyer. He has been referred to many times as "the Father of Coryell County". Later Mr. Tyler served his district and county as Representative in the State Legislature. In later years, he returned to Bell county and made that place his home. His son, the Honorable George Tyler, has compiled and published a very excellent history of Bell County. The Tyler homestead was about two miles below the town of Mound, near the north bank of the Leon River. It was built of sand, lime, rock and gravel concrete. It is now in ruins and has been since 1863, when it was burned out inside, leaving the walls standing. It was an "L" in ground plan, consisting of three large rooms on the ground floor and three large rooms on the second floor. All of the rooms had a large stone fireplace for heating. The west and north walls were each 31 feet long, and were approximately 20 feet high. A part of the walls are tumbled down, but there is enough left standing to give -- 35 -- one a fair idea of this man who built for comfort, strength exactness and refinement. The place has been deserted so long that mesquite brush, prickley pear and tumbled down walls, have taken inside and outside the walls. Even the rooms that once echoed with a mother's son and the happy laughter of childhood, are now occupied by rubble and ruin. Ivy is creeping over a part of the walls. Forty feet from the northwest corner was another concrete building 12x12, with walls 20 inches thick. It was probably a servants house or smoke house. Some distance west of the house was a cedar post stockade, built of cedar posts set upright in the ground. This stockade was 20x14 yards and was most likely used as a stock pen. Two hundred yards southeast of the house was a spring. Some old time-worn trails still lead down to it. To show the estimate placed on land values when Crockett King and Mr. Tyler came here we will quote the following: "The King headright was near the Tyler headright. The whites had been pursued by Indians and Mr. King told some of the boys that he would sell out for a bit (12 1/2 cents) an acre." Hugh Sheridan On January 11, 182e, Hugh Sheridan was born in Ireland. He came to America in 1846, at the time the United States was entering the war with Mexico. Irishman that he was, found him looking for a fight, and he volunteered and served thru the Mexican War under General Winfield Scott. When the war ended, Sheridan was among the troops sent to establish a line of forts across the Texas frontier, from the Rio Grande to the Red River to protect the advancing settlements. When Ft. Gates was established in 1849, Sheridan was there. When the post was evacuated in 1852, in March, he was left in charge of military stores. He trained volunteers going into the Confederate Army, thus bringing the site of Old Ft. Gates back into military use. He served in the frontier regiment, whose headquarters were at Gatesville from 1863 to 1865. He settled at the site of Ft. Gates and reared a family. Some of his descendants still reside in the settlement. -- 36 -- Richard G. Grant One of the most conspicuous figures in the early settlement of Coryell County was Richard G. Grant. He was born in Tennessee, where he early engaged in business, later moving to Mississippi. In 1848, he moved to Red River County, Texas, and a short time later moved down to Rusk County. In 1850, he moved to Peugh Branch in Coryell County and a little later moved to Ft. Gates. He brought the first herd of cattle and hogs to Coryell County, consisting of 700 cattle and 200 hogs. Many of these he sold to the Government for use of the soldiers then stationed at Ft. Gates. Mr. Grant established a trading house near Ft. Gates soon after his arrival there. In 1853, he moved to what later became known as Stillhouse Creek, within the present confines of Gatesville. Here he established his trading house and whiskey still. Nearby, in the Leon River, he built a brush dam to furnish power to operate a sawmill, which for years did a thriving business. He also operated a Grist mill. His first trading house is said to have had a roof made of bear skins. When time came to locate a seat of government for the newly organized county, Mr. Grant's liberal offer of a townsite, and money, was accepted, and Gatesville named for the old fort, became the county capital. Mr. Grant was liberal in his donations to establish a school; he gave ground for a cemetery and for a church. The first mercantile business in the new town was that of Alsup & Grant. The business thrived and Mr. Grant's business extended into other counties. Mills were established in McLennan and Bosque counties. Merchandise was brought in from the coast, and from East Texas centers by ox-wagon, and even from far away Jefferson City, Missouri. Mr. Grant served as County Treasurer for the county and also served as Postmaster. He was attorney-in-fact to settle the estate of James Coryell. Mr. Grant died in 1858, leaving his name stamped permanently in the annals of Coryell County. Walter Grant, his grandson, now owns a considerable part of his illustrious grandfather's estate. It is doubtful if any other pioneer contributed more to the early development of Coryell County than R. G. Grant. -- 37 -- Rev. Robert B. Wells Preacher, lawyer, soldier and newspaper editor, Robert B. Wells was born in Sumter District, South Carolina, August 27, 1809. He studied law and, was admitted to the bar in the State of Georgia in 1834, and was admitted to the bar in Mississippi in 1836. (Both his licenses to practice law are in possession of his grandson, Robert W. Brown.) He later came to Texas and was commissioned a Colonel in the Texas Army. In 1840, he joined the Texas Conference of the Methodist church and preached at Trinity Mission and other places. In 1847, he founded the Texas Christian Advocate, which was the first church paper published in Texas; the paper being published at Brenham, Washington County, at that time. In 1854, Mr. Wells moved with his family to Coryell County. The diary that he kept on his way to Coryell County, and for many years after his arrival, is now in possession of his daughter, Mrs. J. D. Brown, Sr., and shows the following facts: He arrived at Ft. Gates, November 3, 1854, and at Gatesville, November 7, 1854, driving two oxen named Buck and Ball. On his arrival at Gatesville, he traded his oxen to R. G. Grant on November 27, 1854 for 4 3/4 acres of land and $50 in cash or its equivalent. He preached the first sermon ever preached in Gatesville and his wife, Mary S. Wells, taught the first Sunday School. The exact dates are not shown in the diary, but are recorded between the dates of November 7, 1854 and February 1855. He founded and published "The Frontiersman", the first newspaper published in Coryell County. He was one of the charter members of the Gatesville Masonic Lodge No. 197 A. F. & A. M. He was married to Mary S. Fisher November 30, 1845. She was the daughter of Rev. Orceneth Fisher. Both he and Mrs. Wells were connected with the early organization of schools, churches, city and county governments, lodges, and other enterprises which helped to bring culture and civilization to Coryell County. Mr. Wells died at Gatesville, May 11, 1872, and his wife died March 27, 1909. A number of their descendents live in Coryell County now. -- 38 -- CHAPTER VIII VOLNEY CAVITT � (From Volney Cavitt Notes) Andrew Cavitt was born in 1796 in the state of Virginia, and in his early manhood moved to Tennessee where he settled near the town of Bolivar. In 1835 he came to Texas, then a province of Mexico, where he located lands in the Sterling C. Robertson Colony. He returned to Tennessee for his family in the same year. With his family, and other immigrants, he returned to the Falls of the Brazos in the winter of 1835-36, requiring three months to make the journey by wagon, arriving at Viesca, the seat of Robertson's Colony in early March, 1836. After the "Runaway Scrape" in 1836 while attempting to return to his home in Viesca, he was taken ill with fever and died at Millican, July 1, 1836, where he was buried. Andrew Cavitt had seven sons, all born in Tennessee, among them was Volney, who was born January 2, 1824, and who died November 30, 1903. From Volney Cavitt's notes, and from the notes of Newton C. Duncan, a lifelong friend of Cavitt's, and all of whom knew James Coryell, we offer the following accounts and versions of their associations with the pioneer from whom the county is named. VOLNEY CAVITT NOTES My father was formerly a Virginian, but in his young manhood went to live in Tennessee. He married my mother, Ann Cavitt, a daughter of Richard and Ruth Cavitt of North Alabama. They were married on the 8th day of April, 1821, and afterwards lived in Hardeman County, Tennessee, near Bolivar. There were born to them seven sons, Whitley, Volney, Josephus, Sheridan, Franklin, James and William. They had no daughter. They are all buried in the home cemetery at Wheelock. My father came to Texas in 1835, in company with a friend, a young man whom was a surveyor, whose name was Coryell. They located on and near the Leon River, in what was afterward Coryell County. The county at that time was infested with savage Indians. My father returned to Tennessee. Coryell remained in Texas. -- 39 -- My father then decided to move his family to Texas, and spent three months on the road, traveling in wagons, with ox teams and one carryall which held my mother and children. The roads were so muddy and so much water, and bad weather to contend with, that we made very slow progress being winter weather, we were three weeks crossing the Mississippi bottom. We reached the Falls of the Brazos, and camped near where the town of Marlin stands. Then the counties were unorganized and we were a part of Robertson's Colony. We reached there early in the spring and planted a corn crop in what we called "Weed Prairie" in the Brazos bottom. We had no plows and cultivated with hoes. Then the settlement was broken up by Indians. We then went, for safety, to what is now Millican, but was then only a small settlement, and there we camped on account of high water, the Brazos being too full to cross. My father proceeded, with the help of a negro man, to dig a canoe in which to cross the river. While we were engaged there, my father died of fever. That left my mother a widow with seven sons, the eldest being 15, in a new country, a stranger in a strange land, but she possessed unusual business ability and with the assistance of some good reliable slaves, she bravely struggled on, as many others had to do. The hospitality of the people was unbounded. They were few in number, but true to each other. We found a good friend in Judge Cummins, who kindly advised us to take possession of a new log house belonging to him which he had just built in Washington county, near where Independence was afterward located. In the fall season we returned to our crop. We gathered a bountiful crop of as fine corn as I have seen since, altho it had received very little cultivation. At that time every man took his gun to the field with him to protect himself from the Indians who were very troublesome and dangerous. Then the settlers decided to concentrate, on account of the danger in being scattered, so they built a fort and all moved to that to protect each other. The place was called Viesca. One day, Jim Coryell, a friend of our family, the same who came with my father in 1835 to locate land, went from the fort with some others to cut a bee tree, which was about half a mile from the Fort, -- 40 -- and while there, they were attacked by Indians and Coryell was killed. In the summer of 1837, we moved to Robertson County and bought land from Col. E. L. R. Wheelock, and we lived there until mothers' death in 1881. During my boyhood, schools were scarce, and teachers very inferior in this country, so that my education was very limited. I enjoyed the wild, free life, which a new free country afforded and was out with several scouting parties, exposed to dangers and hardships. I was a volunteer in the Snively Expedition, and also in the Moorehouse Campaign. The country thru which we traveled was mostly uninhabited and uncivilized, and large bodies of savage Indians and herds of buffalo as well as many other wild animals infested the country, which made traveling dangerous." The foregoing data was not dated or signed by Volney Cavitt, but we below attach J. F. Cavitt's approval of its authenticity. Joe Franklin Cavitt was a son of Volney Cavitt. We quote J. F. Cavitt. "This memoir was dictated by my father Volney Cavitt, to my mother, Clara J. Cavitt, with the intention of writing his biography for his children, but he died before it was completed. I am very familiar with my mother's handwriting and know that she wrote it and I can certify that this is a true and correct copy of the original instrument, which was neither signed or dated. This copy of the original made and signed by me on August 22, 1940 Signed: J. F. CAVITT McGregor, Texas. Elaborating further upon the life story of this pioneer, we were authorized by J. F. Cavitt, to trace the operation of the various, expeditions in which Volney Cavitt saw frontier service. There were two notable expeditions. The Snively Expedition and the Moorehouse Expedition that are conspicuously noted in the frontier history of Texas. With notes furnished by J. F. and S. C. (Bud) Cavitt, we continue our story. Volney Cavitt had a brother named James, about 12 years old, of whom James Coryell was very fond. On the morning that the Coryell party went out to cut the bee tree, he insisted to Mrs. Cavitt, that the boy be allowed to go along; but Mrs. Cavitt refused, fearing that an attack by Indians might occur. S. C. (Bud) Cavitt relates -- 41 -- that a family tradition says that Coryell was Irish, and that Coryell always called James Cavitt "Chamis", the Gaelic equivalent of James. THE SNIVELY EXPEDITION During the era of the Texas Republic an extensive overland trade was carried on between Mexico and Missouri, by way of the Santa Fe Trail, between Jefferson City and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This trade was by pack animal, and wagon caravan, or the clumsy Mexican ox carts. In 1842 news reached Texas that a rich caravan was leaving Missouri for Santa Fe. The caravan was to be routed over the Santa Fe Trail, which crossed the far northern part of the Texas Republic. In the spring of that year, Col. Jacob Snively, with a command of 200 men, one of whom was 19-year-old Volney Cavitt, set out to intercept, and capture the Mexican caravan. The expedition camped on the Arkansas River and sent out scouting parties to gather needed information concerning the enemy. It was found that a Mexican escort of 500 men and 200 U. S. Mounted troops were acting as convoy. In June, the Texans routed a part of the Mexican guards and captured rich booty. In an attempt to divide the spoil, contention broke out, Captain Chandler, with 70 men, quit the expedition and returned to the settlement. Captain Cooke of the U. S. Troops sent for Snively, and inquired why he was waging war on a United States territory. Col. Snively informed Captain Cooke that he was in his own right since he was on Texas soil, but Captain Cooke allowed the Texans to keep ten muskets with which to guard themselves from the Indians on the long march home. The U. S. Government later conceded that the Texans were on their own soil and paid Texas $18 each for all the muskets taken. Not long after the Snively expedition, Volney Cavitt joined another expedition bound for the Texas frontier. This was the Moorehouse Expedition. The intent of this expedition was to guard the frontier from marauding Indians and Mexicans, also to intercept such Mexican operations as might be interrupting the neutrality by carrying on trade across the Texas territory. The expedition penetrated far into the northwest, -- 42 -- which at that time had a sparse population of roving bands of Indians. Large herds of buffalo, deer, and antelope were seen; also flocks of wild turkey and prairie chicken. A few friendly Indians accompanied the expedition as scouts and hunters. Finally, a Mexican outfit was attacked, and it netted one Mexican prisoner. This prisoner was turned over to the Indians for safe keeping, That night camp was pitched. In the night, a great commotion was heard in the Indian camp. Yelling, shouting and chanting, together with terrible screams of agony. Upon investigation it was found that the Indians had staked and tied their prisoner down and were roasting him alive. Nothing could be done about it for the Indians were well armed and resented interference. A short time later Cavitt was scouting from the camp and was captured by enemy Indians, and took before their children. Thru the intercession of the Indians in the white expedition, he was released. Volney Cavitt settled down to farming and ranching near Wheelock and there reared his family of boys and girls. He never moved to his lands on the Leon River which he inherited from his father Andrew Cavitt. He developed extensive cattle interests and was closely associated with H. J. Caufield for many years. He had a foreman on the Leon River ranch named Jack Fisher. This foreman always wore heavy gold or silver earrings. Jack said that the earrings helped to make his hearing keener. In 1876, S. C. Cavitt, a 16-year-old son, but an experienced man, in so far as the rules of the open range was concerned, came up to look after his father's cattle and land. S. C. (Bud) Cavitt spent a good portion of his time in McLennan and Coryell Counties. A great deal of that time was with H. J. Caufield. He and his brother J. F. developed extensive interests in Coryell County after moving here in 1885. At this writing, January, 1941, S. C. Cavitt resides in Gatesville and J. F. (Joe) Cavitt and his wife and son, Volney, reside in McGregor. -- 43 -- |
||