Comanche Peak, Travis County, Texas

This blog is being updated on the Travis County Historical Commission blog; future updates will be made there:
https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2020/07/comanche-peak-travis-county-texas.html

A Brief History of the Comanche in Central Texas

In Travis County there is a single peak named for an American Indian tribe: Comanche Peak by Lake Travis. Indeed it may well be the only natural geographic feature (not man-made, e.g. a street, development sub-division) in Travis County named for an American Indian tribe based on the USGS Geographic Names Information System.

At Austin’s founding, historically recorded tribes included Apache, Comanche, Tonkawa and Waco (a branch of the Wichita). The Tonkawa were probably the oldest residents of the area at its founding, but the dominant tribe was the Comanche who were in control of much of Texas while still part of Spain, then Mexico. As a republic, then a state, Texas' battle for control with the Comanche lasted far longer than that with Mexico. Texas' battle with the Comanche was the genesis of the original republic era Texas Rangers and numerous forts along the state's western frontier as settlement moved west. The Comanche in Texas were an integral part of the Texas mythos expressed in so many stories, books, and even movies like John Wayne's The Searchers.

Likewise Austin's early history is inseparable from the history of the Penateka Comanche, the southern most division of the tribe whose Comancheria ranged from the headwaters of the of Colorado River into the Hill Country, Austin and further. It is the Comanche that Noah Smithwick, author and Texas Ranger at Fort Colorado on the eastern edge of what would become Austin wrote about. And as Austin was being built, as T.R. Fehrenbach wrote, "..while surveyors and engineers laid out Austin's future streets, curious parties of Pehnahterkuh sat on their ponies on the surrounding limestone bluffs above the river, watching." (see Clayton w.r.t. spellings of the band's name in English).

It was the Penateka Comanche involved in the pivotal events of 1840. The raid in August 1840 by Penateka Comanches, led by war chief Buffalo Hump, on Victoria and the Port of Linnville, on Lavaca Bay, Texas, is said to be the the largest raid by American Indians on a city in U.S. history. Linnville was sacked and burned by the Comanches, and the port was never rebuilt. Citizens of Linnville escaped to safety by taking to small boats and a schooner in the waters off the bay, watching as their town was burned to the ground.

The raid on Victoria and Linnville was one in a sequence of strikes and counter-strikes in Republic of Texas history that defined bitter relations between Comanches and Texans. Events began with the Council House Fight (the Comanche saw it as an ambush / massacre) in San Antonio, March 1840 in which Republic of Texas officials attempted to capture and take prisoner a large number of Comanche chiefs who had come to negotiate a peace treaty and return hostages, killing them all together with dozens of their family and followers. The Comanche raid on Victoria and Linnville in August of 1840 was in revenge for what they saw as an ambush by Texans at the the Council House in San Antonio. The Battle of Plum Creek, near Lockhart, Texas, shortly after the raid on Linnville, was Texans' retaliation against Comanches on their return from Linnville. And finally, the "Comanche Village Massacre" in October 1840, was further revenge by Texans for the raid on Victoria and Linnville by striking Penateka Comanches in their homeland near what is now Colorado City [Texas Historical Marker 995].

The scene from Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon where the Comanche raid Austin is likely a conflation of the raid on Victoria and Linnville (the latter burned to the ground), and the raid on Austin in 1843.

Old Burnet Road: Mt. Bonnell to Comanche Peak and Beyond

Janet Long Fish in an oral interview in 2000 speculated on the connection between the north-south Comanche trail along Shoal Creek and the trail to Mount Bonnell, on past Bull Creek to Comanche Peak. In this blog I'll elaborate on that topic. The connection was a road to the general area of today's Burnet, Texas.

While we have here in Austin a road today called “Comanche Trail” running next to Comanche Peak by Lake Travis, I think it’s relevant to look at the bigger picture and consider the road of which today's Comanche Trail was a part. That road is (or was) one of two roads connecting Burnet and Austin. Segments of that old road still exist by Lake Travis as Old Burnet Road.

The Penateka, our local division of the Comanche, called the headwaters of the Colorado River home. It was near Colorado City, TX John Moore attacked a village of Comanche in 1840. That attack was the culmination of a string of conflicts that year between Texans and Penateka beginning with what is variously called the Council House fight or massacre; followed by a revenge attack by the Penateka on the towns of Victoria and Linnville; followed by the battle at Plum Creek. The attack by John Moore was intended to take the fight to the Penateka in their homeland.

Along the swath of the Colorado River and its tributaries closer to Austin, the area of Burnet, Texas was a favored campsite, hence the reason for Fort Croghan’s location. In 1847 Texas Rangers under Henry McCulloch (Ben McCulloch's brother) set up a camp south of today's Burnet to disrupt Comanche occupation and protect settlement. The location was later moved north of Hamilton Creek at the base of Post Mountain and became U.S. Fort Croghan. As was often the case, where there was a fort, a town sprang up giving us today's Burnet, Texas (originally called Hamilton Valley as is shown on some old maps).

TX A&M Forest Service’s official Indian Marker Tree was located on Hamilton Creek, near the fort, in Burnet. From their website: "In the fall, [the Comanche] passed through Central Texas and one of their favorite camping spots was along Hamilton Creek which flows through Burnet"

Comanche Chief Yellow Wolf made appearances at the fort, had his portrait painted there, and camped neared what would later be the site of Gabriel Mills. It was atop nearby Mt. Gabriel, AKA, Pilot Knob, a mesa and highest point in Williamson County, Comanches said to have been associated with Yellow Wolf watched the approach of the ill-fated Webster wagon train in 1839. It was Yellow Wolf, camped near Gabriel Mills, Frank Dobie wrote about in his classic Coronado’s Children telling tales to Samuel Mather of a silver mine "three suns to the West".

Burnet Road(s) are from a time when roads were named for their destination, in this case Burnet, Texas. From Austin, there were historically two Burnet Roads. The “high road” was east of the Colorado, out of the river valley and the route most travelers today would take; it is the general route of today’s US 183 / SH 29. On this route was Tumlinson’s blockhouse fort, built 1836, burned by the Comanche in 1837. On this route was the attack on the Webster wagon train by Comanches in 1839 near today’s Leander. And this route was also known as the “military road” which ran through Bagdad, so-called because it was the road to Fort Croghan. Not much is left of Bagdad today but the cemetery.

But there was a second “Burnet Road”. Any traffic into Austin down the Colorado river valley would, of geographic necessity, probably have tracked this route which I’ll refer to as Old Burnet Road as there are remnants of that road by that name around Lake Travis. A GLO map surveyed in 1877 shows the length of the road. The skirmish at Defeat Hollow, near Comanche Peak, between Joel Harris and Indians (probably Comanche) had occurred only years before this map was surveyed, probably ca. 1870. It is likely today’s Comanche Trail (the road) was a side road off this longer road; i.e. a pull-off from the main road to reach the top of Comanche Peak. Comanche Peak may well have been what the Spanish called a “paraje”; a stopping / camping place along a longer trail. And a review of the earliest known aerial photo of Comanche Peak, taken in 1937 by Tobin Imagery, shows today's road, Comanche Trail, was indeed just a trail in 1937.

Starting from Austin, Old Burnet Road was today’s 2222 to 4-points, then straight ahead on what is today Bullick Hollow Rd. It ran to Anderson Mill, to Volente, Travis Peak and on to Burnet. Parts of the road emerge from Lake Travis today (in Google Maps search for “Old Burnet Road, Leander, Texas”). Commissioners Court Minutes show the route between Anderson Mill to Burnet (then still called Hamilton Valley) being discussed as early as 1853 [Commissioners Court Minutes, book B, p.39].

Mt. Bonnell was a historically referenced entry to Austin for Native Americans. Julia Lee Sinks talked of the "beaten track of the Indians into town from the pass of Mount Bonnell”. Of Bigfoot Wallace's refuge in the cave on Mount Bonnell, when asked why there, he responded "Well ... the cave was right on the old Indian trail leading down to Austin”. It was route of escape of Indians (probably Comanche) that abducted the Simpson children from West Pecan in 1844. Old Burnet Road was the road that connected Burnet to Mt. Bonnell, passing at the base of Comanche Peak.

Old Burnet Road is probably the most significant route coming down the Colorado River in connection with Comanche Peak because it passes at the foot of the Comanche Peak. But once there Comanche Peak would have been a jumping off point for other trails. In particular there was likely a trail from Comanche Peak to Santa Monica Springs, said to have been a Comanche watering stop, and a ford across the Colorado leading to trails tracking today's Bee Caves Road.

The map below provides an overview of probable trails criss-crossing Austin and Travis County that would have been familiar to the Comanche and where Comanche Peak fits into the bigger picture. The map is the USGS Austin Quadrangle surveyed in 1896. Open red squares are landmarks shown on the 1896 map related to trails. Those with red arrows are historically tied to Native American use and encounters with settlers. Red squares with text provide information not shown on 1896 map. Blue squares provide information about destinations off map.

1896 USGS topo map with Native American trails. Click to enlarge

 

Comanche Geography, Navigation and Comanche Peak

In addition to the fact an important trail down the Colorado River passed by Comanche Peak, there are other aspects of Comanche Peak with that need to be recognized. Daniel Gelo [2000, 2003] provides insight into the prominence high ground -- peaks, mesas -- played in Comanche geography. Not just places of spirituality, prominent elevations such as Comanche Peak had a more practical use: they were aids to navigation, and places from which to see, and be seen (signalling).

 

Navigation

Early Anglo-American / German settlers to Texas were sometimes in disbelief at the great distances Comanches were said to have traveled on raids, often reported by recovered hostages. Raids into Mexico illustrate distances traveled. Big Spring, Texas, near the headwaters of the Colorado River, served as a staging ground, a rendezvous point, for raids into Mexico. From there Comanche trails went south, crossing into northern Mexico and even into the tropics of interior Mexico. Pekka Hämäläinen in his book The Comanche Empire [pp. 220-224] says raids from Texas into Mexico grew into a “veritable industry” generating a “massive northward flow of property from Mexico into Comancheria and its trade channels” to the north. The full extent of the Comanche trails into Mexico stretched nearly 1,000 miles from Comancheria in the north of Texas, deep into Mexico. Raids into Mexico started in the 1700s; the last documented raid is said to have taken place in 1870 attacking Lampazos, Coahuila, Mexico [Adams], a straight line distance of about 170+ miles south of the Texas border near Del Rio, or 300+ miles from Big Spring if that is where the raid began.

But as Daniel Gelo has pointed out, "[It is not that] Comanches have some extraordinary aptitude for navigation, but simply that by custom they pay attention to the lay of the land." [2000]. Part of the lay of the land used in navigation would of course have been creeks and rivers. But for distant line of sight navigation prominent peaks and mesa were an important navigational tool. The use of prominent peaks and mesa was of course not unique to the Comanche; place names like Pilot Knob are indications of early Texas settler's use of prominent peaks and mesas for navigation. In Travis County we have two Pilot Knobs. The highest point in William County, now called Mount Gabriel, was also known as Pilot Knob; it is historically connected to Comanche utilization [Dolbeare].

In addition to being visible from a distance, aiding line of sight navigation, once at a high peak or mesa the Comanche could climb atop for a better view to the next key navigational landmark. If you've been to the Oasis restaurant and bar on Lake Travis, located next to Comanche Peak, you know the view is phenomenal. A recent GIS technique used by archeologists to study what geographical features are visible on the landscape is viewshed analysis. The image below shows the viewshed analysis from Comanche Peak, marked by the purple X. Other high peaks visible from the top of Comanche Peak include: Chalk & Flint Knobs, both flint procurement sites; Flint Rock Hill possible flint procurement site and landmark for Lohman's ford; Shingle Hill historically linked to Hamilton Pool as an Indian campground [Barkley, p.99][Spence]; and many more.

While not obvious at first, the Comanche were surely familiar with telescopes (looking glasses), acquired through raids, which would have further extended viewing distances. One of the Comanche delegation that traveled to Washington in 1897 along with Quanah Parker was Comanche Chief Big Looking Glass [Hagan] (Looking Glass was also the name of a Nez Perce Chief). Dolly Webster [p.8] recounts "looking-glasses" being part of the spoils recovered by the Comanche following the attack on the Webster party stating she thought the Comanche considered these valuable.

Viewshed analysis from Comanche Peak

Observation & Signalling

High peaks and mesas served an additional purpose beyond navigation: observation and signalling. It was from atop "Pilot Knob", today's Mt. Gabriel, the highest point in Williamson County, the Webster party were first spotted by Comanche camped nearby. In retreat to Austin the Webster party was attacked near today's Leander and all killed except for Dolly Webster and her two children. After the attack the Comanches with their captives traveled northwest, Mrs. Webster writing later "The Indians would frequently assend (sic) the highest hills, to ascertain if they were [being] pursued...".

While Comanche Peak is labeled a "peak", if one looks at it's extent which includes today's Oasis and homes to the north, it resembles more a mesa, not dissimilar from similar mesas historically utilized by the Comanche: Comanche Peak, Hood County; Santa Anna Mtns in Santa Anna, Texas; Mt. Gabriel in Williamson County; San Saba Mtn. Mills County.

A number of mountains named "Sugarloaf", like that in Milam County, were historically associated with the Comanche. A sugarloaf is a conical, molded mass of sugar and the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century. Peaks which take this conical shape were often named "Sugarloaf"; ascent to the top allowed for quick 360 degree views of the surrounding country side; signal fires were visible from all directions as well.

These peaks and mesas coincide with trails and campsites, e.g. Comanche Lookout in San Antonio on the Camino Real, and Cross Mtn. in Fredericksburg on the Pinta Trail, were historically utilized by the Comanche for observation and signalling. Bollaert (p.251) was a contemporary source for the use of Comanche Lookout, which he referred to as "Indian Lookout", as an observation peak.

While the historical connection is not always available, peaks named "Signal Hill", "Signal Mtn" or "Signal Peak" are often indications of remembered use as places for Native American signalling. Neighboring counties Hays and Williamson both have Signal Hills; the former was near a historically documented Comanche campsite on Bear Creek [Hays County Historical Commission]; the latter on the trail up the Colorado River followed by the Webster party. Wikipedia documents a number of peaks bearing the name "Signal".

Primary sources documenting Comanche use of smoke signalling include Berlandier from 1830, and Marcy and Parker from 1854. It has been discussed as a research topic by Gelo, Pelon, and with Beers providing a good compilation of sources on the topic.

Flint

Finally, a bonus to peaks and mesa is the likelihood of exposing strata with flint. Cross Mountain in Fredericksburg, Texas is a great example of a flat-topped peaked historically linked to Comanche observation and signalling, with a layer of limestone near the top exposing a beautiful amber flint. Gelo [2003, p.109] references an archeological study of Comanche Lookout in San Antonio in 1997 which noted natural outcrops of flint near the top. What better use of time while on "guard duty" atop a peak than quarrying flint.

Oral Histories Surrounding Comanche Peak

In this section I want to expand upon an an oral history about Defeat Hollow first documented by Mulky Owens of the Travis County Historical Survey Committee, and revisit / better document oral histories of the Harris, Stanford and Preece families here in Travis County. But firsts let's look at the broader context in which these oral histories exist.

The Broader Context: Comanche-Texas Relations of Late 19th Century

Bull Creek School was a one room log cabin started in 1867 (later renamed Pleasant Valley School; photos of the cabin are at the Austin History Center and called the Champion log cabin). Of the school the 1936 Defender says "This [1867] was during the time when Indians were prevalent." Romantic nostalgia for the loss of the "Wild West"? Maybe. But maybe not. Consider, White Parker, son of Quanah Parker, was just 49 yrs of age (1887-1956). In 1936 many of the children of those involved in the Texas-Indian battles were still alive. It is reasonable that the Defender is a recorded remembrance of the Bull Creek community of 1867 (the significance of that year will be discussed shortly). After all, the school sat on West Bull Creek on the Old Burnet Road at the intersection of today's FM 2222 and Loop 360: as previously discussed, likely a Comanche trail that led to Mount Bonnell.

The last decade plus of the Texas-Indian war are commonly associated with battles fought in North Texas and the Panhandle, e.g the first and second battles at Adobe Walls (1864, 1874); Satanta et.al.'s Wagon Train raid, AKA Salt Creek massacre (1871); Ranald Mackenzie's raid on the Comanche camp in Palo Duro Canyon (1874); Quanah Parker's surrender and move to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma (1875). But during this period, late 1860s to mid 1870s, in which the oral histories given here apply, the Comanche had by no means stopped visitation and raids into Central, South and West Texas, and Mexico.

The years 1867 and 1868 saw an uptick in raids, abductions and killings in Texas [Anderson p.349]. Michno [p.386] says "The winter of 1868 was one of the worst seasons for Indian raids and killings that the frontier people of Texas ever experienced", and this included nearby counties such as Llano, citing a raid there of a party of 15 Comanche in 1868.

There are multiple reasons for the increased Indian visitation and raids in Texas. The Civil War and Reconstruction had left Texas in a weakened, vulnerable state. The frontier that had expanded west before the war had retreated east during and after. Likewise the Comanche had suffered from their battles with the Texans, the introduction of disease, shrinking hunting grounds, and a dramatic decline in game, notably buffalo, their basis for food and resources. Raids were a way to subsist and try to reestablish shrinking horse herds, so important to the Comanche lifestyle and economy.

But there was more. Comanche mistrust of Texans was singular: the Council House Fight/Massacre (depending on one's view) was never forgotten by the Comanche. That coupled with failed treaties, and failed attempts at putting the Comanche on reservations, first in Texas then Fort Sill, OK, had resulted in polarization of all parties: federal, state and Native American. Some on both sides called for continued attempts at peace; others, again on both sides, called for warfare and annihilation. At a council meeting in 1870 at Fort Sill, OK, the Comanche relayed two messages. From those already on the reservation, the boundary lines of the reservation needed to be "eradicated", in good part because the promise of provisions and food on the reservation were not being met and the Comanche felt they needed to resume bison hunting off the reservation to survive. And from the Comanche Chiefs that had yet refused offers of peace and life on the reservation: "[the Texans] had stolen their country and they [the Comanches] would get some of it back." [Anderson p.353].

So while we often associate the Texas-Indian war of this period with North Texas, raids were being made much farther south. To illustrate just how far south, in 1870, the same year of the council meeting at Fort Sill, the Comanche raided far into Mexico, the last documented raid said to have taken place that year attacking Lampazos, Coahuila, Mexico, a straight line distance of about 170+ miles south of the Texas border [Adams]. And raids into Mexico by the Comanche, as always, involved traveling the various Comanche trails of Texas from north to south.

Bringing our focus closer to Travis County, newspaper articles, historical markers, and various books -- Wilbarger, Michno, Winfrey and Day -- document skirmishes, raids and abductions in Central Texas well into the 1870s. In many cases the tribe is unspecified. In some the tribe may have been misidentified. A rather famous battle atop Packsaddle Mountain involving a party of 20+ Indians occurred in 1873 in Llano County. Wilbarger's account [p. 638] speculates based on "camp equipments (sic)" recovered after the battle, in particular a saddle marked Tucson, Arizona, the Indians were Apache from Arizona. But as others have suggested it seems more likely the party was Comanche [Roberts p.29] [Zelade p. 93]. Packsaddle Mtn is after all, quite likely the location of the "silver mine" Comanche Chief Yellow Wolf told Samuel Mather about as described in Frank Dobie's Coronado’s Children. Packsaddle is located at the junction of the Colorado River (a major Comanche highway) and Llano River, and just miles northeast of Comanche Creek. And Packsaddle is the typical mesa the Comanche used for navigation, observation and signaling.

Comanche Peak sets along the Colorado River, a major thoroughfare of the Comanche into Travis County. The Special Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of Texas, September 1884 documents Indian activity into the mid to late 1870s in many counties that border, or through which the Colorado runs, just northwest of Travis : Concho, Coleman, Brown, McCulloch, San Saba, Llano, Mason, Blanco, and Burnet, bordering Travis and to which the Old Burnet Road runs, along which Comanche Peak is located.

If one expands the scope to adjacent counties and a wider swath along the Colorado activity is documented in even more counties: Coleman, Comanche, Tom Green, Menard, Mason, Kimble, Gillespie, Kerr, Bandera, Kendall, Comal, Guadalupe and Bexar.

One of the most written about incidents is that of Little Bull. In 1874 members of a "Frontier Battalion" engaged a party variously reported in number as 6, 9 or 11 Comanche in Menard County. One Comanche was captured and held in jail in Austin where he was interviewed. His name was Little Bull and his party came down into Texas from Fort Sill, OK and were five days into their trip when the battle ensued [Travis County Historical Commission, "When Little Bull Came to Austin"].

The counties listed are from the Adjutant-General's report which involved the  US Army, but of course there was other activity which did not involve the army. Books by Wilbarger, Michno, Winfrey and Day, Michno, and Anderson, plus the archive of old newspaper articles, provide good references on Indian activity beyond army involvement. So now let's turn to Travis County.

Defeat Hollow

Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, Reconstruction began. As a confederate state, U.S. Army soldiers began arriving in Texas to take possession and restore order. As the capital of Texas, Austin was a major a stronghold for the U.S. Army.

This may explain why the Adjutant-General report does not record engagement with Indians in Travis County during this period: due to a large presence of an army in Austin, it was probably wisely avoided by Comanches traveling south down the Colorado.

The Austin History Center is home to the James Mulkey Owens, Jr. papers. Mulkey Owens was an Austin resident that worked for the Texas Highway Department, was an author, and key member of the Travis County Historical Commission. One of Owen's projects was to collect and document oral histories of Hudson Bend resulting in his publication Hudson Bend, 1970, on file at the Austin History Center. It is from this collection of oral history we learn the origin of the place name Defeat Hollow on Lake Travis, adjacent to Comanche Peak.

Defeat Hollow was named after a minor skirmish, no casualties, between Joel Arthur Harris, an early settler on Hudson Bend, and ten to twelve Indians. The tribe is not recorded in Owen's publication. The story recorded by Owens has been retold in other books, first in A Hill Country Paradise? by Elaine Perkins, and then Hudson Bend and the Birth of Lake Travis by Carole Sikes. Sikes, a former resident of Hudson Bend, conducted additional interviews while a resident and columnist for the Lake Travis View newspaper. Sikes offers additional variations on the story based on her interview; one source stated the Indians were Comanche. Given the adjacent place name Comanche Peak, and the overall history of the Comanche in the region, I think this is a safe bet.

Here's a shortened version of the story as recorded by Owens; "Grandpa Harris" is Joel Arthur Harris:

Hudson Bend was not without its Indian troubles. As told by John C. Hudson, son of Joseph Alexander Hudson and grandson of Wiley Hudson, first white settler of Hudson Bend, Grandpa Harris went out one morning to look for some calves. He trailed them down into Horseshoe Bend and across the Colorado River at about opposite where St. Luke’s by the Lake now stands. He started up this draw when he came upon some ten or twelve Indians. He immediately dismounted and headed for the brush as the Indians were reluctant to follow a person into the brush. The Indians were shooting at him with arrows and one of them hit the stock of his gun and knocked a chunk out of it. He then decided that he would have to shoot some of the Indians. One of the Indians had mounted Grandpa Harris horse and was trying to ride off ... About that time, someone appeared on the bluff above and began to call out for Grandpa Harris. Apparently the Indians thought that reinforcements had arrived and ran off taking Grandpa Harris’ horse and saddle with them. Since that time this draw has been known as Defeat Hollow.

While was a minor skirmish it is significant as possibly the only place name in Travis County named for a skirmish between the Comanche and Texans. More importantly, it is also thought to be one of the last such skirmishes in Travis County and if dated would provide an indication of how late into the 19th century Indians were in the vicinity of Comanche Peak and its trails.

Unfortunately Owens did not record a date so a goal here is to build on Owens work to set a likely time frame. As we'll see, the skirmish at Defeat Hollow probably happened as late ca. 1870 plus or minus a few years. While Owens publication wasn't published until 1970, the place names Defeat Hollow and Comanche Peak appear on USGS maps as early as 1930. Given an approximate date of 1870 the names were recorded by the USGS only about 60 years after the incident, well within the collective memory of the residents of Hudson Bend.

Dating the Skirmish at Defeat Hollow

Joel Harris was one of the first settlers to Hudson Bend. Prior to moving to Hudson Bend he was living in Burnet County. Knowing when he made the move to Hudson Bend is key in putting a time-frame on the skirmish at Defeat Hollow. Harris and family did not make the move from Burnet alone; they were accompanied by his son-in-law and his family, also from Burnet County.

In 1859 Andrew Jackson Stanford, Harris' future son-in-law, patented land in Smithwick, Texas, where the Smithwick Cemetery is located [GLO, 160 acres, Abstract 815, Class: Travis 3rd, Patent #631]. As a preemption grant he had been living on the property for at least three years; the original document indicates maybe since 1855.

Per the 1860 census Joel Harris and family were in Burnet County.

Exactly when Joel Harris and AJ Stanford met is not clear, but certainly by 1864, when, during the Civil War, Joel Harris (Pvt.) and Andrew Jackson Stanford (2nd Sgt.) were members of the 3rd Frontier District Muster Roll; their commanding officer was Capt. Christian Dorbandt. Their base was Burnet, Texas, the location of Fort Croghan. [Muster rolls on file with Texas State Archives].

Both Harris and Stanford were Masons. In 1864 per records of the Grand Masonic Lodge Library and Museum in Waco TX Joel Harris was a member of the "Valley" Lodge No. 175 of Burnet, Texas. He then shows up as a charter member of the Henry Thomas Lodge in Smithwick (near today's Turkey Bend) in 1865 [History of Burnet County, p.264].

Shortly after the death of Stanford's first wife, Carolyn E. Rogers (1828–1867; buried in the Smithwick Cemetery on Stanford's property, along with a son), he married Joel Harris' daughter Eliza Cherry Harris that same year, 1867.

It was this family unit -- Harris and Stanford -- that made the move from Burnet County to Travis.

In 1868 AJ Stanford acquired land on the east bank of the Colorado near what would later be Volente, Texas. Indeed he would later, in 1886, be Volente's first postmaster. Joel Harris settled directly across the river on Hudson Bend. As a preemption grant, he received a patent for the land in 1871 specifying he had been on the property for 3 years (i.e. since 1868) making improvements in the form of a homestead and farm.

Thus, the skirmish at Defeat Hollow could not have happened before 1868.

Map of land purchases by Joel Harris and AJ Stanford in relation to Comanche Peak and Defeat Hollow

Mintie Ann Stanford was born in February of 1869, the first child of AJ Stanford and Eliza Cherry Harris, the granddaughter of Joel Harris. She was born there on the east bank of the Colorado on that land purchased by AJ Stanford in 1868. Before her death in 1951 she lived with her son Aldis C. Stanford's family in Stephenville, Texas, which included Lorena Faye (Stanford) Denney, her granddaughter, my mother. Mintie related to her first hand that when she (Mintie) was a child, her parents used to "hide her under a wash tub when the Indians came". Was that a singular event, or a description of an ongoing practice? If she were a newborn, one, two, three or four in age (small enough to hide under a wash tub) that would have been 1869-1873.

Texas as a whole was clearly concerned about the abduction of children at this time. An article that ran in the The Dallas Daily Herald, August 1868, reported on the legislature in Austin: "Ten Thousand dollars have been appropriated to the ransom of children which have carried off by the Indians". While I doubt that amount of money was every paid out on ransoms, such a large amount is a measure of the level of concern and an indication it was happening. See also Michno (p.432)

Reiterating Michno [p.386] "The winter of 1868 was one of the worst seasons for Indian raids and killings that the frontier people of Texas ever experienced." And the Old Burnet Road, which ran at the base of Comanche Peak, passed through the land AJ Stanford and his family settled on in 1868.

Based on sources like Winfrey and Day, Wilbarger, the Adjutant-General Report, Michno (focus on captives), Travis' closest neighboring counties -- Williamson, Burnet, Blanco and Llano --  were still being visited by Comanches as late 1872 - 1873. Neighboring counties farther to west even later.

To summarize: the skirmish at Defeat Hollow most likely happened between 1868 and 1873.

The Preece Ranch

Among the early Anglo settlers to the hill country west of Austin were William Martin Preece (1800 - ca. 1870), wife Mary Elizabeth Giddens (1810-1878), son Richard Lincoln Preece AKA Dick Preece (1833-1906), and his little brother William Martin Preece, Jr., AKA Little Will (1838-1870).

Dick Preece and Little Will were both Texas Rangers before the Civil War involved in skirmishes with the Comanche. During the Civil War they were Unionist resisting the Confederacy from the hollows of Bull Creek, later joining the 1st Texas Cavalry fighting against the Confederacy. After the Civil War the Preece Ranch was associated with the cattle drives up Chisholm Trail.

The General Land Office records show that in 1859 Dick Preece patented 160 acres along the Colorado River, in the area of what we now associate with River Place / Steiner Ranch subdivision, and across from today's Commons Ford Ranch Park. While the land patent is dated 1859, as a preemptive grant he was living on and improving the land in 1856 (3 years previous), had it surveyed in 1857, then final patent in 1859. Over the years the ranch expanded east along the Colorado River to what is now River Place Natural Trail in Panther Hollow (there are two; the eastern most).

The Preece Ranch was less than 4 miles south of Comanche Peak and family oral tradition of Comanche trails running by and through the ranch have appeared in various written forms over the years. Harold Preece, Dick Preece’s grandson, wrote several articles referencing the Comanche trail in Real West and Texas Ranger Magazine; Harold’s sister Louise Preece wrote letters with references to Comanche hunting grounds near the Preece ranch; news articles about the Preece family from the

A Native American burial discovered on the property of Dick’s son, Richard Lincoln Preece, Jr., AKA Byrd Preece, was reported in the Austin American-Statesman, 8 Mar 1932, p.10: "Indian Skeleton Found in Cave Near Here". While the age of the burial is uncertain (excavation was done by UT but the results don't appear to be recorded in the site atlas), and quite likely older than Comanche period, the article references again the family oral tradition of a Comanche trail passing through the property. Earlier yet, an article in the Austin American-Statesman, 26 May 1914, p.4 references "The old Comanches (sic) trail" passing through Byrd Preece's property. Most recently a descendant of Dick Preece, author Anthony Whitt’s book Hard Land to Rule begins with a raid on a smokehouse by Comanches; a story Anthony says was based on an actual event passed down through the generations that occurred on the Preece Ranch.

References to a Comanche trail or trails passing by or through the Preece ranch make geographical sense. As noted, the ranch was at it's closest point (River Place's Panther Hollow) 3.3 miles south of Comanche Peak. Just to the east was old Burnet Road which ran at the base of Comanche peak. This was discussed previously.

At the close of the Civil War, one of Texas' best economic resources during reconstruction was an abundance of longhorn cattle that could be sold in Kansas and other markets to the north. The Chisholm Trail was in use from about 1867 to 1884. A feeder branch of the Chisholm Trail is said to have passed by the Preece Ranch which supplied horses and maybe cattle. To the north of the ranch, south of Comanche Peak, runs today's R.M. 620. When you drive R.M. 620 today, you are likely on the feeder trail the Preece Ranch would have used to drive horses and cattle to the old Chisholm Trail. If we look at modern day map, R.M. 620 runs from near the Preece Ranch all the way to the Chisholm Trail crossing of Brushy Creek in Round Rock, near where the actual "round rock" is located. R.M. 620's route is largely determined by a geographical feature of that area: the Jollyville Plateau, a flat, level land bridge of sorts providing a path through the canyon lands created by Colorado River and East and West Bull Creeks. The Jollyville Plateau would have also been a connector to the other Burnet Road, US 183 / SH 29; see previous discussion of relevance to Comanche history.

Finally, Santa Monica Springs, AKA Sulfur Springs, was located on the Preece Ranch. Brune (Springs of Texas) says Santa Monica Springs were once the basis for Comanche and Tonkawa Indian campgrounds. Gelo (Comanche Land and Ever Has Been) called them “a watering place” for the Comanche (Gelo's location of the springs is off). The springs were an attraction to Texans in the late 19th early 20th century for the "curative properties" of the water; a fact likely not lost on the Comanches that visited the springs. A crossing near the springs, probably at today's Commons Ford Ranch Park, would have connected with today's Bee Cave Rd. leading east to Barton Springs, another Comanche hangout on the Colorado River, or alternatively to points south and west with known Comanche ties. See previous map, 1896 USGS topo map with Native American trails.

First USGS Map Citing Comanche Peak, Defeat Hollow

The first maps to use the place names "Comanche Peak" and "Defeat Hollow" appear to be the USGS maps from the early 1930s. 

The USGS was established in 1879. In the early years of the USGS its survey work was hampered by lack of funds and as late as the 1920s nearly 60% of the US was still unmapped. Travis County was lucky enough to be one of the first areas to be topographically mapped producing what is known as the "1902 Austin folio": 1902 being the year it was published, the survey work being done in 1895-1896. Defeat Hollow, Comanche Peak, and many other place names did not appear on those first maps due to the low resolution of the maps and probably because the focus was on the more populated areas of Travis County: as the survey notes, “The Austin quadrangle has a comparatively dense population, but nine-tenths of its inhabitants are found .. east of the Balcones scarp, the Edwards Plateau country to the west being but sparsely populated..". 

That original survey from 1895-96 was the basis for subsequent updates issued over the years until the 1930s. Post WWI there was a push to get the rest of the country mapped, and existing mapped areas surveyed in better detail. This push for better, more detailed surveys was due in good part to the demand for better maps for industry, roads, mining, and no doubt for Travis County, construction of dams. Defeat Hollow and Comanche Peak both appear for the first time on these 1930s USGS maps when surveyors "zoomed in" for more detail.  

It's useful to see how the USGS determines the place names on its maps. In March of 2019 I reached out to the USGS on the question of how USGS place names on topographic names are assigned. I spoke with Bard "Ryan" Lynch, Science Information Services, Office of Communications and Publishing, USGS in Denver Colorado. With a bit of research he provided the following explanation. This is an edited and expanded version of "Place and Feature Names" (p. 87) in Chapter 5, "Boundaries, Names, and Marginalia" of Maps for America, Third Edition, which has additional details on names for different kinds of features; p. 90 has more details on quadrangle names (underlining is mine for emphasis):

"The geographic place names shown on USGS quadrangle maps are those in local usage, as nearly as could be ascertained (by the mapmakers) from officials and residents of the area and from other sources, such as previously published maps, historical records, and reference publications. In selecting place names, the mapmakers made sure that the most important ones were included and that the overall density of names and descriptive labels was appropriate for the scale of the map (one of the many reasons why it originally took several years to create each USGS topographic map!). The date of the original USGS maps varies considerably, and place names were (and are) sometimes changed on updated versions as needed. Names that disagree with other government publications or are controversial in local usage are referred to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), which is the legal authority on names used on federal government maps and publications. The Board includes representatives from multiple agencies. Although the Board's decisions are widely followed in non-federal publications, there is no legal requirement to do so. The quadrangle name itself is usually that of the most prominent city, town, or other feature appearing within the mapped area. Official BGN names can be changed (as with changing Mount McKinley to Denali), but those changes are not made easily or lightly. The BGN requires extensive documentation, review, and the support of the local community."

As Mulky Owens of the Travis County Historical Commission discovered in his interviews in the 1960s of residents on Hudson Bend, Defeat Hollow was a place name remembered by the community from the initial skirmish between Joel Harris and Indians. The USGS surveyors earlier in the 1930s no doubt got that place name, as well "Comanche Peak" and others, the same way: from interviews of locals during their surveys. It's worth noting that in 1930 the skirmish at Defeat Hollow had occurred probably only about 60 years previously (ca. 1870).

Summary; Historical Significance

Comanche Peak is the only peak, and maybe the only natural feature (not a man-made thing, e.g. street, subdivision) named for an American Indian tribe in Travis County. It's location helps understand better entry trails into Austin along the Colorado.

Defeat Hollow is a place name that recalls what may have been one of the last skirmishes between Texans and Comanche in Travis County. It may be the only place name in Travis County named for a skirmish between Texans and Comanche.

The story of Defeat Hollow and additional oral histories of the Stanford and Preece families, coupled with census data and deed records, provides an indication of how late into the 19th century the Comanche were utilizing Comanche Peak and its surrounding trails.

References, Footnotes

Adams, David B. "Borderland: Northern Nuevo León and the Indios Bárbaros, 1686-1870" The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 95, No. 2 (October 1991), pp. 204–220

Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820-1875. 2005. Clayton notes that spellings of band names are problematic using "Penateka" as an example with upwards of twenty variations (p. 382). I've used "Penateka" here as it is in common use.

Adjutant-General's Office of Texas. Special Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of Texas, September 1884

Austin American, "Ranger Captain Met Fire Early; Indians Routed in 1873 Battle". March 26, 1939. Describes a battle between Texas Rangers and a party of Indians, estimated to be about 27, in Blanco County in 1873.

Austin American Statesman. "Another Ranger-Indian Fight". Nov 1874, p. 3. Battle with Comanches in 1874; one captive brought to Austin and jailed. 

Austin Daily Statesman, Oct 18, 1893. The original Bull Creek Road, AKA Burnet Road, was tweaked to get it out of the flood plain in 1893. An article in the news that year explains. Austin’s first dam, "The Great Granite Dam", was completed in 1893. That same year a committee was appointed to investigate reports that Bull Creek Road was impassable. They reported: "We have visited the creek .. the road and crossing known as Bull creek road (sic) has been submerged by the back water from the city's dam .. the pontoon bridge erected by the city at the said crossing has been carried away ..". Rather than replace the pontoon bridge with another, their recommendation was the "erection of a substantial and permanent bridge over Bull creek and the cutting out of a road from said creek to the Mount Bonnell road..". As an aside, that dam washed away in 1900. The modification described here appears on the USGS 1896 topo of Austin. Today that connection between FM 2222 and Mt. Bonnell Road remains and is a beautiful drive to the pass between Mt. Barker and Mt. Bonnell.

Barkley, Mary Starr (1963). History of Travis County and Austin, 1839-1899. Waco, TX: Texian Press.

Barnes, Michael. Indelible Austin: More Selected Histories. Waterloo Press, 2018

Beers, Ward. Fire and Smoke: Ethnographic and Archaeological Evidence for Line-of-Sight Signaling in North America. Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico, pp. 23-32, 2014.

Berlandier, Jean Louis. The Indians of Texas in 1830, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969. Introduction by John C. Ewers provides biographical information about Jean Louis Berlandier; his exploration of Texas; and descriptions of his botanical and ethnological specimens, drawings, and writings, which were eventually deposited at the Smithsonian and other institutions. Text includes Berlandier's 330 page manuscript, translated from French, describing Indian life and customs in Texas 1828-1829.

Bollaert, William. William Bollaert's Texas. W. Eugene Hollon (Editor), University of Oklahoma Press, 2000. Bollaert, an English writer and adventurer, arrived in Texas in 1842. The book is based on his six diaries and notebooks and two volumes of journals from 1841-1844.

Travis County Rural Schools 1936 Yearbook Staff, The Defender 1936: Travis County Rural Schools, published 1936. A copy is available at the Austin History Center. 

Denney, Richard. Travis County Historical Commission blog. https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com
Travis County's Texas Ranger, Dick Preece.
What does Bull Creek Road have to do with Bull Creek?
Mount Bonnell's American Indian Trail.

Denney, Richard. Cross Mountain, Fredericksburg, on the Pinta Trail. Retrieved 06-16-19 https://txcompost.blogspot.com/2015/04/cross-mountain-fredericksburg-on-pinta.html  

Dolbeare, Benjamin. A narrative of the captivity and suffering of Dolly Webster among the Camanche (sic) Indians in Texas: With an account of the massacre of John Webster and his party, as related by Mrs. Webster. Facsimile edition, re-published 1986, but originally published story was 1843, so not long after the actual incident.

Fehrenbach, T.R. Comanches: The Destruction of a People. 1974.

Fish, Janet Long. Oral History Transcript. Interview by Thad Sitton, July 20, 2000. Available at Austin History Center. Pertinent bits are covered in another of my blogs, https://txcompost.blogspot.com/2014/03/mount-bonnells-american-indian-trail.html

Gelo, Daniel J., "Comanche Land and Ever Has Been: A Native Geography of the Nineteenth-Century Comanchería." The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol 103, No. 3, 2000, pp. 273-307

Gelo, Daniel & Wayne Pate. Texas Indian Trails. Republic of Texas Press, 2003. 

GLO Map of Travis County, Texas. Surveyed 1877; published 1880. Available on-line through Library of Congress. Retrieved 5/16/19 from https://www.loc.gov/item/2012592087 This map covers the route of Burnet Road from Austin to Travis Peak on the western edge of Travis County.

Hagan, William T. Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief. University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.

Hämäläinen, Pekka. The Comanche Empire. Yale University Press, 2008

Hays County Historical Commission. Meeting notes from March 25, 2010 at the Isham Good Ranch, Dripping Springs, pp. 4-5. Documents the Isham Good ranch and it's location "close to the Comanche campground over by Bear Creek, so [Good] could trade with the Indians." This location is near Signal Hill and would have been on route from Comanche Peak to Manchaca Springs.

Horseshoe Bend is now under Lake Travis but sometimes surfaces as "Sometimes Islands". In 2015 with the lake in drought stage the original peninsula created by Horseshoe Bend emerged.

Marcy, Randolph B, Captain, U.S. Army. The Prairie Traveler. Originally published 1859.

Michno, Gregory & Susan. A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West, 1830-1885. Caxton Press, 2007. Good focus on Texas and Central Texas.

Owens, J. Mulky. Hudson Bend, Travis County. 1970. On file at the Austin History Center.

Parker W.B. Through Unexplored Texas: in the summer and fall of 1854. Texas State Historical Association, 1990. This is a publication of notes taken by Parker, attached to the the expedition commanded by Capt. R. B. Marcy by Parker in 1854.

Pelon, Linda. ISSUES IN PENATUHKAH COMANCHE ETHNOHISTORY. University of Texas at Arlington, Master's Thesis, 1993. 

Perkins, Elaine. A Hill Country Paradise? Travis County and Its Early Settlers. 2012
Preece, Harold. "Dick Preece", Eagle of the Mountains, Texas Rangers Magazine. 1949

Preece, Harold. "My Grandfather, Dick Preece", Real West Magazine. 1964.

Roberts, Dan Webster. Rangers and Sovereignty. In May 1874, Dan W. Roberts (Daniel Webster Roberts) was given his commission as second lieutenant of Company "D" of the Ranger Battalion; he would remain with them for the next eight years, later becoming Captain. His account of his time with the Texas Rangers, Rangers and Sovereignty, was published in 1914. Describes Blanco County's Deer Creek Fight near today's Johnson City in 1873 (possibly 1872), and Llano's 1873 Packsaddle Mtn. fight. Roberts appears to be mistaken in his recollection (or publisher made error) about the year of death of the Phelps, or "Felps". News articles of the time report the incident in 1869.

Sikes, Carole McIntosh. Hudson Bend and the Birth of Lake Travis: Transforming the Hills West of Austin. 2014

Smithwick, Noah. The Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983

Spence, Joseph. AF file letter 1, Austin History Center. See Comanches at Shingle Hills.

Texas Historic Commission, "Comanche Village Massacre", historical marker #995, erected by State of Texas, 1936. https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=73318

Texas Historic Commission, "The Dowdy Tragedy of 1878", historical marker # 5324, Kerr, County, Texas. Marker text: The pioneer family of Susan (1830-1913) and James Dowdy (1818-1900) moved from Goliad to Kerr County in 1878 and settled on Johnson Creek. Shortly after the family arrived, four of the Dowdy children, Alice, Martha, Susan, and James, were killed by Indians while tending sheep near their home. The attack occurred on Oct. 5, 1878, at a site about 3.5 miles northwest of present Ingram. The victims were buried the following day at Sunset Cemetery, northwest of Ingram. This incident was one of the last Indian raids in Kerr County. 

Travis County Historical Commission, "When Little Bull Came to Austin", November 2019, https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2019/11/when-little-bull-came-to-austin.html

USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic

USGS, US Topo and Historical Topographic Map Collection.  Both Comanche Peak, and Defeat Hollow appear on maps starting in 1930. See USGS 1:48000-scale Quadrangle for Austin-2, TX 1930. See USGS 1:62500-scale Quadrangle for Mt. Bonnell, TX 1932.

USGS, Burnet (County) Sheet, Texas. surveyed 1885; published 1887. Available on-line through the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer, http://historicalmaps.arcgis.com/usgs/ This map covers the route of Burnet Road from Travis Peak to Burnet, Texas.

USGS, Austin folio, 1902. Folios of the Geologic Atlas, series 76. https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/gf76

USGS, History of the US Geological Survey. By USGS and Mary C. Rabitt, 1975. Retrieved 03/30/2019 from https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70039204

Texas A&M Forest Service. Famous Trees of Texas: Indian Marker Tree. https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/websites/FamousTreesOfTexas/TreeLayout.aspx?pageid=16045

Texas GLO, Preemption Grants. Preemption grants of 160 acres were re-instituted in 1866 and continued until 1898.  To qualify for a preemption grant settlers were required to live on the land for three years and make improvements.
https://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/forms/files/categories-of-land-grants.pdf

Tobin Imagery, a part of P2 Energy Solutions. https://www.p2energysolutions.com/tobin-data/tobin-imagery 

Travis County Clerk Records: Road Book Precinct 2, pp. 260-281. Online at Portal to Texas History, retrieved 5/16/19 http://bit.ly/2JL7Dcj 

Whitt, Anthony. Personal correspondence and e-mails. Anthony is a descendant of Texas Ranger and rancher Richard Lincoln Preece, AKA Dick Preece. 2019. https://www.anthonywhitt.com

Wikipedia. Comanche-Mexico Wars. Retrieved 06-16-2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche%E2%80%93Mexico_Wars

Wikipedia. Comanche History. Retrieved 06-16-2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche_history

Wikipedia. List of peaks named Signal. Retrieved 06-16-2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peaks_named_Signal

Winfrey, Dorman H. & Day, James M. The Indian Papers of Texas and the Southwest 1825-1916. This extensive, five-volume collection, drawn from the original copies in the Texas State Archives is a re-print of a historical compilation of Native American papers in the American Southwest region from 1825 to 1916. Available on The Portal to Texas History

YouTube, Review of 1937 & 1964 aerial photos, maps of Comanche Peak, Santa Monica Springs, Preece Ranch. https://youtu.be/l3l9zxHSnwE

Zelade, Richard. Texas Hill Country: Lone Star Travel Guide, 6th edition, 2011.