Trails and Tales of Old Austin and Travis County: Indian Skirmish on Bull Creek?

Note that updates to this article will be made on the TCHC blog:
https://traviscountyhistorical.blogspot.com/2020/07/indian-skirmish-on-bull-creek.html

Despite the known utilization by Native Americans of Bull Creek it was a bit of a surprise when in June of 2020 the Travis County Historical Commission was contacted about a boulder in the canyons of Bull Creek in northwest Austin that purports to be the burial of someone killed in a skirmish with Indians. The weathered epitaph engraved on the boulder reads, as best one can tell (epitaph is carved all uppercase; uppercase letters in parens are what I think is there; lower case letters in parens are guesses):

HERE LIE(S) BEN KELL(Er)

SHOT SIX INJINS FROM HIS (HORse)

THERE WERE FORTY TO HIS (REar)

OKT 5 1854 NOV 1(8 year)

The boulder was discovered some years ago after a new subdivision was built; residents who saw the boulder then, before bits eroded off, think the name was “Keller”. The boulder is large, not likely to have been brought in from somewhere else, or to have been placed over a burial, so if there is a burial it is nearby.

“OKT” is of course short for Oktober in German, and Keller a common German name; we know Bull Creek was the home of German settlers in the 1850s. Or perhaps “OKT” is simply a phonetic misspelling, as is “INJINS”.

The skirmish does not appear to be in popular texts of the late 19^th / early 20^th century such as Wilbarger’s Indian Depredations in Texas. But that is not surprising. In a report to Texas Governor O.M. Roberts in 1880, "Expeditions for Frontier Defense from 1855 to 1879", the report said much happened (skirmishes, raids) that was "never reported and of which there is no record anywhere".

Bull Creek School was a one room log cabin that sat at today's intersection of Loop 360 and 2222. The 1936 Defender (a yearbook for rural schools) says it was started in 1867 "during the time when Indians were prevalent." Romantic nostalgia? Maybe not. In 1936 children who attended school there in 1867 were likely alive; definitely their children and grandchildren. It is reasonable that the Defender is recording a remembrance of the Bull Creek community of 1867.

Bull Creek was remote into the last half of the 19^th century as illustrated by the ability of Unionists to mount resistance there against the Austin based Confederacy during the Civil War. There was an Indian skirmish at Defeat Hollow near Hudson Bend ca. 1870 that went unrecorded until the 1960s during interviews with longtime residents. My own family oral history recalls Indian activity near today’s Volente, again ca. 1870. And Preece Ranch (River Place / Steiner Ranch) descendants have oral history of Indian activity, date unknown, but after 1859 when the ranch began. All these – as with the mystery boulder – occurred along the Old Burnet Road corridor that ran from Austin along today’s FM 2222, across Bull Creek, to Bullick Hollow Rd and past Comanche Peak (next to the Oasis), Anderson Mill, Volente, Travis Peak and then to Burnet, Texas, a favorite campsite of the Comanche on Hamilton Creek.

But who was Ben Keller? Thus far nothing has been found in news of the time, GLO land or County Clerk deed records, nor census, to tie a Ben or Benjamin Keller or Kelley to such an incident or the property in general. Deed research in on-going. The date “OKT 5 1854” on the boulder is quite visible, and we thought initially this was the date of death. But on a subsequent visit to the boulder off-camera flash photography was used, a technique used for reading badly weathered headstones. Those photos revealed more letters in the epitaph, but most significantly part of a second date, “NOV 1(8)". Unfortunately, the year, assuming one was given, was on rock that broke off; we have not yet found the missing piece.

Given this is a purported burial, it is then likely that “OKT 5 1854” was a date of birth, and “NOV 1(8)" the date of death. That whoever buried Ben K. knew his month and day of birth would seem to indicate some degree of familiarity, e.g. family. Although we don't have a year of death, the epitaph would indicate he was old enough to be a skilled marksman with firearms. That combined with the history of Texas and Indian conflicts can provide a ballpark guesstimate: Ben K. would have been 18 years of age in 1872. This is a date that jives with known skirmishes in Central, South and West Texas.

The location of the boulder is being withheld at this time for its protection; a “notice of unverified cemetery” has been filed with the Texas Historic Commission and passed along to the regional archeologist. More as this story develops!

Bull Creek continues to yield secrets.

Photos


Bob Ward (right) holds a reflector sheet to help highlight engraved letters. Off-camera flash photos of the boulder were taken on a subsequent visit to bring out more detail.