Chapter 6

It happened again. The war had been officially declared over. Almost everyone had let out a big breath waiting for the world to get back to normal. Bob came riding into the farm yard hollering that the town was under attack. I saddled the roan with both rifles and my new shotgun, with enough ammunition to start my own war.

Tia came from the house with her Henry, and her pistol on a belt. She told me to saddle her black beauty. I signed about our son, and she said that Patty had him. I told Paul to stay with the farm and to protect our homes.

Bob, Tia, and I rode hard to town and came in at the back of the Marshal’s office. I sent Bob and Tia to find out how Mom was and I went into the Marshal’s office. Dad was lying on the floor, with his heart beating when I checked him, but he had a big gash on his head. Grant and the Gunsmith were in the jail cell, so I looked for the keys and finally got the second set to let them out. Grant said, “These men are ruthless. I know they have raped and killed a couple of the working girls at the saloon. I think there are only six, but there could be more. They have stolen a wagon and are loading it up from the General Store, gunsmith, and saloon. Be careful, Jeff, these men are dressed in Confederate clothes and say they are part of Quantrill’s men. I gave the Henry to the gunsmith with a pouch of bullets, and said, “Use this to pick off who you can. Here, Grant, take my ten gauge and a pouch of the paper shot cartridges. Now I need to find where the leader of this mess is.”

I looked in the back door of the saloon and only saw three men drinking and forcibly playing with the girls. One of the guys said he was on his way to the Jakes and went right past me. I slit his throat and dragged him behind the privy. Then there were five.

The door to the saloon opened and a man in a tattered confederate uniform staggered out toward the privy. He joined his buddy behind the privy. Then there were four.

I knew another man was still inside the saloon. I walked in and found him actually taking his pleasure with one of the girls from upstairs on a bar table. Harold, the barkeep, was lying across the bar, but I thought, and hoped, that he might still be alive. Not wanting to wait, I grabbed the yahoo who was doing the bargirl and slit his throat. There was only one town guy there, and he was petrified. Then there were three.

A man in a Confederate uniform was standing at the hitching rail outside. I walked up to him, holding my pistol on him, and asked, “Didn’t you hear? The war is over.”

The man cockily said, “Not for us. We’re going to take everything back that was ever taken from us. You will die watching us breed your ladies.” My finger must have slipped as my gun went off and the man’s head came apart. Then there were two.

I didn’t want the bad guys to be able to run off, so I slit the cinch straps on all six horses. The saddles stayed up as the horses were tired from being run hard. I looked around the front of the horses and saw a man running at the horses with a pistol ready. ‘Boom’, a shotgun blast lifted the man from his feet and threw him backwards. Then there was one.

A man came strolling from the café buckling his belt. He was smiling as he checked his pistol to be sure that it was fully loaded and walked toward the saloon. I stepped out to confront the arrogant man. He was smiling as he reached for his pistol. I had mine out of my holster with the hammer back in one fluid motion. ‘Bang’, and the man was looking at his pistol still barely clearing his holster. He fell over dead. I didn’t even check on the man and ran to the café. The woman who owned and worked the café was pulling her dress down while still lying on one of her tables. She saw me and ran to me to be held. She said that she had a choice of letting him do her or dying. She thought she was more likely to recover from a rape than from a bullet.

I told her to close and to go bathe and wash her clothes. She nodded and turned the sign to say ‘Closed’.

Dad came up to stand by my side with a bandana tied on his forehead. “You are fearless, Son. I don’t know where you learned all that, but I’m proud to be your dad.”

“You taught me, Dad. You always said that you have to defend your family, friends, and neighbors. How’s your head? Let’s go see how Harold is.”

The remaining girls were helping Harold come around. They had him in a chair at a table. He was hearing how some of us had taken the town back.

Dad asked, “Do we do these guys like we did the men before?”

“No, Dad. The war’s over. These men were all criminals. I’ll write a letter for your signature as deputy marshal to Fort Smith to advise of the attack by six men. We might find out more about them if we go through their stuff.”

Harold was coming around and thanked me for saving the town once again. “Two of my girls resisted them, so they held them down on the tables and repeatedly raped them. Then they held their guns on the one girl’s head and pulled the trigger. I was angry and one of the men hit me with a gun butt. I don’t know when they killed the other girl.”

We had dragged the six men to the middle of the street. We went through their pockets one at a time. It was obvious that each of the men had been brutal in the way they had taken the stolen goods. The wagon they stole was ours from our town home. They had stolen someone else’s mules. Mostly merchandise from the General Store and Gunsmith was in the wagon.

The horses and the bedrolls held the same sort of information. They stole everything they could, killed the people from the area they were in, and usually burned the town.

We were just about done cleaning up the mess when six men rode in. Two were in Union uniforms, while the others were in civilian clothes. They were more than well covered. Two of the men had on better quality suits and stood their horses in the front. They told us they were tracking these men and were told they had headed this way.

None of the rifles or shotguns wavered during this time. I didn’t have a gun in my hand, but my pistol was reloaded and in my holster for fast access.

“Tell me how we know you are on the level, Gentlemen. This isn’t the first group that has come through here.”

One of the men stepped off his horse, removed his gunbelt, hung it across his saddle, and came up to me. “The six men you see here are all part of your new government, Citizen, the government that has lasted through this terrible war. The other man in the saddle is a U.S. Judge. The one behind him is a U.S. Marshal, and the fourth in regular clothes is a U.S. Congressman who is interested in these Indian territories. The men in uniform are our bodyguards, but wouldn’t do us much good against your town defending itself.”

“Are we safe from visiting bands of military now that you know about our small community? We have no problems here and have a jail to hold criminals for trial. We have a town Marshal, but he needs to be a U.S. Deputy Marshal. Swear him in if you can, so that he has some authority to hunt down criminals who run.”

The U.S. Judge said, “I can do that and the marshal here can pin the star on him. Let me get down and get my Bible.”

Dad was about to have a stroke from the talk of a U.S. Judge swearing him in. I sent men in all directions to have the town come to witness Dad being sworn in.

It happened, and Dad had a U.S. Deputy Marshal star pinned to his vest where the town Marshal star had been.

The café owner reopened and invited all the visitors in for a meal. She told them that she had rooms above they could stay in, and the livery would look after their animals. I told them we would all join them later, but we had to deal with the leftovers of the mess.

The men were now stripped of anything of value. The General Store and gunsmith were now in possession of everything that had been stolen. The bodies were put in the wagon and hauled out of town to be dumped down a ravine for the scavengers to finish. They were stripped of clothing to be donated to those who needed them, but the Confederate clothing was going to be burned.

The horses and tack was divided up with one of the horses with a good saddle coming to me. This was going to be Paul’s son’s horse. The extra guns were all given to the gunsmith so that he could sell them.

The six men had a good meal and put their saddlebags in rooms above the café. All six went next door to the saloon from there. Harold, the saloon owner and barkeep, was back on his feet and the saloon was well attended to with the help of the working girls. The four civilians all enjoyed a drink of Harold’s good stuff. He said the first one was compliments of the house. The girls weren’t working tonight, and they let everyone know that this was going to be a night off in honor of the girls who had been murdered.

The Judge asked my dad, the new Marshal, “I see you, your son, and your brother-in-law are not drinking. Any particular reason?”

Dad said, “Never developed a taste for the stuff, the same for my brother-in-law. My son just doesn’t drink. He says he doesn’t like it, and he’s seen too many men get hurt with alcohol. Nothing against it, we just don’t drink.”

The Judge said, “You are a good choice for a U.S. Deputy Marshal in this territory. Let me know if your son decides he wants to be a part of the law, and I’ll send someone to swear him in.”

I was standing with Dad hearing all this, but interrupted. “I need to get Tia home to be with our son, Dad. He’ll be going to bed soon and we like to be with him.” I turned to the Judge, “Nice to meet you, Sir, and hope to never see you sitting for a court here. I like our community and it needs to stay peaceful.”

I felt okay about those folks, but not totally comfortable. They all appeared authentic, but you never know. I went for Tia and we quickly rode home, leading the horse that I was given. I noticed the saddle didn’t have Confederate markings on it when I put it up in the tack room. I checked the scabbard and it was a U.S. Union scabbard, but that’s not unusual. A lot of men used equipment from the other side. The horse wasn’t branded either, but that was easy to explain.

Andy was sleepy and Eunice was rocking him. He jumped down from Eunice’s lap when Tia came in and ran to his mother. I gave my little man a kiss on the forehead and went out to put our horses away and to feed the others. Paul’s son came from their house and told me that he had taken care of the night chores. I thanked him and went into our house to prepare for bed.

I talked to Tia about how I felt about the men who had come saying they were following the band of renegades after Andy was down for the night. I kept going over what I had seen of the men and what I had heard. They all appeared genuine, but there was something that kept bothering me.

I woke in the middle of the night almost in a cold sweat. I sat up and stared at the dark. Tia woke up and I told her, “I think I know what’s bothering me. I need to go to town to check on it.”

Tia said, “I’ll get Eunice to come stay with Andy. Let me run get her while you dress and get our horses saddled.”

I dressed in buckskins and my tall moccasins with a little heel. I made sure my guns were ready and loaded. I had my shotgun back, so I put the sling over horse’s neck and the pouch of powder and shot paper cartridges in my saddlebags.

Tia came hurrying from the house and mounted up, putting her two Henry’s in scabbards on each side of the saddle.

There was a moon, so we were able to move along at a good pace all the way to town. I rode straight to the livery and looked at the six horses very closely. The troopers should be riding horses with a U.S. Calvary brand. None of the saddles had any U.S. markings, and that didn’t make sense if these two men were troopers.

I knew what I had to do, and went to the General Store and knocked on the back door to wake Grant up. He came to the door and I told him to get dressed and get the gunsmith up and ready. I explained what I had discovered and why I was suspicious. These men could have been in cahoots with the renegades we shot earlier. I told him how none of the tack or the horses had any markings for either Army. I said, “I’m going for Dad. Meet at the jailhouse.”

The house at the end of the street was dark, but I knew I could wake Dad. I threw some stones up to his window and he was looking out the window by the time the third one hit. I waved at him to come down.

I explained the whole thing to him as I had to Grant. Dad said he would dress and come down to the jailhouse with us. To be safe, I saddled his horse and brought it out for him to ride to the jailhouse with us.

I went inside the Marshal’s office and built a fire in the pot belly stove so that we could have some coffee. Grant and the gunsmith came and both sat down as the coffee was perking.

I told the three, “I think these six are a part of the men we buried today. I think they were going to come here and be our saviors and offer us pennies on the dollar for our land as a gesture to help us. We would be in terrible shape if the men had set fire to the town. We need one of us to write a letter to the known judge in Fort Smith. News doesn’t travel fast in this part of the country, so we might have to have a rider go to Fort Smith to get an answer. I’ve written down the four men’s names and who they are supposed to be. I’ll bet there is another town or two these people have been to and they now own all the land there. They’re probably charging rent to the people who formerly owned the properties and forcing them to rebuild homes and businesses just so they can live. I don’t know this for sure, of course, but we need to keep an eye on these men. They will be hunting up more men to be their raiders, and I’ll bet they’ll be back.”

Tia said, “I will ask braves from the Cherokee Village to follow these men to see where they go. They will come back and tell Marshal Davis when they know. Jeff needs to be the man to travel to Fort Smith. You two as territory men, each write letters. We’ll go home and I’ll get Jeff some food prepared to travel.”

I told the men, “It’s less than seventy miles to Fort Smith, so I should be able to be there in two days. I’ll take a couple of spare horses so that I can switch and they stay fresh. I should be able to go thirty-five miles a day.”

Tia and I went home so that she could make me some travel food. She wanted to go with me, but we both agreed that she needed to be here with Andy and to protect our property. She would send Paul’s son to the Indian Village to talk to the braves. “I’ll give them some money for food and travel if they will come to help. Do you think five dollars should be good?” [A good day’s wage for a laborer was $1 at this time.]

I made up a bedroll with an extra set of buckskins. I left the shotgun with Tia and took the second Henry off the saddle too to lighten my load. I decided on the big black horse and the bay to be my other mounts. They were both big and strong, so they should be able to keep up with the big roan. I slung a sack of grain on the big black horse to help them recover.

Tia and I hugged and kissed before I mounted up and left for town. The men had the letters for me, so I put them in my saddlebags and began my ride. I knew I was going to be tired that night, but I expected I should be fine during the day.

I rode hard but not at a full gallop more of a fast butt breaking trot until mid-morning and then stopped to water the horses and stretch my legs. I was very tense because I was worried about the family on the farm and in town. Dad was very aware of his surroundings, so I figured he should be alright. The next leg of the trip lasted to early afternoon, so I stopped again to have a bite of jerky and a biscuit with some water.

I changed horses again, and was back on the roan making good time. The big black and bay horses stayed with us and never tugged on the lead line. I found a stand of trees when it was getting dark, where I hobbled and grained the horses and put my bedroll down. I was instantly asleep. I woke before dawn, took care of my personal business, and saddled up the black horse. I had some jerky and a biscuit for breakfast, then making good time and thinking that I might have traveled almost forty miles yesterday. I made two morning stops to water the horses and swap mounts. I pushed the roan and the two spare horses to keep moving at a slow gallop that wasn’t hard on the horses once again.

I knew that I was close to Fort Smith when I took the early afternoon break to change horses and have a drink of water and a bite to eat. We took off at the slow gallop and arrived at the town about two thirty in the afternoon. I asked the sentry where the U.S. Judge was, as I had some important letters for him. He said the offices were at the end of the row of buildings and he thought the judge was in his chambers.

I rode to the office with the sign on the front and tied my two horses. I went in the door and spoke to a man who was the judge’s clerk. I told the man that I had important letters for the judge and that I needed to report people who were imposters traveling in Indian Territory. The man went in a door and was there for a couple of minutes. He came back to the door and said, “Please come in.”

I handed the letters to the judge, and said, “Let me give you some history of our small community. There used to be Indian trouble there, but those Indians were northern Sioux. The Indians in this area now are Cherokee and we get along very well. Some men came to town three days ago and were very abusive, claiming they were part of Quantrill’s Raiders. Our town is very defensive, and had to defend ourselves against some renegade soldiers a while back.

We stopped these men after they had killed a couple of people and tried to steal all the valuables in town. We were still cleaning up the mess and trying to identify the men who were in ragged Confederate uniforms when six men came into town. They said that they were a U.S. Judge, a U.S. Marshal, and a U.S. Representative. We have the names of all four in the letters. The last two there were troopers in uniform. What made me suspicious is they said they were tracking these men, but they wouldn’t be a match for a bunch who said they were Quantrill’s men. I went back to the livery where they had their horses, and checked the horses and their tack. Not one horse had a U.S. brand, and none of the tack had any U.S. stamps in the leather.”

“I think they have the men come to a town and raid it, kill a few people, steal everything they can, and burn it down. The six men come in after the raiders are gone and offer to help the people out by buying their property for a ridiculous amount. Now, read those letters and tell me what to do.”

The judge told his clerk, “Go see if you can find the Colonel and have him come see me.”

The judge read the letters and wrote down the names that were given. He looked up at me, and said, “You are correct that these men are imposters. You have assumed something else that is correct. A small band of men have been terrorizing small communities and stealing everything they can carry away. They have been stealing a wagon and mules and then running all the other animals off to give themselves a head start. And yes, a group of men come in and begin taking the community over and deal for forced labor to rebuild the town. Your community is obviously better prepared than most and had the backbone to put up a fight.”

The Colonel came in and stood in front of the Judge. “Do you have any troopers who are assigned to a group of men traveling as a judge, Marshal, and a Representative, Colonel?”

“No Sir. All my men stationed here only attend to the area surrounding the Fort. I’m sure our orders will change now that the war is over. What can I do for you, Sir?”

“I’m going to send this man with you to tell his story again. I want you to have a detachment of men see if you can find these other men. You aren’t interested in any Indians, so don’t stir them up. Be respectful so that we maintain the peace we have established in the Indian Territories.”

The Cavalry Colonel said, “Come with me, I want to hear this story.”

The judge handed the letters to the Colonel, and said, “Bring those back after you’ve read them.”

We went to his office which was a few buildings down inside what was considered the fort. I brought my horses with me and tied them there. There was a water trough so the animals could have a drink.

I told the story to the Colonel and he read the letters. He looked in his log and said, “There have been six small communities that have been burned out by these raiders. I suppose those same men won’t be doing it any longer, but I’m sure the other men will be recruiting fake soldiers right away. See this map; these men have made a path along the Canadian River. Your town is the farthest south they’ve been. I’ll bet they will send more men back to your town fairly soon if you’re right. Do you think the people of your town can tolerate a detachment of troopers to stay at your town for a week to ten days?”

I told him, “I’m sure they will welcome your men if they are respectful of the town’s people. We had a big scare and had to kill several people once again. Another group came to town with the intention of taking over when the war first ended. We had to dispose of all of them before they killed any more people. The town is very protective of our peace and quiet.”

“Draw me a small map of the key points where we can watch. We’ll camp around the town and not in it so that we won’t be obvious.”

“I have some Cherokee braves trailing the six men who came to town. They will report back to me, my dad, or my wife as soon as they have an idea of what the men are doing.”

“You are organized. Show me how to get in touch with you or your dad, since he’s the town Marshal.”

“Dad’s going to be very disappointed that he isn’t a real U.S. Deputy Marshal.”

The clerk came in and asked if I could come back to the Judge’s chambers. The Colonel came with me and gave the letters back to the Judge.”

“I want to do something with you that I hope you will be agreeable to, Mr. Davis. I want to swear you in as a U.S. Deputy Marshal. Let me explain that you can swear your father in as a real U.S. Deputy Marshal if you will do this. I’ll give you an extra real badge so that you have one for him. Have him give the fake one to the Detachment Commander who will be in your area.”

I couldn’t very well disappoint my dad, so I became a U.S. Deputy Marshal. The Judge swore me in and vigorously shook my hand. I took his piece of paper that said I was now a Deputy Marshal and another with my father’s name already on it. I had the two pieces of paper in envelopes, and the star.

I told the Judge and Colonel, “I’ve accomplished what I set out to do, so I now need to get back home as fast as possible to make sure my family is safe. Hopefully I can travel almost as fast going home.”

I went to my horses, swapped saddles, and put the long tether on the other horses. We walked out of town and then began the slow gallop or fast trot that had brought us here. I stopped for an early evening break and had a biscuit and jerky, while the horses had a drink and munched some grass. I swapped horses and was now riding the roan and leading the black and bay horses. We rode until it was almost too dark to see. We went into some heavy brush and trees next to a creek, where I hobbled the horses and laid my bedroll out. I slept soundly until just before daybreak. I was quickly up and saddled up. I pulled a biscuit and jerky out, and put a quart jar of water in my front saddle bag. We settled into a slow lope and continued until mid-morning. I changed horses a couple of times during that period and gave us all some water. I brought out another biscuit and jerky, and rode until early afternoon. I was making better time going home than going to Fort Smith. I changed horses, gave the horses a breather, some water, and let them munch some grass. I watched a stagecoach go past me on the way east. I thought that I might have been able to get to Fort Smith almost as fast on a stage. Probably not, but it was a thought.

We settled into our slow lope and were approaching town when I saw what looked like artillery pieces being pulled toward town. I rode past them and went straight and found Dad, Grant, and the gunsmith.

I told them that there were men with mules pulling artillery pieces toward town. This was scary as we didn’t have anything to combat them with. I had an idea and said I would be right back. I went to the Indian Village and spoke to the chief. He found me six braves who I could sign to and use my limited knowledge of their language to do what needed to be done.

I took them out to watch the men with the artillery pieces. They didn’t look very organized, and might not know how to operate the big guns. I was going to help them with part of their problem. We watched them until I could identify which wagons had cannon balls, and which wagons had powder. It looked like there were two wagons with barrels of powder. I needed to set them off, and the easiest way was to light a fire. I had the six braves find dry brush to wrap their arrow heads. I would create a diversion with the Henry by firing at the men and killing as many as possible, while the braves lit their arrows and fired them into the wagons. Anyone trying to put the fires out would be exposed to my rifle fire.

I was just about to begin when Dad and Tia showed up. Both had their Henrys, so I explained what we were going to do. Dad asked if we were far enough away so that we wouldn’t be hurt by the explosions. I thought so, and had Dad and Tia find good locations where they could pick men off while the Indians fired their arrows. I had Dad go to the braves to help them light their arrows. He could protect them with his rifle too.

I gave the signal and fire arrows began raining down on the two wagons. The wagon covers quickly burnt off and the arrows were now burying the burning heads in the barrels. I told the braves to stay down. Tia and I were knocking men down all over the camp. The mules were spooked and broke loose along with their horses.

‘Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom’.

There was a third wagon that exploded. I’m not sure how many survived, but it couldn’t have been many. Dad, Tia, and I stayed and continued to shoot anything that moved down there. I told Dad and Tia to take the braves back to town and home, while I walked my horse through the mess that was down there. I didn’t see anything still alive and felt bad for some of the horses who weren’t able to break the picket line. This was some major carnage.

I went into town by the back way so that I could see if there was anyone slinking about.

Grant met me and told me he had organized all the men from the town to stand guard tonight. The saloon girls were all outfitted with rifles and pistols, so we increased our manpower by a half dozen.

That’s when Tia and Dad told me, “The braves who were watching the men followed them to Eufaula where they were recruiting soldiers once again.”

I told of how a detachment was coming and would probably camp near where the cannon had been. The scavengers will hopefully have taken care of the carnage out there.

It was getting late and I needed sleep. My horses needed brushing, grain, and some rest. Paul came out when we got home and helped me brush the animals. As much as we were using horses lately, I wondered if the draft horses would take a saddle. I was going to try them as they needed the exercise.

Eunice was in the house and had the stove hot to keep coffee warm. There was a pot of beef and beans that was probably buffalo or bear and beans. It was going to be time to get some more buffalo and I know the pork was about gone. Food for thirteen is a heck of lot more than food for two. I filled my stomach with food and almost fell asleep at the table. I looked at my son and marveled at how fast he was growing.

I heard the little guy the next morning as he fussed a little because he wanted to snuggle to his mother’s breast. Thinking about the needs of the kids here on the farm, I realized we needed a cow. We used to have one in Tennessee, but she was one of the first animals to be taken from us when the war first began. Dad should have pulled up stakes and traveled west then, but he thought he could still operate the farm. It didn’t work out and we now lived in the Indian Territory with some of the dregs of war still trying to get at us.

Eunice’s two girls and Paul’s son were all staying home from school until the danger of the intruders was gone. I think all of the people in town knew we had to be our own first line of defense. I told Tia that I needed to go into town to make sure all was well. She was going to remain at home so that she could protect here as well. Paul had finally learned to use a rifle and had a big bore Henry with a bandolier full of bullets. He had not had to use it so far. I think he prayed that he would never have to.

It was crazy how aware I had to be around my own home and on my simple wagon road to town. I came from the south, so I looked over the town and watched to make sure everything was fairly normal. The only thing unusual was a group of horses in front of the saloon. I went to the Marshal’s office and looked in the window in the door. Dad was at his desk with a stranger in front of him. Lying across the desk was Dad’s shotgun. I noticed both hammers were cocked and Dad’s hand was on the trigger guard. The man in the chair had his hand on a pistol that was in his holster, so I knew this was not a friendly encounter right away.