DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Battle Branch has to say — and it's a story this creek has been carrying since 1877. Now, most creeks earn their names quiet-like. A color, a shape, a family that settled nearby.
But this branch of Sulphur Creek, out here in Lampasas County, earned its name the hard way — in gunsmoke and flying lead on the morning of March 26, 1877. The Horrell-Higgins Feud. If you know the name, you already feel your shoulders tighten a little.
If you don't — well, you're about to. Tom and Mart Horrell were on their way to Lampasas that morning. Perfectly ordinary errand, on the face of it.
District court was in session, and they had business to attend to. Two brothers, riding toward town. Nothing unusual about that.
Except somebody knew they were coming. Gunmen were waiting in the brush near this very location — hunkered down, out of sight, patient as stone. When the Horrells came riding through, those men opened fire.
Now here's where the story takes a turn that not everyone might expect: the Horrells fired back. The attackers, whoever they were, apparently had not counted on that kind of answer — because they rode away. But Tom Horrell was wounded.
Mart got his brother to a nearby residence, made sure he was out of the fight, and then — and this is the part that tells you something about Mart Horrell — he continued on to town. Not to hide. Not to hole up.
To get help. He led a squad of Texas Rangers back out to the site. Officers searched.
They investigated. And they never caught the attackers. Many believed a Higgins faction had set up the ambush.
The marker is careful with that word — believed. Because no one was ever caught, and the brush doesn't give up its secrets easy. What the marker does tell us plainly is this: the feud was far from over.
Additional gunfighting would follow, and it would continue for several more months before this chapter of Lampasas County history finally went quiet. The branch got a name out of all that — Battle Branch. And it's been called that ever since.
Some names, once earned, just stick.
What the marker says
Battle Branch This branch of Sulphur Creek was named for an event in the Horrell-Higgins Feud. On the morning of March 26, 1877, Tom and Mart Horrell were going to Lampasas to attend district court. En route, they were ambushed by gunmen hiding in the brush near this location. The Horrells returned fire and the attackers rode away. Mart took his wounded brother to a nearby residence and continued to town for help. He led a squad of Texas Rangers to the site, but officers never caught the attackers. Many believed a Higgins faction had set up the ambush. The feud would continue, with additional gunfighting, for several more months. (2003)