DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's the authority here, and I'm just the man bringin' it to you on the road. Some stories don't let you look away. This is one of them.
Britt Johnson. Born 1823, died 1871. Cowboy.
Indian scout. Orderly at Fort Belknap back in the 1850s. A man who, by every measure the land kept, knew how to handle himself in hard country.
Young County, Texas, remembers him — and Young County has reason to. October 12, 1864. The Elm Creek Indian raid.
Twelve people killed that day. One of them was Britt Johnson's son, Jim. And that was only part of what that raid took from him.
His wife Mary, and his children Jube and Cherry, were among six people carried off into Indian Territory as captives. Six people gone in a single October day. Now here's where the story turns into something you'd almost call legend — except every word of it is true.
Britt Johnson traced his family. Didn't wait, didn't petition, didn't quit. He traced them, and by stealth — pure, careful, dangerous stealth — he took them back from Indian Territory.
His wife. His children. He brought them home.
You'd think that was the end of it. A hard chapter closed. But the Indians took vengeance.
January 24, 1871. Johnson's camp, not far from where you're rolling right now, was attacked by Kiowas. And what happened next is written not just in the marker but in the ground itself.
Over a hundred empty rifle shells were found at that site. A hundred. You let that number sit for a moment.
That's not a man who surrendered. That's not a man who ran. Britt Johnson and his companions — Dennis Cureton and Paint Crawford — they fought.
They fought hard and they fought long before they were killed and scalped. U.S. cavalrymen found them and saw to their burial. One hundred empty shells in the dirt around three men.
That's the kind of testimony the earth doesn't forget. And neither does this road.
What the marker says
(1823-1871) Cowboy, Indian scout, orderly at Fort Belknap in 1850s, who lost a son (Jim) as one of 12 persons killed in Elm Creek Indian raid, Oct. 12, 1864. His wife Mary and children, Jube and Cherry, were among 6 persons captured. Johnson traced his family and by stealth took them from Indian Territory. But the Indians took vengeance. On Jan. 24, 1871, Johnson's camp near here was attacked by Kiowas. Over 100 empty rifle shells at the site showed how valiantly he and companions Dennis Cureton and Paint Crawford fought before being killed and scalped. They were buried by U.S. cavalrymen. (1972)