Buried Here are the Remains of Seven Teamsters

Duane's take

The marker on this stretch of Texas road tells it plain, and I'm givin' you every word of it straight. Seven names. That's what this comes down to.

Seven men who set out on an ordinary haul — forage moving between Jacksboro and Fort Griffin — on the eighteenth of May, 1871, working for a government contractor by the name of Henry Warren. Nathan S. Long.

J.J. Baxter. Jesse Bowman.

James S. Elliott and Samuel E. Elliott.

James Williams and Thomas Williams. Seven teamsters, doing the work of the frontier, one wagon at a time. They never finished that haul.

Kiowa and Comanche chiefs — Satana, Satank, and Big Tree — led the attack that day, and when it was over, those seven men were slain on that West Texas ground. The road between Jacksboro and Fort Griffin had swallowed them whole. And here's the thing about this marker that stops you cold when you really sit with it.

Somebody knew their names. Nathan S. Long.

J.J. Baxter. Jesse Bowman.

The Elliott brothers, James and Samuel. The Williams brothers, James and Thomas. Somebody made sure those names got carved in stone, made sure the State of Texas put this up in 1936, made sure that any traveler passing through Young County would have to reckon with what happened on May 18, 1871.

Seven men. Named. Remembered.

Buried right here.

What the marker says

Buried here are the remains of seven teamsters, Nathan S. Long, J.J. Baxter, Jesse Bowman, James S. and Samuel E. Elliott, James and Thomas Williams, employed by Henry Warren, government contractor, who were slain by Indians under Satana, Satank, and Big Tree, Kiowa and Comanche chiefs, on May 18, 1871 while hauling forage between Jacksboro and Fort Griffin. Erected by the State of Texas 1936