DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about a hard day's fight in Taylor County, Texas. Now settle in, because this one doesn't end the way the soldiers hoped. On August 29, 1863, Indian riders — probably Comanches, the marker says — were moving north out of Mason County with a herd of stolen horses.
They were making good time, looked like they might walk clean away with it. But about a mile east of Buffalo Gap, their luck ran into Lieutenant T. C.
Wright and eleven state troopers. Now, you might think that's where the tide turns in favor of the law. You would be wrong.
The Indians had already taken the high ground — a steep hill — and they were not in any mood to give up that herd. Wright and his men were outnumbered, and they knew it, but they attacked anyway, pushing uphill against people who had every advantage and every intention of keeping it. The fight was stubborn.
The Indians held. By the time the smoke cleared, two of Wright's men were down with severe arrow wounds. The soldiers had given everything they had on that hillside, and it wasn't enough.
Wright finally called it. The Indians escaped north with the horses. That's the plain truth of it — sometimes the chase just doesn't go your way.
But the story wasn't quite over. Someone had to ride for help. So under cover of night, a lone rider set out for Camp Colorado, forty-five miles southeast, to bring back an ambulance for the wounded.
Forty-five miles in the dark, carrying the weight of a fight that didn't go right. That rider's name the marker doesn't give us — just the distance, the darkness, and the job that had to be done.
What the marker says
On August 29, 1863, Indian riders (probably Comanches) coming north from Mason County, with stolen horses, were caught a mile east of Buffalo Gap by Lt. T. C. Wright and eleven state troopers. The outnumbered soldiers were forced to attack up a steep hill and the Indians, determined to keep the herd, fought stubbornly. Wright and his men - two with severe arrow wounds - finally gave up the unequal fight and the Indians escaped with the horses. A lone rider was sent under cover of night to Camp Colorado (45 miles southeast) to bring an ambulance for the wounded. (1968)