DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight. New Year's Day, 1871 — most folks were probably sleeping off the festivities, but out on the Texas frontier, there was no such luxury. A band of Indian raiders had stolen horses over in Coleman County, and somebody decided that was not going to stand.
Eighteen Texas Rangers and cowboys saddled up and rode hard in pursuit. Eighteen men. On New Year's Day.
You get a sense of the kind of people we're talking about. Leading that group were Captain James M. Swisher and a rancher by the name of Sam Gholson — two men the marker sees fit to name, which tells you something about how the day unfolded.
The raiders made for the heights west of Mountain Pass and took refuge there, up in that rough elevated ground where the terrain works in your favor if you're the one already there. And then the battle began. It lasted all day.
Not an hour, not a skirmish — all day long, the fighting went on up around those heights. When nightfall finally came rolling across Taylor County, the raiders left the horses where they stood and fled. Of the fewer than one dozen Indians, one was killed and several were wounded.
On the other side, one cowboy was wounded. Another man who rode that day, J. M.
Elkins, lived long enough to write it all down in his book, "Indian Fighting on the Texas Frontier." So the story didn't just end at nightfall — it ended up on a page, and eventually on a marker, and now in your ears on a Texas road. The horses were recovered. The day was recorded.
That's how frontier history gets made.
What the marker says
On New Year's Day, 1871, Indian raiders who had stolen horses in Coleman County were pursued and overtaken here by 18 Texas Rangers and cowboys. Leaders of the group were Captain James. M. Swisher and rancher Sam Gholson. The Indians took refuge in the heights west of Mountain Pass. The ensuing battle lasted all day, and at nightfall the raiders left the horses and fled. Of the fewer than one dozen Indians, one was killed, several wounded. One cowboy was wounded and another, J. M. Elkins, recorded the battle in his book, "Indian Fighting on the Texas Frontier." (1968)