The Edward Parkinson Diary: Sketch of a Trip to the Wilderness and Forks of the Trinity River

President Sam Houston left Washington-on-the-Brazos in June of 1843 for Bird's Fort in the wilderness of North Central Texas. There he planned to hold a treaty council with various Indian tribes to establish peaceful relations, define boundaries, and open that section of the Republic to unimpeded Anglo settlement.

En route to Bird's Fort, Houston and his party stopped in Crockett, Texas for a public barbecue to be held in Houston's honor, along with a July 4th celebration. Attending the proceedings was a visiting Englishman named Edward Parkinson who decided to accompany Houston and his party to Bird's Fort.

Parkinson recorded a diary of the journey which has long been consulted and cited in piecing together accounts of specific events and activities preceeding the signing of the Treaty of Bird's Fort.

Hearing that our President, Sam Houston on his way to the Wilderness for the purpose of meeting and making a treaty with the various tribes of warlike Indians, who infested the frontiers of Texas, intended addressing the inhabitants of Crockett and the adjacent country, who had resolved upon honoring him with a public barbecue on the occasion of his visit, I concludad to make one of the crowd of listeners. The fete went off exceedingly well aided by a beautiful day, and Old Sam left that place with a greatly increased popularity, he possessing the art in a peculiar degree of "buthering and slithering" those down, that he can get a talk with.

Sam Houston and party left in the afternoon and my curiosity being strongly influenced to see a large body of wild Indians in their native State, I resolved to accompany them, and we travelled that afternoon about 15 miles through a rolling Post Oak country soil, light and sandy, the undergrowth Grape Vine and scrub Oak, intersected occasionally by fertile Creek and Branch bottoms, sometimes varied well timbered, and sometimes with open spaces, or prairies, generally of a more loamy nature, than the surrounding Post Oak country. We stopped that night at a farm cultivated by an American named John Petit, commonly called Jack Petit, a name not easily forgotten by those who experienced his bounteous hospitality on that occasion, refusing all remuneration offered by the president, being satisfied with the pleasure of entertaining his friends, as he termed us.

On the following we saddled up and took our course through a more broken and hilly country than before but of the same character, occasionally passing a farm, which hardly broke the face of the Wilderness for about twenty miles. We encampad that evening for tha first time on the trip, in the open air, in the neighborhood of some settlements. In a few minutes after the halt, a few convenient tree for sleeping under was picked out, our horses and mules unsaddled and unpacked, and hobbled or tethered out to feed, then commenced the important business of cooking our supper, the frying pan and coffee pot being put to active service, those articles being generally the whole of a Texian travellers cooking apparatus, with a tin cup to drink from, bread we had with us, having laid in the greater portion of our provisions at Crockett.

In the morn we took in our supply of Indian Corn Mill along side of which we were encamped, about four miles from the frontier settlement of Fort Houston, and then mounting, proceeded through the same description of country, about mid-day we halted at a Branch, turned out our animals to feed and rest, got some dinner and waited the arrival of Sam Houston and others who had made a detour by way of Fort Houston, when all were assembled we startad, and about dusk, reached the extreme frontier settlement, the owner of which we found neither hospitable or obliging, we then encamped and went through the usual routine of attention to our animals and ourselves, and all was hilarity, the song and the joke prevailing till far into the night.

In the morning after getting our breakfast considerable delay was occasioned by some of the animals having strayed, not having been properly secured over night, however all were eventually assembled and we took up a course into the great Wilderness, and soon struck on an old trail running our course, the country gradually became less broken, subsiding into the rolling character again. We encamped on a fine branch of clear water and all were soon busily engaged in fetching fire wood and water, towards preparing our evening meal, and the time was again enlivened until far into the [night?] with the big tales of Indians, songs, and jokes.

On the morrow took up our line of march again through the same kind of country, in the afternoon arrived at a hill, surmounted by a lofty mass of rock, overlooking the whole surrounding country, presenting as far as the eye could reach one unbroken view of Forest, the line of the Horizon only on the S. E. & N. W. being broken by elevations, having the appearance of distant ranges of mountains not very lofty. In the north immense volumes of smoke, rising above the forest relieved the scene a little. The Immense expanse of Prairie or forest so frequently occurring in this country, afford me but little pleasure, the eternal sameness and consequent tameness of the scene, becomes fatiguing to the senses. We took up trail again, passing through the same kind of hilly country, even poorer than before, but varied by deep marshy bottoms, covered with long, rank, coarse water grasses, having the appearance, from their sinuous course, of a large river bed or course deserted, which we crossed again and again, with some little difficulty, the animals plunging to the saddle girths in the miry centre of these bottoms- They were even supposed by some present, to have been an old course of the Trinity river. We encamped that night on a romantic little creek of fine clear water and having killed some deer during the day were soon deeply engaged in discussing the merits of broiled and hashed venison. I ought to mention that our general average of travels through the Wilderness, was as near as I can compute, about thirty miles a day.

In the morning Sam Houston sent on ahead two runners, experienced hunters and backwoodsmen to give notice of our approach should any of the Indians or the Texas Commissioners have arrived at the appointed Treaty ground. Several persons came up with and joined us here, some as traders for the Indian markets, others incited by curiosity like myself, considerable delay was again experienced, by several of our animals having strayed back some miles. One portion of the company went on slowly, while the others remained. An old hunter in the mean time discovered a bee tree, which was soon felled, the bees smoked off, the comb laid bare, and the honey despatched--As soon as the strays were brought in and saddled we were again en route, and looking out for Buffaloes, into the range of which we were, though it was rather too early in the season. Encamped as usual.

The following day we began to leave the rolling Post Oak country for one more varied and undulating, diversified by wood and and plain, hill and dale until we came to a fine creek with steep bank and fertile timbered bottoms, musquit grass and musquit trees making their appearance, where we halted and dined. One of our hunters went out and immediately after killing a buck, discovered a Buffalo Bull lying down, he fired and wounded him, when he rose and galloped off a short distance; the hunter having loaded again, crept up and fired, hitting him just behind the shoulder which shot killed him. When the hunter came in and stated he had killed a buffaloe some half a dozen of us were soon in the saddle and on the way to the scene of slaughter and truly it was a noble and formidable looking animal, the head neck and shoulders being covered with very long hair, of rather a woolly texture, but none on the body and only a tuft on the tail, it being still in the summer season, the skin of a rusty black color. We were soon deeply engaged cutting him up, and appropriating the hump, and other tender parts together with the fat. The hump is formed by a singular elongation of those rib like bones which rise a little in other kinds of cattle from the joints of the spine just above the shoulders.--Struck the trail again and passing through a portion of past oak country advanced into an extensive prairie country and saw about a mile to the left of our trail, with the edge of the timber skirting a ravine a gang of about 14 Buffaloes, the first which most of us had seen in a state of nature. Two experienced hunters a young American and a Mexican named Louis Sanchez immediately started in pursuit, stooping and crawling like deer stalkers, till within some two hundred yards, when the Buffaloes began to be sensible of the approach of their enemies; Sanchez then fired, and the Buffaloes wheeled off at a heavy lumbering trot to the timber, one of them gradually falling behind, evidently hurt, till he reached the timber, when he came to a stand; the rest leaving him to his fate were soon seen on their way across the prairie on the other side, the other hunter by this time, had come up with the wounded one and put him hors du combat, such then as wanted meat provided themselves and we resumed our march. The delay occasioned by these hunts, caused it to be long after dark before we found water and encamped. We found the Buffalo meat very good eating, but uncommonly like Beef.

In the morning, at the distance of about a mile, we came upon an old fort settlement called Kingsboro at the edge of the prairie and timber, skirting a fine creek, but deserted sometime ago, being in the very heart of the Indian country, crossed the creek, and passed through a varied post-oak and prairie country till we came to another called Brushey creek, so called from the almost impenetrable thicket of Brush wood and vines of various kinds which line the banks, which we crossed and entered a great undulating prairie, intersected by numerous Buffaloe trails, amongst which we directly lost our own and took up our course N. W. by W. till he reached the timber on the banks of the Buffaloe Creek, a branoh of the Bois d'Arc or East fork of the Trinity River, we searched in vain for a trail through the bottom and found from certain traces, that our runners had likewise been lost here, we encamped and took our noon day meal by a small lagoon of fresh water, we saw the tracks of bears and other animals on the margin. We then plunged into the thicket guided by Louis Sanchez; soon after the sky became over cast, the sun obscured and the rain descended in torrents, then we experienced the benefit, of a backwoodsmans knowledge, Sanchez guiding us truly on our course by the bark of the trees which served him for a compass, after a tedious and laborious passage of about two miles through the thicket we emerged upon a rising opening which revealed to us the heavy timber bottoms of the Bois d'Arc stretching far away on our left in one unbroken mass to the Trinity River, and on our right rising into great prairies only relieved by the skirts of timber on the small streams and ravines, after some search we discovered our lost trail and entered the Bois d'Arc bottom on an old road cut by Cooks army a few years ago on their route through that country, when they got out of Provisions and nearly starved to death. We reached the banks of the Bois D'Arc and after considerable difficulty caused by the ford being very boggy, ourselves crossing on logs and driving the horses over, which really could not have extricated themselves with their riders on. On reaching the other side we could find no trail, having as we afterwards learnt crossed much too low down, instead of pursuing the trail half a mile higher up the river before crossing, and it being now dusk, we were obliged to encamp on the bank in the thicket, where there was no grass for our horses nor dare we turn them out to shift for themselves for fear of their straying in such a dismal swamp, after passing a dismal night on the wet ground, we saddled up, and struck our course preceded by a pioneer clearing a track through the thicket for about two miles with an immense bowie knife at last we emerged upon the open country again undulating about as much as the Surrey hills but not timbered over like them.

All this day we had a Post Oak forest, apparently stretching down into the Trinity bottoms on our left. We occasionally set fire to the prairies, which sending up immense volumes of smoke, this answerad the distant fires, which we supposed were made by the Indians coming to the Treaty ground to give notice of their approach. I Imagine they wera made by straggling hunting Indians. We encamped that night at White Rock springs, so called from the calcareous nature of the rocks abundant here about one mile from the White Rock forks of the Trinity.

In the morning some settlers from the infant colony opened about the forks of the Trinity River visited us, accompanied by some travellers examining the country, they brought no news of the expected Indians, and were on foot, stating that some little time previous, the wild Indians had stolen all the horses but one or two belonging to the settlement. We then saddled up and proceeded to the fork at White Rock creek which we found very diffioult from the rain which had fallen making the Bank on the other side one slide of about thirty feet, from top to bottom, we were again obliged to dismount and drive the animals over, some of them discribing curious mathematical figures, from their inexperience in the science of sliding, however all got over safe, and on reaching the prairie on the other side arrived at one of the colonists cabins, where we were regaled with an acceptable and plentiful supply of Butter milk. My horse (a mustang) having become almost knocked up, I determined upon resting here, and was hospitably entertained until the following day, the Company in the meantime moving on to Cedar Springs, where they rested a day or two previous to marching to Birds fort on the West fork of the Trinity the appointed Treaty ground, great anxiety prevailing respecting the Indians but no news of them, our runners we learnt had only preceded us a day in consequence of losing themselves in the Bois d'Arc bottom.

I then went on to another settlers cabin on the banks of the river, the projected site for a town called Dallas, inhabitad by a Coll Bryant, one who settled the Wilderness previous to its being granted for a colony and who seemed to anticipate some trouble from the heads of the colony wishing to assume his lands, a choice spot on the Elm fork, which he had located previous to the Colonial grant by virtue of his head-right. He was a hardy Backwoodsman, and a sensible, industrious, ingenious and hospitable man. I remained with him the two following nights. He as well as others complained bitterly of the colonial management, there being no Agents or Surveyors there to attend to the emigrants when they arrived, or point out the lands available for them and who almost as fast as they came in, returned disgusted to Red River and the United States, he informed me, that he supposed at least two hundred Kentuckians had returned, and there were then only about thirty families spread over a space of as many miles in length & breadth--no wonder they were Subject to, and apprehensive of Indian depredations, they appeared to be generally speaking poor and it was from 60 to 70 miles to Red River, the nearest point, at which they could obtain any supplies. It was curious to hear their sanguine hopes of the Trinity River being soon navigated to the Forks. I should say that to the mouth from its very serpentine course, it must be about one thousand miles, of which not more than half that distance, has yet been navigated, the upper part of the river being likewise obstructed by one large raft and some smaller, with accumulations of drift-wood, still I have no doubt but it will eventually be navigatad the whole distance. (Ths Bois d'Arc wood which grows abundantly in this upper country is worthy of some notices from its elasticity, hardness and strength, it is peculiarly suitable to the Indians for their bows, from whence it takes its name, and branches which have died on the parent tree and appear decayed are not so in reality, for though deprived of their vegetating quality, they retain their soundness and elasticity, & are with great difficulty broken off, the heart of the wood is of a yellowish or red color, according to its age I imagine, it works easy is easily split, and appears to me to be peculiarly adapted for [logs?] in mill work and spokes for wheels.

My horse being now considerably refreshed I set out, in company with another, to join the camp our course lay entirely through a prairie country except the not very deep timber bottoms on Elm fork which we crossed and proceeding met some men from the camp who informed us, the company had removed from Birds Fort on the West Fork to Grapevine Springs on Elm fork, about 6 miles above us, we turned off to the right and soon reached the camp, where we spent some five or six days rather monotonous, only relieved by finding a bee tree or killing our beaves, and speculation on the delay of the Indians in coming to the Treaty, which excessively annoyed Sam Houston, who swore vengence against his commissioners, imagining the delay caused by them, and he finally determined to return to Washington by way of the falls of the Brazos, and I should have been glad to have changed my return route, but my mustang was not yet sufficiently recovered to undertake the journey. From this camp we could just perceive the edge of the lower cross timbers where it joined the Trinity timber; considerable quantities of wild indigo grows on the banks of the branch formed by the Springs, the water of whioh has the peculiar property of becoming putrid on being kept a short time in gourds or other vessels.

We again changed our camp ground for the benefit of grazing to the East side of Elm Fork fifteen miles lower down where we remained about five days. Change in the weather and twice, about three hours before day we were awoke by heavy showers and thunder storms coming on, not having tents we were obliged to rise and pack our provisions and saddle bags in a pile covered with blankets and saddle cloths to protect them from the rain; ourselves standing with blankets wrapped round us until it ceased, and enabled us to kindle fires and make some coffee. At this place Col. Eldridge the commissioner and others who went with him came in from the Comanchees who were rather backward, doubting the sincerity of the Texians, but they appointed Comanche Peak high up on the Brazos River as a place of meeting at the full of the moon in December, after holding a council and talk, upon the propriety of cutting the commissioner's and those with him, hair, commonly understood by the popular term of scalping, in revenge for the slaughter of a considerable number of their chiefs and others, about three years ago at San Antonio de Bexar, however the Head chief (following I suppose Sam Houstons example) vetoed that bill and they were permitted to leave unhurt-, with the Indians propositions to meet in December. Col Eldridge himself assured me, that he should not be in a hurry to afford them again, such a subject for discussion as he could not say, that during the time he had the pleasure of visiting them, that he felt perfectly at his ease.

Myself and five others now determined to return, and took the trail back over nearly the same ground, until we came to the Bois d'Arc fork at a different ford, and found the stream swollen by the rains and swimming we then stripped ourselves and horses and swam them over, and by means of a large fallen tree managed to carry over our baggage without accident.

At night one of the party imagined he saw Indians and gave an alarm, after due precautions and search without discovering any signs we concluded them to be the Phantoms of an over active imagination. On the following day at noon I was seized with fever, head ache, and vomiting, and after five days of suffering we reached the settlements, when I was compelled to lay up until able to pursue my home to Cincinnati, Trinity River, where I then resided nothing else occurred worthy of note during those days but the shooting two wild mustangs, several deer and turkeys, and our return was over the same country as already described.

Notes

We met with several clumps of dwarf wild Plum trees, none more than two feet high, and loaded with a brilliant red round small plum about the size of a large cherry, Saw also several varieties of the Grape, some of a very agreable flavor, I think well worthy of cultivation.

Heard several reports of the presence of minerals particularly lead, but saw nothing to warrant them. The whole of that country appears to me to be of alluvial formation, slightly aided by the volcanic action of the earth.

Saw but few new varieties of flowers, but some splendid specimens near White Rock of a beautiful purple thistle. The timber bottoms were frequently very rich in species of the wild rye grasses.