It was near Fort McKavett that the most dramatic events of the raid took place. A smaller party turned south and rustled cattle all the way into Kimble County to the Llano River. At this point the party divided with the main body turning back west to skirt the south bank of the San Saba looking for stray or missed cattle from the earlier raids. Charles Champie and over 200 from the Kemp Ranch on Elm Creek. Continuing down the San Saba, the Comanches took 400 head of cattle from Mr. Sanford Hufstutler before rejoining their compatriots. A band of the raiding party broke off and hit the ranches along Celery Creek on the north bank of the river and absconded with livestock from Mr. Wickoff, driving off with an unknown number of cattle. The Comanches raided up and down Las Moras Creek, attacking the ranches of George Coon, Sam Phillips, Curt Mayes, William Vaughn, and Mr. Patrick Fields on Fields Creek and continued eastward. From Clear Creek, where the aforementioned ranches were situated, the raiders crossed to the south bank of the San Saba River and rode off with nearly 800 cattle from a Mr. Shaw and drove off with just over 1000 head of cattle. From there, they continued down the draw to the ranches of Messrs. Thomas Hillyard where they stole a number of cattle. The massive party swooped down the draws and came upon the ranch of Mr. On August 6 th, 1866, an estimated 200-300 Comanche Indians crossed the county line from the west between Rocky and Dry Creek, just a few miles north of Fort McKavett. They would not return to Fort McKavett until 1868 and it was during these intervening years that “the most noted and widely-known raid ever committed by Indians in the State of Texas” occurred. The end of the Civil War in 1865 did not garner an immediate return of U.S. During this time, the Texas Frontier was pushed back east toward Austin and San Antonio nearly 100 miles, with raiding occurring within 50 miles of the latter. The result was an increase in Indian raids in western settlements and mass migration of frontier settlers east to safer areas of Texas. However, the State Troops and Rangers were largely undermanned to adequately patrol the vast, open frontier of Western Central Texas. In response, Texas State Troop (TST) units were formed which, along with the Texas Rangers, patrolled the frontier in an effort to prevent Indian attacks and protect civilians. During the next five years, the defense of frontier communities fell to Texas state authorities, as the Confederate Government had the war in the east occupying the bulk of its military capacity. With the outbreak of the Civil War and Texas’ secession from the Union in February 1861, the system of frontier defense forts in Texas came to an abrupt end. The Great Menard County Indian Raid of 1866
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