Bourland in North Texas and Indian Territory During the Civil War: Fort Cobb, Fort Arbuckle & the Wichita Mountains

                 Reviews                                              by Patricia Adkins-Rochette                                               Home

                                                              Fort at the head of Elm Fork of the Trinity River

                                             Head of Elm community; renamed Saint Jo in 1873, incorporated 1886

                                              "Lot 6 plus SW 40 feet of Lot 7, Block 23; Saint Jo original townsite"

119 Mill Street   ....Owner of this property.

                                                          Saint Jo, Montague County, Texas

                                                                                          33.694 degrees Latitude

                                                                                         -97.523 degrees Longitude from Greenwich, England

         We invite archaeologist to study this building.   Was it the "fort at the head of Elm"  that (1) Mrs. Potter  referenced in the following 1913 article and/or (2) where the Montague County women and children resided in about Aug 1864?   

          1) September 1866 Indian Raid

2) Women of Montague County.....of ca. August 1864

 Fort at Head of Elm

          About this time, there were numerous small depredations by the Indians and the settlers were in constant dread of their coming. On a certain morning in September 1866, another band of Indians came into Montague County. They passed the fort at the head of Elm and exchanged shots with the men stationed there.

          They went east about four miles and killed a man named Jim Harris. The Indians then passed on in the direction of Gainesville, killing Andy Powers, a citizen of Montague County. Near there, this band was joined by another band of Indians.

          They passed up the ridge between Clear Creek and Elm Creek, back into Montague County, with about five hundred stolen horses. Charlie Grant, with a posse of forty men, followed them into Clay County and on to the Big Wichita River. The night before a band of men had started from Red River Station in pursuit of this same party of Indians. They had crossed the Big Wichita River and had a battle with the Indians, there being about twenty-five white men against more than a hundred Indians. The white men, when they struck the Indian trail, the day before, knowing that Charles Grant and his men were coming behind, stuck a stick in the ground, in a place where they would be sure to find it, and tied a note on it bearing these words: "Come on, or boys; they have passed this way." The determined men pressed on, but were soon confronted by different orders. They found this message tacked to a tree on the banks of the Big Wichita River: "Turn back, boys; they have given us a warm reception."

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this 1913 book online; go to page 27

http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofmontagu00pottrich#page/n0/mode/2up

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Characters in the 1913 article, from my 200-page Name Index:

GRANT, Charles Grant (1850 TX-1935) m-Susan

HARRIS, James E. Harris, b-1839 TX; m-Rebecca; 1860 PPin cen p338 (Palo Pinto Co, TST)

POWERS, Andrew Powers, b-1844 MO; 1860 PPin cen p339 (Cooke Co, TST)

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Women of Montague County, Texas

Husbands of the above identified women

Owner of this property is  Michael D. Cannon.  The roof was replaced in c1890s.  This building was probably a Civil War era fort in the "Head of Elm" community near the head of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River.     <mcannon@centurylink.net>

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