....It would tell you..........The Village Creek valley was home to
the largest concentration of Native Americans in Texas. These were
peaceful Caddoan tribes who grew corn along the creek. Spanish
explorers made camp here in 1542 at an Indian village called
"Guasco." They described this area as being the western edge of a
"corn belt," west of which were the grasslands of unfriendly Indian
tribes (Comanche).
....It would tell you..........Near the Village Creek bridge,
two scouting parties of Texas Rangers rendezvoused in their pursuit
of Indians during the Battle of Village Creek. Over the objections
of a more experienced Ranger, the leader of one scouting party,
Capt. John B. Denton, pushed further north into the thickets that
grew along the creek as it neared the Trinity River, only to be
ambushed and killed. The ambush occurred just north of Lamar Blvd.
where a buffalo trail descended into Village Creek. Denton was a
circuit-riding minister and lawyer for whom Denton County was later
named. He was the only white man lost in the campaign because most
of the Indian warriors were out on a buffalo hunt at the time of
the battle.
....It would tell you..........A granite marker just west of the
Village Creek bridge on Pioneer Parkway commemorates the last
Indian battle fought in Tarrant County. On April 22, 1841, General
Tarrant led the attack of 69 volunteers upon the villages of the
Caddo Tribe located along Village Creek. The militia attacked from
a promontory called Turkey Knob, located west of present-day
Interstate 820. A historical marker on the 7th tee of the golf
course locates the initial charge that was made upon the largest
village, located where the clubhouse now stands. Tarrant's militia
burned 225 Indian lodges here and then pursued the fleeing Indians
northward along Village Creek, destroying two smaller villages
along the way. The Indian tribes who had long inhabited this alley
permanently abandoned their settlements here after the battle.
....It would tell you.......... VILLAGE CREEK, BATTLE OF. The
battle of Village Creek, fought on May 24, 1841, was a running
gunfight along the banks of Village Creek, a major tributary of the
Trinity River, in eastern Tarrant County. The stream now forms the
city limits of Arlington and Fort Worth, and much of the
battlefield has been inundated by Lake Arlington. A series of
Indian villages situated along the creek, housing Indians including
Caddos, Cherokees, and Tonkawas, served as a stronghold against the
encroachments of white settlers from the east and Comanches from
the west. As frictions increased between settlers and Indians, the
government of the Republic of Texasqv authorized a number of
punitive raids against the Village Creek settlements. Two such
expeditions launched in 1838 failed to locate the towns but did
cause the Indians to intensify their raids of frontier settlements.
In 1841 Gen. Edward H. Tarrant,qv in response to increased Indian
raids, organized a company of some sixty-nine volunteers from the
Red River counties, which rode into the Cross Timbers on May 14 and
the next day captured a lone Indian, who revealed the exact
locations of the Village Creek settlements. The following day the
company galloped into the southernmost village with little
opposition. Captains John B. Denton, Henry B. Stout, and James G.
Bourlandqv then led scouting detachments down the creek toward the
Trinity River; the remainder of the command burned huts. The Texan
scouts encountered increasingly larger villages and stronger Indian
resistance as they rode along the creek. Near the thickets
bordering the Trinity River, Indian musketry killed Denton and
wounded Captain Stout. The Texans were routed. Tarrant, learning
from the prisoners that the villages were home to over 1,000
warriors, decided to withdraw. Captain Denton was the only Texan
fatality, although eight other militiaman were wounded. At least
twelve Indians died, and scores had been wounded. The engagement
along the banks of Village Creek had also compromised the Indians'
formerly secure position. In July 1841 Tarrant returned with 400
men but found the villages deserted. In September 1843 a treaty
between the Village Creek tribes and the republic opened the region
to settlement and removed the Indians to a reservation on the upper
Brazos River
...........................................................................................................But
this tree can't talk, can it?????
This cache was hidden to complete the 2 Day Cache Event (GCTR64)
by ASM and mrsnugglebunny. Thanks guys.