Sent in by:  Billy Markland  - [email protected]
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~familyinformation/

Captured by the Indians



Letter from J.H. Leavenworth, Kiowa Agency Agent to D. Cooley, Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs dated 11/9/1865
The copies turned out badly but this goes into Leavenworth's recovery of 8 
captives (their original counties are not named but all were Texan).  Names 
mentioned are:

Mrs. Caroline McDaniels [sic]  (I suspect this was actually Caroline 
McDonald)
Rebecca Jane McDaniels [sic]
James Taylor
Dorcas Angeline Taylor
James Vaughn "as nearly as could be ascertained"
Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague
Alice Almeda Sprague & brother & sister
James Benson "9 or 10 years old"

"Still with the Kiowas"
Milla Jane Sprague
Mahala Louise Elizabeth McDaniels [sic]
"and with the Comanches"
one boy name not known

"Milla Jane Sprague, Mrs. E. Sprague's youngest child aged between 3 & 4 
years is the only one held with any tenacity."  I believe, scanning over the 
document, that the family she was in had adopted her.

Letter from Gottlieb Fischer, Fredericksburg, TX, to Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs dated 7/11/1866

Refers to letter from Mrs. Caroline McDonald, written 6/20/1866, wife of Eley 
[sic] McDonald "...who was killed by the Indians the same day his wife and 
child were taken..." .  Mrs. McDonald in her letter to him stated that, 
"...my son & Miss Alice Todd are both still alive & in possession of the 
Kioways [sic]."  He mentions one of the remaining captives (intelligence from 
Mrs. McDonald) was a cousin of Jimmie Ball.  He references the fact that Mrs. 
McDonald "...lived only about 12-14 miles from my house..." and knew his 
children as proof that she had indeed seen his son.

Letter of M. Goldbaum to Gen. Carleton 6/7/1866  
He speaks of "...staying among and traded with a Rancheria of Comanches..." 
were he found about 20 captives, most of who are children, he supposes they 
had been captives since infancy as they only spoke Comanche.  He also 
mentions a boy about 13 years old named John Fisher, son of Gottlieb Fisher, 
who had been with the Comanche for about 2 years, "...captured on a Sunday, 
when hunting for some cattle on the prairie near Fredricksburg in the state 
of Texas."

Copy of a Petition by the citizens of Gillespie County, TX to Governor 
Hamilton dated 12/10/1865

Refers to the following people taken captive by Indians "...on or about the 
middle of September last, 1865..."
Cola. [sic] Caroline McDonald
Mahalah McDonald "(daughter of the above named)".
Rebecca McDonald "(daughter of the above named)".
Alice Taylor "(Niece of the above named)"
James Taylor (ditto marks)
Dorcus Taylor (ditto marks)
Rudolf Fisher "boy aged 14 yrs"
Signed by (I hope I get these names right):
O. Basse, James M. Hunter, W.L. Wahrmund, Th. Bucholz, G. Fischer, Friz Pape, 
Wm. Koock, John M. Hunter & "many citizens"

Copy of a report by Capt. Andrew Sheridan to Maj. W. H. Harrison dated 
10/1/1866

Details recovery by Lt. Wesselberger, 2nd U.S. Infantry, of two captive 
girls.  Their names are given as:  Margaret Box aged 17 & [Maige?] Josephine 
Box age 13.  Both are from Montague county, TX.  The mother and a sister are 
still captives of the Indians, the father having been killed at the time of 
capture.