An old west gun-woman & my 2 "notorious" ancestors

[texasnative46]

To All,

I've been reading the 'sticky thread" entitled OLD WEST GUNMEN and thought I'd tell you about my two "most notorious" ancestors, whose BLOODY reputation started during THE LATE UNPLEASANTNESS, 1861-65:

PVT WILLIAM J. (called: LITTLE THUNDER) FREEMAN, late of the 4th MO Partisan Rangers, MO State Troops. Joined the First Mounted Cherokee Rifles in February 1861, enlisting as a cavalryman in the Army of the Cherokee Nation from what is now Deleware County, at (probably) age 17. Nothing is known about his service in the Cherokee Rifles, except that he enlisted and served with the unit.
Sometime in 1863, he joined A Company of the 4th MO.
As best I can tell from the fragments of records, his squad leader in 4th MO was CPL Cole Younger and his company commander was CPT William (Bloody Bill)Anderson.
(There is nothing known, as to the identity of his platoon leader, IF there was a LT assigned to that platoon.)
Little Thunder fought in at least the following actions against the enemies of the Nation and of the CSA: Palmetto Springs, Pine Bottoms, Oak Tavern and many other ambushes, shootouts and "foraging expeditions" against the KS Militia, Jayhawkers, KS Volunteer Cavalry & the Redlegs, until he went home unsurrendered in late May of 1865 & returned to working on the family farm. According to his obituary from THE GROVE WEEKLY NOTICER (Now called THE GROVE SUN Of Delaware County, OK), in 1866, he was tried "in abstentcia"(sic) by KS state courtsmartial and sentenced to hang for war crimes, that he was accused of committing against "against Loyal Union Men". Shortly after that, he left the family farm and nothing is known of his whereabouts/activities (though he was said to have become "an outlaw and gunman in the locale of the Winding Stair Mountains") until some 6 years later, when he is listed as a Deputy US Marshal "in and for the Indian Territory".
(His Oath of Office as a DUSM is framed & attached to a wall at The Old Federal Courthouse in Ft Smith, AR.)
In the Spring of 1898, he was hired as the Operator of the Territorial Ferry across the Cowskin River and served in that job until his death "of advanced age" on 29DEC1914. He was buried in The Old City Cemetery at Grove Ok on the following Sunday afternoon.
Two other writings exist of Little Thunder:
1. A "Public Notice" from the KANSAS CITY STAR from May 1864, which states that, "A sum of 500 dollars in gold coin will be paid for the delivery of the person or the head of the blood-smeared Red Savage (sometimes known as James) Little Thunder Freeman, stealer of Army horses, bespoiler of government property and mercy-less killer of Loyal Union Officers, payable by the Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Officer Commanding at Olathe".
(A personal note: Did nobody tell the DYs that there was a "shooting war" going on in the USA/CSA?)
2. The body of a "letter home" dated 05NOV1862 (I have not corrected his spelling or grammar.):
My Beloved Sister Molly,
I tak pen to paper to tel you what is hapening here in camp. ---- We ar camped about 8 miles W of the pool where Mama was baptized by Pastor Collins. Everthin is alright now, as we took a yankee wagin loaded with power an shot yesterday eve. There was a great deal of foodstuf n the wagin so we will eat good for a goodly while. There was also whisky to-dont tell Mama that.
We kiled 4 yanks and I believe may have hit some others (ILLEGIBLE "smeared" place)
Ask Mama if she has a quilt or blanket or some other warm thing, as I lost the one that I had befor. - The night is cold now & i need one now, if you can send me one with the corporal.
My friend Fox has ast about you and he hopes that you will greet him warmly when we come on leve. - Fox is a good, Bible-reading man and would make a good man for you. He is brave and is good at getting foodstuf for us all.
I must close as the male is leaving. I will write again soon as I can.
Pray HARD for us , as we all want and need everbodys praying now. An read your BIBLE ever day.
Love from your bigest bro, LT

My other "notorious"ancestor was my G-G-G aunt, Elizabet Anne Parker, (called: SWAN FLYING), who was 15YO when the WBTS ended. Her "intended" was "killed while escaping from Army custody" in January 1865 & after that Swan "turned outlaw" and was "said" to have shot several yankee soldiers before the WBTS ended & afterwards, as well. She became a "shootist", bounty-killer, thief of KS livestock and helped rob at least one train in 1868. Swan was a notable horsewoman & was said to be "a dead shot with her Colt's pistol".
(There is much that I don't know about her next decade. Local lore says that she was a "sometime sporting woman", a "saloon girl", "gambler" and "associate of outlaws, robbers and killers of diver's sort." - She is listed in the GUIDE TO OKLAHOMA GUNMEN, OUTLAWS & GUNSLINGERS, published at Stillwater, OK in 1940.)
At Christmas of 1878, she returned to Delaware County to visit the family, met a young doctor, named D H Browning, from AL & married in 1879. They moved to Muskogee, OK, where he practiced medecine and they bought a farm to raise horses and mules for sale. Dr Browning died in the Winter of 1885 and Swan never remarried. They had two sons and a daughter, before his untimely death.
Swan continued to raise and race horses until her own death in The Spanish Flu Epidemic in November of 1918. She is buried beside her husband and infant son, in the Center Masonic Cemetery near Muskogee, OK.

note: When one "shakes the Family Tree" don't be surprized if a "bad apple" or 3 falls out. - As my 95YO Mother says: Swan & Little Thunder were either "dashing Southron cavaliers and freedom-fighters" OR they were "just pure trash". - It just depends on which side you believe was correct during the War.
(LOL)

yours, TN46

[TheCelt]

Thais is some pretty interesting history, especially the part about the redlegs. Ought ot be proud of that heritage, they both seem like fine folks to me!!

[texasnative46]

TheCelt,

As a member of one of the "Old Rebel Families", I celebrate their deeds for "The True Cause".

yours, tn46

[Reg]

Its fun to go back into family history but not always easy to do. I knew many of the oldtimers around here, quite a few were family and the one thing most of them had in common was they were tight lipped. In studying the old west and a lot of what happened back then you quickly find out a lot of what happened then would not have been accepted today.
I did turn up a few indian contact stories with my Great Grandfather and in one case with one of his brothers, a Sheriff came out to for some reason, words were said and Conrad shot the horn off the Sherriffs saddle with a trapdoor Springfield and told him to " GIT". I was told he got and didn't come back. Try that today and you would have the National Guard coming after you !!!

[Kent Fowler]

Its fun to go back into family history but not always easy to do. I knew many of the oldtimers around here, quite a few were family and the one thing most of them had in common was they were tight lipped. In studying the old west and a lot of what happened back then you quickly find out a lot of what happened then would not have been accepted today.
I did turn up a few indian contact stories with my Great Grandfather and in one case with one of his brothers, a Sheriff came out to for some reason, words were said and Conrad shot the horn off the Sherriffs saddle with a trapdoor Springfield and told him to " GIT". I was told he got and didn't come back. Try that today and you would have the National Guard coming after you !!!

When my Grand dad was 95 in 1955 (I was 5), my dad asked him if he wanted to watch an new show on tv called Gunsmoke. When Matt Dillon outdrew the bad guy on the opening scene, Granddad jumped up all agitated and was yelling " That ain't the way you did it. If you wanted to kill somebody, they got shot in the back with a shotgun." Since our family was here in Texas before the Civil War, I kind of figured he knew what he was talking about.

[felix]

I remember that same evening. Prolly the best western movie opening that could have been drempt up at the time. I read many years later the idea came from the opposing gun fighter, an American Indian, who was the "six gun" teacher for the cowboy actors in the 50s. The teacher still gets royalties from that scene, I assume, as he always did because of a law suite I read about the matter. Interesting stuff. ... felix

[texasnative46]

Reg,

AGREED. - As a NA (I'm a half-breed), I can tell you that my research has led me to the inescapable conclusion that the WBTS in the Trans-Mississippi, from 1855-65, was as much a "race war", as it was a "War for Southern Freedom" OR ,from the Unionist point of view, "a war to save the Union" and/or even "to free the slaves".
On one side, were the "Indian units", "rebel cavalry", "partisan rangers", "bushwhackers" and "border ruffians".
(About ONE QUARTER to ONE THIRD of the "southern irregular & guerrilla forces" in AR, IT & MO were either NA or "mixed bloods" of some sort.)

After a @9YO Osage/Cherokee boy named "SPOTTED CAT" was "sexually abused" by a gang of men & CRUCIFIED (and then his hands, feet and heart were removed & "delivered to" his family in IT.) His head was mounted on a spear & "displayed in the town center" at Lawrence, KS, by the KS Freestate Militia, the ATROCITIES became commonplace in "the UNCIVIL WAR in the West".
For example, after 4 NA women were gang-raped & then burned at the stake at a KS/IT "border crossroads", by the COL James Lane's (Who was a sitting US Senator at that time!) "Loyal Volunteer Cavalry", NEITHER side routinely "took prisoners", many scalps (and sometimes other body parts) were "taken as trophies" and unit members routinely killed their own wounded, rather than allow their compatriots to "be taken captive by the enemy".

Furthermore from the "Free-State" point of view, it was CHRISTIANS vs PAGANS & SAVAGES, who to quote COL Lane in THE FREESTATE ABOLITIONIST-MESSENGER, "Deserve whatever we choose to do to them. Why, they ain't even People; they are FILTH and have NO soul.".

FYI, our side (the NA groups) had members, who were just as SAVAGE & VENGEFUL as the worst of the KS killers. - MAD BADGER, a Kiowa warrior, (after his sister was murdered "by persons unknown") reportedly took over 100 Unionist scalps between 1858 and his death in 1863. - Some of his "victims" were civilians, who were unfortunate enough to be "available".
(Partisan warfare is hardly ever "PRETTY", humane or "GLORIOUS".)

yours, tn46

[texasnative46]

KentFowler,

YEP. you are exactly correct. - Reportedly Swan wounded/killed any number of "yankees", from ambush, with her double-barrel, 14guage, shotgun loaded with nails, scrap metal & glass.
(My cousin, Beverly, owns Swan's shotgun. It's a British-made "sawed off".)

note to all: BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE by Dee Brown is well worth reading.

yours, tn46

[76 WARLOCK]

You should be very proud of those people, too bad we don't have more of them now.

[texasnative46]

To All,

To illustrate just HOW vicious that "the dirty border war" had become by 1862 (The war in the Trans-MIssissippi had begun in the Fall of 1855), the following is ONE of several "Oaths of Obiedience" that each "border ruffian" was required to swear to continue as a trooper/guerrilla fighter:

"I (state your full name) do hearby swear here before my comrades-in-arms to be obedient to the officers and sergeants appointed over me. As of this moment I declare that this is a fight to the eventual victory, regardless of when that victory may come and I further declare that we fight under the Black Flag, giving no quarter to the enemy and accepting none from any damnedyankee.
If I am directed to bring the hand, foot, head or heart of a damnyankee to my leader and I fail to do so, I will be accounted a traitor to our southern nation and to my fellows; the only acceptable reason for my failure to complete any task is my own death.
I will abuse no woman or child. Neither will I spare any male member of the damnyankee race and hereby declare that they arte mine own permanent enemy. In the face of the enemy, I will will neither retreat or surrender, even at the sure cost of mine own life nor will I allow any wounded comrade to fall into enemy hands.
All this do I willingly swear before Almighty God and do mark my oath with drops of my own blood."

yours, tn46

[texasnative46]

Reg, et. al.,

You spoke of "tight-lipped". - This was even true of my own father, when I asked him about his service in B-17s, in the USAAF of WWII or my uncle who served in the USN in the South Pacific in WWII. - Neither one would let me interview them on tape about their combat experiences.
The valuable & REAL "1st person stories" that I have received was from a friend of mine, who during his final illness, told me about his service in detail in the CBI, with Merrill's Maurauders.- Talking to me took his mind off his constant pain and kept him (I think) from focusing so much on his approaching death.
(Truthfully, I don't talk about my service either, except to others who served with us. - Those who weren't here cannot understand. Those who were there, generally don't want to hear "war stories". Instead, we mostly talk, at our age, about children & grandchildren.)

yours, tn46

[Leslie Sapp]

Little Thunder Freeman, stealer of Army horses, bespoiler of government property and mercy-less killer of Loyal Union Officers

I like this guy already....

[blackthorn]

Great post! Thank you! The problem with folks being "tight lipped" is that a lot of truth gets burried along with them when they die. The loss of those truths allow PC Liberals (or partisans of the side that won) to "re-write history to suit themselves.

[Kent Fowler]

I remember that same evening. Prolly the best western movie opening that could have been drempt up at the time. I read many years later the idea came from the opposing gun fighter, an American Indian, who was the "six gun" teacher for the cowboy actors in the 50s. The teacher still gets royalties from that scene, I assume, as he always did because of a law suite I read about the matter. Interesting stuff. ... felix

That was Arvo Ojala. He said that scene paid for a lot of Cadillac's. He also made top notch holsters.

[Reg]

From my talking with a few of he old timers in my youth, this was back in the 50's and doing lot of reading since this business of being tight lipped was common for many reasons.
Quite often the wife of a known and respected cattleman had worked as a soiled dove prior to gaining respectability and yes, generally she was a good wife and actually deserved that respectability. Looking into history one fins that the Earp brothers quite often "worked" their wifes while they ran the gaming tables at night. Think not, check it out !!
Many men, because of the atrocities they had been involved in during the civil war went west and preferred not to talk about their past. From this came the western tradition of not asking a man his business or where he "hailed " from. Still applys around here today.
There are many customs like this that are still used today, sometimes for the same reasons but admittedly less so as time goes on.
As crude it all sounds today there were a lot of good reasons for these reasons and many more for being tight lipped.
It took a special person to "come west" back then. I would dare say that 99 percent of those today couldn't do it. It was a tough life in a rough country and took a tough person to get through it.
Many of the homesteaders back then had nothing when they came out here and I do mean not hardly the cloths on their back. The glorious image of the cowboy wearing the new Stetson with a Winchester and a Colt most likely was scrubby individual mostly dressed almost in rags and if they had any kind of a firearm it generally was some old single shot muzzle stuffer.
My own people came here as workers when the narrow gauge first came through and simply sat on land out in the canyon south of what is now called Robbs Crossing. When the first homestead act was passed the Calvary came through and ran them out as squatters. They were living in a dugout. My Uncle and I went out a few years back and found the few remains that were left. Not much.
My Grandfather was born in that dugout in 1887.

I can also see where being tight lipped would also be a trait of many who survived warfare. My father never talked much about WW2. Found out many years afer he was gone he survived as a waist gunner on a B-17 on that one disastrous Polesti oil field raid. Don't think I would want to talk much about tht one either.

[texasnative46]

blackthorne,

You are CORRECT. - Even when I was an undergraduate history student almost a half century ago, I understood that my father and uncle didn't want to talk about the things that they had personally done and witnessed. Nonetheless, it frustrated me for them to abruptly"change the subject". - Both of them are gone now and their experiences are LOST forever.

As famous British scholar, Arnold Tornbee, once said: "History is fiction, popularly agreed upon by tyrants & conquerers".

BTW, I'm recording my 95YO Mother's 1st person memories of being a young (beautiful) wife of a USAAF veteran of WWII. - I'm very glad that she is WILLING to talk to me & my recording device.- FYI, the Women's Studies Program AND 2 female professors of the History Department of a major TX university wants to read and possibly publish her memoirs, as their are few accounts of being a young USAAF bride at the dawn of the "modern era of flight", when B29 were "the latest thing". She also was present and saw the first test flights of US jet aircraft.
(Mother lived from the very early days of post WWI aviation to see the computer age come into its "middle age". - Her father/My grandfather had the very first "in home" telephone in my home county.)

yours, tn46

[texasnative46]

Reg,

WELL SAID.

My Mother said that if you wanted to start a fight in her girlhood (read pre-1925), all that you had to do was ask a man, "What was your name in the states?"
(Many a person came to TX to BE someone else and to escape their past. - That's the prime reason that doing one's family history here is SO frustrating. - you come to a certain point and the ancestor simply "has no past".)

yours, tn46

[Huntducks]

My wifes dad's side of the family goes all the way back to JP Jones we have had a few personal things handed down to us over the years including a small painting of him in uniform, also had 2 Jones that served on each side (navy) during CW.

My FIL joined the navy right after pearl was in 6 yrs he was on a troop ship and drove a landing craft he made every major landing in the pacific with many being in the first wave, he did not talk about it much until his last 2 years before he passed away, we recorded some of it wish would have done more.

There was 2 other Jones brothers that came here from UK for the Yukon gold rush they never hit it, but I have there Win. rifles a 1873 1886 & 1892 two of them have notches in the stock supposed from number of bears killed???

[texasnative46]

huntducks,

You are LUCKY that your dad ever told you anything OR (especially) allowed you to record his experiences. - His 1st person accounts are "beyond price". - FACT.

yours, tn46

[wv109323]

The OP mentioned Cole Younger. There is an old family tale that I am supposed to be kin to him.
There is an interesting story about him.
Cole's father was in the Legislature of his state (IIRC it was Missouri). He was murdered on his way home from the Legislature. It was a mob of 30 men that killed him.
Cole was asked about the mob that killed his father some years later. His response was " Twenty-eight of them are dead and the other two are in California".