April 4, 1826; LaGrange: In March 1826 a band of Towakonis rode into the area along the Colorado River in present-day Fayette County, Texas. Reportedly they were there hunting forTankawa enemies, who were said to be cannibals. Eventually, the Tawakonis stole some horses and killed a Mexican resident. When word of this got around, Colorado militia captain James Ross assembled a party of thirty-one militiamen--including John J. Tumlinson Jr., John Cryer, and S. A. Anderson--to look for the Indians.
To protect themselves from a cold northern wind, the band of six teen Tawakonis had made camp in a wooded bend of Ross Creek near its junction with the Colorado, about seven miles downriver from present- day LaGrange. Not expecting trouble, several were lying down, a few were parching corn, and a few others were later described to have been "dancing around with their scalps." In a flash, Ross's militiamen killed eight Indians, and they believed they wounded seven of the eight who escaped. The men set fire to the bodies, leaving the smoldering bones to bleach in the creek bed. A later settler recalled finding the skeletons lying "grim and ghastly on the green grass."
