WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Bastrop and Josiah Wilbarger ?

August 15, 2020 WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Bastrop? El Camino Real, "the King's Highway" (1) was blazed as early as 1691 to reach the unsuccessful Spanish missions in the wilderness of east Texas. This route crossed the Colorado River where the Baron de Bastrop established a colony in 1823 that was later abandoned because of Indian raids. Pioneers, both American and Mexican, were seeking land in Texas. A stockade was built and troops were stationed to protect the traffic along El Camino Real. Mexicans crossed the Rio Grande River onto land south of San Antonio. Many anglos settled in east Texas and along the Colorado River on bends upstream from Bastrop named Reed, Powel, Hemphill, Wilbarger, Pope, and Hornsby Bends. Rueben and Sarah Hornsby generously made their farm a stopping place for neighbors to collect mail and exchange news. Newcomers were welcome to stay there while seeking land farther north.  In 1832, Josiah Wilbarger offered four men, prospective immigrants, a guided tour of the land. The men mounted early one August morning at Hornsby's place. Later encountering evidence of Indians they retreated. Wilbarger urged the men to keep riding to safety but perhaps because of the blazing sun, they insisted on stopping to eat lunch. While tying their horses, they were fired upon by Indians. Wilbarger was helping one of the men who was shot when he took arrows in both legs and a wound in the hip. As he stumbled for his horse a rifle ball pierced his neck and he fell paralyzed but conscious. Indians rushed the scene. Two of the four were killed and two escaped. Believing Wilbarger was also dead the Indians grabbed his hair, sliced his scalp and rode away. He mercifully passed out. Upon waking he dragged his body to a pool to drink. He slept the night under a large oak tree. Rueben Hornsby and the two men who escaped what had happened, rode out. What was a burial mission became a race to save Wilbarger. He lived eleven more years with his wife Margaret in their home on Wilbarger Creek and the Colorado River.(2) Carole Sikes (1) The Kings Highway was actually a trace as opposed to being a highway. (2) A friend who is a descendent of the Hornsby family, upon reading this said, "Carole you left out an AMAZING part of the story. This night Sarah Hornsby was awakened knowing that something was amiss and encouraged the men to ride the trail in search of the trouble." Ref. The Republic of Austin by Jeffery Kerr. Published by Waterloo Press, Austin History Center