Hunters are known to tree a mountain lion or a bear now and then, but in 1859, a gang of thugs treed a whole town. That’s right, a whole town.

It was the mid 1800’s. Anglos from other parts of the United States were coming to Texas in groves, and taking over land previously owned by Mexicans.

Juan Cortina, saw his family’s land holdings shrink. When he became a man, Juan put together a gang of disgruntled Mexicans and started taking back some of the land. In mid September of 1859 one of Juan’s men was arrested in Brownsville, Texas. Juan and his men shot the Marshal and freed the gang member. This, of course, infuriated the citizens of Brownsville. For days they talked about putting together a posse and getting revenge. But it seems that talk was all they were want to do.

Juan Cortina, on the other hand, wanted action, and getting tired of waiting for the posse to come after him, on September 27 he led a thousand cutthroats into Brownsville, captured Fort Brown, and took over the town. After killing anyone who had previously caused him grief, Juan demanded one hundred thousand dollars in gold or he would burn down the town.
News of the Brownsville situation got out and a contingency of men came to the rescue. Unfortunately, for them, news of what Cortina was doing also reached his friends and his gang had grown to a much larger size. After defeating the relief column, Cortina went after Edinburg, Texas and then took on Rio Grande.

Cortina then wisely retreated back to Mexico where for 15 years he made raids across the border. Finally in 1875, the Texas Rangers decided to put an end to Juan Cortina’s shenanigans, and went down to Mexico and kicked his butt. From then on Juan stayed south of the border and played politics there.

Often things moved fast in the Old West.  Today’s hero is sometimes tomorrow’s bum.  Or, in Caldwell, Kansas today’s hero is tomorrow’s dead bum.

Born in Tennessee, George Flatt, went out to Caldwell, Kansas.  George had a bit of a stubborn streak that came out in July of 1879.  After more than a few drinks, a couple of cowboys in the Occidental Saloon started shooting their pistols.  Constable Kelly and a posse that included George Flatt came to take care of the problem.  The posse cautiously entered the saloon, and saw the two cowboys with their guns pointed at them.  The cowboys started for the door.  But Flatt stepped forward and blocked the door.  Carrying two guns, the cowboys demanded that he drop them.  Flatt responded, “I’ll die first.”  A shot from one of the cowboys whizzed past Flatt’s head.  Flatt went into action.  Each gun took out a cowboy.

Things moved fast in Caldwell.  In a matter of weeks, George Flatt advanced from posse member to the city’s first marshal.  And capitalizing on his new found fame he went into partnership with William Horseman operating a saloon.

But many times as fast as things go well, just as fast they turn bad.  Flatt was a heavy drinker.  And within a year not only had his partnership with Horseman fallen apart, but Horseman had even replaced him as city marshal.

Then on Saturday evening, June 19, 1880 after spending some time drinking in the bars, George Flat headed for home.  From the dark a rifle shot rang out.  It hit Flatt in the skull.  Once he was down, three more slugs filled his body.  Yes, things moved fast in Caldwell, Kansas…From a marshal and businessman to a dead drunk laying face down in the dirt in less than a year.

On April 8, 1875 four soldiers encountered 30 Comanche.  Three of those four soldiers received the Congressional Metal of Honor.  This was but one escapade in the life of a most unusual group of soldiers.

During the 1870’s there was a small group of men who guarded the Texas–Mexico border against Comanche Indians.  These men were the Seminole-Negroes.  They were runaway slaves who had gone to Florida and lived with the Seminole Indians. When the Seminole were chased west, the black families went with them.

In 1870, looking for extra help in fighting the marauding Comanche, the Seminole-Negroes were hired as a special unit to track down the Comanche Indians.  Although the Seminole-Negroes were a rag-tag looking bunch with a combination of military and Indian attire, which even included war bonnets, they had the ability to follow trails that were weeks old and live on nothing but rattlesnakes.

The commander of this group was a white Lieutenant by the name of John Bullis.  Lieutenant Bullis had the respect of the Seminole-Negroes, because he was willing to live and fight right along side of his men.  One time while on a patrol Lieutenant Bullis and three of his enlisted men encountered some 30 Comanche.  Being vastly outnumbered, the soldiers retreated.  Unfortunately, in the process Lieutenant Bullis was captured.  Not willing to leave their commander behind; the men changed into the midst of the Comanche, rescuing Lieutenant Bullis.  Each enlisted man received the Congressional Metal of Honor.

For their service, the government had promised the Seminole-Negroes land, but, mysteriously, when it came time to pay up, the War Department had run out of land.  But, living up to their commitment, and ever hopeful, they stayed on until their job was done.

Incidentally, as an indication of their skill as scouts and fighters, during the service of the Seminole-Negroes, not one was ever killed or injured in battle.