On a beautiful sunny morning I was driving slowly up FM 462, north of Hondo, Texas. There were lots of wildflowers, so I was frequently stopping to take pictures. I was having lots of fun and was so glad to be alive. The road would frequently cross Hondo Creek which was running parallel to the road.

As I left the farm land and began to go up into the rocky foothills of the Texas Hill Country, I came to a Historical Marker beside the road near the creek. It said as follow:

                           COW CAMP MASSACRE ON HONDO CREEK

During the mid-1800s the Texas hill Country was the site of many hostile encounters, some deadly, between pioneer immigrants where permanent settlements ran counter to area Native Americans accustomed to unrestrained hunting and gathering. One such encounter occurred near this site on January 27, 1866.

Three young men from the area, August Rothe, age 19, George Miller, age 16, and Hubert Weynand, age 12, left their homes near D’Hanis to recover stray livestock, an important task for area farmers and ranchers. They set up camp on Hondo Creek and began the “Cow Hunt”.

On the morning of the third day Rothe and Weynand were returning to camp when suddenly Miller appeared running toward them with eight Indians in pursuit. Unable to untie their horses in time to escape on horseback, both Rothe and Miller ran for their lives up a hill; Weynand attemped his escape on horseback.

The encounter resulted in Miller’s death, Weynand’s capture, and Rothe’s heroic escape. Weynand was never seen nor heard from again. A scouting party later found Miller’s mutilated body, but were unable to apprehend the attackers. Contemporary author A. J. Sowell wrote of these events in his book, “Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas.”

                                                                            (1994)

After reading the Historical Marker, I walked down to the creek and sat awhile thinking about those boys and their families. I decided that I should do this painting of the creek there even though it wasn’t the most scenic of places.

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