The incident in Ovilla that gave Squaw Creek it's name

1843 Ovilla, Texas. Mr Mitchell was watching over his heard of cattle. (His land was one mile north of the Billingsley settlement(also called Shilo then.) All the sudden there was a disturbance in the herd. INDIANS! The band of Indians brought down his cattle with their bows and arrows. They slaughtered Mr. Mitchell's cattle and began to eat the beef raw! (When I read that part, I flashed back to "Dances with Wolves" when Dunbar ate the raw Buffalo liver .) Mr Mitchell sent a runner to the Billingsley settlement. The Billingsley's hid their family in the creek bottom and told their family "to make no noise and answer no calls until Sammy came for them." (I assume Referring to Samuel Billingsley who would have been 50 years old at the time according to the book "The Peters Colony of Texas" pg192.

After boarding up their homes, 10 riflemen one by one in the night came to Mr Mitchell's aid. In the morning they confronted the Indians demanding payment for the slaughtered cattle . Indians hightailed it and took their stolen beef. They headed to the Brazos. The settlers had also sent a runner to Ft Worth to get the Texas Dragoons. The Dragoons ,also known as Texas Rangers, showed up too late for the confrontation but soon picked up the Indians' trail. They ambushed them on the Brazos river bank. The remaining Indians took flight to a cave on a small creek 5miles from the ambush. The Indians were found and all killed except for one Squaw who had ran down the creek only to be caught. The Dragoons named the creek, Squaw Creek after the Indian Squaw. Squaw Creek flows into the Paluxy River near the the Paluxy's intersection with the Brazos just East of Glen Rose, Texas. A canoe web-site shows a good map . It also is dammed for the Comanche Peak Nuclear plant. The Comanche Indians referred to the Peak as "Que-Tah-To-Yah" or "Rocky Butte".


Reference for this is "The Ovilla History Book" pg 14-15. "A Letter from Aaron Billingsley outlining the settlement of Ovilla"

Reading "The Peters Colony of Texas" by Seymour V. Conor I have found a David Mitchell who was involved in the Peters colony. He had a land certificate in Johnson County and in Ellis County. It also says he migrated to the colony a family man before July 1 st 1848. Maybe this is the same Mr Mitchell in our story who lost his cattle?