Private Samuel Baker Barton

Samuel Baker Barton

A detachment of Texas Rangers under the command of Lieutenant Edward Burleson, Jr., had a hard fight with a band of Comanche on January 27, 1851 near the Nueces River south of San Antonio. The ranger detachment was en route to Fort McIntosh at Laredo on the Texas-Mexican border. Lt. Burleson spotted three Indians riding on horses about a mile away. The rangers had been warned that the Comanche were on the war path and stealing horses and cattle from ranchers in the Nueces Valley. Lt. Burleson selected nine rangers to ride toward the three men and sent the rest to Laredo. As they approached the rangers noticed the Comanche were not trying to escape. The three mounted warriors stopped and turned around to reveal 13 warriors on foot armed with lances, bows and arrows and tomahawks. It was reported the dismounted warriors were lying in wait for traders using the road. The rangers mistook Lt. Burleson’s orders and dismounted. The hand-to-hand fight took place in a plain without vegetation. Burleson was grazed by an arrow that pinned his hat to his head. Burleson killed the chief and that disoriented the warriors. Four Comanche were dead and nine wounded. Private Baker Barton received three mortal wounds, and died on his feet grasping the horn of his saddle. Private William Lackey was wounded in three places. The wounded included, Privates Alf, Tom and Jim Wilkerson, brothers, Private Jim Carr and Private Jack Spencer. The rangers carried Barton to a hill and buried him. Lackey was transported to a settlement and died a week later, on or about February 3, 1851, from an arrow wound to his lungs. One newspaper article reported Barton had resided in Laredo recently. No other information is known at the time about either man.