Chasing Our Tales, Jim Ned

A couple of weeks ago my husband, Raf, and I were traveling to Coleman, Texas, to visit my old friend, retired General Terry Scott, and his wife, Carol. As we were leaving, the sun was setting and just outside their ranch, we crossed Jim Ned Creek. Since this had been a day of reminiscences, that name brought back memories of long ago when my parents and I traveled to Coleman for the rodeo.

Jim Ned, Jim Ned...I have heard that name many times over the years, but for the life of me I couldn't remember who that was. So, of course, home I came to Google to discover what I could about old Jim Ned. I had thought perhaps it was the two Christian names of some boy in a family of pioneers...but I was wrong!

The Handbook of Texas Online told me: "Jim Ned, a Delaware Indian chief, probably maintained a village on the Brazos River near Fort Graham. At times during the Republic of Texas and early statehood, he served as scout for the Texas militia, but his services were used infrequently, possibly because of his "refractory" nature. As a scout for Capt. Samuel Highsmith, he took part in the battle against the Wichita Indians on the upper Brazos in 1847. It is believed that Jim Ned Creek was named for the scout."

The Jim Ned Consolidated Independent School District, a community of small towns in Taylor County south of Abilene, tells more about Jim Ned, the man. Jim Ned sometimes called, James Ned, was not always spoken of in a positive way regarding Indian affairs in the Republic of Texas. However he appears to have been both a capable scout and spy. He had spent much time with the Penateka Comanches and had learned their customs and habits.

It appears that he had a village on the Brazos River between Hillsboro and Whitney and that he served as an interpreter and scout for whites going into Indian territory. He was, for instance, a council to Sam Houston when arranging a meeting with Indian chiefs, Lame Arm of the Wacos, Black Cat of the Shawnees, Chicken Trotter of the Cherokees, and Bedi or Bead Eye, at Tehuacana Creek near Mexia in 1844.

After the meeting the superintendent of India affairs, Thomas Western, for the Republic complained that "Jim Ned and his party have become a little better than a band of outlaws...the Delaware, Jim Ned, is a refractory spirit, as I have already noticed for your Excellency."

Upon delving further into Jim Ned's story I learned that he was one of R. B. Marcy's scouts who said that Jim Ned was "the bravest warrior and most successful horse thief in the west."

Both Jim Ned and Chief Black Beaver, also a scout for Marcy, were with him in 1847, 1849, 1852, and 1854 and were with Marcy in 1850 when Fort Washita was built.

The old Fort Washita was not used and so Black Beaver moved into it with his small band of Indians. Black Beaver was a friend of Jesse Chrism who lived at Chouteau's trading post.

In 1852 Marcy and his son-in-law, George B. McClellan, were both at new Fort Washita. By 1859, after more exploration of Texas, many of the Delaware Indians who lived on the Brazos Reservation were transplanted to Oklahoma.

In the Bourland Papers, written by Albert Pike Bourland between 1905 and 1949, and sent to Texas Governor Runnels part of a letter refers to the 1841 Battle of Village Creek: "...these Indians appear to be cruel, apprised of all on your units where...other but the Reserve Indians are moving to our reserves. The Indian known as Tom Choctaw at some time since took his family and lived in Palo Pinto or Erath County. Now (he lives) over on the other side of Red River at Jim Ned's camp, admits that he was at the battles near Fort Frontier counties at the time John B. Denton was killed and made his escape by running down the creek. I have known this Indian for a long time, when he was down on the Brazos and...were with him...ruined the settler's crops...suffered to link around the settlement...of the Brazos Reserve Indians...side of this and this senior Tom Choctaw admits that he is the same Indian that was in the battle the time John B. Denton was killed..."

Editor's note: "This Jim Ned Camp was probably in the Wichita Mountains, now Comanche County, Oklahoma, and Jim Ned was half Delaware Indian and half Negro."

Finally comes the story from Fort Worth, A Frontier Triumph, by history teacher Julia Kathryn Garrett (1897-1988), published in 1972:

"In 1849, the Comanches from their village in present Palo Pinto made a visit to obliterate the post. Leader of the plan was giant Chief Jim Ned. The white man's fort, according to his thinking, was too close to his hunting ground; and Arnold's scouts had taken one of his ill-gotten horses. Following plans of a war council, two bands of one hundred Comanches each, traveling different paths, were to converge upon the fort. Chief Feathertail with his band took the southeast trail; Chief Ned took the northeast. The second night out from their village, Chief Ned camped to await Chief Feathertail in the valley at the foot of the bluff where a hundred years later, would be the All Church Home for Children and the E. B. Harrold Park.

"On top of the bluff, a camping fur trader with good ears, heard many voices arising from the lowlands. Going to the edge of the bluff he looked down upon a band of warriors. It did not take much time for him to cover the distance between his camp and the fort. Within an hour, wagons, infantry and cavalry were ready. Scouts, led by the fur trader, were seen peering over the bluff. As there was a full moon, what they saw made it easy to plan the attack. The Indians were then asleep. The troops were to be divided and attack from three directions. The reliable six-pound howitzer was rolled into place on the bluff. The cavalry galloped down upon the unsuspecting victims. The three units fired into the sleeping camp. Bright moonlight helped the infantrymen to make every shot count. Not a man of the garrison was seriously hurt. Chief Ned fled; met Chief Feathertail's band, and together they retreated to the hills of Palo Pinto. Today, a small concrete shaft located on the property of the All Church Home marks this site of the last large-scale Indian battle in the environs of Fort Worth.

"To be fair to the major (Ripley A. Arnold) and the record, the story must be completed. Next morning, the troops were in pursuit of the Indians. Two days later in a Palo Pinto canyon, they engaged these Comanches in a battle of several hours. Chief Ned was killed, and the leaderless Indians fled. Thanks to the major, there were no more hostilities on a large scale in Tarrant County, only petty annoyances."

It looks to me as though all the Indian leaders, be they Comanche, Choctaw, or Delaware, looked to Chief Jim Ned when they needed help. From all the accounts I have read, Jim Ned was perhaps the fiercest of the Indians during the Republic and early statehood of Texas.