[3] It followed the Council House Fight, in which Republic of Texas officials attempted to capture and take prisoner 33 Comanche chiefs and their wives, who had earlier promised to deliver 13 white captives they had kidnapped.

[4] Because of the small amount this Penateka band of Southern Comanche received for the ransom of nine-year-old James Putnam weeks before, they brought with them only one captive, 16-year-old Matilda Lockhart.

[5] [6] Just as they had done to Mexicans and Santa Feans for nearly a century, the Penaketa wanted to ensure they would receive a higher payment before ransoming the other whites they had abducted.

[4] An attempt to escape followed by the brandishing of tomahawks the Comanche had secreted between their wives' blankets led to the massacre of all the male Indians except two elderly men, who along with the women were taken hostage.

One resident wrote, "We of Victoria were startled by the apparitions presented by the sudden appearance of six hundred mounted Comanches in the immediate outskirts of the village.

[13] Early on August 8, the Comanches surrounded Linnville, the Republic of Texas's second-largest port at the time, and began pillaging stores and houses.

One outraged citizen, Judge John Hays, grabbed a gun, waded ashore through the shallow water, and roared at the warriors, but they chose to spare him, believing him mad.

Linn noted that in addition to the cloth and other trade goods usually in his warehouse at that time were several cases of hats and umbrellas belonging to James Robinson, a San Antonio merchant.

The normal Comanche tactic was to ride as fast as possible away from the scene of a victory, but on this occasion they slowed to a gentler pace acceptable to the heavily laden pack mules.

Tonkawa spies and rangers under Captain Henry McCullough brought word of the Comanche's approach and that they were nearing a boggy field on the fore side of Plum Creek which would severely hamper their flight.

Hearing the charge, the Comanche immediately turned toward the mountains of Rio Blanco and San Marcos to make their escape but were hampered by their flight.

With revolvers and swords in hand, these Texian farmers chased the snipers through choking clouds of acrid smoke while the main body attacked the center.

Brown recalled that Placido was six feet two inches, handsomely formed, of majestic bearing, a master in horsemanship and the soul of untutored honor, ashamed of the vices of his tribe he was the favorite with every honest white man who personally knew him.