Range War Along the Pecos, by John Theron Crow

Range War Along the Pecos

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 
Angus Murdoch was now forty-five years old. He was born in 1825, in Obion County Tennessee, the son of Duncan and Elizabeth Murdoch. Duncan Murdoch, had immigrated to America from Scotland along with his brother, Douglas, five years previously and had settled in eastern Tennessee. They had laid claim to a small section of land, and had then began farming. However, the soil was not well suited for farming, and both brothers soon became adept hunters and woodsmen. It wasn't long before Douglas fell in love with a young Tennessee lass. Her name was Elizabeth Crockett, daughter of the famous frontiersman and Indian fighter, David Crockett. Although both brothers became fast friends with Davy, he refused to consent to his daughter's marriage until Duncan had become better off financially.
An opportunity presented itself in 1821 when it became known that General William H. Ashely was organizing a fur trapping expedition that would eventually end up clear across the continent. Both Murdochs joined the expedition in 1822. There, they met Jim Bridger, who would later become one of America's most famous mountain men. The destination of the expedition was the headwaters of the Missouri river in Montana.
If the Missouri and Mississippi rivers had been explored at the same time, the Missouri, flowing all the way from Montana, would probably have been considered the main stream. The upper Mississippi would have been named a tributary of the Missouri, which would thus have been the longest river in North America. As it is, the Missouri-Mississippi system is one of the longest in the world.
The headstream of the Missouri is the Red Rock River, which originates high in the slopes of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Montana. Coming down the mountains the waters of the Red Rock flow into the Beaverhead and then into the Jefferson. At Three Forks, Montana, the Missouri proper begins where the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers merge. From Three Forks to its junction with the Mississippi above St. Louis, Missouri, the Missouri is 2,316 miles long. Taken as one stream, the Missouri-Mississippi measures 3,658 miles from the Upper Red Rock Reservoir to the Head of Passes at the Gulf of Mexico.
In the early part of its course the Missouri runs almost due north. The river flows through the Gates of the Mountains, a narrow canyon with walls 1,200 feet high. Farther on are the Great Falls of the Missouri, where the river drops more than 400 feet in 12 miles over a series of five cataracts.
It was at these falls where the Murdoch brothers struck out on their own. General Ashely had been a strict disciplinarian and held himself aloof from the rest of the trappers. Along the way, several had either turned back, or struck out on their own. At the great Falls of the Missouri, Ashely's abrasive authoritarian manner had finally become too much for the Murdochs so they collected their gear, and departed to seek their fortunes in beaver pelts on their own.
Despite the many hazards and exceedingly harsh conditions, they were highly successful over the next two years. But Duncan, missing Elizabeth Crockett, decided that he had accumulated enough money through beaver pelts to ask Davy for her hand in marriage. Douglas, however, had become enamored with the life of a mountain man, and elected to remain out west. They split up in a place then known as Colter's Hell. A magical mystical place of waterfalls, hot springs, boiling mud pots, and geysers. Today, it is known as Yellowstone Park.
Duncan's journey home was rather uneventful, however, his reunion with Elizabeth Crockett was a joyous and happy occasion. They resumed their courtship and were married within a month of his return. Less than one year later, they were blessed with a son whom they named Angus, after Duncan's own father in Scotland.
Since Duncan had failed at farming a few years before, he elected instead to build a roadside tavern. He himself was an educated man and took on the task of educating young Angus personally. Often times when he felt it was safe, he would leave the tavern for a few weeks at a time in order to hunt and explore the western portions of Tennessee. Like his father-in-law, Davy Crockett, he was always on the lookout for a new place to settle.
Occasionally, the two would take Angus along on short excursions and both proceeded to teach him whatever they could about woodsmanship, hunting and shooting. Davy Crockett was famous for his marksmanship nationwide, as a result of occasional exhibitions he would give during his north-eastern tours while in congress. The fact was, Angus had never seen anyone better, thus, he became an excellent marksman himself, having arguably the best teacher in the nation.
In 1835, just after Angus turned ten, Douglas Murdoch returned from the far west, having tired somewhat of the loneliness of being a free trapper. Though he loved the life of the mountain man, he longed to see his brother.
By this time, Duncan, had moved to the Reelfoot lake area in western Tennessee following his father-in-law. As for Crockett, he happened to be home temporarily and was preparing to campaign for another term in congress. The party they threw lasted three days. Douglas regaled them all with tales of the mountain peaks that seemingly reached to the sky, Indians, gigantic grizzly bears and buffalo herds that covered the prairies as far as the eye could see. From then on, Angus had had a deep admiration and fascination for mountain men, and their way of living.
As fate would have it though, Douglas, had detoured through Texas before returning to Tennessee. If the tales of the far west interested and inflamed the imagination of young Angus, Douglas' stories of the opportunities to be had in Texas, took a firm grip upon the minds of both Crockett and Duncan Murdoch. Duncan had only recently built a new tavern, and Elizabeth was dead set against another move, but Duncan, could think of little else.
Crockett, had been tiring of congress and had a longing for new horizons himself and vowed that should he lose the election, he would go to Texas. Crockett lost the election as it turned out, and along with Douglas and a few other hardy Tennessee backwoodsmen, set out for the land of Texas, then, a province of Mexico. Duncan, having finally convinced his wife, vowed to follow them soon. He had a few affairs to wrap up in Tennessee first such as selling the tavern. Though he had hated to be left behind, he would often wonder later at the machinations of fate, and the awesome workings of the plan of the good Lord above.
As Duncan was leaving for Texas, having sold the tavern for a reasonable profit, he received a letter from Douglas, and Elizabeth, received one from her father. They had joined up with the Texans' rebellion against the Mexican dictator Santa Anna and were in a small run-down mission in San Antonio de Bejar (known locally as, "the Alamo"), preparing to fight the Mexican army. It was the last Duncan or Elizabeth would ever hear from either of them. Both perished, along with some one-hundred-eighty other defenders during a thirteen day siege against an army estimated to be anywhere from five to seven-thousand strong.
After the fall of the Alamo, Duncan left Elizabeth and Angus in Nacogdoches and joined General Sam Houston's army, vowing revenge for the loss of his brother and father-in-law. Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto on April 21st of 1836, only about a month and a half after the fall of the Alamo. Texas had gained its independence, and the Murdochs settled in the brush country below San Antonio on a grant of 1,460 acres which was offered to any family man who had fought for the liberation of Texas. Duncan took up sheep ranching at first, and then cattle, on a small scale. Failing in that, he joined the Texas Rangers.
In 1844, Angus Murdoch said goodbye to his parents, and headed out to fulfill a childhood dream. He set out to become a mountain man. Duncan Murdoch, had tried to discourage him from this journey, but to no avail.
Duncan had meanwhile quit the rangers and once again began gathering up Texas longhorns in the brush country below San Antonio. With a foresight which was a credit to his Scottish ancestry, Duncan knew that there would come a time when a man could make himself wealthy off of beef. He had hoped that young Angus would stay home and help him build his ranch. However, Angus' mind was made up and Duncan had been unable to dissuade him.

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