Glorietta Odyssey

By Jon Fowler

It is 1862 in the hill country of central Texas, and the Civil War is approaching its second year. When Joshua Danial McDavid, a fifteen-year-old ranch kid, is sent to the city of San Antonio with his cousins and stepbrother, he has no idea he is embarking on the adventure of his lifetime, where he will face hardship and danger, encounter unfamiliar landscapes and cultures, and find the love of his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890618535

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

In the Beginning

To San Antonio

In San Antonio

Joining Up

Off to the West

At the Pass of the North

Into New Mexico

The Battle of Valverde

The Aftermath

Up the Rio Grande

Local Color

The Turning Point

Back to Santa Fe

Down the Rio Grande

Into the West

Lost

Unlikely Rescuers

The Hidden Ranch

Hospitality and Conversation

In the Meantime

La Curadora

Piojos

Establishing Routines

An Uncomfortable Conversation

Preparation

The Wedding

Recovery

Raid

Aftermath

A New Life

Matanza

Holidays

A New Normal

Reunions and Pain

Decisions and Preparations

The Journey Back

Homecoming

Reunion

Readjustment

Departures

Author's Notes

About the Author

cover.jpg

Glorietta Odyssey

Jon Fowler

Copyright © 2024 Jon Fowler

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2024

ISBN 979-8-89061-852-8 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89061-853-5 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

For Gary D. Schmidt

When all's been said and done,

and fate has been assigned,

Some have won and some have lost,

As destiny has designed.

For those who have triumphed,

The world is theirs to mold,

Not only for the future,

But stories to be told.

For those who have been vanquished,

And yet insist to live,

There's a story that's been smothered,

And lessons yet to give.

In the Beginning

It is still pretty early in the morning in that strange time of the year that doesn't quite know if it wants to be summer or autumn. It started out crisp, almost chilly, but only a couple of hours after sunrise, it's starting to feel muggy.

Nonetheless, the chores on the ranch are all done. The hogs are fed, the cattle, goats, and sheep are all penned.

Feed has been scattered for the yard poultry (chickens and turkeys). The hogs have been slopped with the scraps from yesterday's leftovers that were deemed inedible for people. The vegetable garden and irrigable fields have been watered from the live creek flowing through the property.

The place is neat and well kept, keeping with the tendency of this area of the Texas hill country. It is being settled mostly by immigrant Germans. The house and most of the major outbuildings are built of blocks and chunks of limestone; native to these parts and nonflammable to the efforts of the Comanches, Kiowas, and other Indian tribes that might come through the area. Or for that matter, Anglo or Mexican outlaws. Each building is indeed a castle.

There are exceptions. The main of these is the corn crib, which is elevated over the hog wallow on timbers and is made of lumber. The reasoning behind this is protection. Any rodents that attack the stored cobs of maize will have to brave a gauntlet of dogs, cats, and even pigs, which would devour them if caught. In this time and place, the loss of stored foodstuffs might actually lead to the starvation of a family.

A major difference between this homestead and others in the area is the presence in the yard of a still for making whiskey. The proprietor of this ranch is a Scotch Irishman from the Appalachians, and prefers whiskey as his drink of choice, rather than the beer favored by the German immigrants who make up the bulk of the local population.

The head of the family, Jasper McDavid, moved his family here from the hills of Western North Carolina about a decade back. His first wife, Eva, a German immigrant he had met in the Piedmont area, had family in the hill country of Texas and had convinced Jasper that there was a better life to be had here. They eventually pulled up stakes and migrated here with their seven children. In transit, he lost his wife and daughter to illness.

Jasper has since remarried to the widowed cousin of his first wife. This woman's name is Anna. Like Jasper, she has six children from her first marriage, four daughters and two sons. Jasper's surviving children from his first marriage are all boys.

With the chores done, Jasper is sending two of the older boys still living here to San Antonio as an escort for his nephew and niece who have been staying with his family for the last couple of weeks on their journey from the California goldfields, back to their native North Carolina. The Southern states have seceded from the Union, and war has broken out between these states and those which have remained loyal to the federal government. Jasper's niece and nephew, sixteen-year-old Amanda, and nineteen-year-old Malcolm McDavid, are returning to the Smokies to assist their father, who is Jasper's brother, in running the family farm.

Two of the farm boys—Anna's oldest son, Martin, who is eighteen years old, and Jasper's youngest son from his first marriage, Joshua Daniel, who is fifteen, are being sent to accompany Malcolm and Amanda since between the Indians and possible bandits, it might not be safe for them to travel to San Antonio alone. Once in the city, Malcolm and Amanda should be able to continue their journey east, in relative safety, either by stagecoach or perhaps in the company of a merchant caravan.

Jasper is supervising the preparation for what might be an arduous journey. It generally takes a couple of good days on horseback to reach San Antonio from the ranch. He is having the boys take their personal horses. Malcolm and Amanda each already have their own. Everyone will be armed to the teeth, just in case. All in this journey will be young, but in this era, people grow up quickly. When Jasper was Martin's age, he already had two children and was supporting a family by subsistence farming.

Jasper feels wistful as the youngsters make final preparations for their journey. Granted, Martin and Joshua have both made the trip multiple times, both with and without his presence.

But in these times, safe return is never guaranteed.

And then there's also his own feelings to deal with. Jasper prides himself on not being a soft man. Indeed, he almost relishes being a difficult taskmaster.

He has a difficult time admitting that he cares deeply about those about to leave and fears exposing the softness within his own heart where all of them are concerned.

Although he's only really known his nephew and niece for a couple of weeks, he's grown very fond of them.

Amanda is a brunette. Her eyes are hazel. Her personality is probably best described as feisty. Even at this tender age, she reminds Jasper of his mother and his childhood in the Smoky Mountains.

Malcolm is the spitting image of his father; Jasper's brother. He has auburn hair, gray eyes, and a good sense of humor. Although he's been properly reticent before his elders here who, until a couple of weeks ago were, in fact, strangers, he's been relentlessly entertaining.

Martin is stocky, muscular, and gregarious. His hair is the color of straw, and his eyes are as blue as a clear Texas sky. Jasper feels that Martin has never really accepted him as his father, but Martin has definitely bonded with the younger Joshua.

Jasper finds Joshua Daniel to be something of an enigma. Although he is the youngest of the six surviving sons from his first wife, at six-foot-three, he towers over everyone in the family. His fine limp hair is the color of seed corn, with an almost metallic sheen, unlike his full brothers whose hair color ranges from reddish-brown to sandy/dirty blonde. He is a throwback to his mother's family, tall, golden-haired people whose family legends claim descent from Swedish Vikings.

Indeed, Jasper might question that he is in fact Joshua's father, except for his eyes. They are a dark-purple, tinted-gray, like the clouds of a thunderstorm. Just like Jasper's.

Jasper walks among the horses and young riders in the front yard, inspecting their equipment and displaying his authority. He nods at them sternly as they begin to ride away. Behind his eyes, he's saying a silent prayer for the safety of all and the eventual safe return of his son and stepson.

To San Antonio

Joshua Daniel is thoroughly enjoying the ride. The better part of a week away from the ranch, with the never-ending chores and the often-unpleasant company of his demanding father and cold, distant stepmother sound like a little bit of heaven, in spite of the possibility of danger. He would far prefer to spend his time with his cheerful older stepbrother and cousins.

Adding to the sense of a lark are the presence of two of the family dogs, who refused to go home after they left sight of the homestead, despite having rocks halfheartedly thrown at them. Joshua loves the dogs, and they could also be valuable as sentinels, providing warning of the proximity of Indians or other dangers.

The weather is as good as it can be expected in the latter half of October. It has started out chilly but has turned sultry at the approach of the afternoon. Although it is autumn, there is still plenty of green in the countryside. The sunshine makes the day bright and cheerful.

They follow the dusty, rocky road through groves of live oak, post oak, pecan, and persimmon trees among others. The grass is headed out, the seedheads of bluestem, sideoats grama, and blue grama grass provide plenty of forage for their horses.

There is plenty of open country between the ranches, farms, and villages on their way to the city. Along with the typical Anglo-American names, the places often have either Spanish or, in the opinion of Joshua, clumsy sounding Teutonic names; names like Steingarten, Wilhelmsberg, and Bauernhof.

Although Joshua had a German mother, has a German stepmother, and has spent well over half of his life in this area where both Spanish and German are almost as commonly heard as English, he has obstinately refused to learn either tongue. It's a mark of the quiet stubbornness that is a cornerstone of his personality.

He still clings to the distant memories of the verdant hills of Appalachia as sort of a lost paradise and has neither accepted Texas as his home nor Anna as his mother.

He has, however, come to view the kind, humorous Martin as both a family member and probably his best friend. He has also bonded with the younger children, the offspring of Jasper and Anna. With them, he is affectionate, gentle, and funny, instead of showing the sullen, taciturn face he generally employs when dealing with his elders.

As they clop through the rolling hills, which are clad primarily with scrub oaks, punctuated by occasional wild fruit and nut trees, as well as some mesquites in lower elevations, Joshua notices some details of the entourage. He and Martin are riding a couple of the farm horses. His horse is named Mabel, an old sorrel mare with a sweet, almost-pet-like disposition.

Martin is riding an old chestnut gelding who dates back to the days before his father was killed by Comanches. This horse is called Klaus and has a similar almost affectionate nature.

Both Malcolm and Amanda are riding spirited horses procured from California rancheros before departing that state.

Their father migrated to that state with his family in tow, about the same time Joshua's father departed for Texas. They went out seeking gold at the tail end of the gold rush and found all the claims were all taken. But they found prosperity selling the miners dry goods. Their parents left back for North Carolina upon learning that Grampa McDavid had died, and the old family place needed somebody to take care of it. They left Malcolm and Andrea behind to look after the California business, and it continued to prosper.

But upon the outbreak of the Civil War, they felt obliged to return to their native state, which they had barely known, to support their parents.

Unlike their parents, who returned to the east by sea, Malcolm and Amanda have chosen the far more arduous overland route, since the Union states have imposed maritime blockades with their navy.

They are traveling with Malcolm's mule, Blossom, in tow. She is being used as a pack animal, carrying the camp equipment felt necessary since there is a young lady in their party.

They are heavily armed. Joshua is carrying an ancient, obsolete, tired flintlock rifle given to him by his grampa when the family moved from North Carolina. Grampa McDavid called it a Kentucky Rifle, although it was, in fact, made by a Pennsylvania gunsmith. Grampa claimed that it dated to the Revolutionary War. It certainly looks like it. Despite its age, Joshua has learned to operate the piece well and is able to load it efficiently and kill a turkey at one hundred paces.

Joshua is also carrying an equally decrepit flintlock pistol and his prize possession, a Bowie knife with a razor-sharp, fourteen-inch blade. It is angled at the end of the blade, with both edges sharpened for slashing. It is an amazingly versatile tool, sturdy enough to split wood and nimble enough to clean and skin a rabbit.

Martin is taking a muzzle-loading shotgun, and what he calls his pig sticker—a sort of oversized, thirteen-inch, double-edged dagger. It has indeed been used in bleeding hogs.

Malcolm and Amanda have a pair of modern Colt cap and ball revolvers, provided by their business when they sold out to move back east. They also have a couple of more modern muzzle-loading rifles. Amanda is also carrying a little Philadelphia derringer in her bag. A similar weapon will be used to kill the US president in about four years' time. Living in wild and woolly gold rush California has taught her and Malcolm how to take care of themselves.

They travel on, passing the widely spaced ranch and farmhouses. As the afternoon approaches, they snack on fried chicken and bread packed for them by Anna. It would probably be wise for the party to take the hospitality of one of the families who reside here, rather than facing the insecurity of sleeping outside tonight. But they are enjoying their freedom and don't want to impose on anybody. Besides, it's not a full moon, so Indian-raiding parties would be less likely to be encountered. The warriors like full moons since it allows them to travel and navigate at night.

They plod along through the day, through the somewhat monotonous landscape of rolling hills and scrub oaks punctuated by occasional naked bluffs of limestone atop ridges or on the edges of creeks.

Near dusk, they camp next to a live spring. There is a pool deep enough to bathe in, and the boys allow Amanda privacy while she cleans up. Later, she allows the boys the chance to bathe as well. All three strip off their clothes and jump into the