From GRF Newsletter June 1991:
Cebe Goins Killed by Indians
At Salt Gap, Texas in 1861
By A. B. Reagan
Brady, Texas, July 15, 1936
[This account was first published in “Handbook of
McCulloch County, Texas.” Cebe Goins is identified as
Seaborn Goins, who was born in 1822 to Jeremiah Goins
and Sharofina Drake Goins who emigrated to Texas in 1834
from Choctaw Nation in Mississippi via Louisiana.]
Cebe Goins was the first white man killed by Indians in what is
now McCulloch County. This happened in May 1861 while
camped in Salt Gap, and his body was buried on the spot where
he was killed.
During the spring of 1861, Cebe Goins who ranched on
Richland Creek, some five miles west of the present town of
Richland Springs went with neighbors, Nabors and Hysaw, to
the prairies lying immediately north of the Brady Mountains for
the purpose of catching wild horses. It seems they were very
desirous of catching two beautiful stallions which had been
spotted and were known to range in that vicinity. The trip was
made more for the sport of catching these two horses than for
the necessity of owning them.
The hunt for the horses was made on a misty, rainy day. Visibility
was bad that day, and the men failed to find the horses.
They rode back into Salt Gap and camped for the night under a
forked liveoak tree which stood near the little creek which
wormed its way northward between the two mountains.
Near the camp was a bunch of smaller trees, 40 or 50 yards
away where the men tied their horses for the night. Near the
camp was a little spring coming from under a rock which afforded
water for camping purposes. After supper, they spread
their blankets on the wet ground under the liveoak tree, and all
lay down to sleep for the night on one pallet, all three sleeping
in the same bed. Being tired, they soon dropped off to sleep
without the slightest knowledge that they had been watched
from the mountain peaks above them by a ruthless savage foe
who sought only such an opportunity to murder them while they
slept.
During the night, a band of Indians had stealthily crept into
camp, untied their saddle horses and led them out into the
darkness. After this was done, the Indians then crept up the
little branch to a point within 40 feet of the camp where the men
slept in the quietude and shot a volley of arrows into the
sleeping forms. Cebe Goins happened to be sleeping on the side
nearer the attackers, lying on his back with his arm thrown over
his head. An arrow was shot through his body, under his arm.
The man sleeping next to Cebe was sorely wounded, but not
fatally, and the third man was not hurt. He immediately jumped
behind the liveoak tree and attempted to return the fire with his
pistol, but the gun misfired.
He helped his wounded companion flee into the darkness which
was their only shield. They immediately began their return to
the home of Cebe Goins where they made their report after three
days on foot.
There was at that time in San Saba County a company of 25
men under the command of Capt. W. R. Woods known as
“Minute Men.” They were men who were obligated to rush at a
minute’s notice to rendezvous in case of an Indian attack. A
portion of this company had their meeting place at Richland
Springs. When it was reported that Cebe Goins had been killed,
10 of these rangers were immediately into the saddle.
The distance to be traveled was about 50 miles, through the
wilderness and without a road to travel. The men approached
the Gap from the north side of the mountain where they turned
south into the Gap. In the company was Cal Montgomery and
19-year-old Warren Hudson.
“When we rode in, the sun was reflecting off a bright object
about a half mile away,” recalled Montgomery, “and we rode
straight to it.” “It was a tin cup sitting on a rock just above
the little spring. There we found the camp and the body of
Cebe Goins lying on the pallet with an arrow shot through
his body, pinning the blanket to his side. The body was so
badly decomposed that it could not be moved, and we dug a
shallow grave beside the body. We rolled the blanket
around the body and placed it in the grave.”
Forty-eight years later, in 1909, Cal Montgomery made an appeal
to the citizens of McCulloch County to place a marker over
the grave of Cebe Goins. Several search parties went to the
location, but the landmarks could not be located after a half
century. Even Warren Hudson, a member of the burial party,
went along on one search with Jack and John Beasley, Newt
Craig and A. B. Reagan, but it, too was unsuccessful. Hudson,
at that time old and nearly blind, gave a minute description of
the site, but the search ended in failure. He recalled that he cut
an arrowhead out of the forked liveoak tree where one of the
men took refuge behind when his pistol failed to fire. The
arrowhead had been driven into the tree so deep that Hudson
had to dig into it the full length of his pocket knife blade before
he could extract the arrowhead.
From GRF Newsletter July 2000:
Seaborn “Cebe’ Goins Killed by Indians At Salt Gap, Texas in 1861
By A. B. Reagan
Brady, Texas, July 15, 1936
[This account was first published in “Handbook of McCul-
loch County, Texas.” Cebe Goins is identified as Sea-
born Goins, who was born in 1822 to Jeremiah Goins and
Sarofina Drake Goins who emigrated to Texas in 1834 from
Louisiana.]
Cebe Goins was the first white man killed by Indians in
what is now McCulloch County. This happened in May 1861
while camped in Salt Gap, and his body was buried on the
spot where he was killed.
During the spring of 1861, Cebe Goins who ranched on Rich-
land Creek, some five miles west of the present town of
Richland Springs went with neighbors, Nabors and Hysaw,
to the prairies lying immediately north of the Brady Moun-
tains for the purpose of catching wild horses. It seems
they were very desirous of catching two beautiful stal-
lions which had been spotted and were known to range in
that vicinity. The trip was made more for the sport of
catching these two horses than for the necessity of own-
ing them.
The hunt for the horses was made on a misty, rainy day.
Visibility was bad that day, and the men failed to find
the horses. They rode back into Salt Gap and camped for
the night under a forked liveoak tree which stood near
the little creek which wormed its way northward between
the two mountains.
Near the camp was a bunch of smaller trees, 40 or 50 yards
away where the men tied their horses for the night. Near
the camp was a little spring coming from under a rock
which afforded water for camping purposes. After supper,
they spread their blankets on the wet ground under the
liveoak tree, and all lay down to sleep for the night on
one pallet, all three sleeping in the same bed. Being
tired, they soon dropped off to sleep without the slight-
est knowledge that they had been watched from the moun-
tain peaks above them by a ruthless savage foe who sought
only such an opportunity to murder them while they slept.
During the night, a band of Indians had stealthily crept
into camp, untied their saddle horses and led them out in-
to the darkness. After this was done, the Indians then
crept up the little branch to a point within 40 feet of
the camp where the men slept in the quietude and shot a
volley of arrows into the sleeping forms. Cebe Goins hap-
pened to be sleeping on the side nearer the attackers, ly-
ing on his back with his arm thrown over his head. An ar-
row was shot through his body, under his arm. The man
sleeping next to Cebe was sorely wounded, but not fatally,
and the third man was not hurt. He immediately jumped be-
hind the liveoak tree and attempted to return the fire
with his pistol, but the gun misfired.
He helped his wounded companion flee into the darkness
which was their only shield. They immediately began
their return to the home of Cebe Goins where they made
their report after three days on foot.
There was at that time in San Saba County a company of
25 men under the command of Capt. W. R. Woods known as
“Minute Men.” They were men who were obligated to rush
at a minute’s notice to rendezvous in case of an Indian
attack. A portion of this company had their meeting
place at Richland Springs. When it was reported that
Cebe Goins had been killed, 10 of these rangers were im-
mediately into the saddle.
The distance to be traveled was about 50 miles, through
the wilderness and without a road to travel. The men
approached the Gap from the north side of the mountain
where they turned south into the Gap. In the company
was Cal Montgomery and 19-year-old Warren Hudson.
“When we rode in, the sun was reflecting off a bright ob-
ject about a half mile away,” recalled Montgomery, “and
we rode straight to it.” “It was a tin cup sitting on a
rock just above the little spring. There we found the
camp and the body of Cebe Goins lying on the pallet with
an arrow shot through his body, pinning the blanket to
his side. The body was so badly decomposed that it could
not be moved, and we dug a shallow grave beside the body.
We rolled the blanket around the body and placed it in
the grave.”
Forty-eight years later, in 1909, Cal Montgomery made an
appeal to the citizens of McCulloch County to place a
marker over the grave of Cebe Goins. Several search par-
ties went to the location, but the landmarks could not be
located after a half century. Even Warren Hudson, a mem-
ber of the burial party, went along on one search with
Jack and John Beasley, Newt Craig and A. B. Reagan, but
it, too was unsuccessful. Hudson, at that time, old and
nearly blind, gave a minute description of the site, but
he search ended in failure. He recalled that he cut an
arrowhead out of the forked liveoak tree where one of the
men took refuge behind when his pistol failed to fire.
The arrowhead had been driven into the tree so deep that
Hudson had to dig into it the full length of his pocket
knife blade before he could extract the arrowhead.
Goyen Family Tree 