Home to Texas: Recollections of a Texas Badman - Part 5

Men of Harlech! young or hoary,
Would you win a name in story?
Stike for home, for life, for glory!
Freedom, God and Right!

every man should have a weapon to hand at all times. he had damn well be able to use it too. I have had many a pretty weapon in my life, and they have all been of much use to me.

my favorite one has been my saber as soon as I got aholt of it. I didnt know how to use it, but it just felt right in my hand. it was a goddammed yankees officers sword, and I took it off one of their cavalrymen I had shot from ambush. I had took it as a spoil of war, sos I could hang it over the door when I got back. of course I started playin with it, and decided I wanted to give it a try. liutenat scmidt didnt know how to use his more then just takin a whack at enemys, but he asked the captain, whod gone to VMI, to show me how. the captain was happy to impart his teachin, and the next battle we was in I got to givin it a try. I only fired off one pistol before swingin that saber. there is a feelin of pure victory when you cut a man down. when you swing the saber right, and dont hit him too hard, you get the feelin of cuttin a nice chunk of beefsteak. not from the feelin to your hand, but the satisfaction of it. I used the saber as much as I could after that. This was right towards 1862, sos I got a lot of goddammed yankee blood on that saber.

By Leslie, Frank, 1821-1880 [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons

them Le Mat pistols are also favorites. they were both CSA, which was good cause of the navy had a smaller round both in the grapeshot tube and in the rounds. mine were .40, 8 around the 18 guage tube. I didnt get ahold of em until 1863, though, and had used the Colts, and my saber til then. I got the first one off a dead officer, and after that kept my eyes open for another one, or a loose one. I found one, and I did leave the man with a good pistol in return, though I bet he wasnt happy about that when he found out about the swap.

The Grey was as much as a weapon as any I ever carried. he loved the War as much as I did. I dont think he had any training on war before I set my saddle on him, but he was happy to rear up and use his hoofs on any goddammed yankee I couldnt reach any other way. I wouldnt even have to tell him to do it. I remember many a time when I heard his hoof make a nice hollow clunk in kicking off a goddammed yankees head. I have been told he was an ugly horse, and if youda tried to sell him as a ridin horse, I dont think youda had any buyers. cept that every cavalryman that ever saw him wanted him without even sein him in battle. he looked like a steam engine, but not like a big ol drafthorse. his head was shaped funny, and he had the devils light in his eyes, but you could see that he would run strong. he had a temper, though he never used it on me. I seen him kick at any that come too close to him, but when I stolt him from his owner before, he didnt even knicker. I had loved horses, and ridin fast through the brush and gully jumpin, but since The Grey got killed, horses dont interest me cept they beat the hell outa walkin. aint no other horse in Jehovahs creation thats half the horse The Grey was. goddammed yankees.

the scatterguns I rode with since I left the ranchero was just double barrells cut down a bit to wheres I could use em from horseback. I figgered deershot would work pretty good for em. there is a few goddammed yankees, and some Comanches, and a few mexicans, and sundry other folk that would agree. or they would agree cept theyr dead. hahaha.

I usually had a coupla extra sixguns within easy reach. the La Mats were slow to reload. I always carried a .32 in my boot. I tried to keep the others on my horses, cause of I was already carryin around so much metal sometimes I didnt think I could walk. I figgered Id never get hit with a bullet either, it would just bounce off all the guns I carried around.

if there was room for a repeating rifle, Id have one. took one off a goddammed yankee scout at shiloh. seein as how I aint a good shot, I like to have a lot of bullets available. I lost that particular rifle when I lost The Grey. I have taken to acqurin one whenever possible after that.

the Comanche used the lance a lot, and I picked up the use of it whilst I was with em. The saber is easier, and funner to hit your man with, but there is a nice feelin to puttin him down with the lance. you could ride up alongside him and poke at him, or charge your horse at him, pull up short, and chuck the lance at him with the speed of the horse behind it. I carried it for a whils amongst the Comanche, but I figgered I was more famous as was good for me, just by stealin Heart-Catcher and usin the sword as much as I did. carryin a lance woulda made me stand out. I never used it after she died.

never did pick up the bow and arrow. the Comanche used to laff their asses bout clean off when I tried. bastards. of course they laffed at me cause a I wasnt a good hunter neither. but piss on em. Heart-Catcher slept in my teepee and theyd go off to sleep with a toothless squaw. dumb bastards.

Hollerin is a good weapon. Gits the blood up, sure as hell. The rebel yell, a Comanche war cry, the grito. all of em, and I can holler any of em best as a native son, will put the love of spillin blood into your heart when theres a battle to be fought. Cant be fraid of war when your hollerin your fool head off.

I never used a knife that much. I carried a arkansas toothpick I bought in looisiana on the way to sign up, but never had to use it til I came back to new orleans. I figger if somebodys that close, just makes it easier to shoot em.

John Stevens:
It was my mother's great shame that Wallace loved killing and war. I don't think it was a lack of teaching on her part, although Wallace was stubborn about only learning the things that interested him. Most men do not like killing or danger, It makes them sick. There are men who are by nature fighters and killers. That was Wallace.

Wallace had never been much for singing before the war. After the war, he sang a lot, and they were always songs of battle. He had also began quoting bits of verse here and there, sometimes about romance, and then only when he was thinking about his Comanche girl or about Gabriela. The rest of his verse was always about war. Singing and reading were the better habits he had picked up by riding to the colors.