Bird Creek Indian Battle
Temple, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
May 26, 1839 This marker commemorates the death of Captain John Bird, Sergeant William Weaver, Jesse E. Nash, H.M.C. Hall, Thomas Gay, and the heroic and successful battle of a Ranger force of 34 against 240 Indians. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On May 26, 1839, a small Ranger force of 34 men under Captain John Bird clashed with a far larger body of Native warriors near this site during the Republic of Texas's violent frontier era. Bird and several of his men were killed in the fighting, an episode the State of Texas marked in 1936 to honor the fallen. The engagement was one of countless bloody encounters as the young republic pushed its settlement line into Comanche and allied territory.
Why it matters
It marks the relentless frontier warfare between Texas settlers and Native nations that shaped the republic's expansion and its human cost.
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Related people
- · Capt. John Bird
- · William Weaver
- · Jesse E. Nash
- · H.M.C. Hall
- · Thomas Gay
Related events
- · Bird Creek fight (1839)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bird Creek Battlefield
Temple, TX
On May 26, 1839, Captain John Bird and a company of just 34 Texas Rangers clashed here with a far larger force of some 240 Native fighters during the Republic of Texas era. Bird was killed in the fight, but his outnumbered command reportedly drove off their opponents. The engagement was one of many bloody frontier skirmishes as Anglo settlement pushed into Central Texas.
K.M. Jones Family Cemetery
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This Bell County family burial ground took its name when Keeton McLemore Jones was laid to rest here in 1890. A farmer and stage stop operator, Jones had fought in the Texas War for Independence, guarding the baggage camp opposite Harrisburg during the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto before moving his large family to the Howard community in 1865. His wife Laura Ann and a granddaughter rest beside him, making the plot a compact monument to one pioneering Texas clan.
John Leggett Marshall
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An Illinois native, John Leggett Marshall came to Texas in 1829 and enlisted in 1836 to fight for independence, taking part in the San Jacinto campaign alongside four brothers in Captain Kuykendall's company. He joined the 1849 California Gold Rush and, on returning, settled in Bell County in 1853, where he farmed and worked as a blacksmith. He married three times and raised nine children.
Norman Austin
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