Teacup Mountain
Junction, Kimble County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for its peculiar formation. Probably used as a lookout post by both whites and Indians in pioneer days. Near here occurred the Indian killing of pioneer James Bradberry, Sr., 1872; and the capture of a wanted man by LT. N. O. Reynolds and four fellow Texas Rangers in 1878.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Rising over the Kimble County landscape, distinctively shaped Teacup Mountain served as a natural lookout for both Native peoples and settlers in pioneer days. The rugged country around it saw the frontier violence of the 1870s, including the 1872 killing of settler James Bradberry, Sr. In 1878 Texas Rangers under Lt. N. O. Reynolds captured a wanted man nearby.
Why it matters
The peak stands as a landmark of the contested West Texas frontier, where Rangers, settlers, and Native peoples clashed over the land in the 1870s.
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Related people
- · James Bradberry, Sr.
- · N. O. Reynolds
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Killing of Sam Speer
Junction, TX
On Christmas Eve 1876, seventeen-year-old Sam Speer was killed by a band of Indians while driving horses near this spot, his brother's large-caliber rifle failing to fire in the moment. Recorded as the last such killing in Kimble County, the event marked the closing of an era of frontier conflict along the Llano; Speer rests in the North Llano Cemetery.
Kimble County
Junction, TX
This hill country along the Llano was home to Jumano and Apache peoples when Spanish explorers passed through in the 1600s and 1700s, before the Comanche came to dominate the region by the mid-1800s. Frontier forts and the Texas Rangers guarded the area as Anglo settlement pushed westward, and the county was organized in 1876, named for an Alamo defender. Long troubled by outlaws until the Rangers restored order in the 1880s, it settled into a livelihood of sheep and goat ranching for wool and mohair.
Vicinity of Bradbury Settlement
Junction, TX
Where the North and South Llano rivers meet, frontiersman James Bradbury, Sr. built one of Kimble County's earliest settlements, arriving with six children after his wife's death. His cluster of picket and log buildings included a blacksmith shop for mending guns and tools, and families lived off ranching supplemented by fish, game, honey, and even cured bear meat. Bradbury was killed in an Indian fight in 1872, and by 1875 his land had passed to Dr. E. K. Kountz.
Isaac Kountz
Junction, TX
On Christmas Eve, 1876, sixteen-year-old Isaac Kountz was killed on this spot while herding his father's sheep in Kimble County, one of countless flashpoints of violence on the Texas frontier. His younger brother Sebastian, only eleven, escaped, and a posse joined by Texas Rangers pursued the raiders to the Guadalupe River. Isaac was buried in the Junction Cemetery, and the marker recalls the perils that shadowed even the youngest members of settler families.