The town on Nixon sits upon what was once a grassland prairie, referred to as the “The Cradle”, stretching from the Guadalupe River to the Atascosa/Nueces Rivers and from the Camino Real to the Gulf Coast. Within in this area many contributions to Texas History took place. It was here that the American Cowboy was born; the American Quarter Horse originated; the first Texas Ranger outposts were established; the first cattle drives out of state began here. It was the home range for the largest ranch in Colonial Texas which covered almost two million acres.. It was also here where the first open range laws were written in the state of Texas, resulting in the vicious Taylor-Sutton feud and the emergence of the famous Gunfighter, John Wesley Hardin.
Cattle had been brought into “the Cradle” in 1689 by Spanish explorers, and over several decades, had gone wild and multiplied many times over. Spanish ranches were established some years later in the region and the Vaquero Culture sprang out of the business of capturing and caring for these wild cattle. In the 1820’s Anglo settlers began to arrive and adapted the ways and the life style of the Vaquero, and soon the Texas Cowboy was born in this new environment.
In the early days of Texas history, wild horses roamed the prairies of “The Cradle”. They were descendants of horses who had escaped the herds of the local missions and the nearby Spanish ranches. In the 1850’s new settlers arrived and brought with them some of the finest race horses in the Americas. These pioneer breeders soon developed bloodlines that would become the foundation stock of what we today recognize as the American Quarter Horse.
The first cattle drive out of Texas occurred in 1779, when wild cattle were gathered from the grasslands of “The Cradle” and herded eastward towards markets in Louisiana. These cattle were destined to feed the armies fighting the British during the American Revolution. This early cattle trail ran across the lands of the Espiritu Santo Ranch, crossed the Guadalupe River below Cuero, across the many rivers of East Texas and on to the markets in Louisiana.
The Espiritu Santo Ranch was the largest ranch in Colonial Texas. It was approximately 90 miles long and 35 miles wide, at its widest point and covered approximately 2 million acres. It contained most of the lands between the San Antonio and the Guadalupe Rivers, with its headquarters being located in the Espiritu Santo Mission in Goliad.
At the time Texas broke away from Mexico in 1836, the fierce and warlike Comanche Indians occupied “The Cradle”. As new settlers moved into the area, they be welcomed by the Comanche with vicious and murderous raids. Some plan had to be implemented to protect the settlers from these vicious attacks. It was decided to revise a plan that Austin had put in place during colonial times, to authorize small groups of men to “range” over the countryside to protect settlers, with each having to furnish his own gun, ammunition, his own horse, saddle and clothing during a three-month enlistment. They were to receive half the pay of a regular soldier. These four original ranger outposts were established within “The Cradle”, with each outpost consisting of 56 men and 3 officers. The ranks of these companies were filled primarily with volunteers who were native to the area.
Soon after the end of the Civil War a market for cattle was established along the newly constructed railroad in Abilene, Kansas. Cattle that were bringing only $3-4 in local Texas markets, were now worth $40 per head in Abilene. Cattle drives to Kansas started as soon as Texas cattlemen could gather a herd. There was soon to be tremendous competition for these wild cattle since that had no owner and ran upon open range that was claimed by no one.
Ownership problems began to immediately surface. Some type of “Range Laws” had to be established. Each area tried to protect their own against outsiders. The first published “Range Laws” of Texas came out of Rancho, Texas, March 20, 1866, and were published in the San Antonio Herald. The stated rule was all the cattle that roam in a certain area belong to local stockmen and trespasser will be receive “prompt justice”.
The enforcement of these range laws was brutal. Guns were drawn , shots were fired, ropes were stretched around the necks of the opposition. Everyone had to take sides, as the range war grew and dozens were killed. Overtime, the conflict expanded and everyone lost sight of why it started and who started it. It had evolved from a range war to a feud and finally into a vendetta for revenge, which raged in this area for almost 20 years.
John Wesley Hardin rode into Gonzales County in February of 18 71. He was just stopping by to see his Uncle Joe Clements and his cousins. He was headed south to Mexico in order to escape the dreaded State Police, who were trying to hunt him down. Young Wes had constantly been on the run for the last two years and during that time he has killed 12 men. He had stopped where, in all the world there was perhaps no other spot where violence was so concentrated as in Gonzales county and neighboring De Witt county, where mob violence reigned supreme. He choose to stay and was swallowed up in the violence within “The Cradle”. He was to become the most infamous gunfighter in the old west.
