Battle of Stone Houses

After the Fort Parker Massacre, a short period of peace came but on November 10, 1837, a battle was fought near where present day Windthorst, Texas is located, directly as a result of an incident which occurred in October of 1837. In October of 1837, a force of Anishinabe Soldiers launched a raid on Fort Smith. In response to the Anishinabe assault on Fort Smith, a force of Texas Rangers, probably armed with revolvers, was ordered to pursue Anishinabe Soldiers who had attacked Fort Smith. That be on the 13th of October or some 3 days after Anishinabe Soldiers attacked Fort Smith. During the pursuit, the Texas Rangers became quarrelsome with each other, which led to the force breaking up into two groups. The dispute among the Texas Rangers was over losing the trail of Anishinabe Soldiers. One group of Texas Rangers, actually discovered the trail of the fleeing Anishinabe Soldiers near Brazos River.

After resuming the trail which Anishinabe Soldiers were fleeing on, the Texas Rangers eventually caught up to them on November 10, 1837, and one of their own, initiated the battle by killing one of the Anishinabe ogimak (chiefs), which led to Anishinabe Soldiers attacking the small force of Texas Rangers who had no choice but to abandon their horses to flee to a nearby ravine for protection. Seeing their white enemy flee into the ravine, Anishinabe commanders ordered their soldiers to set the grass around the ravine on fire to force the white Soldiers out. It worked out very well for Anishinabe Soldiers. At least 4 white Soldiers were killed before the fire began, and 6 more were killed after they attempted to escape from the inferno around them. The remaining 8 white Soldiers were lucky to have made it to a settlement on the Sabine River on November 27. They had no horses and probably traveled by night. Anishinabe casualties were 2 killed.