From: THE PROMISED LAND – A HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY, TEXAS by James C. White © Public Domain
Submitted by Clay Riley – The Success of Brown county’s pioneer settlers in finally overcoming the menace of Indian depredations and in firmly establishing themselves in the new country was due very largely to the capable and courageous leadership of Brooks W. Lee. He was a modest and unassuming man, but he brought to his new home here ten years of active experience in dealing with Indians, and an inherited fearlessness that made him an ideal frontiersman.
Typical of his spirit of daring as well as of his skill, he rode alone through the Indian Territory in 1846, when he was twenty years old, while traveling from Missouri to Texas. During the ensuing years he was an Indian fighter, peace emissary of the federal government in negotiations with the Indians, Texas Ranger, Confederate soldier, trail driver, cattle raiser and pioneer homesteader.
From the time of his arrival in Brown county until Indians no longer were seen here, there was hardly a skirmish with the savages in which he was not a participant. Brooks W. Lee was a native of Tennessee, where he was born January 25, 1826. While he was still a young boy, his father moved to Newton county, Missouri, and in 1846 young Lee traveled alone to Texas. A year later his father and others of the family joined him in Texas, during the first year of this commonwealth’s statehood, the family settling after a time on Tehuacana Creek in Navarro county.
About 1852 the family moved to McLennan county. Brooks Lee and Miss Keziah Adams, a daughter of Ichabod Adams, another Brown county pioneer, were married in McLennan County in 1854. During the first years after he reached Texas Mr. Lee was sent by President Polk to call the Indians to assemble for peace negotiations, and with three others went as far as the Platte River.
The story is told that while on this trip the man came in contact with a small band of Indians under the leadership of a chief named Santa Anna. They were camped at the base of a double mountain, which was named Santa Anna. The town by that name now stands at the base of this double mountain. This is one of the legendary stories of the origin of the name. Continuing this trip, Mr. Lee and his three associates were captured by Indians who held a council to determine whether or not to kill them. Lives of the party were saved by the efforts of a chief who was a friend of Lon Williams, Indian agent.
Mr. Lee and his father-in-law, Ichabod Adams, moved with their families into Brown County, arriving May 3, 1857. Already here were Welcome W. Chandler and family, Israel Clements and his wife, Charles Mullins and his sons, Jesse Hanna and his sons and possibly one or two other families. During the year, however, several other families joined the little settlement in Brown County, among the new arrivals being T. D. Harriss, W. F. Brown. David Baugh, George H. Adams and others. These men fought the battles of the early years, aiding each other not only in repelling Indian attacks but in overcoming the hardships presented by Nature in a new land far away from civilization.
Settlements in Comanche county were the nearest neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Lee were parents of ten children, eldest of whom, George L. (Bud) Lee was the third white child born in the county and the first boy born here. A son, Aaron D. Lee, still lives in Brownwood. After thirty-five years of residence in the county, Brooks Lee died in 1892, while all the county mourned his passing.
Brooks W. Lee was a member of the First Texas Ranger company stationed here. Funds were appropriated by the Legislature in 1858 to provide protection for the frontier counties, and Ichabod Adams was sent to Austin to ask that a company of Rangers be stationed here. The request was granted, but of the fifteen Rangers assigned to service here most of the men were Brown County citizens. They included Mr. Lee, ‘George H. Adams, A. E. Adams, H. C. Knight, George Isaacs, J. S. Harriss, Dick Germany, B. J. Marshall, Willis Holloway, W. L. Williams, Cyrus Ford, Avery Toby, Steve Derrick, John Herrige and Andrew Mather. Mr. Lee was placed in charge of this detachment, which was part of a company commanded by Captain John S. Ford and had the rank of lieutenant. This detachment of Rangers participated in many fights with Indians throughout this section of the state.
When the War of the Confederacy began Mr. Lee, along with his brother-in-law George Adams, joined the Southern forces. Brown County held an election in February, 1861 and ratified the ordinance of secession from the Union. Mrs. Lee, along with Mrs. Welcome W. Chandler and Miss Jane Chandler, found material and made a Confederate flag, which was raised at the Chandler home as a symbol of Brown County’s allegiance to the cause that was destined to be so cruelly defeated.
Shortly after this incident Mr. Lee, as a Confederate soldier assigned to frontier defense against the Indians, participated in what came near being an engagement of the Confederate War in this vicinity. When the secession convention met in Austin January 28, 1861, a committee of public safety was appointed, and delegated to look after protection of the frontiers. H. E. McCullough was given the rank of Colonel and appointed to command the frontier forces. McCullough reached Brownwood February 17, and five days later left for Camp Colorado in Coleman county at the head of a force of 200 men, including Mr. Lee and other Brown County Confederates.
The Camp Colorado post was under command of Captain E. Kirby Smith, in charge of the Second U.S. Cavalry. Colonel McCullough demanded the surrender of the post, together with all arms, horses and other equipment. Captain Smith demurred, but after conferences it was agreed that the post surrender, and that the men keep their arms and horses, and later surrender them to the Confederacy at a point designated on the Texas coast. Mr. Lee, continued to serve in the Confederate army, was appointed enrolling officer for the Western District of Texas.
After the war he resumed his civilian occupations in the county and was one of the fourteen Brown county men engaged in the tragic Dove Creek Indian fight January 8, 1865, in which he saved the lives of two small Indian boys. It was over his vigorous protest that this encounter occurred, he having rightly concluded that the Indians were friendly and should not be molested.
Mr. Lee was one of the first cattle raisers of this section, operating at a time when the Coggin brothers, W. C. Parks, J. L. Vaughn, L. P. Baugh, William Guthrie, John Bryson Jr., J. J. Driskill, John A. Glass, Elkins & Gholson and other early cattlemen were running immense herds in West Texas. The family home was moved in 1866 from the log cabin (1) on Pecan Bayou to the Clear Creek neighborhood, near the present town of Brookesmith. The ranch he established there is still operated by Aaron D. Lee. In 1869 Mr. Lee launched an undertaking that would be a staggering one even today.
Accompanied by his nephew, Brooks Lee, his brother-in-law, Ennis Adams, and Tom and Jack Wright and a negro named Wriley, he drove a herd of 2,000 cattle from Clear Creek to San Bernardino, California. This was only twenty years after the famous gold rush to the west coast. After many months of weary effort, the party drove the cattle through, taking the longer northern route because of a scarcity of water on the southern route. Upon arrival in California, however, it was found that the cattle could not be sold profitably. In the emergency Mr. Lee leased a tract of land, pastured the cattle for several months and then sold them. He returned home by boat, going all the way around Cape Horn and landing at Galveston two years after he had left home.
Mrs. Lee, who was just as courageous as her doughty husband, had heard nothing from him in the meantime and had reached the conclusion that he had lost his life. While she was cooking the noon meal one day she heard a familiar voice call her name and turned around to see her husband standing in the door. He had $40,000 worth of gold with him.
Mr. Lee had ridden a pony called ‘”Brownie” to California, and after he had sold his cattle he left Brownie with a man who was soon to return to Texas and promised to bring the horse home. Two years after Mr. Lee reached his home, the man came up one day with the horse and delivered him to his owner.
Mrs. Lee was also a native of Tennessee, where she was born March 31, 1840, daughter of Ichabod and Caroline Adams. The family came to Texas in 1850 and after a short time spent in Henderson County, moved to McLennan County where she and Mr. Lee were married. On more than one occasion she protected her own life and that of her family against threatened Indian attack.
Note; The cabin still existed as of 2014, within the walls of the barn on the homestead property. I visited it and the adjacent Brooks Lee Pioneer Cemetery at that time. – Clay Riley
Photos from: Brownwood Public Library, Local History & Genealogy Branch.
