Sallie B. Bowman - Deep Creek Cemetery - Boyd, TX
N 33° 06.964 W 097° 31.229
14S E 638035 N 3665128
Sallie B. Bowman was only sixteen when she was a victim of a Comanche attack in what was then very wild country. She is buried in historic Deep Creek Cemetery, not far from Boyd, TX.
Waymark Code: WM1001D
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/30/2019
Views: 2
Sue Tackel's great website for Wise County has a quote from
The Pioneer History of Wise County by Cliff D. Cates (1907), noting this young lady's final ride on March 7, 1868. Note that this was common writing style and terminology at the time, and may not be for those who are too easily offended and unwilling to peel away the hyperbole to get to the story.
"At the close of the war there lived a family by the name of Bowman in a picturesque valley on Deep Creek. Besides being a farmer the head of the house was a physician by profession; he also owned a large bunch of fine horses which, miraculously enough, he had brought safely through the trying period of war. These latter had been consigned to the careful judgment and expert horsemanship of Miss Sallie Bowman, a courageous young daughter about eighteen years of age.
Fresh tracks later discovered on both sides of a creek, made by her own horse and those of the Indians, indicated that the creek had been the starting point of her pursuit by the Indians. Down the bank towards her dashed the redskins, and she, wild with fright, wheeled and turned her fleet horse’s head in the direction of home. Over the prairies sped the frenzied girl turning now and then to gaze on the rapidly gaining demons whom she know would give no quarter.
The deplorable climax came within view of the home of a neighbor named Jones. Mrs. Jones stepped into the yard and viewed a scene which froze her to the spot. Three giant, red demons were bearing down upon a defenseless girl fleeing for her life. Two treacherous arms were thrust forward, two gun reports rent the air, and Sallie Bowman reeled in her saddle and rolled to the ground, dead. Two bullets were in her back, fired at such close range as to set fire to her clothing."
Sallie's marble headstone is near the back of the cemetery, which, due to vandalism, can only be reached by foot. The plinth notes that it was "Purchased and Erected by Deep Creek Community", and there are calla lilies at the top on each side. The inscription reads:
Sallie B.
Dau. of
G.F. & Mary J.
Bowman.
Born
Jan. 1, 1852.
Killed by Comanche Indians
on Deep Creek, Wise, Co., Tex.
Mar. 2, 1868.
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