This waymarked historic marker was originally erected in 1926 at 51st St. and Old Manor Road (Old Texas Highway 20) by family members of the men who were attacked by local Indians in 1832, while locating lands for colonists during the early days of Austin's Colony.
Sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, the marker was relocated to Bartholomew Park at the corner of 51st St. and Berkman Drive.
The marker was accepted by the Texas State historical commission as an official state historic marker in 1936, and a bronze plate was attached to the foot of the original red granite monument.
The monument reads as follows:
"IN MEMORIAM
Marking the spot where
JOSIAH PUGH WILBARGER
Of Austin’s Colony was stabbed and scalped by the Indians in 1832 while locating lands for the Colonies.
Born in Bourbon Co., KY, September 10, 1801
Died in Bastrop Co. TX, April 11, 1845
A true pioneer and a patriot.
We honor the spirit of sacrifice.
Reverenced and directed by his descendents.
[bronze plaque affixed to the foot of the monument by the State]
In Memory of Thomas Christian, William Strother and Josiah Wilbarger,
Members of a party of five who were attacked near here by Indians in August, 1833. Christian and Strother were killed, Wilbarger was scalped and eventually died of his wounds. The other two escaped."
From the Save Texas History website: (
visit link)
"The name Wilbarger appears on Texas maps in the form of Wilbarger County, in north-central Texas, as well as Wilbarger Creek, near Austin. They are named in honor of Josiah Pugh Wilbarger, a man whose experiences truly personified the thrilling, and hazardous lifestyle of a pioneer on the Texas frontier.[1]
Wilbarger was born in the United States on September 10, 1801. He moved to Mexican Texas as part of Stephen F. Austin’s “Little Colony” in 1827 after getting married.[2] As a married man, he was granted a title for a league of land (4,428 acres), which he located in Bastrop County at the mouth of what is now known as Wilbarger Creek. This grant can be found in the Archives of the General Land Office.[3]
In August of 1833, Wilbarger rode with a group of men to survey land a few miles outside of Austin,[4] a particularly dangerous affair for many reasons. As they stopped to rest, they were ambushed by a group of Comanche Indians.[5] They ran for cover behind scant trees and fired back. Wilbarger first received an arrow through his calf and another wound in his hip. As he continued to fight, he was hit by an arrow in the other leg and was shot through the neck with a bullet shortly after, which temporarily paralyzed him. Two in his party were killed, two escaped, and Wilbarger was left for dead. Conscious but paralyzed, he had to watch as the two men who were killed in the attack were mutilated. Assuming he was dead, the Native American party also scalped Wilbarger.[6]
As night fell, Wilbarger, feeble from loss of blood and severe wounds that had quickly been infested with flies and maggots, waned in and out of consciousness. He was able to drag himself to a pool to drink water, but soon collapsed at the foot of a large Post Oak tree while attempting to make a three-quarters-of-a-mile trek to the home of Reuben Hornsby. Wilbarger claimed that while lying beneath the tree, he saw his sister approach him. She insisted he was too weak to travel and that help from friends would arrive, before she drifted off in the direction of the Hornsby home. Wilbarger later discovered that his sister had died the previous day in Missouri.
That evening, after Wilbarger was reported dead by the two men who had escaped, Mrs. Hornsby awoke from vivid dreams in which she saw Wilbarger scalped?—?but alive?—?lying underneath a tree. After falling back asleep and immediately seeing the same image, she woke Mr. Hornsby and “urged the men at the house to start to Wilbarger’s relief.”
The men were indeed able to locate Wilbarger in the same state that matched Mrs. Hornsby’s visions, and he was taken to the Hornsbys’ home to be nursed back to health. Miraculously, Wilbarger survived his ordeal, but his scalp never fully healed, and a portion of his weakened skull always remained exposed. He died on April 11, 1845 after hitting his head on a low door frame. He was buried near his home, and in 1936 was reinterred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
The tale of Josiah Wilbarger, originally told by witnesses from the Hornsbys’ home and by Wilbarger himself, spread throughout the colony, and was eventually written down by a family friend[7] and one of Wilbarger’s brothers.
The tale of Wilbarger’s survival has persisted through the years as a gruesome example of the dangers and adversity of life on the Texas frontier.
Today, while traveling in air conditioned comfort on Highway 290 from Austin towards Manor, a small bridge bears a green sign which reads “Wilbarger Creek.” Below the bridge, the creek named in honor of the courageous frontiersman flows on toward the Colorado River, serving as a reminder of Texas’ frontier days.
[1] “Wilbarger Creek (Travis County),” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rbw88), accessed January 06, 2016. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[2] Roy A. Clifford, “Wilbarger, Josiah Pugh,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwi08), accessed January 06, 2016. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[3] Title for Josiah Wilbarger, 22 June 1832, Box 18, Folder 4, Spanish Collection, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin.
[4] Near the present day intersection of 51st Street and Manor Road in east Austin, according to the Texas Historical Commission’s Historic Sites Atlas, atlas number 5507016095, accessed March 28, 2016. (https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5507016095/print)
[5] Some accounts say it was a group of Kickapoo who attacked the scouting group.
[6] Texas State Cemetery Research Department, Biographical Sketch of Josiah Wilbarger
(http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=18), accessed February 16, 2016.
[7] John Henry Brown, Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas. Austin: L. E. Daniell, Publisher, 1880.
J.W. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas, Austin, TX: Hutchings Printing House, 1889, 7–14."