Deer Creek, Battle of

In July 1869, Thomas Phelps and his wife, who operated a ranch near Cypress Creek three miles south of Round Mountain in Blanco County, were killed by Indians. A volunteer force of minute men formed in Blanco due to the increased frequency of raids. On August 15, 1872, Ten men, spurred by the sight of an Indian scout on the crest of a small hill near Deer Creek, charged around the hill into an ambush. George Roberts was wounded in the first volley and carried out of the line of fire. Seven of the eight remaining men held their ground, while Dan W. Roberts maneuvered to catch the Indians in a crossfire. He was wounded in the leg, and his companions abandoned the fight to carry him to the Johnson farmhouse, some three miles distant. Texas Rangers led by Capt. Cicero Rufus Perry returned to the scene of the fight, but the Indians had fled. Scouts who tracked the band out of the county described it as a party of twenty-nine well-armed warriors and claimed to have found four hastily dug graves along the trail. The ten men who fought the battle of Deer Creek (also called the Deer Creek Fight) were recognized by the Texas legislature for "services rendered to the state" and presented with engraved 1873 Winchester rifles.