My question is how could Captain Banta who was trying to enforce the law under James Hunter's command be arrested and slated to be taken to Austin to stand trial? I do understand that Captain Banta's party (number unknown) arrested someone and participated in this person's execution. No name was mention on who this was. Also, at this time, William Clarke Quantrill's men - Missouri Partisan Rangers, were in the area creating havoc shooting up towns, robbing and even killing settlers. General Henry McCulloch was trying to arrest Quantrill and his men and talks about a large plot. I wasn't sure if Captain Banta somehow got caught up in this. In the last link there are multiple letters from McCulloch to various people and he talks about Quantrill's men being 200 strong. I wonder if these are the 200 men that came into Frederickburg and shot up the jail? With this article the Spring/March 28, 1864, timeframe works when Capt. Banta was arrested, taken into custody and broken out of jail.
Here is the link to the full article: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fba58.html
Second paragraph:
Banta organized and commanded the first company of minutemen in Burnet County and participated in nearly every engagement against Indians in the region throughout the 1850s. He saw service on the Texas frontier during the Civil War as lieutenant, then captain, of Company A of the Frontier Regiment. In the spring of 1864 he was stationed at Camp Davis in Gillespie County, where he attempted to enforce the law when a series of murders, robberies, and outrages perpetrated by bushwhackers, state troops of the Third Frontier District, and men of the Frontier Regiment, excited the populace of Gillespie and Kendall counties into a frenzy. Banta's participation in the arrest and execution of an outlaw in Gillespie County led to his arrest. He and six other men were incarcerated in Fredericksburg. Maj. James Hunter, commander of state troops of the Third Frontier District, wrote to Governor Pendleton Murrah and requested that he be allowed to send the men to prison in Austin or San Antonio. Shortly afterward, an armed group of more than 200 men rode into Fredericksburg and overcame the twelve-man guard stationed at the jail. They pushed their way into the stone jail and opened fire upon the prisoners, who were located in two small rooms separated by a hallway. They killed one of the prisoners instantly and critically wounded four others, two of whom died the next day. Banta survived the episode but was badly wounded in both legs. With J. W. Caldwell he wrote an account of his life in Texas, Twenty-Seven Years on the Texas Frontier, published in 1893.
Here is the link to McCullough Letters: http://www.fortours.com/pages/frontierregiment.asp
This story is begging to be resolved. If someone has any information about this and could please let me know I would appreciate it.
Thank you,
Michelle Ballard