Adobe Walls to Tularosa

This is the true story of Ben Hewitt, Texas rancher, gunfighter, lawman, and sometime fugitive. He left the post Civil War poverty of Alabama and traveled alone to Cooke County, north Texas, where he got a job as a cowboy from his comrade in arms Powell Cole. Ben progressed to ranch foreman and then as a partner with Cole in a general store and cotton gin. He impregnated and married Laveina, Cole's 14-year-old daughter in 1872. His relationship with his old comrade was never the same. Ben bought and sold ranches throughout the Texas portion of the Red River Valley, in the Texas Panhandle, and into Indian Territory. For example, he sold a 13-section ranch in Motley County and relocated far south to Pecos, Texas. Each time he bought a ranch, he would work it and improve on it for two or three years. Then he would either sell it for a profit or turn management over to a trusted employee or one of his sons while Ben moved farther west looking for more opportunities. On one occasion his quick temper got him into court. The court trial did not go well for Ben. He lost his temper again. He drew his six-shooter and shouted "Court's adjourned." Ben packed up his wife and six sons and settled in Polk County, Arkansas. There he became a deputy sheriff and then a hero when he killed two members of the Sam Bass Gang.

Ben Hewitt was present at the 1874 Battle of Adobe Walls along with Bat Masterson and Billy Dixon, the hero of the battle. Quanah Parker had led an estimated 1,000 Comanches and Kiowas against the tiny adobe fort. After Billy Dixon's famous shot that went almost a mile to knock a Comanche medicine man off his horse, the Indians withdrew.

This book is the result of many years of research by Joe B. Hewitt, grandson of Ben Hewitt. The cover picture is of Josh Hewitt, Joe's grandson.