Matilda Lockhart Biographical Sketch

Matilda Lockhart, who as a young girl was taken captive by Comanche Indians, was probably born in
Illinois around 1825. Her father, Andrew Lockhart, emigrated with his family from Illinois to Texas in
1828 and settled on the Guadalupe River in Green DeWitt's colony. In the fall of 1838, when Matilda was
about thirteen years old, she and four children of Mitchell Putnam were captured by Comanche Indians
and carried into the Guadalupe Mountains.

Two unsuccessful excursions were made to free the children, one to the head of the Guadalupe River in
late 1838 and one under John H. Moore in 1839 to Spring Creek, a tributary of the San Saba River. Under
the terms of a treaty, sixty-five Indians led by the chieftan Muguara (Muk-wah-rah) delivered Matilda to
authorities in San Antonio on March 19, 1840. The Texans were horrified by Matilda’s appearance, who
was the victim of torture and rape. Her head, arms and face were covered with bruises and scars, and
her nose was burned off to the bone. She was a pitiful creature, a child so cruelly treated.

During her two years with the Comanches, Matilda had learned to understand some of the Comanches'
language, and she revealed to the Texan authorities her harrowing tale: many of those captured with
Matilda were skinned, sliced, and horribly mutilated, and finally burned alive by vengeful women
determined to wring the last shriek and convulsion from their agonized bodies. Matilda Lockhart’s six-
year-old sister was among these unfortunates who died screaming under the high plains moon. Matilda
also shared critical intelligence: A few days earlier, she had seen 13 other captives in camp. The
Comanches planned to release only one or two at a time to secure the most ransom, she said. The
failure of the Indians to deliver the Putnam children and other captives resulted in the Council House
Fight, which took place the day Matilda was returned.

Matilda Lockhart did not live very long after being restored to her people. The cruelties practiced upon
her by her savage captors were beyond conception. Her frail body was literally flecked with scars from
head to foot, and while in the Council House at San Antonio she was barely able to walk. While in camp
before she was brought in, and to prevent her running away, the Indians burned the soles of her feet
until the skin came away in strips and flakes. Pale, emaciated and weakened from hunger, hardships and
abuse, the once beautiful child was given every attention that parental and neighborly solicitude could
bestow, but she pined away and died. At her grave her father, Captain Lockhart, in agony of soul said:
"Life is so short: would that I could live a thousand years so I could fully avenge the blood of my child."

The following resources were used in creating this sketch of Matilda Lockhart:

Texas State Historical Society: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/flo02

Rivard Report: https://therivardreport.com/san-antonios-bloody-council-house-fight-175-years-ago-

today/

The American Cowboy Chronicles: http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2014/02/comanche-

lords-of-plains-or-just.html

Frontier Times Magazine: https://www.frontiertimesmagazine.com/blog/five-children-captured-by-

indians