The following sketch of the life of
Gen. Ben McCullough, who participated in the battle of
Davis' Creek, in Missouri, will be read with interest:
‘
Gen. McCullough was born in
Rutherford county, Tenn, in 1814 His father,
Alexander McCullough, was aid de-camp to
Gen. Coffee, and fought under
Gen. Jackson at the battles of Tallageda,
Tallahassee and Horseshoe, during the
Creek war. His father emigrated to
Georgia while Ben was very young, and Ben was kept at school in
Tennessee until he was 14 years old. After this Ben was kept hunting until he was near twenty-one.
At that time the bears were so bad in
Tennessee that the settlers could not raise their hogs.
Hunting bears in the cane required much caution, and if a man's gun snapped he lost his breakfast.
Young
McCullough frequently killed as many as eighty bears during a season, and never less than twenty in the course of a winter.-- This life gave him a taste for wild adventure, and when he became of age he determined to go on an expedition to the
Rocky Mountains, and left his home for
St. Louis, to join a company of trappers.
He arrived too late, however, and likewise failed in joining a company of
Santa Fe traders.
He returned home, and soon after called on
Colonel David Crockett, who was making up an expedition to go to
Texas to take part in the revolution.
The whole southwest at that time was alive with feelings of sympathy for the
Texans, and men were daily flocking to their standard.
Nacogdoches was appointed the place of rendezvous from which the expedition was to start, and
Christmas of the year 1835 was named for the day of meeting, when, as ‘"Old Davy"’ expressed it, they were to make their Christmas dinner off the hump of a buffalo.
McCullough again arrived too late, and finding the party gone, he proceeded on by himself to the river
Brazos, where he was taken sick, and he did not recover until after the fall of the
Alamo.
McCullough's disappointment was very great at not being able to join the gallant band of patriots; but it afterwards proved very fortunate for him, for
Col. Travis, after having sustained a siege of thirteen days, with only 180 Texans against
Santa Anna's army, fell with his brave little band, after having killed 900 of the enemy.
McCullough, on joining the
Texan army under
Gen. Sam Houston, was assigned to the artillery, and made captain of a gun. He served gallantly at the
battle of San Jacinto, where
Santa Anna was taken prisoner, and his army of 1,500 men killed or taken prisoners.
McCullough afterwards settled in
Gonzales county, Texas, and was employed on the frontier surveying and locating lands.
He frequently led the wild border scouts against the Indians and Mexicans, which service he entered before the celebrated Jack Hays He also distinguished himself at the battle of
Plumb Creek in a fight with the Indians, who at the time burned and sacked the town of
Linnville.
He joined the expedition against Mier, but, not agreeing with the plans of the leader, he returned home before the fight, and escaped the cruel hardships and imprisonment of that command, which had surrendered to the perfidious
Ampudia.
When the war broke out with
Mexico he rallied a sand of Texan warriors on the banks of the
Guadalupe, and set out for the seat of war on the
Rio Grande.
The company arrived four days after the battles of Pala Alto and the
Resaca.
His company was accepted by
General Taylor, and he was afterwards employed in the daring scouting expedition towards
Monterey, in which battle, as well as that of
Buena Vista, he won imperishable renown.
He afterwards joined
Gen. Scott's army, and continued with it to the conquest of the city of
Mexico.
For his gallant services, he was honored with a national reputatoa, and the office of U. S. Marshal of
Texas was given him by
President Pierce.
Gen. McCullough was married three or four years since, and a characteristic story is told of him when his first child, a boy, was born.
that he insisted, to the great horror of his young wife, in having the youngster christened ‘"Buffalo Hump,"’ in honor of a particular friend, an old Indian chief, of that unique name.
The General is a thin, spare man, of great muscle and activity, and is now about 47 years of age. He has a pleasant face, and is mild and courteous in his manners, with an air of diffidence.
He is very cool and of determined bravery.
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