# 3 REDBONE AT THE ALAMO?

Some things trouble me -- Some things just don't add up.

If, in the early 1800's, Redbone family members were growing up, starting families and moving West -- out of Southwestern Louisiana -- what did they look like? I mean what did they "physically" look like? Did they in 1807 look the same in 1835, 1860 and 1880?P-It's been said that the Drakes, Goins and Hargrave's, to name a few families, were Redbones. Given, the Goins appear pretty dark in many of their pictures, and the Drakes, according to James Johnson's research lived on Bearhead Creek, but would the Texas Rangers have hired the Goins boys if they were truly Black?

And then we have Isaac Ryan, Grandson of Benjamin Hargrave, who died as an Infantry Man of the Bejar Guards at the Alamo. If he had been a Black man, would he have been employed by such an esteemed Guard?

Who were Redbones, and who were not Redbones, and who were Redbones later on? I mean these folks floated back and forth in and out of the Neutral Zone in both directions. One day a Redbone in Louisiana and the next day a Free Black in Texas?

The Ashworth's saw some of this shape shifting in Texas and for the most part I wonder if it was more political than anything else. Were they Redbone in Louisiana and then okay to ride in the Texas Revolution like the Goins boys (the previous article contained a picture of two of the Goins clan -- left and middle -- the one on the left is Rueben Goins, an ex-Texas Ranger and pretty Black) and then after the War, not okay until the Ashworth Act was passed to allow them to stay?

When is a Redbone not a Redbone and becomes the "N" word? Yeah, it's okay to use those words, they're in most dictionaries I know of. At one time in the history of this country, it was Marshal law for all Negro's and Indians 24/7. The saying was Indians were just as bad as Negro's. Not sure what that really meant except the obvious loss of Civil Rights for both parties. Of course, not all parts of the country saw these things the same way.

But, were all Redbones just as bad as all Negro's and Indians? Or were Redbones not to be messed with or taken lightly -- to their face that is. We know the Goins were part Indians living as White folks, and we know the Drakes were doing the same thing. Were they Redbones because they were "uppitty Indians?"

A lot to ponder. Some things bother me -- Some things just never add up.

Gary J. Gabehart (Mishiho, Mish-eh-ho)
Mishiho@aol.com