Texas Jack Just In

In August of 1877, the wilds of Yellowstone were no longer just the domain of curious tourists or European aristocrats in search of adventure. The region had become a war zone, as the U.S. Army pursued the Nez Perce tribe across Idaho and Montana. One of the most remarkable figures caught in the middle of that pursuit was none other than Texas Jack Omohundro, the celebrated frontier scout and stage performer.

Now, thanks to the digitization of an 1877 Army telegram, we have definitive new evidence that places Texas Jack squarely in the theater of conflict. The telegram, sent from Fort Ellis, Montana, to Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan in Chicago on August 30, 1877, begins with an arresting line:

“Texas Jack just in…”

Though Jack was no longer formally attached to the military, this telegram confirms what I discussed in Texas Jack in War Paint and August in Yellowstone: that he was actively involved in the events of the Nez Perce War, not as a soldier, but as a civilian guide whose frontier expertise was still trusted and relied upon by the military.

The full telegram reads:

Ft. Ellis Montana thirtieth to Gibbon Helena, “Texas Jack just in—reports as on East Fork between Baronett’s Bridge and Clark Fork Mine. One man started for mine to warn men there of approach of Indians. Failed to get through and returned reporting East Fork County full of hostiles. They are undoubtedly striking for the Crow Agency or Clarks Fork. I do not think their entire camp crossed the Yellowstone at Mud Volcano or came as far as the Geyser Basin. Carpenter, who was captured between the lower basin and Henry's Lake, and (was) their prisoner two days, says they had no wounded with them, (and) that it is only part of their camp. That their ponies were ?. They had little to eat and that they talk of the Crow Agency and Big Store on the Yellowstone but tell him to tell Ellis soldiers that they were going to Wind River. They had two white men prisoners and one Crow Indian with them. Doane should be at mouth of Gardner’s River tonight. Sturgis has moved from Crow Agency toward Clark Fork. Collins will start for Agency tomorrow morning. Norwood is ready to move Howard's supplies. Should have reached him 28th.”

Jack had entered Yellowstone that summer not on official orders, but as the hired guide for a pair of British aristocrats—Lord B. T. Birmingham and Captain Bayley. The trio, along with their photographer and pack train, had journeyed into the wilderness seeking game and grandeur. But what they encountered instead was war. The Nez Perce, fleeing U.S. forces under General Oliver Otis Howard, had entered the park only days earlier, and skirmishes with tourists and civilians had already begun.

In August in Yellowstone, I shared the story of the Cowan and Carpenter families, ambushed by Nez Perce warriors and held captive. It was Texas Jack who helped them escape, leading Emma Cowan and her siblings to safety under fire, even as he himself sustained a gunshot wound to the hand. While returning to Bozeman, Jack crossed paths with U.S. Army personnel at Fort Ellis and delivered a warning: East Fork country was full of hostiles, and movements suggested that the Nez Perce might be striking toward the Crow Agency or the Clarks Fork.

The telegram contains valuable details that support Jack’s account: confirmation of captured white and Crow prisoners, of Nez Perce encampments lacking supplies, and of troop movements by Doane, Sturgis, and Collins in response to shifting intelligence. The route Jack described ran between Baronett’s Bridge and Clark Fork Mine—a crucial artery across the Yellowstone River near its confluence with the Lamar.

"Baronett’s Bridge" crossed the Yellowstone River near its confluence with the Lamar River.

Baronett’s Bridge, built in 1871 as a toll crossing for miners and hunters, was burned by Nez Perce warriors shortly after Jack passed through, further proving the accuracy and urgency of his report. When General Howard arrived at the bridge five days later, he found it destroyed and had to rebuild it using timber from Jack Baronett’s own cabin to continue the pursuit.

While some in the press later accused Jack of cowardice—charges he vehemently and publicly refuted—this telegram reveals a very different picture. Jack may not have worn a uniform during the Yellowstone campaign, but he still served as a critical source of field intelligence. His prior scouting experience at Fort McPherson and his personal rapport with General Sheridan, forged during the Grand Duke Alexis Buffalo Hunt of 1872, gave weight to his words.

The testimony of Frank Carpenter, Boney Earnest, and others who were there affirms what this telegram now confirms in writing: Texas Jack was there, acting on his own initiative to protect his clients, warn the military, and escort civilians to safety. The story may not fit neatly into dime novel drama, but it reflects the reality of a man who straddled two worlds—scout and stage, wilderness and spotlight.

Texas Jack in buckskins, circa 1877

In the blog entry Texas Jack in War Paint, I described how Jack stormed into a New York newsroom to refute the Sioux City Journal's claims against his courage. He presented a bullet wound, gave names of witnesses, and demanded that his story be told. With this telegram, his account gains a powerful corroboration—from the very command structure of the U.S. Army.

This telegram doesn’t just confirm Texas Jack’s presence at a central event of the Wild West era—it cements his legacy as a man who lived his life on the frontier as fiercely as he portrayed it on stage.