In April of 1864, Confederate deserter John Taylor heard about a wagon train assembling on the Concho River bound for California. He sold part of his cattle and his share in the Comanche County school to raise money. Taylor left his remaining cattle and homestead with Asa Reed to dispose of as best he could. On the 14th Taylor, along with other deserters from Erath and Comanche Counties left to join the wagon train and forty mounted deserters. Before leaving the area they hunted buffalo and dried the meat for the trip. They divided themselves into three groups and arrived at their destination in the vicinity of San Bernadino, California on October 25th. John Taylor, known as the “little man who drove the bull team from Texas,” soon went into politics. Lester Reed, Old Time Cattlemen and Other Pioneers of the Anza-Borrego Area. Palm Desert, California: Desert printers, 1963.