In Jose Maria’s later years he protected Anglo immigrants from the Comanches and was a friend to early Stephenville. In 1839 Benjamin Bryant commanded a company of 48 men looking for Indians that had raided in Milam County. They encountered and attacked Jose Maria and an equal number of riders, mistaking them for Comanches. “The noted Jose Maria, who was riding in front in perfect nonchalance, halted, slipped off his gloves, and taking deliberate aim, fired at Joseph Boren, who was a few feet in advance, cutting his coat sleeve. “Jose Maria was shot in the breast bone early in the fight – but commanded his men well. The fight ended with the Anadarkos [not Comanches] chasing the Anglos from the field, killing ten of them and wounding five. The Indians losing the same number. Jose Maria, so long the dread of the frontier, but afterwards the most pacific and civilized Comanche chief on the government reserve, has always acknowledged that he was whipped and retreating until he observed the panic and confusion among the Texans. Jose Maria visited Bryant’s Station [named for Benjamin Bryant] years later and offered Bryant his pipe to smoke. Bryant insisted that Jose Maria should smoke first, as he had won the fight, and the old chief proudly followed the suggestion.”

James DeShields, Border Wars of Texas, Waco: Texian Press, 1912, 1976.