A Pictorial History of Texas, From the Earliest Visits of European Adventurers, to A.D. 1879. Page: 457 of 859
xix, 861 p. 2 fold. : maps, plates, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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PARKER'S FORT MASSACRE.
455
They fortunately fell in with a company of United States soldiers, under
Colonel Dodge, who found the Indians and recovered young Martin, and
several other prisoners. The same year, Colonel John fI. Moore, with
Captains R. B. Williamson, Phil. Coe, and G. W. Bennett, went on a long
and somewhat fatiguing scout againt the Wacoes and Tehuacanies. It was
during this year that Colonel Almonte visited the country to inquire into
its condition. He reports the total Illdian population at that time at 15,300;
of whom 10,800 are regarded as hostile and 4,500 as friendly. Of the hostile
Indians, Almonte assigns 9,900 to the department of Bexar, and 600 to the
department of the Brazos. This does not include the civilized Indians
about N.acogdoches, i whom Almonte speaks as citizens of Mexico, and
loyal to that government.
1836.-It was fortunate for Texas, that, during the early part of this
year, so eventful in our history, Colonel Ellis P. Bean, a warm personal
friend of Gen. Houston, was the agent for the Indians in East Texas. The
survey and location of lands claimed by these Indians had already produced
an unpleasant feeling between the two races. But Bean kept the Indians
quiet until after the decisive battle of San Jacinto, when the victory of the
Texans gave them such a prestige that the civilized tribes remained peaceable,
though fears were then entertained that, if the Texans were defeated
the whites in East Texas would have been either killed or driven from their
homes.
PARKER'S FORT MASSACRE.-The Parker family came fromn iissouri, in
1833, and settled in Limestone county, near the present town of Groesbeck,
where they built a fort. On the 19th of May, 1836, this fort was visited by
several hundred Comanche and Caddo Indians. At first the Indians presented
a white flag, and pretended friendship. At the time, of the thirtyfive
persons in the fort, only five were able to bear arms. The Indians
inquired for a water-hole at which to camp; and also wanted a beef. Mr.
Benjamin Parker stepped out to point them to water, when lie was instantly
killed. The savages then rushed into the fort, killing Benjamin Parker,
senior, aged seventy-nine, Silas Parker, and Samuel and Robert Frost.
Mrs. Sarah Parker was wounded. Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg, Mrs. Rachel
Plunmer, (daughter of James Parker), her son, James Platt Plummer, two
years old; Cynthia Ann Parker, eight years old, and her brother, John Parker,
six years old, all children of Silas Parker, were taken prisoners.
Those that escaped were six days in the wilderness without food, before
they reached the settlements on the Brazos, in what is now Grines county.
Mrs. Kellogg was a prisoner about six months; Mrs. Plummer a little over
a year. She had not been long a prisoner when she was delivered of a
child. The crying of her infant annoyed the Indians, and it was killed in a
most cruel manner before her eyes. With an old knife she dug a grave
and buried it. She was given as a servant to a cruel old squaw, who
treated her in a most brutal manner. Another party had taken off her son,
and she supposed her husband and father had been killed at the fort, though
being at a distance in the field at work, they had escaped the massacre.
TIer infant was dead, and her life was a burden. She resolved she would no
longer submit to the bIutal old squaw. One day when the two were some
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A Pictorial History of Texas, From the Earliest Visits of European Adventurers, to A.D. 1879. (Book)
Illustrated history of Texas, organized into ten sections: [1] General Description of the Country, [2] Texas Under Spanish Domination, 1695--1820, [3] Colonization Under Mexican Domination, 1820--1834, [4] The Revolution, [5] The Republic, From 1837 to 1846, [6] Texas as a State, from 1847 to 1878, [7] Indians, [8] Biographies, [9] History -- Counties, and [10] Miscellaneous Items.
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Thrall, Homer S., 1819-1894. A Pictorial History of Texas, From the Earliest Visits of European Adventurers, to A.D. 1879., book, 1879; St. Louis, Missouri. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5828/m1/457/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .