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Continued from page 1 Published by History of Limestone County Little did they think that before the sun went down on that
beautiful day the tragedy of their lives would be played, among the many
tragedies that have occurred in Texas, The massacre at Parker's Fort holds a
conspicuous place. Nothing that has ever happened exhibits savage
duplicity and cruelty more plainly than this massacre of helpless women and
children. On that fateful day the men, repairing to their fields a
distance from the Fort not more than a mile some historians gave it out that
the farm was on the Navasota River, which is a mistake because the Navasota
River is about two miles from the Fort, and the farm they were working lay east
of the Fort on the prairie. The Indians did not make their appearance at
the Fort until after the noonday meal; and after the men had left to go to
their work, little thinking of the great calamity that was to befall them and
had scarcely left when several hundred Indians, probably from three to five
hundred Comanches and Kiowas made their appearance on an eminence within three
hundred yards of the Fort. Those two remained in the Fort were not prepared for
an attack, so careless had they become in their fancied security. The Indians
raised a white flag as a token of their friendly intentions and upon notice of
the white flag Mr. Benjamin Parker went out to have a talk with them. The
Indians had artfully feigned the treacherous semblance of friendship pretending
that they were looking for a suitable camping place and inquired as to the
exact locality of a water hole in the vicinity, at the same time asking for a
beef, as they said they were very hungry. Not daring to refuse the request of
such a body of savages, Mr. Benjamin Parker told them they should have what
they wanted, and returning to the Fort he stated to the inmates that in his
opinion the Indians were hostile and intended to fight, but added he would go
back to them and try to avert it. His brother Silas, remonstrated but he
insisted on going and was immediately surrounded and killed, where upon the
hold force, their savage instincts aroused by the sight of blood, charged upon
the fort, uttering the most terrific and unearthly yells that ever greeted the
ears of mortals. The sickening and bloody tragedy was son enacted.
Brave Silas Parker fell outside the Fort while he was gallantly fighting to
save Mrs. Plummer. Mrs. Plummer made a desperate resistance but was soon
overpowered, knocked down with a hoe and made captive. Samuel Frost and his
son, Robert, met their fate while heroically defending the women and children
inside the stockade. Old Granny Parker was stabbed and left for dead.
Elder John Parker, wife and Mrs. Kellog attempted to make their escape, and in
the effort had gone about three fourths of a mile when they were overtaken and
driven back near the Fort when the old gentleman was stripped, murdered,
scalped and horribly mutilated. Mrs. Parker was stripped, speared and left for
dead, but by feigning death escaped as will be seen further on. Mrs.
Kellogg was spared as a captive. The result, summed up, follows:
Killed, Elder Parker, aged 79 years; Silas M. and Benjamin R. Parker; Samuel M.
and his son, Robert Frost wounded dangerously; Mrs. John Parker, old Granny
Parker and Mrs. Duty captured; Mrs. Rachel Plummer, daughter of James W.
Parker, and her son, James Pratt Plummer, two years old; Mrs. Elizabeth
Kellogg, Cynthia Ann Parker, nine years old, and her little brother, John
Parker, aged six years, children of Silas M. Parker, the remainder of the
inmates making their escape as we shall narrate. |