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Published by
The News Publishing Company
Mexia, Texas
History of Limestone County
Page Three
When the attack on the Fort first commenced, Mrs. Sarah Nixon made her escape
and hastened to the field to advise her father, husband and
Plummer of what had occurred. On her arrival Plummer hurried off on
horseback to inform Faulkenberry, Lunn Bates and Anglin who were at work
in their fields. Parker and started to the fort, but the former met his
family on the way and carried them some five miles down the Navasota
secreting them in the bottom. Nixon though unarmed continued on towards
the Fort and met Mrs. Lucy, wife of Silas Parker, killed with her four
children just they were interested by a small mail party of mounted and foot
Indians. They compelled the mother to lift her daughter, Cynthia
Ann, and her little son, John behind two of the mounted Indians. The foot
Indians then took Mrs. Parker, her two youngest children and Nixon
toward the Fort. As they were about to kill Nixon, David Faulkenberry
appeared with his rifle and caused them to fall back, Nixon, after his
narrow escape from death, seemed very much excited and immediately left in
search of his wife, soon falling in with Dwight, with his own and
Frost's family, Dwight and party soon overtook J. W. Parker and went with him
to the hiding place in the bottom. Faulkenberry was left with
Mrs. Parker and her two children, bade her to follow him with the infant in her
arms and leading the other child. She obeyed. Seeing them leave
the Fort, the Indians made several attempts to intercept them but were held in
check by the brave man's rifle. Several mounted Indians armed
with bows and arrows strung and drawn and with terrific yells would charge
them, but Faulkenberry would present his gun they would halt,
throw up their shields, right about, wheel and retire to a safe distance.
This continued for some distance until they had passed through
a prairie of some fifty acres. Just as they were entering the woods the
Indians made a furious charge when one warrior more daring than the
others, dashed up so near that Mrs. Parker's faithful dog seized his horse by
the nose whereupon both horse and rider somersaulted, alighting
on their backs in the ravine. At this moment Silas Bates, Abram Anglin
and Even Faulkenberry armed and Plummer unarmed, came up, causing the
Indians to retire, after which the party made their way unmolested. As
they were passing through the field where the three men had been at work
in the morning Plummer, as if aroused from a dream demanded to know what had
become of his wife and child. Armed only with a butcher knife he leftthe party in search of his loved ones and was seen no more.
For six days the Faulkenberrys, Lunn and Mrs. Parker secreted themselves in a
small creek bottom some distance from the first party, each
unconscious of the other's whereabouts. At twilight Abram Anglin and Evan
Faulkenberry started back to the Fort to succor the wounded and
those who might have escaped on their way and just as they were passing
Faulkenberry's cabin, Anglin saw his first and only ghost. He says it
was draped in white with long white hair streaming down its back. I admit
that I was more scared at this moment than when the Indians were
yelling and charging us. Seeing me hesitate, my ghost now beckoned me to
come on. Approaching the object it proved to be old Granny Parker
whom the Indians had wounded and stripped with the exception of her
undergarments. She had made her way to the house from the Fort by
crawling the entire distance. I took her some bed clothing and caring her
some pads from the house, made her a bed, covered her up and left
her until we should return from the Fort. On arriving at the Fort we
could not see a single individual alive or hear a human soul, but the
dogs were barking, the cattle lowing, the horses neighing and the hogs
squealing, making a hideous and strange medley of sounds. Mrs. Parker
had told me where she had left some silver, one hundred and six dollars and
fifty cents. This I found under a hickory bush by moonlight.
Finding no one at the Fort we returned to where I had hid Granny Parker.
On taking her up behind me we made our way to our hiding place
in the bottom where we found Nixon, whom we had not seen since his cowardly
flight at the time he was rescued by Faulkenberry from the
Indians.
After wandering around and travelling for six days and nights, during which
they suffered much from hunger and thirst, with their clothing
torn into shreds, their bodies lacerated with briars and thorns, the women and
children with unshod and bleeding feet, the party, with James
W. Parker, reached Fort Houston.
An account of this wearisome and perilous journey through the wilderness, given
substantially in Parker's own words, will enable the
reader to realize more fully the hardships they had to undergo and the dangers
they encountered. The bulk of the party was composed of women
and children, principally the latter, ranging from one to twelve years old.
We started from the Fort, said Mr. Parker, the party consisting
of eighteen in all, for Fort Houston, a distance of ninety miles. By the
route we had to travel the feelings of the party can be better
imagined than described. We were truly a forlorn set. Many of us
barefooted and bareheaded, a relentless foe on one hand, and on the
other a trackless and uninhabited wilderness infested with reptiles and wild
beasts, entirely destitute of food and no means of procuring it. Add
to this the agonizing grief of the party over the death and capture of dear
relatives that we were momentarily in expectation of meeting a like
fate, and some idea may be formed of our pitiable condition.
Utter despair almost took possession of us for the chance of escaping seemed
almost an impossibility under the circumstances. I took one of
my children of my shoulder and led another, the grown persons followed my
example, and we began our journey through the thickly tangled briars
and underbrush in the direction of Fort Houston. My wife was in bad
health. Mrs. Frost was in deep distress for the loss of her husband and
son, and all being barefooted excepting my wife and Mrs. Frost our progress was
very slow. Many of the children had nothing on them but
their shirts and their suffering from the briars tearing their little legs and
feet was almost beyond human endurance. We traveled until
about three o'clock in the morning when the women and children being worn out
with hunger and fatigue we laid down on the grass and slept
until the dawn of day, when we resumed our perilous journey. Here we left
the river bottom in order to avoid the briars and underbrush, but
from the tracks of the Indians on the highland it was evident they were hunting
us, and, like the fox in the fable, we concluded it best to take
to the river bottom again for though the brambles might tear our flesh they
might at the same time save our lives by hiding us from the cruel
savages who were in pursuit of us,__the briars did in fact tear the legs and
feet of the children until they could have been tracked by the blood
that flowed from their wounds.
It was the night of the second day after leaving the Fort that all and
especially the women who were nursing their infants, began to suffer
intensely from hunger. We were then immediately on the bank of the river,
and through the mercy of Providence a polecat came near us. I
immediately pursued and caught it just as it jumped into the river. The only
way that I could kill it was by holding it under the water until it
was drowned. Fortunately we had the means for striking a fire and we soon
had it cooked and equally divided it among the party; the share of
each being small indeed. This was all we had to eat until the fourth day
when we were lucky enough to capture another skunk and two small
terrapins which were also cooked and divided between us. On the evening
of the fifth day I found that the women and children were so exhausted
from the fatigue and hunger that it would be impossible for them to travel much
farther. After holding a consultation it was agreed that I
should hurry on to Fort Houston for aid leaving Mr. Dwight in chare of the
women and children. Accordingly the next morning I started for the
fort about thirty five miles distant which I reached early in the afternoon.
I have often looked back and wondered how it was that I was
able to accomplish this great feat. I had not eaten a bit of food for six
days, having always given my share of the animals mentioned to the
children, and yet I walked thirty-five miles in about eight hours, but the
thought of the unfortunate suffers I had left behind dependent on my
efforts gave me the strength and perseverance that can be realized only by
those who have been placed in similar
situations. God in His bountiful mercy upheld me in this truing hour and
enabled me to perform my task. The first person I met was Captain
Carter, of the Fort Houston settlement, who received me kindly and promptly
offered me all the aid in his power. He soon had five horses
saddled and he and Mr. Jeremiah Courtney went with me to meet our little band
of fugitives. We met them just at dark and placing the women and
children on the horses we reached Captain Carter's about midnight. There we
received all the kind attention and relief that our condition
required, and all was done for our comfort that sympathetic and benevolent
hearts could do. We arrived at Captain Carter's on the fifth
of May. The following day my son-in-law, Mr. Plummer, reached there also.
He had given us up for lost and had started for the same
settlement that we had.
In due time the members of the party located temporarily as best suited the
respective families. A burial part of twelve men from Fort Houston
went up and buried the dead. Their remains now repose near the site of
Fort Parker. Peace to their ashes. Unadorned are the graves, not
even
a slab of marble or memento of any kind has been erected to tell the traveller
where nestle the remains of this little brave band of pioneer
heroes, who wrestled with the savages for the mastery of this broad domain of
Limestone County; that were the first settlers of our country
broken and gone!
Of the captives we will briefly trace their career. After leaving the
fort the two tribes, the Comanches and Kiowas, remained and traveled
together until midnight. They then halted on and open prairie, staked out
their horses, placed their pickets and pitched their camp, bringing
all their prisoners together for the first time. They tied their hands
behind them with rawhide thongs so tightly as to cut the flesh; tied
their feet close together and threw them upon their face. Then the
braves, around with their yet blood-dripping scalps, commenced their
usual was dance. They danced, screamed, yelled, stamping upon their
prisoners, beating them with bows until their own blood came near
strangling them. The remainder of the night these frail women suffered
and had to listen to the cries and groans of their tender children.
Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg soon fell into the hands of the Keechis, from whom six
months after her capture she was purchased by a party of
Delawares, who carried her into Nacogdoches, and delivered her to General
Houston who paid them one hundred and fifty dollars, the amount
they had paid and all they asked.
Mrs. Rachel Plummer remained a captive about eighteen months, and to give the
reader an idea of her suffering during that period, we will give an extract from
her diary in July and a portion of August:
We were among some very high mountains on which the snow remains for the
greater portion of the year and I suffered more than I had ever done
before in my life. It was very seldom I had any covering for my feet and
very little clothing for my body. I had a certain number of buffalo
skins to dress every day and had to mind the horses at night. This kept
me employed pretty much all the time and often I would take my buffalo
skins with me to finish them while I was minding the horses. My feet
would often be frost-bitten while I was dressing the skins, but I dared
not complain for fear of being punished. In October I gave birth to my second
son. I say October but it was all guess work with me, as I had no
means of keeping a record of the days as they passed. It was a beautiful
and healthy baby, but it was impossible for me to procure suitable
comfort for myself and infant. The Indians were not as harsh in their
treatment towards me as I feared they would be but I was apprehensive for
the safety of my child. I had been with them six months and had learned
their language and I would often beseach my mistress to advise me what
to do to save my child, but she turned a deft ear to all my supplications.
My child was six months old when my master, thinking I
suppose that it interfered too much with my work, determined to put it out of
the way. One cold morning five or six Indians came to where I was
suckling by babe. As soon as they came I felt sick at heart, for my fears were
aroused for the safety of my child. I felt my whole frame convulsed
with sudden dread. My fears were not ill-grounded. One of the
Indians caught my child by the throat and strangled it until all appearances it
was dead. I exerted all my feeble strength to save my child but the other
Indians held me fast. The Indian who had strangled the then threw it up
in the air repeatedly and let it fall upon the frozen ground until life seemed
to be extinct. They then gave it back to me. I had been weeping
incessantly whilst they were murdering my child but now my grief was so great
that the fountain of my tears was dried up, as I gazed on the
bruised cheeks of my darling infant. I discovered soon symptoms of
returning life. I hoped that if it could be resuscitated they would
allow me to keep it. I washed the blood from its face and after a time it
began to breathe again but a more heart-rendering scene ensued. As
soon as the Indians ascertained that the child was still alive they tore it
from my arms and knocked me down. They tied a plaited rope around
its neck and threw it into a bunch of prickly pears and then pulled it
backwards and forwards until its tender flesh was literally torn from
its body. One of the Indians who was mounted on a horse then tied the end
of the rope to his saddle and galloped around in a circle until my
little innocent babe was not only dead but torn to pieces. One of them
untied the rope and threw the remains of the child into my lap and I dug
a hole in the earth and buried them. After performing the last sad rites
of the lifeless remains of my dear babe I sat down and gazed with
a feeling of relief upon the little grave I had made for it in the wilderness
and could say with David of Old, You cannot come to me but I
must go to you, and then, and even now as I record the dreadful scene I
witnessed I rejoice that my babe had passed from the sorrows and
sufferings of this world. I shall hear its dying cries no more and fully
believing in and relying on the unrefuted righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus I feel that my innocent babe is now with kindred spirits in the
Eternal World of Joys. Oh, that my dear Savior may keep me through
life's short journey and bring me to dwell with my children in the realms of
eternal bliss.
Mrs. Plummer has gone to rest and no doubt her hopes have been realized.
After this she was given as a servant to a cruel old squaw
who treated her in a most brutal manner. Her son had been caried off by
another to the far West and she supposed her husband and father had been
killed at the massacre. Her infant was dead and death to her would have
been a sweet relief. Life was a burden and driven almost to desperation
she resolved no longer to submit to the intolerant old squaw. One day
when the two were some distance from, although still in sight of the
camp, her mistress attempted to beat her with a club. Determined not to
submit to this she wrenched the club from the hand of the squaw and
knocked her down. The Indians who had witnessed the whole proceedings
from the camp now came running up shouting at the top of their voices.
She fully expected to be killed but they patted her on the shoulder crying
bueno-bueno---good, good, or well done. She now fared much
better and soon became a great favorite and was known as the
(I am unable to find the remainder of the story,
if you can help please let me know)
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