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Parker’s Fort, Texas, part 2

© Mary Trotter Kion

Benjamin Parker talked with the Indians outside of the fort. After hearing the Indians' request, Benjamin reentered the fort to consult his brother Silas. Benjamin did not trust these Indians and told his brother that he thought they were hostile, but advised against angering them by refusing their request. Against the protests of the others inside the fort, Benjamin and Silas went back outside where the band of Indians waited on their ponies.

Water may have been offered to the Indians but apparently the warriors were told that there was no beef to be given. This, of course, angered the Indians and suddenly several of the Comanches pierced Benjamin Parker with their lances. Unable to help his brother, Silas turned and ran for the fort. His attempt to reach safety failed. He was cut down. Suddenly a confrontation erupted at the gate resulting in two men, named Frost, being killed.

Now shrieking Indians were pouring inside Parker's Fort. The Elder John Parker and his wife, Granny, with several of the women tried to run from the savages. The Indians overtook all of them. John Parker was soon stabbed. He was scalped, then his genitals were cut off before he was finally killed. The Indians stripped Granny Parker, pinned her to the ground with a lance, then they raped her. Other women were also attack and suffered a similar fate.

In the midst of this bloody scene, the Parker men came running from the fields with their rifles. Seeing them, the Indians leaped astride their horses and galloped off. Behind them, at the fort, they left five men dead and several badly wounded women. Two of the women later died. Granny Parker, however, remained among the living. She had pulled out, herself, the lance the Indians had pinned her to the ground with. Although the Indians were now gone, gone also with them were five captives: Rachel Plummer and her small son; Elizabeth Kellogg; and brother and sister, John and Cynthia Ann Parker, grandchildren of the elder John and Granny Parker. Cynthia Ann was age nine at the time, her brother age six.

The fate of the captives varied. Rachel Plummer was later ransomed. She never saw her son again, and died soon after returning to civilization. Elizabeth Kellogg was sold to a band of Delawares. From the Delawares, General Sam Houston purchased Elizabeth freedom for $150 in December of 1836. James Plummer, as well as Cynthia Ann's younger brother John, were found and ransomed six years after being taken captive. Later John, being unable to readjust to civilization, returned to the Indians to look for his sister.

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