NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Fort Parker Massacre

The Fort Parker massacre was an event in 1836 in which members of the pioneer Parker family were killed in a raid by Native Americans.^[1] An Aani (Atsina) named Assiniboin Boy. ...

History

Fort Parker was founded about two miles (3 km) west of present-day Groesbeck, Limestone County, Texas, USA by Elder^[2] John Parker (1758–1836), his sons, Benjamin, Silas and James, plus other members of the Pilgrim Predestinarian Baptist Church of Crawford County, Illinois. Led by John and Daniel Parker, they came to Texas in 1833.^[3] Daniel's party first settled in Grimes County, then later moved to Anderson County near present-day Elkhart. Elder John Parker's group settled near the headwaters of the Navasota River, and built a fort for protection against Native Americans. It was completed in March of 1834. Fort Parker's 12 foot (4 m) high log walls enclosed four acres (16,000 m²). Blockhouses were placed on two corners for lookouts, and six cabins were attached to the inside walls. The fort had two entrances, a large double gate facing south, and a small gate for easy access to the spring.^[4] Most of the residents of the fort were part of the extended family of John and Sarah (Duty) Parker. Groesbeck is a city located in Limestone County, Texas. ... Limestone County is a county located in the state of Texas. ... Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 kmÂ²) - Width 773 miles (1,244 km) - Length 790 miles (1,270 km) - % water 2. ... A religious elder (in Greek, Ï€ÏÎµÏƒÎ²Ï…Ï„ÎµÏÎ¿Ï‚ [presbyteros]) is valued for his or her wisdom, in part for their age, on the grounds that the older one is then the more one is likely to know. ... John Parker (1758 - 1836) Elder John Parker was an American settler and Predestinarian Baptist minister who immigrated to Texas before the Texas Revolution, and was killed during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836, along with several members of his family, and others of the Parker clan. John Parker was born... Crawford County is a county located in the state of Illinois. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area Ranked 25th - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 390 miles (629 km) - % water 4. ... Elder1 Daniel Parker (1781-1844) - an anti-missionary Baptist preacher and leader in the first half of the 19th century. ... Official language(s) See: Languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 kmÂ²) - Width 773 miles (1,244 km) - Length 790 miles (1,270 km) - % water 2. ... Grimes County is a county located in the state of Texas. ... Anderson County is a county located in the state of Texas. ... Elkhart is a town located in Anderson County, Texas. ...

Soon, the settlers were making their homes and farming the land. Several had built cabins on their farms, and used the fort for protection. Peace treaties were made with surrounding Native American chiefs. Perhaps, the Fort Parker inhabitants expected that other tribes would honor the treaties as well.

On May 19, 1836, a large party of Native Americans, including Comanches, Kiowas, Caddos, and Wichitas,^[5] attacked the inhabitants of Fort Parker. Around mid-morning, riders appeared under a white flag, and Benjamin Parker went out to talk to them. He was killed, and before the fort's gates could be closed, the raiders rushed inside. Five were killed, some were left for dead, two women and three children were captured, and the rest escaped into the wilderness.^[6] One of the captives was a nine-year-old girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, daughter of Silas and Lucinda (Duty) Parker. Cynthia Ann lived with the Comanches for nearly 25 years. She married Comanche chief Peta Nocona and was the mother of three children, including Quanah Parker. In 1860, she was among a Native American party captured by Texas Rangers. She was identified by her uncle, Isaac Parker, and returned to her family. Cynthia Ann never readjusted to the Anglo society, and died at the age of 43 in 1870. Quanah Parker became a leader among the Quahadi Comanches. After most of the Comanches and other tribes on the Staked Plains were defeated, Quanah Parker and his group surrendered to authorities and was forced to an Indian reservation in Oklahoma Territory. He was made chief of all the Comanche tribes on the reservation. May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... October 2, Charles Darwin returns from his voyage around the world. ... For alternate meanings, see Comanche (disambiguation) Pre-contact Comanche territory. ... The Kiowa are a nation of Native Americans who lived mostly in the plains of west Texas, Oklahoma and eastern New Mexico at the time of the arrival of Europeans. ... The Caddo are a nation, or group of tribes, of Southeastern Native Americans who, in the 16th century, inhabited much of what is now East Texas, Western Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. ... Wichita camp, 1904 The Wichita are a tribe of Native Americans, indigenous inhabitants of North America, who speak Wichita, a Caddoan language. ... Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah (also sometimes spelled Nadua and Nauta), was an Anglo-Texas woman of Scotch-Irish descent who suffered being kidnapped twice in her lifetime - once from her natural family at the age of nine by a Native American raiding party, and once from her Indian family... Peta Nocona (b. ... Quanah Parker Quanah Parker (c. ... Official crest of the Texas Ranger Division The Texas Ranger Division, commonly known as the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction based in Austin, the capital city of Texas, in the United States. ... BIA map of reservations in the United States Tribal sovereignty: Map of the United States, with non-reservation land highlighted. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area Ranked 20th - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 kmÂ²) - Width 230 miles (370 km) - Length 298 miles (fBlack Mesa Mountain]][2] km) - % water 1. ...

Fort Parker inhabitants on May 19, 1836

John Parker (1758 - 1836) Elder John Parker was an American settler and Predestinarian Baptist minister who immigrated to Texas before the Texas Revolution, and was killed during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836, along with several members of his family, and others of the Parker clan. John Parker was born... Rachel Plummer was a member of the Parker clan that settled on the frontier of the Comancheria in Texas in the 1830s. ... Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah (also sometimes spelled Nadua and Nauta), was an Anglo-Texas woman of Scotch-Irish descent who suffered being kidnapped twice in her lifetime - once from her natural family at the age of nine by a Native American raiding party, and once from her Indian family...

See also

The Killough Massacre is believed to have been both the largest and last Native American depredation of white immigrants in East Texas. ... In the long history of the English colonization of North America, the term Indian massacre was often used to describe mass killings of European-Americans (whites) by Native Americans (Indians), and, less frequently, mass killings of American Indians by whites. ...

External links

References

Footnotes

^ Today these peoples are variously denominated Native Americans, First Americans, First Nation, and American Indians. On the Texas frontier in 1836, they would have simply been designated Indians.
^ Elder - an ordained Baptist minister
^ "The descendants of Elder John Parker were a strange and often brilliant family who may have changed the course of Texas and western history. Their obsession with religion and their desire for land took them from Virginia to Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois and finally Texas...From their line...came...Quanah Parker, last of the great Comanche war chiefs - and first of their great peace leaders." - Jo Ann Powell Exley
^ Fort Parker State Park was created in 1935, and a replica of the fort was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936
^ various stories relate differences in the size of the raiding party and the makeup of the tribes
^ killed were Samuel Frost, Robert Frost, Benjamin Parker, John Parker, and Silas Parker; captured were Elizabeth Kellogg, Cynthia Ann Parker, John R. Parker, Rachel Plummer, and James Pratt Plummer

Categories: 1836 | History of Texas | Massacres by Native Americans | Native American history | Massacres A Baptist is a member of a Baptist church or any follower of Jesus Christ who believes that baptism is administered by the full immersion of a confessing Christian. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area Ranked 35th - Total 42,793 sq mi (110,862 kmÂ²) - Width 200 miles (320 km) - Length 430 miles (690 km) - % water 7. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area Ranked 36th - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 kmÂ²) - Width 120 miles (195 km) - Length 440 miles (710 km) - % water 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area Ranked 25th - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 390 miles (629 km) - % water 4. ... Civilian Conservation Corps workers restoring the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. ...

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