Fort Parker massacre The Fort Parker massacre was an event in May 1836 in which members of the pioneer Parker family were killed in a raid by Native Americans . In this raid , a 9 - year old girl , Cynthia Ann Parker , was captured and spent most of the rest of her life with the Comanche , marrying a Chief , Peta Nocona , and giving birth to a son , Quanah Parker , who would become the last Chief of the Comanches . Her brother , John Richard Parker , who was also captured , was ransomed back after six years , but unable to adapt to white society , ran back to the Comanches . History . Fort Parker was established about two miles ( 3 km ) west of present - day Groesbeck , Limestone County , Texas , USA by Elder 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 . Daniel ' s party first settled in Grimes County , then later moved to Anderson County near present - day Elkhart and established Pilgrim Church . 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 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 . Most of the residents of the fort were part of the extended family of John and Sarah Parker . The Massacre . 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 . The Fort Parker inhabitants had also allowed a Texas Ranger company to use the Fort , perhaps not understanding that many Native Americans regarded the Rangers with hatred for their Indian fighting . On May 19 , 1836 , a large party of Native Americans , including Comanches , Kiowas , Caddo s , and Wichitas , attacked the inhabitants of Fort Parker . In her memoir , Rachel Plummer wrote that " one minute the fields ( in front of the fort ) were clear , and the next moment , more indians than I dreamed possible were in front of the fort . " One of the Indians approached the fort with a white flag . No one believed the flag was genuine . Silas Parker wanted the five men present to man the walls and fight as best they could . Benjamin Parker felt that by going out he could buy time for the majority of the women and children to flee out the back ( small ) gate . He felt that there was simply no way that five men would be able to hold the Indians out more than a second or two , as they could use ropes to scale the walls . He felt that the war party would then kill everyone in the fort , and the unsuspecting men in the fields . He argued with Silas that they had to barter their lives for time for everyone else . Their father agreed with Benjamin . Benjamin knew he was going to be killed . According to Rachel Plummer ' s account , Benjamin returned to the fort , after his first talk with the war party , and told his brother and father that he believed they would all be killed , and that they should run swiftly to the woods . Silas again argued with him , telling him they should push the big gate shut , and man the walls . Ben pointed out , rightly , Rachel said , that there was no time , and their " course was decided . " He told her , " run little Rachel , for your life and your unborn child , run now and fast ! " She said he then straightened up and went back outside . She recounted how Silas told her to watch the front gate , after Benjamin had gone out to talk to the Indians the second time , when she herself wanted to flee , while he ran for his musket and powder pouch . “ They will kill Benjamin , ” she reported her Uncle Silas saying , “ and then me , but I will do for at least one of them , by God . ” At that moment , she said she heard whooping outside the fort , and then Indians were inside . The 3 – 5 minutes bought enough time that the majority of the women and children did get away . Rachel Plummer , who was pregnant , was afraid she would not be able to keep up while carrying her two year old son , and so she stayed in the fort . She began running after seeing the Indians come into the fort , holding her little boy ' s hand , while behind her she said she saw Indians stabbing Benjamin with their lances , and then she heard “ Uncle Silas shout defiance as though he had a thousand men with him . Alas , he was alone , and soon dead . ” Lucy Parker , who also had a small child , stopped to argue with her husband Silas , begging him to come with her . Elizabeth Duty Kellogg stopped to gather up their savings , $ 100 in coins , before she attempted to escape . Benjamin Parker was killed , and before the fort ' s gates could be closed , the raiders rushed inside . Silas Parker , who was outside with his brother , was killed before he was able to get back inside the gate . Samuel Frost and his son Robert were killed inside the gate , as they attempted to flee . John Parker ' s genitals were cut off and he was then scalped . His wife came out of the woods when she saw his torture and was captured . Lucy Parker and her youngest two children were initially captured but were rescued by Luther Plummer as he ran up to the fort from the fields . Her two oldest children , however , along with Luther ' s wife ( Rachel ) and son , and Elizabeth Kellogg were successfully kidnapped . In all , five men were killed , some were left for dead , two women and three children were captured , and the rest escaped into the wilderness . Fort Parker inhabitants on May 19 , 1836 . " Note " : 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 ; all of them were later ransomed or freed . Their captivity took several years , except Mrs . Kellogg , who was ransomed within 3 months . Captured inhabitants . Cynthia Ann Parker . 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 at the Battle of Pease River . Ironically , Cynthia Parker was the victim of two massacres which destroyed her life . The first , the attack on Fort Parker in 1836 , killed her father and left her among the Comanche for nearly 25 years . The second , a massacre of the Comanche Band of her husband , the Noconis , at the Battle of Pease River left her a prisoner among the whites . 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 after starving herself to death after her daughter , Prairie Flower , had caught influenza and died from pneumonia . She was originally buried with her daughter in Fosterville Cemetery in Anderson County near Frankston , but her son , Quanah , had her re - interred , and reburied next to him at Fort Sill , Oklahoma . John Richard Parker . Cynthia Ann ' s brother John Richard Parker was ransomed back in 1842 along with his cousin , James Pratt Plummer . He was unable to adapt to white society and ran back to the Comanche . He later was left to die after he contracted smallpox during a Comanche raid into Mexico . The war party left a captive Mexican girl to care for him , and he restored her to her family after recovering , and spent the remainder of his life in Old Mexico after marrying her . During the American Civil War , he served in a Mexican Company within the Confederate Army . He later lived as stockman and rancher in Mexico , where he died in 1915 . Rachel Plummer . Rachel Plummer , the 17 year old wife of Luther Plummer , daughter of James Parker , and cousin to Cynthia Parker and her brother John , was held captive by the Comanche for two years before being ransomed by her father . Her book on her captivity , " Rachael Plummer ' s Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Comanchee Indians " , was issued in Houston in 1838 . This was the first narrative about a captive of Texas Indians published in the Republic of Texas , and it was a sensation not just there , but throughout the United States and even abroad . Rachel died in 1840 , in childbirth , a year after being ransomed . James Pratt Plummer . James Pratt , son of Rachel Plummer , was separated from his mother ( who never knew about his further fate ) and was soon given away to another Comanche band . Late in 1842 he was ransomed and in 1843 reunited with his grandfather James W . Parker . Parker refused to return his grandson to his father , claiming that Luther Plummer had not even paid his ransom . Even when the latter appealed successfully to the Governor of Texas , Parker refused to return his grandson . Luther Plummer , meanwhile remarried and father of another child , did then not pursue the matter . James Pratt Plummer married twice and had four children . He died of pneumonia while serving with the Confederate Army in 1862 . Elizabeth Duty Kellogg . In late May 1836 , Elizabeth Kellogg was taken by a band of Kichai Indians , which she took for " Kitchawas " . In summer , Delaware Indians purchased Mrs . Kellogg and sold her to her brother - in - law James W . Parker in August 1836 for 150 Dollars ( the money was sent by Sam Houston ) . She was reunited with her sister Martha " Patsey " Duty on September 6 , 1836 . People closely related to the fate of the captured inhabitants . James W . Parker . James W . Parker , who was working in the fields when the raid began , spent much of the rest of his life , and most of his fortune , searching for his daughter Rachel , his grandson James , his niece Cynthia , and his nephew John Richard . After many near - death escapes , he finally settled with his family . John Wayne ' s character Ethan Edwards , in the John Ford Western " The Searchers " , was modeled by author Alan Le May after Parker and others affected by child abductions . Quanah Parker . Quanah Parker , son of Cynthia Ann Parker , became a leader among the Quahadi Comanches . After most of the Comanches and other tribes on the Staked Plains were defeated , Parker and his group surrendered to authorities and were forced to an Indian reservation in Oklahoma territory . The Quahadis were the very last tribe left on the Staked Plains . Quanah Parker was made chief of all the Comanche tribes on the reservation . Shortly before his own death in 1911 , he arranged for the disinterment of his mother and sister and had them reburied in a plot next to his own at the Post Oak Cemetery near Cache , Oklahoma . Congress passed a special allotment to fund the reburial . The three were moved in 1957 to the Fort Sill military cemetery in Oklahoma .