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Parker was intercepted and killed as
he fled toward safety with his wife.
His body was badly mutilated, and
his wife was stabbed and later died
in Fort Houston.
Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg, Mrs.
Rachel Plummer (daughter of the
elder) and her son James, and Cynthia
Ann and John Parker (children
of Silas Parker, aged nine and six
respectively) were taken as hostages
by the savages.
Mrs. Sarah Nixon (daughter of the
elder) escaped to the fields to warn
the farming men. Several other horrified
pioneers managed to escape the
massacre and joined the others to
hide in the wooded river bottoms all
that day. It was a day marked as one
of the bloodiest and most brutal in
Texas history.
Elizabeth Kellogg was the first of
the kidnapped settlers to be released
by the Indians. She was ransomed
six months after the massacre to General
Sam Houston, for $150.
In 1838, Mrs. Plummer was bought
from an Indian tribe in New Mexico
and returned to Texas. An infant son
born to her after she had been captive
six months was taken and
murdered by her captors while she
watched helplessly.
In 1842, James Plummer was ransomed
to a fort in Oklahoma and returned
to his relatives in Texas. He
had lived with the Indians for six
years.
Twenty-four years after the massacre,
Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured
near the Pease River in
what is now Foard County in northwest
Texas. She had lived with the
Comanche Indians since she was
nine, married a Comanche chief, and
reared three children as Comanches.
When Captain Sul Ross recaptured
the fleeing white woman, she was for
all purposes an Indian squaw devoted
to her husband and children.
Although she was returned to her
family in Anderson County, she
could never recall much of her
Anglo-Saxon life, and she tried
numerous times to escape. After her
death, she was buried in East Texas,
but her remains were later moved
to Oklahoma, at the request of her
son, Quanah.
The history of John Parker is not
certain, since he was never returned
to his family. Some say that he became
a skillful Indian warrior, and
later a Confederate soldier.
A second stage of history unfolded
by 1846, when Limestone County
was chartered, and in 1858 a dusty
frontier town called Springfield
bloomed on the north side of the
Navasota. Springfield, which was
named for the Parkers' home in
Illinois, became the county seat with
a population of more than 400.
Carriages and wagons hustled
between numerous businesses and
homes. There were three significant
public buildings: a brick courthousejail
combination, a two-story Masonic
Hall, and a church. A mill added
heavily to the frontier flavor of the
town.
Springfield began to decline ,by
1874, however, when it was bypassed
by the railroad. The cities of
Mexia and Groesbeck quickly challenged
Springfield's leadership in the
county. In 1876, an election to determine
the location of the county seat
was won by Groesbeck. It is rumored
that the margin of victory was only
two votes.
Without the railroad and county
seat, Springfield's decline continued
until it finally became a ghost town.
An old cemetery within Fort Parker
State Park stands as the only token
of evidence that Springfield and its
contribution to Texas history ever
existed.
Today, a new era of history is
evident in the area now known as
Fort Parker State Park. Hundreds
of Texans and other visitors spend
their leisure hours at the park relaxing,
picnicking, and learning more
about the fort's fascinating past.
Fort Parker was rebuilt during the
Texas Centennial in 1936, as nearly
as possible to the original plan. The
blockhouses, cabins, and walls stand
where the originals stood. Visitors
climb into the blockhouses that overlook
the fields about a mile south of
the river, where Comanche and Kiowa
warriors appeared in 1836.
The park's recreational areas are
on the north side of the river, approximately
a five-minute drive from
the reconstructed fort. Built in the
late 1930's, the park encompasses the
site of old Springfield and a manmade,
700-acre lake. The lake has
become almost paradise for fishermen
of catfish and crappie, and the
river above the lake is good for bass
stringers.
More vigorous visitors enjoy skiing
or pedal-boating to the far reaches
of the lake, while swimmers like to
play on the cool, grassy beach.
Many visitors enjoy moonlight
dancing on the patio pavilion, or leisurely
strolls in wooded areas. Picnickers
and campers find more than
100 camp sites are available in the
park, equipped with running water,
picnic tables, open fireplaces, and
iron grates. In addition, the park
offers a modern group camp for the
larger gatherings.
Although much of the flavor of
earlier periods has vanished from
the State, so have hardships and ruggedness.
Visitors to Fort Parker State
Park blend the best of both historic
eras, borrowing the color and spirit
of adventure from the pioneer era,
and recreation and comfort from
modern Texas. **
Grassy beach invites visitors to enjoy cooling swim.