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Rachel Plummer
Rachel Parker Plummer (March 22, 1819 – March 19, 1839) was the daughter of James W. Parker and the cousin of Quanah Parker, the last free-roaming chief of the Comanches. An Anglo-Texan woman, she was kidnapped at the age of seventeen, along with her son, James Pratt Plummer, age two, and her cousins, by a Comanche raiding party.
Plummer's 21 months among the Comanche as a prisoner became widely known when she wrote a book about her captivity, Rachael Plummer's Narrative of Twenty One Months' Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee Indians, which 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 became an international sensation. After Plummer's death, her father published a revised edition of her book in 1844 as an appendix to his Narrative of the Perilous Adventures, Miraculous Escapes and Sufferings of Rev. James W. Parker. Her book is considered an invaluable look at Comanche culture before environmental destruction, disease, starvation, and war forced them onto reservations.
Rachel Parker was born in 1819 in Crawford County, Illinois1, the second youngest living child of James William Parker (1797–1864) and Martha Duty, and spent most of her youth in Illinois. She had two living siblings, and three siblings who had died at an early age. In 1834, her family and allied families, led by her father James and uncle Silas, moved from Illinois to Texas, along with other sons of Elder John Parker (1758–1836) and Sarah White, as part of the large Parker family.
At age 14, socially considered an adult woman and described by her father in his later book as a "red haired beauty of rare courage and intelligence," Rachel Parker married Luther M. Plummer. She moved with the Parker family in 1830 to Conway County, Arkansas, which her father used as a staging ground for exploratory trips to Texas. In 1832 her father proposed to Stephen F. Austin that the Parkers be permitted to settle 50 families north of the Little Brazos River, in what was considered part of the Comancheria. One of the 50 families was that of Plummer and her husband. Austin did not reply to this proposal. James Parker was the first of the Parkers to come to Texas, and his persistence led to his being given a league of land north of the site of present Groesbeck on April 1, 1835. Luther Plummer was also awarded a league of land by his father-in-law's persistent entreaties to the Mexican Government.
Plummer and her husband joined other Parker family members, including her father James, her uncles Silas and Benjamin, and their families, in moving to Texas. Daniel Parker, another uncle of hers, was already in Texas, though not with the other Parkers. The Parker clan led by James, including the Plummer family, moved to their land grant, and built Fort Parker at the headwaters of the Navasota River. It was completed in March 1834, before they had been legally awarded the land on which it was built. Plummer's grandfather, Elder John Parker, then joined them, with his second wife, Sarah Pinson Duty. Fort Parker's 12-foot (4 m) high pointed log walls enclosed 4 acres (16,000 m2). Blockhouses were placed on two corners for lookouts and to make defense of the fort possible. Six cabins were attached to the inside walls. The fort had one large gate facing south, and a small rear gate for easy access to the spring waters.
Though the families in the Parker group were beginning to build cabins outside the Fort, most still slept inside for protection. Elder John Parker had negotiated treaties with local Indian chiefs, and believed they would protect the little colony. Luther Plummer believed his family was safe, but his father-in-law, James Parker, who was aware that the Comanche were not a unified "tribe" as the Europeans understood such, but a group of bands and divisions united by common cultural ties, was less certain. His brother Silas had raised, and become Captain, of a local Ranger company, which James felt could attract the anger of Indians who felt abused by the Rangers.
On May 19, 1836, at sunrise, Plummer, three months pregnant with her second child, was in the fort caring for her 2-year-old firstborn son, James Pratt Plummer, the first child born to the family in Texas, while several men, including her husband and father, were working in the fields.
In her memoir, 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." As the Parkers debated what to do, one of the Indians approached the fort with a white flag. None of them believed the flag was genuine, but Benjamin Parker believed it gave the family a chance for most of them to escape. With his father's approval, he decided to go out to try to delay the Indians while the family escaped.
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Rachel Plummer
Rachel Parker Plummer (March 22, 1819 – March 19, 1839) was the daughter of James W. Parker and the cousin of Quanah Parker, the last free-roaming chief of the Comanches. An Anglo-Texan woman, she was kidnapped at the age of seventeen, along with her son, James Pratt Plummer, age two, and her cousins, by a Comanche raiding party.
Plummer's 21 months among the Comanche as a prisoner became widely known when she wrote a book about her captivity, Rachael Plummer's Narrative of Twenty One Months' Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee Indians, which 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 became an international sensation. After Plummer's death, her father published a revised edition of her book in 1844 as an appendix to his Narrative of the Perilous Adventures, Miraculous Escapes and Sufferings of Rev. James W. Parker. Her book is considered an invaluable look at Comanche culture before environmental destruction, disease, starvation, and war forced them onto reservations.
Rachel Parker was born in 1819 in Crawford County, Illinois1, the second youngest living child of James William Parker (1797–1864) and Martha Duty, and spent most of her youth in Illinois. She had two living siblings, and three siblings who had died at an early age. In 1834, her family and allied families, led by her father James and uncle Silas, moved from Illinois to Texas, along with other sons of Elder John Parker (1758–1836) and Sarah White, as part of the large Parker family.
At age 14, socially considered an adult woman and described by her father in his later book as a "red haired beauty of rare courage and intelligence," Rachel Parker married Luther M. Plummer. She moved with the Parker family in 1830 to Conway County, Arkansas, which her father used as a staging ground for exploratory trips to Texas. In 1832 her father proposed to Stephen F. Austin that the Parkers be permitted to settle 50 families north of the Little Brazos River, in what was considered part of the Comancheria. One of the 50 families was that of Plummer and her husband. Austin did not reply to this proposal. James Parker was the first of the Parkers to come to Texas, and his persistence led to his being given a league of land north of the site of present Groesbeck on April 1, 1835. Luther Plummer was also awarded a league of land by his father-in-law's persistent entreaties to the Mexican Government.
Plummer and her husband joined other Parker family members, including her father James, her uncles Silas and Benjamin, and their families, in moving to Texas. Daniel Parker, another uncle of hers, was already in Texas, though not with the other Parkers. The Parker clan led by James, including the Plummer family, moved to their land grant, and built Fort Parker at the headwaters of the Navasota River. It was completed in March 1834, before they had been legally awarded the land on which it was built. Plummer's grandfather, Elder John Parker, then joined them, with his second wife, Sarah Pinson Duty. Fort Parker's 12-foot (4 m) high pointed log walls enclosed 4 acres (16,000 m2). Blockhouses were placed on two corners for lookouts and to make defense of the fort possible. Six cabins were attached to the inside walls. The fort had one large gate facing south, and a small rear gate for easy access to the spring waters.
Though the families in the Parker group were beginning to build cabins outside the Fort, most still slept inside for protection. Elder John Parker had negotiated treaties with local Indian chiefs, and believed they would protect the little colony. Luther Plummer believed his family was safe, but his father-in-law, James Parker, who was aware that the Comanche were not a unified "tribe" as the Europeans understood such, but a group of bands and divisions united by common cultural ties, was less certain. His brother Silas had raised, and become Captain, of a local Ranger company, which James felt could attract the anger of Indians who felt abused by the Rangers.
On May 19, 1836, at sunrise, Plummer, three months pregnant with her second child, was in the fort caring for her 2-year-old firstborn son, James Pratt Plummer, the first child born to the family in Texas, while several men, including her husband and father, were working in the fields.
In her memoir, 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." As the Parkers debated what to do, one of the Indians approached the fort with a white flag. None of them believed the flag was genuine, but Benjamin Parker believed it gave the family a chance for most of them to escape. With his father's approval, he decided to go out to try to delay the Indians while the family escaped.