For more about Rachel Parker Plummer-
Check out our June issue.
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set out to the work in their fields.
Rachel’s husband and her father were
among them.
Rachel, who was three months
pregnant, was in the fort along with
most of the other women of her fami-
ly. She went about her chores, taking
care of James Pratt, who was nearly
two years old. As the first child born
to the Parker family in Texas, every-
one doted on him.
As she went about her domestic
chores, Rachel noticed the pasture in
front of the fort was beautifully calm.
Then, the next moment, she recalled,
“more Indians than I dreamed possi-
ble were in front of the fort.”
Along with the five Parker men
who’d stayed at the fort she watched
the pasture fill with Comanche, as
they struggled to decide what to do;
one of the Indians approached the
fort carrying a white flag.
They didn’t believe that the flag
was anything more than a ruse, but
Benjamin Parker had a plan that he
thought might give the women and
children a chance for escape. Ben
gallantly went out and talked to the
Comanche and soon returned from
his first talks with them and warned
his family that he feared they were all
about to die. Ben’s father agreed they
should try a courageous ploy to buy
a little time for the women and chil-
dren, hoping to give them a chance
to escape.
It worked —for most of them, but
not for Rachel, who was pregnant
with a toddler in tow. She lagged
behind, out of fear that she and her
son didn’t have a chance of keeping
up. Then Ben told her he was going
to talk to the Indians again and when
he got outside of the fort, he told her
to shut and lock the gate while the
others slipped out through the small
door to the rear of the fort.
Rachel wanted to flee, but Silas
Parker told her to watch the front
gate while he ran for his musket
and powder pouch, adding that the
Indians would surely kill Ben, “then
me, but I will do for at least one of
them, by God.”
That’s when she heard the blood
curdling whooping outside the fort.
Then the Comanche burst inside.
Rachel slipped through the gate
clutching her son’s hand and ran
past Indians piercing Benjamin with
lances.
She’d decided to try escape too
late.
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