Old Fort Parker State Historical Park is a reconstructed fort, which pays tribute to the Parker family, and other pioneers who paid a high price to settle in Texas. The Parkers and other members of their church came to Texas from Crawford County, Illinois in 1833. In 1832, Daniel Parker, a staunch theologian, had gained permission to settle in Texas. After organizing those who wanted to go to Texas into the Predestinarian Baptist Church, they all left Illinois in July of 1833 in ox drawn wagons. Daniel and the majority of his followers settled near the present city of Elkhart, where a replica of their Pilgrim Baptist Church still stands in their memory. Other members of the group preferred to settle farther west, near the Navasota River. Elder John Parker and three of his sons; Silas, James, and Benjamin, began in December of 1833 to clear land and to construct "Parker's Fort."
The large stockade was built of split cedars, buried in the ground three feet and extending up some twelve feet. Two story blockhouses were erected at opposite corners, and within the fort were two rows of log cabins. In March of 1834, the fort was complete and the families of the brothers, along with other members of the group, moved into the fort and began clearing land for fields. Life was hard and security was tight during those early days.
On the morning of May l9, 1836, while most of the men of the fort were working in the fields, a band of Indians came over the bill to the east of the fort. A lighter skinned man with the Indians displayed a white flag, and though warned not to do so, one of the few remaining men within the fort went out to try and prevent the Impending disaster, After talking with several of the warriors, Benjamin Parker returned to the fort, saying the Indians wanted beef, a place to camp, and directions to water. Benjamin returned to the Indians with beef but was quickly surrounded and lanced. The Indians then charged the fort before the gate could be closed.
Five settlers were killed and five were captured. The remaining twenty-one survivors were split into two groups. Both groups made their way toward Port Houston, near the present city of Palestine. The smaller group consisted of the men out working in the fields at the time of the attack. They returned to the fort after dark, took the remaining horses, and after finding "Granny" Parker, left for Fort Houston. The larger group took six nights to travel the sixty miles, with only two skunks and two sand turtles to eat. The most famous of the captives was Cynthia Ann Parker. She was born in Illinois in 1827 and moved to Texas with her family at the age of six. Three short years later, at the age of nine, she saw her father killed, was caught and bound by rope, and taken miles away from the world she knew.
Cynthia Ann was adopted by a family belonging to the Pahuka band of Comanches. In time, Cynthia Ann, now Naduah changed her attitude toward her captors, adopting their language, customs, and manners. While in her teens, Naduah became the wife of Chief Peta Nacona. They had three children.
In the winter of 1860, Captain Sul Ross and a group of Texas Rangers attacked the Nawkohnees camp along the Pease River. While trying to escape, Naduah and her infant daughter were captured by Ranger Tom Kelliher.
Sul Ross noticed Naduah's blue eyes and knew she was not an Indian. After learning her identity, he returned her to relatives in east Texas; however, she could not readjust to Anglo-American society and died in October of 1864, at the age of 37, only six months after the death of her daughter, Prairie Flower. Legend maintains she died of a broken heart, longing to return to the free life of the Comanches.
The Indian abduction of Cynthia Ann Parker was one of many similar incidents, but her story captured the popular imagination and found a place in Texas folklore because of her unwillingness to return to the ways of her childhood. Paradoxically, it was her son, Quanah, realizing the futility of further resistance, who helped the Comanches to adapt to the Anglo-American culture.
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