A Horrible Indian Massacre at Rock Creek

     During the 1850-60s in Texas, some of the worst Indian massacres ever recorder occurred in what was then the frontier of Northwest Texas. The area comprises the region from just outside Weatherford, TX to the area up just north of Ft. Richardson (Jacksboro), and south around present day Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto County. The Comanche and Kiowa and others would leave their reservation in the Indian Territory of present day Oklahoma, and on horseback would raid the scattered and isolated farming and ranching families.

In 1860, the Ezra and Martha Sherman family lived on their little homestead in the Cross Timbers on the eastern edge of Staggs Prairie (north and a little east of present day Mineral Wells, TX). The father, mother, and three young children were about a mile from their nearest neighbor. One after noon, several Comanche approached the house. As was always the case in such situations, the family was way out numbered; about all they could do was welcome the Indians to offer them food, which they did. Suddenly, the Indians overpowered the small family.

They told the father to take the two children and leave (one child had hidden); the Indians kept Mrs. Sherman there to do with her whatever they pleased.  Mr. Sherman did not want to leave; the savages told him they would kill all four of them if they stayed, so he took the two children and headed east toward the nearest neighbor on Rock Creek, a mile away. About a half mile away, he heard the horrible screams of his wife. Mr. Sherman decided that he must go back. He could not stand the horrible terrifying screams, as the Indians were surely torturing her. So he sent the children on toward the neighbor’s farm yet a half a mile away, as he went back to try to help his wife. The children begged him not to leave them, for he would possibly be killed too. But he went back.

What he found was overwhelming.  Martha had long black hair. After seventeen Indians raped her, they tried to scalp her. The act of scalping consisted of using the knife to cut along the hair line, above the forehead, and around to just above the ears. This was just enough to grab hold of the scalp to rip and tear the scalp off, often taking much of the skin on the back of the neck as well. This allowed the Indians to maximize the torture and pain, as they shot arrows into the person. The victim was usually left to suffer and die an awful painful death. This procedure was what they tried to do with Martha Sherman.

Mr. Ezra Sherman found his wife scalped, but still alive; she had several arrows shot into her. It took her four days to succumb to her injuries, which included the exposed bone of her skull.  She was able to relate to her husband what happened.  She said the Indians could not get her scalp to come off, so they tied her hair to the tail of a horse. As one Indian sat on her and another Indian rode the horse, they dragged her around the yard till her hair and scalp finally tore away and came off. Then they shot her with several arrows and left. Such tortures were common, and resulted in the pioneers developing a true hatred for all Indians.

This event was part of a far reaching raid of historical importance and sweeping consequences. Such raids, murders, and tortures became common all over the area, resulting in settlers often retreating back to Weatherford for protection. As the raids became worse, the outcry for the government to do something eventually resulted in the Red River Indian War of 1874. Supposedly, this led to the Indians being put back on the reservations and made it safe for the continued settlement of the regions of Northwest Texas and elsewhere on the Texas frontier.

The raid mentioned in this story occurred on what is now the Baker Family Historic Farm, which has been in the Baker family since 1897 (120 years).