Rachel Parker Plummer
Comanche Captive
1819 – 1839 A.D.

The story of Cynthia Ann Parker’s abduction in the 1830s by the Comanche, is a well known part of Western and particularly Texas history, and it occurred when Americans were beginning to settle in the then Mexican territory of Texas. Yet as the Americans built new homes, Natives, particularly the Comanche, were still very much a challenge for the new settlers. Then on May 19, 1836 the settlement built by the extended Parker family was attacked, resulting in five deaths, and the abduction of some family members. One kidnapping victim was nine-year-old Cynthia Ann and another was her cousin Rachel Parker Plummer, a young married mother and though they endured the same experience, their individual stories had very different endings.

Cynthia Ann’s story is perhaps best known. Because she was so young she survived in essence by becoming a Comanche, growing up to marry and have three children. One of her sons was Quanah Parker, the remarkable Comanche leader who advocated for his people as their old life faded and they embraced their new one. Then in 1860 when she was returned to her Parker family with her small daughter she remained depressed as she grieved her lost life, and passed away within a few years.

However, Rachel—being in effect an adult—did not assimilate and was treated like a slave by her captors. Then after nearly two years of brutal captivity, she was ransomed and returned to her family, physically and emotionally weakened. She died a few years later but importantly she left a printed version of her story that not just relieved her Comanche captivity, but also formed a permanent record of a people whose way of life would soon be gone.

Born in 1819 in Illinois, Rachel Parker was from a large family headed by her grandfather, Elder John Parker whose children included sons James William Parker and Silas Mercer Parker. Rachel’s father was James and Cynthia Ann’s father was Silas. Several years later Rachel’s father James, a minister, moved his family to Arkansas for a brief time but then later joined other extended family members in Texas. They eventually settled on the Navasota River in 1833 and built what became known as Fort Parker in Limestone County, near present day Mexia. Rachel was still a teenager when she married Thomas Martin Plummer in May, 1833 and their first son James was born in January, 1835. The multi-tribal attack on Fort Parker came in May, 1836 and Rachel, then pregnant with her second child, her toddler son James, her cousin Cynthia Ann, and other family members were abducted. Rachel and her aunt were later whipped and violated by the victorious Natives though in her book Rachel did not go into detail about the assault.

The captives were soon separated, some going with other tribes but Cynthia Ann and Rachel and others going with the Comanche. At the time baby James’ whereabouts were unknown.

Meanwhile, as her family searched for her, Rachel and the tribe assumed their migrations north out of Texas toward what may have been Colorado. They survived by hunting the very mobile buffalo herds, so when their prey moved on, so did the hunters. During this time, the Comanche rarely remained in one place for more than several days, unless cold weather made them settle for a while. Rachel became a literal slave and as such was fed very little, beaten and deprived of clothing. Yet at one point she decided she had had enough and that she would confront the Comanche women who were her “supervisors.”

One day Rachel turned on one of her tormentors and began to beat her. This attracted an audience, and Rachel was sure there would be immediate retaliation apparently by the men who were observing. She wrote “…at any second I expected a spear in the back, but instead, the warriors seemed amused, and gathered and watched us fight. ” After she helped treat her opponent when no one else did Rachel then faced an attack by the other “supervisor. ” During the fracas a lodge had been damaged and as the tribal council intervened, after hearing from Rachel and others, they decreed that Rachel needed to repair the lodge.

However, that was when Rachel realized she was being treated not as a captive but as a Comanche tribal member so she informed the council that the other two combatants should help her. In short, she believed she should be treated more fairly—the Council agreed and all three women did the repairs.

Her treatment changed because Rachel demonstrated the quality that the Comanche admired most—courage. She wrote later: “They respected bravery more than anything, I learned…After that, I took up for myself and fared much the better of it.”

Over the next few months she wrote about her experiences under the title Rachel Plummer’s Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee (sic) Indians an account which was published in Houston in 1838. Over the next few years Rachel’s father issued a revised version of Rachel’s story as an addition to his own account Narrative of the Perilous Adventures, Miraculous Escapes and Sufferings of Rev. James W. Parker.

However, by that time Rachel was gone, passing away on March 9, 1839 along with her third child. As it turned out her first son James was ransomed in 1842 and also reunited with his family. He married, had a family and himself passed away in 1862 in Arkansas.

As tragic as was Rachel’s struggle and death, there was one long lasting benefit and that was her book. It was important because the information she detailed provided valuable facts for future audiences about important people in a brief period in American history. One source put it this way: “As she struggled with being a captive, during the process Rachel learned firsthand about the Comanche culture, descriptions that she covered in her subsequent book as it became a valuable resource of the time and people.”

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Anne Adams is a retired church staffer. She lives in East Texas and has an historical column for a local newspaper. She has published in Christian and secular publications for more than 40 years.

References:
Wikipedia
Texas State Historical Association
Internet Archive