INDIAN ATTACKS ON THE TEXAS FRONTIER
PUBLISHED IN 1889 BY E. L. DEATON
A SCHOOL HOUSE TRAGEDY
We present this awful massacre as it was originally recorded from on eye witness, Mrs. Nancy Martin, one of the daughters of Mrs. Elizabeth Baggett, whose home was attacked by Indians, which is presented on another page. As you can see, these Indian attacks were vicious and bloody, terrorizing and killing many innocent victims.

On the 11th day of July 1866, the Indians attacked a schoolhouse on the Leon River in Hamilton County. The children were out at recess, but they rushed in to tell their teacher, Miss Ann Whitney, who was their teacher at that time, that they saw Indians coming. She ordered them to take their seats, saying: “They are cowboys; they will think I keep bad order.” The children tried to obey the order of their much beloved teacher. The teacher could not believe they were Indians until she saw them cut loose a horse that was staked, then she exclaimed: “Oh children! Get away if you can! They are Indians!”

By this time the Indians were upon them! Miss Ann shut the door and bolted it. The children jumped out of the windows and were running in every direction. One of the Indians spoke in plain, fluent English, saying: “Oh yes, we have caught you by yourself this time.” And then they commenced shooting her. She still continued to hold the door. One Indian went to the window and told her to come to him. She replied: “If I were to go there you would shoot me.” Said he: “No, I will not shoot you.” She left the door, the blood dropping off her fingers, and when about the center of the room, he commenced shooting her in the face with arrows. The Indians were shooting her from both sides by this time.

She saw that death was staring her in the face and said: “Kill me if you will, but for goodness sake, don’t kill the children.” Then an Indian stepped up and held up his right hand while the others finished killing her. By this time the children had all gotten away except five: Miss Mary Jane Manning, Lewis Manning, John Coal, John Kuykendall, and Miss Sarah Jane Kuykendall. Miss Sarah Jane was sick at the time and lying under the writing desk. One Indian came in the house where Sarah Jane was lying. She picked up a bench leg and said: “I will knock you down if you don’t let me alone.”

She started out of the house and he told her not to run; if she did he would shoot her. She ran, and the Indian shot her through the wrist and back. She fell and lay there until the Indians left. Then she got up and made her way to John Baggett’s house. The Indians captured John Kuykendall. The other children got under the floor and stayed there until the white men arrived.

Amanda Howard and Sallie Howard, wife of Val Howard, had been to John Baggett’s home on a visit and while returning home and within one hundred yards of the schoolhouse they saw the Indians. One of them took after Amanda and Sallie, but they kept ahead of him. They made it for John Baggett’s place and when they arrived, Amanda made her horse leap over an eight rail fence. The Indian ran up to the side of Sallie with a six-shooter in his hand. She jumped to the ground and the Indian followed her to within thirty yards of the field fence, where Baggett lived. Mr. Baggett was nearly blind.

His daughter, Nancy, said: “Here he is, Pa!” The old man then presented his gun. The Indian left Sallie and fell over on the opposite side of his horse for protection. Miss Amanda said she was going to her brothers, Val and Chap Howard. When she started, four Indians from the schoolhouse took after her, but she escaped.

As the Indians left the schoolhouse they attacked some movers in the valley by the name of Stangeline. They knocked two girls off their horses. Mr. Stangeline shot one of the Indians. They turned on him and shot him with guns until he fell over in his wagon. When he fell, his children left the wagon. Then the Indians ran up, raised his arm and stabbed him as long as he would flinch. Mrs. Stangeline raised her baby and told them to kill it first. They shot her through the arms first, the ball passing through into her babe’s arm. The Indians took one of the girls to a certain place and left her. Some neighbors took the girl’s dead father, her wounded mother, and brothers and sisters to Mr. Eli Howard’s house.

The Indians took little John Kuykendall off with them and sold him to an Indian agent far up north. The Indians had sold him to the agent for four gallons of whiskey. During his ordeal with the Indians, little John had forgotten who he was. His wild surroundings with the Indians had almost obliterated from his mind any trace of his former life. All efforts were made by the agent to find his family, but all in vain. He and his wife took care of him during his lapse of memory and after about eleven months, little John Kuykendall’s memory began to recover. He finally remembered some of his family. The agent advertised and his father came for him.

(This Editor’s Note: Nancy Martin, author of this narrative, was an eyewitness [this is according to the article, A School House Tragedy]. Nancy was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Baggett.)

PicoSearch
  Help

Walter Baggott | Hervey Baggott | John Baggott | Nicholas Baggett I | Nicholas Baggett II | Benjamin Baggett | Abraham Baggett I | Joseph Baggett I | Barnaby Baggett
Thomas Baggett | Nicholas Baggett III | John Baggett | Hardy Baggett | Grandberry Baggett | Abbots Bromley | Bagots at Pool Park Hall | Silas Baggett Historic Home
Alexander Baggett | Irish Baggotts | Austrlian Baggotts | English Baggotts | Ele Baggett Historic Home | Battle Abbey | John Baggett Analysis | Union Baptist Church
Lord William Bagot | Averett Baggett | Photo Galary 1 | Photo Galary 2 | Photo Galary 3 | Photo Galary 4 | Photo Galary 5 | Great Grandfather of William Riley Baggett  Descendants of Machael Baggett | Maury Former Home | Historic Buildings | Historic House | Ephraim Baggett Family | Historical Home | Christmas | Silas Baggett
Cemetery | English Map | Levens Scenery | Ancestors of Lord William Bagot | They Passed Bagots Bromley | The Creation | Ele Bright Baggett | Winter Snow Flacks
Silas Baggett | Bagots Blithfield View From The Air | Irish Data | Irish Legal | Bagot Special Breed of Goats | Zion Baptist Church | The Duncan line | Bagots Bromley
The Rev. Burrell Camp | Bagod d' Arras | English Baggott Descendants | Bagot Pype Hayes Park Hall | Civil War and Its Links | Historical Store | Bagot Blithfield Hall
Baggett Name Origin Certificate | Descendants of Andrew B. Baggett | Conecuh County Alabama History | Joseph Williams Family | Historical Homes | Allen Baggett
Baggett History 1 | Baggett History 1b | Baggett History 1ba | Baggett History 1bb | Baggett History 1c | Baggett History 2 | Baggett History 2b | Baggett History 3
Baggett History 4 | Baggett History 5 | Baggett History 6 | Baggett History 6b | Baggett History 7 | Baggett History 8 | Elizabeth Baggett Home Place | Wills & Deeds
High Shoals Falls | The Jacob Baggett Family, Father of Stephen Z. Baggett | Family Connections; The James Connection | Family Connections; The Hardy Family
Nicholas Grandberry Baggett | Rev. Ned Grandberry Baggett | Saint-Omer Castel in Flanders | Stephen Baggett - Sikes | Hervey and Millicent Stafford | 1899 Ballard
Bagots of Levens Hall Park | Delicious Home Recipes - Casseroles | Delicious Home Recipes - Cakes | Delicious Home Recipes - Pies | Christian Nation in Danger
Descendants of Burl Baggett | Uzziel Baggett Descendants | Rev. Ned Baggett and Wife | Present Dangers of Atheism | Baggett Proof of Descent in Origin Section
James Baggett I Descendants | James Baggett II Descendants | The Baggett Family in Belgium | The Baggett Family in France | Jesse Baggett and Wife, Zilla Godwin
Joseph Baggett I last Will and Testament |Thomas Baggett I last Will and Testament |Thomas Baggett II last Will and Testament |Descendants of Solomon Baggett
Nicholas Baggett III Last Will and Testament | An Indian Raid in Texas | Descendants of Joseph Baggett I | Descendants of Jesse Baggett | Baggett Family Pedigree