DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Fourth of July, 1869. While folks around Fort Worth were celebrating independence, eleven Indians were moving.
They had gathered a herd of horses from the Fort Worth area, and now they were riding north and west from the city, putting miles between themselves and whatever came next. What came next was a posse. Tarrant County men who'd noticed the horses were gone and weren't inclined to let that stand.
They picked up the trail and followed it — out of Tarrant County, into Parker County, pressing hard through North Texas summer heat. But here's where the story turns heavy. Along the way, those eleven riders raided the homes of several settlers.
And they shot and scalped two travelers. Two people who crossed paths with that group on the wrong day never made it home. That's not a footnote.
That's the weight at the center of this whole account. Other posses joined the chase as word spread. The net was tightening — or so it seemed.
Because on the night of July 5th, one day after it all began, the eleven riders slipped away into the dark. They left behind most of the stock they had taken, but they were gone. Vanished into the frontier like smoke off a dying fire.
The marker is careful to remind you this wasn't an isolated event. Raids like this one were common on the North Texas frontier — from the late 1850s all the way to 1875. This was the world settlers and Indians both lived in out here: contested, dangerous, and unresolved.
One Independence Day, one herd of horses, two men dead on the road, and a posse riding hard into Parker County with nothing to show for it but dust. That's the Fourth of July, 1869.
What the marker says
On July 4, 1869, after gathering a herd of horses from the Fort Worth area, a group of eleven Indians rode north and west from the city. They were followed by a posse of Tarrant County men, who trailed them into Parker County. Along the way, the Indians raided the homes of several settlers and shot and scalped two travelers. Other posses began following the Indians, who slipped away on the night of July 5th, leaving behind most of the stock they had taken. Raids such as this were common on the North Texas frontier between the late 1850s and 1875. (1984)