Muncey Massacre

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. McBain Jameson and Jeremiah Muncey were the kind of men who pushed out into the edge of the known world before most folks had even heard of Collin County. Jameson settled in this vicinity in 1840.

Muncey followed him out two years later, in 1842. They built their lives in that quiet, dangerous stretch of Texas where civilization was more of a rumor than a fact. And for a while, it held.

Then came late 1844. William Rice and Leonard Searcy were out hunting when they came upon Muncey's hut. What they found inside stopped them cold.

The savagely slain bodies of Jameson, Muncey, Mrs. Muncey, and a small child. And the signs: unmistakable signs of an Indian raid.

Now, Rice and Searcy didn't stand there long. They had sons out in those same woods, hunting nearby, and every second counted. They sped out to find them.

Young Searcy (found safe). Rice's boy? He had been killed.

And then there were the two Muncey boys. They disappeared. Never to be found.

One other Muncey boy had been spared only because he was away at the Throckmorton settlement when it all came down. That detail sits with you, doesn't it. One child in the right place.

The others not. The marker says it plain: that raid in late 1844 was the last tragic Indian raid in Collin County. The last one.

Which means everything that happened at that hut; every life lost, every boy who vanished into silence; happened at the very end of something. And now, about a mile northwest of where you're standing, somewhere out in that quiet land, is where Muncey's home stood. Where the victims were laid in the ground.

The marker was relocated here in 1998, but the story happened out there. It always happened out there.

What the marker says

McBain Jameson and Jeremiah Muncey settled in this vicinity in 1840 and 1842. While hunting in late 1844, William Rice and Leonard Searcy came to Muncey's hut and found the savagely slain bodies of Jameson, Muncey, Mrs. Muncey, and a small child, and recognized signs of an Indian raid. The men sped out to their own sons, who were hunting nearby. Young Searcy was found safe, but Rice had been killed. Two Muncey boys disappeared, never to be found. Another was at Throckmorton settlement. That was the last tragic Indian raid in Collin county. (1976) Supplemental plaque added 1998: Historical marker relocated to this site in 1998. The site of the Muncey home and graves of the victims are approximately one mile northwest of this site.