F. M. and Susan Whitlock and 3 children were massacred by Indians at their Ft. Mason Crossing home. Buried in this common gravesite, they are commemorated with a historical marker on Park Road 4 and at the gravesite.
Long Mountain was once a settled region to the northeast of Hoover's Valley in far western Burnet County. It was never a well known settlement, only having a small schoolhouse. However, in early December 1870, the community's name would become well known throughout all of Burnet and Llano Counties as well as all of Central Texas.
At the time, the region on the north side of the Colorado River (present day northern Kingsland) was often referred to as No Man's Land. Though there had been a military presence in the area since the late 1840s, tribes of Comanche Indians would often make raids upon the settlements on the south side of the river. Though these raids rarely resulted in the loss of life, numerous herds of cattle would be stolen and then taken across the river. Having lost several cows because of these raids, a resident of Hoover's Valley decided that he would make a one man ambush against the Comanches as soon as they were crossing the Colorado near the Fort Crogan to Fort Mason military trail. His ambush would have harsh consequences.
Late one night, the rancher waited with his loaded musket near the crossing. When the Comanches began to wade onto the shoreline, he quickly took a shot at them. His volley killed one of the leading members of the tribe, who some have claimed was likely the chief, and not wasting anytime; the rancher fled the crossing and made it safely back to his homestead where he was finally able to get a good night's sleep, feeling somewhat accomplished in his mission.
Early the next morning, residents awoke to see a towering pillar of black smoke rising high into the air. Upon investigation, they made a gruesome discovery. The source of the smoke cloud were the charred remains of the Marion Whitlock home, recently just having been set afire. Around the home, the farmers of Long Mountain uncovered the scalped body of Marion Whitlock, the lanced through corpse of his seven year old daughter, the remains of the family's infant whose skull had been bashed against a tree, the family's second youngest boy with arrows inside his little body, and inside the cabin they found the smoldered bones of Mrs. Whitlock who had been burned alive inside the house. It later became known that only one member of the Whitlock family had survived, a young boy, but he had been kidnapped and taken across the river.
Feeling responsible for the sudden attack, the rancher who had ambushed the Comanches as they were crossing the river the night before, gathered the remains of the family and paid to have them buried at the cemetery at Hoover's Valley in a common grave where they rest today. Patrols of soldiers and Rangers were sent out to track down the kidnapped child, as well as the captors, but nothing ever resulted from their searchs. The Long Mountain Massacre of 1870 is still a well known tale today of the Llano and Burnet areas of Central Texas. It shows just how rough, deadly, and savage life was in the days of the Old West and Indian Wars.
{Sources Used
Jackson, Muriel et. all, Families of Early Kingsland, Texas and Nearby Communities in Llano and
Burnet Counties. Kingsland Genealogical Society, Kingsland, TX. 1998.}
Here is a second article.....
J. Marvin Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine
July 28, 2014 at 12:55pm
·
WHITLOCK MASSACRE RETOLD
Mrs. W. J. Faris, 78, of Llano, vividly recalls the massacre of the Whitlock family in Llano county in 1870, the major Indian crime of early days in that section. She was a neighbor of the Whitlock family when a girl.
"I spent the Saturday night before the family was killed at the Whitlock home," Mrs. Faris says. "We often went there and spent two or three days. Mr. Whitlock was plowing near the house when the Indians came and we suppose they killed him first. They set fire to the house and Mrs. Whitlock's body was found in the ruins, but it never was known whether the Indians killed her or she burned to death. One baby was found in the yard. It looked as though they had pitched her out of the door because her head struck a rock and killed her.
"The other baby was found at the barn where the Indians had killed her with a stone. A 6-year-old girl was carried half a mile away and killed with a lance, the weapon being left in her body. The fourth child, a boy, was in the field with his father and the Indians carried him away. He never was returned, but I heard he was in Arizona a few years ago.
"Men living nearby saw the fire but reached the Whitlock place too late to save the family. They found the babies that night, and next morning discovered Whitlock's body in the field where hogs had mutilated it. The body of the older girl was brought in and placed in a crib with the two younger children. Her hair was plaited and the Indians had jerked one off and placed it across her chest."
Mrs. Faris says her father was in Llano that day, "and when he didn't come home we were afraid he was captured or killed by the Indians. Later, he said the Indians crossed the road near him while he was returning. He became frightened and spent the night with friends."
About midnight, she says, the men who had been at the Whitlock's reached her home, expecting to find another massacre. Hunting parties went out from Llano in pursuit of the Indians, but, although the Whitlock home was on the main road between Llano and Burnet, the redskins escaped unharmed. with the Whitlock boy.
The Indians were believed to be the same band that killed a colored girl in a cotton field in the Yett settlement near Marble Falls the previous day, then crossed the Colorado river and killed a colored man, she says. From there they went to the Whitlock home on the east side of Long Mountain.
Mrs. Faris is the daughter of the late Isaac Sampson Haile, who settled in the Long Mountain community in 1853. The Whitlocks came to the Llano county with Haile from South Carolina. Her father ranched in Mason county and Mrs. Faris recalls that in his frequent absences driving cattle, her brother sat on the split-rail fence and watched for Indians while she milked.
[from J. Marvin Humter's Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1937]
Thank you to Janet Bertram for this contribution.
Long Mountain was once a settled region to the northeast of Hoover's Valley in far western Burnet County. It was never a well known settlement, only having a small schoolhouse. However, in early December 1870, the community's name would become well known throughout all of Burnet and Llano Counties as well as all of Central Texas.
At the time, the region on the north side of the Colorado River (present day northern Kingsland) was often referred to as No Man's Land. Though there had been a military presence in the area since the late 1840s, tribes of Comanche Indians would often make raids upon the settlements on the south side of the river. Though these raids rarely resulted in the loss of life, numerous herds of cattle would be stolen and then taken across the river. Having lost several cows because of these raids, a resident of Hoover's Valley decided that he would make a one man ambush against the Comanches as soon as they were crossing the Colorado near the Fort Crogan to Fort Mason military trail. His ambush would have harsh consequences.
Late one night, the rancher waited with his loaded musket near the crossing. When the Comanches began to wade onto the shoreline, he quickly took a shot at them. His volley killed one of the leading members of the tribe, who some have claimed was likely the chief, and not wasting anytime; the rancher fled the crossing and made it safely back to his homestead where he was finally able to get a good night's sleep, feeling somewhat accomplished in his mission.
Early the next morning, residents awoke to see a towering pillar of black smoke rising high into the air. Upon investigation, they made a gruesome discovery. The source of the smoke cloud were the charred remains of the Marion Whitlock home, recently just having been set afire. Around the home, the farmers of Long Mountain uncovered the scalped body of Marion Whitlock, the lanced through corpse of his seven year old daughter, the remains of the family's infant whose skull had been bashed against a tree, the family's second youngest boy with arrows inside his little body, and inside the cabin they found the smoldered bones of Mrs. Whitlock who had been burned alive inside the house. It later became known that only one member of the Whitlock family had survived, a young boy, but he had been kidnapped and taken across the river.
Feeling responsible for the sudden attack, the rancher who had ambushed the Comanches as they were crossing the river the night before, gathered the remains of the family and paid to have them buried at the cemetery at Hoover's Valley in a common grave where they rest today. Patrols of soldiers and Rangers were sent out to track down the kidnapped child, as well as the captors, but nothing ever resulted from their searchs. The Long Mountain Massacre of 1870 is still a well known tale today of the Llano and Burnet areas of Central Texas. It shows just how rough, deadly, and savage life was in the days of the Old West and Indian Wars.
{Sources Used
Jackson, Muriel et. all, Families of Early Kingsland, Texas and Nearby Communities in Llano and
Burnet Counties. Kingsland Genealogical Society, Kingsland, TX. 1998.}
Here is a second article.....
J. Marvin Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine
July 28, 2014 at 12:55pm
·
WHITLOCK MASSACRE RETOLD
Mrs. W. J. Faris, 78, of Llano, vividly recalls the massacre of the Whitlock family in Llano county in 1870, the major Indian crime of early days in that section. She was a neighbor of the Whitlock family when a girl.
"I spent the Saturday night before the family was killed at the Whitlock home," Mrs. Faris says. "We often went there and spent two or three days. Mr. Whitlock was plowing near the house when the Indians came and we suppose they killed him first. They set fire to the house and Mrs. Whitlock's body was found in the ruins, but it never was known whether the Indians killed her or she burned to death. One baby was found in the yard. It looked as though they had pitched her out of the door because her head struck a rock and killed her.
"The other baby was found at the barn where the Indians had killed her with a stone. A 6-year-old girl was carried half a mile away and killed with a lance, the weapon being left in her body. The fourth child, a boy, was in the field with his father and the Indians carried him away. He never was returned, but I heard he was in Arizona a few years ago.
"Men living nearby saw the fire but reached the Whitlock place too late to save the family. They found the babies that night, and next morning discovered Whitlock's body in the field where hogs had mutilated it. The body of the older girl was brought in and placed in a crib with the two younger children. Her hair was plaited and the Indians had jerked one off and placed it across her chest."
Mrs. Faris says her father was in Llano that day, "and when he didn't come home we were afraid he was captured or killed by the Indians. Later, he said the Indians crossed the road near him while he was returning. He became frightened and spent the night with friends."
About midnight, she says, the men who had been at the Whitlock's reached her home, expecting to find another massacre. Hunting parties went out from Llano in pursuit of the Indians, but, although the Whitlock home was on the main road between Llano and Burnet, the redskins escaped unharmed. with the Whitlock boy.
The Indians were believed to be the same band that killed a colored girl in a cotton field in the Yett settlement near Marble Falls the previous day, then crossed the Colorado river and killed a colored man, she says. From there they went to the Whitlock home on the east side of Long Mountain.
Mrs. Faris is the daughter of the late Isaac Sampson Haile, who settled in the Long Mountain community in 1853. The Whitlocks came to the Llano county with Haile from South Carolina. Her father ranched in Mason county and Mrs. Faris recalls that in his frequent absences driving cattle, her brother sat on the split-rail fence and watched for Indians while she milked.
[from J. Marvin Humter's Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1937]
Thank you to Janet Bertram for this contribution.
F. M. and Susan Whitlock and 3 children were massacred by Indians at their Ft. Mason Crossing home. Buried in this common gravesite, they are commemorated with a historical marker on Park Road 4 and at the gravesite.
Long Mountain was once a settled region to the northeast of Hoover's Valley in far western Burnet County. It was never a well known settlement, only having a small schoolhouse. However, in early December 1870, the community's name would become well known throughout all of Burnet and Llano Counties as well as all of Central Texas.
At the time, the region on the north side of the Colorado River (present day northern Kingsland) was often referred to as No Man's Land. Though there had been a military presence in the area since the late 1840s, tribes of Comanche Indians would often make raids upon the settlements on the south side of the river. Though these raids rarely resulted in the loss of life, numerous herds of cattle would be stolen and then taken across the river. Having lost several cows because of these raids, a resident of Hoover's Valley decided that he would make a one man ambush against the Comanches as soon as they were crossing the Colorado near the Fort Crogan to Fort Mason military trail. His ambush would have harsh consequences.
Late one night, the rancher waited with his loaded musket near the crossing. When the Comanches began to wade onto the shoreline, he quickly took a shot at them. His volley killed one of the leading members of the tribe, who some have claimed was likely the chief, and not wasting anytime; the rancher fled the crossing and made it safely back to his homestead where he was finally able to get a good night's sleep, feeling somewhat accomplished in his mission.
Early the next morning, residents awoke to see a towering pillar of black smoke rising high into the air. Upon investigation, they made a gruesome discovery. The source of the smoke cloud were the charred remains of the Marion Whitlock home, recently just having been set afire. Around the home, the farmers of Long Mountain uncovered the scalped body of Marion Whitlock, the lanced through corpse of his seven year old daughter, the remains of the family's infant whose skull had been bashed against a tree, the family's second youngest boy with arrows inside his little body, and inside the cabin they found the smoldered bones of Mrs. Whitlock who had been burned alive inside the house. It later became known that only one member of the Whitlock family had survived, a young boy, but he had been kidnapped and taken across the river.
Feeling responsible for the sudden attack, the rancher who had ambushed the Comanches as they were crossing the river the night before, gathered the remains of the family and paid to have them buried at the cemetery at Hoover's Valley in a common grave where they rest today. Patrols of soldiers and Rangers were sent out to track down the kidnapped child, as well as the captors, but nothing ever resulted from their searchs. The Long Mountain Massacre of 1870 is still a well known tale today of the Llano and Burnet areas of Central Texas. It shows just how rough, deadly, and savage life was in the days of the Old West and Indian Wars.
{Sources Used
Jackson, Muriel et. all, Families of Early Kingsland, Texas and Nearby Communities in Llano and
Burnet Counties. Kingsland Genealogical Society, Kingsland, TX. 1998.}
Here is a second article.....
J. Marvin Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine
July 28, 2014 at 12:55pm
·
WHITLOCK MASSACRE RETOLD
Mrs. W. J. Faris, 78, of Llano, vividly recalls the massacre of the Whitlock family in Llano county in 1870, the major Indian crime of early days in that section. She was a neighbor of the Whitlock family when a girl.
"I spent the Saturday night before the family was killed at the Whitlock home," Mrs. Faris says. "We often went there and spent two or three days. Mr. Whitlock was plowing near the house when the Indians came and we suppose they killed him first. They set fire to the house and Mrs. Whitlock's body was found in the ruins, but it never was known whether the Indians killed her or she burned to death. One baby was found in the yard. It looked as though they had pitched her out of the door because her head struck a rock and killed her.
"The other baby was found at the barn where the Indians had killed her with a stone. A 6-year-old girl was carried half a mile away and killed with a lance, the weapon being left in her body. The fourth child, a boy, was in the field with his father and the Indians carried him away. He never was returned, but I heard he was in Arizona a few years ago.
"Men living nearby saw the fire but reached the Whitlock place too late to save the family. They found the babies that night, and next morning discovered Whitlock's body in the field where hogs had mutilated it. The body of the older girl was brought in and placed in a crib with the two younger children. Her hair was plaited and the Indians had jerked one off and placed it across her chest."
Mrs. Faris says her father was in Llano that day, "and when he didn't come home we were afraid he was captured or killed by the Indians. Later, he said the Indians crossed the road near him while he was returning. He became frightened and spent the night with friends."
About midnight, she says, the men who had been at the Whitlock's reached her home, expecting to find another massacre. Hunting parties went out from Llano in pursuit of the Indians, but, although the Whitlock home was on the main road between Llano and Burnet, the redskins escaped unharmed. with the Whitlock boy.
The Indians were believed to be the same band that killed a colored girl in a cotton field in the Yett settlement near Marble Falls the previous day, then crossed the Colorado river and killed a colored man, she says. From there they went to the Whitlock home on the east side of Long Mountain.
Mrs. Faris is the daughter of the late Isaac Sampson Haile, who settled in the Long Mountain community in 1853. The Whitlocks came to the Llano county with Haile from South Carolina. Her father ranched in Mason county and Mrs. Faris recalls that in his frequent absences driving cattle, her brother sat on the split-rail fence and watched for Indians while she milked.
[from J. Marvin Humter's Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1937]
Thank you to Janet Bertram for this contribution.
Long Mountain was once a settled region to the northeast of Hoover's Valley in far western Burnet County. It was never a well known settlement, only having a small schoolhouse. However, in early December 1870, the community's name would become well known throughout all of Burnet and Llano Counties as well as all of Central Texas.
At the time, the region on the north side of the Colorado River (present day northern Kingsland) was often referred to as No Man's Land. Though there had been a military presence in the area since the late 1840s, tribes of Comanche Indians would often make raids upon the settlements on the south side of the river. Though these raids rarely resulted in the loss of life, numerous herds of cattle would be stolen and then taken across the river. Having lost several cows because of these raids, a resident of Hoover's Valley decided that he would make a one man ambush against the Comanches as soon as they were crossing the Colorado near the Fort Crogan to Fort Mason military trail. His ambush would have harsh consequences.
Late one night, the rancher waited with his loaded musket near the crossing. When the Comanches began to wade onto the shoreline, he quickly took a shot at them. His volley killed one of the leading members of the tribe, who some have claimed was likely the chief, and not wasting anytime; the rancher fled the crossing and made it safely back to his homestead where he was finally able to get a good night's sleep, feeling somewhat accomplished in his mission.
Early the next morning, residents awoke to see a towering pillar of black smoke rising high into the air. Upon investigation, they made a gruesome discovery. The source of the smoke cloud were the charred remains of the Marion Whitlock home, recently just having been set afire. Around the home, the farmers of Long Mountain uncovered the scalped body of Marion Whitlock, the lanced through corpse of his seven year old daughter, the remains of the family's infant whose skull had been bashed against a tree, the family's second youngest boy with arrows inside his little body, and inside the cabin they found the smoldered bones of Mrs. Whitlock who had been burned alive inside the house. It later became known that only one member of the Whitlock family had survived, a young boy, but he had been kidnapped and taken across the river.
Feeling responsible for the sudden attack, the rancher who had ambushed the Comanches as they were crossing the river the night before, gathered the remains of the family and paid to have them buried at the cemetery at Hoover's Valley in a common grave where they rest today. Patrols of soldiers and Rangers were sent out to track down the kidnapped child, as well as the captors, but nothing ever resulted from their searchs. The Long Mountain Massacre of 1870 is still a well known tale today of the Llano and Burnet areas of Central Texas. It shows just how rough, deadly, and savage life was in the days of the Old West and Indian Wars.
{Sources Used
Jackson, Muriel et. all, Families of Early Kingsland, Texas and Nearby Communities in Llano and
Burnet Counties. Kingsland Genealogical Society, Kingsland, TX. 1998.}
Here is a second article.....
J. Marvin Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine
July 28, 2014 at 12:55pm
·
WHITLOCK MASSACRE RETOLD
Mrs. W. J. Faris, 78, of Llano, vividly recalls the massacre of the Whitlock family in Llano county in 1870, the major Indian crime of early days in that section. She was a neighbor of the Whitlock family when a girl.
"I spent the Saturday night before the family was killed at the Whitlock home," Mrs. Faris says. "We often went there and spent two or three days. Mr. Whitlock was plowing near the house when the Indians came and we suppose they killed him first. They set fire to the house and Mrs. Whitlock's body was found in the ruins, but it never was known whether the Indians killed her or she burned to death. One baby was found in the yard. It looked as though they had pitched her out of the door because her head struck a rock and killed her.
"The other baby was found at the barn where the Indians had killed her with a stone. A 6-year-old girl was carried half a mile away and killed with a lance, the weapon being left in her body. The fourth child, a boy, was in the field with his father and the Indians carried him away. He never was returned, but I heard he was in Arizona a few years ago.
"Men living nearby saw the fire but reached the Whitlock place too late to save the family. They found the babies that night, and next morning discovered Whitlock's body in the field where hogs had mutilated it. The body of the older girl was brought in and placed in a crib with the two younger children. Her hair was plaited and the Indians had jerked one off and placed it across her chest."
Mrs. Faris says her father was in Llano that day, "and when he didn't come home we were afraid he was captured or killed by the Indians. Later, he said the Indians crossed the road near him while he was returning. He became frightened and spent the night with friends."
About midnight, she says, the men who had been at the Whitlock's reached her home, expecting to find another massacre. Hunting parties went out from Llano in pursuit of the Indians, but, although the Whitlock home was on the main road between Llano and Burnet, the redskins escaped unharmed. with the Whitlock boy.
The Indians were believed to be the same band that killed a colored girl in a cotton field in the Yett settlement near Marble Falls the previous day, then crossed the Colorado river and killed a colored man, she says. From there they went to the Whitlock home on the east side of Long Mountain.
Mrs. Faris is the daughter of the late Isaac Sampson Haile, who settled in the Long Mountain community in 1853. The Whitlocks came to the Llano county with Haile from South Carolina. Her father ranched in Mason county and Mrs. Faris recalls that in his frequent absences driving cattle, her brother sat on the split-rail fence and watched for Indians while she milked.
[from J. Marvin Humter's Frontier Times Magazine, January, 1937]
Thank you to Janet Bertram for this contribution.
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