Brazos Indian Reservation School

The teacher, Zachariah Ellis Coombes, was born in Nelson County, Kentucky, on March 30, 1833, and came to Dallas with his family in 1843 among the early Peters Colony settlers. The Brazos Agency hired him in June 1858. On the reservation he began studying law and kept a diary that was later published. He became a Confederate captain, and in 1866 Dallas County elected him county judge; in November 1867 he and the other county officials were removed as 'impediments to Reconstruction' after the Freedmen's Bureau agent repeatedly charged that they refused to protect Black lives and property.

What the plaque says

Operated for Indian children living on Brazos Reservation, a 37,000-acre refuge created by state in 1854. Here over 1,000 Anadarko, Caddo, Delaware, Ioni, Shawnee, Tawakoni, and Tonkawa people lived, farming and acting as U.S. Army Scouts. Despite racial strife outside reserve, teacher Z. E. Coombes (1833-95) reported unusual good will and harmony in classroom. Subjects taught were English, spelling, writing, and arithmetic. From 34 to 60 students were enrolled. School closed when Indians were moved north in 1859. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Post Office Museum and Art Center — 0.7 mi
  Graham's 1936 Art Moderne post office, with a New Deal mural by Alexandre Hogue inside, now the free museum of Young County in the town where the Texas cattle raisers first organized.
• Fort Belknap — 9.5 mi
  The 1851 northern anchor of the first Texas frontier forts, on the Brazos below Newcastle, a Butterfield stop and the post beside the Brazos Reservation until its people were driven out in 1859.
• Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site — 27 mi
  The northernmost post of the Texas frontier line, outside Jacksboro, where a stone hospital and six other buildings stand from 1867 and a later Guard unit became the Lost Battalion.

More markers nearby

• Brazos River Indian Reservation — 0.2 mi
• Morrison Funeral Home — 0.6 mi
• First National Bank in Graham — 0.6 mi
• Site of Third County Courthouse — 0.7 mi