Ripley Massacre

The Franklin County Genealogical Society calls the Ripley killings of April 10, 1841 the last Indian massacre in the eastern half of Texas. Its account says Ambrose Ripley petitioned the Congress of the Republic of Texas for his losses in "the defense of the frontiers of the Republic." In reprisal, it says, settlers gathered from a 70-mile radius and attacked Native communities up to 100 miles away, with no attempt reported to find the people responsible, and it credits that campaign with driving the few remaining Native people out of eastern Texas.

What the plaque says

Ripley Massacre Ambrose Ripley and his wife Rachel (Wood) brought their family to Texas in 1837, settling near here in what was then Red River County. They established their home near the Nacogdoches Road (Cherokee Trace) and a stream now known as Ripley Creek. On April 10, 1841, while Ripley was away, a band of Indians attacked his farmstead, killing first his eldest son who was plowing in the field. Mrs. Ripley and five children were killed trying to reach a canebreak and one infant died when the house was burned. Two of Ripley's daughters eluded the Indians and made it to a neighboring farm. Charles Black and Charles S. Stewart led a group of settlers north in pursuit of the band. Near the Sulphur River, they encountered Indians, who may or may not have been involved in the massacre, and attacked them, killing several. The Ripley family massacre was an isolated incident in this area, but it proved to be a rallying point for increased frontier defenses and for support of the anti-Indian policies of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar. The attack also influenced the formation of a militia unit under the leadership of Gen. Edward H. Tarrant and Cols. James Bourland and William C. Young to rid the area of Indians. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Bob Sandlin State Park — 9.1 mi
  A 1987 state park on a 9,000-acre reservoir, where a Republic of Texas stockade called Fort Sherman stood in 1838 and the Caddo lived from A.D. 800 to 1860, now with fishing piers, trails and cabins.

More markers nearby

• Gray Rock Cemetery — 1.9 mi
• Joshua Foster Johnson — 3.7 mi
• Franklin County Courthouse — 4.2 mi
• Franklin County — 4.8 mi