Site of the McClean Massacre

In Stephen L. Moore's Taming Texas, Dan McLean and his brother-in-law John Sheridan were among the area's earliest residents, considered expert Indian fighters and sometimes hired by settlers as guides and protectors. On May 10, 1837, while helping local residents recover stolen horses, both men were ambushed and killed by Indians. Sheridan's wife, Lucinda, went to the site with an oxcart soon afterward and brought back both bodies. They were buried on their own properties, several miles south of the site.

What the plaque says

Site of the McClean Massacre Daniel McLean and John Sheridan, expert Indian fighters employed by the settlers as guides and protectors, were killed here in 1837. By holding the savages in check until the settlers could escape, both sacrificed their lives.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 8.5 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 21 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• "Slocum Massacre" — 3.1 mi
• Joseph T. Bowman — 4.7 mi
• Guiceland Cemetery — 4.7 mi
• Old Pilgrim Church — 5.3 mi