Elbert Doss

Indian Fight About Six Miles from the Present City of Mineral Wells When Elbert Doss was Killed - April 24, 1869

Porter Cemetery Historical Marker

Marker Title: Porter Cemetery
Address: US 180, 10 mi. W of Weatherford
City: Weatherford
Year Marker Erected: 1978
Marker Location: From Weatherford, take US 180 about 10 miles west.
Marker Text: Robert Scott Porter (1795-1877), first Parker County Judge, dedicated this land near his cabin as a family cemetery in 1867 after the death of his 3-year-old granddaughter Syrene E. Newberry. Judge Porter's grandson Elbert T. Doss (1847-1869) and the judge's daughter Mary, her husband, W.G. Light, and child were killed by Indians and buried here. This site may contain about 50 burials, but only 28 are identified. The graves of Judge Porter and his wife Nancy Ann (Pearce) (1806-1901) are here. Their daughter Elizabeth Jane Doss Upton (1826-1908) was the last burial. Porter family descendants restored this cemetery in 1976. (1978)

Sam Newberry and Tom Cox, while out horse-hunting on Poe Prairie, in the western part of Parker County, drifted into the cow-camp of the "Ikard outfit," where they ate dinner. After the noon hour, the cattlemen started out on the roundup, and it was not long until they struck an Indian trail. But since intermittent showers were falling at various times during the day, the savages were hard to follow.

Nevertheless, Elbert Doss, Sam Newberry, John Doss, Milt Ikard, Tom Cox, Bill Gray, Boaz Ikard, and perhaps one or two others, followed the Indian trail until the savages were overtaken in the roughs about six miles west of the present city of Mineral Wells. About twelve Indians ran under the bluff, and four more stayed on their horses. One Indian fired at Sam Newberry, who was so close he could plainly see the savage had an Enfield rifle. About this time, Sam shot an Indian, who fell from his horse. John Doss tumbled another to the ground, but the seriousness of the Indians' wounds were never known, because the savages carried their wounded away. Elbert Doss received a fatal wound, and died almost instantly. The citizens, who had already recovered most of the Indians' horses, saddles, bridles, ropes, etc., fell back after Elbert Doss was killed.

Note: Author personally interviewed: Sam Newberry, mentioned above; James Newberry; B.J. Thompson, and others who were living in this section at that time.

The above story is from the book, The West Texas Frontier, by Joseph Carroll McConnell.