Fleming Oak
Comanche, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Camped here in 1854 with his father, young Martin V. Fleming hid behind this tree and saved himself when hostile Indians rode through the grove. Years later paving contractors started to cut the oak, but were stopped by "Uncle Mart" with his gun. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1854, when a boy named Martin V. Fleming camped in this grove with his father, he ducked behind this very oak to escape a raiding party riding through the trees. Decades later, as paving crews moved to cut the tree down, the grown "Uncle Mart" faced them off with his gun and saved it. The Fleming Oak still stands as a living witness to Comanche County's frontier days.
Why it matters
The tree links a personal frontier survival story to the broader clash between settlers and Native peoples on the mid-nineteenth-century Texas plains.
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Related people
- · Martin V. Fleming
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Indian Raid in Comanche
Comanche, TX
In May 1861, under a bright moon, raiders swept through Comanche and made off with nearly all the town's horses — one of the boldest such raids in Texas history, foiled from total surprise only by a braying mule that woke the townsfolk. The citizens spent the night molding bullets, and at dawn Captain James Cunningham led seventeen men and boys with hounds in pursuit. The posse overtook the raiders on Brown's Creek some thirty-six miles away in a close, deadly fight.
Comanche County
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First settled by five families in 1854 and organized in 1856, Comanche County was named for the Comanche people, whose hunting grounds were being overtaken by settlers. Early years were hard — raids on livestock, farmers kept from their fields, and near-starvation in 1861 relieved only by food from Bell County. Railroads arrived in 1880 and 1890, and an oil boom followed in 1918–1920.
George Washington Gentry
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A member of Stephen F. Austin's colony, George Washington Gentry came to Texas in 1835 and settled in what became Washington County, working as a farmer and surveyor. He took part in the Texas Revolution, fought in several skirmishes with Native peoples, and helped defend San Antonio during the 1842 Mexican invasions led by Vasquez and Woll before later moving to Comanche County.
Site of Indian Creek Community
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Founded in 1851 by John A. McGuire, Indian Creek was among the first settlements in Comanche County, and its most vital structure was a double-walled stockade called "Double Pens"—a fortified storehouse where women and children sheltered during Indian raids while the men were away. As the frontier quieted, the refuge gave way to civic life: a school in 1876, the Indian Creek Methodist Church in 1880 with its famous two-week summer camp meetings, and a cemetery whose first burial came that same year. Services ended in 1958, leaving the community to memory.