Coming up on TCM at 10:15 EST: The Searchers. then Rio Bravo

[dem in texas]

4. Based on an event that happened down near Mason Texas

Last edited Wed Aug 19, 2015, 11:41 PM - Edit history (1)

I can't remember the family's name, but the husband, wife, daughter and a young girl slave were in their wagon when attacked by the Comanches, this was near the end of the civil war. If I remember correctly, the wife and girl slave were killed and the daughter kidnapped. The stepson (who was portrayed by John Wayne in the movie) returned from the civil war and searched for the girl for many years while supporting himself by collecting and selling wild honey.

This event happened on land that was once by owned my nephew. There is a Texas historical marker on the site. The town has reenactments of this event and my nephew's daughter once played the girl who was abducted.

I found a write-up about it, the place is called Todd Mountain (really a big hill) which was on the land my nephew owned, says he searched for months, I always heard it was years.

Todd Mountain - Named for family of George W. Todd, first Mason County clerk, which was attacked by Indians at this site while en route to Mason in late Dec. 1864. A 12-year-old black servant girl was killed, 13-year-old Alice Todd taken captive, and Todd's wife, Dizenia Peters Todd (b.1826), wounded severely. Mrs. Todd died about 3 weeks later, in Jan. 1865. An older half-brother, James Smith, returned from the Civil War and searched for Alice for several months, but she was never found. Mrs. Todd and the servant girl were buried in unmarked graves, (150 yards southeast). (1974)