Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Clay Coppedge and the Temple Daily Telegram
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Clay Coppedge and the Temple Daily Telegram
Sugar Loaf more than a memory
by Clay Coppedge
Published: February 7, 2005
Sugar Loaf, a gone but not forgotten community on the Fort Hood lands 12 miles northeast of Copperas Cove in Cor yell County, had a violent beginning.
Mr. And Mrs. John Riggs were killed near there, either by Indians, white men dressed as Indians or, most likely, a combination of both.
Sugar Loaf started out as a dot on a non-existent map, a settlement more than a community. That was Old Sugar Loaf. New Sugar Loaf had all the commerce inherent to a thriving rural community: churches, schools, mills, gins, a post office, blacksmith shop and store.
The community was named for a bald, volcano-shaped mini-mountain be cause pioneers thought it resembled a well-known candy of the day called Sugar Loaf.
As was often the case, the first Euro pean settlers first showed up on the same land that native people had preferred for centuries. Archaeological ex cavations on Fort Hood in the 1970s found at least 900 permanent Indian settlements in the Sugar Loaf Moun t ain area.
Sugar Loaf Mountain is all that's left of the old community, and it's in what is known as the impact zone at Fort Hood.
Prior to that incarnation, Sugar Loaf was an impact zone of another kind. Comanche raids were common. On March 16, 1859, Mr. and Mrs. John Riggs were killed in what was widely be lieved to be a run-of-the-mill Indian mas sacre.
The Riggs' two young daughters were captured by the marauders, escaped and were later rescued. Later, one of the girls, Rhoda Riggs, recognized one of the 'In dians' who had kidnapped her; he had red hair. He was executed for the crime, along with two other white men who ap parently got drunk with some Indians then set out to commit their ghastly dep redations.
The old Sugar Loaf community is re ferred to as the cradle of Killeen be cause many of that city's first citizens settled the town in 1882, including Kil leen's first doctor, W.W. McCorcle, and Richard Moses 'Old Uncle Dick' Cole, who had the first undertaking business in Killeen and who served as school board president in 1895. They were among a large number of people from Sugar Loaf and Alto who settled in Killeen after the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe line bypassed the community it 1882.
The community declined but held on until 1942, when the land was taken by the government for the establishment of Fort Hood. The old church building in Sugar Loaf replaced the Methodist Church at Slater in 1941. Later the building was moved to Pidcoke for use as a fellowship hall.
The cemetery at Sugar Loaf was moved to Killeen after Fort Hood was built. Aside from the graves of John and Jane Riggs, there was the grave of Sarah Scroggins. She was 103 years old at the time of her death in 1882. 'Her tombstone lists her birth and death dates and notes: 'Gone To Meet Her Eighteen Children and Three Husbands.'
Mrs. Scroggins lived longer than the community where she was buried.
by Clay Coppedge
Published: February 7, 2005
Sugar Loaf, a gone but not forgotten community on the Fort Hood lands 12 miles northeast of Copperas Cove in Cor yell County, had a violent beginning.
Mr. And Mrs. John Riggs were killed near there, either by Indians, white men dressed as Indians or, most likely, a combination of both.
Sugar Loaf started out as a dot on a non-existent map, a settlement more than a community. That was Old Sugar Loaf. New Sugar Loaf had all the commerce inherent to a thriving rural community: churches, schools, mills, gins, a post office, blacksmith shop and store.
The community was named for a bald, volcano-shaped mini-mountain be cause pioneers thought it resembled a well-known candy of the day called Sugar Loaf.
As was often the case, the first Euro pean settlers first showed up on the same land that native people had preferred for centuries. Archaeological ex cavations on Fort Hood in the 1970s found at least 900 permanent Indian settlements in the Sugar Loaf Moun t ain area.
Sugar Loaf Mountain is all that's left of the old community, and it's in what is known as the impact zone at Fort Hood.
Prior to that incarnation, Sugar Loaf was an impact zone of another kind. Comanche raids were common. On March 16, 1859, Mr. and Mrs. John Riggs were killed in what was widely be lieved to be a run-of-the-mill Indian mas sacre.
The Riggs' two young daughters were captured by the marauders, escaped and were later rescued. Later, one of the girls, Rhoda Riggs, recognized one of the 'In dians' who had kidnapped her; he had red hair. He was executed for the crime, along with two other white men who ap parently got drunk with some Indians then set out to commit their ghastly dep redations.
The old Sugar Loaf community is re ferred to as the cradle of Killeen be cause many of that city's first citizens settled the town in 1882, including Kil leen's first doctor, W.W. McCorcle, and Richard Moses 'Old Uncle Dick' Cole, who had the first undertaking business in Killeen and who served as school board president in 1895. They were among a large number of people from Sugar Loaf and Alto who settled in Killeen after the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe line bypassed the community it 1882.
The community declined but held on until 1942, when the land was taken by the government for the establishment of Fort Hood. The old church building in Sugar Loaf replaced the Methodist Church at Slater in 1941. Later the building was moved to Pidcoke for use as a fellowship hall.
The cemetery at Sugar Loaf was moved to Killeen after Fort Hood was built. Aside from the graves of John and Jane Riggs, there was the grave of Sarah Scroggins. She was 103 years old at the time of her death in 1882. 'Her tombstone lists her birth and death dates and notes: 'Gone To Meet Her Eighteen Children and Three Husbands.'
Mrs. Scroggins lived longer than the community where she was buried.