Historical Period: 20th Century (1900 & Later)
Historical Topic: County Courthouses, Saved From the Axe
Species: Texas Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis)
County: Comanche
Public Access: Yes, the Fleming Oak is located at the southwest corner of the courthouse square, in Comanche.
The name alone—Comanche—reminds us this area was once at the heart of Indian country. Native Americans tribes, wild mustangs, and great herds of buffalo roamed the region freely. Today, the link to the past remains rooted in the ancient Fleming Oak, located on the southwest corner of Comanche’s town square. That the live oak still stands is largely credited to early pioneer and Civil War veteran Martin V. Fleming, the tree’s namesake.
Legend claims “Uncle Mart,” as he was known, had a special connection to the tree: in 1854 he and his father slept under its branches during their first night in Comanche; as an adult, he saved the life of another man there.
Yet another widely circulating story tells how Fleming’s life was spared when he took refuge behind the tree to avoid an Indian attack. “To that tree I owe my life . . . and no axe will ever touch it!” Most locals have long scoffed at this version of truth.
“Ain’t nothin’ to it,” said Comanche native and Fleming friend C. E. Straley, in 1957. Fleming was on good terms with the local Indians, Straley explained. He played ball with them at their camp and swam with them in the local creek. Mart Fleming, it seemed, was dodging balls—not arrows.
Muddled accounts of how he saved the tree from destruction are also debatable. In 1911, when the venerable oak was under threat of being cut down to pave the county courthouse square, local lore suggested Fleming stopped the crew by threatening them with his shotgun. One version had him declaring, “I’ll protect this particular tree with my very life!” Yet another: “The first man who lays a hand on that tree will die!”
Many in the community refuted the standoff, stating Fleming only explained to the workers he’d been tying his horse to the tree for years and was used to seeing it there. Fleming himself made the exchange sound like nothing more than a verbal spat. “[We] had to use some rough words, but they laid down their tools,” he said.
Today, residents are ready to separate fact from fiction. Director of the Comanche Public Library and local historian Margaret T. Waring said it has long been time to “straighten out that darned cotton-pickin’ shotgun business.”
In the meantime, the Fleming Oak remains unaffected by the stories. Uncle Mart would undoubtedly approve.