Heritage, 2007, Volume 1 Page: 27
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Young Captain Ross, afterward Governor
of Texas, had as his guide an old friendly
Indian on this trip, Dec. 18, 1860. They were
traveling up the Pease River in the face of a bitter
cold wind. Riding to the top of a hill to look
over the surrounding country, the guide made
the report that he saw a Comanche village a few
hundred yards ahead of the troops.
Recovered Cynthia Ann
That was a weak point with the Plains
Indians, their disposition to relax their vigilance
and huddle in their blankets during
cold weather. Captain Ross got his chance,
just as Miles and McKenzie and other famous
generals got many opportunities by being on
the job when the savages least expected
it. Most of the inhabitants of the Indian
village were killed. Many of the men died
before they could reach their guns. Others
fled only to be shot down by the dragoons.
It was at this time that Cynthia Ann, mother
of Quanah, with her baby in her arms,
was recovered.
This remarkable white woman, whose
story has been so often told, had been captured
by the Indians when a small girl. Most
of her family were killed May 19, 1836,
and she was carried away to be raised
among the wild Comanches. After reaching
womanhood she married Nocona, and
became the mother of four children, the oldest
being the subject of this sketch. Her life
story reads like a page out of a story book
and sounds more like fiction than truth, but
one has to admit that often truth is stranger
than fiction.
Surprised by a Woman's Tears
Captain Ross claimed he was responsible
for the death of Nocona, saying that in less
than half an hour after the attack, it was noticed
an Indian buck, with his squaw and her
papoose in her lap, mounted on swift ponies,
were making for the mountains six
miles away. Ross, putting his horse in a
dead run, soon overtook them and shot
the Comanche chieftain. The woman and
her child were taken into custody by the
dragoons, although she tried hard to get away.
That evening by the camp fire the youngofficer heard a woman crying. This was something
unusual. No Indian woman gives wayto her feelings. Up until now it was not
known that she was the long lost Parker
girl, who had been given up for lost. On
investigation it was found she was the
wife of Nocona, and was grieving for her
husband, who she knew was dead and
for her boys. She had no way of knowing
where they were. Close to her frightened
breast she held her baby. She could
not speak a word of English, but managed
through a Mexican who spoke the
Comanche language, to make the white
men understand that she had lived with
the tribe since she could remember. Later
it was decided that this young woman,
who had blue eyes and fair skin, though
badly tanned by wind and sun, must be
the long lost Cynthia Ann Parker and her
uncle, Isaac Parker, was sent for and after
talking with her through the interpreter for
several hours and getting no information
from her to show who she was he called her
name, Cynthia Ann. She immediately recognized
her name and smiling happily, repeated-Cynthia
Ann!
Quanah Born Leader
Soon afterwards she was taken to her people
where she was treated with every kindness.
The customs of the white people began to
replace the Comanche ways; she learned
to speak her native tongue once more.
But her heart was out on the plains with
her boy, and she longed to be with him.
Her little "Prairie Flower," the baby girl
that rode so bravely with its mother at the
time of Nocona's tragic death, died four years
later.
Many persons who knew Quanah Parker
have said that he was the finest looking man
in all the Comanche tribe: tall, straight and
well proportioned, darker than many warriors,
and with the dignity in his features
which marks the higher type of North
American Indians. From head to foot he
was all savage. He was a born leader and
had a great influence among his people. It
was his ambition to make a name for himself
as a great warrior. That ambition and
good blood in his veins made him succeed.
He soon gained prestige among the youngbucks which was the cause of finally placing
him at the head of his tribe, as chief.After Quanah was grown, he fell in love
with Red Bear's daughter. She and Quanah
had grown up together and had been close
companions which ripened their love. Red
Bear was chief and bitterly opposed the
union. So Quanah with a few young braves
and their squaws, stole the girl and ran away
locating at the headwaters of the Concho
River. He remained there several years.
Asphyxiated in Fort Worth
Occasionally other bands of young people
would break away from the parent tribe and
join the new settlement until the number of
Quanah's followers was over 100.
This was too much for Red Bear and he
decided to go down and have a settlement
with his new son-in-law. A conference was
held and Quanah agreed to give Red Bear 20
ponies in exchange for his daughter. As he
did so, he remarked he knew where he could
steal as many more from a nearby ranch the
next night. The deal, or treaty, was ratified by
feasting and dancing and both bands rode
northward toward the Staked Plains together,
and Quanah took his place at last among
his father's people as a full-fledged chief.
He had three wives. Some writers say more.
His favorite was his first love, the daughter of
Red Bear, who died from asphyxiation gas in
the Pickwick Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas in
1885, while she and her husband were on a
visit to that city.
Quanah died at his home near Lawton,
Okla., in the Spring of 1911. He was never
known to break a promise and if he said
he would do a thing he did it. He claimed
he never allowed any women or children to
be killed in his battles. As the red blood in
his veins had dominated in his youth, so
the white strain began to show itself more
strongly as the years passed. Long before
the Government gave the Indians allotments
he had begun to direct them toward
farming. He helped them to pick the best
sections in their part of Oklahoma. As for
himself, he acquired cattle, horses and built
a house of 30 rooms. All of this was a source
of great pride to him. But the object in which
he took the most pride was a painting of his
blue-eyed, fair-skinned mother, CynthiaAnn Parker, which hung in the living room
of his home.HERITAGE Volume 1 2007
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, 2007, Volume 1, periodical, 2007; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45363/m1/27/?q=%22buffalo%20soldiers%22: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.