Quanah Parker

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Quanah Parker

Quanah Parker (ca. 1852 - February 23, 1911) was a Native American Indian leader, the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and European American woman Cynthia Ann Parker, and the last chief of the Quahadi Comanche Indians.^[1]

[edit] From youth to leadership

Quanah Parker's mother, Cynthia Ann Parker (born ca. 1827), was a member of the large Parker frontier family that settled in east Texas in the 1830s. She was captured in 1836 by Comanches during the raid of Fort Parker near present-day Groesbeck, Texas. She was given the Indian name Nadua ("Someone Found"),^[2] and adopted into the Nocona band of Comanches. Cynthia Ann eventually married the Comanche warrior Noconie, (also known as Tah-con-ne-ah-pe-ah or Peta Nocona), who was a Mexican captive. Quanah was his firstborn son. She also had another son, Pecos ("Pecan") and a daughter, Topsana ("Prairie Flower)" In 1860, Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured in the battle of Pease River by Texas Rangers under Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Peta Nocona, Quanah, and most of the other men were out hunting when Ross' men attacked. Returning to find the aftermath, they found it difficult to get any information as only a few people were still alive. Meanwhile, Cynthia Ann was reunited with her white family, but years with the Comanches had made her a different person. She frequently demanded to return to her husband, but was never permitted to do so. After Topsana died of an illness in 1863, Cynthia Ann starved herself to death in 1870.

Soon after the Pease River battle, Peta Nocona was said to be a broken, bitter man. He was later wounded on a raid with Apaches. Already in ill-health, with an older war wound troubling him, he soon died. Before his death, he told Quanah of his mother's capture from the whites. With this revelation came taunts from other tribesmen that Quanah was a half-breed. With Nocona's death, his band split. Quanah joined the Destanyuka band, where Chief Wild Horse took him under his wing. Though he grew to considerable standing as a warrior, he never felt comfortable with the Destanyuka. He left and formed the Quahadi ("Antelope Eaters") band with warriors from another tribe. The Quahadis eventually grew in number, becoming the largest of the Comanche bands, and also the most notorious. Quanah Parker became a leader of the Quahadi, and led them successfully for a number of years.

In October, 1867, Quanah was among the Comanche chiefs at Medicine Lodge. Though he did not give a speech – his place was as an observer – he did make a statement about not signing the Medicine Lodge Treaty. His band remained free while other Comanches signed.

In the early 1870s, the plains Indians were losing the battle for their land. Following the capture of the Kiowa chiefs Satank, Adoeet (Big Tree), and Satanta, the Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne tribes joined forces in several battles. Colonel Ranald Mackenzie was sent to eradicate all remaining Indians who had not settled on reservations.

In 1874, while in the Texas panhandle, a Comanche prophet named Isatai summoned the tribes to Second Battle of Adobe Walls, where several buffalo hunters were active. With Kiowa Chief Big Bow, Quanah was in charge of one group of warriors. The incident was his closest brush with death; he was shot twice.^{[citation needed]} In the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, on September 28, 1874, ManKenzie and his Tonkawa scouts razed a Comanche village and slaughtered approximately 1,500 Comanche horses.^[2]

[edit] On the reservations

Quanah in business attire.

With their food source depleted, and under constant pressure from the army, the Quahadi Comanches finally surrendered and in 1875. With Colonel Mackenzie and Indian Agent James M. Hayworth, Parker helped settle the Comanche on the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation in southwestern Indian Territory.^[1][2]

Parker's home in Cache, Oklahoma^[1] was called the Star House. Parker's was the last tribe of the Staked Plains or Llano Estacado to come to the reservation. Quanah was named chief over all the Comanches on the reservation, and proved to be a forceful, resourceful and able leader. Through wise investments, he became perhaps the wealthiest American Indian of his day in the United States. Quanah embraced much of white culture, and was well respected by the whites. He went on hunting trips with President Theodore Roosevelt, who often visited him.^[1] Nevertheless, he rejected both monogamy and traditional Protestant Christianity in favor of the Native American Church Movement. He had five wives and twenty five children and founded the Native American Church. One of his sons, White Parker, later became a Methodist minister.

The man known today as Quanah Parker came from a place in time and culture where surnames were unknown. The identity of a man was conveyed in a single word, in this case “Quanah.” Family oral traditions indicate that Quanah was an Anglo corruption of the word “Kwihnai,” which translates as “eagle” in the Comanche language.

Like the eagle, Quanah was a warrior and leader, and he possessed the vision to take his people from the life of freedom on the Southern Plains to adapt to a new order in captivity. The association that grew between the eagle of the Comanche and the cattlemen of Texas is a part of our history that seldom receives the attention it deserves.

[edit] Quanah Parker and Samuel Burk Burnett

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The story of the unique friendship that grew between Quanah and the Burnett family is addressed in the exhibition of cultural artifacts that were given to the Burnett family from the Parker family. The presentation of a cultural relic as significant as Quanah’s war lance was not done lightly. It is a clear indication of the high esteem to which the Burnett family was regarded by the Parkers. The correspondence that exists between Quanah and Samuel Burk Burnett and his son, Tom Burnett, provides a clear picture of a relationship of mutual admiration and respect that existed between these legendary figures.

Very little is known of the early life of Quanah prior to 1875. Sometime around 1850, Quanah came into this world the son of a Comanche war chief, Peta Nocona. Quanah’s mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, had been taken in an infamous raid on Parker’s Fort at the headwaters of the Navasota River in the Republic of Texas on May 19, 1836. Cynthia Ann was 9 years old when taken captive and quickly adapted to the Comanche way of life.

Quanah was the oldest of three children born to Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann. On December 18, 1860, after almost 25 years with her Comanche family, Cynthia Ann was recaptured by Texas Rangers during an attack on a Noconi camp on the Pease River. Accounts indicate that Cynthia Ann was grief-stricken and morose at the separation from her husband and sons. The young daughter, “Prairie Flower,” was with Cynthia Ann at the time of her capture, but died within three years of captivity. After failed attempts to return to her Comanche family and years of anguish, Cynthia Ann died in 1870.

Texas Rangers had reported that they killed Peta Nocona during the raid on the Noconi camp, but it was not so, according to Quanah, who said he was away with his father at the time of the raid and his mother’s recapture. Quanah also said he assisted in his father’s burial years later on the banks of the Canadian River.

The historical record mentions little of Quanah until his presence in the attack on the buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls on June 27, 1874. Fragmented information exists indicating Quanah had interactions with the Apache at about this time.

This association undoubtedly was in connection with acquiring peyote religion and may have involved Quanah taking an Apache wife. This union was short-lived at best. The exquisite Apache dress, bag and staff in the exhibit may be a remnant of this time in Quanah’s early adult life.

With the buffalo nearly exterminated and having suffered heavy loss of horses and lodges at the hands of military assault, Quanah was one of the leaders to bring the Quahada (antelope band) of Comanches into Fort Sill during late May and early June 1875. This brought an end to the nomadic life of freedom on the southern plains and the beginning of the adjustment to a life in captivity.

Burk Burnett began moving cattle from South Texas in 1874 to near present-day Wichita Falls, where he established his ranch headquarters in 1881. Changing weather patterns and severe drought caused grasslands to wither and die in Texas. So Burnett and other ranchers met with Comanche and Kiowa tribes to lease land on their reservation—nearly one million acres just north of the Red River in Oklahoma.

Quanah was to make many adjustments during his life on the “white man’s road.” One such adjustment was regarding grazing rights on Comanche lands. Originally, Quanah, like many of his contemporaries, was opposed to the opening of tribal lands for grazing by Anglo ranching interests. However, Quanah changed his position and soon forged close relationships with a number of Texas cattlemen such as Charles Goodnight and the Burnett family.

As early as 1880, Quanah was working with these new associates in building his own herds. In 1884, due largely to Quanah’s efforts, the first “grass” payments for grazing rights on Comanche, Kiowa and Apache lands became a reality. It is during this time period that the bonds between Quanah and the Burnett family grew strong.

Burnett kept running 10,000 cattle until the end of the lease. The cattle baron had a strong feeling for Indian rights, and his respect for them was genuine. Where other cattle kings fought Indians and the harsh land to build empires, Burnett learned Comanche ways, passing both the love of the land and his friendship with the Indians to his family. As a sign of their regard for Burnett, the Comanches gave him a name in their own language: “MAS-SA-SUTA,” meaning “Big Boss.”

Parker earned the respect of American governmental leaders as he adapted to the white man’s life becoming a prosperous rancher in Oklahoma. His spacious, two-story Star House had a bedroom for each of his seven wives and their children. He had his own private quarters, which were rather plain. Beside his bed were photographs of his mother, Cynthia Ann, and sister, Prairie Flower. Parker’s hospitality was well-known by many influential people who were hosted by the Comanche leader. Among Quanah’s visitors, red and white, was the well-known cattleman Charles Goodnight, who, interestingly, preferred to sleep on the porch.

Of all his white acquaintances, Parker counted Burk Burnett the best. He is quoted as having said: “I got one good friend, Burk Burnett, he big-hearted, rich cowman. Help my people good deal. You see big man hold tight to money, afraid to die. Burnett helped anybody.”

The next 27 years would witness a great many historic events played out against the backdrop of this special friendship. The building of “Star House,” Quanah’s large frame home bearing the inverted white stars signifying his rank, is largely attributed to the efforts of Burk Burnett. Appearances by Quanah at the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and other public events with a large group of warriors was at special request of the Burnetts. The “Parade” lance depicted in the exhibit was usually carried by Quanah at these public gatherings.

The wolf hunt with President Theodore Roosevelt is one of the more well-known events shared by Quanah and the Burnetts. Not as well known is the fact that Mr. Burnett assisted his friend, Quanah, in the purchase of the granite headstones needed to mark the final resting place for Quanah’s mother and baby sister when their remains were moved home to Oklahoma from Texas.

[edit] Family

Quanah's grandfather was the Chief Iron Jacket, famous among the Comanches as a powerful chief who wore a Spanish coat of mail and was said to have the power to blow bullets away with his breath.^[2]

Quanah's first wife was Weakeah, daughter of Comanche chief Yellow Bear. Originally, she was espoused to another warrior. Quanah and Weakeah eloped, and took several other warriors with them. It was from this small group that the large Quahadi band would form. Yellow Bear pursued the band and eventually Quanah made peace with him, and the two bands united, forming the largest force of Comanche Indians.

Over the years, Quanah married four more wives. According to a photograph taken in c. 1890, two of Quanah's wives were Topay and Chonie.^[3]

Quanah had twenty-five children. Many north Texans and south Oklahomans claim descent from Quanah. It had been said that more Comanches are related to Quanah than any other chief. One grandson became Comanche chairman, the modern "Chief" of the tribe.

After moving to the reservation, Quanah first got in touch with his white relatives. He stayed for a few weeks with them, where he studied English and western culture, and learned white farming techniques.

In his later years, Quanah carried on a correspondence by letter with Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight. Though Goodnight was illiterate, he dictated the letters to his wife, who in turn sent them to Quanah.

[edit] Founder of the Native American Church Movement

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Quanah Parker is credited as one of the first big leaders of the Native American Church Movement. Parker adopted the peyote religion after being gored in southern Texas by a bull. Parker was visiting his mother's brother, John Parker, in Texas where he was attacked, giving him severe wounds. To fight an onset of blood burning fever, a Mexican curandera was summoned and she prepared a strong peyote tea from fresh peyote to heal him. It was from this incident on that Quanah Parker became involved with peyote . Peyote is reported to contain hordenine and tyramine, phenylethylamine alkaloids which act as potent natural antibiotics when taken in a combined form.

Parker taught that the sacred peyote medicine was the sacrament given to the Indian Peoples , and was to be used with water when taking communion in a traditional Native American Church medicine ceremony. Parker was a proponent of the "half-moon" style of the peyote ceremony. The "cross" ceremony later evolved in Oklahoma due to Caddo influences introduced by John Wilson, a Caddo-Delaware religious leader who traveled extensively around the same time as Parker during the early days of the Native American Church movement.

Parker's most famous teaching regarding the Spirituality of the Native American Church:

The White Man goes into his church and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into his Tipi and talks with Jesus.

The modern reservation era in Native American History began with the universal adoption of the Native American Church and Christianity by virtually every Native American Tribe and Culture within North American and Canada as a result of Parker and Wilson's efforts. The Peyote religion and the Native American Church, however, was never the traditional religious practice of North American Indian Cultures. This religion was driven by Parker's leadership and was driven by influences from Mexico and other Southern Tribes who have used peyote since ancient times. Under Parker's leadership, peyote became an important item of trade, and this, combined with his Church movement and political and financial contacts, garnered Parker enormous wealth during his lifetime.

[edit] Death

Author Bill Neeley writes:

Not only did Quanah pass within the span of a single lifetime from a Stone Age warrior to a statesman in the age of the Industrial Revolution,but he never lost a battle to the white man and he also accepted the challenge and responsibility of leading the whole Comanche tribe on the difficult road toward their new existence.^{[citation needed]}

Quanah died on February 23, 1911. He is buried at the Fort Sill Cemetery,^[1] beside his mother and sister. The inscription on his tombstone reads:

Resting Here Until Day Breaks

And Shadows Fall and Darkness

Disappears is

Quanah Parker Last Chief of the Comanches

Born 1852

Died Feb. 23, 1911^[2]

[edit] Criticism

Although praised by many in his tribe as a preserver of their culture, Quanah had critics within the Comanche community. Many claimed that he "sold out to the white man" with his rancher persona in later life, dressing and living in a more American than Comanche style. Quanah did adopt some mainstream European-American ways than most other Comanche of his time, but he always wore his hair long and in braids.^[1] He also refused to follow United States marriage laws, which would have required him to cast aside four of his five wives.^[1]

Another point of controversy among the Comanche was that Quanah was never elected chief of the entire tribe by the people themselves. Traditionally, the Comanche had no single chief. The various bands of the Comanche had their own chiefs, with no single figure standing for the entire people. But that, as many other things, changed with the reservation times.

[edit] Family reunion and powwow

The Quanah Parker Society holds an annual family reunion and powwow. Events usually include pilgrimage to sacred site in Quanah, Texas; tour of his "Star Home" in Cache, Oklahoma; dinner; memorial service at Fort Sill Post Cemetery; gourd dance, pow-wow, and worship services. This event is open to the public.

[edit] Memorials and honors

The Quanah Parker Inn is located on U.S. Highway 287 on the west end of Quanah, Texas

In 1970, Quanah Parker's home in Cache was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

The town of Quanah, Texas, county seat of Hardeman County, was named after Quanah Parker.^[2] The Quanah Parker Inn is located there on U.S. Highway 287.

On the founding of Quanah, Parker issued this statement:

"May the Great Spirit smile on your little town, May the rain fall in season, and in the warmth of the sunshine after the rain, May the earth yield bountifully, May peace and contentment be with you and your children forever."

The town of Nocona, in Montague County, Texas, was named after Quanah Parker's father, Comanche chief Peta Nocona.

Parker Hall, a 1962 residence hall at Oklahoma State University, is named after Quanah Parker. It housed undergraduate men from 1962 to 1990. It is now co-ed, housing honors students until 2003, then non-honors students thereafter..

The Quanah Parker Trailway (State Highway 62) in Southern Oklahoma is named for Parker.

There is an exhibit on Parker and the Second Battle of Adobe Walls at the Hutchinson County Historical Museum in Borger in Hutchinson County, Texas

On December 10, 1958, actor Victor Lundin portrayed Parker in an episode of the syndicated television series Mackenzie's Raiders, starring Richard Carlson.

Quanah Parker Trail, a small residential street on the northeast side of Norman, Oklahoma is also named after the distinguished Quanah Parker. The majority of streets in this area of town are named after important figures in Native American history.

[edit] Notes

[edit] Recommended reading

• Frontier Blood: the Saga of the Parker Family, by Jo Ann Powell Exley
• Quanah Parker, by Clyde L. and Grace Jackson
• Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief, by William T. Hagan
• The Last Comanche Chief: The Life and Times of Quanah Parker, by Bill Neeley

[edit] External links

• Quanah Parker
• Photographs of Quanah Parker hosted by the Portal to Texas History
• QUANAH PARKER REUNION AND POWWOW, Quanah Parker Society
• Quanah Parker at Find a Grave