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Quanah Parker (Comanche: Kwana, lit. 'smell, odor'; c. 1845 – February 23, 1911) was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwahadis, the son of Kwahadi Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, an Anglo-American who had been abducted as an eight-year-old child and assimilated into the Nokoni tribe. Following the apprehension of several Kiowa chiefs in 1871, Quanah Parker emerged as a dominant figure in the Red River War, clashing repeatedly with Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie. With European-Americans hunting American bison, the Comanches' primary sustenance, into near extinction, Quanah Parker eventually surrendered and peaceably led the Kwahadi to the reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Quanah Parker was never elected chief by his people but was appointed by the federal government as principal chief of the entire Comanche Nation. He became a primary emissary of southwest indigenous Americans to the United States legislature. In civilian life, he gained wealth as a rancher, settling near Cache, Oklahoma. Though he encouraged Christianization of Comanche people, he also advocated the syncretic Native American Church alternative, and fought for the legal use of peyote in the movement's religious practices. He was elected deputy sheriff of Lawton in 1902. After his death in 1911, the leadership title of Chief was replaced with chairman; Quanah Parker is thereby described as the "Last Chief of the Comanche", a term also applied to Horseback. He is buried at Chief's Knoll on Fort Sill. Many cities and highway systems in southwest Oklahoma and north Texas, once southern Comancheria, bear reference to his name. Early life Quanah Parker's mother, Cynthia Ann Parker (born c. 1827), was a member of the large Parker frontier family that settled in east Texas in the 1830s. She was captured in 1836 (c. age eight) by Comanches during the raid of Fort Parker near present-day Groesbeck, Texas. Given the Comanche name Nadua (Foundling), she was adopted into the Nokoni band of Comanches, as foster daughter of Tabby-nocca. Assimilated into the Comanche, Cynthia Ann Parker married the Kwahadi warrior chief Peta Nocona, also known as Puhtocnocony, Noconie, Tah-con-ne-ah-pe-ah, or Nocona ("Lone Wanderer"). Quanah Parker's paternal grandfather was the Kwahadi chief Iron Jacket (Puhihwikwasu'u), a warrior of the earlier Comanche-American Wars, famous among his people for wearing a Spanish coat of mail. Cynthia Ann Parker and Nocona's first child was Quanah Parker, born in the Wichita Mountains of southwestern Oklahoma. In a letter to rancher Charles Goodnight, Quanah Parker writes, "From the best information I have, I was born about 1850 on Elk Creek just below the Wichita Mountains." Alternative sources cite his birthplace as Laguna Sabinas/Cedar Lake in Gaines County, Texas. Cynthia Ann Parker and Nocona also had another son, Pecos (Pecan), and a daughter, Topsana (Prairie Flower). In December 1860, Cynthia Ann Parker and Topsana were captured in the Battle of Pease River. American forces were led by Sgt. John Spangler, who commanded Company H of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry, and Texas Rangers under Sul Ross would claim that at the end of the battle, he wounded Peta Nocona, who was thereafter killed by Spangler's Mexican servant but this was disputed by eyewitnesses among the Texas Rangers and by Quanah Parker. It was believed that Quanah Parker and his brother Pecos were the only two to have escaped on horseback, and were tracked by Ranger Charles Goodnight but escaped to rendezvous with other Nokoni. Some, including Quanah Parker himself, claim this story is false and that he, his brother, and his father Peta Nocona were not at the battle, that they were at the larger camp miles away, and that Peta Nocona died years later of illness caused by wounds from battles with Apache. Cynthia Ann Parker, along with her infant daughter Topsana, were taken by the Texas Rangers against her will to Cynthia Ann Parker's brother's home. After 24 years with the Comanche, Cynthia Ann Parker refused re-assimilation. Topsana died of an illness in 1863. Cynthia Ann Parker died by suicide through voluntary starvation in March 1871. In the Comanche language, kwana means "an odor" or "a smell". Comanche warriors often took on more active, masculine names in maturity, but Quanah Parker retained the name his mother gave him, initially in tribute to her after her recapture. Career After Peta Nocona's death (c. 1864), being now Parra-o-coom ("Bull Bear") the head chief of the Kwahadi people, Horseback, the head chief of the Nokoni people, took young Quanah Parker and his brother Pecos under his wing. After Peta Nocona and Iron Jacket, Horseback taught them the ways of the Comanche warrior, and Quanah Parker grew to considerable standing as a warrior. He left and rejoined the Kwahadi band with warriors from another band. Quanah Parker surrendered to Mackenzie and was taken to Fort Sill, Indian Territory where he led the Comanches successfully for a number of years on the reservation. Quanah Parker was never elected principal chief of the Comanche by the tribe. The U.S. government appointed him principal chief of the entire nation once the people had gathered on the reservation and later introduced general elections. In October 1867, when Quanah Parker was only a young man, he had come along with the Comanche chiefs as an observer at treaty negotiations at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Horseback made a statement about Quanah Parker's refusal to sign the treaty. In the early 1870s, the Plains Indians were losing the battle for their land with the United States government. Following the capture of the Kiowa chiefs Sitting Bear, Big Tree, and Satanta, the last two paroled in 1873 after two years thanks to the firm and stubborn behaviour of Guipago, the Kiowa, Comanche, and Southern Cheyenne tribes joined forces in several battles. Colonel Ranald Mackenzie led U.S. Army forces in rounding up or killing the remaining Indians who had not settled on reservations. In 1873, Isatai'i, a Comanche claiming to be a medicine man, called for all the Comanche bands to gather together for a Sun Dance, even though that ritual was Kiowa, and was not a Comanche practice. The bands gathered in May on the Red River, near present-day Texola, Oklahoma. At that gathering, Isatai'i and Quanah Parker recruited warriors for raids into Texas to avenge slain relatives. Other Comanche chiefs, notably Isa-Rosa ("White Wolf") and Tabananika ("Sound of the Sunrise") of the Yamparika, and Big Red Meat of the Nokoni band, identified the buffalo hide merchants as the real threat to their way of life. They suggested that if Quanah Parker were to attack anybody, he should attack the merchants. A war party of around 250 warriors, composed mainly of Comanches and Cheyennes, who were impressed by Isatai'i's claim of protective medici.... Discover the Michael D Parker popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael D Parker books.