COMANCHE CHIEF QUANAH PARKER DIED
Parker was born circa 1848, near Wichita Falls, Texas. In 1860, Texas Rangers seized his mother (Cynthia Ann Parker, taken as a child by the Comanche) and sister, Prairie Flower–they never returned. 1n 1867, he and his band refused to settle on the reservation. In June 1874, believing he had a potion to ward off bullets, Parker led a Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa force against about 30 white buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls, Texas. This battle led to the Red River Indian War. Finally, in 1875, Quanah’s band settled on a reservation in western Oklahoma. From there, Parker served as an interpreter of white civilization to his people, encouraging education and agriculture, and becoming a successful businessman. Maintaining his culture, he helped create a Peyote Religion. A friend of President Theodore Roosevelt, he attended T.R.’s 1905 inauguration and later hosted T.R. at his home. Parker died in Cache, Oklahoma, and is buried next to his mother who starved herself when not allowed to return to the tribe.
Source: Jeff Wallenfeldt, “Quanah Parker,” Encyclopedia Brittanica. Retrieved 12/28/2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Quanah-Parker Photo: Daniel P. Sink, circa 1890. Public Domain.
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