Chief Quanah Parker of the Kwahadi Comanche 1892
The last Chief of the Quahadi Comanche, Parker was both a major resistor to white settlers, as well as a leader in the tribe’s adjustment to reservation life.
Quanah was born around 1845 to Chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, a white captive of the Comanche, near the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. After 24 years of living with the Indians, Quanah’s mother was recaptured in the Battle of Pease River by Texas Rangers. After his wife’s recapture, Quanah’s father was a broken and bitter man and soon died. However, before his death, he told Quanah of his mother’s capture from the whites and with that, other tribesmen soon began to call him a half-breed and before long, the group split.