18/11/2024
At a chance meeting in the 1850's between white men and Comanches at Nocona's village near the Canadian River, the captive Cynthia Ann was identified and seen fully participating in Comanche life at her village. When asked if she would return to her Parker family, she could only shake her head and point to her children. Cynthia Ann with her Comanche name of Naduah had chosen all the practices and ways of the Comanches.
As Cynthia Ann's mother dearly wanted her to return home, her brother John Parker was directed to bring her back to her family. However, he shared that Cynthia Ann "refused to listen to the proposition, saying that her husband, children, and all that she held most dear, were with the Indians, and there she should remain."
On December 18, 1860, Lawrence Sullivan Ross and the Texas Rangers seeking Comanche held white captives attacked a Comanche camp on Mule Creek near the Pease River. The Battle of Pease River resulted in three tribal members captured, two of which included Cynthia Ann and her infant daughter. After the fight, her Uncle Isaac Parker took them to his home close to Birdville. Cynthia Ann Parker lived for some twenty four years as a member of the Comanche tribe.
Magnificent touching photograph of Chief Quanah Parker sitting beside a portrait picture of his mother Cynthia Ann Parker and his sister Prairie Flower in the Star House, ca. 1897. The mother and daughter picture was done by a Fort Worth photographer in January of 1861.
