Quanah Parker and the Comanches
The rise and fall of the most violent and powerful Indian tribe in American history.
Written by Filed under History
Comanche chief Quanah Parker.
If you’ve never heard of the Comanches, you’re not alone. And even if you recognize the name, you’re most likely unaware that they were the most militarily dominant Indian tribe on the Great Plains, controlling the better part of five states: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Nor are you likely to appreciate how the five major Comanche bands—the Yamparika, Kotsoteka, Penateka, Nokoni, and Quahadis—controlled the American West and played a pivotal role in determining how and when the frontier opened up to development.
In the new book “Empire of the Summer Moon” (Scribner), author S. C. Gwynne aims to acquaint readers with the Comanches, as well as their last and most powerful chief, Quanah Parker. While the focus of the book is squarely on Quanah and the life story of his white mother Cynthia Ann Parker—who was kidnapped by Comanches at nine-years-old and integrated into the tribe—it’s also filled with countless compelling subplots, including the creation of the Texas Rangers, the advent of the six-gun, and the exploits of surprisingly obscure but exceptionally successful Indian fighters like Ranald Slidell Mackenzie and John Coffee “Jack” Hays.
Of course, one needn’t be familiar with the story to recognize that things ended badly for the Comanches, defeated in a brutal four-decade war that delayed but failed to stop westward expansion. Earlier this month I interviewed Gwynne about this gripping slice of American history, which seems ideal fodder for a major motion picture.
Who were the Comanches?
They first we know of them they lived in the Wind River mountains of Wyoming, at which point they were a tribe of no particular distinction. Even among primitive hunter-gatherer tribes they were primitive. But sometime in the seventeenth century they got hold of Spanish horses and something extraordinary happened. Horses enabled them to become the most militarily dominant force on the Great Plains. And as they gained power they swept southward, nearly exterminating the Apaches and driving the Spanish backward. By the time the white man encountered them in Texas they controlled a 250,000 square mile territory—with twenty vassal tribes.
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