Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

Cynthia Ann Parker, or Nautdah (her Comanche name), was born in Illinois but raised in Texas. When she was nine, she was taken captive by marauding Comanches, who killed her parents and several of her relatives in what came to be known as the Fort Parker massacre. She was adopted into the Comanche tribe and became a full member. She married a Comanche chief, Peta Nocona, and she gave birth to two sons, one of whom was Quanah, and a daughter. She was in her early thirties when Texas Rangers raided her camp. Peta Nocona was killed, and Quanah and his brother, Peanuts, fled. Cynthia Ann was taken captive (from her perspective) or rescued (according to the Rangers’ perspective). She was returned to her Parker relatives. She gave birth to her daughter, Prairie Flower, who died a few years later from pneumonia. She never could reintegrate into American society. She died in 1870. In 1910, Quanah had her body disinterred, moved to the reservation at Fort Sill, and reburied. He would be buried next to her after his death.