9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Late one night in 1871, a group of riders [br]descended on a sleeping army camp. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In minutes they stirred the camp into a [br]panic, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stole about seventy horses,[br]and disappeared. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Led by a young chief named Quanah [br]Parker, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the raid was the latest in a long series[br]of altercations 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 along the Texas frontier between[br]the indigenous people known as the Numunu, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or Comanches, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the United States forces sent to [br]steal Comanche lands for white settlers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Though the conflict was decades old, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 U.S. Colonel Ranald MacKenzie [br]led the latest iteration. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 From summer to winter, he tracked Quanah. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But Quanah was also tracking him, and each[br]time the colonel drew near his targets, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they disappeared without a[br]trace into the vast plains. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Comanches had controlled this [br]territory for nearly two hundred years, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hunting buffalo and moving whole villages[br]around the plains. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They suppressed Spanish and Mexican [br]attacks from the south, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 attempts to settle the land by the United[br]States from the east, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and numerous other indigenous peoples’ [br]bids for power. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Comanche Empire was not one [br]unified group under central control, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but rather a number of bands, each with [br]its own leaders. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What all of these bands had in common [br]was their prowess as riders— 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 every man, woman, and child was adept [br]on horseback. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Their combat skills on horseback 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 far surpassed those of both other[br]indigenous peoples and colonists, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 allowing them to control an enormous [br]area with relatively few people— 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 probably about 40,000 at their peak 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and only about 4-5,000 by the time Quanah[br]Parker and Ranald Mackenzie faced off. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Born around 1848, Quanah was the eldest [br]child of Peta Nocona, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a leader of the Nokoni band, and Cynthia [br]Ann Parker, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a kidnapped white settler who assimilated[br]with the Comanches 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and took the name Naduah. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When Quanah was a preteen, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 US forces ambushed his village, [br]capturing his mother and sister. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Quanah and his younger brother sought [br]refuge with a different Comanche band, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Quahada. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the years that followed, Quanah proved [br]himself as a warrior and leader. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In his early twenties, he and a young [br]woman named Weakeah eloped, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 enraging her powerful father and several[br]other leaders. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They stayed on the run for a year, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 attracting followers and establishing [br]Quanah as a paraibo, or chief, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at an exceptionally young age. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Under his leadership the Quahada band [br]was able to elude the U.S. military 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and continue their way of life. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But in the early 1870s, the East Coast [br]market for buffalo hides became lucrative, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and hunters slaughtered millions of [br]buffalo in just a few years. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Meanwhile, U.S. forces led [br]a surprise attack, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 killing nearly all the Quahada band’s 1400[br]horses and stealing the rest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Though he had vowed to never surrender, [br]Quanah knew that without bison or horses, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Comanches faced certain [br]starvation in winter. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So in 1875 Quanah and [br]the Quahada band 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 moved to the Fort Sill [br]reservation in Oklahoma. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As hunter-gatherers,[br]they could not transition easily 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to an agricultural way of life [br]on the reservation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The US government had promised[br]rations and supplies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but what they provided was [br]wildly insufficient. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Quanah, meanwhile, was suddenly in a [br]weak political position: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he had no wealth or power compared to[br]others 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who had been on the reservation longer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Still, he saw an opportunity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The reservation included ample grasslands— 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 useless to the Comanches but perfect for [br]cattle ranchers to graze their herds. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He began a profitable arrangement leasing[br]the land to cattle ranchers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 quietly at first. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Eventually, he negotiated leasing rights[br]with the US government, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which ensured a steady source of income[br]for the Comanches on the reservation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 As Quanah’s status on the reservation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and recognition from government [br]officials grew, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he secured better rations, advocated for[br]the construction of schools and houses, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and became one of three tribal judges [br]on the reservation court. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Tired of speaking with multiple leaders, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the U.S. Government wanted to appoint [br]one chief of all Comanches— 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a role that hadn’t existed [br]outside the reservation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Still, many Comanches supported Quanah [br]for this role, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just as several older leaders had [br]supported him 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to lead them against the US armed forces. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even Quanah’s former adversary, Ranald [br]MacKenzie, advocated for his appointment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Quanah acted in Hollywood movies and [br]befriended American politicians, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 riding in Theodore Roosevelt’s[br]inauguration parade. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Still, he never cut his long braids and a[br]dvocated for the Native American Church 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the use of peyote. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He began to go by Quanah Parker, adopting[br]his mother’s surname, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and tried to track down his mother [br]and sister, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 eventually learning they had both [br]died shortly after their capture. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Quanah adapted again and again—[br]to different worlds, different roles, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and circumstances that would seem [br]insurmountable to most. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Though he wasn’t without critics, [br]after Quanah’s passing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Comanches began using the term “chairman” 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to designate the top elected [br]official in the tribe, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 recognizing him as the last chief of the [br]Comanches 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a model of cultural [br]survival and adaptation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In that spirit, today’s Comanche Nation[br]looks towards the future, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with over 16,000 enrolled citizens [br]and countless descendants.