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Late one night in 1871, a group of riders [br]descended on a sleeping army camp.

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In minutes they stirred the camp into a [br]panic,

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stole about seventy horses,[br]and disappeared.

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Led by a young chief named Quanah [br]Parker,

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the raid was the latest in a long series[br]of altercations

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along the Texas frontier between[br]the indigenous people known as the Numunu,

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or Comanches,

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and the United States forces sent to [br]steal Comanche lands for white settlers.

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Though the conflict was decades old,

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U.S. Colonel Ranald MacKenzie [br]led the latest iteration.

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From summer to winter, he tracked Quanah.

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But Quanah was also tracking him, and each[br]time the colonel drew near his targets,

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they disappeared without a[br]trace into the vast plains.

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The Comanches had controlled this [br]territory for nearly two hundred years,

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hunting buffalo and moving whole villages[br]around the plains.

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They suppressed Spanish and Mexican [br]attacks from the south,

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attempts to settle the land by the United[br]States from the east,

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and numerous other indigenous peoples’ [br]bids for power.

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The Comanche Empire was not one [br]unified group under central control,

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but rather a number of bands, each with [br]its own leaders.

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What all of these bands had in common [br]was their prowess as riders—

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every man, woman, and child was adept [br]on horseback.

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Their combat skills on horseback

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far surpassed those of both other[br]indigenous peoples and colonists,

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allowing them to control an enormous [br]area with relatively few people—

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probably about 40,000 at their peak

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and only about 4-5,000 by the time Quanah[br]Parker and Ranald Mackenzie faced off.

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Born around 1848, Quanah was the eldest [br]child of Peta Nocona,

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a leader of the Nokoni band, [br]and Cynthia Ann Parker,

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a kidnapped white settler who assimilated[br]with the Comanches

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and took the name Naduah.

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When Quanah was a preteen,

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US forces ambushed his village, [br]capturing his mother and sister.

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Quanah and his younger brother sought [br]refuge with a different Comanche band,

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the Quahada.

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In the years that followed, Quanah proved [br]himself as a warrior and leader.

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In his early twenties, he and a young [br]woman named Weakeah eloped,

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enraging her powerful father and several[br]other leaders.

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They stayed on the run for a year,

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attracting followers and establishing [br]Quanah as a paraibo, or chief,

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at an exceptionally young age.

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Under his leadership the Quahada band [br]was able to elude the U.S. military

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and continue their way of life.

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But in the early 1870s, the East Coast [br]market for buffalo hides became lucrative,

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and hunters slaughtered millions of [br]buffalo in just a few years.

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Meanwhile, U.S. forces led [br]a surprise attack,

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killing nearly all the Quahada band’s 1400[br]horses and stealing the rest.

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Though he had vowed to never surrender, [br]Quanah knew that without bison or horses,

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the Comanches faced certain [br]starvation in winter.

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So in 1875 Quanah and [br]the Quahada band

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moved to the Fort Sill [br]reservation in Oklahoma.

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As hunter-gatherers,[br]they could not transition easily

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to an agricultural way of life [br]on the reservation.

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The US government had promised[br]rations and supplies,

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but what they provided was [br]wildly insufficient.

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Quanah, meanwhile, was suddenly in a [br]weak political position:

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he had no wealth or power

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compared to others who had been [br]on the reservation longer.

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Still, he saw an opportunity.

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The reservation included ample grasslands—

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useless to the Comanches but perfect for [br]cattle ranchers to graze their herds.

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He began a profitable arrangement leasing[br]the land to cattle ranchers,

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quietly at first.

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Eventually, he negotiated leasing rights[br]with the US government,

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which ensured a steady source of income[br]for the Comanches on the reservation.

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As Quanah’s status on the reservation

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and recognition from government [br]officials grew,

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he secured better rations, advocated for[br]the construction of schools and houses,

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and became one of three tribal judges [br]on the reservation court.

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Tired of speaking with multiple leaders,

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the U.S. Government wanted to appoint [br]one chief of all Comanches—

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a role that hadn’t existed [br]outside the reservation.

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Still, many Comanches supported Quanah [br]for this role,

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just as several older leaders had [br]supported him

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to lead them against the US armed forces.

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Even Quanah’s former adversary, Ranald [br]MacKenzie, advocated for his appointment.

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Quanah acted in Hollywood movies and [br]befriended American politicians,

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riding in Theodore Roosevelt’s[br]inauguration parade.

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Still, he never cut his long braids and[br]advocated for the Native American Church

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and the use of peyote.

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He began to go by Quanah Parker, adopting[br]his mother’s surname,

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and tried to track down his mother [br]and sister,

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eventually learning they had both [br]died shortly after their capture.

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Quanah adapted again and again—[br]to different worlds, different roles,

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and circumstances that would seem [br]insurmountable to most.

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Though he wasn’t without critics, [br]after Quanah’s passing,

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Comanches began using the term “chairman”

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to designate the top elected [br]official in the tribe,

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recognizing him as the last chief of the [br]Comanches

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and a model of cultural [br]survival and adaptation.

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In that spirit, today’s Comanche Nation[br]looks towards the future,

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with over 16,000 enrolled citizens [br]and countless descendants.