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

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In minutes they stirred the camp into a 
panic,

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stole about seventy horses,
and disappeared.

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Led by a young chief named Quanah 
Parker,

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the raid was the latest in a long series
of altercations

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along the Texas frontier between
the indigenous people known as the Numunu,

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or Comanches,

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and the United States forces sent to 
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 
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
time the colonel drew near his targets,

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they disappeared without a
trace into the vast plains.

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

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hunting buffalo and moving whole villages
around the plains.

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They suppressed Spanish and Mexican 
attacks from the south,

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attempts to settle the land by the United
States from the east,

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and numerous other indigenous peoples’ 
bids for power.

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

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

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

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every man, woman, and child was adept 
on horseback.

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Their combat skills on horseback

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far surpassed those of both other
indigenous peoples and colonists,

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allowing them to control an enormous 
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
Parker and Ranald Mackenzie faced off.

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

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a leader of the Nokoni band, 
and Cynthia Ann Parker,

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a kidnapped white settler who assimilated
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, 
capturing his mother and sister.

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

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the Quahada.

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

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

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enraging her powerful father and several
other leaders.

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They stayed on the run for a year,

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attracting followers and establishing 
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 
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 
market for buffalo hides became lucrative,

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

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Meanwhile, U.S. forces led 
a surprise attack,

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

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

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the Comanches faced certain 
starvation in winter.

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So in 1875 Quanah and 
the Quahada band

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moved to the Fort Sill 
reservation in Oklahoma.

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As hunter-gatherers,
they could not transition easily

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to an agricultural way of life 
on the reservation.

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The US government had promised
rations and supplies,

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but what they provided was 
wildly insufficient.

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Quanah, meanwhile, was suddenly in a 
weak political position:

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he had no wealth or power

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compared to others who had been 
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 
cattle ranchers to graze their herds.

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

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quietly at first.

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Eventually, he negotiated leasing rights
with the US government,

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which ensured a steady source of income
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 
officials grew,

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

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and became one of three tribal judges 
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 
one chief of all Comanches—

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a role that hadn’t existed 
outside the reservation.

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Still, many Comanches supported Quanah 
for this role,

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just as several older leaders had 
supported him

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to lead them against the US armed forces.

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

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Quanah acted in Hollywood movies and 
befriended American politicians,

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riding in Theodore Roosevelt’s
inauguration parade.

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Still, he never cut his long braids and
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
his mother’s surname,

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and tried to track down his mother 
and sister,

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eventually learning they had both 
died shortly after their capture.

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Quanah adapted again and again—
to different worlds, different roles,

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and circumstances that would seem 
insurmountable to most.

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

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Comanches began using the term “chairman”

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to designate the top elected 
official in the tribe,

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recognizing him as the last chief of the 
Comanches

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and a model of cultural 
survival and adaptation.

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

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with over 16,000 enrolled citizens 
and countless descendants.