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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 70 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

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known as the Numunu, 
or Comanches,

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and the United States forces sent 
to steal Comanche lands

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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,

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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 200 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

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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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U.S. 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 
1,400 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 U.S. 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 
compared to others

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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 U.S. 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,

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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 U.S. armed forces.

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Even Quanah’s former adversary, 
Ranald MacKenzie,

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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

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and advocated for the Native American 
Church 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.