You will pass by one of Quanah Parker's houses on the way in. It is
the white house with the picket fence. There is also one of
Oklahoma's largest unregistered Indian encampments within a mile of
the cache. Enjoy the view.
Info below is copied from (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanah_Parker )
Quanah Parker's mother, Cynthia Ann Parker {b.ca 1827}, was a
member of the large Parker frontier family that settled in east
Texas in the 1830s. She was captured in 1836 by Comanches during
the raid of Fort Parker near present-day Groesbeck, Texas. She was
given the Indian name Nadua ("Someone Found"), and adopted into the
Nocona band of Comanches. Cynthia Ann eventually married the
Comanche warrior Noconie, (aka Tah-con-ne-ah-pe-ah) (called Peta
Nocona by the whites), who was a Mexican captive. Quanah was her
firstborn son. She also had another son, Pecos ("Peanut") and a
daughter, Topsana ("Prairie Flower)" In 1860, Cynthia Ann Parker
was recaptured in the battle of Pease River by Texas Rangers under
Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Peta Nocona, Quanah, and most of the other
men were out hunting when Ross' men attacked. Returning to find the
aftermath, they found it difficult to get any information as only a
few people were still alive. Meanwhile, Cynthia Ann was reunited
with her white family, but years with the Comanches had made her a
different person. She frequently demanded to return to her husband,
but was never permitted to do so. After Topsana died of an illness
in 1863, Cynthia Ann starved herself to death in 1870.
Soon after the Pease River battle, Peta Nocona was said to be a
broken, bitter man. He was later wounded on a raid with Apaches.
Already in ill-health, with an older war wound troubling him, he
soon died. Before his death, he told Quanah of his mother's capture
from the whites. With this revelation came taunts from other
tribesmen that Quanah was a half-breed. With Nocona's death, his
band split. Quanah joined the Destanyuka band, where Chief Wild
Horse took him under his wing. Though he grew to considerable
standing as a warrior, he never felt comfortable with the
Destanyuka. He left and formed the Quahadi ("Antelope Eaters") band
with warriors from another tribe. The Quahadis eventually grew in
number, becoming the largest of the Comanche bands, and also the
most notorious. Quanah Parker became a leader of the Quahadi, and
led them successfully for a number of years.
In October, 1867, Quanah was among the Comanche chiefs at
Medicine Lodge. Though he did not give a speech – his place was as
an observer – he did make a statement about not signing the
Medicine Lodge Treaty. His band remained free while other Comanches
signed.
In the early 1870s, the plains Indians were losing the battle
for their land. Following the capture of the Kiowa chiefs Satank,
Adoeet (Big Tree), and Satanta, the Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne
tribes joined forces in several battles. Colonel Ranald Mackenzie
was sent to eradicate all remaining Indians who had not settled on
reservations.
In 1874, while in the Texas panhandle, a Comanche prophet named
Isatai summoned the tribes to Second Battle of Adobe Walls, where
several buffalo hunters were active. With Kiowa Chief Big Bow,
Quanah was in charge of one group of warriors. The incident was his
closest brush with death; he was shot twice.[citation needed]
[edit] On the reservations
Quanah in business attire.
With their food source depleted, and under constant pressure
from the army, the Quahadi Comanches finally surrendered and in
1875 moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. His home in
Cache, Oklahoma was called the Star House. Parker's was the last
tribe of the Staked Plains or Llano Estacado to come to the
reservation. Quanah was named chief over all the Comanches on the
reservation, and proved to be a forceful, resourceful and able
leader. Through wise investments, he became perhaps the wealthiest
American Indian of his day in the United States. Quanah embraced
much of white culture, and was well respected by the whites. He
went on hunting trips with President Theodore Roosevelt.
Nevertheless, he rejected both monogamy and traditional Protestant
Christianity in favor of the Native American Church Movement. He
had five wives and twenty five children and founded the Native
American Church. One of his sons, White Parker, later became a
Methodist minister.
Author Bill Neeley writes:
"Not only did Quanah pass within the span of a single lifetime
from a Stone Age warrior to a statesman in the age of the
Industrial Revolution,but he never lost a battle to the white man
and he also accepted the challenge and responsibility of leading
the whole Comanche tribe on the difficult road toward their new
existence."
Quanah died on February 23, 1911. He is buried at the Fort Sill
Cemetery, beside his mother and sister. The inscription on his
tombstone reads:
Resting Here Until Day Breaks
And Shadows Fall and Darkness
Disappears is
Quanah Parker Last Chief of the Comanches
Born 1852
Died Feb. 23, 1911