Customer Reviews

Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief (Oklahoma Western Biographies, Vol. 6)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although I tend to be wary of any biographies that speak with an omnisient narrative voice, and don't cite their sources as they go, Hagan's book does well remaining mostly unbiased in discussing native-white relations, and stating facts. It has an excellent collection of pictures I haven't seen elsewhere, and gives a well-written account of Quanah Parker's life without 'juicing it up'. Being a descendent of Quanah Parker, I've read anything about him I can get my hands on, and this is definitely one of the better resources.

This past summer, I made a trip to the reconstruction of Old Fort Parker in Groesbeck, TX - and the actual massacre site - where Cynthia Ann Parker, age 9, was captured by Comanche warriors and raised as a Comanche woman for the next 25 years before a well-meaning Texas Ranger discovered her and returned her to her white relatives. Cynthia Ann never readjusted to white society and, in mourning for her Comanche husband and her children, eventually starved herself to death. Yet, out of this tragic story, her son Quanah - half white, half Comanche - rose to become the most influential representative of the Comanche tribe and the last Comanche Chief.

In this book, author William T. Hagan presents the meticulously researched story of Quanah's life and the politics of both the white and native worlds which he straddled, serving as an eloquent bridge between two societies struggling for survival on the Oklahoma and Texas plains. An astute businessman, Quanah recognized the futility of staving off white settlement and turned his warrior energies toward negotiating for the best "deals" he could get for the American Indians. Although he made many trips to Washington, DC and the White House to represent the needs of the Indians and often wore western Anglo dress, he refused to give up his braids, his "much married condition" (7 wives), and his dedication to the peyote cult.

This is a fascinating book which I highly recommend to any afficianado of the Old West and Native America.

Our classroom read a poignant short story about his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker. I was pleased to find this book on the life of her son in this carefully researched, well-presented biography. It is an interesting read of a man and also a chief showing how he is torn between two worlds of belief and behaviors. Informative read. It received the Oklahoma History Book of the Year award.
Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Three

This past summer, I made a trip to the reconstruction of Old Fort Parker in Groesbeck, TX - and the actual massacre site - where Cynthia Ann Parker, age 9, was captured by Comanche warriors and raised as a Comanche woman for the next 25 years before a well-meaning Texas Ranger discovered her and returned her to her white relatives. Cynthia Ann never readjusted to white society and, in mourning for her Comanche husband and her children, eventually starved herself to death. Yet, out of this tragic story, her son Quanah - half white, half Comanche - rose to become the most influential representative of the Comanche tribe and the last Comanche Chief.

In this book, author William T. Hagan presents the meticulously researched story of Quanah's life and the politics of both the white and native worlds which he straddled, serving as an eloquent bridge between two societies struggling for survival on the Oklahoma and Texas plains. An astute businessman, Quanah recognized the futility of staving off white settlement and turned his warrior energies toward negotiating for the best "deals" he could get for the American Indians. Although he made many trips to Washington, DC and the White House to represent the needs of the Indians and often wore western Anglo dress, he refused to give up his braids, his "much married condition" (7 wives), and his dedication to the peyote cult.

This is a fascinating book which I highly recommend to any afficianado of the Old West and Native America.

This is a brief but informative book on the life of Quanah Parker, a mixed-blood Comanche who was prominent in the history of what is today southwest Oklahoma from 1875 to his death in 1911. Not much of this book details Quanah's early life before his relegation to the Comanche-Kiowa reservation after the Red River War of 1874-75. The main exception is that he was the son of Cynthia Ann Parker, a Texas girl who was taken into captivity by the Comanches in a raid on Fort Parker in 1836. It was probably some 15 years later that Quanah was born.

The book is divided into several chapters detailing Quanah's reservation life. The book describes Quanah as taking the "middle road" between the white man's way and the Comanche way. He was realistic in his view that the whites were here to stay and that he found ways to adjust to that life while at the same time keeping some of the old ways like keeping multiple wives, his hairstyle and his use of peyote which he first acquired from the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico.

Quanah was an astute businessman, acquiring income through leasing grasslands to Texas cattlemen and realizing that the reservation was being broken up after the Congressional ratification of the Jerome Agreement in 1900 tried to get the best possible deal for his people. He disagreed with Kiowa chief Lone Wolf with regards to holding on to the reservation as a whole and stopping the allotments of the land.

The book finishes up with comparisons between Quanah Parker and famous Indians such as Chief Joseph, Geronimo and Red Cloud. The book consists of 133 pages of text with an index and a list of sources that one can acquire to read more about Quanah Parker, Military campaigns that led to the setttlement of Comanches on the reservation and life on the reservation. A good introductory text to this famous Comanche.

Detailed and factual, but dry reporting on the life of Parker and the Comanche tribe after the conflicts in Oklahoma ended, and they were confined to the reservation. Lots of good pictures. Probably of interest mainly to Oklahoma residents and descendants of Quanah Parker. For others, it's a pretty dull read.