“Cynthia Ann's Flowers”
As I was starting to do this painting of some Tiger Lillies, I happened to be moving some very old magazines titled Frontier Times. My mother did a wonderful thing for me about forty years ago. When issues of the Frontier Times were going to be republished, she purchased a subscription for me. The Frontier Times were originally published in the early 1920s in Bandera, Texasby a man named J. Marvin Hunter.
In the early 1920s a lot of the original pioneers who settled Texas were still alive and Mr. Hunter took on the task of getting their stories before they died. Each edition of the Frontier Times had about eight to ten of these stories. These stories are not generally found in the history books. For those of us who are interested in Texas history, they are a treasure.
The December 1923 edition was on top of the stack that I was moving. Listed on the front were the stories in this issue. One of the titles caught my attention. It was titled Dragoo Tells of Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker. Of course, I had to stop and read the story.
Ben Dragoo was one of the Texas Rangers in Captain Sul Ross’s company at the Battle of Pease River. After reading his story, Cynthia Ann has been on my mind. As I worked on this painting of these flowers and thinking about the horrible life she was dealt by fate, it suddenly occurred to me that evidently she found some solace in the wild flowers on the prairie. Why do I think this? It is because she named her oldest son Quanah, the Comanche word for “fragrance,” as in the scent of a flower. She also named her daughter, Topsannah, the Comanche word for “Prairie Flower.”
The story of Cynthia Ann Parker is one of the most famous stories of Texas history. Several books and novels have been written about her story. When she was around nine years old, she was captured (along with her brother and three young women) when a large Comanche raiding band captured Fort Parker on May 19, 1836. A young Comanche in this band was named Peta Nocona. When he became a war chief, he took Cynthia Ann as his wife. She would live with the Comanche Indians for twenty-four years. Her uncle, Isaac Parker, would search for her during all those years.
In 1860, Chief Nocona and his band had been raiding and killing in the settlements in Parker County where the present day city of Weatherford is located. Ironically, this county was named after his wife’s family. The State of Texas sent the Texas Rangers to find and destroy Chief Nocona and his band.
The ranger captain selected to lead the rangers was Lawrence Sullivan Ross, twenty-two years old. Captain Sul Ross and his rangers found Chief Nocona and his band camped on the Pease Riverand in a surprise attack at daylight on December 28, 1860, they overran the camp killing nearly everybody there. It is disputed as to whether Chief Nocona was killed or survived this attack. I think he was killed there.
A woman with blue eyes was captured, along with her two-year-old baby girl. She did not speak English. Captain Ross started naming all of the captive girls that he was aware of and when he got to Cynthia Ann Parker, the blue-eyed Comanche woman said “me Cynthia.” Her two sons, Quanah and Pecos, had vanished during the attack and were not captured.
Upon returning to Fort Belknap, Captain Ross wrote to the Parker family that maybe he had found Cynthia Ann. Uncle Isaac came to Fort Belknapand positively identified his niece. She was taken to Fort Worth where perhaps the most famous picture of this era was made. It is a haunting picture of an expressionless woman, hair cut short (the Comanche custom for mourning women), breasting feeding a two-year-old black-headed infant.
If you want to see this picture, you can see it on the internet by searching Google for “Cynthia Ann Parker” or click on this link. She never adjusted to living with her relatives. After many attempts to escape, she lived her last days in a locked room. In 1870, at the age of 43, she died. Some say she starved herself to death.
Caption Sul Ross would go on to be elected Governor of the State of Texasand also be the President of Texas A and M College. The Honor Guard and Drill Team “Ross Volunteers” at Texas A & M, are named in his honor. They are also the Honor Guard for the Governor of Texas. Also, Sul Ross State Universityin Alpine, Texaswas named in his honor.
The town of Nocona, Texas, is named after Cynthia Ann’s husband. The town of Quanah, Texasis named after her son. Parker Countyis named in honor of her family.
Quanah would become perhaps the most famous of all of the Comanche Chiefs. He and his band were never defeated in battle. In 1876, six years after his mother’s death, he surrendered to Col. Makenzie at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There he learned that his mother was a captive and that her name was Cynthia Ann Parker. He took her family name and we know of him today as Quanah Parker. He learned to read and write English and became very successful and wealthy.
Charles Goodnight, the famous Texascattleman, whose ranch is now the Palo Duro Canyon State Park, was one of the rangers with Captain Sul Ross when Cynthia Ann was captured. He would become a close friend of Quanah. Teddy Roosevelt was also his friend and invited Quanah to be an honored guest in his presidential inaugural parade.
Before Quanah’s death in 1911, he had Cynthia Ann’s body moved to the Fort Sillcemetery so that he could be buried there beside her.
I would like to do something for Cynthia Ann, so I have dedicated this painting of some flowers to her memory.
Cheers,
Acree
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