Son of Comanche Peta Nocona and Cynthia Parker, an English-American who had been kidnapped aged nine and assimilated into the tribe, his name means "fragrance".
When still a boy Quanah's mother and young sister were captured by Texas Rangers and she was returned to her birth family. Her story thereafter is tragic: unable to adjust, she longed to return to the Comanche but was prevented from doing so by her father. When she learned of the death of her husband in battle and her other son from smallpox she became desperate to try to return to Quanah. When her daughter died from pneumonia she reportedly starved herself to death.
Quanah had joined the Quahadi (antelope eater) band and resisted attempts to remove the tribe to a reservation. He took part in many skirmishes but eventually surrendered after the Battle of the Great Plains in 1875.
"The Americans are without number... they are like weeds... like drops of rain ... no end to them."
He became a champion for the interests of the tribe on the reservation and was appointed "Chief of the Comanche" by the government.
Although he adopted European habits, becoming a wealthy rancher and hunting with President Roosevelt, he was also a founder of the Native American Church and rejected monogamy.
He died in 1911 and is now buried at Fort Sill with his mother and sister.
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