On May 18, 1836 a large party of Comanche and Kiowa warriors attacked a family trading post known as Fort Parker, brutally murdering several family members and seizing five captives, including young Cynthia Ann. They soon released four of their captives, but Cynthia Ann Parker would remain with the Comanche tribe for the next 25 years, eventually marrying the chief and raising a family. During that time she learned to speak the language and live as a Comanche–so much so that she forgot how to live any other way.
Many years later a company of Texas Rangers would “rescue” her and her daughter, Topsannah. Missing her son and unable to reintegrate with Anglo society, Cynthia Ann Parker wasted away and died, essentially, of a broken heart. Her son, Quanah, became a great Comanche chief who did much to build relationships with the people who shared his mother’s heritage.
You can see a reconstruction of Fort Parker at a state park along the Navasota River in Mexia, Texas.
