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Comanche Indian Chiefs and Leaders
Cuerno Verde (Span.: green horn ).
A celebrated
Comanche warrior who led various raids against the Spanish settlements along the
Rio Grande in New Mexico in the latter part of the 18th century. A force of 645
men, including 85 soldiers and 259 Indians, was led against him by Juan de Anza,
governor of New Mexico, in 1778, and in a fight that took place 95 leagues N. E.
of Santa Fe, Cuerno Verde was killed, together with 4 of his subchiefs, his
"high priest," his eldest son, and 32 of his warriors.
His name is commemorated in Greenhorn River and Mountain, Colorado. (F. W. H.)
Parker, Quana (from Comanche
kwaina, 'fragrant,' joined to his mother's family name).
The principal chief of the Comanche, son of a Comanche
chief and a white captive woman. His father, Nokoni, 'wanderer,' was the
leader of the Kwahadi division, the wildest and most hostile portion of
the tribe and the most inveterate raiders along the Texas border.
In one of the incursions, in the summer of 1835, the
Comanche attacked a small settlement on Navasota river, in east Texas,
known from its founder as Parker's Fort, and carried off 2 children of
Parker himself, one of whom, Cynthia Ann Parker, then about 12 years of
age, became later the wife of the chief and the mother of Quana, born
about 1845.
The mother, with a younger infant, was afterward
rescued by the troops and brought back to Texas, where both soon died. Quana grew up with the tribe, and on the death of his father rapidly rose
to commanding influence.
The Kwahadi band refused to enter into the
Medicine
Lodge treaty of 1867, by which the Comanche,
Kiowa Apache,
Cheyenne, and
Arapaho were assigned to reservations, and continued to be a disturbing
element until 1874, when, in consequence of the depredations of an
organized company of white buffalo hunters, Quana himself mustered the
warriors of the Comanche and Cheyenne, with about half the Kiowa and some
portion of the other two tribes, for resistance.
The campaign began June 24, 1874, with an attack led by Quana in person at the head of 700 confederate warriors against the
buffalo hunters, who were strongly entrenched in a fort known as the Adobe
Walls, on the South Canadian in the Texas panhandle. In addition to the
protection afforded by the thick walls, the white hunters had a small
field-piece which they used with such good effect that after a siege
lasting all day the Indians were obliged to retire with considerable loss.
The war thus begun continued along the whole border south of Kansas until
about the middle of the next year, when, being hard pressed by the troops
under Gen. Mackenzie, most of the hostiles surrendered. Quana, however,
kept his band out upon the Staked plain for 2 years longer, when he also
came in.
Recognizing the inevitable, he set about
making the best of the new conditions, and
being still young and with the inherited
intelligence of his white ancestry, he quickly adapted himself so well to
the white man's road as to become a most efficient factor in leading his
people up to civilization. Through his influence the confederated tribes
adopted the policy of leasing the surplus pasture lands, by which a large
annual income was added to their revenues. He has popularized education,
encouraged house building and agriculture, and discouraged dissipation and
savage extravagances, while holding strictly to his native beliefs and
ceremonies. Polygamy being customary in his tribe, he has several wives
and a number of children, all of whom, of proper age, have received a
school education, and one or two of whom have married white men.
For nearly 30 years he has been the most prominent and
influential figure among the 3 confederated tribes in all leases, treaty
negotiations, and other public business with the Government, and in this
capacity has made repeated visits to Washington, besides having traveled
extensively in other parts of the country. Besides his native language he
speaks both English and Spanish fairly well. He now lives in a large and
comfortable house, surrounded by well-cultivated fields, about 12 miles
west of Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Quanah, a town in north Texas, was named in his
honor.
Additional Comanche Indian Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source:
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge,
1906, Bureau of Ethnology, Government Printing Office.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect
some errors in the textual output.
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