Prairie Gothic: The Story of a West Texas Family

Chapter Five: Cynthia Ann

33 Chapter Five: Cynthia Ann “The squaw was in terrible grief,” Goodnight told his biographer, the young J. Evetts Haley: “I thought I would try to console her and make her understand that she would not be hurt. When I got near her I noticed that she had blue eyes and light hair, which had been cut short. It was a little difficult to distinguish her blond features, as her face and hands were extremely dirty. . . ” (Haley 1936: 57) Astonished, Goodnight realized that he was looking into the eyes of an Anglo woman who had been kidnapped by the Comanches and had adopted their ways; and she was holding a bronze-faced baby that had been sired by Chief Peta Nocona himself. She was, of course, Cynthia Ann Parker, and her story is one of the best known in all of Texas history. Cynthia Ann had lived with her family at Fort Parker, on the headwaters of the Navasota River near present-day Groesbeck, and in May of 1836 tensions ran high between the settlers and the Indians, a mixture of northern Comanches and their Kiowa allies. Agents of the Mexican government had been stirring the pot in hopes of gaining advantage over the Texans and Americans. Around nine o’clock on the morning of May 19, two hundred Indians appeared in front of the fort. 34 Chapter Five “The fort was at that time occupied by six men and several women and children. Four other men, belonging to the fort, had gone out to do field work. The Indians presented a white flag, and sent two of their number to the fort, to say that they were friendly, and desired to treat. One of the inmates, Benjamin Parker, went out to see the main body of the Indians, but soon returned and reported unfavorably. However, he went out a second time, hoping to make peace, but was surrounded and killed. Those in the fort attempted to fly, but the most of them were cruelly massacred, and their bodies mutilated. The fort was then plundered, and the savages retreated, with some of the women and children as prisoners.” (Yoakum 1935: 170) Among the captives were nine-year old Cynthia Ann and her brother. Her parents dead, the girl lived among the Comanches as a slave and chore girl. But she learned the Comanche language and adopted their ways and became the wife of an important man, Peta Nocona, with whom she had three children: two sons (Quanah and Pee-nah) and a daughter (Prairie Flower). By 1860, when she was recaptured by Ross’s party, she had long ago been given up for dead. Yet the story of her kidnapping had been part of the folklore on the frontier and Ross was convinced that the captive and Cynthia Ann Parker, now a woman of thirty-four, were one and the same. At Camp Cooper, Ross sent word to her uncle, Isaac Parker, and asked him to come and speak with the woman. “Upon the arrival of Colonel Parker at Fort Cooper interrogations were made her through the Mexican interpreter, for she remembered not one word of English, respecting her identity;butshehadforgottenabsolutely everything, apparently, at all connected with her family or past history. In despair of being unable to reach a conclusion Colonel Parker was about to leave when he said: ‘The name of my niece was Cynthia 35 Cynthia Ann Ann.’ The sound of the once familiar name, doubtless the last lingering memento of the old home at the fort, seemed to touch a responsive chord in her nature, when a sign of intelligence lighted up her countenance, as memory by some mystic inspiration resumed its cunning as she looked up, and patting her breast, said: ‘Cynthia Ann! Cynthia Ann!’ There was now no longer any doubt as to her identity with the little girl lost and mourned so long. It was in reality Cynthia Ann Parker—but, oh, so changed!” (Wilbarger 1889: 340) The Parkers were overjoyed at this return of the prodigal child. Cynthia Ann and her baby, Prairie Flower, were taken to Isaac’s home, where she “sought every opportunity to escape and had to be closely watched for some time.” On their way to the Parker home in Birdville, they stopped in Fort Worth. Cynthia Ann Parker and Prairie Flower. Photo courtesy PanhandlePlains Historical Museum. 36 Chapter Five “There, after much difficulty...