Last Commanche Chief

Quanah Parker fought against Mackenzie at Palo Duro Canyon, and escaped with his band of Quohadi Commanche. After the “wrinkled hand chase” - a frozen winter of hot pursuit and starvation -, they were the last to give in and return to the reservation at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Interestingly, Quanah was not exiled with the 73 so-called ringleaders of the uprising to Ft. Marion, Florida. And, in a few years of partial accommodation, he would become a 19th century national icon. Quanah Parker remains a compelling and complex figure.