Battle of Pease River facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Battle of Pease River |
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| Part of the American Indian Wars | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Texas Rangers, Militia |
Comanche Noconi Band | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sul Ross | None. Peta Nocona reported killed by Sul Ross, but this is strongly denied by his son Quanah Parker | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 60 men | Unknown, but the best guesses are 20 in the band, including 16 unarmed Comanche women and 2 children | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3 reported. | All but three killed; Cynthia Parker was captured with her infant daughter | ||||||
The Battle of Pease River happened on December 18, 1860. It took place near what is now Margaret, Texas, in Foard County, Texas, United States. This area is between Crowell and Vernon. You can even see the Medicine Mounds nearby.
A monument shows the spot where Texas Rangers and militia, led by Captain "Sul" Ross, attacked a group of Comanche people. Most of the Comanche were women and children. This attack was in response to recent raids by Comanche on white settlers.
But this event is mostly remembered because Cynthia Ann Parker was found here. She had been living with the Comanche for twenty-four years after they captured her.
Contents
Cynthia Ann Parker: A Story of Two Worlds
Cynthia Ann Parker was a white woman who was taken by the Comanche as a child. This happened during the Fort Parker massacre in 1836. She was only nine years old. Cynthia grew up among the Comanche, who called her "Nadua."
She married a war chief named Peta Nocona. They had three children together. Even after many years, the Rangers and her family never stopped looking for her. Her uncle, James Parker, spent much of his life and money trying to find her.
Finding Cynthia Ann at Pease River was a very important event for the country. Sul Ross once said that many families on the frontier had lost someone to Native Americans. He believed that finding Cynthia Ann would seem like a miracle to them. Her famous picture with her daughter, Topsannah, was printed in newspapers across the country.
Peta Nocona: A Comanche War Chief
Peta Nocona was a respected Comanche war chief. He was the son of a chief from the Quahadi band of the Comanche. Peta Nocona was one of the chiefs involved in the attack on Fort Parker. He later formed his own Comanche group called the Nokoni. They lived along the Red River.
Nocona married Cynthia Ann Parker a few years after she was captured in 1836. He showed great love for her. He never took another wife, even though it was common for successful Comanche chiefs to have many wives. Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann had two sons, Quanah Parker and Pecos, and a daughter, Topsannah.
The Attack on the Camp
In early 1860, Peta Nocona led the Comanches on a raid through Parker County, Texas. This county was named after his wife's family. After the raid, he returned with his group to what he thought was a safe place. This spot was along the Pease River, where Mule Creek flows into it.
The Comanche had used this site for a long time. It offered protection from cold winds and good grazing for their horses. It was also easy to hunt buffalo nearby. However, the Comanche raids caused pressure in Austin to protect settlers. Texas Governor Sam Houston asked Ranger Captain Sul Ross to form a company of 40 Rangers and 20 militia. Their job was to stop the raids. This group of 60 men was based at Fort Belknap.
Sul Ross quickly realized he didn't have enough men to guard the entire frontier. So, he decided the best way to protect settlers was to attack the Comanche camps. He began scouting the area for signs of Native American camps. After Peta Nocona's raid, Sul Ross and his men started tracking the Nokonis. The Nokonis were known as very strong fighters among the Comanche. The Comanche themselves were considered the fiercest of the Plains Native Americans.
Recent studies show that Peta Nocona did not plan to stay at Pease River. He was getting ready to move when the attack happened that December day.
It was early morning on December 18, 1860. Captain Sul Ross himself found the camp on the Pease River. His scouts had reported a large hunting party and camp there. A coming cold front helped Ross move closer without being seen. He was able to spy on the Nokoni camp where Mule Creek met the Pease River.
Ross sent 20 of his 60 men to hide behind some sand hills. Their job was to block any escape to the northwest. Ross then led the remaining 40 men in a charge down into the Comanche camp. The Comanche group was completely surprised. Many were killed in the camp or as they tried to run away into the waiting Rangers. Sul Ross wrote that the attack was so sudden that many were killed before they could get ready to fight. He said they ran right into the other group of Rangers. Finding themselves surrounded, everyone ran in their own direction. They were chased closely.
There are two different stories about how Peta Nocona died. The first story, widely believed and reported by Sul Ross, says he died trying to escape with his wife and infant daughter. In this account, Chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker ran east up a creek bed. A 15-year-old Mexican girl was reportedly riding behind Nocona. Cynthia Ann Parker carried her two-year-old child, Topsannah ("Prairie Flower"). Captain Ross and his lieutenant, Tom Killiheir, chased the man they thought was the famous Peta Nocona.
However, Quanah Parker, the chief's oldest son, later said to Sul Ross, "No kill my father; he not there." Quanah Parker often told people that his father survived the attack. He said his father died three or four years later from old war wounds suffered against the Apaches. In this version, Peta Nocona was out hunting with his oldest son and a few others when the attack happened. An Army Colonel also reported interviewing men who saw Nocona alive after the Pease River event.
In the popular story told by Sul Ross, after a chase of about a mile, he and Ranger Tom Killiheir chased a man they thought was a chief. This man had another person on the back of his horse and a second horse with a woman carrying a baby. The Rangers caught up. Ross claimed he shot the man. Killiheir said he did. One of them shot the second person on the back of the chief's horse. This turned out to be a Mexican girl. Both white men later said they didn't know she was a girl. She was killed instantly. As she died, she pulled the chief, supposedly Peta Nocona, off his horse.
The Comanche chief recovered and began to shoot arrows at Ross. One arrow hit Ross's horse. Ross shot his pistols, reportedly breaking Nocona's arm and hitting his body twice. Mortally wounded, Nocona managed to drag himself to a small tree. Leaning against it, he began to sing a Comanche death song.
Captain Ross's Mexican-born servant, Antonio Martinez, spoke Comanche. Martinez had reportedly been captured by Nocona as a child. He approached the dying warrior and spoke to him. As an interpreter for Captain Ross, Antonio Martinez told Nocona to give up. The fierce Comanche tried to throw a spear at the Ranger leader. His family was captured, except for his son Quanah who had escaped. His warriors were dead or captured. Nocona was then killed on the spot by a shotgun held by Martinez. The woman, supposedly Cynthia Ann Parker, reportedly screamed his name and cried.
The popular story of the Battle of Pease River is questioned by other accounts. Even Ross's own stories changed over time. This suggests he might have made his role seem more important.
When Quanah Parker later lived on a reservation, he strongly denied that the man killed with his mother was his father. Quanah had told his fellow warriors for years that his father had escaped from Pease River and died years later. Quanah said that he and his father, along with a few others, had left the camp to go hunting the night before. So, they were not there when the attack happened. When they returned, almost no adults were left alive to tell them what had happened to his wife and two youngest children. Not knowing if his wife and children were alive, Peta Nocona decided to flee to keep his remaining son safe. According to Quanah, Ross did not know who the man he killed was. His father was away with him and most of the warriors when the attack happened. He lived four more years before old battle wounds finally killed him.
A rare book from 1890, Carbine & Lance, The Story of Old Fort Sill, supports Quanah's claim. Colonel W.S. Nye wrote that accounts vary. Captain Ross believed he had killed Peta Nocona. But Nye claimed that Ross actually shot Nawkohnee's Mexican slave. Nye said he met men who saw Nocona alive several years after Pease River. Nocona was sick with an infected war wound. This version strongly supports Quanah's claim that his father survived Pease River. He died three to four years later from an infected wound. A 2012 book, Myth, Memory and Massacre: The Pease River Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker, also states that Peta Nocona was not at the battle. It says he died around 1865, not in December 1860.
Aftermath and Legacy
At first, Ross thought the woman he captured was a Native American woman. Some stories say Martinez noticed her blue eyes, which are rare for a Comanche. When the woman was asked, she pointed at herself and said "me Cynthia." Many people claimed they were the ones who identified Cynthia. Martinez said he knew her by her hair and eyes, as did Killhair. Sul Ross wrote in his official report that he identified Cynthia Ann Parker. He said, "Why, Tom, this is a white woman, Native Americans do not have blue eyes."
When Ross returned to Fort Belknap, he sent for Isaac Parker. Isaac was Cynthia Ann's uncle. He lived near Weatherford, Texas. At first, Isaac could not be sure this frail captive was his niece. But Cynthia Ann remembered a few words of English. This finally convinced Parker she was his niece. Sadly, her struggles were not over.
Even though Cynthia Ann was cared for by her white family, she was unhappy in her new home. Topsannah, her daughter, died of influenza in 1864. Cynthia Ann herself died shortly after, by starving herself.
Ironically, both of Cynthia Ann's sons escaped the Battle of Pease River. But one son died later before he could be returned to his mother. Charles Goodnight, a famous scout and rancher, found signs of two horses that had trotted normally from the camp for about a mile. Then they ran very fast to the nearest large Comanche camp. Goodnight followed the horses 50 miles to that camp. But since there were over 1,000 Comanche there, and he had less than a dozen men, he stopped the chase. Later in life, Quanah told Goodnight he was one of those horsemen, and his brother was the other.
Although his brother died, Quanah became a famous chief among the Comanche. He was the last of their war chiefs. At the end of his life, Quanah Parker had his mother and sister's remains moved. They were reburied next to him at Fort Sill.
In 1880, John Wesley acquired the land where the battle took place, along Mule Creek. In 1918, he wrote that he met Quanah Parker in 1882 or 1883. He often saw Quanah in Vernon, where Quanah and his tribe came to trade. Quanah was very friendly and wanted to know about his relatives in Parker County. He asked Wesley to visit him at Fort Sill. Wesley asked Quanah to visit him, but Quanah said he never went to Mule Creek. He said this was because his father was killed there, and his mother and sister were captured. He never wanted to see the place again.
Images for kids
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Texas historical marker in Crowell, Texas
