North, Marjorie Snowden

English

SWOSU Digital Commons (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Volume 5Issue 2 Winter Article 1212-15-1985Quanah Parker 1849-1911Marjorie Snowden NorthFollow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/westviewThis Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals atSWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Westviewby an authorized administrator of SWOSU Digital Commons. For moreinformation, please contact phillip.fitzsimmons@swosu.edu.Recommended CitationNorth, Marjorie Snowden (1985) "Quanah Parker 1849-1911," Westview: Vol. 5 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/westview/vol5/iss2/12IC h ie fHe surrendered at Fort SillQ u a n a h  <£Patket 1849By Marjorie Snowden NorthThey called him half-breed and the connotations were good or bad, depending on your side of the fence, but true at any rate;Cynthia was his m other’s name, Nacona his fa ther’s.Both fearless and feared, respected and sometimes — but not always — loved, he did what he had to do in defense of his territory, his people.Government made peace treatiesbut Quanah knew no peacefor his way of life was being erodedlike prairie winds beating at sandhills;ideals were being scattered like grains of sand,irretrievable,buffalo disappearing, land swallowed up by fences and railroads and settlements and by pale-faced men with tight cloth trousers and w ide-brimmed Stetsons and ropes and firearms.The stage was set and young Quanah stepped out with his band of Kwahadis to meet the challenge, raided wagon trains, ranches, frontier towns, plundered, killed, shook defiant fists in reality's face until the Red River War, 1874, 1875.The Army's orders: keep the red ones moving, no time for rest, no time to hunt food, no time for horses to graze, no time for peace.Brutal weather, cold rains, snowstorms white and blinding, shivering, bone-weary humans-turned-animal, the chase grueling fo r red man and white man alike, survival imperative for one, victory for the other."The W rinkled-Hand Chase" red men would call this campaign later, and it ended one day at Ft. Sill, June 2, 1875,Surrender.But Quanah was not one to sit,and in the final analysis, not one to hold grudgesPresidential appointments cameand the white man’s fiercest adversary becamea reconciler, peacemaker between two great raceswhose blood surged, intermingledin his own veins.We s t v i e w , W i n t e r  1 9 8 5

Quanah Parker 1849-1911

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Quanah Parker 1849-1911

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