For such a dogged warrior, Quanah com-
pletely embraced his new surroundings and
quickly emerged as a leading spokesman for
the now dispossessed plainsmen. Mackenzie,
his erstwhile conqueror, was singularly im-
pressed by the young man and became one of
his staunchest supporters. Quanah then taught
himself English and Spanish and strongly ad-
vocated adoption of white ways, especially ed-
ucation and agriculture. He also exhibited con-
siderable business savvy by pioneering the
practice of leasing out surplus land to Texas
cattlemen for grazing purposes, and he
amassed a personal fortune in the process. In
his latter years, Quanah also functioned as one
of three judges on the Court of Indian Of-
fenses, which tried cases for the Comanche,
Kiowa, and Apache peoples. He became widely
respected by Indian agents and other whites
with whom he dealt professionally, and he
made nearly 20 visits to Washington, D.C., to
secure better conditions for his people. It was
during one such trip that he secured the re-
lease of noted Apache Chief Geronimo, whom
he rescued from a lonely exile in Florida to live
out his days on Indian territory. (Together, the
two men were cordially invited to ride in the
1905 inaugural parade of President Theodore
Roosevelt, another political ally.) By 1890, Qua-
nah was universally recognized as the head Co-
manche chief. He was also the wealthiest Na-
tive American in the country.
For all his skill at grafting white civilization
onto native culture, Quanah rejected all at-
tempts at conversion to Christianity and in-
stead embarked upon helping to found the
Native American Church. Rituals involved
heavy use of the hallucinogenic plant peyote,
which eventually spread to other tribes
throughout North America. “The white goes
into his church and talks about Jesus,” he in-
sisted, “but the Indian goes into his tipi and
talks toJesus.” At length Quanah’s wealth and
prestige enabled him to build a spacious man-
sion at Cache, Oklahoma, where he resided
with five to eight wives and 21 children. In
1897, his refusal to abandon traditional
polygamy cost him his seat on the tribal court,
but he refused to change. Quanah was also
obsessed with trying to secure his mother’s
remains for burial on his property. The mighty
warrior-turned-entrepreneur died at Cache on
February 11, 1911, and was interred next to
his mother’s grave. Such was his renown that
nearly 2,000 Comanches and other well-wish-
ers turned out to bid this Native American
success story farewell. The North Texas town
of Quanah was also named in his honor.See also
GeronimoBibliography
Edmunds, R. David. American Indian Leaders: Studies
in Diversity.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1980; Fehrenbach, T. R. Comanches: The Destruc-
tion of aPeople.New York: Knopf, 1974; Hagan,
William T. Quanah Parker: Commanche Chief.Nor-
man: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993; Haley,
James L. The Buffalo War: The History of the Red
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Doubleday, 1976; Jordan, H. Glenn, and Thomas M.
Holm, eds. Indian Leaders: Oklahoma’s First
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querque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993;
Pate, J’Nell. “The Battle of the Adobe Walls.” Great
Plains Journal16 (1976): 3–44; Weems, John E.
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