It was December 18, 1860, that Cynthia Ann Parker was taken from the Comanche Indians in the Battle of Pease River near Margaret in Foard County.  A monument marks the site of the famous battle between the Indians and a detachment of Rangers and soldiers under Captain Sul Ross.

The fearless Peta Nocona (son of chief of the Quahadis who had become know as the Wanderer with his own tribe called the Nokoni and occupied territory along Red River) had taken Cynthia Ann Parker as his wife a few years after she was captured by the Indians May 19, 1836.  In 1860 he had led the Comanche's in  a raid through Parker County, named in honor of his wife's family, and had returned with his band to the supposedly safe retreat under the sandy bluffs of Pease River near where Mule Creek flowed into the stream.

Relief from the fierce blue northers was found under the bluffs and the site also furnished an ample supply of water, grass and meat from grazing buffalo herds. 

The depredations of the Indians brought on loud cries for protection from the settlers, and Governor Sam Houston had commissioned Sul Ross, lately returned form Alabama, to organize a company of 40 Rangers and 20 soldiers to stop the Indian raids.  The company of 60 was based at Fort Belknap.

It soon became apparent to Captain Ross that he had too few men to offer complete protection along the spreading frontier, and he decided to end the raids by following the Indians to their caps and carrying the war to their hunting grounds.  This was the beginning of the end for the Indians as a frontier menace.

It was after Peta Nocona's raid into Parker County that Sul Ross and his fighters started the trek after the Comanche's, called the fiercest of the fighters among the Plains Indian.  Nocona moved his tribe into the camp near the sun painted red cliffs of Pease River in present day Foard County.  Later reports from historians bear out MR. Ray's surmise that the camp was only a temporary one for the Comanche's and that band was preparing to move on that December day when the attach came.

Detachment from the Second Cavalry joined with Sul Ross' crew for the big assault on the Indians.  With loaded pack mules, the determined group began its pursuit of the Indian band under Nocona.

Captain Ross and his men followed the trail up Pease River, finding several signs that the Indian party was moving slowly in front of them.  ON that fateful December 18 the scouts reported signs that an Indian buffalo hunting party was nearby.  This was the moment for which Sul Ross had waited, and he advanced personally to scout the situation.

As an approaching norther whipped up a sandstorm, blotting out signs, Captain Ross topped a sand hill about a mile in advance of his company and discovered to his surprise that the Comanche's were spread out in the little valley formed by Mule Creek, not 200 yards below his precarious perch.

Captain Ross remained out of sight of the Indians and signaled his men to approach rapidly, for he observed mules being packed as if the camp were about to be moved.  A small party of Indians rode off to the north, probably to join the hunting party.

The detachment of Cavalry had out marched the citizen command and left Captain Ross only with his 60 men for the assault on the Indian Camp.  He sent a detachment of 20 men at a gallop behind a chain of sand hills to cut off retreat to the northwest, while with 40 men, the fearless captain prepared to lead the charge.

Storming down off the sand hills at full gallop, the 40 men were into the Indian camp before the unsuspecting Comanche's could organize a defense.  Others fled right into the arms of the 20 man detachment sent to halt a retreat. Many Indians were killed the charge, others were cut down as they tried to flee.

Mounted on two fleet ponies, Chief Nocona and Cynthia Ann Park fled up a shallow creek.  Mounted behind Nocona was a 15 year old Mexican girl, while Cynthia Ann Parker carried her two year old child, Topasannah or Prairie Flower.  Captain Ross and his lieutenant, Tom Killiheir, pursued the fleeing fugitives.

After a chase of about a mile, Killiheir pulled up beside Cynthia Ann Parker's horse which she halted as he raised his gun to fire.  Captain Ross continued to chase Nocona.  When he drew within 20  yards of the two, Ross fired his pistol, killing the girl, who he thought was an Indian brave because of the way she rode, and being unable to see anything but her head above a protecting buffalo robe.  In falling, the girl pulled the stalwart chieftain from the horse.

The Comanche chief leaped to his feet and began to fire arrows at the approaching Ross, one striking the horse on which the Ranger captain was riding.  A left-handed shot by Ross broke Nocona's arm, two other shots penetrated his body.  With blood streaming from his wounds, Nocona stalked to a small tree and leaning his body against it began to chant the Comanche death song.

Captain Ross' Mexican servant, Antonio Martinez, approached then and spoke to Nocona in the Comanche language.  As interpreter for Captain Ross, Martinez called upon Nocona to surrender.  The answer was a feeble attempt to hurl a lance at the Ranger leader.  With his wife and baby standing by as captives and his once proud Indian band either killed, captured or scattered like antelope across the prairies, Peta Nocona, proud chief of once great Indian nation, was put to death with a charge of buckshot from the Mexican's gun.

On close inspection of what the two Rangers believed was just and "old squaw," Captain Ross discovered she was a white woman because of her blue eyes, unknown among Indians. Dirty, unkempt, unable to speak English, Cynthia Ann Parker thus ended 24 years a captive of the Indians.

This was the end of the Battle of Pease River and the beginning of the end of the Indian troubles in Texas, but it was not the end of the Cynthia Ann Parker story.  She was returned to Fort Cooper, where investigation led Captain Ross to believe that his was Cynthia Ann Parker, captured many years before as a child of nine.  He sent for Isaac Parker, an uncle, who lived near Weatherford, but the man was unable to say that this Indian looking woman of 33 was indeed his niece.

As the discussion went on around her, her bewildered mind awoke and out of the dark past came the memory of words "Cynthia Ann." Falteringly, brokenly she spoke the almost forgotten words as she placed her hand over heart, "Cynthia, me Cynthia."

Two of her sons escaped the massacre on Pease River, and one also became a famous chieftain among the Comanche's.  His name was Quanah Parker, for whom the town of Quanah is named and who was a frequent visitor to Vernon during his days on the reservation at Fort Sill.

(An article from the Vernon Daily Record, December 18, 1960)

Cynthia Ann and her small daughter were taken to live with her brother, Silas M. Parker Jr., in Anderson County where she died in 1864 shortly after the death of Prairie Flower.

In 1928 Wilbarger and Foard Counties joined in an occasion to mark the battlefield where Cynthia Ann Parker was recaptured.  Although Quanah Parker would not visit the site, his son, Baldwin Parker was present for the event.  Later, in 1936, a granite marker was erected by the State of Texas to commemorate the historical field.

Although history has recorded the death of Nocona at Mule Creek as Sul Ross (became governor of Texas in 1887) firmly believed it conflicting stories surfaced.  Charles Goodnight, ranger-scout at the battle, said it was a case of mistaken identity, for Nocona died years later while on a wild plum hunt along the Canadian River.  Quanah Parker, the chief's oldest son, once reportedly said in Dallas, "No kill my father; he not there. I want to get it straight here in Texas history. After that, two year, three year maybe, my father sick. I see him die."