C-City joins Comanche Nation

As a result of an attack on a Comanche village in 1840, The Comanche Nation will be firing an arrow back at Colorado City in coming months.
A 25 foot arrow will soon grace the town as part of the Quanah Parker Trail (QPT). Though no connection between Colorado City and the great Comanche chief could be established with any certainty, the connection to the Comanche Nation was enough for the Texas Plains Trail Region to seek out C-City and offer the city one of the arrows.

Most Colorado City residents, as well as many visitors, have been to Ruddick Park. Those who have entered the gate nearest the amphitheater have had an opportunity to learn of small portion of the town’s history. A historical marker by the gate entering the park tells briefly of an encounter between Army Colonel John Henry Moore, along with 90 folks referred to as Indian fighters, and a band of Comanche Indians who had a village along the nearby Colorado River.

In the battle, 128 of the natives were killed and 34 were captured, while only two of the attacking Texans were injured and none died. During the massacre, 500 horses were declared stolen property and recovered.

While just about everyone knows about the city’s connection with the Kiowa tribe as a result of Chief Lone Wolf’s travels through the area, now everyone will know of the city’s connection to the Comanche Nation as well.

The arrow, which is expected to be erected within six months, will mark the 27th of its kind to be awarded and constructed.
According to Patty Pharis, curator for the Heart of West Texas Museum in Colorado City, the arrow will most likely be placed on the side of Interstate 20, so passersby will be able to connect the town with the Quanah Parker Trail.

“They can look it up online,” Pharis said. “Then, once the arrow is here, they will be able to learn all about Colorado City, as well as follow links to our city’s website and that of Mitchell County.
In a handout from the QPT, the arrow is said to physically mark a community’s connection to the QPT, connote a past history shared by all 52 counties of the Texas Plains Trail Region , whose lands were once known as the “Comancheria” – the territory of the Commanche Nation and finally, to restore the nearly forgotten presence and history of the Comanche people, who of all the Native Americans, were the last to live free where we now live – the one significant historical fact which makes our region unique from all others in Texas.
Quanah Parker was the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker, a white American who had been kidnapped and assimilated into the Comanche Nation.

Quanah Parker’s Comanche grandfather was the renowned chief Iron Jacket. He was called this because he wore a Spanish coat of mail. It was said among the Comanche Nation he had the power to blow bullets away with his breath.

While his father was killed by Sul Ross at the Battle of Pease River, a man who would later become governor of Texas, at the Battle of Pease River, and his mother was returned to her white family, Quanah and his brother escaped.

He would lead his band of Quahadi band of Comanche, eventually leading them to a reservation near Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Before he died in 1911, he frequently returned to towns and ranches of the Texas Plains Trail Region, where he functioned as a diplomat between the Comanche people and the white settlers.