Voices of the Past

She Died of a Broken Heart

The story of Cynthia Ann Parker haunted my heart for a couple of decades. I knew I had to do something about it. So I created a character who was similar to Cynthia.  Fingers ready at the keyboard, I started at the moment of crisis and wrote a different trajectory. I couldn’t heal Cynthia’s heart, but I could give Eyes-Like-Sky her happy-ever-after.

Cynthia was taken captive by Comanches at age nine during an attack on her family’s fort in the Texas frontier in 1836. Her father and several other extended family members were killed, and her brother John, her cousin Rachel, and a couple of other family members were captured along with her.

Her Aunt Elizabeth was rescued a couple of months after the attack. Her cousin Rachel, who had been badly abused by the tribe, was recused a couple of years later and died within a year of her return. John adopted the Comanche lifestyle and lived with the tribe for years before eventually leaving the tribe to farm in Mexico. But Cynthia became Comanche and became an integral part of the tribe for over twenty-four years.

She married an influential war chief, Peta Nocona, and had three children with him, including Quanah Parker, a powerful Comanche chief. Several times over the years, Indian agents and traders attempted to ransom her, but she refused to go, and the tribe refused to trade her.

In December 1860, Texas Rangers attacked her village and captured her and her baby girl, Prairie Flower (Topsanah), killing everyone else in the village. (There has been significant historical debate about whether her husband was in the village at the time. Some believe he died fighting to protect her.)

Eventually, one of Cynthia’s relatives claimed her and took her to live with his family, but she refused to accept this new life that was being forced upon her. Several times, she tried to run away to the open plains, desperate to find her husband and her sons. Her uncle eventually agreed to help her look for her people, but they’d have to wait until the Civil War ended.

Prairie Flower died, word came that Cynthia’s son Pecos had passed away, as well, and the Civil War dragged on. Cynthia lost hope of ever being reunited with the two remaining members of her beloved family: Nocona and Quanah.  Overcome by sadness and longing, she sank into a deep depression and died of a broken heart.  

Cynthia Ann’s story, the story of a woman torn between cultures, has perplexed, intrigued, and haunted me since I read it. My heart aches for her loss, and questions flood my mind. Some stories are like that. They stay with you, and this one was all the more indelible because it was true and filled with unknowns.

Thus, the inspiration for the story of Eyes-Like-Sky and my story Texas Forsaken.

Do you have a story that has intrigued you or haunted your heart over time?  I’d love to hear about it below in the comments