Mackenzie the Conqueror

Quanah Parker’s band was the last group of Comanches to roam over the Texas Panhandle and the Staked Plains. Ranald “Broken-Hand” Mackenzie’s troopers sought Quanah without success. Until they captured a renegade “Comanchero” returning from a trading rendezvous. Mackenzie hung the unfortunate Comanchero from a propped-up wagon tree until he talked. He said Quanah was camped at Palo Duro Canyon.

Mackenzie abandoned his supply wagons. A force-march during the night led them to the Comanche camp at the foot of the Caprock. Comanche warriors managed to escape up the canyon walls to the plains above. They held the high ground, shooting down on the troopers.

Mackenzie let the Comanches escape. He’d captured their supplies and he put those to the torch. The Indians faced a cold winter without any supplies.

In a previous encounter, the Comanches had managed to steal back their horses under the cover of darkness. Not this time. Mackenzie ordered the Comanche horses shot! Afoot on the plains with hungry women and children, Quanah had no choice. He surrendered to Mackenzie.

But Mackenzie was ill. Just before his wedding date he broke into a store and threatened the owner. Mackenzie was transported to an asylum in New York City, suffering from “paralysis of the insane.”

I’ve talked with Texas horse-lovers who believed that the slaughter of the Indian horse drove Mackenzie mad. His symptoms indicate syphilis.

This isn’t the end of the story for Quanah Parker, who proved himself an outstanding leader in captivity.

Comments

[Jan Okey]

Fascinating to ponder - I hope the saga of
Quanah Parker is continued. Sorry to learn
about your sciatica . Find a way to feel
better soon.

[celia yeary]

What????He went insane? I never heard that...interesting.
All I knew about Mackenzie when growing up in Levelland was that there was a park named for him in Lubbock. I believe that park was part of the Yellow House Canyon.
Whatever side we're on--the settlers or the Commanche--you will be wrong in the eyes of somebody.
It was known and still is known that the Commanche were the most fierce tribe around. They fought everybody, including other tribes, and then the whites..and then..probably each other. No wonder they outlasted all others.
I have an unsold story in my files titled Whisper on the Wind..about a young Commanche warrior on the run from the debacle in the canyon, and he's caring for his grandparents, a female cousin, and a young male cousin. He goes south with them and crosses the Rio Grande..and meets a Spanish lass. A couple of publishers wouldn't take it--it is a romance story--because "no Comanche could ever be a "hero" in a book. Hmm. I disagree...and I also digress.
Good post as usual, Dac.
And now, I will take my medication for...guess what? Sciatica.

[shirley white]

You are an expert at finding information! Wish I had known all this when we lived out there.
Feel better soon!

[Lesley A. Diehl]

Wow! The stuff you know! I don't know what I felt worse about: shooting the horses or the deprivation the women and children experienced.
Hope your sciatica remains quieted. I have it along with arthritis in my spine. Gosh this aging thing is hard.