"The descendants of Elder John Parker were a strange and often brilliant family who may have changed the course of Texas and western history. Their obsession with religion and their desire for land took them from Virginia to Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, and finally Texas. From their midst came Cynthia Ann, taken captive by Comanches as a young girl and recaptured as an adult to live in grief among her birth family until she died.

From their line too came her son, Quanah Parker, last of the great Comanche war chiefs - and first of their great peace leaders.".

"Though the broad outlines of the stories of Cynthia Ann and Quanah are familiar, Jo Ella Powell Exley adds a new dimension by placing them in the context of the stubborn, strong, contentious Parker clan, who lived near and dealt with restive Indians across successive frontiers until history finally brought them to Texas, where their fate changed.

Drawing on a wealth of contemporary accounts, including several first-person stories, she follows Cynthia Ann through her life in the Indian camp and eventually her recapture by her birth family. Exley also tells the dramatic story of Quanah Parker, often in his own words as recorded by his friends, through childhood, battle, surrender, and reservation life."--BOOK JACKET.