1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:03,920 Speaker 1: Okay, Imagine your life has lived one way until you're 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: eight years old, then you're kidnapped and adopted into a 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,799 Speaker 1: completely different society. It happened to a little girl named 4 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: Cynthia Ann Parker in the early eighteen hundreds. How it 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: all came down, what she went through as a child 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: and then as a grown woman embracing a whole new 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: identity is mind blowing. I'm Patty Steele, kidnapped from a 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: loving family, not once, but twice. That's next on the backstory. 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: The backstory is back, all right, Close your eyes and 10 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: picture this. It's a beautiful spring morning in May, in 11 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: what is now Texas. It's eighteen thirty six. Cynthia Anne Parker, 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: an eight year old with blonde hair and blue eyes, 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: is playing outside behind the gates built to protect Fort Parker, 14 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: a settlement built by her grandfather several years earlier. But 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: every ordinary thing she's doing, every step, every breath, every 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: chore like feeding chickens and helping with laundry and cooking, 17 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,479 Speaker 1: is about to change forever. Suddenly, like out of nowhere, 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: The morning is filled with noise, galloping horses, war cries, 19 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: screaming women and children. As hundreds of Comanche warriors and 20 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: their allies materialize from the tall grass and pour into 21 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: the log fort. Before there's even time to secure the gate. 22 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: It happens like lightning. Cynthia's brother shouts at her to run, 23 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 1: and now the little girl is running, running, but not 24 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: fast enough. Shots ring out, cracking through the air, and 25 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: then it's over, blood bodies and dust drifting across the scene. 26 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: That's when those that remain alive realize that Cynthia Anne 27 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: is gone, kidnapped by the Comanches along with her five 28 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: year old brother and other extended family members. Later, Cynthia 29 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: being taken the smell of the pony they'd put her on, 30 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: and how they treated her. Not cruel, but not gentle, 31 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: she said, they were just sure. When they arrived at 32 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: the camp, the Native American children looked at Cynthia, fascinated 33 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: with her blue eyes, which they say looks like the 34 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: river under their blonde hair that looks like wheat. The 35 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: tribe decides she will be adopted in their society. A 36 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: family that has lost someone, a mother, sister, daughter takes 37 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: on a child. Cynthia's old name is taken away and 38 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: she gets a new one. In this case, Nodua translated 39 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: as someone found. She learns Comanche words first, and then 40 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: Comanche jokes, which is when you know a language has 41 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: become your own. And she learns Comanche work, how to 42 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: snare a rabbit, how to tana hide until it's soft 43 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: and supple, how to twist sinew into thread, how to 44 00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: smoke meat. Nadua learns to braid her hair differently. She 45 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: learns to ride bareback. She learns to shoot with a 46 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: bow and arrow, and to watch the horizon the way 47 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: Comanche always watch the horizon. Does she remember Fort Parker, 48 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: her mother's voice, her brother's face. Probably less and less 49 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: every day, because every day replaces some of yesterday. There's 50 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: food to grind, water to carry, hides to smoke, nature's 51 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: medicine to understand, and stories about her new culture to learn. 52 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: Years pass and she stops thinking about how to be Comanche. 53 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: She is Comanche, and then she falls in love. He 54 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: is a powerful member of the tribe Peeda Nakona Cynthia. 55 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: Now Nadua is no longer a little girl. She has 56 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: coppery golden hair and blue eyes, but she carries herself 57 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: like a Comanche woman, and the two marry. They have children, 58 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: a son called Conna and another called Pekos. They also 59 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: have a little girl, Topsana, which means Prairie Flower in English. 60 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: While her little brother and several others captured that day 61 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six were eventually ransomed back to the 62 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: family fairly quickly. For Cynthia, it was a new life 63 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,279 Speaker 1: and she loved it. But as she tends to the 64 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: children and to the fires that smoke and cook their food, 65 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: there are people many miles away still trying to find her, 66 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: especially after other family members had been returned. Now it's 67 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: the winter of eighteen sixty and Nodua and Prairie Flower 68 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,720 Speaker 1: are in a small winter camp. There are families and 69 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: a few warriors with the herd nearby. The men who 70 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: guard the camp are enough to fight off wolves and raiders, 71 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: but they are not enough for what's coming up on 72 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: the ridge. Comes a line of men, their Texas Rangers 73 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: and US cavalry, and they move with deadly purpose. What 74 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: happens next is described by some as a skirmish and 75 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: by others as a battle or even a mass. For Nadua, 76 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: it's an inverse repeat of what happened to her twenty 77 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: four years earlier. The rangers suddenly storm in and begin shooting. 78 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: She takes her baby daughter, Prairie Flower, and tries to 79 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: grab for a pony, but she can't get away. According 80 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: to some reports, she bears her breasts and yells Americano 81 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: several times. The rangers stop shooting and surround her. They 82 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: report later that they had killed her husband in that battle. 83 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: They described Nadua as being covered in buffalo grease from 84 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: handling the meat, but they see her light hair and 85 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: blue eyes. They question her and say she speaks in 86 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,719 Speaker 1: broken English. That's not a surprise, because having been taken 87 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: at age eight and only speaking Comanche for the next 88 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: twenty four years, that's what she knew. They say. She 89 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: cried over her husband's dead body, as well as that 90 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: of another very young warrior she had helped to raise. 91 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,559 Speaker 1: He had also been the son of a captured white 92 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: woman who had died years earth. Nodua, again being called Cynthia, 93 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,479 Speaker 1: along with her daughter, is taken to her uncle's home 94 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: in Texas. The nation is fascinated by her story. The 95 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: newspapers run triumphant headlines. The state holds her up like 96 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: some sort of an emblem, proof that the Frontier can 97 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: be tamed, that what was taken can be taken back, 98 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: and the Texas legislature gives her a forty four hundred 99 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,359 Speaker 1: acre piece of land, as well as a yearly stipend. 100 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: Her uncles are made her legal guardians. But the problem 101 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: is she hates this new life. She doesn't like the 102 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,600 Speaker 1: attention she gets nor the way of life she's expected 103 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: to adapt to. Soon, she goes to live with her 104 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: surviving sister, but she misses her sons, who are back 105 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: with the tribe, and she worries about them. She escapes 106 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: at least once, but is always brought back and told 107 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: she must think of her little girl and her future, 108 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: that the Comanche are dying out. Then in eighteen sixty four, 109 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: her little girl catches the flu. She soon dies of pneumonia. 110 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: Nadua's grief stricken. Her little daughter is dead, and she 111 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: misses her son's and the Comanchee way of life. Soon 112 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: she starts refusing food and water. Her health continues to 113 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: go downhill, and while there's some question about the year 114 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: of her death, it's pretty certain that she passed in 115 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: either eighteen seventy or eighteen seventy one. Nadua or Cynthia 116 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: Ann Parker was about forty two years old when she died. 117 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: Her son Conna had become the last free chief of 118 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: the Comanche, and forty years later, in nineteen ten, he 119 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: had his mother's remains moved to be nearer to him. 120 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: When he died the following year, he was buried next 121 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: to her, and in nineteen fifty seven, the state of 122 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: Texas had the body of Nadua's daughter, Prairie Flower, moved 123 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: to a grave next to her mother and brother. But 124 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: Nodua never saw her sons again, nor was she ever 125 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: able to return to the Comanche life that she loved. 126 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please 127 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: leave a review and I would love it if you 128 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: would subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes 129 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: delivered automatically. Also feel free to DM me if you 130 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, 131 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm 132 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,119 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 133 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durant Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 134 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 135 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 136 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,559 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 137 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 138 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the 139 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.