The Story that Held my Heart Captive
by Sherry Shindelar
The story of Cynthia Anne Parker captured my heart a couple decades ago, and she still haunts my imagination. Her story inspired my novel, Texas Forsaken, and my newly released prequel, Wichita Path Sacrifice, which is part of the Freed by the Frontier novella collection.
Cynthia was taken captive by the Comanche at age nine during an attack on her family’s fort on 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 other family members were captured along with her.
Her Aunt Elizabeth was rescued a couple months after the attack. Her cousin Rachel, who had been badly abused by the tribe, was returned 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. 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 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.
The Lord placed the idea on my heart to write a story about forgiveness, healing from trauma, and love overcoming all odds.
In Texas Forsaken, Book One of my Lone Star Redemption series, I developed a character inspired by Cynthia Ann, started at the moment of crisis, and wrote a different trajectory. I couldn’t give Cynthia Ann a happy resolution, but I could give my character Eyes-Like-Sky a muted happy-ever-after. Eyes-Like-Sky has a second chance at life and love.
Wichita Path Sacrifice, my novella, which is included in Freed by the Frontier, is the prequel and is inspired by the captive stories of Cynthia Ann Parker and her cousin, Rachel Plummer. Eyes-Like-Sky must choose between fighting to escape back to the world she once knew, or daring to hope for a life with the warrior who has captured her heart.
In both of these stories, I wanted the reader to see that the Lord can bring good and blessings, even out of the direst of circumstances when we turn our hearts to Him.
“Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30: 5b
Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything, but her life, when her family was attacked in a frontier raid. Three years later, after her escape attempt from captivity fails, she defies her Comanche master, determined to stand up for herself regardless of the cost. Her defiant bid for respect earns the admiration of one of the tribe’s finest warriors. When he offers her the choice of freedom or marriage to him, she considers turning her back on the world of her childhood and youth, but when another captive arrives in the village, Eyes-Like-Sky is forced to choose between her hope of a life with Dancing Eagle and rescuing the girl.
Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she isn’t busy writing, she is an English professor, working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is a multi-award-winning writer. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty-one years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.
She is currently writing her sixth book in her Lone Star Redemption series. The series is set on the Texas frontier in the 1860’s and features some of her favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, captive narrative, Native Americans, scarred heroes, and feisty heroines.