Probably born around 1815, Peta Nocona quickly rose to prominence among the Noconi, one of the main divisions of the Comanche. His name, meaning something like "He who wanders" or "Lone Camper", soon became well known among white settlers in Texas too. The Parker family ignored the threat of Comanche and moved further west and into Comanche territory. They claimed the land and built what became known as Fort parker. It proved to be a hare brained move for soon Peta Nocona led a successful attack and destroyed the fort. Several children were taken captive, including 9 year old Cynthia Ann Parker. She was soon adopted into the Comanche nation and years later married Peta Nocona, who loved her so much that he never took another wife as was custom for great warriors. She bore him three children.

Meanwhile, the Texans increasingly moved into Comanche territory and war was inevitable. Peta Nocona's family escaped any harm, including the terrible cholera epidemic of 1849. But the Texans wanted the Comanche exterminated and opened military campaigns in the late 1850's. In December 1860 Texas Rangers overtook Peta Nocona's camp while most of the men were away hunting and slaughtered most of the women and children. Cynthia Ann was captured and later brought to the Parker family. But she was a Comanche now and a virtual prisoner. She died within a year after several unsuccessful escape attempts. Peta Nocona never saw his beloved wife again and led several revenge raids. In the last he was shot and died in 1861 from the infected wound. His eldest son, Quanah, became a great war leader, and the last Comanche chief to give up armed resistance.

 Many years later, Quanah raised doubts about the identity of the chief killed at the Pease River, perhaps because of a Comanche belief that ill repute disturbs the peace of the dead. But the preponderance of evidence supports the contention that Peta Nocona was the chief killed at the Pease. Ross's Mexican interpreter, for instance, who said Nocona had taken him as a slave when he was a child, identified the chief. Cynthia Ann Parker wept over the dead man and called him Nocona. And after the battle at the Pease, which was itself big news, no one ever heard anything more about Peta Nocona until Quanah's disclaimer almost four decades later.

 

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