The white woman who is rescued from the indians was a real person by the name of Cynthia Ann Parker. In 1836, when she was the ten years old, a combined band of approximately 350 Comanches, Kiowas, and Kichais attacked her family's settlement, killed everyone in her family, and kidnapped her along with four others. She was eventually brought in as a member of the Comanche tribe and given the name "Naduah", which means "person found". She lived as a Comanche for 24 years until discovered by the Texas Rangers who forcibly removed her. She never adjusted to life among the whites and on one occasion escaped and tried to find her way back to her tribe, but she was recaptured. She died at the age of 45 by which time she had stopped eating. In her weakened condition, she died at the age of influenza in 1871.
Reference is also made to Peta Nocona and Quanah. Peta Nocona was a high chief and Cynthia's husband. Quanah was her son. Quanah Parker was the last free Comanche chief. With the whites hunting the buffalo almost to extinction, the Comanche lost their main food source and moved onto a reservation. Quanah took his mother's last name and eventually adopted the white man's religion. Being very intelligent and a natural leader found a way to adapt to the new situation, keeping the peace and eventually becoming sheriff of Lawton, Oklahoma.
When Jake is leaving for Colorado Gus tells him not to "fall in with a bad bunch, we'd hate to have to hang you", which they actually wind up having to do in Lonesome Dove (1989) when Jake joins up with a group of men to travel across the Indian Nations with. These men turn out to be outlaws who murder several people and steal their horses, Jake stands by and does nothing to try and stop them, and doesn't even leave them. So when Gus and Woodrow catch up to them they hang Jake along with the rest of the group.
Deets removes a mesquite thorn from Pea's knee with a needle, he later does the same thing for Jake Spoon when he gets a mesquite thorn in his thumb on Lonesome Dove (1989).
The squaw tells Ahumado that he has been bitten by "the spider that hides". This is the brown recluse spider. Its venom prevents healing and causes the flesh to die and rot. If not treated properly a person could die from this.