THE Texas Commanche wars

The Comanches were fierce warriors who lived on the Southern Plains. The Southern Plains extend down from the state of Nebraska into the north part of Texas. See the map. The Comanches are one of the most historically important Indian cultures from Texas. The Comanches were much more than just warriors. According to the old Spanish records and other sources they were also very good traders. The Spanish used to hold trade fairs in the city of Taos and in Santa Fe in what is now New Mexico. Records from trade fairs in old Taos and Santa Fe ( look those cities up on a map ) describe the Comanches at the trade fairs. They were well dressed. The Comanche leaders often wore fine European clothes, with many silver conchos and fine leather boots. And they had money. They would come to trade in organized groups. There was always one Comanche in these groups who could speak Spanish, French, and four or five Indian languages. The group always had a leader who was very skilled as a trader and diplomat. The problem was most of what they had to sell or trade was stuff they had stolen. They sold the stolen horses and women and children they had kidnapped. The relatives of the women and children would come to these fairs to buy them back. This kidnapping for ransom would later get the Comanche in big trouble with the American settlers who were much less tolerant of it than the Spanish or Pueblo Indians were.

panhandle

The Comanches were almost as new to Texas as the Spanish. They came from way up north from Wyoming. The Comanches were once part of the Shoshone Indians. The Comanche language and the Shoshone language are still almost the same. Bands of Comanches began moving south a long time ago. By the early 1700s they showed up in the Texas panhandle and in New Mexico.

texas militia

This timpo cowboy is easily converted to how the cavalry looked in the wars against the Indians

likewise this other cowboy by timpo

crecent

Before the Comanches arrived, the Jumano Indians and some Pueblo Indians and some Apache Indians had lived in the Southern Plains. To move into this area the Comanches first had to drive these other tribes out. See the articles on the Apaches and Jumanos.

To drive out the Apaches they must have been very fierce fighters. This area is now part of the Texas Panhandle and Northwest Texas. You can find this on a map. Look on a map around the modern cities of Abaline and Amarillo. This is the area were the Comanches first lived in Texas. Later, they kept moving south. By the middle 1700s they had come almost down to where Kerrville is now and over to near Austin. This is where the first German and American settlers found them, and where most maps show them to be – from around Kerrville all the way up to Amarillo and the western part of the state of Oklahoma and in eastern New Mexico. The city of Lubbock is in the middle of the old Comanche territory.buffalo soldiersapaches

The Comanches were organized as bands. They are not really a tribe. The only time there were leaders over more than one band was when two or three bands joined to fight a common enemy or to go on a very big raid. Then a temporary war chief would be named to lead the war parties. After the war or raid the chief would quit and each band would go back to its own leaders.
There were about 12 bands of Comanches, but this number probably changed. The most famous band was the Penatekas. Penateka means honey eater in Comanche. Some other band names were; The Quahadies, Quahadie means antelope, the Buffalo -eaters, and the Yap-eaters, yap is the name of a plant root.

TEXAS RANGER

John Denton, a captain In the Texas militia was killed

britains

in one of the Comanche Indian battles, Known as the the Village creek

calvert indian camp

Massacre fought during Texas on May 15, 1841.Battle of Village Creek:

good book on the comanches

"We soon found two villages, which we found to be deserted-the Indians at some previous time, had cultivated corn at these villages. There were some sixty or seventy lodges in these two villages. They were on the main branch of the Trinity. . . . General Tarrant deemed it imprudent to burn these villages, for fear of giving alarm to the Indians. . . but they were, in a great measure, destroyed with our axes. . . . On the 24th . . . . we found very fresh signs of Indians—The spies were sent ahead, and returned and reported the Indian Villages in three miles. We arrived in 3 or 4 hundred miles yards, and took up a position behind a thicket. . . . the line was formed, and the word given to charge into the Village on horseback; and it was taken in an instant, the Indians scarcely having time to leave their lodges before we were in the Village; several were shot in attempting to make their escape. Discovering a larger trail leading down the creek, and some of the Indians having gone in that direction, a few men were left at that Village and the rest at full speed took their course down the creek, upon which the Village was situated. Two miles from the first Village, we burst suddenly upon another Village, this was taken like the first—There was another in sight below—many of the houses having fusiles, the men race toward this Village on foot; but the Indians having heard the firing at the second Village, had time to take off their Guns and ammunitions, and commenced occasionally to return our fire. From this time there was no distinction of Villages, but one continued Village for the distance of one Mile and a half, only seperated [sic] by the creek upon which it was situated.

We had now become so scattered—Genl. Tarrant deemed it advisable to establish some rallying point to which smaller parties should be expected to rally—We marched back to the second Village, . . .General chose this as the position—From this point Capt Jno. B. Denton, aid to Genl. Tarrant, and Capt. Bourland took each ten men for the purpose of scouring the woods. The parties went different directions, but formed a junction one mile and a half below the said Village . . .discovering a very large trail—much larger than any we had seen, . . . perceiving though the timber what appeared to be a village still more large than any they had heretofore seen, but just as the head of the two detachments were on the end of entering the creek, they were fired on from every direction by an enemy that could not be seen. . . . In this situation the men did the best they could . . . making every demonstration, as though they intended to charge the creek. The Indian yells and firing soon ceased, and both parties left the ground. It was not the wish of General Tarrant to take away Prisoners. The women and children, except one, escaped as they wished, and the men neither asked, gave, or received any quarter.

 The Texas militia under

the command of Denton attacked a Kickapoo Indian village with 69 Texas

Militia. The Kickapoo who were allies with the Comanche surrounded

Denton with over 1000 warriors. Denton was killed in the battle along

with most of his men.

In September 1843, the Bird Fort treaty opened this part of Texas to

settlement which would later become the cities of Fort Worth and Dallas.

Denton County Texas is named after the Texas captain John Denton who

texas ranger 1850

gave his life for the settlement of this region.

pursuit

When the Comanches first started moving south they came one or two bands at a time. Tradition says the Penateka band was the first to move south. Other bands soon followed. They moved from an environment of mountain valleys with limited food resources and harsh winters out onto the great plains. On the plains they hunted buffalo and elk and learned to live like other plains Indians. Remember that they did not have any horses back then, so they had to walk to get around and hunt. The plains gave them more food, but they had to compete with the other Indian tribes who already lived on the plains. This may be where and when they learned to fight so well and steal from other tribes around them.

fort mckavett where four regiments of buffalo soldiers were stationed

buffalo soldier firing from the saddle

cattlin

The Comanche got their first horses around 1680 from the Spanish and Pueblo Indians. Once they had horses they learned to use them. Many experts have said that the Comanche were the finest light cavalry in the world. When it came to riding and fighting on horseback only the Cheyenne Indians came anywhere close. The Comanches used this skill with horses to win many battles and overcome their opponents. Read about the great raid of 1840 and the Battle of Plum Creek for and example of how well the Comanches were when on horseback. The Comanche could do things on and with horses that amazed other people who were also good with horses They could ride faster and farther and get more out of a horse than any of their competitors could. On foot they were not such good fighters.

FORT CHADBOURNE

SAD STORY OF A MISSOURI FAMILY.


(From the Sedalia Bazoo.)

A family, consisting of a man and wife and three children, passed through this city this morning, slowly wending their way northward to their old home in Ralls county. They were in a covered wagon, and had a team which, some day, had been a good one; but its travel-worn appearance, together with the jaded look of the travelers, attracted the attention of a Bazoo reporter, who elicited the following particulars of their journey to the western portion of Texas — and how their number was now one less than when they started from their Ralls county home:

Mr. Ressler was a well-to-do farmer, who in an early day went to the State of California, and by hard work amassed what he considered a sufficiency for a good start in farming life. He returned home to Missouri, married and settled down to regular farming life.

french made

This spring, when emigration commenced Texaswards, the old fever which had taken him to California in 1851 began to rage, and although he had a good home he grew restless, and concluded to try his fortune in Texas.



He was looking for cheap lands, and passed through Grayson county west into Cook and out into the western portion of Montague county. This country, though wild and subject to frequent incursions of the nomadic tribes of Indians that infest the western border, is rather rich and full of game. Mr. Ressler pitched his camp on a little stream, near a good spring, some four or five miles from any habitation, and little dreamed of danger.

marx

On the fourth day of their stay there, the oldest daughter, a young lady of seventeen, went to the spring for a bucket of water, but, alas! she never came back.

One scream like that of the surprised panther was carried to the ear of the mother, who was at the camp, the father being out hunting. The mother rushed to the rescue of the first-born, only to hear the receding footsteps of the Comanche ponies. The mother was paralyzed with grief and fainted away as soon as she realized the fate of her daughter.

The father returned in a few hours and examined the locality of the spring, and found that about fifteen ponies had been hitched hard by, and the Indians had evidently crept up to the spring and were lying in wait for their victim. Mr. R. cared for his wife, and at once started for the next neighbor, and the alarm was given that a

commanches attacking settlers britains

YOUNG LADY HAD BEEN STOLEN.

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The frontier Texan is ever ready to jump into his saddle at a moment’s notice, and a party of ten determined men were soon on the trail of the red fiends, which had taken a westerly direction. The superior horses of the Texans rapidly gained on the poor ponies of the Indians, and after traveling all night on a warm trail, came up with the Indians the next morning, just as they had come to a halt, and a fight ensued, in which the object of the chase

LOST HER LIFE,

covenanat

And was scalped, all of the Indians getting away but three. One of the three killed had the gory scalp of the young girl attached to his belt. They had killed her just as soon as attacked. The father was almost distracted, and absolutely frenzied with grief, and when the chase was given up by the others he could hardly be kept back. The young lady

texas ranger

WAS BURIED WHERE KILLED

plains indian

In the western wilds of Texas, and the family could no longer remain in the country that has caused them so much misery.

The [Bazoo] reporter asked what became of the scalp. The tear-dimmed eyes of the mother looked in the direction of a substantial chest in the wagon, and she said: “It is there.” We asked if they had any objection to showing it. They said no and the father unlocked the chest and produced a long lock of dark hair, cut from the crown of the head, with about an inch and a half in diameter of the scalp. When this was produced, the entire family gave way to loud sobs; and we wondered why so ghastly a memento was kept, that would ever keep fresh in their memory the tragic end of their beloved daughter and sister.
galveston daily news 1874
SCALPING
Somewhere on the plains of western Kansas in the summer of 1864, a wagon train was carrying supplies to Fort Union, New Mexico. As they stopped for an evening meal, they were attacked by a group from the Brule Sioux Indians allegedly led by Chief Little Turtle himself. The soldiers charged with protecting the wagon train had been held up and consequently the wagon teamsters were entirely unprepared for such an attack. Every member of the caravan was brutalized and executed in various grisly ways. When a government scouting party found them, they discovered that Robert McGee, a 13 year old driver, had miraculously survived. He was whisked off to an infirmary where he gradually recovered and became one of the few people in history to have survived being scalped

Buffalo Hunter Ralph Morrison who was killed and scalped December 7, 1868 near Fort Dodge Kansas by Cheyennes. Lt. Read of the 3rd Infantry and John O. Austin in background. Photograph by William S. Soule.

Of course, warfare was more serious than that. It was important to lift the enemy's hair, both as a warning to the enemy and as a morale-booster to the scalper, his party, and other tribesmen. Nothing delighted a waiting camp more than to see scalps on the lances of returning warriors. These scalps were passed around, talked about, laughed at, sometimes thrown into the fire or given to the dogs in disdain. Often the hair decorated a lodge or was sewn onto a war shirt. White men's hair was taken but was less desirable because it was usually short. Some of the white men were balding and weren't worth scalping. But scalping was an institution among the Plains tribes. A scalp was a trophy of war, just as it became for the whites.

texas rangers also indulged in outrages

Torture, and the mutilation of bodies dead and alive, was, and is, more problematic, if only because it is odious to civilized society. Throughout the years, those cultures which have "seen the light" have been horrified by the desecration of bodies committed by barbarians of other cultures. We think of the Nazis in World War II who justified torture and mutilation of live bodies for "scientific" purposes. The communists in Russia, especially under Stalin, committed similar atrocities on ethnic groups. The Khmer Rouge beheaded and chopped the limbs from innocent people and left them by the thousands in the killing fields of Cambodia. The military did the same in El Salvador. Thousands of Moskito Indians died in such a horrible fashion.
The protracted rape, humiliation, and murder of female captives began on the homeward journey, leaving a bloody trail behind the war party. This began when the warriors believed they had put enough distance behind them for security, and they could make a camp and light fires. There was no taboo against tormenting women, but this rarely went beyond sexual assault, though Amerindians were known to impale women on rough-cut stakes, or cut their heel tendons and leave them in the wilderness. Purely sexual sadism seems to have been almost unknown, because there was little sexual frustration to feed it. More often than not, the captive female brought back to camp had more to fear from the jealousy of the Nermernuh women, who heaped abuse and even physical punishment on them. If there were male prisoners, the normal practice was to try to bring them back for the pleasure of the women. When this was impractical, they were killed on the trail. Since bravery was the supreme virtue among Amerindians, torture was the supreme test. The tormentors got the same psychic satisfaction from breaking a victim's spirit while they destroyed his nerves and body as they derived from mutilating the dead. However, because valor was so respected in this war culture, the tortured captive who died bravely gained honor even in the eyes of enemies, a nicety most European minds failed to grasp. The victim who was defiant to the last even won a sort of triumph: he made bad magic for his killers. There is one documented case of a nameless white man on the plains who laughed in the faces of his Nermernuh captors with complete coolness as they graphically threatened his genitals with fire and steel. Abashed, a war chief ordered him released unharmed, as having a magic too powerful to challengeIf there were male prisoners, the normal practice was to try to bring them back for the pleasure of the women. When this was impractical, they were killed on the trail. Since bravery was the supreme virtue among Amerindians, torture was the supreme test. The tormentors got the same psychic satisfaction from breaking a victim's spirit while they destroyed his nerves and body as they derived from mutilating the dead.

buffalo soldiers fought a long war against the commanche

Even worse fates could befall warriors brought back alive to Nermernuh encampments. Here, especially once the victim's screams established that his medicine was broken, the work was left to the women. Most observers reported that the women were far more patient and vicious tormentors than the males. It may have been the exercise of vengeance against their lot in life, but at any rate, the females destroyed the captive by the most drawn-out and hideous means they could devise. They cut off his fingers and peeled his eyes; they stretched his tongue and charred his soles, and they invariably devoted fiendish attention to his penis and testicles. The torture went on for hours, even days, so long as the body survivedEven worse fates could befall warriors brought back alive to Nermernuh encampments. Here, especially once the victim's screams established that his medicine was broken, the work was left to the women. Most observers reported that the women were far more patient and vicious tormentors than the males. It may have been the exercise of vengeance against their lot in life, but at any rate, the females destroyed the captive by the most drawn-out and hideous means they could devise. They cut off his fingers and peeled his eyes; they stretched his tongue and charred his soles, and they invariably devoted fiendish attention to his penis and testicles. The torture went on for hours, even days, so long as the body survivedMeanwhile, if the war party had come back with glory and with captives and booty-and without losses-the whole band erupted in frenzied celebration. Warriors recounted their deeds to the thump of drums and the admiring whoops of women. Great men honored others and themselves. Coups were claimed, and reputations established-or destroyed. The returned warriors then danced themselves into exhaustion while their bloody trophies hung drying on the scalp poles.

swede immigrant in texas

If the war party came back reporting disaster or with any dead, the hysteria was reversed. Lamentation swelled through the night, and might go on for days. Bereaved families mourned for months; women cut their breasts and severed fingers in despair. Councils and puhakut sought medicine for revenge. And thus the cycle would go on, war and reprisal without end Comanches put the prisoner to work digging a hole, telling him they needed it for a religious ceremony. When the captive, using a knife and his hands, had completed digging a pit about five feet deep, they bound him with rope, placed him in it, filled the hole with dirt, packing it around his body and exposed head. They then scalped him and cut off his ears, nose, lips, and eyelids. Leaving him bleeding, they rode away, counting on the sun and insects to finish their work for them. Later, back at their encampment
The European mentality could not fathom the freedom and self-satisfaction that a young warrior got from this status, and I doubt if we in modern times appreciate it. The warriors almost enjoyed the autonomy of kings, but they were not free creatures; they were hounded by a hundred dark dreads and fearful taboos. They sensed mystery in their existence and in the universe, and they tried desperately to find some meaning in it all. They strove to see and understand the cosmic forces that ruled the physical world so they might bend them to their needs and wishes -- the basis for all human religion.








Texas militia 1830

Comanches

ok to read  Comanches: The History of A People is one of Texas historian T.R. Ferenbach's greatest hits and I enjoyed it thoroughly, as much for its Texas and U.S. Army history as for the tale of the destruction of the murderous, wholly unlovable Comanches.

Denton crowd recieve word of Commanche raid. see the worried looks

The book was written in 1974, so it's free of Hollyweird indian mumbo jumbo, as well as the hand-wringing, multicultural, everything's-relative claptrap. By the late 1860s, with their ultimate demise plain to see, Comanche chiefs began lying about their nomadic guerrilla-warfare culture which had, for hundreds of years, been raiding, stealing, kidnapping and enslaving women and children, torturing some for pleasure, raping most, and mutilating all.

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"The story of the People is a brutal story," Ferenbach writes, "and its judgements must be brutal." No one but their victims ever understood them, especially not the patronizing Quakers whom Washington put in charge of trying to pacify them. The 4th U.S. Cavalry did it best, by using their own tactics to massacre the men and take the women and children captive to the reservations. Ferenbach is sensitive to the pathos of their end. But, by then, the Comanches had slain so many thousands of noncombants, most of them white and black Texans and peasant Mexicans, that few who knew their handiwork would mourn
PALO DURO
Palo Duro Canyon, southeast of Amarillo. It's well-hidden on the flat Llano Estacado in the Panhandle until you drive right up on it. Also known as the Grand Canyon of Texas. The lighthouse, above, stands sentinel.

The battle against the Comanches of Palo duro was a culminating one that finished off the Commanches.Ever since the summer of 1874 the Comanches,

and Kiowas had sought refuge in Palo Duro Canyon.
Palo Duro CanyonPalo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment in the Panhandle of Texas . As the second largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly 120 miles long and has an average width of 6 miles, but reaches a width of 20 miles at places. Its maximum depth is 800 feet...

in the Texas panhandle. There they had been stockpiling food and supplies for the winter. Colonel Ranald S. MackenzieRanald S. MackenzieRanald Slidell Mackenzie was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, described by General Ulysses S. Grant as its most promising young officer...

, leading the 4th U.S. Cavalry, moved up from the south intending to trap the whole force in their Palo Duro Canyon holdout. Fighting several skirmishes with Comanche warriors along the way Mackenzie reached Palo Duro in late September.

the attack

the campaign ended with the massacre of all the indian horses but very few people were killed on either side.

after being deprived of their horses the indians returned to their reservations

comanche