Behind the Legend: The True Story of the Comanche

Covering a vast area of the Great Plains, which spans multiple U.S. states, the Comanche Nation was the most powerful Native American tribe of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Comanches, also known as the ‘Lords of the Plains,’ were a nation of expert horsemen and fierce warriors who roamed and ruled a territory that stretched from present-day Colorado and Kansas down to New Mexico and Texas.

Their prowess in horseback riding and warfare not only allowed them to defend their lands from rival tribes and European settlers but also to build a mighty Comanche Empire that controlled trade and exacted tribute from surrounding communities. In this article, we will explore in detail the history, culture, and warfare tactics of the tribes’ revered and feared warriors to unveil the true story behind their fearsome reputation as the fiercest tribe of the Great Plains.

The Formation of New Native Nation

The Tribe can be identified by its distinct language, culture, and the finest known horseback riders and warriors. There was a time when the Comanches were a faction of the Shoshone Tribe. However, during the late 17th century, the Comanches separated from the Shoshones. They travelled south from the Rocky Mountains towards the Southern Plains, including the land of what is now Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. Their migration was inspired by the horses they acquired from Spanish settlers. With the new horses, they were able to hunt buffalo more quickly and effectively.

The horse made them one of the most dreaded and feared tribes in the plains. As expert riders, some from a very young age, the Comanches were able to conquer a massive amount of land, which also aided their group formation.

At their peak, the Comanches were in control of a large area known as Comancheria. The land of Comancheria was roughly the size of France. Although this land was under Comanche control, it was not unified into a single political group or society. Instead, it was divided into many autonomous bands, each with its own leader. These bands would often work together for either hunting or waging war, but would sometimes work against each other as well.

A fun fact about the early tribe is their incredible adaptability to different environments, their vast trade networks that extended from Mexico to the Great Plains, and their ability to both wage war and negotiate peace with European colonizers and other Native American tribes.

Feared & Respected Warriors

Their warriors were known for being particularly terrifying to enemy tribes because they were such skilled horseback riders. Children in their tribe learned to ride horses as early as age six, and by the time they were teenagers, they were impressively adept at handling a horse. The Comanches used their impressive horseback riding skills to cover incredible distances quickly, to their strategic advantage during raids and battles.

In battle, they could fire arrows from their bows while riding full gallop with great precision. It has been estimated that a warrior could fire up to 20 arrows before a soldier with a musket could reload and fire one shot. Their horseback riding skills also enabled them to hunt buffalo more effectively, a vital part of the tribe’s survival on the Great Plains.

Warrior customs were brutal and cruel. It was customary to kill men, women, and children during raids on enemy camps, although they often took captive children of a certain age and adopted them as their own. These children were then fully assimilated into the tribal society. This was done both for practical reasons of expanding their tribe’s population, but also in part to boast of their victories over their enemies. Tales of the tribe’s savagery were spread far and wide among European settlers and other Native Americans.

In addition to being feared as fierce and effective mounted warriors, they were known for their particular resourcefulness and adaptability. They were able to live off the barren lands of the Southern Plains in a way that other people living there could not. As nomadic tribes, they moved their camps with the seasons to remain near the buffalo herds and hunt them.

The buffalo was vital to their nomadic existence, as it provided nearly all their needs: hides for shelter and clothing, meat for food, and bones for tools and weapons. The tribe also traded buffalo hides and other goods with other tribes and European settlers in exchange for tools and weapons they could not make themselves.

Aspects of the Rich Comanche Culture

The Comanche culture was unique and distinctive in many ways. They had their own customs, art, and rituals that were different from those of other Native American tribes. One of the most notable aspects of this culture was its language. The Comanche language is part of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. However, over time, it has developed into a distinct dialect that is unique to the tribe. The Comanche language is closely related to Shoshone, but there are several phonetic differences that make it difficult for speakers of other Uto-Aztecan languages to understand.

The Comanches were also known for their elaborate dress. They often adorned their clothing with intricate beadwork and fringe. Men typically wore breechcloths and leather leggings, while women wore long, fringed deerskin or buffalo hide dresses. Both men and women wore moccasins on their feet and buffalo robes or blankets over their shoulders for warmth. They also wore their hair long, and both men and women often braided it and adorned it with beads, feathers, and other ornaments.

Rituals were also an essential part of their culture. They often centered around significant life events such as births, marriages, and deaths. The Comanches believed in a supreme being known as the Great Spirit, and they performed various ceremonies and dances to seek his favor and guidance. One of the most important ceremonies was the Sun Dance, which was performed annually to give thanks for the blessings of the past year and to pray for success in the coming year.

Art was another important aspect of their culture. The Comanches were known for their intricate beadwork, which they used to decorate clothing, accessories, and household items. They were also skilled potters and basket weavers, making beautiful, functional items often decorated with intricate patterns and designs. The Comanches were also known for their skill in making weapons and tools from bone, stone, and wood.

In conclusion, the tribes culture was rich and distinctive in many ways. They had their own customs, art, and rituals that set them apart from other Native American tribes. Despite their reputation as fierce warriors, they also had a deep appreciation for beauty and craftsmanship, as evidenced by their intricate beadwork, pottery, and basketry. Their culture, like that of many other Native American tribes, is a testament to their ability to adapt and thrive in a challenging environment.

The Comanche’s Place Among the Tribes of the Great Plains

The Comanche were indeed known as the ‘Lords of the Plains’ for a reason. They were a formidable force in the Southern Plains and had interactions with a variety of other Native American tribes in the area. Some of these interactions were friendly, such as trade and alliance, while others were more hostile, such as raids and territorial disputes.

They occupied a large territory in what is now Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas, and they were very protective of it. They often came into conflict with other tribes that they saw as encroaching on their land, such as the Apache, with whom they had a long history of enmity. The Comanche were often at war with the Apache and successfully pushed them out of the Southern Plains and into the Southwest.

They were allied with the Kiowa, a tribe with whom they shared similar customs and a mutual respect for territory. The Comanche-Kiowa alliance was one of the most powerful and long-lasting alliances on the Plains, and the two tribes were a formidable force against their enemies. The Comanches also maintained friendly relations with the Wichita and the Shoshone, from whom they had split off in the late 17th or early 18th century.

The Comanches’ traditional enemies, aside from the Apache, were tribes such as the Osage and the Pawnee. These tribes often clashed with the Comanches over territory, resources, and trade routes. They were also involved in conflict with the Spanish, and later the Mexicans and Texans, as they sought to defend their territory against foreign encroachment.

Maintaining control over such a large territory was a complex task that required a combination of strategic alliances, military prowess, and a nomadic lifestyle. The tribe was highly mobile due to their exceptional horse-riding skills, which enabled them to cover vast distances quickly. This mobility also helped them to effectively manage their territory, as they could quickly respond to any threats or challenges that arose.

In addition, they used a decentralized system of governance, in which different bands operated independently but came together in times of need. This allowed a degree of flexibility and adaptability, as each band could make decisions best suited to its specific circumstances while remaining part of the larger Comancheria.

Relationships with Colonial Powers

The Comanche had complex and varied relations with the colonial powers that vied for control of the region. They were the first Europeans to encounter the Comanches in the late 17th century. The Spanish were interested in converting the indigenous people to Christianity and establishing control over the region, while the Comanches were more interested in trade and maintaining their independence. The two groups were often in conflict, as the Spanish sought to impose their will on the Comanches.

In the 18th century, the Comanches began to trade with the French, who had a colony in Louisiana. The French were more interested in trade than in conquest, and they traded guns and other goods for horses and buffalo hides. This trade relationship allowed the Comanches to become one of the most powerful tribes on the Plains.

The Comanches also traded with the British, who were rivals of both the Spanish and the French. This allowed the Comanches to play the different colonial powers off against each other and to maintain a degree of independence. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Spanish and the Comanches reached a sort of détente, as both sides saw the benefits of trade and sought to limit the violence. However, this fragile peace was often broken by conflicts and raids.

One such conflict was the Battle of Spanish Fort in 1759, in which a combined force of Spanish troops and allied Native Americans clashed with the Comanches and their allies near the Red River. The battle was a decisive victory for the Comanches, who inflicted heavy casualties on the Spanish and captured many prisoners.

Relations with the United States were initially friendly, as the U.S. government sought to establish peaceful relations with the Native American tribes in the region. However, as American settlers began moving westward and encroaching on Comancheria, conflicts arose.

The Republic of Texas & overlapping Comancheria

The Comanche had already established their power in the southern Plains, were excellent horsemen, and were renowned as warriors well before Texas became an independent republic in the 1830s. Comancheria and the Republic of Texas shared a border, and there was continuous conflict between the two nations. Sam Houston, the first President of the Republic of Texas and an experienced diplomat who had lived with and respected Native Americans, almost established a peace treaty with the Comanche in the 1844 Treaty of Tehuacana Creek. His attempts to solidify peace with the Comanche were scuttled in 1845, when the Texas legislature refused to establish an official border between Texas and Comancheria.

The most famous Comanche activity in relation to the United States was the Texas raids. The tribe performed raids as part of a larger campaign to keep American settlers out of their lands. They would raid settlements for food and other goods, steal horses and cattle, and sometimes take captives. The raids were typically brutal and struck fear into settlers’ hearts. The Texas Rangers, a paramilitary force created to protect the Texas frontier, would respond to these raids with retaliatory raids of their own into Comancheria. This would lead to a tit-for-tat raiding that would continue for years.

Relations between the Texas Rangers and the Comanches were abysmal. The Texas Rangers, who were armed with Colt revolvers- a new repeating firearm- had a distinct advantage in firepower. In one particular encounter, the Battle of Walker’s Creek in 1844, a small group of Rangers, led by Captain John Coffee Hays, defeated a numerically superior force of Comanches using Colt revolvers. This battle marked a turning point in the conflict, boosting the Rangers’ morale and demonstrating the effectiveness of the new weapon to the Comanches.

The Comanches were also involved in peace negotiations with the United States. In 1847, the United States signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek with several Plains Indian tribes, including the Comanches. The treaty established a reservation for the tribes in Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma) and provided for annuities and supplies from the U.S. government. However, when the Texas Legislature refused to establish a recognized border, these attempts to bring peace failed- for the most part, the treaty was not fully honored by either side, and conflicts continued.

In the 1850s and 1860s, the conflicts between the Comanches and the United States increased in frequency and intensity. The feared tribe continued to raid settlements in Texas and Mexico, and the U.S. Army conducted several military expeditions into Comancheria.

The Comanches fought many battles with the U.S. Army, including the Battle of Adobe Walls in 1864. The battle took place in the Texas Panhandle and involved approximately 700 Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache warriors attacking a trading post, which 28 buffalo hunters defended. The Native American attack was repelled, and the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache forces withdrew with heavy losses.

The Comanches were also the target of a campaign led by General Philip Sheridan in the 1868-69 winter campaign. The campaign targeted the Comanches and Kiowa in the Texas Panhandle. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Summit Springs in July 1869, in which a force of U.S. cavalry and Pawnee scouts defeated a Comanche and Kiowa village. The battle resulted in the death of the village leader, Quanah Parker’s father, Peta Nocona, and the capture of his wife, Cynthia Ann Parker, and daughter, Prairie Flower.

The Red River Wars and the Treaty of Medicine Lodge

The U.S. began efforts to relocate the Plains Indian tribes to reservations in the late 1860s. This effort was solidified by the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867.

In return for a large tract of land over 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2), the treaty provided for churches, schools, and financial subsidies. The U.S. government agreed to stop the buffalo hunters who had decimated the Plains’ buffalo herds in exchange for the Comanche, as well as the Apache, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, moving to a reservation land of less than 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2).

The Red River War was a series of military engagements fought between the U.S. Army and the Comanches, Kiowas, and Southern Cheyenne in 1874 and 1875.

The war began because the U.S. had broken its promise to stop the buffalo hunters, who had significantly reduced the buffalo herds on which the Plains Indians relied for food and way of life. The Plains tribes were outraged and began a campaign of raiding buffalo hunters and settlements in the region. The U.S. Army then set out to crush the Plains tribes and force them onto reservations.

One of the primary battles of the Red River War was the Second Battle of Adobe Walls on June 27, 1874. A group of 28 buffalo hunters, led by Bat Masterson and Billy Dixon, was surrounded by a force of about 700 Comanches, Kiowas, and Cheyennes, led by the Comanche chief Quanah Parker and the Kiowa chief Satank. Despite being outnumbered, the buffalo hunters held off the attackers with their superior firepower. The battle ended in a stalemate, with the Native American forces retreating after suffering heavy losses.

Another important battle of the Red River War was the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon on September 28, 1874. A force of U.S. cavalry, led by Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie, attacked a Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne village in the Texas Panhandle. The battle resulted in the village being destroyed and over a thousand horses being captured, which were then slaughtered by the U.S. troops. This defeat, combined with a harsh winter that followed, forced the Comanches and their allies to surrender and accept relocation to reservations.

During this period, the tribes suffered greatly from European diseases such as smallpox and measles, to which they had no immunity. These diseases decimated the population of the Plains tribes, weakening their ability to resist the U.S. military.

The Red River War effectively ended the Comanche way of life as free-roaming hunters of the Plains. In just ten years, the buffalo was on the brink of extinction, and with it went the Comanche way of life as hunters. In May 1875, the last free band of the tribe, led by the Quahada warrior Quanah Parker, surrendered and moved to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma. The last independent Kiowa and Kiowa Apache had also surrendered.

The Treaty of Medicine Lodge and the Red River War were a turning point for the Comanche people. Despite their resistance, they were ultimately forced to give up their way of life and move onto reservations. The U.S. government’s failure to keep its promises, combined with the devastating effects of European diseases and the near-extinction of the buffalo herds, led to the defeat of the Comanches and their allies in the Red River War.

Comanche Legacy Today

The Comanche Nation is headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. The tribal jurisdictional area includes Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Grady, Jefferson, Kiowa, Stephens, and Tillman Counties. The tribe determines membership eligibility with a 1/8 blood quantum requirement (1 great-grandparent). Although the Comanche were a dominant force in history and had one of the largest territorial land bases, there are around 17,000 enrolled tribal members. Only about 7,000 live in tribal jurisdictional areas.

The Comanche Nation’s economy is diverse, with numerous enterprises including gaming, construction, and agriculture. The tribe owns and operates several businesses, including casinos, a smoke shop, and a trucking company. The Nation also provides jobs and economic development for the surrounding communities. The remaining members of the tribe are committed to preserving their culture and history while also being active in modern society and the economy.