T.R. Fehrenbach - Comanches: The History of a People

ALSO BY T.R. FEHRENBACH

Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico

The Fight for Korea

The United Nations in War and Peace

Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans

Greatness to Spare: The Heroic Sacrifices of the Men
Who Signed the Declaration of Independence

F.D.R.s Undeclared War

Crossroads in Korea

Swiss Banks

This Kind of War

FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, APRIL 2003

Copyright1974 by T.R. Fehrenbach

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,
New York, in 1974.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint the illustrations listed on pages ix-xii: Museum of the American Indian, New York, New York, Heye Foundation; Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; The New-York Historical Society, New York City; The Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection; The University of Texas Press, Austin; Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Library; The U.S. Army Field Artillery Center and Fort Sill Museum, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; The National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution.

The Library of Congress cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Fehrenbach, T. R.
Comanches: the destruction of a people.
1. Comanche IndiansHistory. I. Title.
E99.C85F44 970.3 73-20761

eISBN: 978-0-307-77400-2

www.anchorbooks.com

v3.1

To those who have seldom been too cold, hot, or wet, never really hungry, and confidently expect to see many tomorrows, a people who had none of these advantages come as something of a shock. Yet, they survived, even thrived, and were happy with their ways.
To Europeans and Texans it was astonishing and insufferable that such a people should prefer their own gods, food, and customs to civilizations blessings.
But they did, and they clung to these ancestral ways.
And for this they perished.
To persevere to such ultimate tragedy is a highway to continuing remembrance.

W. W. NEWCOMB, JR .

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

Nerm woman, twentieth century. Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

Bear claw charm with feathers. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

Nerm man, twentieth century. Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

Warrior in medicine paint, c. 1884. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

Warriors practicing mounted maneuvers. Drawing by George Catlin, c. 1836. Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society, New York City

Tipis. Late nineteenth century. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Womans beaded buckskin dress. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation111

Horse hide war shield. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

Pawnees capturing and breaking wild ponies. Drawing by George Catlin, c. 1836. Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society, New York City

Plains metal hand axes or tomahawks. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

Comanche encampment. Drawing by George Catlin, c. 1836. Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society, New York City

Warriors in council, with brass ceremonial pipes. Drawing by George Catlin, c. 1836. Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society, New York City

Warrior in winter dress, c. 186774. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Comanches on the move. Drawing by George Catlin, c. 1836. Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society, New York City

Texas Ranger, c. 1840. Contemporary drawing.

Ranger camp. Nineteenth-century drawing.

Jack Hays, c. 1846. Contemporary portrait.

Battle scene, engraved on Colts martial revolvers, 1840s.

Ranger Captain Samuel H. Walker. Contemporary portrait.

Ranger Captain Ben McCulloch. Drawing by Lonnie Rees. Taken from Walter P. Webb, The Texas Rangers, revised edition, 1965, University of Texas Press, Austin

Battle of Plum Creek. An engraving by T. J. Owen, from a woodcut by O. Henry. Taken from J. W. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas, 1889, Hutchings Printing House, Austin

Attack on wagon train by Plains Indians. Nineteenth-century lithograph. Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Library

Meeting of U.S. 1st Regiment of Dragoons and Comanches under flag of truce, Indian Territory, 1836. Drawing by George Catlin. Courtesy of The New-York Historical Society, New York City

John R. Baylor in Confederate uniform, c. 1862.

The Koh-eet-senko Set-tainte or White Bear, c. 1870. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Par-roowah Sermehno or Ten Bears, civil chief of the Yampahreekuh. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Lawrie Tatum with young Kiowas, c. 1872. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Mow-way or Shaking Hand, chief of the Kuhtsoo-ehkuh, c. 186774. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

The Kiowa warrior Ado-eete or Big Tree, c. 1870. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

The Koh-eet-senko Set-tank (Setangya) or Sitting Bear. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Quanah Parker. Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Library

Scalped buffalo hunter, near Fort Dodge, Kansas, 1868. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Comanches on the reservation, c. 186774. Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology Collection

Comanche feathered war bonnet. Photograph courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation