Dammit, I thought Fehrenbach was a scholar. Looks like his book needs to go into the trash. I did buy today The Comanche Empire by Hamailanen.
I believe Fehrenbach’s “Lone Star” is considered a definitive book on Texas history, been decades since I read it. He used to write newspaper columns, I seem to recall his politics were impeccable too.
His “Comanches: The Destruction of a People” is fast-paced and easy to read, but it borders on historical fiction. One of my favorite books for decades, until I began to look beyond it.
In Hamalainen you’ll read about Comanches who were astute businessmen and stock breeders, and the pressures on young Comanche men to accumulate wealth.
Easy to see how they could transition seamlessly into herding cattle as the buffalo dwindled. Indeed, in Central Texas those bands of Comanches were already driven to accept a reservation as early as the 1850’s when a major drought decimated the Buffalo herds.
Those reservation Comanches later removed to Oklahoma when their reserve was disbanded. It was during that Texas reservation period that Jacob John “Doc” Sturm was assigned to them as an agricultural advisor.
Twenty years later he was still with them in Oklahoma, where he also functioned as a Doctor. It was at his own request that he went out to bring in those Comanches still out see....
https://quanahparkerday.com/history/mackenzie_messenger.htmlSubsequent to bringing in Quanah’s group, Sturm and the noted former Comanche war leader Mowray set out across Texas seeking scattered Comanche fugitives, women and children, and bringing them in.
IIRC later in life Sturm married an educated Creek woman and their home was renowned for their generosity, it is said that no one ever left there hungry.
They take a different view of things in Oklahoma, prob’ly on account of all the Indians, to the best of my knowledge Doc Sturm is still remembered fondly in Comanche memory today.
