Some histories, including that by Fehrenbach, report the Comanches as strangely absent from the Bexar (San Antonio) area in the months following the Council House fight. These same accounts entirely ignoring the prisoner exchages occurring in the month following the incident.
Moore (Savage Frontier) refers to several depredations actually committed by Comanches around San Antonio and Austin in the summer of 1840.
A common failing in our foreign policy, then and now, is to assume that all of the actions of our enemies are in response to us, as if they had no other concerns of their own.
1840 was the summer the Comanches and Kiowa allies concluded their "Great Peace" treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapho at Bent's Fort way up on the Arkansas River in present-day Colorado. This was a big deal for the Comanches and thousands were present. The extent to which those proceedings affected the Southern Comanches down in Central Texas, and how many were present, is unknown.
The way I read it was the treaty was arranged as a pragmatic measure by the Bent brothers to keep the peace around Bent's Fort, which by that time had become an important trading post for a number of Plains tribes.
Other histories have it that the peace treaty was a pragmatic decision by the Comanches to secure their northern border in the face of increasing pressures by the Texans in the east. Moore points out however that the Comanches had hardly yet begun to lose and that, in 1840, still pretty much had free rein across the state. Comanches up north making peace in response to pressures hundreds of miles away also would imply a centralized policy-making process on their part, something seemingly unlikely among this famously anarchic people.
In any event, the loss of maybe thirty Comanches at one time as had occurred at the Council House fight was a relatively minor event on the scale of Comanche history.
Meanwhile in San Antonio, at the Missions, besides the two duels fought by their officers a mutiny occurred among the Frontier Regiment, surpressed by other Texas troops hustled down from Austin to keep the peace. Two deserters were actually shot, a rather unusually severe punishment for a fairly common offense in the Texas Army at that time.
Despite the existence of this ~500 man Frontier regiment, calls were put out that summer for the creations of a 300 man "Border Guard" to protect the frontier around Austin, and for a seperate 500 man force to protect the trade highway between San Antonio through Laredo, a commerce frequently raided by "Indians, Mexicans, and other lawless Banditti".
Sorta like that extact same trade route at the present time, when looking at the events in the area we commonly overlook the continuing legitimate commerce quietly occurring amid the assorted bad guys and chaos.
Given the volatility of Texas politics, as best I can gather the Border Guard was never deployed and the second force never completely mustered.
However a six-week expedition against the Comanches WAS launched from San Antonio in July of 1840. One Captain Clendenin led twelve Frontier Regiment soldiers accompanied by a local attorney, Captain John R. Cunnigham and nineteen volunteers. A force of thirty-three hardly sounds like an army but recall that Jack Hays had less than half that many men on hand four years later when he fought the much-vaunted "Battle" of Walker's Creek.
Seems a safe bet that at least some of the new revolving firearms were carried by the members of the Frontier Regiment, tho no mention is made, seems possible that a prominent and presumably successful individual such as Captain Cunnigham could have acquired one too.
The force parted company shortly after leaving town (a command dispute one wonders?) and Clendendin and the twelve Frontier Regiment privates eventually returned wthout encountering any Indians (actually, a not uncommon occurrence for travellers at that time, Texas is a big place).
Cunningham's group of twenty however, by virtue of the services of their Tonkawa guide Antonio, soon picked up a trail of a small group of Comanches crossing the Frio River, fifty miles West of San Antonio.
July is hot in Texas, and an arduous day-long forced march following the trail ensued, Antonio locating a camp of twenty Comanches towards evening. A surpise attack the following morning routed the camp, no bodies recovered but "several severely wounded". Isomania hisself was reportedly present among the Comanches, and I dunno if this prominent War Chief appears in history again after this event, so perhaps he was a casualty. Cunningham in his report does mention the courage of the Comanche rear guard enduring heavy rifle fire while covering the retreat of their companions, sounds like something a guy famous for his valor would do,
Of note among the spoils recovered in the camp; a quantity of silver eagle money, previously stolen along the Laredo road along with the mule that had carried it, and "many guns". Contrary to popular history, there are a number of references to rifles in the hands of Comanches during these years, and likewise it seem more than possible that people who had traded with Americans and Mexicans for years would realize the value of minted coinage.
Birdwatcher
