I'm just glad anyone's still reading the thread
I'm gonna jump out of narrative sequence here for a book recommendation.
See, popular Texas narratives, incuding Gwynne's "
Empire of the Summer Moon" fail to account for a puzzling discrepancy; that being the collapse of the Comanches in the mid 19th Century. Puzzling in that the inroads made by Texans with guns, ANY guns not just sixguns, are not nearly enough to account for the population collapse after the 1840's.
On the one hand we have Comanches killing people in broad daylight within the Austin city limits into the 1840's, then a seemingly sudden jump to remnants being chased around up on the High Plains in the 1870's. No real explanation either of why a major portion of the tribe in Central Texas should be so completely reduced to misery and handouts on reservations by the 1850's.
I found a great book today, one which many of you may already know about, and a must-read for anyone interested in Texas History. "
Comanche Empire" by Pekka Hamalainen (2008), unique among books on
real Comanche history in that it ain't boring.
http://www.amazon.com/Comanche-Empire-Lamar-Western-History/dp/0300126549An exerpt, describing Comancheria in 1849....
In 1849.... [on the eve of the massive cholera epidemic] They were prosperous and powerful. Although epidemics had cut into their numbers, their population hovered near the twenty thousand level... There were still an estimated eight hundred Mexican slaves and countless Native captives in Comancheria... The various Comanche bands collectively owned well over one hundred thousand horses and mules... and the Comanche alliance network comprised more than twenty different groups, who sent regular trading envoys into Comancheria, bringing in firearms, metal, food and luxuries...
Comancheria was a land of great riches and enormous bison herds... Calculations based upon the range-use efficiency of livestock... suggest that Nineteenth Century Comancheria could support approximately seven million bison... Based on these figures, the Comanches and their allies could kill approximately 280,000 bison a year without depleting the herds...
..the Comanches and their allies were killing an estimated 175,000 bison a year for subsistence alone... [plus an estimated 25,000 a year for trade]...
[after removal to Indian Territory in the 1830's] Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks - all numerous groups - embarked on active bison hunting, and many Delaware, Shawnee and Kickapoo bands became specialized bison hunters...
At the same time, on Comancheria's western edge, Ciboleros, the New Mexican bison hunters... harvested an estimated 25,000 bison per year....
Cheyennes and Arapahos delivered tens of thousands of robes to Bent's Fort and probably harvested many of them in Comancheria...
This balance was rendered even shakier by the Comanche's burgeoning horse economy... Horses and bison have a 80% dietary overlap and very similar water requirements... Even more critically, both animals could survive the harsh winters on the plains only by retreating into river valleys... To meet the expansive grazing needs of their growing domestic herds, Comanches had turned more and more bottomlands into herding range...
Southern Comancheria near the Texas frontier was the home of massive herds of horses, which had virtually taken over the region's resources... On the western portion of the Llano Estacado... the bison had to compete for grass, water and shelter with thousands of sheep driven there by New Mexican herders....
...freighting along the Santa Fe trial grew into a large-scale industry in the early 1840's. A typical trade caravan consisted of some two dozen freight wagons and several hundred oxen and mules, and each year hundreds of such caravans trekked back and forth.... the trader's livestock introduced anthrax, brucellosis and other bovine diseases...
In 1845, a long and intense dry spell struck Comancheria... it was a difficult time for the Comanches but a disastrous one for the bison... Comanches headed for the few spots where water and forage were available...
In 1847, reporting on the situation on the Western Plains of Texas, Indian agent Robert Neighbors wrote "The buffalo and other game have almost entirely disappeared."... At the same time, Comanches continued to kill large numbers of buffalo for commercial trade...The author doesn't mention 'em, but I suppose one could throw in at least a couple of million wild longhorns on the Texan side of Comancheria. Famously six million by the 1860's but perhaps there were fewer in the 1840's.
And note; Indian Agent Robert Neighbors was a prominent figure in Texas history who travelled extensively around the Plains, presumably he knew whereof he spoke...
Fascinating stuff, and a must-read book
Birdwatcher
