Yes it's a tad more complex...
There's the understatement of the year, LOL!!
It was a multifactorial decline that led to the Comanche and other Indian tribes being subdued to reservation life, and I mean no disrespect nor am being quarrelsome when I say that disease was the primary force that defeated the Comanche.
Disease drove the decline of the Comanche, as it ded on the rest of the Plains, and had done in the Eastern tribes and on the West coast as well. Populations don't drop from 40,000 to 4,000 in 30 years for any other reason than disease (and its close cousin, famine, which clearly didn't apply to the Comanche in that time period). Warfare, loss of buffalo, economic forces are all contributing factors, but smallpox, measles and diphtheria killed 10 native Americans for every one killed by a white bullet.
This continues to be a fascinating thread, gentlemen. I've learned far more from you guys on this topic than I ever could have expected to when I posted the original book review. Thanks a bunch.
