Long day and I'm weary....
...but just to keep the thread moving, Stephen Moore's (the modern author of "Savage Frontier") description of John Henry Moore's (the Ranger Captain) advance on the Comanche camp...
The Lipans reported a large Comanche encampment about fifteen or twent miles distant... up the Red Fork of the Colorado. It was located on the east bank and in a small horseshoe bend... This bend had a high and somewhat steep bluff on the opposite side of the river
From a tactical standpoint this meant that an attacking force could bottle up the camp inside the horseshoe bend, while the bluff across the river offered an advantageous position for firing down upon those who should attempt to cross the river, both factors contributing to the subsequent death toll.
The Lipans' news was enough to warm the spirits of the cold frontiersmen. After eating supper, Moore's men packed up camp and prepared to assault the Indian camp. They rode about ten miles to the Colorado and then four miles up the river.
At this location, a hollow along the river a few miles from the Comanche camp, Moore paused, this being the location where they would leave tbe cattle and excess baggage before closing on the Indian camp. Hard to imagine herding cattle on an errand like this, expecially at night, but there it is.
..Moore sent two Lipan spies ahead to the Comanche camp to scout it out. It was clear and cold and the ground was white with frost....
the Lipans were better prepared for such weather. They wore heavy bufallo robes.... the Texans wore only what they had brought along two weeks prior and most were shivering from the cold. No fires were allowed this night....
The Lipans returned about 3am... The spies estimated by counting tipis that there were approximately 60 families and 125 warriors. Colonel Moore and his men advanced silently towards the Comanche Village...
Surprise would be nearly complete, Moore's approach not being detected until the Texans were withing 200 yards of camp.
Birdwatcher
