Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Texas Rangers vs Comanches

Let’s not forget!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abert's_squirrel

There were army camps all around the trail too! One was just south of Marathon Tx. at Peña Colorado

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camp-pena-colorado

Not for free, unfortunately.

https://www.amazon.com/Expedition-Lieutenant-Topographical-Engineers-extraordinary/dp/B000ZFS7KA

I did dug up my copy of RIP Ford’s Texas, the collected memoirs of that Ranger Captain. Here quoted on Comanches and horses....

Horse meat, with them, is preferred to any other. The neck immediately beneath the mane is considered a rare delicacy. The meat has a coarse fiber, is glutinous, smells badly, and has a peculiar sweetish taste, which remains in the mouth for nearly a day.

The writer never liked it, and will say so every time he has the chance. The liver does a little better. Never commit the indiscretion of applying a piece to your nose. A sudden rebellion of the stomach often follows such an act of imprudence.

Mule meat resembles beef in flavor, as it was said. To the Comanche a fat mule makes very palatable eating.

Ranger Captain RIP Ford on Comanche archery....

A party of warriors dressed in their trappings - embellished shields, fancy moccasins, long pigtails, be decked with silver shoulder belts worked with beads and adorned with shells, fine leggings, ornamented cases for bows and arrows - mounted upon spirited horses, singing a war song, and sweeping over a prairie is a beautiful spectacle to a man with plenty of brave fellows to back him.

Their motions are easy and graceful. They sit a horse admirably, and manage one with a master hand. Charge them and they will retreat from you with double your numbers. But beware when pursuing them, keep your men together, well in hand, with at least half their arms loaded, else you will find when it is too late, the flying Comanches will turn upon you and charge you to the very teeth.

A Comanche can draw a bow when on horseback, standing or running, with remarkable strength and accuracy. They have been known to kill horses running at full speed over 100 yards away....

Never ride on a bowman’s left, if you do, 10 to one that he will pop an arrow through you. When mounted an Indian cannot use his bow against an object behind and to his right.

The bow is placed horizontally in shooting, a number of arrows are held in the left hand, the bow operates as a rest to the arrows. The distance - the curve the missile has to describe in reaching the object - is determined by the eye without taking aim.

Arrows are sped after each other in rapid succession. At the distance of 60 yards and over, arrows can be dodged, if but one Indian shoots at you but one time.

Under 40 yards the six shooter has little advantage over the bow. At long distances the angle of elevation is considerable. It requires a quick eye to see the arrow and judge the whereabouts of its descent, a good dodger to move out of the way, and a good rider withal to keep in the saddle.

A man is required to keep both eyes engaged in an Indian fight.

Then there is: The Comanches by Wallace and Hoebel. I don't think it has been mentioned.

And Carbine and Lance: The Story of Old Ft. Sill

The Comanches and Kiowa were not unlike some of the Woodland Indians in that war was by Gawd war and fought to vanquish the enemy if possible. That meant kill all the men and most of the young.....rape and enslave the women. Kill anything not useful to the People. They just didn't see the need for feel good programs to re-educate their adversaries. Whites pretty much employed the same tactics to survive.

I remember reading somewhere that once they were all on the Reservations in OK, The Comanches ended the few remaining Tonkawas. From the face of the earth. 😬

These guys think they’re still around.....

http://www.tonkawatribe.com/

The “Trail of Tears” map under the history tab on the Tonkawa tribe website has them leaving the Brazos Reserve in Texas in 1859 when Texas closed down that reserve and the Tonkawas, Waco’s, Anadarkos, Caddos and Comanches in it.

Interesting to relate, the Penateka Comanches on the reserve were specifically forbidden to join their fellow reserve residents in fighting other Comanches.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/brazos-indian-reservation

1862 nearly half the tribe was wiped out by other Indians in the Tonkawa massacre.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonkawa_massacre

Fort Griffin opens in 1867 several Tonkawas moved near the new Fort Griffin in Texas to serve as Army Scouts, hence their participation in the Red River War.

At this point I’ll insert a link to a sort of bizarre kid’s page from the Fort Griffin website about a Tonkawa Scout Johnson celebrating killing bad Comanches.

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kids/forts/1.html

1883 the remaining Tonkawas, 92 people, were relocated to North Central Oklahoma.

Earlier, someone mentioned Wilbarger’s "Indian Depredations In Texas".

Many of those accounts happened within a 15 mile circle of my old digs. Took Birdy on a little impromptu tour of the area once. Author Wilbarger’s Uncle, Josiah, who’s story is a legend here and described in the book 1831 land grant is just across a hayfield from my old front door maybe 1/2 a mile.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/wilbarger-josiah-pugh

What happened to living in harmony with nature peacefully lazing in the sun?

They was Indians! Not hippies!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

That was the Hekawis.... sharp businessmen tho....

Ah! frank deKova! Another Italian Indian!!

Iron Eyes, coming across yet another Indian midden...

guess its as good a time as any to make my first post on here.

as i sit here typing this catching a break from this oppresive heat and the frustration of trying to weld this cat roller frame up, im staring at a rather unimpressive set of 2 knobs across a pasture..

i wouldnt have wanted to make a stand against the horse people here. believe id have made for a creek bottom

https://www.decaturtx.com/battle-of-the-knobs

Neal,

I found one of the 1970 reprints with color plates by Abert in of all places on a card table at the big house up on the Colorado place. I asked my now late aunt where she got it. She stated that an interior decorator from Denver was hired to outfit the big house and she came up with it from somewhere. So my aunt asked me why did I want it? I said hell yeah!!! A great read!!

You lucky old reprobate! 😜

Cherokee had to claim to be some other tribe in order to open a new Casino. 😜

Tonkawa's have a large group at Red Earth gathering in OKC, at the fair grounds every summer, tribes from all over the U.S. and Canada show up for Red Earth, it's big deal, lasts about a week, very interesting and colorful. Rio7

Never hear much about the karankawas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karankawa_people