The Texas–Indian wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians during the 19th century. Conflict between the Plains Indians and the Spanish began before other European and Anglo-American settlers were encouraged—first by Spain and then by the newly Independent Mexican government—to colonize Texas in order to provide a protective-settlement buffer in Texas between the Plains Indians and the rest of Mexico. As a consequence, conflict between Anglo-American settlers and Plains Indians occurred during the Texas colonial period as part of Mexico. The conflicts continued after Texas secured its independence from Mexico in 1836 and did not end until 30 years after Texas became a state of the United States, when in 1875 the last free band of Plains Indians, the Comanches led by Quahadi warrior Quanah Parker, surrendered and moved to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma. The more than half-century struggle between the Plains tribes and the Texans became particularly intense after the Spanish, and then Mexicans, left power in Texas. The Republic of Texas, which was largely settled by Anglo-Americans, was a threat to the indigenous people of the region. The wars between the Plains Indians and Texas settlers and later the United States Army was characterized by deep animosity, slaughter on both sides, and, in the end, near-total conquest of the Indian territories. Although several native tribes occupied territory in the area, the preeminent nation was the Comanche, known as the "Lords of the Plains". Their territory, the Comancheria, was the most powerful entity and persistently hostile to the Spanish, the Mexicans, the Texans, and finally the Americans. When Sul Ross rescued Cynthia Ann Parker, who had been captured at the age of 9, at Pease River, he observed that this event would be felt in every family in Texas, as every one had lost someone in the Indian Wars. During the American Civil War, the Comanche and Kiowa pushed white settlements back more than 100 miles along the Texas frontier.
Background
Pre-Columbian era
Texas developed in the region between two major cultural centers of pre-Columbian North America. The Southwestern tribes occupied the areas to the west, and the Plains tribes occupied areas to the east. Archaeologists have found that three major indigenous cultures lived in this region and reached their developmental peak before the first European contact. The Pueblo from the upper Rio Grande region were centered west of Texas. The Mississippian culture or Mound Builder region extended along the Mississippi River Valley east of Texas. The Mesoamerica civilization was centered south of Texas. The influence of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries. During Colonial Mexico, members of new cultures entered and settled in the area; through competition for resources and power, they became adversaries. All were relative newcomers to Texas; Europeans began permanently settling in Texas around the Rio Grande and upwards toward modern-day San Antonio and El Paso starting in the late 17th century; they reached Nacogdoches area around 1721. The Comanche had not arrived into the northern area of the state until roughly the early 18th century; they did not become the predominant nation in the area until the late 18th century, following their successful adoption of the horse. Most other Plains Indians had already arrived by the mid-18th century.
=== Early tribes === The people indigenous to northern Texas including the Panhandle are called the Southern Plains villagers, including Panhandle culture who include ancestors of the Wichita people. The Tonkawa, long thought to have been prehistoric residents of Texas are now thought to have migrated into the state in the late seventeenth century. Arrival in Central Texas is believed to have been just before or during the early European contact period. Tribes indigenous to east Texas include the Caddo, including the Adai, Eyeish, Hainai, Kadohadacho, Nacono, and Kitsai. The Akokisa, Atakapa, Karankawa, and Tamique lived along the Gulf coast. The Southern Athabaskan speaking Apache, which includes the Mescalero, Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan and Kiowa Apache, are thought to have entered southeastern New Mexico and western Texas in small groups by at least 1400 CE. The Kiowa proper, not to be confused with the Kiowa Apache, arrived in Texas post European contact, their principal nineteenth-century range being north and east of the Texas Panhandle in the Wichita Mountains. In the 1740s, Tonkawa, Yojuanes, and others settled along the San Gabriel River. The Tonkawa allied with the Bidais, Caddos, Wichitas, Comanche and Yojuanes in 1758 and attacked and decimated the Lipan Apache and the Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá. The Tonkawa continued their southern migration into Texas and northern Mexico where they then allied with the Lipan Apache. Spanish settlers sometimes captured American Indian children. Often it was common practice to have the child baptized and then adopt them into their homes, where they were raised to be servants. At first the practice involved primarily Apaches, and eventually Comanche children were likewise adopted as servants.
Rise of the Comanche
The Comanche language belongs the Uto-Aztecan language family, and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshone. Sometime in the late 17th century, the Comanches acquired horses, and this acquisition drastically changed their culture. The lives of pedestrians were revolutionized as they quickly developed into a mounted, well-equipped and powerful people. Until around the mid-17th century, the Comanche were part of the Shoshone people living along the upper Platte River in present-day Wyoming. Once they acquired horses, which gave them greater mobility and hunting access, the Comanche became a separate tribe from the Shoshone. Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a span of territory extending from the Arkansas River to Central Texas. Their population increased dramatically because of the abundance of buffalo, the use of the horse for hunting and fighting, the adoption of other migrating Shoshone, and women and children taken captive during raids and warfare. The Comanche based their warfare on speed and calculated violence, developing superb light cavalry skill. Ultimately, their warriors made such effective use of the horse that the Comanche became the most powerful Indian nation of the plains. When the Comanche encountered and entered conflict against Spanish colonists, they blocked Spanish expansion to the east from New Mexico and prevented direct communication with the new Spanish settlements north of the Rio Grande. In turn, the Comanche and eventually Apache allies launched deep raids, sending hundreds of warriors into Mexico; they successfully captured and enslaved or adopted into the tribe thousands of Hispanics, Anglos, and Indians of other tribes. Eventually, the numbers were so large that persons not born Comanche made up nearly thirty percent of the Comanche nation. The Comanches were decentralized; historically, they did not form a single cohesive tribal unit but were divided into almost a dozen autonomous groups. The bands had as many as 45 distinct divisions. These groups shared the same language and culture but at times fought internally in ritualized combat, even as they cooperated at other times.
==== War with the Apaches ==== Prior 1750, the Apaches were highly influential in west Texas, but this changed with the Comanche incursions. Beginning in the 1740s, the Comanche began crossing the Arkansas River and established themselves on margins of the Llano Estacado. This area extended from southwestern Oklahoma across the Texas Panhandle into New Mexico. The Apaches were driven out in a series of wars, and the Comanche came to control the area. This domain extended south from the Arkansas River across central Texas to the vicinity of San Antonio, including the entire Edwards Plateau west to the Pecos River and then north again following the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Arkansas River.
==== Alliances with other tribes ==== After driving out the Apaches, the Comanches were stricken by a smallpox epidemic from 1780 to 1781. As the epidemic was very severe, the Comanche temporarily suspended raids, and some Comanche divisions were disbanded. A second smallpox epidemic struck during the winter of 1816–1817. The best estimates are that more than half the total population of the Comanche were killed by these epidemics. In response to this devastating loss of numbers, the Comanche effectively allied with the Kiowa and Kiowa Apache after one Kiowa warrior spent a fall season with the Comanche in 1790. Fehrenbach believes the union came from the necessity to protect their hunting grounds from settler incursions. First, the Kiowa and the Comanche agreed to share hunting grounds and unite in war. The Kiowa Apache, as allies of the Kiowa, ultimately joined this alliance. Eventually, the three tribes agreed to share the same hunting grounds and had a mutual self-defense and war pact.
Europeans in Texas
European and especially mixed-race Mexican colonists reached Texas prior to the end of Spanish rule. Colonial authorities did not encourage colonization in this area, as it was too far from their bases. The number of colonists was extremely limited, and they were always at risk of Comanche raids. By the early 19th century, as a result of the Comanche wars, the Mexican wars of Independence, and the collapse of colonial power, Mexican resistance to Comanche attacks had almost collapsed. In contrast to the neglected military capabilities of the Mexicans, authorities considered Americans extremely aggressive in combat, and they were subsequently encouraged to establish settlements on the frontier in present-day Texas as a defensive bulwark to Comanche raids further south. Although most of these early Americans were ultimately killed, executed or driven from Texas by Spanish authorities during the Green Flag Republic, the Comanche's subsequent raids deep into Mexico showed the practicality of Americans in holding the frontier. Consequently, the new regime quickly recruited Americans, the first of which was Stephen F. Austin, who was given a Spanish land grant in Texas. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, its government continued to recruit Americans, as it wanted to develop its depopulated northern provinces.
Mexican Texas: 1821–1836
In the 1820s, seeking additional colonists as a means of securing the region, Mexico reached an agreement with Steven F. Austin reauthorizing his Spanish land grants allowing several hundred American families to move into the region. As Austin used his network and government sponsors to spread the word of rich lands in Texas, thousands of additional colonists from the United States flooded into the region. Many had no interest in being ruled by the government of Mexico. In 1829, when Mexico abolished slavery throughout Mexico, the immigrants from the U.S. were exempted in some colonies. Under the change, many slaves in Mexico were reclassified as indentured servants. Texian and Tejano settlers unified in resistance to political and economic controls imposed on the region under the Mexican central government, resulting in the Texas Revolution. In 1821, while colonists were still welcome, Jose Francisco Ruiz negotiated a truce with the Penatucka Comanche, the band closest to the settlements in East and Central Texas. Following that truce, he was able to complete a treaty of peace and friendship, which was signed in Mexico City in December 1821. But, within twelve months the Mexican government failed to pay the presents promised to the Pentucka, who resumed raiding at once. For the same reason, the peace treaties signed for New Mexico broke down. By 1823 war raged the entire length of the Rio Grande. Most of the remaining Mexican settlements were destroyed; only those in the upper Rio Grande were secured. Thousands of surviving Mexican refugees fled to this area. The Comanche pushed out or killed most of the Mexican settlers in the region, except the European-American Texans. The Mexican government negotiated additional treaties, signed in 1826 and 1834, but in each case failed to meet the terms of the agreements. Although such events would have proven catastrophic in early years as the Comanche raided towards Mexico City, the presence of American militias obstructed such attacks, thereby encouraging the Mexicans to become dilatory in payments. Because Comanche raiding was based on taking booty and captives, the proximity of American communities' proved more fruitful to Comanche raiding. Although Texan military force was much stronger than previous Mexican colonists, the sheer rapidity of advance and large numbers of the raiders overwhelmed many of these early Texan colonists. For example, in 1826 Comanches raided and burned Green DeWitt's new town of Gonzales to the ground. During the period of 1821 to 1835, colonists had difficulty with Comanche raids, despite the formation of full-time militia ranger companies in 1823. Tonkawa and Lenape tribes, enemies of the Comanche, allied with the new immigrants, trying to gain allies themselves against these traditional enemies. The Comanche detested the Tonkawa, in particular, for allegedly being cannibals. As early as 1823, Austin recognized the need to have specific forces designated to fight the Plains tribes, especially the Comanche. They did not distinguish between Mexicans and Americans in their raids. Austin created the first Rangers by hiring 10 men; they were paid to fight Indians and protect the colonial settlements. Soon the colonists organized additional Ranger companies. After the Republic was created, this trend continued. Without the resources for a standing army, Texas created small Ranger companies mounted on fast horses to pursue and fight Comanches on their own terms. While the Tonkawa often allied with Texans against other tribes like the Comanche, conflicts between Texans and Tonkawa also occurred. Correspondence of Stephen F. Austin to Jose Antonio Saucedo, May 19, 1826, provides explanation for an attack made by Texans of San Felipe, Texas on the Tonkawa that year: "...[the Tonkawa] had stolen from the settlers twenty odd hogs, and a large quantity of corn. A small party of neighbors went to the Indians' villages to arrest the thieves; the Indians presented their arms and refused to give up the guilty persons." Those who had lost the property came to Austin with their complaints and Austin intervened sending for Tonkawa Chief Carita telling him the Tonkawa "must keep out of the settlement [San Felipe de Austin] and deliver up the thieves for punishment by flogging, otherwise they should be shot; after this understanding they [the Tonkawa] withdrew from the settlement. This took place about eighteen months since [i.e. 1824]." Austin goes on to explain that this did not resolve the issue completely and subsequent claims of theft resulted in more conflicts between Austin's colonists and the Tonkawa.
Fort Parker raid
On May 19, 1836, a huge war party of Comanche, Kiowa, Wichita, and Delaware attacked the colonist outpost of Fort Parker. Completed in March 1834, it had been regarded by the colonists as a stronghold, sufficient to protect them from any Native Americans not observing the peace treaties Elder John Parker had negotiated with local Indians. Because these Native Americans were subject nations to the Comanche, the tribe did not feel bound to observe the peace. The killing of colonist militia at Fort Parker also resulted in the Comanche taking two women and three children as captives. The Parkers were well known, and the destruction of most of their clan produced shock throughout Texas.
Survivors, especially James W. Parker, called for vengeance and help to recover the captives. This event took place near the close of the Texas Revolution and Texan victory at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Most Texans were busy trying to return to what was left of their former homes and dealing with their own losses as well as skirmishes with the retreating Mexican Army.
== Republic of Texas: 1836–1845 == The Republic of Texas era with the Indians can be divided into three phases: the diplomacy of President Sam Houston during his first term, the hostility of President Mirabeau B. Lamar, and the resumed diplomatic efforts of Houston's second term. Houston led the republic to negotiate with the Comanche. They said they would stop raiding if they were given sufficient amounts of what they considered prerequisites for peaceful relations: gifts, trade, and regular face-to-face diplomacy. Houston, who enjoyed a good reputation among Indians, had married a mixed-race woman of Cherokee descent. He had lived in Indian Territory for years and learned about their cultures. He was willing to meet with the Comanche on their terms and believed, as a matter of policy, that it was worth it to buy a few thousand dollars' worth of presents. The republic could not support the huge cost of a standing army for defense, and it might not be able to defeat the assembled might of the entire Comanche-Kiowa alliance, especially if they received Mexican help. Texans were disturbed by accounts of the continued captivity of children and women, especially because of the stories by those rescued or ransomed. They made increased demands for the republic to retaliate against the Comanche. Under Lamar, the Republic of Texas waged war on the Comanche, invaded Comancheria, burned villages, attacked and destroyed numerous war bands, but the effort bankrupted the fledgling republic. More importantly, although the Texas forces succeeded in rescuing large numbers of hostages, many remained in captivity. Houston was elected to his second term in large part because of the failure of Lamar's Indian policies.
=== First Houston administration: 1836–1838 === Houston's first presidency was focused on maintaining the Republic of Texas as an independent country. He had no resources to fight a full-scale war against the Plains Indians. Houston had spent much of his childhood with the Cherokee Indians in Tennessee, among them Cherokee Chief Bowles. Bowles later led a group of Cherokee who migrated into Texas, trying to escape from Indian Removal out of the Southeastern United States. Houston supported the "Solemn Declaration", which gave the Cherokee rights to the land in Texas on which they lived. He negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee and other tribes on February 23, 1836, in Chief Bowles' village. It was the first treaty made by the Republic of Texas, signed by allied tribes including Shawnee, Delaware, Kickapoo, Quapaw, Biloxi, Ioni, Alabama, Coushatta, Caddo, Tahocullake, and Mataquo. The areas granted in the treaty included present-day Smith and Cherokee counties and parts of Van Zandt, Rusk and Gregg counties. The treaty stated that these lands could not be sold or leased to anyone who was not a member of the tribe, including Texas citizens. After the signing of this treaty, Houston presented Chief Bowles with a sword, a red silk vest, and a sash. One of Houston's first acts as president of the republic was to send the treaty to be ratified by the Texas Senate. After the treaty stalled in the Senate for a year, lawmakers decided that it would be detrimental to the citizens of Texas, reportedly because settler David G. Burnet had already been granted a tract of land within what were defined as Cherokee treaty lands. The treaty was declared "null and void" on December 26, 1837. Throughout his presidency, Houston tried to restore the provisions of the treaty and asked General Thomas J. Rusk, commander of the Texas militia, to delineate the boundary. He was unsuccessful in this effort, and Houston could take no more action on the matter before his presidency ended. During Houston's presidency, the Texas Rangers fought the Battle of Stone Houses against the Kichai on November 10, 1837; they were outnumbered and defeated.
The Indian problems of the first Houston administration were symbolized by the Córdova Rebellion. Evidence existed that a widespread conspiracy of Cherokee Indians and Mexicans had united to rebel against the new Republic of Texas and rejoin Mexico. Houston did not believe that his friends among the Cherokee were involved and refused to order them arrested. He used them to neutralize the anti-Texans among the group, identifying the Mexican network and having its members killed. The Cordova Rebellion was an example of Houston's ability to quash it without much bloodshed or wide unrest When Houston left office, the Texans were at peace with the Indians, but many captives were still held by the tribe's bands. The Texas Congress passed laws opening up all Indian lands to white settlement and overrode Houston's veto. The settlement frontier quickly moved north along the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe rivers, into Comanche hunting ranges and the borders of Comancheria. As a result the Texan-Comanche relationship turned violent. Houston made efforts to restore peace and the Comanches. Alarmed at the vigor of Texan settlement, he considered a fixed boundary, contrary to their traditional notions about borders. However, Houston was forbidden by Texas law to yield any land claimed by the Republic. He still made peace with the Comanche in 1838.
=== Lamar presidency: 1838–1841 === Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar, second president of the Republic of Texas, was hostile toward the natives. Lamar's cabinet boasted that it would remove Houston's "pet" Indians. In 1839, Lamar announced his policy: "The white man and the red man cannot dwell in harmony together", he said, "Nature forbids it." His answer to the 'Indian Problem' was "to push a rigorous war against them; pursuing them to their hiding places without mitigation or compassion, until they shall be made to feel that flight from our borders without hope of return, is preferable to the scourges of war." Lamar was the first official of Texas to attempt "removal", the deportation of Indian tribes to places beyond the reach of white settlers. As carried out, the policy was based on establishing a permanent Indian frontier, i.e., a line beyond which the various "removed" tribes would be able to carry on their lives free from white settlement or attacks. Lamar became convinced that the Cherokee could not be allowed to stay in Texas after their part in the 1838-39 Córdova Rebellion (and after some disaffected Cherokee carried out the 1838 Killough massacre).
==== Cherokee War ==== The Cherokee War and subsequent removal of the Cherokee from Texas began shortly after Lamar took office. Lamar demanded that the Cherokee, who had been promised title to their land if they remained neutral during the Texas War of Independence, voluntarily relinquish their lands and all their property and move to the Indian Territory of the United States. Houston, who had promised the Cherokee during the Córdova Rebellion that they would be given their promised titles, protested in vain. In May 1839, Lamar's administration learned of a letter in the possession of Manuel Flores, an agent of the Mexican Government, exposing plans by officials to enlist the Indians against the Texas settlers. Supported by popular opinion in the Republic, Lamar decided to expel the Cherokee Indians from East Texas. When they refused, he used force to compel their removal. On July 12, 1839, the militia sent a peace commission to negotiate for the Indians' removal. The Cherokee reluctantly agreed to sign a treaty of removal that guaranteed to them the profit from their crops and the cost of the removal. During the next 48 hours the Cherokee insisted they would leave peacefully but refused to sign the treaty because of a clause in the treaty that would require that they be escorted out of Texas under armed guard. On July 15, 1839, under orders from the militia, the commissioners told the Indians that the Texans would march on their village immediately and that those willing to leave peacefully should fly a white flag. On July 15–16, 1839, a combined militia force under General K. H. Douglass, Ed Burleson, Albert Sidney Johnston and David G. Burnet attacked the Cherokees, Delaware, and Shawnee under Cherokee Chief Bowles at the Battle of the Neches. The Indians attempted to resist at the village, and when that failed they tried to re-form, which also failed. Approximately 100 Indians were killed, including Chief Bowles, to only three militia. When killed, Chief Bowles was carrying the sword given to him by Houston. After the battle, the Cherokee fled to the Choctaw Nation and northern Mexico, meaning East Texas was virtually free of organized communities of Indians, and their lands guaranteed by treaty were given to American settlers.
==== Lamar and the Plains tribes ==== Lamar's success in ethnically cleansing the Cherokee from Texas emboldened him to do the same with the Plains tribes. Lamar needed an army to carry out his Indian policies, and he set out to build one, at great cost. But at independence, the best estimates were that the republic had 30,000 Anglo-Americans and Hispanic residents. The Cherokee had less than 2,000 tribesmen in Texas, so removal of them was not a terrible drain on the republic, especially since the Cherokee War was relatively brief and bloodless for Texas, though certainly not for the Cherokee.
The Comanche and Kiowa however, had in the 1830s a population estimated between 20,000 and 30,000. They were well supplied with high-quality firearms and had a large surplus of horses. In addition, by the 1830s the Comanche had established a large network of Indian allies and a vast trading network. The republic had a militia but no standing army, and its tiny navy had been greatly decreased during Houston's presidency. Lamar had neither the manpower nor the money to pursue his policy after the Cherokee War but was not deterred. Lamar's term was marked by escalating violence between the Comanche and colonists. There were not enough Rangers to battle the Comanche at Palo Duro Canyon, for instance, where they could catch them during winter. At the end of 1839 however, some of the Comanche chiefs of the Penateka band had come to believe that they could not drive the colonists completely from their homes as they had the Apache. Cheyenne and Arapaho attacks along the northern border of Comanche territory coupled with huge losses in the two preceding generations in several smallpox epidemics had the Penateka chiefs convinced a treaty might be in their best interests. Additionally, they now realized the huge importance the captive Texans held by the Comanches had in the Texan imagination. Thus, they reasoned great concessions could be gained from the Texans. Consequently, the Comanche offered to meet with the Texans in an effort to negotiate peace in return for a recognized boundary between the Republic and the Comancheria and the return of the hostages. The most notable Penateka war chief Potsʉnakwahipʉ ("Buffalo Hump") disagreed with this decision and did not trust Lamar or his representatives. None of the other 11 bands of the Comanche were involved in the peace talks. The decision of chiefs from one band of the Comanche to negotiate, as well as the offer of returning of the hostages, appears to have convinced Lamar that the Comanche tribe was ready to surrender the hostages. However, the majority of past negotiations concerning the return of hostages were never honored by the Comanche who obtained concessions but did not return the hostages or dragged out indefinitely the return of them. Secretary of War Albert Sidney Johnston issued instructions which made clear that Lamar expected the Comanche to act in good faith in returning the hostages and to yield to his threats of force. Johnston sent militia to San Antonio with explicit instructions:
Should the Comanche come in without bringing with them the Prisoners, as it is understood they have agreed to do, you will detain them. Some of their number will be dispatched as messengers to the tribe to inform them that those detained, will be held as hostages until the Prisoners are delivered up, then the hostages will be released.
Council House Fight
Thirty-three Penateka chiefs and warriors accompanied by 32 other Comanches arrived in San Antonio on March 19, 1840, to meet with Texas officials. Commissioners of the Texas government demanded the return of all captives held by the Penateka. In addition, Texas officials insisted that the Comanches abandon Central Texas, cease interfering with Texan settlements, cease conspiring with Mexicans, and avoid all white settlements. The prominent Penateka chief and medicine man Mukwooru ("Spirit Talker") was in charge of the delegation. The Comanche chiefs at the meeting had brought along one white captive (Matilda Lockhart), and several Mexican children who had been captured.
The talks were held at the council house, a one-story stone building adjoining the jail on the corner of Main Plaza and Calabosa (Market) Street. During the council, the Comanche warriors sat on the floor, as was their custom, while the Texians sat on chairs on a platform facing them. Lockhart had informed them that she had seen 15 other prisoners at the Comanche's principal camp several days before. She maintained that the Indians had wanted to see how high a price they could get for her and that they then planned to bring in the remaining captives one at a time. The Texians demanded to know where the other captives were. Mukwooru responded that the other prisoners were held by differing bands of Comanche. He assured the Texians that he felt the other captives would be able to be ransomed, but it would be in exchange for a great deal of supplies, including ammunition and blankets. He then finished his speech with the comment, "how do you like that answer?" The Texian militia entered the courtroom and positioned themselves at intervals on the walls. When the Comanches would not, or could not, promise to return all captives immediately, the Texas officials said that chiefs would be held hostage until the white captives were released. The interpreter warned the Texian officials that if he delivered that message, the Comanches would attempt to escape by fighting. He was instructed to relay the warning and left the room as soon as he finished translating. After learning that they were being held hostage, the Comanches attempted to fight their way out of the room using arrows and knives. The Texian soldiers opened fire at point-blank range, killing both Indians and whites. The Comanche women and children waiting outdoors began firing their arrows after hearing the commotion inside. At least one Texian spectator was killed. When a small number of warriors managed to leave the council house, all of the Comanche began to flee. The soldiers who followed again opened fire, killing and wounding both Comanche and Texians. Armed citizens joined the battle, but claiming they could not differentiate between warriors and women and children since all of the Comanche were fighting, they shot at all the Comanche. According to Anderson, such "confusion" between Native American men and women was convenient to the Texians, who used it as an excuse to kill women and children. According to the report by Col. Hugh McLeod, written March 20, 1840, of the 65 members of the Comanches' party, 35 were killed (30 adult males, 3 women, and 2 children), 29 were taken prisoner (27 women and children, and 2 old men), and one departed unobserved (described as a renegade Mexican). Seven Texians died, including a judge, a sheriff, and an army lieutenant, with 10 more wounded.
Great Raid and Battle of Plum Creek
As revenge for the killing of 33 Comanche chiefs at the Council House Fight, all but three of the remaining captives held by the Indians were executed slowly by torture; the three who were spared had been previously adopted into the tribe. Potsʉnakwahipʉ ("Buffalo Hump") wished to exact further revenge and gathered his own warriors and sent messengers to all the bands of the Comanche, all the divisions of the bands, and the Kiowa and Kiowa Apache. Most or all Comanche chiefs joined the raid. Gathering around 500 warriors and another 400 women and boys to provide comfort and do the work, Buffalo Hump took his war party and raided all the way from the Edwards Plateau to the gulf. Burning and looting Victoria and Linnville, then the second biggest port in Texas, the Comanches gathered thousands of horses and mules and a fortune in goods from the Linnville warehouses The population of Linnville prudently fled to the waters of the gulf, where they watched helplessly while the Comanche looted the town and burned it. At Plum Creek near Lockhart, the Rangers and militia caught up to the Comanche. Several hundred militia under Mathew Caldwell and Ed Burleson, plus all Ranger companies and their Tonkawa allies, engaged the war party in a huge running gun battle. The Rangers and militia overran the Comanche guarding their loot and eventually in a running gun-fight recovered several dozen captives held by the Comanche and eventually recovered mules with several hundred thousand dollars in bullion on them. The remainder of the Lamar presidency was spent in daring but exhausting round of raids and rescue attempts, managing to recover several dozen more captives. Buffalo Hump continued his war against the Texans, and Lamar hoped for another pitched battle to use his Rangers and militia to remove the Plains tribes. The Comanche, however, had learned from Plum Creek and had no intention of massing again for the militia to use cannon and massed rifle fire on them. Lamar spent 2.5 million dollars against the Comanche in 1840 – more than the entire revenue of the Republic during Lamar's two-year term.
=== Second Houston presidency: 1841–1844 === When Sam Houston left the presidency of Texas the first time, the population seemed to support Lamar's strong anti-Indian policies. After the Great Raid and hundreds of lesser raids, with the Republic bankrupt and all of the captives either recovered or murdered by the Indians, Texans turned away from continuation of war and toward more diplomatic initiatives by electing Houston to his second presidency. Houston's Indian policy was to disband the vast majority of the regular Army troops but muster four new companies of Rangers to patrol the frontier. Houston ordered the Rangers to protect the Indian lands from encroachment by settlers and illegal traders. Houston wanted to do away with the cycle of rage and revenge that had spiraled out of control under Lamar. Under Houston's policies, Texas Rangers were authorized to punish severely any infractions by the Indians, but they were never to initiate such conflict. When depredations occurred to either side, the troops were ordered to find and punish the actual perpetrators, rather than retaliating against innocent Indians simply because they were Indians. Houston set out to negotiate with the Indians. The Caddos were the first to respond, and in August 1842 a treaty was reached. Houston then expanded it to all tribes except the Comanche, who still wanted permanent war. In March 1843, Houston reached agreement with the Delaware, Wichitas, and other tribes. At that point, Buffalo Hump, who trusted Houston, began to talk. In August 1843, a temporary treaty accord led to a ceasefire between the Comanches and their allies, and the Texians. In October 1843, the Comanches agreed to meet with Houston to try to negotiate a treaty similar to the one at Fort Bird. (That this included Potsʉnakwahipʉ "Buffalo Hump", after the events at the Council House, showed extraordinary Comanche belief in Houston) In early 1844, Buffalo Hump and other Comanche leaders, including Santa Anna and Old Owl, signed a treaty at Tehuacana Creek in which they agreed to surrender white captives in total and to cease raiding Texan settlements. In exchange for this, the Texans would cease military action against the tribe, establish more trading posts, and recognize the boundary between Texas and Comanchería. Comanche allies, including the Waco, Tawakoni, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, and Wichita, also agreed to join in the treaty. By the end of his second term as president, Houston had spent less than $250,000, brought peace to the frontier and a treaty between the Comanches and their allies, and the Republic awaited only the United States legislature's ratification for statehood.
=== Jones presidency: 1845–1846 === The remaining period of the Republic of Texas under President Anson Jones, had the government follow Houston's policies, with the exception that Jones, like most Texas politicians, did not wish to put a boundary on the Comancheria, thus he supported those in the Legislature who derailed that provision of the treaty.
Texas statehood: 1845–1861
After the Texas Senate removed the boundary provision from the final version of the treaty, Buffalo Hump repudiated it and hostilities resumed. On February 28, 1845, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that authorized the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. Texas became a U.S. state on the same day annexation took effect, December 29, 1845. One of the primary motivations for annexation on the Republic of Texas side was that the republic had incurred huge debts which the United States agreed to assume upon annexation. In 1852, in return for this assumption of debt, a large portion of Texas-claimed territory, now parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming, was ceded to the Federal government. The entry of Texas into the United States marked the beginning of the end for the Plains Indians. The United States had the resources and manpower to realistically apply a policy of "removal", and they did so. In May 1846 Buffalo Hump became convinced that even he could not continue to defy the massed might of the United States and the state of Texas, so he led the Comanche delegation to the treaty talks at Council Springs that signed a treaty with the United States. As war chief of the Penatucka Comanches, Buffalo Hump dealt peacefully with American officials throughout the late 1840s and 1850s. He negotiated a non-government peace treaty with John O. Meusebach in 1847. In 1849 he guided John S. Ford's expedition part of the way from San Antonio to El Paso, and in 1856 he led his people to the newly established Comanche reservation on the Brazos River.
=== Antelope Hills expedition: 1858 === The years 1856–58 were particularly vicious and bloody on the Texas frontier as settlers continued to expand their settlements into the Comancheria, and 1858 was marked by the first Texan incursion into the heart of the Comancheria, the so-called Antelope Hills expedition, led Ford and by marked by the Battle of Little Robe Creek. This battle signaled the beginning of the end of the Comanche as a viable people, as they were successfully attacked in force in the heart of their domain. Valuable Indian hunting grounds were plowed under, and grazing range for the Comanche horse herds lost. The Comanche realized their homeland was increasingly encroached on by Texas settlers, and the expedition showed the Comanches off the reservation they could expect no protection on it – and they struck back with a series of ferocious and bloody raids into Texas. By 1858, only five of the twelve Comanche bands still existed, and one, the Penateka, had dwindled to only a few hundred on the reservation. Realizing their way of life was disappearing, the remaining free Comanche struck back with incredible violence. The U.S. Army proved wholly unable to stem the violence. Federal units were being transferred out of the area for reasons that seemed driven more by political than military considerations. At the same time, federal law and numerous treaties forbade incursion by state forces into the federally protected Indian Territories. The U.S. Army was likewise instructed not to attack Indians in the Indian Territories or to permit such attacks. The reasoning behind the order was that many native tribes, such as the Cherokee, were engaged in farming and living as peaceful settlers. Other tribes, such as the Comanche and Kiowa, continued to use that part of the Indian Territories that was the Comancheria to live in while raiding white settlements in Texas.
The relationship between the federal government, Texas and the native tribes was further complicated by a unique legal issue which arose as a result of Texas' annexation. The federal government is charged by the U.S. Constitution to be in charge of Indian affairs and took over that role in Texas after it became a state in 1846. But under the terms of Texas' accession to the Union, the new state retained control of its public lands. In all other new states, the federal government controlled both public lands and Indian affairs and so could make treaties guaranteeing reservations for various groups. In Texas, however, the federal government could not do this. Texas adamantly refused to contribute public land for Indian reservations within the boundaries of Texas, meanwhile expecting the federal government to be responsible for the cost and details of Indian affairs. Since federal Indian agents in Texas knew that Indian land rights were the key to peace on the frontier, no peace could be possible with the uncooperative attitude of Texas officials on the question of Indian homelands.
==== Aftermath ==== The Battle of Little Robe Creek epitomized Texas Indian fighting in its attitude towards women and children casualties. Ford, accused of killing women and children in every battle he fought against the Plains Indians, shrugged it off by stating it was hard to distinguish "warriors from squaws"—but morbid jokes of Ford's made clear he did not care about the age or sex of his victims. Ford considered the deaths of settlers, including women and children, during Indian raids, to open the door to make all Indians, regardless of age or sex, combatants. The Tonkawa warriors with the Rangers celebrated the victory by decorating their horses with the bloody hands and feet of their Comanche victims as trophies. "The Rangers noted most of their dead foes were missing various body parts, and the Tonkawa had bloody containers, portending a dreadful victory feast that evening.". "The coat of mail worn by old Iron Jacket covered his dead body "like shingles on a roof". The Rangers cut up the mail and divided the pieces as trophies. The attacks in the Antelope Hills showed that the Comanche no longer were able to assure the safety of their villages in the heart of the Comancheria Other Indians never forgot the Tonkawa's allying with Texan colonists. Despite pleas from the aging Placido to protect his people from their enemies, the Tonkawa were moved from their reservation on the Brazos, and put on a reservation in Oklahoma with the Delaware, Shawnee and Caddo tribes. In 1862, warriors from these tribes united to attack the Tonkawas. 133 out of the remaining 309 Tonkawas were killed in the massacre. Included in the dead was the elderly Placido. Today less than 15 families of Tonkawa remain on their reservation in Oklahoma.
==== Attack on Buffalo Hump's camp ==== On October 1, 1858, while camped in the Wichita Mountains with the Kotsoteka band under Quohohateme, the Yambarika band under Hotoyokowat, and probably the Nokoni band under Quenaevah, the remains of the once mighty Penateka Band, under Buffalo Hump, were attacked by United States troops under the command of Maj. Earl Van Dorn. Allegedly not aware that Buffalo Hump's band had recently signed a formal peace treaty with the United States, Van Dorn and his men killed eighty of the Comanches. This attack on a peaceful camp, housing Indians who had signed a peace treaty with the United States, was, nonetheless, reported by Van Dorn as a "battle" with the Comanche, and to this day is chronicled by some historians as the "Battle of Wichita Mountains". Nonetheless, an aged and weary Buffalo Hump led and settled his remaining followers on the Kiowa-Comanche reservation near Fort Cobb in Indian Territory in Oklahoma. There, in spite of his reported enormous sadness at the end of the Comanches' traditional way of life, he asked for a house and farmland so that he could set an example for his people. Attempting to live out his life as a rancher and farmer, he died in 1870.
=== Murder of Robert Neighbors: 1859 === During this period, when settlers began to actually attack the Indians on the reservations established in Texas, federal Indian agent Robert Neighbors became hated among white Texans. Neighbors alleged that the United States Army officers located at the posts of Fort Belknap and Camp Cooper, near the reservations, failed to give adequate support to his resident agents and him, and adequate protection to the Indians. In spite of continuous threats of various people to take his life, Neighbors never faltered in his determination to do his duty, and carry out the law to protect the Indians. With the aid of federal troops, whom he finally shamed and politically forced to assist him, he managed to hold back the white people from the reservations. Convinced, however, that the Indians would never be safe in Texas, he determined to move them to safety in the Indian territories. In August 1859, he succeeded in moving the Indians without loss of life to a new reservation in Indian Territory. Forced to return to Texas on business, he stopped at the village near Fort Belknap. On September 14, 1859, while he was speaking with one settler, a man named Edward Cornett shot him in the back and killed him. Historians believe his assassination was a direct result of his actions protecting the Comanche. Neighbors probably did not even know his assassin. He was buried in the civilian cemetery at Fort Belknap.
Battle of Pease River: 1860
There are two distinctly different stories about what happened on Mule Creek on December 18, 1860, near Margaret, Texas, in Foard County. The official version is that Sul Ross and his forces managed to catch the Quahadi Band of the Comanche by surprise and wiped them out, including their leader Peta Nocona. According to the son of Peta Nocona, Quanah Parker, his father was not present that day, and the Comanches killed were virtually all women and children in a buffalo hide drying and meat curing camp. In any event, all parties agree that at sunrise on December 18, 1860, Rangers and militia under Sul Ross found and surprised a group of Comanche camped on Mule Creek, a tributary of the Pease River. Almost all (including a gallant warrior Nobah, who died trying to protect his chief's wife and daughter) were killed except one woman, who, being recognized as a white woman, was allowed to live. She was later discovered to be Cynthia Ann Parker. The only other known survivors were a 10-year-old boy saved by Sul Ross and Cynthia Parker's infant daughter, "Prairie Flower". Cynthia Ann Parker was returned to her white family, who watched her very closely to prevent her from returning to her husband and children. After her daughter died from influenza, she starved herself to death when her guardians would not allow her to return to the Comanche to attempt to find her lost sons.
