![]() The rivers that cut through the escarpment were highways for raiding and war, but also for trade. South of the escarpment was the coastal plain that held Anglo-Hispanic settlements like San Antonio. The escarpment is a fault line that features a rise of tree-covered limestone hills that are pierced by the Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe Rivers Called the Comancheria, its borders were imprecise, but very real, about 250,000 square miles of plains that stretched from the Arkansas River in the north to the Balcones Escarpment in the south. In the first quarter of the 19th century the Comanche had carved out a huge territory that might well be described as an empire. A chief might be respected and followed in battle, but there was no obligation to listen to what he had to say-or follow his orders. The settlers never seemed to grasp that a chief did not have absolute power over his people. There were five major bands the group closest to white settlements were the Penateka (“Honey Eaters”). The Comanche shared a common language and culture, but were otherwise completely autonomous. Part of the unfolding tragedy stemmed from the vast, and ultimately irreconcilable, differences in values, assumptions, and cultural norms. Survivors went north to what is now Oklahoma.īut Texans would soon find the Comanche were a people every bit as determined, warlike, and ruthless as themselves. Other tribes also felt Texan persecution, including the Delaware, Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Creeks. Corn fields were torched and villages destroyed. The Cherokee were his first targets in the summer of 1839 a village was attacked and many Indians, including Houston’s friend Chief Bowles, were killed. Lamar’s policy was ethnic cleansing, where native peoples had two choices: expulsion or extermination. Gone were the diplomatic niceties, the high flown rhetoric of brotherhood and assimilation. Lamar was the brutal, uncompromising face of westward expansion. The Texans refused to discuss the matter. In 1838, Comanche chiefs Eswacany and Essomanny meet with Texas officials in San Antonio to negotiate the establishment of territorial boundary lines. But Lamar, like his namesake Napoleon, dreamed of empire-only his version was an all-white empire devoid of native peoples. His predecessor, Sam Houston, genuinely appreciated Indians and sought peace with them. This was not a request, but a demand, and part of the hardline policy promoted by Texas President Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar. One of the main issues in this conference was the return of white captives taken in various raids. The Comanche were arguably the most powerful tribe in Texas, with a well-deserved reputation for striking without warning in brutal, bloodthirsty raids that had set the frontier aflame well before the coming of the Anglo Texans. Once inside, they sat on the hard packed earthen floor-most natives did not like chairs-while the Texas peace commissioners sat on a raised platform facing them.Ī large crowd of San Antonio citizens had gathered outside, perhaps a bit apprehensive but still curious about the new visitors. The chiefs dismounted, and were directed to enter the Council House. The meeting would be held in the Council House, a one story, flat roofed, limestone building that, along with the adjoining jail, was located at the Main Plaza and Calabozo streets. Faces were daubed in paint, colorful red vermillion stripes alternating with darker shades. Some chiefs had ornate headdresses of splayed eagle feathers, while others wore buckskin shirts decorated with long ribbons acquired from trade with the whites. Mounted on wiry Indian ponies, they were dressed in their finest, another signal that their intentions were not hostile. The chiefs were especially splendid, looking every bit like the “Lords of the Plains” they would later be called. ![]() These were clear signals of the Comanche’s peaceful intentions-women and children would not accompany a war party and furs and horseflesh were common items of trade. ![]() The Penateka Comanche mission also included 32 women, children, and old men, a large collection of furs, and a small herd of horses. It was a large delegation, headed by 12 chiefs, along with 35 warriors. The date was March 19, 1840-dia de San Jose, or “Saint Joseph’s day” in a city that was still largely Hispanic in custom as well as outward appearance. It was a colorful spectacle few citizens in San Antonio, Texas, had ever expected to see: a large delegation of Comanches coming in to discuss terms of a possible peace treaty.
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