Captured by the Comanches!

You can take a romantic view of the Comanche Indians of Texas. Lucia St Clair Robson did in her fascinating novel Ride the Wind, a story of the captive Cynthia Ann Parker. Empire of the Summer Moon (S. C. Gwynne) carries romanticism to an extreme. Comanches were feared in Texas for good reason. They were vicious. Early settlers in Texas thought the Apaches were evil. Apaches couldn’t stand up to Comanches.

Comanches were mobile; Indians on horseback. Women riding horses leads to low birth rates. Comanches captured children from Mexico and Texas and made Indians out of them. It’s that simple.

Early Texas settlers lived on the coastal prairies with good soils and abundant water. The Comanches roamed the arid high plains. Their horses didn’t go easily through the East Texas Forests. Comanches ventured into the east for captives, replacement children. Texas settlers made every effort to recover their captured youngsters. Sometimes they were successful and got their children back. A few months with Comanches had changed most of them forever.

After living as replacement children among the Comanches, the children had forgotten English; they spoke the Comanche tongue and never forgot it. Some failed to adapt to civilization; others adapted poorly. The former captives seldom settled in one place; they moved all their lives. They lived on the fringes of Texas society. Their marriages didn’t last. Remnants of the Comanche culture ruled their lives.

Reading stories of Comanche raids should put to rest any romantic notions about them. There are plenty of those stories.

Dac Crossley
January 28, 2020. Happy birthday, Angie!

“The reverse of truth has a thousand shapes and a boundless field.” – Michel de Montaigne.

Comments

[Sam James]

I think there was a novel called The Son, about a kid captured by the Comanches. I enjoyed it very much.

[John R Lindermuth]

Have you read Scott Zesch's book The Captured? Gripping account of his 3rd great-uncle's experience as a Comanche captive.

[Caroline Clemmons]

I've had a brain freeze and can't remember the last name of the man captured with his brother and girl cousin in Parker County TX. They were recovered 18 months later. The man's brother moved away, but he stayed in Parker County and married an Indian woman (not a Comanche).They lived there until their deaths.