Jose Piedad Tafoya (1834 - ca. 1913), sometimes called the Prince of the Comancheros, was one of the more notable traders from
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
who traveled throughout the Southern
Great Plains exchanging goods with the
Comanches and their allies the
Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
for stolen horses, cattle, and sometimes human captives.
According to legend, he was seven feet tall.
He was born in
La Cuesta, New Mexico in 1834 and first visited the Great Plains as early as 1859.
In the 1850s, he operated a sheep ranch in
San Miguel County, New Mexico
San Miguel County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,393. Its county seat is Las Vegas.
San Miguel County comprises the Las Vegas Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in ...
.
His first wife was Maria de Jesus Perez. They married April 20, 1863 in
Anton Chico, New Mexico
Anton Chico, or Anton Chico Abajo or Anton Chico de Abajo, is a census-designated place in Guadalupe County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 188 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, of which 167 were Hispanic in origin. A ...
.
In the 1860s, he operated a trading post near what is now
Quitaque, Texas
Quitaque ( ) is a city in southeastern Briscoe County, Texas, United States. The town lies directly south of Capcrock Canyon State Park and is a ranching and farming area in West Texas. The population was 411 at the 2010 census.
According to t ...
.
In the 1870s, he began sheep herding in Texas.
He also at times acted as a scout for the US Army, possibly unwillingly. According to some sources, he was instrumental in the defeat of the Comanches at the
Battle of Palo Duro Canyon
The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon was a military confrontation and a significant United States victory during the Red River War. The battle occurred on September 28, 1874, when several U.S. Army regiments under Ranald S. Mackenzie attacked a large ...
. He allegedly revealed the location of Comanche camps to Colonel
Ranald S. Mackenzie after being forced to do so either at the end of a rope or after being tied to a wagon wheel.
Some believe that this story is mythical.
Mackenzie credited another
Comanchero
The Comancheros were a group of 18th- and 19th-century traders based in northern and central New Mexico. They made their living by trading with the nomadic Great Plains Indian tribes in northeastern New Mexico, West Texas, and other parts of the ...
scout named Johnson for finding the camps.
Tafoya also participated in the ill-fated
Buffalo Soldier tragedy of 1877.
In 1879, he accompanied Lt.
John L. Bullis on an expedition into southern New Mexico in pursuit of a band of marauding
Lipan and
Mescalero Apache
Mescalero or Mescalero Apache ( apm, Naa'dahéńdé) is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-c ...
s.
By the 1880s, he had left Texas and was once again ranching sheep in New Mexico.
He appeared in the U.S. Court of Claims in 1893 along with three other former Comancheros, where they admitted to having purchased cattle marked with brands belonging to
Charles Goodnight and others.
He had at least four children and probably died about 1913, when his will was filed, bequeathing his house to his second wife, Teresa Baca de Tafoya.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tafoya, Jose
1834 births
1913 deaths
19th-century American businesspeople