Tosahwi (c. 1805/10 – c.1878/80), meaning White Knife, was a Penateka
Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...
chief. He was deemed "cooperative" by
William Babcock Hazen
William Babcock Hazen (September 27, 1830 – January 16, 1887) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Indian Wars, as a Union general in the American Civil War, and as Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. His most famous ser ...
.
Young man: warrior and war chief
In January 1846, along with
Amorous Man
The Amorous Man ( Comanche, Pahayoko, "aunt copulate") (c. late 1780s – p. 1852) was a civil chief of the Penateka band of the Comanche Indians.
Early life
Nothing is known of his youth or early years. Older than these war chiefs, Amorou ...
,
Old Owl
Old Owl ( Comanche, ''Mupitsukupʉ'') (c. late 1780s – 1849) was a Native American Civil Chief of the Penateka band of the Comanche Indians.
Early life
Nothing is known of his youth or early years. Older than the two war chiefs, Old Owl was ...
,
Buffalo Hump
Buffalo Hump (Comanche ''Potsʉnakwahipʉ'' "Buffalo Bull's Back") (born c. 1800 — died post 1861 / ante 1867) was a War Chief of the Penateka band of the Comanche Indians. He came to prominence after the Council House Fight when he led the C ...
,
Yellow Wolf,
Santa Anna Santa Anna may refer to:
* Santa Anna, Texas, a town in Coleman County in Central Texas, United States
* Santa Anna, Starr County, Texas
* Santa Anna Township, DeWitt County, Illinois, one of townships in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. ...
, Ketumse, and
Asa-havey ("Milky Way"), he signed the
Treaty of Tehuacana Creek
The Treaty of Tehuacana Creek (or the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Commerce) was signed at Tehuacana Creek on October 9, 1844 between representatives from the Republic of Texas and various Native American tribes. The tribes involved in the sig ...
. After 1849, with the death of Old Owl and Santa Anna, the departure of Pah-hayoco (now settled, during his last years, as resident guest among the Kotsoteka band), and Buffalo Hump's becoming first chief and Yellow Wolf's becoming second chief of the Penateka Comanches until his own death in 1854, Tosahwi became one among the most important chiefs of the Penateka band, second to Ketumse in the reservation.
Councils and treaties
In 1861, along with the Yamparika head chief
Ten Bears
Ten Bears ( Comanche ''Pawʉʉrasʉmʉnurʉ''Anglicized as Parua-wasamen and Parry-wah-say-mer in treaties and older documents.) (ca. 1790-November 23, 1872) was the principal chief of the Yamparika or "Root Eater" division of the Comanche from c ...
, the Nokoni chief
Horseback
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...
and his Penateka comrade Asa-havey, Tosahwi went to Fort Cobb where they met General Albert Pike (C.S.A.), and the Comanche chiefs (including the Nokoni head chief Quenah-evah, called "Eagle Drink" by the white people, and the Kotsoteka chief
Mow-way
Mow-way (ca. 1825–1886) (usually referred by European settlers as ''Shaking Hand'' or ''Hand Shaker''), was the principal leader and war chief of the Kotsoteka band of the Comanche during the 1860s and 1870s, following the deaths of Kuhtsu-tie ...
) signed for an allegiance with the Confederation. As a leader of the Penateka band, Tosahwi engaged in many raids in the American Southwest in the 1860s, but in 1867–1868 he was the first Comanche leader to surrender to the military at Fort Cobb in the Indian Territory, and, on this occasion, he is reported to have had an alleged exchange with
Philip Sheridan
General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close a ...
where Sheridan purportedly stated "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead", which was sometimes rephrased as "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." Sheridan denied ever making either statement.
He signed as head chief of the Penateka the Medicine Lodge Treaty, and accepted to sit in a reservation, under the control of Fort Cobb, having the Comanche Agency in the Eureka Valley. He managed to keep out the Penateka, preventing their involvement in the
Red River War
The Red River War was a military campaign launched by the United States Army in 1874 to displace the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Native American tribes from the Southern Plains, and forcibly relocate the tribes to reservati ...
in 1873–1874.
Sources
* Wallace, Ernest & Hoebel, E. Adamson. ''The Comanche: Lords of the Southern Plains'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1952
* Nye, Wilbur Sturtevant. ''Carbine and Lance: The Story of Old Fort Sill'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1983
* Leckie, William H. ''The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1967
* Fowler, Arlen L. ''The Black Infantry in the West, 1869-1891'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1996
* Brown, Dee. ''Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West'', Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1970
References
{{Reflist
Comanche people
Native American leaders
Native American people of the Indian Wars
Texas–Indian Wars
Native American history of Texas
1800s births
1870s deaths