The Comanche–Mexico Wars was the Mexican
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
of the
Comanche Wars
The Comanche Wars were a series of armed conflicts fought between Comanche peoples and Kingdom of Spain, Spanish, Mexico, Mexican, and United States, American militaries and civilians in the United States and Mexico from as early as 1706 until at ...
, a series of conflicts from 1821 to 1870. The
Comanche
The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...
and their
Kiowa
Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, 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 Colora ...
and
Kiowa Apache allies carried out large-scale raids hundreds of miles deep into
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The raids were stimulated by the desire of Comanches to accumulate wealth through plunder, principally horses, mules, and Mexican captives for ransom or slaves who became integrated into the tribe. The raids escalated proportionally to Mexico's inability to defend its citizens during the turbulent years after it gained independence in 1821 and a large and growing market in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
for stolen Mexican horses and cattle.
The Comanche launched their raids from Texas, usually in autumn. In Texas, a full moon in September was known as a "Comanche Moon" as the mounted Comanche raiders rode south to Mexico at night by the light of the moon. Comanche raids usually consisted of 200 to 800 warriors. The raiders penetrated into Mexico south of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
. Forty-four raids are recorded from 1831 to 1848. During that period, the Comanche killed more than 2,600 Mexicans, captured more than 800 people, and stole more than 100,000 head of livestock. The Mexican defenders killed more than 700 Comanches.
When the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
invaded northern Mexico in 1846 during the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
, the region was devastated. After the mid-1850s Comanche raids into Mexico declined in size and intensity. Comanche power diminished due to a cholera epidemic in 1849, encroachment on their lands in Texas by white settlers, the near-extinction of the
bison
A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American ...
which was their principal source of food, and the
U.S. Army's campaigns against them. The last known Comanche raid into Mexico was in 1870. In 1875, the U.S. army defeated the Comanches and forced them to live on a
reservation in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
.
Background
In the words of U.S. Army General
James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson (March 24, 1757 – December 28, 1825) was an American army officer and politician who was associated with multiple scandals and controversies during his life, including the Burr conspiracy.
He served in the Continental Army du ...
, the Comanche were "the most powerful nation of savages on this continent." That power would be amply demonstrated as the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and the newly independent country of
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
contested ownership of
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
and much of the area now known as the southwestern U.S. The Comanche considered themselves owners of a block of land that stretched from the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...
in Colorado to near the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
in Texas. In the early nineteenth century, perhaps 20,000 Comanche shared this land, called
Comancheria, with 2,000
Kiowa
Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, 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 Colora ...
and 300
Plains Apache
The Plains Apache are a small Southern Athabaskan tribe who live on the Southern Plains of North America, in close association with the linguistically unrelated Kiowa Tribe. Today, they are headquartered in Southwestern Oklahoma and are federally ...
(Kiowa Apache). They sometimes granted hunting rights to other tribes, such as the
Wichita.
The Comanche came to the attention of the
Spanish in the province
Santa Fe de Nuevo México
Santa Fe de Nuevo México (; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The first capital was San Juan d ...
(
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
) in 1706. Conflicts led to punitive expedition by
Juan Bautista de Anza in 1779, resulting a battle in eastern Colorado in which the Comanche leader Greenhorn was killed.
Peace treaties were concluded with their eastern bands by
Pedro Vial and
Francisco Xavier Chaves in 1785 and their western bands in 1786. The Spanish welcomed the Comanche as an ally against the
Apache
The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...
, forgave their transgressions, traded manufactured items and corn to them for horses, captives, and
buffalo meat, and showered them with gifts. The mutually beneficial relationship between Spaniards and Comanches began to come apart in 1821 when Mexico won its independence from Spain. The new country had no resources to continue paying tribute to the Comanche and was embroiled in domestic political disputes rather than paying attention to troubles on its northern frontier.

The Comanche, for their part, in the 1820s and 1830s were under intense pressure from competitors. The
Osage were formidable enemies. The expulsion by the U.S. and the migration west to Oklahoma by the
Five civilized tribes, the
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
, and the
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
brought them into competition with the Comanche on the
Great Plains
The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...
. The Comanche lost several battles with the Osage and the eastern Indian tribes who were generally better armed.
Anglo-Americans arrived on the heels of the eastern Indians. Traders journeyed in increasing numbers along the
Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...
across the northern border of Comancheria and Anglo hunters depleted the buffalo herds in that vicinity. Northern
Plains Indians
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North ...
such as the
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...
and
Arapaho
The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...
pressed south, drawn by
Bent's Fort and the herds of feral horses on the southern
Great Plains
The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...
. They were equal to the Comanche in their skills as mounted warriors. Comanche numbers were also declining from epidemics of European diseases. Comanche interests dictated peace with the Mexicans so threats from other Indians and Anglo-Americans could be addressed. On several occasions in the 1820s the Comanche attempted to obtain Mexican military assistance to repel the Indian invaders of their land, but their requests were denied. As they had often aided the Mexicans in the past to fight their mutual enemies, the Apache, the Mexican government's denial undermined the Comanches' commitment to peace with Mexico. However, as an inducement to peaceful relations, Mexican provincial governments made haste to strengthen trade ties with the Comanche in the early 1830s.
An important factor encouraging Comanche raids of Mexican ranches was the huge demand for horses and mules by the Anglo-Americans now flooding into lands west of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. The Comanches could meet that demand by breeding and selling horses from their herds, capturing and training wild horses from the herds in Comancheria, or raiding Mexican ranches and taking horses. The last was often the preferred option of ambitious young men striving to become rich in a pastoral society. Comanche raids for horses in Texas and along the Rio Grande in Mexico increased in 1831 and afterwards. A young, poor Comanche man could better his circumstances—albeit at risk to his life—by raiding for horses and human captives. The wealth he obtained would enable him to buy a Comanche wife—or he might find a first, second, or third wife among the captives.
The Mexican government accused the U.S. and independent Texas of encouraging Comanche raids, especially by trading guns to the Comanche in exchange for horses. In 1826, a Mexican official appealed to the U.S. to stop the "traders in blood who put instruments of death in the hands of those barbarians." In 1835, the state of Chihuahua, ravaged by Apache as well as Comanche raids, offered a bounty of 100 pesos (about U.S.$100) for each scalp of a hostile Indian man and lesser amounts for women and children. Anglo American and Indian, primarily
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
and
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
, scalp hunters killed many Apache and peaceful Indians for the bounty over the next few years, but apparently had little success in hunting down and killing Comanches.
Comanche diplomacy
The Comanche resolved most of the challenges facing them in the 1830s with adroit diplomacy. Their strategy was flexible. With New Mexico, a Mexican province to their west, they enjoyed friendly trading relations. New Mexico was more of an asset than a threat to the Comanches and the New Mexicans avoided war with the Indians. In 1841 Governor
Manuel Armijo was ordered by the Mexican central government to join a military campaign against the Comanche, but Armijo declined. "To declare war on the Comanches would bring complete ruin to the Department of New Mexico." In 1844, New Mexican officials learned of but did nothing to prevent a Comanche raid on Chihuahua.
With their western flank secured by an unthreatening New Mexico, the Comanche dealt with rivals on their northern and eastern borders. In 1835, they met with a delegation of U.S. soldiers and eastern Indians in the
Wichita Mountains
The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the principal relief system in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, being the result of a failed continental rift. The mountains are a northwest-south ...
of Oklahoma and concluded a peace agreement. The agreement permitted eastern Indians and Anglo-Americans to hunt on Comanche lands and did not restrain the Comanche and their Kiowa and Wichita allies from making war on Mexico. With their eastern flank secured by the treaty with the U.S., the Comanches next concluded a peace agreement in 1840 with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho pressing on them from the north. It was highly favorable to the Cheyenne and Arapaho. They were permitted to reside and hunt on the buffalo and horse-rich Comanche lands and, in addition, the affluent Comanches gave them gifts, including as many as six horses to every Cheyenne and Arapaho man. The Comanche welcome to the southern bands of these two tribes, numbering more than 2,500,
was both an acknowledgment that they were formidable rivals and also that the Comanche were short on men and resources to maintain their control over Comancheria.
South and southeast of Comancheria were the fast-growing Anglo-American communities in the Mexican territory of Texas. In the 1820s and 1830s most Comanche raids were in the southern parts of Texas and affected the largely Hispanic population around
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
,
Laredo and
Goliad. After the
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the Centralist Republic of Mexico, centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of ...
asserting independence from Mexico in 1836, the Comanche had to deal with the new Republic of Texas. Texas's first President,
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...
, was knowledgeable about Indians and favored a policy of accommodation with the Comanche.
Continued Comanche raids led to the election in 1838 of
Mirabeau B. Lamar who favored a more aggressive approach. The
massacre of 35 Comanche chiefs attending a peace conference in San Antonio in March 1840 set off a series of bloody reprisals and battles. Hundreds of Comanches descended upon and destroyed the towns of
Victoria and
Linnville in 1840 (see
Great Raid of 1840). Although the Texans demonstrated they could punish the Comanche (See
Battle of Plum Creek) military campaigns emptied their treasury and Texas became more accommodating. (See
Texas-Indian Wars) In 1844, the Texans and the Comanches came to an agreement which recognized Comanche lands and left Comancheria intact.
What the agreements with the United States and neighboring tribes and a hiatus in the struggle with Texas accomplished was to free up the Comanche to make unrestrained war on the Mexican provinces south of the Rio Grande. As the 1830s demonstrated, the Texans, the United States, and neighboring tribes all had the ability to invade Comancheria and attack the Comanche homeland. Mexico, by contrast, was rich in horses and unable to counterattack due to distance and the fact that, after 1836, any Mexican military offensive against
the Comanches would have to enter Texas and Mexico had a hostile relationship with its former colony. In attacking Mexico, the Comanche were motivated by opportunity and economics. The Comanches found it profitable to establish trade relationships with the United States and the Mexican state of New Mexico. They needed guns and other goods from the Americans and New Mexicans and in Mexico they captured livestock and people to trade. At the same time the bison population was decreasing due to over-hunting by both Indians and whites, and in times of scarcity the Comanche ate some of the horses in their vast herds.
Taos, New Mexico was one trading center.
Bent's Fort in Colorado was another. The Bents' bought captives to use as herders and laborers and they bought horses and mules from the Comanche for six dollars a head—and marketed them in Missouri for 60 dollars a head.
Comanche raids

Comanche raids before 1840 had generally penetrated only a short distance south of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
and had usually resulted in only a few deaths and the theft of a few thousand livestock. The threat, however, from the Comanche was serious enough in 1826 in northern
Nuevo León
Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...
, that the Governor issued orders that no one should venture out of villages into the countryside except in groups of at least thirty armed men.
In the 1840s, Comanche raids became larger, more deadly, and penetrated deeply into Mexico. In September 1840 and continuing until March 1841 came the first of the great raids. During this period six Comanche armies each numbering between two hundred and eight hundred warriors invaded northern Mexico. The most far reaching of these raids reached the region of
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí.
It ...
and
Zacatecas
Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...
400 miles south of the
Big Bend, their most common crossing point into Mexico. 472
Mexicans
Mexicans () are the citizens and nationals of the Mexico, United Mexican States. The Mexican people have varied origins with the most spoken language being Spanish language, Spanish, but many also speak languages from 68 different Languages o ...
were reported killed and more than 100 captives were taken from these six raids. Many others were left homeless, their livelihoods destroyed, their livestock stolen or killed. So much wealth did the Comanches obtain that the number of raids dropped off slightly for the next three years, but resumed even more intensely between 1844 and 1848—after the Comanches had made peace with Texas.
The Comanche conducted their raids in Mexico with no risk of retaliation by Mexico in their home territory north of the Rio Grande in Texas. Moreover, the Federal government of Mexico, embroiled in political disputes, gave little assistance to its northern states and their citizens to fend off the Comanche. Poorly-armed militia, organized by state and local governments and large ranchers, and hired scalp-hunters—often Anglo-Americans or other Indians—opposed the Comanche raids. Durango in 1847 adopted a bounty system, paying 50 pesos for the head of a hostile Indian. In 1849, the bounty was raised to 200 pesos per head, more than a laborer could make in wages in a full year.
A careful, but incomplete tally, of the Mexican victims of Comanche raids shows that between 1831 and 1848 a total of 44 raids of more than 100 men each were sent into Mexico. The victims of these raids amounted to 2,649 dead and 852 captives, of whom 580 were redeemed. The number of livestock stolen surely amounted to more than 100,000. What livestock the Comanche could not steal, they killed. The Comanche, on their part, suffered heavy casualties because they often seemed to seek out a fight rather than just raiding. 702 Comanche dead are known and 32 were taken prisoner. Comanches would also suffer from diseases brought back by Mexican captives. The bloodiest raiding year was July 1845 – June 1846 when 652 Mexicans and 48 Comanches were recorded as killed. The Comanches had turned northern Mexico into a "semicolonized landscape of extraction from which they could mine resources with little cost."
The Comanche have often been portrayed by historians in the U.S. as a simple and crude tribe lacking any coherent political organization or authority. Their success in creating an empire of the Plains, sophisticated diplomacy, and highly organized raids on Mexico contradicts that opinion. The numerous small Comanche bands came together in summer, usually on the
Red River or one of its tributaries in Texas or
Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
to formulate plans and organize groups of raiders. Comanches came all the way from the Arkansas River in Colorado to join the raids. Among the raiders were Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, and other Indians plus a few Mexicans and Anglos.
In fall, small groups of Comanche rendezvoused at
Big Spring and headed south along well-known trails, riding at night during the full moon. A full moon in the fall was called a "Comanche Moon" by Texans. They crossed the Rio Grande either east or west of the
Big Bend and met up and united in the
Bolson de Mapimi, a large empty desert and range region. The Bolson offered good grazing, abundant springs, and mild winter temperatures. Many Comanche men brought their families south with them and resided for a winter there in the safety of its vastness.
From the Bolson, the Comanche branched out in all directions in small and large groups, expanding their range to raid into tropical Mexico as far south as
Jalisco
Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
and
Querétaro
Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...
. Each warrior took three or four horses with him, saving his favorite for battle. Women and children commonly traveled with the men and were prepared to defend themselves if necessary. A weakness of the Comanche was their determination to recover the bodies of their fallen warriors. They took extreme risks and suffered additional casualties as a result. Moreover, they often seemed careless and were sometimes caught unawares by large contingents of Mexican soldiers.
At the end of their yearly raids, usually in the late winter or spring, the Comanche drove their captured livestock back to Texas. They sold or traded the horses and mules at several American trading posts as far north as Bent's Fort in Colorado. They needed the captives, mostly women and children, as laborers. The boys were put to work taking care of their horse herds. The girls assisted in household chores, including preparing buffalo skins for sale as robes. The boys often grew up to be Comanche warriors and the girls often became one of several wives of Comanche men. A few of the captives were ransomed. The treatment of slaves was sometimes brutal, but the Comanches integrated thousands of Mexicans, Anglos, and members of other Indian tribes into their society. They needed the workers as their population was decimated every few years by epidemics of smallpox and other diseases of European origin. Many of the slaves and other people adopted into the tribe became culturally Comanche, albeit with a social stigma due to not being born as Comanche.
Mexican defenses
The disarray in Mexico for the decades following its independence in 1821 precluded much assistance from the Mexican central government to its embattled northland. The old system of
presidios (military bases) staffed by soldiers and scattered around the frontier deteriorated and most defense relied on locally recruited and equipped militia. The militias were poorly-armed and equipped. The Comanche were better armed with newer firearms purchased from American traders with stolen Mexican livestock. In the state of
Nuevo Leon militia forces to combat the Indians totaled more than 1,000 men. In 1852, an even larger force of 2,000 cavalry was assembled in Nuevo Leon and confronted the Comanche in ten engagements which, while not very successful in killing or capturing Comanche, disrupted the raiders. Periodic epidemics of smallpox and cholera which killed many Comanche also thinned the numbers of the Mexican defenders.
In 1848, the government of Mexico turned its attention to the Indian raids, allocated more money, and stationed more soldiers in the impacted northern states. To bolster defenses, Mexico granted land to bands of North American Indian tribes such as the
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
(originally from Florida) and
Kickapoo (originally from the
Great Lakes region
The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...
of the United States), plus "free Negroes" (
African-Americans
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
) who were runaway slaves living among the Seminoles. In 1850, more than 700 of the Seminole, Kickapoo, and African-Americans agreed to assist in the defense against Comanche raiders in exchange for land to settle in the Mexican state of
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...
. The Kickapoo launched a few raids into Texas, part of the United States since 1845, to steal livestock. The Kickapoo used Mexico as a sanctuary without risk of American retaliation, just as the Comanche used Texas as a sanctuary free from the risk of Mexican retaliation.
Other Indian peoples aiding in the Mexican defense against the Comanche were transplanted
Tlaxcalans, who had allied with the
Spanish to defeat the
Aztecs
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...
and had long been allies of the Spanish in settling frontier regions, the Alazapa,
Tarascans, and
Otomis.
Impact on Mexico
In 1841, a Mexican soldier, veteran of wars with the Comanche, stated to
Fanny Calderón de la Barca "his firm conviction we should see
he Comancheon the streets of Mexico
ityone of these days." The Legislature of Chihuahua described the situation it faced in 1846. "We travel the roads…at their
.e., the Comanches and Apacheswhim; we cultivate the land where they wish and in the amount they wish; we use sparingly things they have left to us until the moment that it strikes their appetite to take them for themselves." In 1847, 200 Comanches were bold enough to parade through the city of Durango and depart unchallenged.
Also, in 1847, traveler
Josiah Gregg said that "the whole country from New Mexico to the borders of Durango is almost entirely depopulated. The haciendas and ranchos have been mostly abandoned, and the people chiefly confined to the towns and cities." When American troops invaded northern Mexico in 1846 and 1847 they found a devastated landscape and a demoralized people. There was little resistance to the Anglo-Americans. Some Mexicans in the north perhaps hoped that the U.S. would be more successful in fighting the "barbarians" than Mexican forces had been. The U.S. victory in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
(1846–48) resulted in Mexico ceding vast territory to the U.S. and presented the Comanche with new challenges.
Aftermath

Comanche raids into Mexico did not cease with the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, but the Comanche faced a new situation as the U.S. took over the future states of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. One of the few benefits Mexico derived under the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo.
After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...
, that ended the war, was a pledge from the United States that it would police the border to prevent Indian invasions of Mexico. Further, the U.S. would outlaw all trade in goods and property looted from Mexicans by Indian raiders and promised to return Mexican captives to Mexico. Despite enormous expenditure, the U.S. had little more success in curtailing Comanche and Apache raids than Mexico had. If anything the tempo of the raids increased in the 1850s. In 1852, in perhaps the most far-ranging of all the raids, the Comanche reached the Mexican state of
Jalisco
Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
in the tropics near the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, from their usual crossing point of the Rio Grande, near
Presidio, Texas, and nearly from their Great Plains homeland. The obligation of the U.S. to counter the raids was abrogated by mutual assent in 1853. By 1856, authorities in horse-rich Durango would claim that Indian raids, mostly Comanche, in their state had taken nearly 6,000 lives, abducted 748 people, and forced the abandonment of 358 settlements over the previous 20 years.
The Comanche reached the peak of their power in the late 1840s and declined quickly. In 1849 a cholera epidemic among the
Plains Indians
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of North ...
killed thousands of Comanches and their allies. The 1850s saw a drought that had a severe impact on buffalo herds – already under pressure from market hunting – in Comancheria. The Comanche's huge horse herds put further pressure on the environment of their homeland. Soon, the Comanche were eating their horses as food. The fast-growing population of Texas – 600,000 by 1860 – encroached on Comanche lands. The U.S. army established five frontier garrisons within the borders of Comancheria, inhibiting their mobility and reducing their range. By the end of the 1850s the Comanche population had been reduced by about one-half what it had been before 1849. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
(1861–1865) the Comanche would push back the Texas frontier and reclaim some of their territory. The last Comanche raid into Mexico may have been in 1870 when the Comanche reportedly killed 30 persons near
Lampazos, Nuevo Leon. After the Civil War the Comanche were overwhelmed and the last of them, now reduced to about 1,500 people, surrendered to the U.S. army in 1875. Their long-term raiding partners, the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache, also surrendered.
[Hamalainen, pp. 292–341]
References
Bibliography
* Adams, David B. Ëmbattled Borderland: Northern Nuevo León and the Indios Bárbaros, 1686–1870" ''The Southwestern Historical Quarterly,'' Vol 95, No. 2 (Oct 1991), pp. 205–220
* Brooks, James F. ''Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands'' Chapel Hill: U of NC Press, 2002
* DeLay, Brian, ''The War of a Thousand Deserts''. New Haven: Yale U Press, 2008
* DeLay, Brian, "The Wider World of the Handsome Man: Southern Plains Indians Invade Mexico, 1830-1848." ''Journal of the Early Republic'', Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 83–113
* Hamalainen, Pekka, ''The Comanche Empire''. New Haven: Yale U Press, 2009
* Hoig, Stan, ''Beyond the Frontier: Exploring the Indian Country''. Norman: U of OK Press, 1998
* Smith, Ralph A. "The Comanche Bridge between Oklahoma and Mexico, 1843–1844." ''The Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Vol 39, No. 1, 1961
*
Weber, David J. ''The Mexican Frontier, 1821–1846'', Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 1982
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comanche-Mexico Wars
19th-century conflicts
Comanche history
Modern Mexico
Battles involving the Comanche
Wars involving Mexico
Wars involving the Indigenous peoples of North America
Native American history of New Mexico
Native American history of Oklahoma
Native American history of Texas
1820s in Mexico
1830s in Mexico
1840s in Mexico
History of Chihuahua (state)
Indian wars of the American Old West
Mexican Texas