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War With Mexico
Welcome to the Hidden History of Texas. This is Episode 44 – War With Mexico - As always, brought to you by Ashby Navis and Tennyson Media Publishers, producers of high quality games, productivity, mental health apps, and a comprehensive catalog of audiobooks. Visit AshbyNavis.com for more information.
The 1846-1848 conflict known in the United States as the Mexican-American War was called the U.S. Invasion by Mexico. It was fueled by the expansionist views of President James Polk and was an example of his belief in the ‘Manifest Destiny’. He firmly believed that the United States was destined by God to own all the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
After he became President and oversaw the annexation of Texas into the union as a State, he realized that since Mexico controlled everything west of Texas, it was standing in his way. Initially he tried to have Mexico agree to several small issues. After the Battle of San Jacinto, even though Texas and the United States claimed Texas was independent the fact was that Mexico had never officially signed a peace treaty. Polk wanted Mexico to recognize that the boundary between the United States and Mexico was the Rio Grande. He also wanted Mexico to sell Northern California to the United States. He did his best to pressure Mexico into accepting these terms, but he failed because nobody in Mexico would agree to giving up any territory to the United States and that especially included Texas.
Polk was not a person to take no for an answer, and he grew increasingly frustrated by Mexico. On January 13, 1846, he ordered the army that was under the control of Gen. Zachary Taylor's, which was in Corpus Christi, to move to the Rio Grande. Needless to say, the Mexican government took this to be an act of war. The Mexicans responded by crossing the Rio Grande on April 25 at Matamoros and ambushed an American patrol.
Much like President Johnson would do later with the Gulf of Tonkin incident to justify further involvement in Vietnam, on May 13th, Polk used this to convince Congress to declare war on Mexico. He claimed that this was because "American blood had been shed upon American soil." On May 8 and 9, even before the official declaration of war Taylor's army defeated a force of 3,700 Mexican soldiers under Gen. Mariano Arista in the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma
Initially the American forces tried to use the time-honored plan of blockading Mexican coastal cities and also occupying the Mexican states that bordered Texas. These plans were based on a very unrealistic belief that this would somehow coerce Mexico into giving up territory. In September General Taylor, accompanied by a significant number of volunteers that included many Texans, seized Monterrey. He then declared that General Arista had agreed to an armistice. Taylor succeeded in large part due to the role that Col. John Coffee Hays's Texas Mounted Rifles played during the attack on the city.
Polk, however, was not satisfied with the armistice and he denounced it, forcing Taylor to drive further south to Saltillo and then east to Victoria. Meanwhile Gen. John E. Wool lead more troops from San Antonio with the initial intention of threatening Chihuahua, instead he turned and ended up joining Taylor’s forces. Not content with just Texas and Mexico, President Polk sent Gen. Stephen W. Kearny from Fort Leavenworth with instructions to seize New Mexico.
Finally in July, as Taylor's forces were gathering, the navy sent its Pacificsquadron under Commodore John D. Sloat to occupy Monterey and San Francisco, California. From that post they joined a force of Anglo settlers who at the urging of the explorer John C. Frémont had established their own government. Although an August incursion into southern California failed, the area was eventually secured by a joint army-navy expedition under Kearny and Commodore Robert F. Stockton in January 1847.
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This is Episode 43 – Texas finally becomes a state - I’m you host and guide Hank Wilson.
There is a major misconception among people today about exactly what Texas and Texans wanted when they rebelled against Mexico. Some of today’s Texas citizens believe the reason was the settlers wanted to be an independent country. That’s not true, while wanting to be free of Mexico, the vast majority of those who were living in Texas at the time wanted to be a part of the United States. That was a major source of conflict among the early politicians, and that’s why there was not a major push for statehood until the mid-1840s.
In 1844 Texas held its final presidential race. The citizens elected Secretary of State Anson Jones. Due to his backing by Sam Houston, Jones easily won the election. He was inaugurated on December 9, and his administration’s policies included economy recovery, trying to establish peaceful relations with the Indians, and a policy of nonaggression against Mexico. Perhaps most importantly, he began to tackle the idea and process of having Texas annexed by the United State. He, more than anyone else is known as the "Architect of Annexation."
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The thing he and those who were in favor of annexation knew was important was timing. He wasted no time in beginning his effort and he instructed Isaac Van Zandt, Texan who was the official chargé d'affaires to the United States, to not negotiate any treaty until they could be assured the United States Senate would ratify it. Almost simultaneously President John Tyler reopened negotiations on annexation and Mexico began expressing interest in becoming an ally of Texas. Meanwhile, Mexico told the United States that she would declare war if the United States approved annexation. Two events, both of which were embarrassing to Texans, would help spur American interest in annexing Texas.
In 1841, then Texas president Lamar, as part of his dream to have Texas expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean authorized what is known as the Santa Fe expedition. This was one of those grand adventures that was doomed from the start. The group got lost, they were attacked by almost every tribe along the route, and when they actually reached New Mexico they were met with armed resistance. The entire expedition surrendered without firing a shot, were imprisoned in Mexico City, and eventually released in 1842.
Also in 1842, Mexico invaded Texas.
A force of 700 lead by Gen. Rafael Vásquez entered Texas and seized San Antonio. They only stayed for two days before travelling back over the Rio Grande and returning to Mexico, but their presence in Texas caused many Anglos to become very nervous. Since Sam Houston had taken office from Lamar, in March of 1842, he instructed the Texas representative to Washington, James Reily, to begin to explore the possibility of annexation. The federal government was receptive because the British had indicated they wanted to help mediate the Texas-Mexico issues. Of course, this would have provided England with an opening to establish their influence in Texas affairs. Meanwhile President Tyler, a Whig who adhered to the traditional Southern support of slavery, was a proponent of annexation and by October discussions that would lead to the eventual annexation of Texas by treaty had begun.
The treaty was completed on April 12, 1844, and signed by Secretary of State John C. Calhoun, Isaac Van Zandt, and Van Zandt's assistant, J. Pinckney Henderson.
Texas was an issued during the U.S. presidential election of 1844. Democrat James K. Polk, of Tennessee, ran under the slogan "the Re-Annexation of Texas and the Re-Occupation of Oregon.," He was trying to capitalize on the growing belief among Americans that it was their destiny to control the entire continent. He won by a very significant amount. Since Polk would not take office until March of 1845, -
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Episode 42 – Texas becomes a Nation – well sort of and not a very successful one.
As soon as the provisional government heard about the victory at San Jacinto, government officials headed to the battlefield. Once there they began negotiating with Santa Anna to end the war. May 14 at Velasco, Santa Anna signed two treaties, one for public consumption and the other one was signed and kept secret.
The public treaty officially ended hostilities with Mexico and restored settlers private property. Prisoners on both sides were to be released, and the Mexican forces would move south of the Rio Grande. All very popular with everyone.
The secret treaty, which would have caused an uproar if the details were made public agreed that Santa Anna would be taken to Veracruz and released. In return, he agreed to have the Mexican government approve the two treaties and to negotiate a permanent treaty. That treaty was to acknowledge that Texas was to be independent of Mexico. It was to also recognize the national boundary as the Rio Grande. Even though the two treaties had been signed, things were not exactly peaceful. In fact, military activity continued along the Gulf Coast.
On June 2 Maj. Isaac W. Burton, who was in charge of a company of twenty mounted rangers, noticed the vessel Watchman at anchor in Copano Bay. He grew suspicious and had his men capture it. Once they boarded it they discovered that it carried supplies intended for the Mexican army. On the seventeenth of June, Burton then seized two more vessels, the Comanche and the Fannie Butler. They were also carrying supplies for the Mexican army which had a value of $25,000. Meanwhile the Mexican Congress renounced Santa Anna, refused to honor his treaties, and demanded that the war with Texas continue.
Once word of the Mexican government’s actions reached Texas, people began to demand that Santa Anna be put to death. Santa Anna, his secretary Ramón Martínez Caro, and Col. Juan N. Almonte had already been put aboard the Invincible to be returned to Veracruz, but the ship had not yet set sail. Gen. Thomas Jefferson Green, a recent arrival from the United States demanded that President Burnet remove the Mexicans from the vessel and put them into confinement.
Which he agreed to temporarily do. Santa Anna was not executed, instead he was sent to Washington D. C. where he met with President Andrew Jackson. Jackson did send him back to Mexico where Santa Anna discovered he had been deposed as President.
Meanwhile back in Texas, Thomas Jefferson Rusk who had been a general during the battle of San Jacinto and was appointed to the position of Secretary of War, asked President Burnet to relieve him of his command. To succeed Rusk on June 25 Burnet appointed Mirabeau B. Lamar to the post of secretary of war. BUT word arrived that Gen. José de Urrea was moving Mexican army troops towards Goliad, (remember the Goliad Massacre, which took place during the revolt? Texans were still very angry over the slaughter that took place) Rusk changed his mind about retiring. But since Lamar was now officially the Secretary of War, Burnet was hesitant to do so. At that point Thomas Jefferson Green and Felix Huston, who had come into Texas with a contingent of volunteers from Mississippi, began to agitate against Lamar. This caused the soldiers to turn against Lamar and Rusk returned to command.
Urrea failed to show up at Goliad so Rusk once again vacated his command and the army chose Huston to replace him. More unrest continued in the ranks of the Army as many of the officers openly defied the government. They even threatened to impose a military dictatorship.
Internal squabbles were not the only problems the government faced. On May 19th, a force of Comanche and Caddo Indians attacked Fort Parker, in what is known as the Fort Parker Massacre, and captured two women and three children. One of those children was a nine-year-old girl by the name of Cynthia Parker. -
Los Diablos Tejanos - The Texas Rangers
Welcome to the Hidden History of Texas. this is Episode 41 – Los Diablos Tejanos - The Texas Rangers
The Rangers actually came into existence in 1823, when Stephen F. Austin hired ten experienced frontiersmen, that he wanted to send on an expedition to punish a band of Indians. However, it took another 12 years, in 1835, for Texas lawmakers to create the Texas Rangers actually officially. The initial group consisted of fifty-six men that were broken into three companies. Each company was lead by a captain and two lieutenants, and who an immediate superior who held the rank of major. The major was subject to the commander-in-chief of the regular army and was responsible for recruiting, rule enforcement, and discipline. The officers each were promised the same pay as United States dragoons and privates- a total of $1.25 a day. Out of that pay, they had to supply their own mounts, and all other equipment including arms, and food rations. They were on call and had to be ready to ride, equipped "with a good and sufficient horse...[and] with one hundred rounds of powder and ball."
In the beginning the Rangers did not do well. During the Texas Revolution they served occasionally as either scouts or couriers, plus any other task the government wanted them to do.
On March 6, 1836, the Alamo fell and with it came the runaway scrape. I’ve talked about it in earlier episodes, but this was when the Rangers were really called into action. They were tasked with retrieving cattle, helping refugees get past trails covered with mud and streams swollen with rain. They also performed a scorched earth policy and to keep the Mexican army from benefitting from what was left, they destroyed produce or equipment they found.
While these duties were important, the reality is, that during the actual battle of San Jacinto they were relegated to nothing more than escort duty. After independence, their status didn’t really change because President Sam Houston had a well-known friendship with the Indians and the Rangers had been used to raid and attack the various tribes.
When Mirabeau B. Lamar succeeded Houston as president of the republic in 1838 he put into place completely different frontier policies. Part of his changes was to convince congress to give him more Rangers. He was able to grow the force to eight companies of mounted volunteers and also keep a standing company of fifty-six Rangers. A month after that he was able to build an additional 5 companies in both Central and South Texas. These proved to be instrumental over the next three years as they waged all-out war against the Indians. They participated in multiple pitched battles, including, the July 1839 Cherokee War in East Texas, the 1840 Council House Fight at San Antonio against the Comanches, and again in 1840 a fight against 1,000 Comanche warriors at the battle of Plum Creek.
If the purpose of the Lamar administration was to eliminate or at least drastically reduce the power of the tribes of Texas, he was successful. Lamar favored the actual expulsion of all native peoples from Texas and was able to force many of the tribes to relocate and give up their historic land. When Sam Houston was reelected to the presidency in 1841, he changed his opinion on the Rangers and believed they were the least expensive and the most efficient way to protect frontier settlers.
In 1842 Captain John Coffee Hays lead a group of 150 Rangers that played an instrumental role in helping to repel a Mexican invasion. Over the next three years, they also worked to defend the settlers against attacks by various tribes. Hays was responsible for creating several Ranger traditions and esprit de corps and focused on bringing in men who were skilled in frontier warfare.
In 1845 Texas was annexed by the United States and in 1846 war broke out with Mexico. This was when the Rangers became known for their fighting skills on a worldwide basis. -
Episode 40 - The Cherokee - the "Principal People" Conclusion
Welcome to Episode 40 of the Hidden History of Texas, this episode concludes my discussion of the Cherokee. Before I get started, just a quick reminder that I have 3 audiobooks based on this series. You can find information about them at my website https://arctx.org. On the menu, under Digital Products -> Audiobooks. Check them out, thanks,
Now back to the Cherokee. Ever since Europeans had landed on the continent, the Cherokee had done their best to coexist. Unfortunately, their desire to live in peace on their ancestral lands conflicted with the new settlers desire to own that same land. As a result, they were forced off their land and as I mentioned in the last episode they arrived in what is now East Texas where they lived in relative peace for a few years. They did their best to maintain neutrality when conflict started between the Anglo Texans and the Mexican Government.
After Texas achieved independence in 1836, Texas Republic President Sam Houston was a strong advocate for peace with all Texas tribes. He spent many hours working to keep the Cherokees as allies as he tried to negotiate treaties with the Apache, Comanche, and the Kiowa. This even included the Cherokees agreeing in 1836 to send a company of 25 rangers to help patrol the land west of their settlements. In 1837 Cherokee leader Duwali agreed to be the republic's emissary to the Comanches. However, in 1838 relations began to fall apart after a raid on settlers in East Texas was blamed on a combined Cherokee and Mexican force. As he was getting ready to leave office, Houston once again tried to keep the peace between Texans and the Cherokees. He established a boundary that could have served as a boundary separating the groups. This line upset the Anglos who wanted the land and who believed the Cherokees were actually allies of the Mexicans.
Mirabeau B. Lamar who took Houston’s place as Republic President was an ardent foe of the Cherokees and wanted them completely out of Texas. He initiated his campaign of elimination by sending troops to the Neches Saline (a small community in East Texas). When Chief Duwali had his people block the Texans and in response Lamar told the chief that the Cherokee would be relocated beyond the red river. His words to the chief were, "peaceably if they would; forcibly if they must."
Lamar then put together a commission who were told they could compensate the Cherokees if they left their land. The Cherokees said no, and the result was what is known as the Cherokee War. The war, although it was really more of a pitched battle took place in the summer of 1839. That was when Chief Duwali led several hundred of his warriors in a fight that took place near present day Tyler Texas. The result was a disaster for the Cherokee as more than a 100 warriors including the chief were killed. The Texans then drove the remaining Cherokees across the Red River into what was then labeled Indian Territory. Not all Cherokee were exiled to the territory, some stayed and lived as fugitives in Texas and still others moved into Mexico. There were some Cherokee who conducted raids and fought for their lands, but they had little to no success.
In 1841 Sam Houston was elected to another term as president and he instituted a policy that he thought would help end future hostilities between the tribes and the settlers. This policy gave two treaties with the Cherokees who remained in Texas in 1843 and 1844.
After the Cherokees who had been moved north of the Red River they were able to reunite with the much larger group of Cherokee who had been settled in the northeastern corner of the territory. In 1846, the Cherokee signed an agreement with the U.S. that specified that all the Cherokee, those from Texas and those who were already in the Territory had equal rights to the lands of the Cherokee nation.
This union lasted until the Civil War. -
Welcome to the Hidden History of Texas. this is Episode 39 – The Cherokee – The "Principal People”
Forced out of their ancestral homes in what is now the American Southeast by pressure from Anglo Europeans, the Cherokee, or as they call themselves the Ani-Yunwiya, or the principal people, came to settle in what is now East Texas.
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Their ancestral lands included a large percentage of the southern Appalachian highlands, which included segments of Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. They were an agricultural people and the similarities between their Iroquoian language and tribal migration legends tend to indicate that the tribe originated further to the north of their traditional settled homeland.
It was approximately 1540 when Europeans first encountered the Cherokees, that was when Hernando De Soto’s party traveled through their lands. After that 1st and brief encounter it would be more than a hundred years before they had any additional significant interactions with Europeans. It was in the 1670s that prolonged contact between the Cherokees’ and the Europeans took place. The Cherokees quickly adapted many of the basic and fundamental material elements of European culture to their own society. This tendency in turn led the Anglo Europeans to call them, the "Five Civilized Tribes."
In response to their, what was a successful attempt to adapt to their Anglo-European neighbors, they established a constitutional government with a senate, a house of representatives, and an elected chief. In 1821, Sequoyah, AKA George Gist or George Guess, took the tribe’s spoken words and created a written language. The Cherokee placed a high value on education and in many instances-maintained schools for their children.
While it is true that the Cherokees did derive some advantages from interaction with Europeans, those advantages were far outweighed by the negative effects of that contact. Due to the European desire for territory and empire building, the Cherokee were often decimated by wars, epidemics due to the new diseases introduced by the Europeans, and food shortages. Put together these all caused the population to decline, the area of their territory reduced, and a general weakening of their group identity.
In an attempt to maintain their culture, between the years 1790 and 1820, many Cherokees voluntarily migrated west of the Mississippi River. These peoples selttled in what is now Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. Eventually those who had tried to remain on their ancestral land in the Southeast were ultimately forced to move west due to the implementation of the 1830 United States Indian removal policy. Between the years 1838 and 1839, 16,000 to 18,000 Cherokees were forcibly marched to their new home in northeastern Indian Territory. An estimated 4,000 individuals died on the march, which we now know as the Trail of Tears.
It was in 1807 when Cherokees were first reported in Texas, that took place when a small band, probably from one of the Arkansas settlements, established a village on the banks of the Red River. In the summer of that year, a delegation of Cherokees, Pascagoulas, Chickasaws, and Shawnees sought permission from Spanish officials in Nacogdoches, to permanently settle members of their tribes in that province. Hoping to use the group as a buffer against further expansion by the Americans, the Spanish authorities approved the request.
For the next few years a small number of Cherokees drifted in and out of Texas. Between 1812 and 1819, the population of Arkansas began to increase and once again the Cherokees were forced to migrate and more of them migrated into Southern Arkansas. But by 1820, they could no longer avoid American competition for the land. At the same time Anglo-Americans had established seven settlements in the valley of the Red River, and the Cherokees decided to move even further south. -
Episode 38 – The Kiowa – Nomadic Warriors of the Plains
(Not a Complete Transcript) According to their traditions, the Kiowas originally lived at the mouths of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers in present day Montana. As it is now, then it could have very cold winters and the ground covered by a deep layer of snow. As hunter-gatherers, they primarily used a bow and arrow along with their only domesticated animal the dog, which pulled their travois after being attached to it with poles that hooked to a harness.
Close neighbors of the Kiowa were the Flatheads and several Athabascan tribes lived to their north and west. Now according to legend the people had a quarrel over the udders of a doe which were the spoils of a hunt. The group that won the delicacy headed to the southeast and went to live with friends, the Crows. Those left behind were never heard of again.
The Crows essentially helped change the Kiowas and made them much more mobile. They taught the Kiowas ride horses and hunt buffalo which was something they had never before been able to do. There was some intermarriage with the Crows but they had much more in common with and joined together with the Kiowa Apaches. The first time they were written about was in 1682 by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who had knowledge of them from one of a Pani slave boy at Fort St. Louis. That boy called them Manrhouts and Gattacha. When they were in the Yellowstone region in1804, Lewis and Clark heard of them but did not meet them.
Moving out of the north and their previous mountainous home, the Kiowas had taken the first steps towards becoming a real part of the Plains Culture by learning to ride horses. This enabled them to hunt buffalo on horseback, and it became their main foodstuff. Of course, with the horse came mobility and they moved steadily towards the south. This mobility also turned the Kiowa into a completely nomadic lifestyle which consisted of predation, pillage, and warfare. They excelled at it until they became one of the most feared and hated of the Plains tribes. Part of their success was how they constantly had the largest number of horses of all the Plains Indians.
Around the year of 1790 the Kiowas made a lasting peace with the Comanches and together they traded horses and captives east via the Wichitas and Taovayas to the French and English. In exchange they received guns, ammunition, and metal for points and vermilion for face paint. In 1840, with the encouragement of trader and negotiator William Bent, the Kiowas, Kiowa Apaches, and Comanches joined with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapahos at Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River and agreed to an inter-tribal peace that was never broken. Together the five tribes in union created a formidable barrier that was able to prove an obstacle to those who wished to cross the southern plains. Finally, the U.S. sent the First Dragoons to protect wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail. In later years, both the Second Dragoons and the Mounted Rifles made an effort to defend and protect the southwest and Texas from Indian raids. In the 1850s the Second United States Cavalry sought to reduce the number of attacks on the frontier settlements but like those before they had little success.
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Episode 37 – The Apache warriors of the Southwest
Who were the Apaches? As I’ve talked about in the past, if your idea of the indigenous peoples of the Americas is based upon movies and television then it’s most likely not accurate. If you do a quick google search on movies about the Apaches, you’ll find at least 24. Shoot, there have been numerous white actors who have portrayed Apaches such as Burt Lancaster in the movie “Apache”. The reality is often quite different than what has been portrayed, because honestly Hollywood didn’t really care to get it right. This was especially true in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So who really were the Apache?
They are part of the southern branch of the Athabascan group. That group encompasses a very large family of people, and whose languages are found in Alaska, western Canada, and the American Southwest. Several branches lived in a region that went from the Arkansas River to Northern Mexico and from Central Texas to Central Arizona. Mostly they were divided into Eastern and Western, with the Rio Grande serving as the dividing line.
There are two groups, the Lipans and the Mezcaleros, that lived partially or entirely within the borders of Texas. The Apaches were known by multiple names. As a nomadic people, it is likely that several names were actually identifying the same band. Some of the Apache bands in Texas were Limita, Conejero, and Trementina. However, only the Lipan and Mescalero names survived into the nineteenth century. Most likely the name we know and use, Apache, came from the Zuñi word apachu, meaning "enemy," or possibly Awa'tehe, the Ute name for Apaches. When they referred to themselves the words they used are Inde or Diné, which simply means "the people."
Apaches migrated into the Southwest sometime between A.D. 1000 and 1400. Separated from their northern bands, they created a home for themselves in the Southwest. They seemed to have migrated south along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, then spread west into what is now the states of New Mexico and Arizona. Once the Comanche began moving into the same area, they had to relocate further south and west.
Both the Lipan and Mescalero Apaches social unit was the extended family. Several families would usually stay together, and the leader was their most prominent member. This individual acted as chief advisor and director of group affairs. Several groups would live close to one another, so they were able to come together for both defense, offense, and the occasional social or ceremonial occasions.
The Lipan Apache apparently had no formal organization larger than the band. While being flexible for the immediate members, this type of loose organization did cause issues when it came to establishing relations with the Spanish, and later with the Mexicans, Texans, and Americans. For example while one band might make peace with its enemies, another was free to remain at war with the same group. The band leaders were males; however, females held a central place within the tribe. Once married, the groom would move in and live with his wife's family. He was also required to hunt and work with his in-laws. If the wife should die, the husband was required to stay with her family, and most of the time they would furnish him with a new bride. In contrast, the wife had little to no obligation to the husband's family. However, if he died, his family could provide a cousin or brother for her to marry. Men were allowed to marry more than one woman, but few besides wealthy or prestigious leaders did so. Now since they were required to live with their wife’s family, that meant that any other wife would have to be either a sister or cousin of their current wife.
As a nomadic people who subsisted almost entirely on the buffalo, they usually covered much territory. The buffalo provided clothing, and coverage for their tents, which whenever they moved were broken down and loaded onto sleds which were then pu... -
Episode 36 – The Comanche - strong warriors with fine horses.
Welcome to the Hidden History of Texas. I’m your host Hank Wilson and this is Episode 36 – The Comanche - strong warriors with fine horses
Before I get started, I want to introduce y’all to a set of books called ‘the Music is Murder saga’. These novels by Heather O’Brien, follow the lives and loves of the O’Conners, the Grants, and the Lockhardts. Something—or someone—ties these three families together and you’ll be caught up in the drama of their situations. The books are set in the world of Rock ‘n’ roll and you’ll be hooked from page one. The 1st book you’ll want is Lockhardt Sound, and as someone who has worked in the music industry, let me tell you, the story could and does happen. Check out her site, booksbyheather.com, you won’t be disappointed. As her site says, long live rock ‘n’ roll.
Last time I spoke about the 3 main groups of peoples, the Caddo, Karankawa, and the Jumano who were living in Texas when the Spanish first came into Texas. They did their best to adjust and live with the Spanish but unfortunately they were not prepared to deal with the diseases and frankly the violence they were often met with. There are 3 other groups who more people are probably familiar with due to tv and the movies. They are the Comanche, the Kiowa, and the Apache. All three played a significant role in the early history of Texas and all 3 were involved in conflict with the newcomers, both Spanish and Anglo. Now a word, a quick word about the use of the word tribe when it comes to talking about these groups of peoples. We often substitute “tribe” for “people,” but tribe is probably one of the most inexact-nonspecific terms that we can use. I try to avoid it because not all of the natives of Texas spoke the same language, had the same customs, shared the same clans, or saw themselves as separate and distinct from their neighbors. The Indians of Texas often remade themselves and did so with people who had different languages, customs, and families. So I will do my best to refer to the people by the name they currently use, occasionally using the word tribes or clans or peoples and if anyone knows of more appropriate words, please let me know.
In this episode I want to talk about the Comanche. Most folks are familiar with them due to shows such as Lonesome Dove, Last of the Comanche, Comanche Station, the Comancheros, and the Searchers. Historically accurate? Yeah, not so much, except for their depiction of the Comanche as being master horsemen. They were indeed known to many as some of the finest horsemen ever seen. But who were they?
Initially, the Comanche lived in the Northern Great Plains and were a branch of the Northern Shoshones. They, like most of the clans at that time travelled by foot and were hunters and gatherers. It appears that sometime in the late 17th century, (i.e. mid to late 1600s) they acquired horses. Once that happened, the game changed and so did their lives.
But what caused the Comanche to migrate from their ancestral homelands? As I mentioned, the Comanche acquired horses and once they achieved mobility they were able to leave their traditional mountain home range and then moved onto the plains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas. As with the majority of hunter-gatherer peoples they followed the food. They also learned that if they travelled south they would be able to gather the wild mustangs who roamed the southwest. When this was coupled with a warm climate and buffalo moving made even more sense.
Once they began their move, they also began to trade with the Wichita who lived around the Red River. This gave them access to French goods, including firearms. Even though they had arms and were excellent horsemen, they were also under pressure from the Blackfoot and Crow people in their north and east. As a result of their migration, a large swatch of the South Plains, much of North Central and West Texas became Comanche ... -
Episode 35 – The Republic and Relations With The Tribes
Before I get started, I want to introduce y’all to a set of books called ‘the Music is Murder saga’. These novels by Heather O’Brien, follow the lives and loves of the O’Conners, the Grants, and the Lockhardts. Something—or someone—ties these three families together and you’ll be caught up in the drama of their situations. The books are set in the world of Rock ‘n’ roll and you’ll be hooked from page one. The 1st book you’ll want is Lockhardt Sound, and as someone who has worked in the music industry, let me tell you, the story could and does happen. Check out her site, booksbyheather.com, you won’t be disappointed. As her site says, long live rock ‘n’ roll.
When I wrapped up the last episode, I had begun talking about how Republic President Sam Houston had wanted to establish better relationships with the Indians of Texas. Today I’m going to dive deeper into that whole concept and try to get a better understanding of the relationship between the Anglos and the Native tribes. It was very messy, and it became very bloody. Again, I have to bring up the thought, that based on the morality of today, what happened back then is today considered genocide. I’m not going to try and justify what took place. It doesn’t do any good to get angry over the actions that took place, it might serve as a warning of what can, and in many places, still does happen to others.
Before I go into the relationships in 1836 and beyond, I want to go back over some of the history of the native people prior to this time. Remember, how in early episodes I talked about how when the Spanish arrived in Texas there were multiple groups or tribes of indigenous people in all parts of Texas. Now I’m not going to go back 10,000 years ago and talk about the Clovis people, there are several excellent books out there that discuss the people and how they evolved, and it does make for fascinating reading. I want to start with those who were here when the first Spanish explorers bumped into Texas.
November 6, 1528, is the day when the lives of the native peoples of what is now Texas began to change, and not for the better. That was the day when the Karankawas met Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and the remnants of his crew on Galveston Island. At that time, the Karankawas were one of many tribes or bands of native people who lived in Texas. The Karankawas were a hunter gatherer group who lived mostly on the Texas coast. They were hunter-gatherers, and they necessarily lived a somewhat nomadic life because they had to travel to find food. There were approximately 5 bands that are historically associated with them, one such group were the Cocos who lived the furthest east between Galveston Island and the Colorado River. They were the group that de Vaca’s band of survivors lived with. And that proved to be a disaster for the Cocos, because Cholera hit and killed nearly half of their band. These groups were the first to encounter the Spanish and the first to suffer from those encounters. The native people’s simply were not equipped to handle the germs and diseases that the Europeans brought with them.
Another group that suffered from their encounter with the Europeans where the Caddos. Around 1500, the Caddos had already built a complex political system that consisted of alliances between different bands and tribes. In addition to their lands in Texas, they were also located in the Great Plains, Eastern Woodlands, and present-day Arizona and New Mexico. They had built extensive trading networks where they exported salt, pottery, and wood for making bows, and they imported seashells, copper, and flint.
It was natural that once the French and Spanish merchants arrived in Texas and the surrounding areas, that the Caddo’s would trade with them as well and that began their downfall. As with the Karankawas the Europeans brought new diseases that had devastated the people.
