The Comancheros

Subject: The Comancheros Tue 12 Jun 2007, 12:21 pm

Several years ago, I acquired a book entitled, 'Prairie Schooner Pirates,' by H. H. Moncus (1963). Its subject is the Comancheros -- traders generally of Hispanic descent -- who, as their descriptive name implies, operated among the Comanches and other tribes of the Southern Plains. The author was an old-time pharmacist, who compiled his book mainly from the Texas- and New-Mexico-lore to which he was privy throughout his life. In his Introduction, Mr. Moncus wrote the following: "Many depredations were credited to raiding Indian bands. Research has proved that many of these depredations, thought to be of Indian origin were, in reality, of Comanchero vintage." (pages x and xi)

Does anyone know to what extent this proposed faulty blame may have been placed upon Indian tribes ... when in reality, the culprits in such heinous crimes on the Texas frontier were Comancheros? I can see how this might have been the case, especially during the waning years of Indian presence (ca. 1870) .... and the waning years of trade as long had been enjoyed by the Comancheros.

Here is the link to the article devoted to these traders in the 'Handbook of Texas Online':

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/dfc2.html

Thanks very much for any further information or insight,

Holly

PS. I have placed this query in a 'High Plains' setting, though the Comancheros operated both north, south and west of this region.
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves

Subject: Re: The Comancheros Sat 16 Jun 2007, 2:27 pm

These seem like outlaw traders maybe . Pirates of the plains.

Subject: Re: The Comancheros Tue 24 Jul 2007, 1:32 am

Taking down my copy of John Graves,' 'Goodbye to a River,' after quite some time, I turned to Chapter 13, where Graves is describing the disharmony which beset the Truitt and Mitchell families -- and encompassed others -- in southern Hood County during the early 1870s. As an example of the dangerous state of affairs which then prevailed, Mr. Graves gives the sad account of two husband-less sisters .... a Mrs. Bowen and a Mrs. McGee, whose irregular status may have played a role in their demise. Encamped along with their father (who is pegged as having belonged to the "feckless breed of drifting agriculturalists"), their mother, younger brother, and their own children, the women were murdered while the other members of the family were left unharmed. Borrowing from the views of a local historian called T. T. Ewell, Graves relates that the murderers comprised a party of nine or ten men; white men dressed to appear as Indians.

While the last documented Indian raid in Hood County had taken place in 1869, "'Indians' kept hitting all through the Brazos country far up into the seventies .... They were whites, mingled just enough with half-breeds and tribeless, whiskey-loving red men to keep things entirely confused, which is the way they wanted things to be." Mr. Graves conjectures that these outlaws might best be identified as horse thieves, though they seemed to have had in place an extended network of "spies" throughout the frontier of western Texas. This network enabled them to drive their stolen livestock up into the Indian Territory, out of which they were based.

Though far to the south in Medina County, a similar story is told concerning the deaths of my great-great-great-grandfathers, Elisha Whitley and Henry McCray. According to the November 12, 1987 issue of the 'Medina Valley Times,' these men -- "two brothers-in-law," met their deaths on January 12, 1872. They had been "socializing at McCray's cabin that afternoon when Indians passing through shot and killed them both .... just west of the railroad tracks on what is now Colonial Parkway at Hwy. 81," in Devine. This account follows the spare details of the incident as given on the Texas Historical Marker at Devine's Evergreen Cemetery:

http://www.cemeteries-of-tx.com/Wtx/Medina/cemetery/Evergreen.html

But the tradition which has come down in my family in several variations basically is this:

While hunting along Black Creek near Medina, "Elisha Whitley and Henry McCray were attacked by a band of fifteen Indians and a white man." * The men were killed, but their wives and families lodging nearby were left unharmed. Who witnessed this attacking party as they made their way across the countryside, or as they carried out their deed, is unknown to us. Perhaps it was a member or members of their families. The tradition also relates that the men were scalped.

Perhaps they were not 'Comancheros'-proper, but might these murderers have been of a category similar to those who were said to have killed Mrs. McGee and Mrs. Bowen in Hood County? I do not know whether livestock was taken from my ancestors' homesteads, but the Medina-County location does seem to have lain on the 'raiding road' followed by Comanches themselves for many decades.

Many thanks for any ideas someone might be able to offer.

Holly

* 'The Cisadera Whitleys and Other descendents of John Saunders Whiley,' C. P. Whitley and K. R. Whitley, 1986, page 208.
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves