Historic Tales from the Texas Republic by Jeffery Robenalt

Author:Jeffery Robenalt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2013-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

THE SAN ANTONIO COUNCIL HOUSE FIGHT

A Comanche Effort to Reach Peaceful Relations

Mirabeau Lamar was elected president of the Republic of Texas, in part by insisting that the only permanent solution to the Indian problem was to expel the tribes from Texas and to exterminate all Indians who refused to leave the country peacefully. Soon after assuming office, he moved to implement this policy when he ordered Chief Bowles to lead his people out of Texas. Bowles refused, and on July 16, 1839, the militia, bolstered by a few soldiers from the Texas Army, attacked the main Cherokee village located on the Neches River. Chief Bowles was among those killed during the fighting, and the Cherokees were forced to hurriedly pack up a meager portion of their possessions and move to present-day Oklahoma. The remaining eastern tribes soon met an identical fate.

President Lamar intended to oust the Comanches in the same aggressive and violent manner, but the fierce “Lords of the Plains” were a far cry from the numerically weak and nearly civilized Cherokees. Over the years, the Penateka band of Comanches, or “Honey Eaters,” had waged a continuous and bloody hit-and-run war with the settlers along the frontier north and west of Austin. The Penateka were one of five major Comanche bands. They ranged from the Edwards Plateau to the headwaters of the Colorado and Brazos Rivers. North of Penateka country, the Nokonis, or “Those Who Turn Back,” roamed from the Cross Timbers region of Texas to the mountains of New Mexico. Still farther north along the Canadian River ranged the Kotsotekas, or “Buffalo Eaters.” The northernmost band of Comanches was known as the Yamparikas, or “Yap Eaters,” a name derived from an edible root. Their territory extended north to the Arkansas River. The fifth major band of Comanches, the Quahadis, or “Antelope People,” lived out on the high plains of the Llano Estacado.

Lamar began his move against the Comanches when he ordered his newly formed Texas Ranger companies to carry the fight into the fringes of the Comancheria. The rangers were told to attack any hunting parties they happened to come across and any villages that happened to be located by their far-ranging Tonkawa scouts. Although these attacks on the basic way of Comanche life were not always successful, they eventually convinced the Penateka that the cost of continued fighting would carry a high price. As a result, on January 9, 1840, three Penateka peace chiefs rode into the old mission town of San Antonio seeking a parley with the commandant of the military post, Colonel Henry Karnes.

The Comanche way of life was dictated by a democratic principle that was deeply ingrained in their political organization. Each tribal division or band was led by both peace chiefs and war chiefs, but tradition held that the head peace chief was the most influential. However, neither peace chiefs nor war chiefs were elected. Instead, they were chosen by the common consent of the people. A leader gained his position by

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