The Fall of the Comanche Empire: The End of Native American Life on the Texas Frontier The last thirty years of the Nineteenth Century brought a close to the Texas Frontier. The end began with removal of a group of people that inhabited the frontier before anyone from the East set eyes on the rolling prairies and the iconic hills of the Callahan Divide. An opening in the divide, now known as Buffalo Gap naturally holds water and attracted buffalo and Indians. The Divide runs East to West and separates the water sheds of the Brazos River to the North and the Colorado River to the South. The Comanche dominated the SouthernPlains, from eastern New Mexico and Colorado as far south as the Texas and Mexico border. Much like the Sioux on the Northern Plains, the Comanche were horse masters and ruled the Texas prairie for over a century. The horse provided them with mobility and speed that allowed them to cover large distances very quickly. Along with the horse, the iron spear points and eventually firearms, made the Comanche the most formidable warrior on the frontier. Settlement and the rapid unregulated buffalo hunting threatened Indians domain. Facing the end of their way of life, the Indians violently repelled any encroachment for several decades, but ultimately, they signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867. The agreement confined the Comanche to the reservation at Ft. Sill in present day Oklahoma. The Treaty guaranteed U.S. government rations, hunting land, and housing in the Indian Territory. The Indians soon discovered that despite promises made by the American government, Easterners kept pushing, their land dwindled, and the buffalo slaughter continued. Comanche warriors often made raids on the Texas Frontier, attacking homesteaders and buffalo hunters. The most significant attack came at Adobe Walls in the Panhandle of Texas in the summer of 1874. Thousands of Indians attacked a handful of buffalo hunters who were armed with state-of-the-art rifles. The Sharps Big .50, a favorite of the buffalo hunters, could hit a target up to 1,000 yards away. The hunters repelled the Indian attack after several hours. A few months later, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and the 4th U.S. Calvary caught up with the Comanche band at Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo. Mackenzie’s men killed the Indians’ horses and forced them back onto the reservation.
Photo courtesy of Buffalo, Guns, and Barbed Wire by Don Hampton Biggers
This battle ended Comanche’s regional domination, guaranteeing the safety of homesteaders and buffalo hunters. Greater settlement of the frontier brought cows, trains, and cities, further blurring the line between wilderness and civilization.