The Comanchero Trade

 

One of the least known and most misunderstood societies in western U.S. history are the Comancheros. Hollywood has portrayed them as organized, ruthless outlaws that provided rifles to the Comanches and indulged in the lurid trading of young female captives. In real life, most of the Comancheros were simple traders from small villages in eastern New Mexico. In time, the trade became more complex, involving manufactured firearms and vast herds of stolen horses and cattle. Fueled by greed, government officials, the U.S. military, and wealthy merchants had their fingers in the trade. In return, the Comanches gained power, influence, and access to U.S. goods unavailable to many Native American tribes, making it difficult to subdue them and end their raids into Texas. 

Comanche Village

 

The Origin of The Trade

The trade likely began in the late 1700’s during the Spanish Colonial Period. New Mexico’s Governor Fernando de la Concha authorized New Mexicans to trade with the Comanches. Spanish officials hoped the trade would help monitor Comanche activity and prevent them from raiding New Mexico’s settlements. A trade network emerged between Hispanic or Mestizo traders from New Mexico and Comanches from West Texas. Referred to as Comancheros, these New Mexican traders with usually less than $20 worth of goods bartered trinkets, tobacco, coffee, calico, kettles, knives, and hard cornbread for horses, mules, dried meat, buffalo hides, and human captives, mostly women and children the Comanches demanded ransom for. The horses, mules, and captives were taken during Comanche raids in Texas and Northern Mexico.

Comanche Buffalo Hunt

Horses for Bullets

At first the Comanchero trade was more improvised, originating from villages in eastern New Mexico. Carrying their goods in lumbering carts called carretas, New Mexicans traveled in small groups or family units over established routes into the Llano Estacado region of West Texas, sometimes waiting for days, even weeks for the Comanches to show up. So prevalent was their contact with the Comanches, many of the villagers spoke the Comanche language. Adding to this trade matrix were the Ciboleros, New Mexican buffalo hunters that hunted like Indians using bows and arrows and lances. At times, they hunted jointly with the Comanches, making it hard to discern them from their hunting partners. Their close ties with the Comanches helped facilitate the trade between the Comancheros and Comanches.

In time the trade became more sophisticated. By the mid 1800’s, the Comancheros traded manufactured guns, ammunition, and whiskey for whole herds of horses, mules, and cattle. Wealthy merchants sold the stolen cattle to U.S. government beef contractors. U.S. army officers stationed in New Mexico participated in the trade, protecting the Comancheros from government interference. By taking the trade into Comanche territory, or Comancheria, the Comancheros avoided government interference, taxes, and could engage in more illicit forms of trade. For the Comanches, they could have direct control over the trade and avoid the contagious diseases ravaging Native American tribes in the East.   

The Raids Increase

During the Civil War, the Comanche raids increased in Texas, forcing many West Texas settlers to abandon their homes for the more secure towns in East Texas. U.S. troops abandoned their forts in Texas to the Confederacy, leaving nearby settlements even more vulnerable.  Because of the war, firearms were more plentiful and available for trade. Whiskey was offered to the Comanches packaged in gourds instead of glass bottles.  Because of the need for beef by U.S. military contractors, who needed the beef for Indian reservations and army troops in New Mexico, the Comanches raided Texas cattle drives along the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Texas longhorns were highly favored because they were easier to handle and could move long distances on little water without losing weight. During the late 1860’s, the trail became lined with the makeshift graves of Texas trail herders killed by the Comanches. Some had colorful epitaphs carved in sandstone grave markers, such as:

“He was young, and brave, and fair

But the Indians raised his hair.”

 Whiskey Gourds

 

Hittson Hits Back

One Texas rancher wasn’t going to stand for it any longer. John Hittson, a former sheriff of Palo Pinto County, made a fortune rounding up ownerless cattle in Throckmorton County and then marketing them in Mexico. In 1872, he started moving his cattle herds to a rich grazing area near Deer Trail, Colorado. Driving his herds along the Goodnight Loving Trail in New Mexico subjected them to Comanche raids. Hittson decided to take matters into his own hands. Securing powers of attorney from fellow Texas ranchers, he employed ninety gunmen and moved into New Mexico with the intention of recovering Texas cattle taken by the Comanches and then traded to the Comancheros. Those New Mexicans who didn’t possess bills of sale for their cattle or had cattle with Texas brands on them were subjected to threats and confiscation. Who could argue with a Colt revolver pointed to their face. Ten thousand cattle were recovered before being sold without reimbursement to the Texas ranchers. Later that year, Hittson's operations ended following a slew of legal issues. Accusations flew that he pocketed the money from the sale of the stolen cattle, but the money was likely used to cover the expenses for Hittson’s operations.  Hittson later became a prominent rancher in Colorado with a passion for high living and excessive drinking. He died in 1880 from injuries sustained after being thrown from a wagon pulled by runaway horses. Hittson's raid into New Mexico gained significant press coverage, prompting the Texas legislature to scrutinize the Comanchero trade.

John Hittson

The Trade Collapses

The Comanchero trade reached its zenith during the 1860’s then collapsed the following decade. The decline of the Buffalo herds forced Native Americans to rely on U.S. government rations, provided they settled peacefully on reservations. Disease reduced their numbers. To make matters worse, the U.S. Army took to the field after immense pressure from Texas ranchers and government officials; the raids had to end. The end came in the form of a relentless U.S. cavalry officer-Colonel Ranald McKenzie, also referred to as “Bad Hand” because of a hand wound suffered during the Civil War. Heavily supplied by wagons, McKenzie’s troopers pursued the remaining bands of Comanches without letup, destroying their villages, horses, and food supplies in the Texas Panhandle. McKenzie’s heavy-handed methods against the Comancheros forced them to reveal and assist in the location of Comanche villages. In 1874, the remaining Comanches surrendered and were forced into reservations in Southwest Oklahoma near Fort Sill. Now under the tight control of the U.S. military and local law enforcement, the Comancheros were forced to end their trading.

Colonel Ranald "Bad Hand" McKenzie

Check It Out

Read the book "Comanche Empire" by Pekka Hamalainen. This is one of the most fascinating books I've read on Texas History. Forget what you know about the Comanches. They were extremely resourceful and more powerful than most history books suggest.