Comanche Wars

Comanche Wars

 

Kit Carson Becomes a Hero

The Comanche Wars were nothing more than isolated skirmishes between the Comanche, Kiowa, and other southern plains tribes and American settlers in the flatlands of northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. Like most of the Indian Wars, the Comanche Wars were fought because of White encroachment on Indian lands. In the First Battle of Adobe Walls (1864), named for a ramshackle trading post near modern-day Amarillo, U.S. Military forces under Kit Carson defeated a huge force of Comanche and Kiowa warriors that outnumbered them by over 4,000. The result of the battle made Kit Carson a frontier hero.

Broken Promises; the Treaty of Medicine Lodge

As White settlement in the southern plains increased in the early and mid 1800's, Comanche villages were decimated by diseases such as smallpox and cholera that wiped out nearly 80 percent of the population. In 1867, the struggling Comanche signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge with the U.S. Government. In the treaty, the Comanche surrendered most of their ancestral land in exchange for churches, schools, and annual payments. In addition, the government agreed to regulate the White buffalo hunters, who had decimated the great herds. The government, however, failed to keep this promise.

Fort Sill

In 1874, Comanche warriors under White Eagle ambushed a group of 28 buffalo hunters in the Texas Panhandle, in what came to be known as the 2nd Battle of Adobe Walls. The attack failed, and U.S. military forces forced the remaining resistance into a tiny reservation known as Fort Sill in Oklahoma. The reservation totaled only 5,000 square miles - a fraction of the Comanche ancestral lands. In 1892, the reservation was reduced in size once again to only 480,000 acres.


Discussion Questions
  • How did Kit Carson’s actions during the First Battle of Adobe Walls shape his reputation on the American frontier?
  • What role did disease and broken promises play in the decline of the Comanche people?
  • Why did the Treaty of Medicine Lodge fail to protect the Comanche and their way of life?
  • What does the reduction of the Fort Sill reservation reveal about U.S. government policy toward Native American land rights?

Kit Carson Becomes a Hero

The Comanche Wars were a series of small battles between the Comanche, Kiowa, and other southern plains tribes and American settlers in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. Like many Indian conflicts, the fighting started because settlers took over Native land. In 1864, at the First Battle of Adobe Walls, Kit Carson led U.S. troops and defeated a much larger Native force. This victory made Carson a well-known frontier hero.

Broken Promises; the Treaty of Medicine Lodge

As settlers moved into the plains in the 1800s, diseases like smallpox and cholera killed much of the Comanche population. In 1867, the Comanche signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, giving up most of their land in return for schools, churches, and yearly payments. The U.S. also promised to control buffalo hunters who were destroying the herds, but that promise was not kept.

Fort Sill

In 1874, Comanche warriors led by White Eagle attacked 28 buffalo hunters in the Texas Panhandle during the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. The attack failed, and the U.S. military pushed the remaining Comanche onto a reservation called Fort Sill in Oklahoma. The reservation was much smaller than their original land—first 5,000 square miles, then reduced again in 1892 to just 480,000 acres.