Fort Concho; Its Why And Wherefore-J. N. Gregory

part i of fort concho its why and wherefore by j n gregory the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo that brought to a close the war between the united states and mexico february two eighteen forty eight and the subsequent gadsden purchase of eighteen fifty three set the plan for the present boundaries between the two countries a vast area of plains deserts and mountains an unmapped and untravelled wilderness was now owned by the northern republic it was inhabited mostly by comanche apache kiowa and other warlike indian tribes and it stretched from the settlements of south and east texas and from the lower missouri river area to the new american settlements on the pacific coast great events were in the making when in california in eighteen forty eight gold nuggets were found in the tailrace of sutter's mill the word passed around quickly and the first modern international gold rush was on it put the first sizable amounts of precious metals into the coffers of the nations of the world since the spanish conquistadores ransacked the treasure-houses of peru and mexico it brought about modern mining practices and before the end of the century the search for gold was so international and intense that comparable strikes had been made in south africa australia canada and alaska resulting in fresh redistribution of populations not only in the united states but also in other portions of the world the problems accompanying such redistribution were plentiful and they are still plaguing us to this day but the lure that led men to our west was not gold alone the eldorado of man's dreams be it a gold vein oil patch store on main street cattle ranch or farm in peaceful valley can very well lie in any new and unexplored lands so it was then few men could afford for themselves families and belongings the cost of passage by sailing ship around the horn or by portage at the isthmus of panama from boston new york charleston new orleans galveston or indianola to san francisco besides that a fellow who was bent on making a trip liked to look over the country lying between home and his proposed destination so many found their el dorado not on the pacific coast but along the trails between the great river and the pacific ocean the inhabitants of the crowded east and the folks of the south felt their race old urge to get on the move towards more freedom and opportunity old windy horace greeley was soon to advise go west young man so go west they did young and old first by small companies on horseback or in buckboards then later by trains of covered wagons which carried their families and all earthly possessions grouped together for companionship as well as for protection against the indians population movements in the united states have generally gone from east to west in parallel lines once the atlantic seaboard was settled and so this great gold movement from east to west brought settlement of the intermediate lands between the mississippi river and the pacific ocean by the natural contrasting types of north-south peoples the great oregon and santa fe trails serviced the people of the more northerly parts of our country but for those in the southern parts a newer trail had to be found and by simple geography it had to cross texas you could enter the state from the sea at galveston indianola or corpus christi or by way of the land through fort smith in arkansas thence across the indian territory to the red river or directly from louisiana through the fairly well settled and organized counties of east texas but no matter how you entered there was only one way to get out, and so all trails converged on the Paso del Norte, present El Paso.

To get out of Texas south of El Paso would land you in Mexico.

To get out north of El Paso would take you across the Llano Estacado, which in those days was considered a vast treeless plain, unbroken by any topographic changes, and completely devoid of waterholes.

the accompanying map published in eighteen fifty six in yocum's history of texas shows clearly the political subdivisions and settlements of texas in those times a substantial part of the state from the panhandle to the upper rio grande appears to be completely uninhabited and therefore politically unorganized in a vague manner this vast area might be assumed to be an unannexed portion of the counties of bexar el paso presidio and travis this map does not speak approvingly of the llano estacado staked plains some called it from eighteen forty eight on to the recent past various trail drivers army officers and railroaders laid out trails from the settled parts of texas to the paso del norte always taking advantage of springs and water-holes and avoiding the llano estacado and the great limestone canyons of the rio grande and its tributaries that is all did but the builders of the southern pacific railroad they came later but yet too early to have the know-how of an arthur edward stillwell but that is another story a north-south trade route had existed for some two hundred years connecting spanish santa fe far north toward the headwaters of the rio grande south through the paso del norte to the settlements of the mother country of mexico the santa fe trail extended to california would cross this trade route at santa fe well up in the rocky mountains while the route through texas would cross it at el paso and so these two places became the supply dumps where the great wagon trains took on horses mules beef and other supplies that would see them across the final leg of the journey west it was a great opportunity for traders who had supplies to sell and the procuring middleman the one who contacted both producer and merchant was a man with great savvy and ability known as the comanche indian the comanche despised walking it was not adaptable to his method of making a living he was a plains indian and somewhere back in the sixteenth or seventeenth century had somehow accumulated his first mustangs from offspring of those horses lost by the conquistadores from spain prior to the arrival of the spaniards in america there were no horses as we recognize them now on either of the american continents now the comanche as a mounted man probably roamed the great plains from present wyoming to durango mexico it was easy to make a living on such a range it abounded in buffalo and the wise comanche knew all the water-holes he drove the wily apaches to the south until they crossed the rio grande and settled in a quasi peaceful manner in mexico or later chose arizona and new mexico and preyed on the settlers immigrants and prospectors From the records, the Comanche does not appear to have been a breeder of horses, cattle, or sheep, but as a procurer of such livestock, he had no peer.

Many years before, Lewis and Clark were sent to evaluate the northwestern part of the Louisiana Purchase Lands that Mr. Jefferson had bought from Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803. the comanche had learned to find his greatest pleasure and profit during his daring raids into the settlements of mexico raiding in great force as far south as the cities of chihuahua and durango the emotional inspiration for such forays on peaceful people was regarded as pure cussedness but a more profound study shows that the trophies of such raids excepting the scalps taken were horses cattle sheep and slaves many of the stolen horses were for the comanches personal use because it took many animals to make the great raid during the mexican moon the balance of the trophies was used for barter years before the purchase of eighteen o three he was trading his stolen stock and possibly his slaves to the french traders from the spanish french border near old nakotish pronounced nakotish on the lower Red River, or in later times, upon return from a successful raid, he roared out of Mexico and across the Rio Grande into Texas, south of the Chisos Mountains.

If short of war paint, he replenished his favorite red color from the outcroppings of Cinnabar near Terlingua Creek, then headed through the Badlands and out upon the range country by way of Persimmon Gap.

From the gap he went to Comanche Springs, present Fort Stockton, crossed the Pecos River at Horsehead Crossing, then rode north to the sand dunes to water a famishing flock, after which he headed east to the Sulphur and the Big Spring.

Then he turned northward around the caprock that marks the eastern extremity of the terrible Llano Estacado to proceed on north until he actually scrambled out upon the plateau.

then he proceeded towards santa fe to meet somewhere possibly at casa amarillas in that then desolate region the commoncheros or middlemen between himself and the mexican settlers of the epa rio grande valley near santa fe footnote one Amancheros, renegade Mexicans, half-breeds, and outlaw Americans who lived in Mexican settlements in New Mexico, from whence they traveled in small bands, usually by wagon or ox-cart, to the Llano Estacado, where they met the Comanches, Kiowas, or other Indians, and traded guns, ammunition, whiskey, and other desirable items for the products of the raids.

Robert T. Neal, San Angelo, Texas.

End footnote.

he traded his trophies to the camancheros for guns ammunition or other less practical adjuncts that might suit his fancy of the moment his mexican moon was then over and he returned to his portable village which he had left in some watered canyon that cut down eastward from the llano the route as followed by these indians was a well-marked trail and during the time of our westward migration it was well known and appears on the maps of the times another route into mexico broke off the western trail at the big spring and ran down the valley of the north concho river across the edwards plateau then through the passes of the balconies escarpment to cross the rio grande into mexico near the present city of eagle pass mr evats haley refers to these trails as the great comanche war trail and gives a wonderful description of the activity on them in his recent book fort concho and the texas frontier an old map from the army files in the national archives calls the western branch the grand comanche war trail but call the trails what you may they were still a stiff pain in the neck to anyone crossing them and for the wagon trains and cattle herds going west crossing was inevitable the greater raids into mexico appeared to have occurred rather regularly in september when the weather was most favorable and the chief objectives could be struck during the light of a full moon thus to the unhappy but fully expectant mexicans the september full moon was known as the comanche moon at this time mars the red god of war hangs low and molten in the late summer night sky and reflects a light that is as red as the sand and clay soils of the indian territory another favorite trick of these versatile middlemen was to raid the settlements down the rio grande valley south from santa fe and drive off the stock to a rendezvous with the camancheros who in turn traded them to unknowing mexican settlers at other points on the river during such raids it was deemed ethical but unprofitable to kill the settlers since without them there would be no stock to drive off in a later raid besides these mexican settlers did not seriously molest the buffalo such business sagacity however did not apply in later times to the republic of texas where each succeeding year saw new settlers break ground and homestead farther up the river valleys, whose streams had their origins in the motherland plains of the Comanche and Kiowa.