Comanche–Mexico Wars

Comanche–Mexican Wars

The Comanche were famous for their horsemanship. By George Catlin, 1835.

Date	1821 – ca. 1870
Location	Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa
Result	Many successful raids by Comanche

Belligerents

Mexico

Comanche
Kiowa

The Comanche–Mexico Wars was the Mexican theater of the Comanche Wars, a series of conflicts from 1821 to 1870s which consisted of large-scale raids into northern Mexico by Comanches and their Kiowa allies which left thousands of people dead. The Comanche raids were sparked by the declining military capability of Mexico in the turbulent years after it gained independence in 1821, plus a large and growing market in the United States for stolen Mexican horses and cattle.

By the time the United States army invaded northern Mexico in 1846 during the Mexican–American War the region was devastated. Comanche raids into Mexico continued until 1870. The Comanche were finally defeated by the U.S. in 1875 and forced onto a reservation.

In the words of U.S. Army General James Wilkinson the Comanche were "the most powerful nation of savages on this continent." That power would be amply demonstrated as the United States and the newly independent country of Mexico contested ownership of Texas and much of the area now known as the Southwest of the U.S. The Comanche considered themselves owners of a 500-by-400-mile (800 by 640 km) block of land that stretched from the Arkansas River in Colorado to near the Rio Grande in Texas. In the early nineteenth century, more than 10,000 Comanches shared this land, called Comancheria, with 2,000 Kiowa and Plains Apache (Kiowa-Apache). They sometimes granted hunting rights to other tribes, such as the Wichita.

The Comanche came to the attention of the Spanish in New Mexico in 1706 and were a severe threat until peace treaties were concluded with their eastern bands by Pedro Vial in 1785 and their western bands in 1786. The Spanish welcomed the Comanche as an ally against the Apache, forgave their transgressions, traded manufactured items and corn to them for horses, captives, and buffalo meat, and showered them with gifts. The mutually beneficial relationship between Spaniards and Comanches began to come apart in 1821 when Mexico won its independence from Spain. The new country had no resources to continue paying tribute to the Comanche and was embroiled in domestic political disputes rather than paying attention to troubles on its northern frontier.

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Wikipedia