Comanche Campaign

Comanche campaign
Date 1867–1875 Location Texas, United States Result United States victory Medicine Lodge Treaty Comanche surrender and relocation
Belligerents
United States	Comanche
Commanders and leaders
William Sherman Ranald Mackenzie	Unknown

United States victory

The Comanche campaign is a general term for military operations by the United States government against the Comanche tribe in the newly settled west. Between 1867 and 1875, military units fought against the Comanche people in a series of expeditions and campaigns until the Comanche surrendered and relocated to a reservation.

Western settlement brought the Spanish, French, English, and American settlers into regular contact with the native tribes of the region. Many of these Indians were friendly, and received the new settlers gladly, offering to trade and coexist peacefully, while other tribes resisted the newcomers. The idea of Manifest Destiny as well as the Homestead Act pushed American and immigrant settlers further west, thereby creating more competition for a finite amount of land. This competition for land created tension between the Anglo settlers and the Natives of the region. In an effort to prevent conflicts in the area, many treaties were signed promising land and peace between the two parties, but such treaties were rarely honored. The Comanche tribe was one of the main sources of native resistance in the region that became Oklahoma and Texas, and often came into conflict with both other tribes and the newer settlers. With the outbreak of the Civil War, some Indian tribes attempted to align themselves with what they believed would be the winning side. In the case of the Comanche, the tribe signed a treaty with the Confederacy, and when the war ended they were forced to swear loyalty to the United States government at Fort Smith. This did little to end the cycle of raiding which had come to typify this region. Spreading over a large expanse of the southern plains, the Comanche fought hard diplomatically to maintain power in the region they controlled. In the Treaty of Little Arkansas in 1865, the Comanche tribe was awarded a large piece of land spanning parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Some parts of this region, called the Comancheria, soon became part of the reservation system.

This treaty was later followed by the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867, which helped to solidify the reservation system for the Plains Indians. These policies eventually became part of President Ulysses S. Grant’s Peace Policy, which prioritized missionary work and education over fighting. President Grant’s Peace Policy became an important part of the white-Indian relations for a number of years.

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