Santa Anna (Comanche war chief)
| Santa Anna | |
|---|---|
| Penateka leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1800 ca. Edward's Plateau, Texas |
| Died | 1849 Red River, Texas |
| Known for |
|
| Nickname(s) | Santana |
Santa Anna (c. 1800 – 1849) was a Native American War Chief of the Penateka tribe of the Comanche Indians.
Santa Anna was a member of the same tribe of the Comanche as the more famous Buffalo Hump. He was an important chief, though probably less influential than Buffalo Hump during the 1830s and 1840s. He was the first member of his tribe to visit Washington, D.C. He was originally, along with Buffalo Hump and Yellow Wolf (a.k.a. Little Wolf), a leader of Comanche resistance to Anglo settlement in Texas, especially during the period following the Council House Fight. He was the father of Carne Muerto, later a War Chief of the Quahadi tribe of Comanche.
Santa Anna, "a large, fine-looking man with an affable and lively countenance," rose to prominence in the years following the Texas Revolution. Ferdinand Roemer, a noted German scientist who was traveling in the Americas at the time of the meetings in the mid and late 1840s, attended the council between the chiefs and white representatives. He described the three Comanche chiefs present as 'serene and dignified,' characterizing Old Owl as 'the political chief' and Santa Anna as an affable and lively-looking 'war chief'.
Following the deadly Council House Fight, where the Comanche felt that the whites had slaughtered their envoys despite the promise of the white treaty flag, conflict between Comanches and migrating Anglo-Texans had become increasingly frequent. Santa Anna advocated armed and bitter resistance to the white invasion of the Comancheria, and gained prominence after the Council House Fight in San Antonio in 1840. For approximately the next five years he joined Buffalo Hump and a number of other war chiefs in conducting a series of raids and attacks on Anglo settlements, including the Great Raid of 1840, during which the Comanche burned two cities, and raided all the way to the sea.
Though it is today impossible to trace his direct involvement with any sort of precision, Santa Anna probably took part in the raids on Linnville and Victoria in 1840 and may have been present at the Battle of Plum Creek. Prior to 1845 he was firmly identified with the faction of his tribe that opposed accommodation with whites.
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