This project talks about hte lifestyle of comanche indians

1. HISTORY OF THE COMANCHE
INDIANS
BY - SRIHARSHINI XI

2. 1
CONTENTS PAGE NO.
INTRODUCTION 2
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3
RESEARCH QUESTION 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4
CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED 5
LIFE OF COMANCHE BEFORE THE EUROPEAN INVASION
- Lifestyle
- Comanche bands
- Geography
- Habitat
- Language
- Culture
- War paint
- Rituals & Ceremonies
- Skill set
- Artworks
6
THE COUNCIL HOUSE MASSACRE 13
COLONIALISM 16
COLONIAL ATTEMPTS ON COMANCHE 17
THE FIGHT AGAINST COLONIALISM 19
COMANCHE TRIBE AFTER COLONIALISM
- Language
- Religion
- Political system
- Geography, Population and the people in present day
- Mission of the tribe
19
CONCLUSION 23
BIBLIOGRAPHY 24

3. 2
INTRODUCTION :
The Comanche tribe were formidable people located in the
southern areas of the Great Plains. They were renowned as excellent horsemen. They
fiercely fought against enemy tribes of Native Indians and resisted the white
encroachment of the Great Plains.
For more than 150 years, the Comanche were the dominant native tribe in the region,
known as “the Lords of the Southern Plains”, though they also shared parts of
Comancheria with the Wichita, Kiowa, and Kiowa Apache and, after 1840, the southern
Cheyenne and Arapaho.
Once called the Lords of the Plains, the Comanches were long portrayed as loose
bands of marauding raiders who capitalized on the Spanish introduction of horses to
raise their people out of primitive poverty through bison hunting and fierce warfare.
Comanche Indians were responsible for one of the most brutal slaughters in the history
of the Wild West.
Their native language was almost wiped out while there was a growth of a new religion
.
The life of the native people before the colonization and after the colonization is
portrayed in this project.

4. 3
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES :
1. The life of the Comanches before the European colonization and the slow
process of how they were colonized
2. Resistance of Comanche against colonization
3. The changes the tribe underwent after they were colonized regarding their native
language
RESEARCH QUESTION :
1. How were the Comanche tribe destroyed by European settlement ?
2. How did European settlement change the native culture, the environment and the
daily lives of the Comanche tribe ?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY :
1. Look up various tribes that lived during the period of colonization in North
America and study about them
2. Selecting the Comanche tribe which acted differently when the European settlers
invaded the area
3. Finding books which talk about the lives of Comanche tribe and how the resisted
the settlers
4. Reading about the culture of the Comanche tribe and the animals which they
used for hunting buffaloes
5. Learning about the divisions among the tribe

5. 4
REVIEW OF LITERATURE :
1. Of all the indigenous tribes in North America, none stood stronger than the
Comanche. This Great Plains tribe is considered to be one of the strongest and
most warlike of the indigenous tribes and can even be compared to the Greek
Spartans of old. This empire ruled for hundreds of years, overtaking and
enveloping other tribes and nations in this area, however, this success would not
last forever. In three steady waves, the invasions by Spain, Mexico, and the
United States would crash upon this nation like a wave on the shoreline. Unlike
many other native nations, the Comanche initially stood strong against these
colonial powers through the adoption of their technologies and strategies, which
they used against the invaders. This warlike society’s ability to adopt their
enemy’s strategies, hit-and-run tactics, attempt at diplomacy, and all out warfare
allowed the Comanche to stand stronger and longer than other indigenous tribes
during this time. The Comanche tribe invoked a fierce bellicose nature that was
second to none in eighteenth century North America, which allowed it to defend
itself against the colonial powers of Spain, Mexico, and the United States with
relative success.Before the influence of the Spanish touched the Great Plains of
America in the sixteenth century, the Comanche Indians survived as a small
hunter-gatherer society.
2. This is what Indians did to Indians and this just happened to be Indians meeting
whites. But the automatic thing in battle is that all the adult males would be killed.
That was automatic. That was one of the reasons that Indians fought to the
death. The white men were astonished by it but they assumed that they would be
killed. Small children were killed. Very small children were killed. A lot of the
children in say, the 3-10 range were often taken as captives. The women were
often raped and often killed. And all of the people in those settlements back in
those years knew what a Comanche raid was — knew what a Comanche raid
meant. ... And it's an interesting kind of moral question as a historian about
Plains Indians or American Indians in general. You have to come to terms with
this — with torture, which they practiced all across the West — and these kind of
grisly practices that scared white people to death.
3. "Their lives were built on two things, really — it was war and buffalo. All of the
Plains Indians, once they got the horse from the Spanish, hunting became
easier for them. It was their way of life. The hunting began as a simple market

6. 5
exercise. Hunters figured out they could get $3.50 a hide. Then they figured out
they could ship these hides east on the new railroads. And they also figured out
that s were not smart enough to realize that if a next to the dropped, that there
was something wrong. They had to see the source of the danger. So you'd have
these people who would kill 3,500 in 28 days ... It occurred to the generals in the
West, specifically [Philip] Sheridan and [William] Sherman, that by allowing these
to be destroyed, they were creating the most efficient way to destroy Indians.
And Sheridan had a famous quote. He said, 'You kill the buffalo, you destroy the
Indian's commissary.' So it became political at the end. Yes, let's kill all the
buffalos and then it's the end of Plains Indians because there is no Plains Indian
without a buffalo."
CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED :
● Difficulty finding information about the changes undergone by the tribe after they
were free from the settlers.
● No details on the period of colonization and couldn’t find proper explanations for
certain topics.
● Not able to access certain websites
● Authenticity of certain informations ( about when the Comanches were
introduced to smallpox and how they came in contact with the disease )

7. 6
LIFE OF THE COMANCHES BEFORE THE EUROPEAN INVASION
LIFESTYLE:
The Comanche were a Uto-Aztecan tribe who moved into Texas from the north in the
1700's and displaced Lipan Apaches. A warlike tribe, akin to the Shoshone, they were
involved in conflicts with neighboring tribes, the Spanish, the Mexicans and the
Americans.
They were, however, closely allied with Kiowa tribe and later with southern bands of the
Cheyenne and Arapaho. Scalps of their enemies were taken as trophies. Battlefield
atrocities and torture were used to intimidate and humiliate enemies.
Their name for themselves was 'Nermernuh' meaning the "true humans." They were
great hunters and with the acquisition of the horse adopted the nomadic lifestyle, living
in teepees, on the Great Plains.
The name Comanche means “enemy” in the language of the Ute. In their own language
they called themselves Numinu meaning “the people”.
THE COMANCHE BANDS :
The Comanche tribe was made up of many different bands, and each band had its own
chief who was chosen by a council of important men.
Divisions were tribally organized groups of local bands linked together through kinship
ties, common cultural traditions, and political purpose.
The Comanche consisted of 5 major bands :
● Yamparika meaning “Root Eaters”
● Kotsoteka meaning “Buffalo Eaters”
● Penateka meaning “HoneyEaters”
● Nokoni meaning “Wanderers” or “Those Who Turn Back”
● Quahadis meaning “Antelopes”

8. GEOGRAPHY :
The Comanche are people of the Great Plains Native American cultural group. The
location of their tribal homelands are shown on the map.
The geography of the region in which they lived dictated the lifestyle and culture of the
Comanche tribe.
1. The American Great Plains region mainly extended across states of Iowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota
2. Tribal Territories: Southwest Oklahoma, Texas, California, and New Mexico
3. Land: Grass covered prairies with some streams and rivers
4. Climate: Hot summers and cold winters
5. Animals: The animals included the Bison (Buffalo), deer, cougars, elk, bear,
beaver, porcupine, antelope, prairie dogs, eagles and wolves
7

9. HABITAT :
The tribes lived in teepees, a pointed, tent-like structure made from sturdy poles and
hides.
Teepees could be easily put together and taken apart, which was helpful since the
Comanche were nomadic as they had to follow the buffalo herds.
The teepees were made from buffalo hides .
Fig 1.1
The above image shows Comanche women in front of a teepee made from
Bison/buffalo hide
8

10. LANGUAGE :
The Comanche tribe spoke in the Shoshonean or a Uto-Aztecan language. The Plains
tribes spoke in many different languages and used sign language to communicate with
each other.
Their native language suffered a huge blow during the colonization.
CULTURE :
The religion and beliefs of the Comanche tribe was based on Animism that
encompassed the spiritual or religious idea that the universe and all natural objects
animals, plants, trees, rivers, mountains rocks etc have souls or spirits.
They also believed in Gitchi Manitou which means the Great Spirit.
Fig 1.2
The above is a picture of the North American deity “Gitchi Manitou - The Great Spirit”
Paint symbols and color were yet another piece of the Comanche rite.
9

11. WAR PAINT :
In preparation for battle, they wore black war paint as a sign of aggressive power and
strength.
The coal-based paint was used to draw many symbols: a black hand-print symbolized
success in hand-to-hand combat, lightning designs stood for the warrior's speed and
power.
It wasn’t just the men that dressed for war. Warriors painted their horses too. They knew
every time the horse carried them into battle, the horse showed great bravery, and they
were valued and treated with respect for it.
Horses had marks of distinction to remember their past braveries as well. However,
unlike the Indian’s black war paint, for horses black paint was reserved for their return
trip home to show its success.
Many other important garments were worn into battle too, and the wives of great
warriors wore a decoration around their neck, painted for their husband’s war honors.
As with the rest of their way of life, the Comanche Indians held great meaning behind
each line of paint they wore.
10

12. Fig 1.3 Comanche painting themselves and their horses for war
RITUALS & CEREMONIES :
The rituals and ceremonies of the Comanche tribe and many other Great Plains Native
Indians, included the Sweat Lodge ceremony, the Vision Quest and the Sun Dance
Ceremony.
The sacred, ceremonial pipe (called a Calumet), ritually filled with tobacco was passed
among participants at all sacred ceremonies of the Comanche. The Calumet, was often
used to seal a peace treaty, hence the term 'Peace Pipe', but it was also used to offer
prayers in religious ceremonies and in war councils.
Fig 1.4
The picture above depicts the Camulet (Peace pipe or the Ceremonial pipe) used in
religious ceremonies and war councils for peace.
11

13. SKILL SET :
It was the horse that most clearly defined the Comanche way of life. It gave them
mobility to follow the buffalo herds and the advantage of hunting and conducting warfare
from horseback.
Horses also became a measure of Comanche wealth and a valuable trade commodity.
In horsemanship the Comanches had no equal.
Children learned to ride at an early age, and both men and women developed
exceptional equestrian skills.
ART WORKS :
Using sinew from the buffalo, the Comanche women made designs for bags, pouches
and knife holders.
Prior to the arrival of the white traders, decorations were made with porcupine needles
and claws from small animals. After trading started, women preferred to use the glass
beads sold in the forts as they were easier to work with.
Each tribe has its own distinct designs, and they tend to be passed down from
generation to generation. Girls learned to bead about the same time they learned to
walk.
12

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Fig 1.5
The beadwork shown above was done by the women of the Comanche tribe with glass
beads.
THE COUNCIL HOUSE MASSACRE :
The tale of privation and torture of Putnam children and the failure of Indians to deliver
the kidnapped children and other captives resulted in the start of the Council House
massacre.
The Council House Fight, often referred to as the Council House Massacre, was a fight
between soldiers and officials of the Republic of Texas and a delegation of Comanche
chiefs during a peace conference to forge a historic treaty ending the hostilities between
Texans and Comanche Indians in San Antonio on March 19, 1840.
The assembly started as a peaceful gathering but soon turned to violent fighting which
ended with 12 Comanche leaders shot to death inside the Council House, 23 others
shot in the streets of San Antonio, and 30 taken captive. The Comanche tortured 13
captives who were already there to death in response.
The Texans came to know about these 13 captives from a 16 year old girl who was a
captive of the Indians for over a year and a half and was brutally tortured.
Matilda Lockhart, who as a young girl was taken captive by Comanche Indians in the fall
of 1838, when she was about thirteen years old, along with four other children of
Mitchell Putnam and carried into the Guadalupe Mountains.

15. Fig 1.6
The girl depicted in the above picture is the victim Matilda Lockhart during her young
ages.
Mary Ann Maverick, who witnessed the event and helped to bathe and dress the girl
after she was returned, later recounted that Matilda had been badly tortured and was
utterly degraded, and could not hold up her head again.
Her head, arms, and face were full of bruises, and sores, and her nose actually burnt off
to the bone-all the fleshy end gone, and a great scab formed on the end of the bone.
Both nostrils were wide open and denuded of flesh.
She told a piteous tale of how dreadfully the Indians had beaten her, and how they
would wake her from her sleep by sticking a chunk of fire to her flesh, especially to her
nose.
Her body had many scars from the fire and her feet were burned to prevent her from
escaping.
According to Maverick, the girl never recovered from her experience and died two or
three years later.
14

16. Fig 1.7
The above image shows the picture of Comanche people burning the soles of Matilda’s
feet to prevent her from escaping.
During her two years with the Comanches, Matilda had learned to understand some of
the Comanches' language, and she revealed to the Texan authorities in San Antonio
that the Indians still held thirteen other captives and that they planned to bring them in
one by one and bargain for each in exchange for ammunition, blankets, and other
supplies.
This information played a crucial role in the turn of events and led to one of the
disastrous cultural clash that came from trying to negotiate land in the 1800s.
15

17. Fig 1.8
The scene shown in the picture above is that of the Council House Fight which took
place on 19th March 1840
COLONIALISM :-
The Comanche Wars were a series of armed conflicts fought between Comanche
peoples and Spanish, Mexican, and American militaries and civilians in the United
States and Mexico from as early as 1706 until at least the mid-1870s.
On June 2, 1875, the last group of Comanches called the Quahadis led by Quanah
Parker surrendered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The Comanche nation, reduced to one single tribe, surrendered after warring with
Colonel Mackenzie for 4 years.
With the surrender, the Comanches lost their identity as “Warriors” and the final
destruction of the Comanche nation.
16

18. 17
COLONIAL ATTEMPTS ON COMANCHE :-
● In 1864 Col. Christopher Carson led U.S. forces in an unsuccessful campaign
against the Comanche.
● In 1865 the Comanche and their allies the Kiowa signed a treaty with the United
States, which granted them what is now western Oklahoma (from the Red River
north to the Cimarron).
● Upon the failure of the United States to abide by the terms of the treaty, hostilities
resumed until 1867, when, in agreements made at Medicine Lodge Creek in
Kansas the Comanche settled on a reservation in Oklahoma.
● The government was unable to keep squatters off the land promised to the tribes,
and it was after this date that some of the most violent encounters between U.S.
forces and the Comanche took place.
Fig 1.9
The scene depicted below is the war between Col.Mackenzie and the Comanche
Indians who were led by Quanah Parker

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THE FIGHT AGAINST COLONIALISM :
Tribes that fought consolidation through the armed rebellions of the 1870s could find
reasons to accept reservation life once continued military action became untenable.
Once settled on reservations, these same tribes could deploy new strategies of
resistance to make reservation life more tolerable.
In this environment of religious innovation and resistance, new religious movements like
the Ghost Dance and peyote religion arose to challenge the legitimacy of U.S.
colonialism more directly through their revolutionary combinations of Native and
Christian forms.
COMANCHE TRIBE AFTER COLONIALISM :-
LANGUAGE :
Changes in the language began in the late 1800's when children were taken from their
homes and placed in boarding schools. They were discouraged from speaking their
native tongue, and disciplined harshly for doing so.
Government policy dictated the civilization of the First Americans, in part, by denying
them their language.
The children who were taught the language of their parents and grandparents couldn’t
speak it properly and it was bad.With this, the language was not spoken in the home.
English became the language of preference.
By the mid 1900's, elders who could speak the language fluently were dying at an
alarming rate and children were not being taught the language in order to maintain
speakers within the tribe. In 2006, there were 13,000 enrolled Comanches, yet there are
fewer than 1% who speak the language fluently.
Early attempts to maintain the language have been occasional, with language classes
and preservation efforts organized by individual tribal members, all working
independently, yet with a common goal to teach and preserve the Comanche language.
In July of 1993, the Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee was
formed with the vision of reviving the Comanche language into a "living language" once
again. Most of our fluent speakers are elderly, and they are not being replaced with new,
younger speakers as they pass on.

21. 20
RELIGION :
Beginning in the 1870s, a new religion formed around the ritual consumption of peyote
among Native Americans confined to reservations in western Indian Territory.
Peyote—a small, spineless cactus that produces visual and auditory hallucinations
when ingested—had long been used in healing rituals performed by Native American
tribes living near the Mexican border where the plant grew in the wild.
Peyote religion, however, emerged as a distinct phenomenon as the U.S. government
sought to consolidate its power through an aggressive campaign to assimilate Native
peoples to white, (mostly Protestant) Christian cultural norms in the late 19th century.
In this context, Native Americans who embraced peyote religion looked to the
transformative power of the rituals they developed to facilitate cultural changes that
would ensure the survival of their communities in a rapidly changing world.
Quanah Parker is closely associated with the history of peyote religion.
Although not the first or only peyote roadman to serve the Comanche people, Parker
played an outsized role in the diffusion of the new religion within his own tribe and
among other Native peoples.
Parker became a powerful Comanche war leader as a young man and vigorously
contested U.S. consolidation policies.
He conceded to white rule only when militant resistance appeared futile and embraced
integration with whites with intense interest once settled on the Kiowa-Comanche
reservation in southwestern Indian Territory in 1875.
Parker carefully negotiated his acceptance of white culture, adopting those practices
that offered spiritual and material benefits to him and his people and rejecting others.
This strategy allowed Parker to work closely with white Christian missionaries and
businessmen in support of Western-style education and commerce for his people while
rejecting the Protestant religion (especially its emphasis on monogamous marriage) that
Christian missionaries viewed as necessary for assimilation.
Parker’s desire to establish connections with his mother’s white relatives brought him
into contact with peyote.

22. 21
He suffered from a stomach ailment after being gored by a bull. Due to the
circumstances, Parker consumed peyote as part of a healing ritual in the mid-1880s and
attributed his cure to its power.
He became an ardent advocate of peyote religion, aggressively missionizing peyote’s
ritual consumption as a means to revitalize Native communities .
POLITICAL SYSTEM :
● The Comanche Nation is governed by the Constitution of the Comanche Nation.
The Tribal Council which consists of all enrolled members over the age of 18 is
the main governing body.
● Seven elected officials that are voted into office by the Tribal Council fill the
positions of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer, and the four seats of
Committeeman which collectively are called the Comanche Business Committee
(CBC).
● The Chief Of Staff (formerly known as the Tribal Administrator) is also elected by
the Tribal Council and responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Tribal
Government. The Comanche Business Committees' main objective is to carry out
the mission of the Constitution of the Comanche Nation.
GEOGRAPHY, POPULATION AND THE PEOPLE IN PRESENT DAY :
● The Comanche Nation’s main headquarters is located 9 miles north of Lawton,
Oklahoma.
● The Comanche tribe currently has approximately 17,000 enrolled tribal members
with around 7,000 residing in the tribal jurisdictional area around the Lawton, Ft
Sill, and surrounding counties.
● The honoring of warriors and medicine people still continues to this day within the
Comanche Nation. Organizations such as the Comanche Indian Veterans
Association serve as co-hosts at powwows and serve as color guard not only for
Comanche celebrations but also at funerals of Comanche veterans and active
military.

23. 22
● Also, leaders within the Comanche Native American Church continue to pray for
the Comanche people.
MISSION :
The mission of the Comanche Nation is to define, establish and safeguard the rights,
powers and privileges of the tribe and its members, to improve the economic, moral,
educational and health status of its members and to cooperate with and seek the
assistance of the United States in carrying out mutual programs to accomplish these
purposes by all possible means and to promote in other ways the common well-being of
the tribe and its membership.
All the while working to improve economic status, protect and manage the Nation's
natural resources and cultural heritage.

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CONCLUSION :
Comanche, the tribe who were known till date as the fiercest native american tribe were
colonized at last .
Today, their global contributions include serving as Code Talkers in World War II, using
their language in the Allied invasion of Normandy against the Nazis.
Despite the ultimate collapse of the Comanche empire, this great nation showed a
resistance to superior power that was second to none. Other than the Comanche, it was
rare for the Native American tribes to resist with even a fraction of the force and tenacity
of the Comanche.
The Comanche hardly showed this appeasing nature, instead they chose to rise up
against their adversaries, and they agreed to treaties only when it was beneficial for
them.
The Comanche upheld their bellicose resistance against the hungry conquests of Spain,
Mexico, and the United States until their eventual downfall as the nineteenth century
ended. As a young, nomadic tribe, the warrior society of the Comanche adapted to their
surroundings and grew into an empire that conquered much of the American Southwest
and Midwest
Despite showing tremendous strength and resistance, the Comanche eventually fell
beneath the treads of the military capitalist power of the United States, thus they faced
an existence within the bars of the reservation life.
In spite of the Comanche being far more successful in their resistance to these colonial
powers than any bordering tribes, they eventually fell like every other indigenous nation.
This cursed the Comanche to not only lose their land, but also their traditions, as they
were scattered and detained in lands they could no longer claim as their own.
The colonization affected everything about the tribe, but affected their native language
and their religion the most.
Now only a very few elders can speak the language Comanche fluently, and some
young people are working to keep their ancestral language alive while the religion has
shifted
In the present day, people have formed their own nation with their own defense services
and their own Comanche Constitution and live peacefully in their territory.

25. 24
BIBLIOGRAPHY :
1. The Comanche Empire : Pekka Hämäläinen (abstract 1)
2. The Rise And Fall Of The Comanche 'Empire' : NPR (abstract 2)
3. Empire of the Summer Moon : S. C. Gwynne (abstract 3)
4. Comanche tribe: Location and Clothes
5. Comanche Indian Fact Sheet
6. Comanche | History & Facts | Britannica
7. Comanche - Wikipedia
8. TSHA | Comanche Indian Reservation
9. THREE NATIONS, ONE PLACE: A Comparative Ethnohistory of Social Change
Among the Comanches and Hasinais During Spain's Colony
10.TSHA | Comanche Indians
11.Last Days of the Comanches – Texas Monthly
12.About Us | Comanche Nation
13.10 Things You Need to Know About the Comanche Nation - Indian Country
Today
14.Comanche - New World Encyclopedia
15.San Antonio’s Bloody Council House Fight: 175 Years Ago Today
16.The San Antonio Council House Fight “A Day of Horrors"
17.The rise of Peyote and Parker's part
18.The Comanche Language
19.The council house fight impact
20.Last days of the Comanches
21.Comanche Resistance against Colonialism
PPT :
HISTORY OF THE COMANCHE INDIANS