The Great Raid of 1840 was the largest raid ever mounted by Native Americans on white cities in what is now the United States.[3] It followed the Council House Fight, in which Republic of Texas officials attempted to capture and take prisoner 33 Comanche chiefs and their wives, who had earlier promised to deliver 13 white captives they had kidnapped.[4] Because of the poor amount this Penateka band of Southern Comanche received for the ransom of nine year old, James Putnam weeks before, they only brought a 16-year-old Matilda Lockhart.[5][6]Just as they had done to the Mexican's and Santa Fe'ans for nearly a century, the Penaketa wanted to ensure they'd received a higher payment before ransoming the other whites they had abducted.[7] This tactic, together with the terrible treatement they had wrought on Miss Lockhart backfired and the Indians found themselves taken hostage for a prisoner exchange.[4] An attempt to escape, followed by the brandishing of knives, tomahawks the Comanche had secreted between their wives' blankets led to the massacre of all the male Indians except two elderly men, who along with the women were taken hostage.
In response to the killings and hostage taking, the southern Comanche, led by chief Buffalo Hump raised a huge war party of many of the bands of the Comanche, and raided deep into white-settled areas of Southeast Texas stealing horses and taking more white captives.
Penateka first war chief Buffalo Hump was determined to do more than merely complain about what the Comanches viewed as a bitter betrayal. Spreading word to the other bands of Comanches that he was raiding the white settlements in revenge, Buffalo Hump led the Great Raid of 1840.[8] Buffalo Hump, Penateka second war chief Yellow Wolf, Penateka third war chief Santa Anna and Isimanica gathered at least 400 warriors, with (maybe 500) wives and young boys along to provide comforts and do the work and, in the summer, raided the settlements between Bastrop and San Antonio. In mid-July they were ready and Comanches from every division (Nokoni, Kotsoteka, Yamparika and Kwahadi) were roaming through Texas. Altogether as many as a thousand Comanche may have set out from West Texas on the Great Raid.[9] On this raid the Comanches went all the way from the plains of west Texas to the cities of Victoria and Linnville on the Texas coast. In what may have been the largest organized raid by the Comanches to that point, they raided and burned these towns and plundered at will.[10]
The northern Comanche did not attend the raid on Texas, they had been on their own raid into Mexico stealing and kidnapping Mexican boys to act as their herders for subsequent raids. Before returning, these attacked the Lipan Apache and Tonkawa[11]
Victoria
The huge war party crossed into central Texas and first attacked the town of Victoria, August 6, 1840. Although rangers had found the tracks of a gigantic war party coming out of West Texas, and were shadowing the onrushing Comanches, part of the war party broke off and attacked Victoria before the citizens could be warned. One resident wrote, "We of Victoria were startled by the apparitions presented by the sudden appearance of six hundred mounted Comanches in the immediate outskirts of the village."[12] The citizens of Victoria hid in the buildings, and the Comanches, after killing a dozen or so townspeople and riding up and down, departed Victoria when rifle fire from the buildings began to make the riding dangerous. The war party intended to gather horses and loot the coastal towns, which were not as prepared for the Comanches as the central Texas cities. After the attack on Victoria, the Comanches camped the night of August 6 on nearby Spring Creek.
Leaving Victoria August 7, 1840, the Comanches continued on toward Linnville camping the night on Placido (now Placedo) Creek on the ranch of Plácido Benavides, about twelve miles from Linnville.[13]
Early August 8, 1840, the Comanches surrounded the small port of Linnville, Texas, which was the second largest port in the Republic of Texas at the time, and began pillaging the stores and houses. Linnville, of which nothing remains, was located 3.5 miles northeast of present-day Port Lavaca.[14] The Comanches reportedly killed three whites, including customs officer Hugh Oran Watts, who had delayed his escape to retrieve a gold watch at his home (reportedly a family heirloom). After killing Watts, the Comanche captured his wife of only three weeks, the former Juliet Constance, and a black woman and child.[citation needed]
Realizing that the plains Indians would have no experience on water, the townspeople fled prudently from the Comanche raiders to the safety of the water. They were saved by remaining aboard small boats and a schooner captained by William G. Marshall, which was at anchor in the bay. While safe in the water, the refugees witnessed the destruction and looting of their town, unable to do a thing except curse them.[3]
For that entire day the Comanches plundered and burned buildings, draping themselves grandly in top hats and stolen linens. They tied feather beds and bolts of cloth to their horses, and dragged them. They herded large numbers of cattle into pens and slaughtered them. One outraged citizen, Judge John Hays, grabbed a gun and waded ashore through the shallow water, and roared at the bemused warriors, but the Indians chose to spare him, believing him mad. He later found that he had waded ashore to face nearly a thousand Indians with an unloaded pistol.[15]
At the time of the Great Raid, many trade goods were en route from overseas to New Orleans, Louisiana to San Antonio, Texas and Austin, Texas; a total inventory valued at over $300,000 was reported to be at Linnville at that moment, including an undisclosed amount of silver bullion. Linn noted that in addition to the cloth and other trade goods usually present in his warehouse at that time were several cases of hats and umbrellas belonging to James Robinson, a San Antonio merchant. "These the Indians made free with, and went dashing about the blazing village, amid their screeching squaws and `little Injuns,' like demons in a drunken saturnalia, with Robinson's hats on their heads and Robinson's umbrellas bobbing about on every side like tipsy young balloons."[9] After loading loot onto pack mules, the raiders, finally began their retreat on the afternoon on August 8, 1840.[citation needed]
With between 1,500 and 3,000 horses, two dozen scalps and half a dozen captives, the Comanche returned home in a large and slow moving procession.
The Rangers had been trailing the war party for some time, unable to engage them because of their sheer numbers.[16] But the three days of looting at Linnville gave the militia and Ranger companies a chance to gather. Volunteers from Gonzales, Texas, under Mathew Caldwell and from Bastrop under Ed Burleson, with all the ranger companies of east and central Texas, moved to intercept the Indians. They made contact at Plum Creek, near the city of Lockhart, Texas, on August 12, 1840.[8] The Comanches, who normally fared about as a fast and deadly light cavalry, were detained considerably by the captives and slower pack mules. The normal Comanche tactic was to ride as fast as possible away from the scene of a victory, but on this occasion they slowed to a gentler pace acceptable to the heavily laden pack mules.
Tonkawa spies and rangers under Captain Henry McCullough brought word of the Comanche's approach and that they were nearing a boggy field on the fore side of Plum Creek which would severely hamper their flight. McCullough requested a charge which was granted by General Felix Houston and all hell broke loose. Hearing the charge, the Comanche immediately turned toward the mountains of Rio Blanco and San Marcos to make their escape but were hampered by their flight. Their women and elderly formed into the center of the caravan and the men took defensive positions. Some of the warriors out in the lead, leapt off their mounts and from behind the trunks of post oaks, began providing cover for their escaping comrades. These sharp shooters aimed at the attacking cavalry’s horses causing some to fall from their mounts.
With revolvers and swords in hand these Texian farmers chased the snipers through choking clouds of acrid smoke while the main body attacked the center. The Indians abandoned their immense booty and left the captives behind and made a mad dash to safety - all except for captive, Mrs. Crosby, who, rather than allow her to escape, an Indian skewered her and a black woman with a lance. He or another Indian shot Mrs. Watts with an arrow before speeding away. [17][18]
"Just as the retreat commenced, I heard the scream of a female voice in a bunch of bushes close by. Approaching the spot, I discovered a lady endeavoring to pull an arrow out that was lodged firmly in her breast. This proved to be Mrs. Watts, whose husband the [Indians] killed at Linville.[18]
The friendly Tonkawa chief, Placido won the admiration of the soldiers. He had arrived on foot but soon mounted a white horse from which a Comanche had been shot and chased the wild Indians. Brown recalled that Placido was six feet two inches, handsomely formed, of majestic bearing, a master in horsemanship and the soul of untutored honor, ashamed of the vices of his tribe he was the favorite with every honest white man who personally knew him. A braver man never walked the soil of Texas.”[17]
The plunder was saved by the Texans. It was folly, as all knew, to chase the Comanche on horseback. They returned to their lodges and the women pulled the hair from their heads in greif from the loss of nearly 40 of their loved ones while the men plotted revenge.
In their wake, the Comanche left 23 unarmed civilians dead around Lavaca. Their expedition was a total failure, losing all of their booty.
“The number of Comanches killed, we never ascertained.” Wrote William B. Dewees upon his return home just days after the fight:
"But it was quite large. Of our own men, not one was killed… Perhaps it may seem foolish in me to attempt to describe to you the brutality and cruelty which savage nations practice upon their prisoners, since you have ever been familiar with the heart sickening tales of their barbarity in the settlement of our own native land. But dear friend, one could never realize the full extent of their savage ferocity, unless he has had the pain of seeing instances of it. The prisoners whom we were so fortunate as to liberate from these Comanches, were so completely covered with the stripes and bruises which they had received from their merciless enemies. Among the spoil which we took from the Comanches, we found large portions of human flesh evidently prepared for cooking. The very thought of their barbarity causes a chill to creep through my veins. One woman who was taken prisoner by these Indians, told me that two of her children had been taken with her, one of these being very small hindered her progress. Which one of the Indians perceiving snatched it from her and dashed out its brains against a tree. The morning mother kept on her course sadly, yet not daring to utter a word of complaint. Soon her other child who had been placed upon a pack horse, manifested evident signs of failing strength, and inability to keep up with the savages, then the mother's feelings were destined to undergo fresh trials. The cup was filled to the brim and she was forced to drink the bitter draft. Her fortitude was put to another test and wrought up to the highest pitch. The indians perceiving the failing strength of the child, fell upon him with their spears, and having deprived him of the last flickering flame of life, cast his mangled corpse aside to be food for the hungry vultures. Who can paint the agony of the mother's feelings as she beheld both her little ones destroyed in this brutal manner by the hands of her savage masters. Her own safety required her to witness this horrid spectacle with composure. One word of murmur or complaint from her, would have caused them to put her to instant death."[19]
↑ Utley, Robert M. (16 May 2002). Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers. Oxford University Press. p.39. ISBN978-0-19-992371-7. "In their drive to the Gulf they had slain twenty citizens, but at Plum Creek they had lost, besides human casualties, all the stock scooped up at Victoria and most of the merchandise taken from the Linnville warehouses."
1 2 The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier. Arthur H. Clarke Co. 1933.
↑ Dolbeare, Benjamin, and Webster, Dolly. A Narrative of the Captivity and Suffering of Dolly Webster Among the Camanche Indians in Texas: With an Account of the Massacre of John Webster and His Party, as Related by Mrs. Webster. United States, Yale University Library, 1986.
↑ Maverick, Mary Adams, and Maverick, George Madison. Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick: Arranged by Mary A. Maverick and Her Son Geo. Madison Maverick. United States, Alamo printing Company, 1921.
↑ Kavanagh, Thomas W. The Comanches: A History, 1706-1875. United States, University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
1 2 The Comanches: Lords of the Southern Plains. University of Oklahoma Press. 1952.
↑ The Morning Star. (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 77, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 1, 1840 Page: 2 of 4
↑ John J. Linn, Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas (1883).
↑ The old road from Victoria to Linnville, and the location of the Plácido Benavides ranch (shown on the map as "Placido Venabides"), are shown on an 1858 map of Victoria County. Pressler, Charles W.. Victoria County, Map, November 21, 1858; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth89041/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Texas General Land Office, Austin, Texas.
↑ Roell, Craig. "Handbook of Texas Online". LINNVILLE, TEXAS. University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
↑ He was saved because of the Comanche reverence for the mad, a reverence shared by most Native American cultures.University of Texas Handbook
↑ Jodye Lynn Dickson Schilz, Thomas F. Schilz (1989), Buffalo Hump and the Penateka Comanches, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas Western Press
1 2 The Dallas Daily Herald. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 156, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 12, 1874 Page: 2 of 4
1 2 Wilbarger, John Wesley. Indian Depredations in Texas. United States, Eakin Press, Statehouse Books, 1985.
↑ DeWees, William Bluford, and Kimball, Emaretta C. Letters from an Early Settler of Texas. United States, Morton & Griswold, 1852.
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Foster, Morris. Being Comanche.
Frazier, Ian. Great Plains. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.
John, Elizabeth and A.H. Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds: The Confrontation of the Indian, Spanish, and French in the Southwest, 1540–1795. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1975.
Jones, David E. Sanapia: Comanche Medicine Woman. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974.
Lodge, Sally. Native American People: The Comanche. Vero Beach, Florida 32964: Rourke Publications, Inc., 1992.
Richardson, Rupert N. The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1933.
Rollings, Willard. Indians of North America: The Comanche. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.
Secoy, Frank. Changing Military Patterns on the Great Plains. Monograph of the American Ethnological Society, No. 21. Locust Valley, NY: J. J. Augustin, 1953.
Streissguth, Thomas. Indigenous Peoples of North America: The Comanche. San Diego: Lucent Books Incorporation, 2000.
Wallace, Ernest, and E. Adamson Hoebel. The Comanches: Lords of the Southern Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952.
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