Comanchero Frontier

Description

This is a history of the Comancheros| or Mexicans who traded with the Comanche Indians in the early Southwest. When Don Juan Bautista de Anza and Ecueracapa| a Comanche leader| concluded a peace treaty in 1786| mutual trade benefits resulted| and the treaty was never afterward broken by either side. New Mexican Comancheros were free to roam the plains to trade goods| and when Americans intruded| the Comanches and New Mexicans even joined in a loose| informal alliance that made the American occupation of the plains very costly. Similarly| in the 1860s the Comancheros would trade guns and ammunition to the Comanches and Kiowas| allowing them to wreak a gruesome toll on the advancing Texans.