The Apache and Comanche: The History and Legacy of the Southwest’s Most Famous Warrior Tribes

by Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the tribes written by whites and tribesmen *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents From the “Trail of Tears” to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, the narrative of American history is incomplete without the inclusion of the Native Americans that lived on the continent before European settlers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. Among all the Native American tribes, the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans learned the hard way that the warriors of the Apache were perhaps the fiercest in North America. Based in the Southwest, the Apache fought all three in Mexico and the American Southwest, engaging in seasonal raids for so many centuries that the Apache struck fear into the hearts of all their neighbors. Given the group’s reputation, it’s fitting that they are inextricably associated with one of their most famous leaders, Geronimo. Descendants of people killed by “hostile” Apache certainly considered warriors like Geronimo to be murderers and thieves whose cultures and societies held no redeeming values, and even today, many Americans associate the name Geronimo with a war cry. The name Geronimo actually came about because of a battle he fought against the Mexicans. Over time, however, the historical perception of the relationship between America and Native tribes changed drastically. With that, Geronimo was viewed in a far different light, as one of a number of Native American leaders who resisted the U.S. and Mexican governments when settlers began to push onto their traditional homelands. Like the majority of Native American groups, the Apache were eventually vanquished and displaced by America’s westward push, and Geronimo became an icon for eluding capture for so long. On the north side of San Antonio, Texas, a stone tower sits atop a hill in a city park. Originally, the tower was manned and served to warn the residents of San Antonio of the approach of Comanche raiding parties. In Texas, the Comanche are vilified and serve as a convenient reminder of the difficulties and hardships faced and overcome by brave white settlers. In reality, the Comanche provided settlers in Texas what William S. Burroughs called “a modicum of challenge and danger.” For many Texans, the word “Comanche” is still akin to a curse word. For centuries, the Comanche thrived in a territory called Comancheria, which comprised parts of eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, Oklahoma, and some of northwest Texas. Before conflicts with white settlers began in earnest, it’s been estimated that the tribe consisted of more than 40,000 members. While the Comanche are still a federally recognized nation today and live on a reservation in part of Oklahoma, they have remained a well-known tribe due to their 19th century notoriety. Indeed, the conflict between the Comanche and white settlers in the Southwest was particularly barbaric compared to other native tribes. During Comanche raids, all adult males would be killed outright, and sometimes women and children met the same fate. On many occasions, older children were taken captive and gradually adopted into the tribe, until they gradually forgot life among their white families and accepted their roles in Comanche society. Popular accounts written by whites who were captured and lived among the Comanche only brought the terror and the tribe closer to home among all Americans back east as well. The Apache and The History and Legacy of the Southwest’s Most Famous Warrior Tribes comprehensively covers the cultures and histories of the two tribes, profiling their origins and their lasting legacy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 1, 2016

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Austen Miller Aceituna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent little book. Doesn't seem to leave out anyone's atrocities.
One glaring mistake, though.
In the first half while talking about the Apache it refers to the Ute several times as if they're part of the Athabaskan (Navajo-Apache) language group and came from Alaska and Canada with that group. Even a cursory Wikipedia search will tell you this is wrong because the Ute are part of the Uto-Aztec group (it's even named after them) from Mexico.
Not sure how something glaring like that ended up here. This book is from 2016 so it's not exactly outdated. Even weirder is that in the second half about the Comanche it refers to the Ute accurately because the Comanche are part of their same language family.
Other than that I didn't notice anything and it's a good little read.

[Bill Lehman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Hard Read

I found this book to be very hard to get into, and found I had to force myself to continue reading. The book offers a lot of information, some of which I had never read before.

[Randall Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice overview

The book summarizes. Apache and Comanche history. For someone curious and uninformed about the details and of these Native American tribes, this is a great starter book. Many more details can be flee Ed from other publications.

[Sean Showalter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and concise history with some surprising revelations, yet I gave it only 3 stars because it was quite dry. Plus, I was hoping to hear some more gory torture methods, like soldiers being skinned alive or something. This was really rather PG-13.

[Rebecca WAdsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so much a true book but a collection of historical observations put in chronological order.

[Charles Burgamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Facts about the Apache and Comanche

A book filled with numerous historical facts about two major Native American bands or nations.It is an interesting and easy reading.

[Sherry W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

History

Great historical information I love history and this was very informative and easy to read. Very enjoyable. A good read for any history buff.

[Danielle Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was this book written by high schoolers? The flow is awful and there’s a ridiculous amount of grammatical errors.

[robert e. rayunas · Rating 4 out of 5]

War story!

How to learn about the Native American is found in this book! Indian lore Is told in this book that provides insight into the history of the south west. Tough time to live!