Roshan Paul’s Reviews > Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History > Status Update

At this point, the book is describing the plight of the Texas Rangers in their journey to destroy Comanche presence from the republic. One of the most famous of the rangers was Jack Hays who was feared most by the Comanches and the Mexicans. He was the source of countless legends of the Old West and was known for his quick ability to adapt his war strategies. After Hays, everybody was mounted with six-shooters.

At this point in the book the author is depicting the initial strategies of Texans to basically eradicate all Indian presence in the land. This was because of Lamar, the new Texan president (Texas was a republic at the time), who "believed that Indians should be either expunged from Texas or killed outright". Removing the sedentary tribes in Texas was easy but eradicating Comanche presence was soon seen as impossible

At this point in the book it's discussing the false conceptions held by Americans about the natives and how they were "heroic and noble" (Gwynne 84). Gwynne then describes the reality of their lifestyle and their different standards of moral behavior. The Comanches were known for cruelty and violence, often torturing and raping their victims but surprisingly "saw absolutely nothing wrong with these acts" (Gwynne 85).