The “Lords of the Plains,” as the Comanches became known, are Native American Indians that were originally part of the Shoshone tribe of eastern Wyoming. The Pueblo Rebellion (1680) forced the Spanish to abandon their settlements in New Mexico and gave the Comanche Tribe their first horses. Their riding skills quickly became legendary and changed their lives radically as buffalo became easy prey. They epitomized the mounted plains warrior and had no equal. As moving targets the Comanche were difficult to hit and could fire a flurry of arrows towards an enemy while hanging under the neck of a galloping horse. They rapidly developed the light cavalry tactics that became associated with plains warfare.
The raid leader always travels first, he goes to the first camp first and when he camps he looks back at the others one after the other, when they have all arrived he holds a council and says, “Back in the village I decided to go to war, everybody knows it, women and children. Now I see you here, I feel glad, a big party – We are going to war.”
-Quanah Parker 1897
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