![]() ![]() The first Indians to take up the horse, they had an aptitude for horsemanship akin to that of Genghis Khan’s Mongols. ![]() And the Comanche were a small, relatively primitive tribe roaming the area that is now Wyoming and Montana, until around 1700, when a migration southwards introduced them to escaped Spanish mustangs from Mexico. There were no horses at all in the Americas until the Spanish conquerors brought them. The key to the Comanche’s brutal success was that they adapted to the horse even more skilfully than the Apaches. When they first migrated to the great plains of the American South in the late 18th century from the Rocky Mountains, not only did they achieve dominance over the tribes there, they almost exterminated the Apaches, among the greatest horse warriors in the world. Real-life: White Wolf, a Comanche Chief, pictured in the late 19th century They were as imperialist and genocidal as the white settlers who eventually vanquished them. Not only were the Comanche specialists in torture, they were also the most ferocious and successful warriors - indeed, they become known as ‘Lords of the Plains’. Matilda Lockhart’s six-year-old sister was among these unfortunates who died screaming under the high plains moon.’ ‘They were skinned, sliced, and horribly mutilated, and finally burned alive by vengeful women determined to wring the last shriek and convulsion from their agonised bodies. ‘One by one, the children and young women were pegged out naked beside the camp fire,’ according to a contemporary account. When the Texans suggested they swap the Comanche prisoners for their captives, the Indians tortured every one of those captives to death instead. In turn, Texan soldiers opened fire, slaughtering 35 Comanche, injuring many more and taking 29 prisoner.īut the Comanche tribe’s furious response knew no bounds. When that Indian delegation to San Antonio realised they were to be detained, they tried to fight their way out with bows and arrows and knives - killing any Texan they could get at. But the Comanche never showed sympathy themselves. Not that you would know this from the new Lone Ranger movie, starring Johnny Depp as the Indian Tonto.įor reasons best know to themselves, the film-makers have changed Tonto’s tribe to Comanche - in the original TV version, he was a member of the comparatively peace-loving Potowatomi tribe.Īnd yet he and his fellow native Americans are presented in the film as saintly victims of a Old West where it is the white settlers - the men who built America - who represent nothing but exploitation, brutality, environmental destruction and genocide.ĭepp has said he wanted to play Tonto in order to portray Native Americans in a more sympathetic light. ‘All the men were killed, and any men who were captured alive were tortured the captive women were gang raped. It was a decision that prompted one of the most brutal slaughters in the history of the Wild West - and showed just how bloodthirsty the Comanche could be in revenge.īox office: Johnny Depp does the Hollywood version of Native American life in the new film When she mentioned she thought there were 15 other white captives at the Indians’ camp, all of them being subjected to a similar fate, the Texan lawmakers and officials said they were detaining the Comanche chiefs while they rescued the others. It wasn’t just her nose, her thin body was hideously scarred all over with burns. ![]() Once handed over, Matilda Lockhart broke down as she described the horrors she had endured - the rape, the relentless sexual humiliation and the way Comanche women had tortured her with fire. Both nostrils were wide open and denuded of flesh.’ ‘And her nose was actually burnt off to the bone. ‘Her head, arms and face were full of bruises and sores,’ wrote one witness, Mary Maverick. To gasps of horror from the watching crowds, the Indians presented her at the Council House in the ranching town of San Antonio in 1840, the year Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. Now, she was being offered back to the Texan authorities by Indian chiefs as part of a peace negotiation. She had been disfigured beyond all recognition in the 18 months she had been held captive by the Comanche Indians. The 16-year-old girl’s once-beautiful face was grotesque. ![]() Tribal myth: The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp as Tonto ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |