Read “Empire of the Summer Moon”, an excellent history of the Comanche Indians in Texas and Oklahoma during the 1800’s.
I’ve read a lot of history books which dealt with wars, conquests, and tribal warfare. When it came to savagery, cruelty beyond imagination, and atrocities, the Comanches were absolutely the worst American Indian tribe by far.
After I read this book, it confirmed for me that some cultures/societies throughout human history deserved to be defeated and exterminated. The Comanches were one of these cultures.
I guess Ethan Edwards was right.
The Boy Captives: (Clinton And Jeff Smith)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1224046.The_Boy_Captives
From the Texas State Historical Association website.
SMITH, CLINTON LAFAYETTE AND JEFFERSON DAVIS. Clint and Jeff Smith were captured on February 26, 1871, by Lipans and Comanches while herding sheep near the Smith home on Cibolo Creek between San Antonio and Boerne. They were the sons of Henry Smith, a Texas lawman and rancher from Pennsylvania, and Frances Short, a native of Alabama and a member of the controversial Short clan of Fayette County, Texas. When an initial rescue effort led by the brothers’ two sisters Amanda (Lane) and Caroline (Coker) failed, Capt. Henry Smith and Capt. John W. Sansom, a cousin, assembled a large body of Texas Rangersqv and local militia, who, along with a posse led by Capt. Charles Schreiner, pursued the Indians from near Kendalia to Fort Concho in West Texas. The rescue attempt was futile, however, and for the next five years, until Clint and Jeff were returned to their families, Henry Smith offered a reward of $1,000 for each of the boys. The panoramic tale of their captivity, laced with predictable adventures, a few inconsistencies, and the names of many prominent chiefs, including Geronimo, was compiled by J. Marvin Hunter. The brothers were interviewed in their sixties after they, along with Herman Lehmann, had long enjoyed their fame as “frontier” celebrities and performers of the Old West. The book was reprinted in 1965 and again, in 1986, by Milton O. Smith and other descendants of Clint Smith. Beyond the tale of their captivity and reacculturation, both brothers led interesting lives as trail drivers, cowboys, and ranchers. Clint, who was born on August 3, 1860, married Dixie Alamo Dyche and fathered four sons and four daughters. A member of the Old Time Trail Drivers’ Association, he died on September 10, 1932, and was buried in the Rocksprings, Texas, cemetery. Jeff, handy with the fiddle and also an Old Time Trail Driver, was born on March 31, 1862, and married Julia Harriet Reed from Bandera County. They had five sons and one daughter. He died on April 21, 1940, and was buried in the Coker Methodist Cemetery in northwest San Antonio. A state historical marker was placed on Jeff’s grave in 1994.