THE SANTA FEAN LAGAZINE, May 1993, 18
Chief of all Comanche
THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE
Cuerno Verde
Vol.21 No.4 May 1993 Storv. Charles Bennett
One hundred and fifty years after New Mexico
had been established as a province of New Spain, it
still had all the semblances of a rough-hewn fron-
tier colony. The biggest threat to New Mexicans,
Spaniards and Pueblo Indians alike was raids con-
ducted by the nomadic Indian groups living on the
surroundingi fringes of the province. Incessant
raidingi by Apaches, Utes, Navajos and Comanche
througihout much of the 18th century brought the
province to the very brink of extinction.
Incessant Governor V6lez Cachupin tried to win the
friendship of the Comanche in the summer of I75I
raiding by by holding a council with a group who had gone to
Apaches, Taos to trade. The governor gave them presents
and told them that peace would prevail unless the
Utes, Navajos Comanche should steal any horses or attack Pecos
and Pueblo, in which case he would wage war upon
them. For a time there were no incidents. In mid-
Comanche autumn. however. 300 Comanche attacked Pecos
Pueblo. Spanish soldiers stationed there helped the
throughout
Pecos warriors repulse two assaults.
much of the Governor Cachupin responded two days later
l Bth century with a force of 54 soldiers, 30 militia and eight
Pueblo Indians. He was able to catch and defeat a
brought the group of 145 Comanche. He sent the survivors
province to home to tell the story of the defeat and to carry
back his stipulation that they keep the peace. Fol-
the very brink lowing this triumph, the first administration of
of extinction. Governor Cachupin (17 49-I7 54) was characterized,
except for a few isolated incidents, by peace
between the Comanche and the New Mexicans.
Six years later, in 1760, an insult perpetrated
by the Taos Indians sparked a Comanche attack on
Taos, in which they took 56 Spanish women cap-
tive. An expedition was dispatched after them, but
with no results. The next year a group of
Comanche went to Taos to talk peace and to trade,
but New Mexico Governor Manuel del Portillo y
Urrisola, in retribution for the previous year's
attack, had 200 Comanche men killed and seized
the surviving women and children as captives. The
Comanche, seethingi with fury, were preparing for a
general attack against New Mexico when V6lez
Cachupin returned for a second term as governor,
just in time to avert the disaster and bring peace to
the troubled land.
Hostilities began to foment once more when
Governor Cachupin's successor, Don Pedro Fermin
de Mendinueta, learned that the Comanche intend-
ed to attack the settlement of Ojo Caliente, about
50 miles north of Santa Fe, and to forestall the
attack he led a large force of men in June, 1768,
against them. The raiders were part of a larger
group of more than 400 who had arrived at Taos to
trade. When the smaller party rejoined the main
group at Taos, six Spanish settlers who happened to
be in the camp doing some unauthorized trading
were killed. The Comanche then fled the area.
Later that summer, scouts brought word to
the Spaniards that a powerful new Comanche chief
had emerged who had assumed control of the entire
Comanche Nation and who was treated like a king
by all the bands. It wasn't long after this news had
reached the Spaniards that the Comanche again
attacked Ojo Caliente. In the pursuit that followed,
21 Comanche were killed, one of whom it was dis-
covered had been a close associate of this new great
Comanche chief. His death was considered an
affront to all Comanche and the new chief personal-
ly undertook the campaign of retribution to avenge
his dead friend. This great chief wore an unusual
leather helmet or headdress bearing a single buffalo
horn, painted green, so the Spaniards named him
Cuemo Verde which means green horn.
Cuerno Verde was not present at the first inci-
dent in the new campaign, which occurred in early
October, 1768, but he was very much involved
when a major attack was mounted, at the end of
October, by a force of 500 Comanche warriors
which surrounded and attacked Ojo Caliente before
dawn. The inhabitants of the settlement fought off
the first assault and even though Chief Cuerno
Verde personally led the second assault the settlers
again repulsed their attackers. During this fight
Cuerno Verde was killed, to the dismay of the other
Comanche who, risking their lives, recovered the
lifeless body of their fallen chief and retreated in
confusion. The death of the great Chief propelled

the Comanche Nation into a total and terrifyingi war
with New Mexico which would last for the next
decade.
Cuerno Verde had left a son who, dedicating
his life to avenging his father's death wore his
father's emblem, the remarkable headdress with the
single green buffalo horn, and assuming his father's
name Cuerno Verde-the-son became the scourge of
New Mexico. The audacity of Cuerno Verde-the-
son's attacks was fueled by his belief in his own
invincibility as assured him by the tribe's medicine
man.
Soon the northern and eastern frontiers of
Unidentified Comanche war chiefs by Georlie Catlin, 1834.
New Mexico felt the full impact of the Comanche at
war. Settlements, ranches and Indian villages were
attacked and sacked: Pecos Pueblo suffered six
raids, Galisteo Pueblo four, Cochiti Pueblo one and
the entire horse herd was stolen from Nambd
Pueblo. Santa Clara and San Juan pueblos, and a
Spanish settlement in the vicinity were also
attacked. Pecos was again attacked on August 15,
1774, resultinS in the deaths of nine men, with sev-
en captured and the horse herd stolen.
Three days later a party of 100 Comanche
struck Albuquerque, killing five, capturing four and
stealing a herd of horses. A force of 600 Spanish
soldiers, militia and Indian allies left Santa Fe in
THE SANTA FEAN MAGAZINE, May 1993, 19
September, I774, on a campaign agiainst the
Comanche Nation. They attacked a Comanche
giroup about 125 miles from Santa Fe, killing or
capturing 100, and dividing as booty 1,000 horses
and mules, 80 tipis, and other Comanche posses-
sions. The campaign had been successful, but
authorities in Mexico City worried that it had been
a peaceful group of Comanche who had been
attacked.
Although historians can only speculate today
as to whether the camp was hostile or peaceful, the
intensity of Comanche response may be an indica-
tion. The next year,1775, brought the fiercest
courtesyMuEeumorNewMexico,Nes.#t3ees8anrlNeg.#r3ee8z.
Comanche depredations ever. Pecos Pueblo was
attacked twice. Sandia, Alameda and Namb6 pueb-
los were also attacked. Taos villagers fought 100
Comanche in yet another raid. Even Santa Fe felt
the vengeance of the Comanche: one night in May
four warriors slipped into the town and killed a
young boy herding oxen near his home. Pursuers
sighted the raiders, but lost them when they aban-
doned their horses and fled into the mountains.
The costly and unceasing Comanche war con-
tinued the following year, reducing Pecos Pueblo,
once the largest and wealthiest Pueblo Indian vil-
lage, to a fraction of its human population, and left
only eight old cows and a dozen old horses remain-
THE SANTA FEAN MACAZINE, May 1993, 20
ing of their once large herds. Galisteo Pueblo was
similarly affected by the prolonged hostilities.
Finally, in 1,779, the exasperated viceroy of
New Spain, hoping to end the Comanche terror,
appointed a new governor for New Mexico: Lieu-
tenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza. Anza, a
highly capable administrator and proven military
leader with much experience dealing with hostile
Indians, would not arrive in the province for anoth-
er year. Meanwhile, the Comanche continued to
ravage New Mexico.
Upon his arrival in New Mexico, one of Gover-
nor Anza's first acts was to consolidate the settle-
... the ment of Albuquerque, a frequent target of
Comanche Comanche attacks, and improve fortifications at
Taos, the closest settlement to the Comanche fron-
jumped off tier. Other settlements were strengthened as well.
their horses, Governor Anza's arrival brought new hope to
the settlers. Although he had bolstered the defens-
killed them es of the New Mexico settlements, this was only a
in order to stopgap measure. He knew that he would have to
strike the Comanche in their homeland to make
make a last them think twice about leaving their families and
stand behind villages behind to raid New Mexico. Accordingly, he
made plans for a major campaign.
them and Governor Anza formed his punitive expedition
fought to the in Santa Fe, regrouping the force near San Juan
Pueblo on August 16, 1779. He had assembled 100
death in a regular soldiers, 200 militia and 250 Narive Ameri-
manner can auxiliaries. Anza organized them into three
companies of about 200 men each, and set out the
which Anza next day for Ojo Caliente, where the first Cuerno
would Verde had fallen 11 years earlier initiating the long
and bloody war. Ojo Caliente had by now been
describe in abandoned as a consequence of continual
his report "as Comanche raids.
Anza's army continued north into present
brave as it Colorado where it was joined by 200 Utes and
was glori- Apaches, traditional enemies of the Comanche. The
expedition, moving at night to avoid detection,
ous." crossed the Rio Grande at present Alamosa, Col-
orado then skirted north around Pikes Peak, look-
ing for Comanche camps.
A few days later a large Comanche encamp-
ment was reconnoitered by one of Anza's scouts.
Leaving 200 men to guard the horse herd and bag-
Sage train, Anza led the rest of his men quickly and
quietly toward the Comanche camp. The Coman-
che fled at once, having detected the force. Anza
pursued for eight miles, enEiaging the Comanche
rear guard and inflicting some losses. Although the
majority of the Comanche escaped with their lives
and the horses they rode on, they had left every-
thing else behind. Anza counted 120 tipis and 500
horses. More importantly, he learned from captives
that other Comanche bands were expected to arrive
in the camp to welcome Cuerno Verde and a party
of warriors who were returning from a raid on Taos.
Anza decided to start back for New Mexico, hoping
to catch Cuerno Verde and his raiders on the trail.
Cuerno Verde's raid at Taos had not been the
success he had hoped. Alerted by some Apaches to
expect the Comanche raid, the inhabitants of Taos,
Spaniards and Pueblo Indians, working topiether,
had strengthened the stockade around the pueblo
and were ready for the Comanche. When Cuerno
Verde arrived to attack, he was repulsed, and much
to his astonishment, counterattacked by the
Taoseflos. The counterattack unnerved the
Comanche, who lost a few warriors before retreat-
ing. After destroying some corn fields, the
Comanche left the area, heading north over the
Sanpire de Cristo Mountains straight toward Gover-
nor Anza and his force.
On September 2, 1779, as he crossed the
Arkansas River on his way south, Anza received
word from one of his scouts that a Comanche force
was approaching. Anza, convinced it was Cuerno
Verde, concealed his men and waited to ambush his
quarry. At sunset the Comanche advance guard
rode into a narrow ravine where Anza's men
attacked them, killing a few warriors before the rest
got away. The next morning the New Mexicans
again took to the trail and soon encountered 50
Comanche galloping toward them with muskets
ablaze. Suddenly one Comanche burst forward
alone, fearlessly. He was wearingi the extraordinary
helmet with the green horn: it was none other than
Chief Cuerno Verde.
Cuerno Verde, with only 50 warriors against
Anza's 600 man force, charged. Anza directed a
portion of his men to isolate Cuerno Verde and the
other warriors riding with him from the rest of the
Comanche, forcing them into the narrow ravine
where the fight the day before had occurred. Real-
izing their predicament too late, the Comanche
jumped off their horses, killed them in order to
make a last stand behind them and fought to the
death in a manner which Anza would describe in
his report "as brave as it was glorious."
Falling with Cuerno Verde was his eldest son,
four leading war chiefs, the medicine man who had
proclaimed his invincibility and 10 other warriors.
Cuerno Verde's headdress was now Anza's trophy,
which he sent to his superior, Teodoro de Croix,
commandant general of the Internal Provinces of
New Spain.
Following Cuerno Verde's defeat, no new
Comanche leader arose to continue the war against
New Mexico, but it would be several years before
Governor Anza was able to negotiate a lasting peace
with the Comanche, an achievement considered by
some historians to have been the most significant
accomplishment of his distinguished career. Juan
Bautista de Anza, Spain's most notable soldier on
the northern frontier in the 18th century, and
Cuerno Verde, a driven and dedicated leader, are
but two of a myriad of important individuals from
New Mexico's Spanish colonial past.