What Were: the Comancheros
In John Wayne's 1961 movie, The Comancheros , a Texas Ranger (Wayne) must team up with an outlaw he's transporting back to prison to combat a ruthless border gang who sells liquor and guns to the Comanche Indians in Texas to encourage them to murder, steal and rustle cattle from White men. The Mexican traders and Natives in the film are little better than criminal riff-raff for Wayne to subdue in bravura style. Not so fast. Long before Anglo settlers appeared in the area of what is now New Mexico and Texas, the resident Spanish and Native tribes had reached a level of mutual coexistence. Plains tribes began using Spanish horses extensively during the 17th century, enabling them to hunt and raid further than they previously had. Among these tribes were the Comanche, a Shoshonean-speaking people living in what is now primarily Texas. While Comanches could and did raid Spanish settlements, they came to understand that the Spanish, the source of the horses,...