1 Pedro Vial and Francisco Xavier De Chaves's Account of Comancheria

Pedro Vial and Francisco Xavier de Chaves’s Account of Comancheria Adapted from Elizabeth A. H. John, Adán Benavides Jr., “Inside the Comanchería, 1785: The Diary of Pedro Vial and Francisco Xavier” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 98, No. 1 (Jul., 1994), pp. 26-56. The following document is an excerpt from the diary of the first emissaries from Texas to Comancheria. Its authors represented the governor of Texas, but also had a lot of experience with, and knowledge of, Native tirbes. Francisco Xavier de Chaves had been captured by the Comanches in 1770, when he was about eight years old. He spent his childhood as a Comanche and subsequently grew up among the Taovayas, to whom he was traded upon the death of his mother. In 1784 he left a raiding expedition and presented himself to the Spanish at the Presidio (military fort) de San Antonio de Bexar. There he became an interpreter and intermediary between the Spanish and the indigenous groups they had dealings with. Pedro Vial, originally from France, had also lived among the Taovayas and came to San Antonio in 1784. The next year, Governor Cabello of Texas felt pressure from the government to attain peace with the Comanches, which had been the official policy for two centuries, and was threatened by increasing conflicts. From Vial and Chaves’s diary of the peace mission (1785) Your Excellency sent us as emissaries to the rancherias" of the Indians of the Cumanche Nation to attempt to make a solid peace between Your Excellency and the said nation, in order to free these territories from the hostilities that the said Indians have committed in them for such a long time. We offered to Your Excellency to attempt to achieve it because of the knowledge and friendship which we have of the said Indians. Consequently, we report to you that we left on the 17th of [August 1785] from this presidio, escorted by the officer and the troops that Your Excellency was kind enough to give us as our escort, which left us near the Rio Colorado. [. .] Since we knew that among the many Indians that were then in Nagcodoches to receive the gifts which Your Excellency allots them annually were Capitain Guersec, of the Tavoayaces nation, and Capitain Eschas, of the Guachitas, we went by to visit them and to inform themof our commission, which they applauded so greatly that they offered to accompany us on the said expedition. And so, we decided to go to their villages with them. We cannot exaggerate to Your Excellency their enthusiasm, by virtue of which we departed on the 22nd day of July from Nagcodoches in the company of the said capitanes and all of their people. [. .] The 31st day of the same month of August, at about 11 in the morning, we caught sight of a large rancheria which was located on the Rio del Mermellon, in a very open plain. We saw about 200 men of the Cumanche Nation leaving from it in two bands or files, heading toward us. At that time, capitanes Guersec and Eschas put on their uniforms and medals, and we unfurled our Spanish flag. Reaching us, the Cumanches fired some shots with the few guns that they had, and we answered 1 them in the same manner. These formalities completed, the Cumanches embraced us and they gave us their hand, one by one. With this good order, we entered, with the help of God, on the 31st day of August of this present year, in the first rancheria of the Cumanches. There were so many people that came out that it is not possible to count them. The capitan of the rancheria took the two of us, the capitanes Guersec and Eschas, our two servants, and twelve Tavoayaces and Guachitas who came escorting their capitanes, to a great tent made from tanned buffalo hides. Immediately after we had dismounted at the aforesaid tent, we hoisted the Spanish flag at its entrance. [. .] The capitan [ . .] told us that we must not move from the place where we were until the rest of his compatriots had come to discuss the matter of the peace, which he firmly believed would be accepted by all of his nation. Since the capitanes Guersec and Eschas are so well known and great friends of the Cumanches, they set out to give notice of our coming to all of the principales. Upon their return, they told us that it seemed that the peace would be effected because they had made known to them the many conveniences and benefits that would redound to them by making it. Thus they hoped that, when the capitanes principales of the other rancherias would come, little more would be needed than to work with them to achieve the purpose that had brought us to those places. From the 1st day of September until the 8th, assembling at our rancheria were the two great capitanes of the nation, whom they listen to with much respect and attention. One is known as the Capitain de la Camisa de Hierro, for wearing a coat of mail that he took from an Apache captain, and the other as the Capitain de la Cabeza Rapada, for having half of it in this style and the other with very long hair. Also assembling were another ten which they call jefes and which the other nations call capitanes chiquitos. Each one of these brought some elder Indian principales and many young men. As soon as they arrived, my companions and I, and capitanes Guersec and Eschas, went visiting them and let them know the reason for our coming. [. .] They asked us if we had brought some illness that would bring death to their nation, since smallpox had struck them as a result of some Frenchmen having entered their rancherias from La Zarca. Two-thirds of them had died, from which had followed the total destruction of their nation. To which we responded that they could see for themselves that since we had entered that rancheria, the sun had not clouded and that it was always very clear and bright, which proved our coming healthy and well. With that, they were convinced and they remained totally satisfied with such words. [. .] [S]ince all of the eleven or twelve rancherias of which the Cumancheria Oriental is composed had met, they decided that the principal council be held on the 10th day of the same September, so that all might hear from our own mouths the reason for our coming. Therefore, having been summoned to attend it, my companion and I 2 went, accompanied by the capitanes Guersec y Eschas, who wore their uniforms and medals. Carrying the Spanish flag hoisted on a very tall pole, we presented it in a very large circle which all of the Indians had formed, seated on the ground as many as four deep, seeming in our opinion about 700. Surrounding the said circle were an infinity of young men, women, and children, who were standing. As soon as capitanes Camisa de Hierro, Cabeza Rapada, and the rest introduced us, with great civility and courtesy, they made us sit beside them in the first row of the center of the circle. We then brought out a large pipe which we took prepared with tobacco, and we and the capitanes Guersec and Eschas smoked it. We gave it to the capitanes Camisa de Hierro and Cabeza Rapada, who smoked from it, then passing it around to the ten capitanes chiquitos, until the tobacco was finished. This indispensable ceremony concluded, the two capitanes principales asked us to tell them the reason for our coming so that all of those gathered might hear it. In view of which, I, Pedro Vial, took it upon myself to tell it, which I did standing up, and saying it in the Tavoayaz language, which all of the Cumanches understand and speak perfectly well. I told them the following. “Brothers and friends: This is not the first time that I and my companion have been among you. My companion has been your captive, which you later sold to the Tavoayaces. After all of his masters had died, he went on to San Antonio to live among the Spaniards, since he is of that nation. You know me because I have come from the Rio de la Sarca to your rancherias with some goods. Having adapted to life among the Tavoayaces, I have lived some years among them, where you have also known me, and that I, as well as my companion, have been found to be good and very truthful men. Later, I wanted to go to San Antonio, for I heard said that that Capitain Grande was very brave, and that he had a very kind heart, and that he protected with much love all who placed themselves under his orders. “And thus, I went with some Tavoayaces who set out for San Antonio, where I found my companion, who, confirming what I had heard said of that Capitain Grande, presented me to him. And, actually, in terms of how much he helped me, I experienced far more than what I had heard said about him. In the said settlement, the Capitain Grande and all of those Spaniards have shown me much respect, treating me as if I were a brother of all of them. Being in this situation, my companion and I found out that the Capitain Grande of San Antonio was preparing to make a gift to the ten capitanes and Indians of the twenty-one nations that are his friends, without remembering you, the Cumanches, except to supply his soldiers so that they always have many horses, good weapons, powder, and shot to make incessant war against you, as you may have experienced.

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