The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995 Page: 37
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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1994 Inside the Comancheria, 1785 37
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.
14. From the Ist 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 Capitin de la
Camisa de Hierro," for wearing a coat of mail that he took from an
Apache capitdn, and the other as the Capitan de la Cabeza Rapada,29 for
having half of it in this style and the other with very long hair. Also as-
sembling were another ten which they call jefes and which the other na-
tions call capitanes chiquitos. Each one of these brought some elder
Indian principles 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. At the same time, we gave them a length of cloth and a hand of
tobacco,0 with which we had been supplied in the town of Nagcodoches,
giving to the elder principales a generous hand of tobacco, a knife, ver-
milion, and beads. These we distributed proportionally, in order not to
lack enough to give all of them. They listened to our propositions with-
out any objection, telling us that they seemed truthful because all of us
were telling them the same thing. Thus, they did not think that we
might deceive them.
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
" Iron Shirt. This is almost certainly the same capstdn pnncpal of the Cuchanecs whom New
Mexicans knew as Cota de Malla for the shirt of armor that he wore in battle. His exploits in war
had won him the name Contatanacapara, but he was more often known m New Mexico as Ecuer-
acapa When more than six hundred rancherias of Cuchanecs, Yamparicas, and Yupes gathered in
a great council on the Arkansas River in the autumn of 1785, they chose Ecueracapa to negoti-
ate a general peace and make new trade agreements with New Mexico's Governor Juan Bautista
de Anza. The outcome was a comprehensive Comanche treaty of peace and alliance with the
Spaniards, ceremonially ratified at the pueblo of Pecos in February 1786. Thenceforth, Ecuera-
capa worked closely with Governor Anza and his successor, Governor Fernando de la Concha, m
active management of the alliance until the summer of 1793, when Ecueracapa was fatally
wounded m action against Pawnees. He had never found time to go to San Antonio to ratify the
peace negotiated there m 1785. In the autumn of 1793, the Comanche nation gathered in coun-
cil on the Canadian River to elect Ecueracapa's successor, with Governor Concha present as
their honored guest. John, Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds, 668-675, 668-689, 707,
715-716, 762.
"', Shaved Head. Cabeza Rapada died in action against Mescalero and Lipan Apaches in the
spring of 1786, and Camlsa de Hierro led a great campaign to avenge him. The problems of
choosing a successor to Cabeza Rapada combined with the absence of Camisa de Hierro to delay
the ceremonial ratification of the peace at San Antonio that had been scheduled for six months
after the October 1785 negotiation of the terms. John, Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds,
704-705-
o una naquzsa y un manoxo de tabaco. There is no weight equivalent for the term manoo; the
hand is a rough measure by volume, i.e., the amount grasped m a handful. This measure is still
used in markets in Mexico today.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995, periodical, 1995; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101216/m1/65/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.