Comanche Nation

Ancestral Homeland: Mexico to Wyoming

Various Spellings: Comanche, Camanche

History

Camanche Bands: Kewatsana, Kotsai, Kwahadie, Motsai, Nokoni, Patgusa, Penateka, Pohoi, Tanima, Wasaih,  and Yamparika

Brief Timeline

• 1600's: Left Wyoming, neighboring tribe, Shoshone and removed to south to Rocky Mountains. 
• 1790: allied with Kiowa  
• 1791: Liging in present day Kansas
• 1700-1800: raided and roamed Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and northern Mexico
• 1835: Texas Revolution
• 1838: Council House Affair
• 1840: United with southern Cheyenne and Arapaho  
• 1845: Annexation of Texas, Texas Rangers protect settlers from hostile Indians, particular the Camanche
• 1849-50: cholera epidemic
• 1853: Fort Atkinson Treaty - protect the Santa Fe Trail
• 1854: Comanche and Kiowa placed on reservation on the Brazos River. 
• 1859: Barzos River reservations abandoned
• 1864: fought against Kit Carson's men; Battle of Adobe Walls on the Staked Plain for the Texas Panhandle
• 1866: Treaty of Medicine Lodge
• 1868: December 25: General Philip Henry Sheridans fought Comanche and Kiowa- Battle of Soldier Springs 
• 1871- 1874: Chomanche and Kiowa wars
• 1874-75: Red River War or Buffalo War
• Peyote Road- Native American Church- sacramental use of peyote - by 1930 half of the Indian population in the United States belonged ot the church.
• 1899: Oklahoma Territory ban the use of peyote.

Additional References to the History of the Tribe

Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Comanche tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods. Additional details are given in John Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America.

Tribal Headquarters

Comanche Nation of Oklahoma
584 N. W. Bingo Rd.
P. O. Box 908
Lawton, Oklahoma 73505
Toll Free Phone Number: 1.877.492.4988
Fax: 580.492.3796

Correspondence and Census

Tribe	Agency	Location of Original Records	Pre-180 Correspondence M234 Roll Number	FHL Film Number	Post-1885 Census M595 Roll Number	FHL Film Number
Comanche	Anadarko Area Office, 1881-1962	Fort Worth	-	-	Rolls 211-23	-
Comanche	Upper Platte Agency,         1846-55	Washington D.C.	Rolls 889-96	-	Rolls 211-23	-
Comanche	Upper Arkansas Agency, 1855-64	Washington D.C.	Rolls 878-82	-	Rolls 211-23	-
Comanche	Kiowa Agency,1864-80	Fort Worth	Rolls 375-86	-	Rolls 211-23	576899-576912

Treaties

•  1835 August 24, at Camp Holmes 
•  1846 May 15, at Council Springs 
•  1853 July 27, at Fort Atkinson 
•  1865 October 17, referred to in an Apache treaty 
•  1865 October 18, at Little Arkansas River  

Vital Records

• Kiowa Agency, M595, births and deaths 1924-1932, FHL Film: 576909 and births and deaths 1930-1936, FHL Film: 576911

Important Web Sites

• Constitution and By-laws of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, approved: February 23, 2002
• Comanche Nation Official Website
• Comanche Nation Wikipedia

References

Bibliography

• Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
• Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. WorldCat 317923332; FHL book 970.1 R259e.
• Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188; FHL book 970.1 G131g.

Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean

Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America

Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau

Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands

• Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978– .
  

Volume 1 -- Not yet published

Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751

Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371

Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.4.

Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.5.

Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.6.

Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311

Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.8.

Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.9.

Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.10.

Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.11.

Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.12.

Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643

Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176

Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503; FHL book 970.1 H191h v.15.

Volume 16 -- Not yet published

Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746

Volume 18 -- Not yet published

Volume 19 -- Not yet published

Volume 20 -- Not yet published

• Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193; FHL book 970.1 W146e 2006.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)