North of Penateka country was the habitat of the band called Nokoni, or "Those Who Turn Back." The Nokonis roamed from the Cross Timbers region of North Texas to the mountains of New Mexico.
Because of their location, the Penatekas played the most prominent role in Texas history. The southernmost band was called Penateka, or "Honey Eaters." Their range extended from the Edwards Plateau to the headwaters of the Central Texas rivers. However, five major bands played important roles in recorded Comanche history. As many as thirteen different Comanche bands were identified during the historic period, and most probably there were others that were never identified. The band structure of Comanche society was not rigid, and bands coalesced and broke apart, depending on the needs and goals of their members. The Comanches did not arrive on the South Plains as a unified body but rather in numerous family groups or bands. Although the tribe came to be known historically as Comanches, they called themselves Nermernuh, or "the People." Only after their arrival on the Southern Plains did the tribe come to be known as Comanches, a name derived from the Ute word Komántcia, meaning "enemy," or, literally, "anyone who wants to fight me all the time." The Spaniards in New Mexico, who came into contact with the Comanches in the early eighteenth century, gave the tribe the name by which they were later known to Spaniards and Americans alike. A vast area of the South Plains, including much of North, Central, and West Texas, soon became Comanche country, or Comanchería. Pressure from more powerful and better-armed tribes to their north and east, principally the Blackfoot and Crow Indians, also encouraged their migration.
The move also facilitated the acquisition of French trade goods, including firearms, through barter with the Wichita Indians on the Red River. The warm climate and abundant buffalo were additional incentives for the southern migration. By moving south, they had greater access to the mustangs of the Southwest. Their new mobility allowed them to leave their mountain home and their Shoshone neighbors and move onto the plains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas, where game was plentiful.Īfter their arrival on the Great Plains, the Comanches began a southern migration that was encouraged by a combination of factors. The life of the pedestrian tribe was revolutionized as they rapidly evolved into a mounted, well-equipped, and powerful people. Sometime during the late seventeenth century, the Comanches acquired horses, and that acquisition drastically altered their culture. The Comanche language is derived from the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshones. Both cultural and linguistic similarities confirm the Comanches' Shoshone origins. Anthropological evidence indicates that they were originally a mountain tribe, a branch of the Northern Shoshones, who roamed the Great Basin region of the western United States as crudely equipped hunters and gatherers. After the battle, Comanche was nursed back to health but he was retired and orders were given that he should never be ridden again.The Comanches, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains, played a prominent role in Texas frontier history throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. More than 200 US cavalrymen were killed that day as well as several dozen Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho men, women and children. United States Army Captain Myles Keogh rode a bay horse named Comanche into the battle, and two days after the battle's conclusion the horse - severely injured - was the only living survivor left on the field. National Park monument is located at the site today in Montana. On June 25, 1876, General George Armstrong Custer led a detachment of troops from the United States Army's 7th Cavalry at what is now known as the Battle of Little Big Horn a U.S. Comanche is one of the most visited exhibits in the museum. In 2005, museum staff completely restored the mount and created a new display on the fourth floor. After Comanche's death, Lewis Lindsay Dyche taxidermied the horse for the 7th Cavalry, but Comanche stayed with the museum's collections. The KU Natural History Museum is the home of Comanche, the horse ridden by Captain Myles Keogh at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.