DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, before we go any further down this road, let me tell you about a people who rode these hills long before any of us were a thought — the Penateka Comanches. Penateka.
Say it slow. It means "honey eaters" — the southernmost band of the Comanches, and their range was something to behold. From the Edwards Plateau all the way to the beginnings of the central Texas rivers, this was their country.
Not a fixed country, mind you, because the Penateka were nomadic, movin' with the buffalo. And the buffalo gave them everything — food, clothing, shelter. Follow the herd, and the herd keeps you alive.
That was the rhythm of life out here. But if the buffalo was their foundation, the horse was their glory. The Comanches were unmatched in their horsemanship.
Unmatched. That's not my word — that's just the plain truth of it. A major Comanche trail cut right through the Camp Verde area, and settlers to the west knew it.
Fear of the Penatekas kept settlement from pushin' that direction for years. Now, by the 1840s, the Texas Rangers had started making some headway against them. Some.
Then came 1855, and the U.S. Army's Second Cavalry rode in and reduced the raiding in the area. They set up outposts right here in Kerr County — Camp Verde and Camp Ives.
The pressure was building. A year before the Second Cavalry arrived, some of the Penatekas had already been moved to a reservation in what is now Throckmorton County. And that was only the first move — they'd later be pushed again, all the way to the Indian Territory, in what we now call Oklahoma.
But not all of them went quietly into that arrangement. Other Penatekas kept raiding Kerr County, on and off, sporadically, clear through the 1870s. Then came the Red River War — 1874 to 1875 — and after that, it was over.
The Comanches were forced onto a reservation established by the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek. Think about what that meant for a people built around movement, built around the rhythm of the land and the buffalo. Reservation life didn't just change where they lived.
It changed the entire societal structure. Everything that had organized their world — the hunts, the trails, the seasonal migrations — all of it, remade by force. In 1901, even that reservation was broken up into individual allotments.
People scattered. The years that followed saw many move away, and the group dispersed further still. But here's where the story takes a turn worth noting.
In the 1960s, the Comanches began working to rebuild their society. And today — today — they are united by a common culture across geographic divides. A people forced off their land, moved twice, scattered by allotment, and still, they are united.
That trail through Camp Verde didn't end. It just changed shape.
What the marker says
The Penateka, or “honey eaters,” were the southernmost band of Comanches; their range extended from the Edwards Plateau to the beginnings of central Texas rivers. The nomadic Comanches followed buffalo as they migrated, depending on the animals for food, clothing and shelter. They also relied on horses and were unmatched in their horsemanship. A major Comanche trail passed through the Camp Verde area. Settlement west of here was avoided due to fear of the Penatekas. By the 1840s, Texas Rangers had some success against the Comanches and in 1855, the U.S. Army’s Second Cavalry reduced raiding in the area; the division had outposts at Camp Verde and Camp Ives in Kerr county. Some of the Penateka Comanches were moved a year earlier to a reservation in what is now Throckmorton County; the group was later moved to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Other Penatekas continued to raid the county sporadically through the 1870s. After the Red River War (1874-75), the Comanches were forced onto a reservation established by the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek. Reservation life changed the entire societal structure for the formerly nomadic Comanches. In 1901, their reservation was broken up into allotments, and as many moved away in following years, the group dispersed. In the 1960s, the Comanches worked to rebuild their society and today they are united by common culture across geographic divides. (2010)