"Fort Clark and the Rio Grande Frontier" Topic

"During the 10 years after the battle of San Jacinto, the fledgling Republic of Texas was scarcely able to keep Mexican soldiers beyond its border or raiding Indians out of its settlements. Annexation to the United States made Texas frontier vulnerabilities the problem and responsibility of the U.S. Army. This was everywhere a daunting and frequently thankless task, but nowhere was the army's mission more complex than on the Rio Grande frontier.

The stretch of the Rio Grande from modern Del Rio to the Gulf of Mexico presented unique military issues. The army's primary mission there was to enforce on the ground a national boundary that was still largely a theory drawn on a map. Local tensions flared into cross-border violence as a new Anglo-American legal system was imposed on Spanish-Mexican traditions. Lipan Apache and Kickapoo raided north of the border from their refuges in Mexico. Comanche and Kiowa swept down from the Plains to raid villages south of the river. The region would be a military and diplomatic headache for the United States government throughout the 19th Century…"

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Armand

An excellent article on the Comanche Wars that plagued Western Texas for decades. I live in what was once part of "Comancheria." Both me and my wife's ancestors, dating back to the 1840's, lived in constant danger of Indian raids. Check out the movie "The Searchers" to get a sense of what it was like.

Thanks

Armand