Why this book:   Given to me as a gift several years ago, and then when the SEAL reading group I’m in chose to read a book regarding Native American culture/history, I figured it was a good time to read it. I’d heard great things about this book.  While  reading it, I wasn’t surprised that it was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize in History.

Summary in 3 Sentences: Empire of the Summer Moon provides the history of the Comanche wars in Texas and the southern plains in the 19th Century, using the life of one particularly notable Comanche Warrior as a lens through which to look at the many dimensions of the Comanche culture and the collision it had with the white settlers intent on claiming Texas for themselves.  The story begins with one of the early raids and “depredations” of the Comanches upon settlers  on the frontier in the 1830s, and then tracks the continued war between the anglo culture in Texas and eventually, the ham-fisted US Federal government efforts to tame the Comanches, the most violent and warlike tribe in the Americas.  We get to know a number of fascinating personalities on both sides of this conflict, are appalled by the brutality on both sides, and eventually over decades, see how the inevitable end of this war evolved into the ultimate domination of white American culture over the world the Comanches had commanded for over a century in Texas, and parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas.

My Impressions:  Really Impressive!  A great read and a fascinating look at a part of American History that few of us know.    How did I grow up in this country and not know about this protracted brutal war that took place in Texas and neighboring territories for half a century?  And how did I grow up never having heard of  Jack Hays, Randal Mackenzie, or Quanah Parker?  

Empire of the Summer Moon is written as a history of the Comanches and includes  profiles of some fascinating people from that era: The three I mention above, a number of others, plus Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah Parker’s white mother who was taken hostage as a young girl, fully adopted Comanche culture, became wife of a Comanche chief,  and after she was forced unwillingly to return to her white origins,  her son eventually became the most prominent Comanche chief fighting the whites toward the end of the Comanche wars, and a leader in the post-war aftermath.

The subtext in the title of this book is: “Quanah Parker and the Rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian Tribe in American History.”  Quanah Parker appears briefly in the early parts of the book as a child, but then gradually his profile increases as he matures into a notably courageous and brutal warrior, hating whites for killing his father and others, ultimately becoming the chief of the most recalcitrant and independent of the Comanche tribes.

Early in the book, the author explains how the Comanches came to prominence among Native American tribes in the late 17th and 18th centuries, as escaped wild Spanish horses became part of the American landscape. The Comanches eventually became the best horse mounted warriors in the world, were able to accurately shoot 20 arrows or more in less than a minute while riding, displaying incredible horsemanship and proficiency with bow and arrow.  With these skills they developed a nomadic culture built upon aggressive hunting and courage in fighting.  For over a century they dominated and decimated other tribes on the southern plains.  White warriors (Spanish, and American,) trained to fight on foot with their single shot pistols and muzzle loading rifles were no match for them.

Then a number of factors began to converge that would spell the end of Comanche freedom and dominance.  These include the advent of the rapid fire revolver pistol and eventually the repeating rifle, the ever increasing numbers of white settlers moving into Texas coinciding roughly with the decimation of Comanche tribes by the white diseases of measles, smallpox and cholera.  The rapid killing of the buffalo herds by white buffalo hunters made hunting and finding food increasingly difficult.  And white military leaders emerged who learned to use Comanche methods against them and learned to counter Comanche tactics with effective tactics of their own.  By 1875 most of the Comanches who had not been killed, or were not already on reservations, had surrendered. 

The book can often be difficult to read in that the author minces few words in describing the atrocities and “depredations” that the Comanche committed against white settlers during their raids.  Thousands and thousands were killed, tortured, raped, and scalped.  He also makes clear that torturing prisoners of both genders, gang raping women, killing children or taking them captives as slaves or even adopting them into their own tribes was part of Native American culture – not just Comanche.  What Comanches did to whites they also did to other tribes, who did the same to them – this was how Native Americans in the West fought each other.  

But it appalled “civilized” European Americans doing what they believed was God’s work – tilling the land and farming peacefully  And reading about it appalls today’s reader.  But it is what happened and Gwynne doesn’t sugar-coat it. 

That said, the Americans fighting them, with indeed a few exceptions, reciprocated in kind.  Their Tonkawa allies never hesitated in following their normal practice of butchering anyone they caught, regardless of age or gender. It was ugly, cruel and horrific fighting.  If a fighting age male (above about 13 yrs old) were to be captured alive by the Comanches, he could expect to be brutally tortured to death.  For women, it was worse.

During the height of the Comanche wars, Comanches were raiding and stealing horses and cattle, and killing torturing, and taking white settlers captive with impunity across Texas.  That is difficult to read.   But it is almost as difficult to read about the gross incompetence and inability of the US government to respond effectively.   Government and Army incompetence, and  unwillingness to adapt to and respond to the demands of a war against a brutal enemy fighting to defend his way of life in his own territory reminded me of Vietnam and Afghanistan.  

Policies and decisions were made in Washington and San Antonio often by men with little understanding of the nature of their enemy nor of the environment they were fighting in.  They tried to apply solutions that made sense in the civilized and structured world in which they lived, but not in the no-holds-barred world of fighting Comanches.  Treaties created a pause in the fighting, but neither side took them seriously, nor intended to honor them.  

Comanche Camp Culture doesn’t get a lot of attention in Empire of the Summer Moon – given that the focus of the book is on the conflict between Comanches and whites.  But what we do learn indicates that life in the Comanche villages was very communal.   The woman worked hard – to them fell a large part of the work of camp maintenance, food prep and cooking,  and breaking down and setting up of camps, which they did pretty regularly.  Men’s duties were largely restricted to hunting and raiding.  Polygamy was  an accepted practice – powerful warriors usually had more than one wife to help with their many chores and to manage their wealth – usually in horses.  

Up until about age 10  children were given ALOT of freedom to play  – after which they began preparing for adulthood – girls were expected to help their mothers with their many chores, and boys were expected to be playing a rough game of “Cowboys and Indians” (Indians being the good guys!) and practicing the skills needed to become great warriors and hunters. My sense was that life in the Comanche village, camped along a creek, in a canyon, or near a river was pretty idyllic.  When the whites attacked Comanche villages, Comanche men fought viciously to withstand or divert the attack to permit old folks, women, children to escape.  

 We learn about the stumbling origins of the Texas Rangers, who for a short while became an effective force fighting Comanches under the captaincy of Jack Hayes. But when Jack Hayes left, his lessons went with him and the Texans went back to their ineffective and incompetent tactics and the world’s most vicious and competent warriors again had almost free rein.

 We learn about the Buffalo Hunters who killed hundreds of buffalo a day in a few years bringing the buffalo to the brink of extinction.  Buffalo hides were in demand, they made a lot of money,  and the Army did not discourage them, because decimating the buffalo herds took away the main source of Comanche livelihood.

We learn about the Comancheros – mixed-breed Comanche-Mexicans –  who were the business middlemen who assisted the Comanches in selling stolen cattle, horses, and  captives – often back to the people from whom they had been stolen. 

We learn how the  Civil War had a huge impact on the war against the Comanche – to the advantage of the Comanches.  When Texas seceded from the Union, it became part of the Confederacy.  The Union abandoned it, and the Confederate government was way too busy fighting Yankees to give attention and resources to fighting Comanches. When the war was over,  Texas was part of the losing South, and the resource-strapped Union initially had little concern and few resources to fight Comanches at the edge of the frontier where people had seceded from the Union. So the Comanches had a field day, and believed that the war had turned in their favor – for a while.  

Then after a few years, several of the Union’s finest Civil War fighters were sent to  engage in fighting the Comanches. General Sheridan, Col Randal Mackenzie and other experienced, battle-hardened, disciplined and well resourced warriors took it upon themselves to pull out all the stops and bring the Comanches to their knees. And they did. By 1875 all the significant Comanche bands had surrendered.

The last part of the book is very much about Quanah Parker –  one of the last hold-out Comanche Chiefs – an extremely resilient, courageous and capable warrior and leader. He and his band were chased around Texas, stymying the Union army for a while, but the end was inevitable.  We read what drove him finally decide to surrender, and then remarkably, unexpectedly and unusually for a Comanche warrior, he challenged himself to adapt to white culture, to become a leader and succeed in that world as well. He befriended his old enemies, did business with cattle ranchers, hosted Teddy Roosevelt at his home, and fought hard for the rights of Comanches against the federal government’s continuing efforts to take advantage of Native Americans on behalf of American commercial interests and Manifest Destiny.  He remained true to himself while succeeding and becoming a highly respected leader in both worlds.  A Nietzshean übermensch if I’ve ever seen one. 

Empire of the Summer Moon is about the Comanches fighting in the only way they knew how, to retain their way of life.  They had fought other tribes and won control over huge areas of the southern plains, and they believed they could hold off the waves of white settlers who were moving West, to fulfill the American dreams of Manifest Destiny – the belief in the destiny of America to own and settle the entire North American continent, from sea to shining sea. 

Fascinating story, and very well written, but one must be willing to read about, confront and acknowledge the violence and brutality that opened the West up to American settlers and European American civilization and values.