Hubbry Logo
Ten BearsTen BearsMain
Open search
Ten Bears
Community hub
Ten Bears
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Ten Bears
Ten Bears
Ten Bears
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Ten Bears (Comanche: Pawʉʉrasʉmʉnurʉ, Anglicized as Parua-wasamen and Parry-wah-say-mer in treaties and older documents) (c. 1790 – November 23, 1872) was the principal chief of the Yamparika or "Root Eater" division of the Comanche from ca. 1860-72. He was the leader of the Ketahto ("The Barefeet") local subgroup of the Yamparika, probably from the late 1840s.

Key Information

The ethnonym (group name), Yamparika or "Root Eater" Comanche was known to the Spaniards of New Mexico as early as the 1750s, but until about 1790, they were generally north of the Arkansas River and so were seldom specifically mentioned in Spanish documents. After that time, with the advance of Cheyennes (Comanche: paka naboo 'striped arrows'), and Cuampes, likely Arapahos, some Yamparika local groups, including the Ketahto, relocated to the valley of the North Canadian River in New Mexico and Texas.

Early life

[edit]

Ten Bears was orphaned as a baby when his family group was murdered by Lakotas.[1] Later Comanche oral history states that in his young adult years, he was noted for leading horse-mounted spear attacks on Lakota villages.[1]

Rise to political prominence

[edit]

Ten Bears was a key figure in making peace between the Comanches and the Utes in 1820. Ten Bears was often in rivalry with a man named either Isakwahip 'Wolf's Back', or Isakiip 'Wolf's Elbow', leader of another local group in the North Canadian valley.[1][2] In 1840 the Yamparika chief, Ten Bears, was one among the principal promoters (together with the Kiowa chiefs Dohasan and Satank and the Arapaho Hosa Little Raven) of the peace and large alliance between the Comanche and Kiowa alliance and the Cheyenne and Arapaho alliance after the Cheyenne and Arapaho's victory at Wolf Creek during the spring 1838. To reach his purpose, Ten Bears (Parrawasamen) was able to gain the approval of such chiefs as the Kotsoteka Shaved Head (Wulea-boo) and, even through Shaved Head’s support, Big Eagle (a.k.a. Sun Eagle) (Tawaquenah), likely the Nokoni Tall Tree (Huupi-pahati) and certainly the Penateka Buffalo Hump (Pocheha-quehip, Potsʉnakwahipʉ) and Yellow Wolf (Isaviah) and probably the Kwahadi Iron Jacket (Pohebits-quasho); together with Ten Bears (Parrawasamen), probably Tawaquenah and Huupi-pahati, certainly Buffalo Hump (Pocheha-quehip) and eventually Iron Jacket (Pohebits-quasho) represented Comanche nation during the negotiation near the Two Butte Creek, resulting in a peace agreement and a strong alliance between the two groups.

Ten Bears first came to the attention of Anglo-Americans in 1853 when he, among others, signed the Treaty of Fort Atkinson. His name was written as "Parosawano" and translated as 'Ten Sticks', a confusion of /pawʉʉra/ 'bear' with /paria/ 'dogwood stick'. The error was corrected in the 1854 revision of the treaty.

Ten Bears became the principal Yamparika chief about 1860 after the death of the man known to Anglos as 'Shaved Head' (Wulea-boo, possibly a Kotsoteka rather than a Yamparika Comanche); the latter's Comanche name is uncertain as there were several men whom Anglos called by that name.

In August 1861 Ten Bears (likely being himself the chief named as “Bistevana”) signed the Fort Cobb Treaty with gen. Albert Pike, the Confederate Indian Commissioner, sanctioning an alliance with the “Gray Jackets”.

In 1863, along with a delegation of Western Indians, including Southern Cheyennes, Southern Arapahoes, and Kiowas, Ten Bears visited Washington, but he was unable to get any major concessions for his people from the U.S. government.

In November 1864, Ten Bears was the chief of the Yamparika Comanches nearest the ruins of the Bent brothers' old adobe trading post (the first Adobe Walls, Texas, built ca 1840) when troops under Col. Christopher 'Kit' Carson attacked a nearby Kiowa village .[3] Warriors from Ten Bear's village led the counterattack which drove off Carson's men, although one of Ten Bears' sons, Ekamoksu 'Red Sleeve' was killed.[1]

Treaty of the Little Arkansas River

[edit]

In 1865, Ten Bears and two of his sons, Isananaka 'Wolf's Name' and Hitetetsi 'Little Crow', along with other Comanches, mostly Yamparikas, signed the Treaty of the Little Arkansas River in Kansas.

The treaty created a reservation for the Comanches encompassing the entire panhandle of Texas. This was problematic, as the Federal government did not then "own" that territory and therefore could not reserve it: the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States in 1849, but the Republic did not recognize any native land claims within its borders — this opinion was based on a faulty reading of Spanish and Mexican law and therefore in 1865 there were no "federal" versus "state" owned lands within the boundaries of Texas which the Government could "reserve" to the Native Americans.

Medicine Lodge Treaty

[edit]

Two years later, at the October 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty Conference, Ten Bears and other Yamparikas as well as a few other Comanches (but none of the newly emergent Kwahada division, who were delayed by sickness), agreed to a smaller reservation in western Indian territory of Oklahoma.

At that conference, Ten Bears gave an eloquent address:

My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring; and I feel glad, as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year. I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away, and I made but a few camps when I met you. I know that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you. My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. There has been trouble on the line between us and my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us. It was you to send the first soldier and we who sent out the second. Two years ago I came upon this road, following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm and we have not known which way to go. So it was upon the Canadian. Nor have we been made to cry alone. The blue dressed soldiers and the Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, and for camp fires they lit our lodges. Instead of hunting game they killed my braves, and the warriors of the tribe cut short their hair for the dead. So it was in Texas. They made sorrow come in our camps, and we went out like the buffalo bulls when the cows are attacked. When we found them, we killed them, and their scalps hang in our lodges. The Comanches are not weak and blind, like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted, like grown horses. We took their road and we went on it. The white women cried and our women laughed.

But there are things which you have said which I do not like. They were not sweet like sugar but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us upon reservation, to build our houses and make us medicine lodges. I do not want them. I was born on the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no inclosures [sic] and where everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them, I lived happily.

When I was at Washington the Great Father told me that all the Comanche land was ours and that no one should hinder us in living upon it. So, why do you ask us to leave the rivers and the sun and the wind and live in houses? Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep. The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry. Do not speak of it more. I love to carry out the talk I got from the Great Father. When I get goods and presents I and my people feel glad, since it shows that he holds us in his eye.

If the Texans had kept out of my country there might have been peace. But that which you now say we must live on is too small. The Texans have taken away the places where the grass grew the thickest and the timber was the best. Had we kept that we might have done the things you ask. But it is too late. The white man has the country which we loved, and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die. Any good thing you say to me shall not be forgotten. I shall carry it as near to my heart as my children, and it shall be as often on my tongue as the name of the Great Father. I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clear and pure and I wish it so that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in and leave it when they go out.[4]

Death

[edit]

A year later in December 1868, a number of Yamparika local bands, including Ten Bear's, were along the Washita River in western Indian Territory, near their allied Cheyennes and within the boundaries of the latter's reservation. When troops under Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer attacked the Cheyenne village under Black Kettle, Yamparika warriors from the village of Esarosavit 'White Wolf' joined in the counter attack, and "rode over" the detachment of Major Joel Elliot.[1]

In 1872, Ten Bears again visited Washington, along with a delegation that included his grandson Cheevers (probably from the Spanish chiva 'goat', although Attocknie argues that it was tsii putsi 'little pitied one'),[1] as well as other Comanches and Kiowas. But the hope that promises would be kept was ultimately futile. Ten Bears died soon after his return, November 23, 1872, at Fort Sill where he is buried.

[edit]

Ten Bears, played by the Muscogee actor Will Sampson, is portrayed in the film The Outlaw Josey Wales as a Comanche chief defending his home who then makes a "live and let live" peace with the title character, portrayed by Clint Eastwood.

In Michael Blake's novel "Dances with Wolves," the character Ten Bears may be based on the Comanche leader of the same name. While the movie portrays the Native band as Lakota Sioux, the book names them specifically as Comanche. In the book, Ten Bears is portrayed as a wise, respected leader.

Sources

[edit]
  • Wallace, Ernest & Hoebel, E. Adamson. The Comanche: Lords of the Southern Plains, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1952
  • Nye, Wilbur Sturtevant. Carbine and Lance: The Story of Old Fort Sill, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1983
  • Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1967
  • Fowler, Arlen L. The Black Infantry in the West, 1869-1891, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1996
  • Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1970

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Ten Bears

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia

Ten Bears (c. 1790 – November 23, 1872) was the principal chief of the Yamparika, or "Root Eater," division of the tribe from 1860 until his death. Born into the Ketahto family clan, he survived as an infant a Lakota raid that orphaned him, later rising to prominence through wisdom and negotiation skills amid intertribal conflicts and encroachments by American settlers. Known for his eloquence and efforts toward peace, Ten Bears represented the in multiple treaty negotiations with the , including the 1867 , where he signed on behalf of his band and delivered a notable speech emphasizing the Comanche's attachment to their nomadic prairie life over forced relocation to reservations. His leadership occurred during a period of intensifying , and he visited Washington, D.C., in 1863 and 1872 to discuss relations, ultimately dying at , .

Early Life

Origins and Orphaning

Ten Bears, originally named Paruasemana, was born circa 1790 to a household of the Ketahto family clan within the Yamparika band of the tribe, a group known for subsisting partly on prairie roots in the southern . The Yamparika division had been documented by Spanish observers in as early as the 1750s, though their distinct identity solidified around 1780 amid broader Comanche migrations and adaptations to bison-hunting lifestyles. As an infant, Ten Bears was orphaned following a raid by a Lakota () war party that overwhelmed and massacred his family's small group, a common peril in the inter-tribal conflicts of the Plains during the late . oral traditions, preserved through subsequent generations, recount this event as the catalyst for his early hardships, after which he was likely raised by extended kin within the Yamparika, fostering resilience amid ongoing warfare with northern tribes like the Lakota and . These narratives, drawn from tribal elders and documented in ethnographic accounts, underscore the precariousness of family units in an era of territorial expansion and raids, where infant survival rates were low due to such violence.

Early Involvement in Comanche Warfare

Ten Bears, born around 1790 into the Ketahto family of the Yamparika band of , transitioned into warrior status during a period of intense intertribal rivalries across the southern and central Plains. Comanche societal norms required young men to prove themselves through raids and combat, typically beginning in their mid-teens, with success measured by captives, horses, and scalps taken from enemies such as Utes, Apaches, and northern tribes encroaching on Yamparika territories. Oral histories indicate that Ten Bears adhered to this path, engaging in the band's customary horse-mounted warfare focused on plunder and territorial defense. A pivotal motivation for his early martial pursuits stemmed from a Lakota raid on his family's camp in the early , which orphaned him and his , fostering a personal vendetta against the . Raised by relatives within the Yamparika, he honed skills in horsemanship and spear-handling, essential for the band's against fortified villages. By young adulthood in the , he had earned renown for leading aggressive mounted spear assaults on Lakota settlements, sometimes undertaking solitary harassment raids to avenge familial losses and assert dominance northward. These exploits, documented in nineteenth-century Comanche narratives, underscored his tactical prowess in close-quarters combat, where warriors relied on speed and surprise rather than numerical superiority. Such engagements contributed to the Yamparika's reputation for venturing into contested regions like the , clashing with Lakota and other Siouan groups over hunting grounds and trade routes. While specific casualty figures or dates for individual raids remain unrecorded in available accounts, Ten Bears' early career established him as a formidable fighter before his ascent to roles.

Rise to Prominence

Ascension to Yamparika Leadership

Ten Bears, whose Comanche name was Parua-wasamen (also rendered as Paruasemana or Padda-Wah-Ser-Man-Oh), initially rose to prominence as the paraivo (peace chief) of the Ketahto local band—known to Anglos as "Don't Wear Shoes" or "The Barefeet"—within the Yamparika division, likely assuming this role in the late 1840s through demonstrated wisdom and oratorical skill in intertribal and early diplomatic matters. The Ketahto were a family-based subgroup of the Yamparika ("Root Eaters"), focused on root gathering and seasonal migrations in the southern Plains near the Arkansas River, where Ten Bears had been born around 1790 to a Ketahto household. His broader recognition among officials began in July 1853, when he signed the Treaty of Fort Atkinson near the present-day Kansas-Oklahoma border, allying , , and bands against common threats while establishing peace protocols; his signature appears as "Pa-ra-ua-sa-men," marking him as a key Yamparika voice despite not yet holding overarching authority over the division. This treaty, ratified amid escalating settler incursions, highlighted his emerging diplomatic stature, as leadership often derived from consensus among band elders rather than hereditary succession, favoring those adept at and survival strategies. By approximately 1860, following the death of the previous principal figure known to settlers as Shaved Head (Comanche name possibly Wulea-boo, though band affiliation is debated as potentially Kotsoteka), Ten Bears consolidated influence as the primary paraivo of the entire Yamparika, guiding roughly 1,500 to 2,000 members in councils and responses to territorial pressures from Texas Rangers and federal agents. This transition reflected his accumulated prestige from warfare abstinence in favor of advocacy, contrasting with war chiefs, and positioned him to represent Yamparika interests in subsequent treaties like Fort Cobb in 1861.

Pre-Treaty Diplomatic Role

Ten Bears established his reputation as a within the Yamparika band through inter-tribal negotiations that preceded formal U.S. treaties. Around 1820, he was instrumental in brokering peace between the s and the Utes, ending cycles of raids and warfare that had disrupted trade and mobility across the southern Plains. This agreement, rooted in Comanche oral traditions, stabilized relations with the Utes and positioned Ten Bears as a mediator capable of balancing warrior traditions with pragmatic alliances. By the mid-19th century, Ten Bears extended his diplomatic efforts to early interactions with U.S. representatives amid increasing settler incursions. On July 27, 1853, he signed the Treaty of Fort Atkinson as a Yamparika leader, committing the , alongside and bands, to cease hostilities among themselves and toward American citizens, while securing promises of U.S. protection against threats and access to annuities and trade goods. The treaty, negotiated by Thomas Fitzpatrick at Fort Atkinson in present-day , marked one of the first major U.S. agreements with northern Comanche divisions, though enforcement proved uneven due to ongoing raids by unaffiliated bands. These pre-1861 endeavors underscored Ten Bears' preference for negotiation over unyielding conflict, earning him influence among leaders despite rivalries with more militant figures like Isakwahip. His actions reflected a strategic realism, prioritizing survival amid encroaching American expansion and shifting tribal dynamics, though they did not prevent broader escalations in violence.

Key Treaties and Negotiations

Treaty of Fort Cobb (1861)

The Treaty of Fort Cobb, formally known as the Treaty with the Comanches of the Prairies and Staked Plain, was concluded on August 12, 1861, at the Wichita Agency near the False Wichita Village in present-day , under the auspices of Confederate commissioner Albert Sidney Pike. This agreement allied several northern bands—the Nokoni (No-co-ni), Taneweh (Ta-ne-i-weh), Kotsoteka (Co-cho-tih-ca), and Yamparika (Ya-pa-rih-ca)—with the amid the early stages of the , as the Confederacy sought to secure alliances with Plains tribes to counter Union influence in . The treaty promised perpetual peace, mutual protection, and material support in exchange for Comanche cessation of raids on Confederate-aligned groups and adoption of semi-settled lifestyles on designated reserves. Ten Bears, serving as the principal chief of the Yamparika band, affixed his mark as "Bis-te-va-na," representing his people in the pact and signaling a strategic alignment with the to safeguard Yamparika interests against encroaching settlers and rival tribes. Other Yamparika signatories included Te-hi-a-quah and Pe-hai-e-chi, alongside chiefs from allied bands such as Qui-na-hi-wi of the Nokoni and Ma-a-we of the Kotsoteka. Key provisions mandated the Comanches to renew peace with Confederate Indian allies like the , , , , and ; cease hostilities against white settlers in and ; and relocate to reserves north of the Red River, south of the Canadian River, and between the 98th and 100th meridians west, where lands would remain theirs "as long as grass shall grow or water run." In return, the Confederacy committed to protecting Comanche territory from intrusion, establishing an agency for trade and , providing annual rations and livestock (including 20 cows and calves per 50 persons), farming implements, and indemnity for past depredations once verified. Ratified by the Confederate Congress on December 20, 1861, the treaty reflected Pike's broader diplomatic efforts to enlist Indigenous warriors for Confederate service, though enforcement proved ephemeral due to the war's shifting fortunes and nomadic traditions. For Ten Bears, the signing underscored his emerging role as a diplomatic leader favoring over unyielding warfare, a stance that contrasted with more militant band heads and aimed at preserving Yamparika amid escalating pressures from Anglo-American expansion. Despite initial adherence, the alliance dissolved as Union forces reasserted control in by 1862, rendering the treaty's territorial guarantees moot and paving the way for subsequent federal negotiations.

Treaty of the Little Arkansas River (1865)

The Treaty of the Little Arkansas River, signed on October 18, 1865, at a council ground eight miles from the river's mouth in , aimed to secure perpetual peace between the and the and tribes following post-Civil War tensions and ongoing frontier conflicts. U.S. commissioners, including Jesse H. Leavenworth and , negotiated with tribal leaders to define a reservation for the tribes, with boundaries extending from the North Fork of the Red River northward to the and westward, requiring relocation upon government directive while allowing temporary ranging south of the under peaceful conditions. The agreement stipulated annual per capita payments of $10 before relocation and $15 thereafter for 40 years, U.S. rights to construct roads and military posts with compensation for damages, and tribal obligations to cease depredations and report hostile bands. Ten Bears (Parry-wah-say-mer), as chief of the Yamparika (Yampirica) band of , served as a principal speaker and signatory, marking the document alongside other Yamparika leaders like Iron Mountain and Comanche figures such as (To-sa-wi). His participation reflected a diplomatic effort to stabilize relations and secure designated lands in southwestern or northern for his people, amid pressures from U.S. expansion and intertribal dynamics. Accompanied by two sons, Isananaka and Hitetetsi, Ten Bears endorsed the treaty's peace provisions, prioritizing Yamparika interests in exchange for annuities and protection from settler encroachments. The treaty's implementation faltered, with promised reservations never fully established and lands later diminished by subsequent agreements, contributing to its obsolescence within two years and paving the way for the 1867 . For Ten Bears and the Yamparika, it represented a temporary diplomatic concession that failed to halt escalating U.S. military pressures or prevent further displacement, underscoring the limited enforceability of such pacts against rapid .

Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867) and Principal Speech

The Medicine Lodge Treaty, formally titled the Treaty with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, was negotiated from October 19 to 21, 1867, at a council site on Medicine Lodge Creek, approximately 70 miles south of Fort Larned, Kansas, between U.S. Peace Commissioners—including Senator John B. Henderson and General John B. Sanborn—and delegates from the Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Apache, and associated bands. The agreement required the tribes to relinquish claims to an estimated 60 million acres of land across Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas in exchange for a reservation of about 3 million acres in Indian Territory (present-day southwestern Oklahoma), annual annuities of goods valued at $25,000 for 30 years, provisions for schools, farming implements, and protection from white encroachment, while prohibiting tribal warfare and buffalo hunting south of the Arkansas River. However, the treaty's provisions were undermined by non-signatory Comanche bands, such as the Kwahadi, and U.S. failures to restrain settlers and hunters, contributing to renewed conflicts by 1868. Ten Bears (Parua-semain or Par-ra-was-men), principal chief of the Yamparika ("Root Eater") since circa 1860, represented his band as one of the signatories, advocating for amid ongoing raids and U.S. military pressure following the Civil War. His participation reflected the Yamparika's relatively northern orientation and prior diplomatic engagements, though he voiced reservations about confinement while endorsing non-aggression toward whites who respected autonomy. On October 19, 1867, Ten Bears delivered a principal speech before the commissioners, emphasizing Comanche grievances, a preference for traditional lifeways, and conditional peace, as recorded in the official proceedings of the council. He began by welcoming the delegates—"My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring"—and asserted that Comanches had never initiated violence against whites but defended their territory against incursions, including by Texas Rangers and soldiers. Ten Bears rejected reservations outright: "You said that you wanted to put us upon a reservation, to build for us houses and to make us medicine lodges. I do not want them. I was born upon the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures and everything drew a free breath." He warned of the buffalo's decline—"If you kill him your children will starve"—and demanded cessation of horse thefts by whites, concluding that Comanches sought only to "wander over the prairie till we die" without further bows drawn in anger, provided promises were kept. This oration, translated through interpreters, highlighted cultural incompatibility with sedentary reservation life while signaling willingness for amity, influencing the council's tone but not averting the treaty's ultimate failures. Ten Bears affixed his mark to the on October 21, 1867, alongside other leaders like Tenedooah and Asa-to or Hiss, committing the Yamparika to its terms, though enforcement disparities and unaddressed Texan hostilities eroded compliance within months. The U.S. ratified the treaty on October 9, 1868, but inadequate military protection and influx of buffalo hunters violated its guarantees, prompting Yamparika relocation to by 1874 amid escalating campaigns.

Later Years and Conflicts

Post-Treaty Relocation and Reservation Challenges

Following the signed on October 21, 1867, Ten Bears and his Yamparika band of s relocated to the designated reservation in , encompassing roughly three million acres in present-day southwestern between the and the North Fork of the Red River. The treaty obligated the to provide annual annuities of $30,000 in goods, including subsistence rations, cattle, agricultural implements, and schools, in exchange for the tribes' cessation of hostilities and confinement to the reservation. However, initial compliance was partial; while Ten Bears advocated adherence, broader Comanche resistance delayed full relocation until military pressure mounted, with his group settling near the Wichita Agency by 1868. Reservation life imposed severe hardships, primarily from systemic failures in treaty fulfillment. U.S. agents documented chronic delays and shortfalls in rations—such as corn, beef, and blankets—leaving bands like the Yamparikas facing starvation during winters, as traditional foraging and hunting grounds were inaccessible. The near-extirpation of buffalo herds, reduced from tens of millions in the 1860s to fewer than a thousand by 1875 through unchecked commercial slaughter by white hunters, eliminated the Comanches' primary protein source and raw material for hides, forcing dependence on inadequate government provisions. Compounding these issues were epidemics and social disruptions. outbreaks in 1868–1869 ravaged the confined populations, killing hundreds among the , , and on the shared reservation due to poor sanitation and limited medical aid. Intertribal conflicts over scarce resources erupted between Yamparikas and Kiowas, while reservation policies clashed with nomadic traditions, eroding leadership authority as young warriors chafed under restrictions and occasionally slipped off for unauthorized hunts or raids. Ten Bears, committed to the peace policy, mediated councils at —established in 1869 to enforce compliance—but grew disillusioned as unkept promises undermined tribal cohesion. By 1872, these pressures contributed to his declining health amid ongoing scarcity.

Ongoing Comanche Resistance and US Military Response

Despite Ten Bears' advocacy for treaty compliance, numerous bands, including the Quahadi and Kotsotekas, rejected relocation to the reservation stipulated in the of October 21, 1867, and sustained raids on settlements and frontier trails through 1872, seizing horses, cattle, and captives to preserve their nomadic economy amid encroaching buffalo hunters and railroads. These depredations, often numbering dozens annually, targeted areas like the and [Brazos River](/page/Brazos River), exacerbating tensions as federal agents reported non-compliance from over half the estimated 8,000 . The United States Army responded with fortified outposts and targeted offensives to enforce the treaty and protect settlers. Fort Sill, constructed in January 1869 near the Wichita Agency in present-day Oklahoma, served as a base for 300-500 troops to monitor Comanche movements and distribute rations, though supply shortages and disease claimed hundreds of reservation Comanches, including members of Ten Bears' Yamparika band. Major General Philip Sheridan authorized the Comanche Campaign starting in 1868, emphasizing winter strikes to disrupt villages; in May 1871, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie led 400 cavalrymen in destroying a Kotsoteka encampment on the North Fork of the Red River, killing 20-30 warriors, capturing 130 women and children, and seizing 700 horses, prompting temporary submissions from affected bands. A follow-up Mackenzie raid in September 1872 against a Comanche-Kiowa group in the Llano Estacado recovered captives but highlighted the challenges of pursuing mobile warriors across 100-mile terrains. Ten Bears, leading roughly 200 Yamparikas who had relocated by 1870, faced internal pressures from younger warriors tempted by raids but maintained diplomatic overtures, urging adherence amid reservation hardships like and outbreaks that reduced his band's numbers by 30-40% by 1872. These actions, while aimed at resistant factions, indirectly pressured compliant groups like the Yamparika through disrupted grounds and increased surveillance, contributing to the erosion of autonomy before Ten Bears' death in November 1872.

Death and Legacy

Final Days and Burial

Ten Bears traveled to Washington, D.C., in 1872 in a final effort to press U.S. authorities to fulfill treaty commitments made to the , including provisions for land and resources, but the delegation achieved no meaningful concessions. Upon returning to the vicinity of in (present-day ), he died on November 23, 1872, at about age 82, amid the ongoing challenges of reservation confinement following the relocations. No specific is recorded in contemporary accounts, though his advanced age and the physical toll of travel and diplomatic frustrations likely contributed. He was interred at Post Cemetery, Section 4, Grave 1137, in , where his grave remains marked as a site associated with Comanche leadership.

Historical Assessment and Balanced Perspectives

Ten Bears' diplomatic tenure as principal chief of the Yamparika , spanning roughly to 1872, represented a pragmatic response to inexorable U.S. territorial expansion, prioritizing over unyielding resistance amid demographic pressures from settler influxes and technological shifts like railroads that facilitated rapid settlement. His advocacy for treaties—such as the 1861 Fort Cobb agreement confining Comanches to specific tracts, the 1865 Little Arkansas pact acknowledging reduced hunting grounds, and the 1867 reserving lands in present-day for sedentary transition—aimed to preserve core elements of Comanche , including seasonal buffalo hunts, as articulated in his council speeches rejecting forced agriculture. However, causal factors beyond his control, including non-ratification of some provisions, persistent raids by unaffiliated bands, and systematic U.S.-backed buffalo extermination (reducing herds from tens of millions in the to near by 1880), rendered these pacts largely symbolic, accelerating rather than stabilizing relations. From a U.S. governmental vantage, Ten Bears embodied a cooperative "noble" indigenous figure, whose 1863 Washington delegation and eloquent Medicine Lodge oratory—famously decrying confinement as unnatural for a "prairie-born" people—facilitated short-term ceasefires, though federal records note frequent Yamparika compliance contrasted with broader Comanche defiance. Comanche oral traditions, preserved in narratives like those compiled by Francis Joseph Attocknie, portray him as a visionary elder whose foresight averted immediate annihilation for his band, emphasizing cultural resilience over futile warfare against superior firepower and numbers. Yet balanced scrutiny reveals limitations: his accommodation arguably hastened cultural assimilation without reciprocity, as reservation conditions fostered dependency and disease, with Yamparika populations declining post-relocation; detractors within militant factions, such as Quahadi leaders, viewed diplomacy as capitulation, sustaining raids that provoked decisive U.S. retaliation in the 1874-1875 Red River War. Empirically, Ten Bears' strategy yielded mixed results—averting total Yamparika destruction until his 1872 death but failing to halt the confederacy's dissolution, as U.S. policy prioritized conquest over treaty fidelity, evidenced by allotments violating Medicine Lodge boundaries by the 1890s. Contemporary assessments must account for source biases: 19th-century U.S. reports often romanticized compliant chiefs to justify expansion, while modern academic reevaluations highlight structural inevitability of nomadic defeat against industrialized settlement, underscoring Ten Bears' realism in a no-win rather than unqualified success or failure. His legacy endures as a testament to adaptive under duress, though causal realism attributes Comanche subjugation more to ecological devastation and military asymmetry than individual agency.

Cultural Depictions

Representations in Film and Literature

In the 1976 Western film , directed by and adapted from Forrest Carter's 1973 novel Gone to Texas, Ten Bears is depicted as a chief who negotiates a truce with the protagonist Josey Wales after the latter rescues captives from his band. The character, portrayed by , expresses admiration for Wales' integrity, stating, "There is iron in your words of death for all to see," while criticizing U.S. government duplicity as "double-tongues." This portrayal draws loosely on the historical Ten Bears' documented advocacy for peace treaties, presenting him as a dignified leader wary of federal promises but open to honorable dealings with individuals. The film's depiction, while fictionalized, contrasts with broader Hollywood trends of the era that often stereotyped Native leaders as antagonists, instead emphasizing Ten Bears' wisdom and autonomy in a sympathetic to anti-government sentiments shared by some historical accounts. The novel Gone to Texas features a parallel scene, reinforcing the chief's role as a symbol of tribal amid post-Civil tensions, though author Forrest Carter's background as a segregationist has prompted scrutiny of the work's underlying perspectives on race and authority. In non-fictional literature, Ten Bears is represented through The Life of Ten Bears: Comanche Historical Narratives (2015), a compilation of 19th-century oral histories recounted by his grandson Francis Joseph "Joe A." Attocknie to ethnographer Francis E. Leupp. The volume preserves Ten Bears' personal accounts of raids, leadership, and treaty negotiations, offering an insider's view of worldview unfiltered by external biases prevalent in contemporary U.S. reports. tribal sources endorse the for its authenticity in countering media distortions, highlighting Ten Bears' strategic rather than sensationalized violence. Other historical texts, such as S.C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon (2010), reference Ten Bears' Medicine Lodge speech as emblematic of pragmatic resistance, though these prioritize broader over individualized narrative.

References

  1. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/687529/summary
  2. https://texoso66.com/2022/12/22/ten-bears-comanche-leader/
  3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1d8h8nj
  4. https://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/565/bears-yamparika-chief
  5. https://www.facebook.com/ComancheMuseum/posts/ten-bears-was-born-of-the-ketahto-family-clan-in-the-yamparika-root-eater-comanc/10155849885353204/
  6. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-life-of-ten-bears-francis-joseph-attocknie/1123596901
  7. https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-comanche-kiowa-and-apache-1853-0600
  8. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/yamparika-indians
  9. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/ten-bears
  10. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/cokiap53.asp
  11. https://treatiesportal.unl.edu/csaindiantreaties/csa_treaties.html
  12. http://www.dickshovel.com/ComancheThree.html
  13. https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-comanche-and-kiowa-1865-0892
  14. https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/download/encyclopedia-of-united-states-indian-policy-and-law/chpt/ten-bears-parrawasamen.pdf
  15. https://historica.fandom.com/wiki/Ten_Bears
  16. http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/little-arkansas-treaty
  17. https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article39004998.html
  18. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/kicoap67.asp
  19. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/satanta
  20. https://www.academia.edu/46891360/Ten_Bears_Speech_at_Treaty_of_Medicine_Lodge_1867_Extract_
  21. https://www.swoknews.com/styles/text-of-ten-bears-speech/article_e549a98f-6207-5f6c-87e6-8f5efec27bfc.html
  22. https://iamronen.com/blog/2010/02/28/ten-bears/
  23. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/medicine-lodge-creek-treaty
  24. https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-kiowa-and-comanche-1867-0977
  25. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CO033
  26. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=KI017
  27. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ME005
  28. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/red-river-war
  29. https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-kiowa-comanche-and-apache-1867-0982
  30. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=RE010
  31. https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/the-lost-tribe/
  32. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28111739/chief_ten-bears
  33. https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803285507/the-life-of-ten-bears/
  34. https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/teach/images/redriver.pdf
  35. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/27671127.2024.2425597
  36. https://shareok.org/bitstreams/c1cd1c64-2283-4727-b7df-bbbaefa422e8/download
  37. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SERIALSET-08689_00_00-179-2205-0000/pdf/SERIALSET-08689_00_00-179-2205-0000.pdf
  38. https://petticoatsandpistols.com/2011/07/01/the-outlaw-josey-wales/
  39. https://thewordprocess.com/2011/08/the-real-historical-guy-behind-a-fictional-bit-part/
  40. https://civilwartalk.com/threads/outlaw-josey-wales-who-knew-the-real-ten-bears.175594/page-2
  41. https://mereinkling.net/2014/04/10/words-of-death/
  42. https://montecristomagazine.com/arts/local-connections-mccabe-mrs-miller-outlaw-josey-wales
  43. https://www.texomashomepage.com/native-american-heritage-month/native-american-heritage-comanche-tribe-fights-for-accurate-representation-in-media/
  44. https://www.amazon.com/Life-Ten-Bears-Historical-Narratives/dp/0803285507
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.