Preparing to Weather the Storm, I790-I800
Comanches and Tawakonis swore to observe the peace with the mission Indians of Rosario and Espiritu Santo. On July 15 Chiefs Soxas and Quiscat departed. The commander of the presidio furnished them an escort of a sergeant and five soldiers to accompany them as far as the Guadalupe. Before their destination was reached, all the Comanches and Tawakonis, with the exception of four, went on the warpath to hunt Apaches and Lipans. They assured the soldiers that they would not harm either the Spaniards or the mission Indians. 34 Chief Quiscat aspired to be honored, as his father had been, by being appointed governor of his tribe. The Tawakonis of Chief Quiscat were influential allies of the Spaniards. When Nava heard of the visit to La Bahia and of the difficulties that had arisen, he recommended that Chief Quiscat, the younger, be treated with all consideration and his pride flattered in order to win his support. He suggested that Chief Quiscat, on his next visit, be presented with the baton (a silver cane) of an Indian governor, and that he be given four braided coats. 35 But it was almost impossible to maintain peace among lifelong enemies who hated each other as much as the Lipan-Apaches hated the Comanches. A little more than a year later, three Tawakonis informed the com- mander of La Bahia that a party of Comanches was again on the war- path searching for Lipans. The Karankawas at ·Refugio and Rosario hated the Comanches as much as they hated the Lipans. They decided to go out to ambush the Comanches. The garrison immediately took steps to prevent the clash. To avoid a possible incident, the commander placed the Comanches in a house for safe-keeping during their visit to the presidio. On the night of September 12, 1798, a Karankawa Indian bored a hole through the wall of the house, and fired point-blank at the inmates, wounding two Comanches, one in the leg and another in the knee. The Comanches rushed out of the house to .ivenge the insult. A serious break was prevented when Chief Andres agreed to turn over the guilty party. Next morning it was learned that the Indian who had attacked the unwelcome visitors was a Karankawa, whose brother had been killed in -a raid by the Comanches. The barber dressed the wounds, the injured parties shook hands, smoked the peace pipe, and tranquillity was restored." 34 Juan Bautista Elguezabal to Manuel Munoz, July 20, 1797. BJrar A,-cAifl1s. 35 Nava to Munoz, September 25, 1797. BJrar ArcAiflu. 36 Jose Miguel deL Moral to Manuel Munoz, September 14, 1798, Bh:ar A,-cAifl1s.
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