“Comanche Raider”

The Comanche were proud horsemen and were horse-rich. Many of these were obtained in the numerous raids they conducted at a great distance from their camp. When young Comanche braves desired to go on a raid into a land unknown to them, it was customary to seek guidance from the older men. This took the form of a series of lessons.

They would memorize the significant geographic features they would encounter for each day of the trip. A bundle of sticks notched to represent the days of the trip were used. Commencing with a stick with a single notch, the older warriors placed each stick in succession along a travel line. This would result in a crude map in the dirt, which marked the distance to be covered each day . After a stick was placed, a map was drawn indicating the larger rivers and streams that would be encountered during that days travel. Hills, valleys, ravines and water holes were also indicated. Landmarks, especially those that were peculiar or easily remembered, were located and marked. Once a given days lesson was thoroughly understood, the stick representing the next days travel was used in the same way.

This was repeated for every day of the trip.

With such information fixed in their minds, a Comanche raiding party of young warriors, who had never been to Mexico, were known to travel from their main camp on Brady Creek, Texas, all the way to the city of Monterey in Mexico. Groups from all Indian tribes made many such journeys into lands totally unknown to anyone but their elders or ancestors before the trip was made. The warrior in the sculpture “Comanche Raider” is a great distance from his home in his quest to acquire more horses for his tribe.