TheComanche Trail, sometimes called theComanche War Trail or theComanche Trace, was a travel route inTexas established by the nomadicComanche and theirKiowa andKiowa Apache allies. Although called a "trail," the Comanche Trail was actually a network of parallel and branching trails, always running from one source of good water to another. The trail was especially important from the 1830s to 1850s when the Comanche launched large scale raids from Texas intoMexico. Hundreds of warriors annually followed the trail southward in fall and returned with their booty, mostly livestock, in late winter or spring.
The route ran from theComanche summer hunting grounds on theGreat Plains of northern Texas,Oklahoma,New Mexico,Colorado, andKansas to theRio Grande river which formed the border of the United States and Mexico. In the 18th century, the Spanish had established a line of missions andpresidios to defend from what was then calledNew Spain from the Comanche and other Indian tribes. Mexican independence from Spain in 1821 resulted in a decrease in the new country's capability to defend itself from Indian raids. At the same time, there was a growing demand for livestock, especially horses and mules, in the expanding United States. The Comanche took advantage of the situation by raiding hundreds of miles deep into Mexico for livestock which they marketed in the United States.[1] By 1857 parts of the trail had been named and appeared on maps.[2] The Comanche launched their raids on Mexico in autumn, riding south on nights with a full moon, called a Comanche Moon in Texas.[3]
Following water sources, the primary trail ran north from two starting points on theRio Grande River, one atBoquillas and the other atPresidio, with crossings of the river at both locations. The legs of the trail met atComanche Springs, nearFort Stockton, Texas andLas Moras Springs nearFort Clark.[4][5] The trail continued north to cross thePecos River in the vicinity ofHorsehead Crossing,[6] bending northeast to the area ofOdessa andBig Spring, Texas.[7][8] From there the Comanche Trail ran east past theCaprock Escarpment and on across theLlano Estacado by two separate routes. One branch ran to the vicinity ofLubbock and along theDouble Mountains (Texas) fork of theBrazos River to near the present site ofAbernathy, to nearLittlefield,[9] then via a series of springs to thePecos River nearFort Sumner. A separate fork ran fromBig Spring, Texas to nearPlainview, Texas, rejoining the other route to the east ofMuleshoe.[2] Northern branches of the trail ran through theTexas Panhandle intoOklahoma,Colorado andKansas. Southern branches extended into northern Mexico throughChihuahua,Coahuila andDurango toZacatecas andSan Luis Potosi, while an eastern fork ran fromBig Spring, Texas southeast toNuevo Leon andTamaulipas.[10]
The Comanche Trail was noted as a beaten path as much as a mile wide. Much of the southeastern leg of the main trail runs through what is nowBig Bend National Park, leaving the park throughPersimmon Gap in the Santiago Mountains in the northern portion of the park.[11]U.S. Route 385 follows the same route through parts of the park.[12]
