Hermann Crashes A Comanche War Party

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

We're in a series about the Wild West and the incredible story of an 11 year old German boy, Hermann, who was captured by an Apache war party from his family's farm in 1870 in Central Texas.

He's now 16 years old at this point in the story and has become a full blown warrior who hates and fears the White man. And in fact, has taken many a scalp.

Yesterday's post

In the last post Hermann was aching for contact with other Indians so he decided to try and make contact with the Comanche even though his tribe had been at war with them off and on for years.

A Comanche war party sighted

It wasn't long after that when he spotted a party of Indians and determined they were Comanche. He trailed them all day and waited until they set up camp for the night.

Comanche War Party:

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He tied his horse up a short distance away to where he could make a quick escape if he had to run for it.

In the cover of darkness he snuck up within hearing range and listened. The language he couldn't understand but they must have been talking about the days events. They seemed to be in a good mood, laughing and joking.

Hermann had always liked the Comanche

From the times he'd been around the Comanche(when they weren't fighting each other) he'd found them to be very enjoyable to be around.. fun-loving and liked a good laugh. But on the other hand, they were fierce warriors:

source

But generally it was a nice change from his own tribe who were very somber and didn't laugh unless someone got hurt or they were playing a cruel joke on someone(like him in the early years).

Of course, this is just Hermann's experience with his small band. I don't want to castigate an entire tribe with a negative impression. There were many different Apache tribes and sub-tribes and bands.

He makes a grand entrance

Hermann wasn't sure how to approach them so he decided to just do it and get it over with. He took a stroll from the darkness right into the light of the campfire without announcing himself.

There were shrieks and war hoops and yells as all the braves sprang to their feet and dashed into the darkness!

They didn't know WHAT he was..

He must have looked like one crazed, wild, vicious, strange kind of Indian. Being white but with long, wild, unkempt hair, scraggly, filthy and rough after living in the wilderness for over a year. It had to be a heck of a shock to them!

Coming from the black darkness some of them probably thought he was some kind of ghost or scary spirit, I think he probably looked like death warmed over!

So anyway, there he stood..all alone in front of the fire, looking around to see what would happen next. Not a soul in sight but he half expected to feel the pain of arrows flying in from the darkness.

The she-devil wanted to kill him

It wasn't long before they all came back and surrounded him with yells and war whoops but they kept their distance as they tried to size him up. lol. I can just imagine this scenario. There were a few squaws and they came closer to him.

The most aggressive was a hideous old hag that looked like a witch. She only had one eye, was hunched over, had missing front teeth, stringy hair sticking out everywhere, she had a fierce countenance and got right in his face screaming who knows what.

He found out later that she wanted to kill him right there, that he could bring them nothing but trouble. Hermann maintained his cool (even though his knees were knocking a little bit) and made signs of peace.

Luckily someone spoke Apache

After the old lady finished screeching at him a brave came forward who spoke Apache so Hermann was able to tell him that he was a poor, lonely Indian in need of food and that he was an enemy of the Apache.

He explained the situation and how he came to be Indian and what happened to his chief and with the medicine man. Also, how he loved the Indian and hated the white man and that he had the scalps of whites on his shield and that his race considered him to be a mortal enemy.

He told them that he wanted to become a Comanche and make war on the Apache and the Whites. Another brave approached and said that he had seen Hermann with the Apache so that confirmed his story.

Acceptance

After Hermann had told him his story in detail, which they listened to intently, they told him that he was welcome to stay with them as long as he wished, and could accompany them to the main village the next day and their big chief, Cotopah, would welcome him.

He went out to get his horse accompanied by two braves then squaws brought him plenty of food to eat and fixed him a comfortable pallet to sleep on.

For the first time in over a year he laid down to sleep feeling content and secure...and felt like he was among friends.

In the next post we'll see how it goes for Hermann with the Comanche.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas