Great Raid of 1840 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Great Raid of 1840
Part of the Indian Wars
Location of Linville and Victoria
Date August 7, 1840 Location Victoria and Linnville, Texas Result Comanche victory
Belligerents
Texians	Comanche
Commanders and leaders
Mathew Caldwell, Edward Burleson	Buffalo Hump
Strength
Approximately 100	Unknown; estimates, c. 400
Casualties and losses
At least 30 killed at Victoria and Linnville, and 11 at Plum Creek	35 killed, 29 caught and imprisoned

The Great Raid of 1840 was the largest raid ever carried out by Native Americans on towns in what is now the United States. This event happened after a meeting called the Council House Fight. During this meeting, officials from the Republic of Texas tried to capture 33 Comanche chiefs who had come to discuss a peace treaty. A disagreement broke out, and many Comanche chiefs and their families were killed or captured. The Comanche felt this was a great betrayal. To get revenge, the Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump gathered a large group of warriors. They raided deep into the areas of Southeast Texas where white settlers lived.

Comanche Leaders Plan the Raid

Buffalo Hump, a main war chief of the Penateka Comanche, was determined to get revenge for what the Comanches saw as a terrible betrayal. He sent messages to other Comanche groups, telling them he was planning a big raid on white settlements. This led to the Great Raid of 1840.

Buffalo Hump, along with other important chiefs like Yellow Wolf and Santa Anna, gathered a huge raiding party. There were at least 400 warriors, and possibly 500 wives and young boys who came along to help. In mid-July, Comanches from many different groups joined the raid. As many as a thousand Comanches might have started this journey from West Texas. They traveled all the way from the plains to the cities of Victoria and Linnville on the Texas coast. This was possibly the biggest organized raid by the Comanches up to that time. They attacked and burned these towns, taking whatever they wanted.

Attack on Victoria

The large group of Comanche warriors entered central Texas and first attacked the town of Victoria on August 6, 1840. Texas Rangers had found signs of a huge group of warriors coming from West Texas. They were following the Comanches, but a part of the war party broke off and attacked Victoria before the people could be warned.

One person living there wrote that they were "startled by the sudden appearance of six hundred mounted Comanches." The people of Victoria hid inside buildings. The Comanches killed about a dozen townspeople. They rode through the town, but then left when rifle fire from the buildings made it too dangerous. The Comanche war party wanted to gather horses and steal from the towns along the coast. These towns were not as ready for a Comanche attack as the cities in central Texas. After attacking Victoria, the Comanches camped for the night on Spring Creek.

The Looting of Linnville

Location of Linnville on Lavaca Bay.

Leaving Victoria on August 7, 1840, the Comanches continued towards Linnville. They camped that night on Placido Creek, about twelve miles from Linnville.

Early on August 8, 1840, the Comanches surrounded the small port of Linnville, Texas. At that time, Linnville was the second largest port in the Republic of Texas. The Comanches began to steal from the stores and houses. Linnville no longer exists, but it was located northeast of where Port Lavaca is today.

The Comanches reportedly killed three white people. One was a customs officer named Hugh Oran Watts. He had delayed his escape to get a gold watch from his home. After killing Watts, the Comanches captured his wife, Juliet Constance, and a Black woman and child.

The townspeople were smart and fled to the safety of the water. They knew that plains Indians would not be used to fighting on water. They stayed safe on small boats and a schooner (a type of sailboat) captained by William G. Marshall. From the water, the people watched their town being destroyed and looted. They could not do anything to stop it.

For the whole day, the Comanches stole from and burned buildings. They wore fancy top hats and stolen clothes. They tied feather beds and rolls of cloth to their horses, dragging them along. They also gathered many cattle into pens and killed them. One angry citizen, Judge John Hays, grabbed a gun and walked into the shallow water. He yelled at the warriors, but the Comanches chose to leave him alone, thinking he was crazy. He later realized he had walked towards nearly a thousand Indians with an unloaded pistol.

At the time of the Great Raid, many valuable goods were being shipped. These goods were on their way from overseas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and then to San Antonio, Texas and Austin, Texas. Reports said that goods worth over $300,000 were in Linnville at that moment. This included a lot of silver. One person noted that besides cloth and other goods, there were also hats and umbrellas belonging to a merchant. The Comanches took these items. They were seen riding around the burning village, with their families, wearing the hats and carrying the umbrellas. After loading their stolen goods onto pack mules, the raiders finally began to leave on the afternoon of August 8, 1840.

The Battle of Plum Creek

The Texas Rangers had been following the Comanche war party for some time. They could not attack them because there were so many Comanches. But the three days of looting in Linnville gave the Texas militia and Ranger groups a chance to gather. Volunteers from Gonzales, Texas, led by Mathew Caldwell, and from Bastrop, led by Ed Burleson, joined with all the Ranger companies from east and central Texas. They moved to stop the Comanches.

They met at Plum Creek, near the city of Lockhart, Texas, on August 12, 1840. The Comanches usually moved very fast, like light cavalry. But on this raid, they were slowed down by the captured pack mules carrying all the stolen goods. Normally, Comanches would ride away quickly after a victory. But this time, they moved at a slower pace that the heavily loaded mules could handle. This allowed the militia and Rangers to catch them, which was usually impossible.

The Battle of Plum Creek was more like a running gun battle. The Texans tried to kill the raiders and get back the stolen goods. The Comanches simply tried to escape. Although only about a dozen Comanche bodies were found, the Texans reported killing 80 Comanches. The Comanche losses were probably higher than usual. However, greed ended up helping the Comanches. When the militia found the stolen silver, they stopped fighting. They divided the treasure among themselves and went home instead of chasing the raiding party further.

What Happened Next

The Great Raid of 1840 was the largest Native American raid on white towns in the history of what is now the United States. Even though it happened in the Republic of Texas, not the United States, it was a huge event. The Comanche war party burned one city completely. They stole over 3,000 horses and mules. They also took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of other items, like silver, cloth, and mirrors.

The huge amount of stolen goods slowed them down. This made them vulnerable to attack from the militia, who otherwise would never have caught them. However, the militia focused on taking and dividing the recovered silver and other stolen items. They did not continue to chase the raiding party.

Images for kids

• Buffalo Hump.jpg

  Buffalo Hump, a powerful Comanche war chief.

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  Location of Linnville on Lavaca Bay.

• Battle of Plum Creek.jpg

  A depiction of the Battle of Plum Creek.