SEPT 3: de Anza Clashes with Comanches

Clashes between Native tribes in North America and foreign invaders occurred well before the Plains Indian Wars.

Governor of New Mexico Juan Bautista de Anza.

Nearly a century earlier, the Spanish tangled most notably with Comanches in present-day southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. This came after the Comanches had driven the Utes and Apaches off the plains in the mid-1700s. They began to make ever more destructive raids on Spanish settlements in northern New Mexico. In 1779, the Governor of New Mexico, Juan Bautista de Anza (the founder of San Francisco), led Spanish soldiers, along with Ute and Apache scouts, north to suppress attacks, particularly those led by Comanche chief Cuerno Verde (meaning Green Horn because of the headdress he wore into battle.)

His father, the original Chief Cuerno Verde, was killed in an attack by the Spanish on Ojo Caliente in 1768. The Chief's son then assumed his father's name and his unique green-tinted horned headdress. He devoted himself to battle the Spaniards.

In August 1779, Anza assembled 600 men and 1,500 horses and set out to track down Cuerno Verde II.

North of current-day Pueblo, Colorado, Anza and his soldiers attacked Cuerno Verde’s village. In the fight, 18 warriors were killed, others wounded, and many people fled from the site. In the battle, around 30 women and 34 children were taken prisoner by the troops. Anza discovered Cuerno Verde and his warriors were away and were coming back north to his village after their latest raids in northern New Mexico.

Anza caught up with Cuerno Verde near the base of Greenhorn Mountain – later named for Cuerno Verde – and the chief and several of his principal warriors were killed there on Sept. 3, 1779. Anza then established a fragile peace, which lasted until the early 1800s.