Empire of the Summer Moon
“Buffalo Hump had one of those Comanche names… that…whites could not quite bring themselves to translate. His Nermernuh name, properly transliterated, was Po-cha-na-quar-hip, which meant, ‘erection that won’t go down.””
Who’s this for: History buffs. You really need to be into history to consume the dense amount of information in this book. It’s incredibly written, and well researched, and I think many would be entertained by it, but by no means would I consider it an easy read.
This book is some Game of Thrones, but in real life shit.
Humor me for a second and imagine that you just bought some beautiful property. It’s a lot, because you’re venturing into a new frontier. So you gathered your family from the home they’ve only known, gathered your entire life, and moved. There you build a protective community, where everyone you know and love can have nice, safe, and warm housing. But, unbeknownst to you, this new frontier actually belongs to someone else, and they’re pissed. One day, they come in, rape, kill, steal, and kidnap the people of your family. The kidnapped ones were the lucky ones, as they got to live on in either indentured servitude or sold off. The unlucky ones were raped, scalped alive, and left to bleed out.
This is what happened to the Parker family one morning in 1836 by the local Comanches. This book uses the events surrounding the Parker family as the glue that holds the timeline of the Texas, and American West, versus the Comanches, notably the “most powerful Indian tribe in American History.”
Empire of Summer Moon, is f’n incredible. It’s no wonder it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Nearly every sentence of this incredibly dense book is cited to original source material. S.C. Gwynne’s ability to compile such an abundance of information and turn it into an easy to follow, and engaging narrative is impressive (understatement).
Despite some of the comments and reviews I’ve read about the book, I do believe Gwynne gives the most objective and unbiased accounts of the terrible acts performed by Texans and the Indians. The brutality of the events can be hard to swallow, and it does seem mostly on the side of the Comanches. There’s a couple explanations for this. Either one, the events are 100% true that what the Indians did to each other was more gruesome in our eyes, or the events surrounding the vicious acts of Texans were not as well documented.
I have no reason to believe that it isn’t the former, because what Texans did is well discussed in the book - just not as much. The traditions of tribes back then were horrific. Scalping, cannibalism, torture, and raping just to name a few. This is how war was done, not only against Texans, but even against other Indian tribes. I learned in the book that it wasn’t, at times, the bravery of the Indians to fight until their last breath, but because the alternative was if captured, they’d have to endure unimaginable torture. Best relief was death. And again, all of this is backed up by many documented sources. If things seemed unsubstantiated, then it appeared Gwynne wouldn’t go in depth on the matter. This is called out periodically throughout the book.
Getting back to the story, the Comanches in 1836 kidnapped a young girl by the name of Cynthia Ann Parker around nine years old, not to be heard from for many years. The events after triggered the beginning of the Republic of Texas’ fight against… basically the continent. Texans were left to fight against the Mexicans push to expand their territory, and the Comanches push to keep the land they believed was rightfully their’s. (There’s even belief that the Mexicans allowed Texas settlements just north of their border, to act as human buffers against the Comanches.) Much of this was done without the aid of the United States Army. So what did Texans do? They used the Texas Rangers.
The life of a Ranger was very short, maybe two to three years. So it was theorized that this had a Darwinistic effect. Those that survived were the most skilled, rugged, and brutal. You were left with the best of the best.
Decades of fighting occurred between the two. The Comanches, who had become likely the best fighters on horseback ever, had many advantages that had to continually be overcome by the Texas Rangers. This caused Rangers to change the way they trained, thought about attacks, and innovate. Innovation by way of the Colt Revolver and Spencer Carbine. Both weapons used to out duel the highly skilled Comanche riders.
Then, in what seemed as if Hollywood wrote the historical script, the events end with someone who is seen as the most powerful Comanche Chief ever - Quanah Parker. That’s right… Parker. Same surname as Cynthia Ann because it’s her son. Half white, half Comanche, and thought of one of those most brilliant tacticians of all the Indians to have fought against Americans.
We all know how the story unfolds as I sit in here a coffee shop in Austin, Texas. The Rangers won, but it was not an outright slaughter. Blood was likely spilled on much of the ground I walk on every day. I can’t speak on the moralities of the United States history of conquering the borders we now have. But what I can do is appreciate the history and sacrifice that it took to get where we’re at today.
I don’t think we appreciate the history of our world enough to have perspectives on how well things are. I couldn’t imagine living the frontier life, trying to forge your path. You have nothing, and people want to take that nothing from you. Times get easier and easier, and not knowing our history can destroy it. You can lose perspective, and not fully understand what’s worth protecting. If you don’t feel you have time or interest in reading this book, then I highly recommend watching 1883. Taylor Sheridan did an amazing job capturing this.
Next time you’re itching for a history lesson, this should be at the top of your list.
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