Comanche Bondage

by Carl Coke Rister, Donald E. Worcester

No homeseekers were ever plagued with more bad luck than those who followed the Englishman John Charles Beales to southern Texas late in 1834. On the banks of Las Moras Creek, not far from the Rio Grande, they established the colony of Dolores. Among them were the British-born Sarah Ann Horn and her husband and two small sons. For the pretty Sarah Ann, who shared her neighbors' fear of Comanche raids, the year or so in Dolores was a preview of a special hell to come. The threat of an invasion by Santa Anna, an uncongenial climate, a lack of trees for lumber, an unnavigable river, crop failures, and a scarcity of commodities contributed to the colonists' discouragement and discord. In Comanche Bondage the distinguished southwestern historian Carl Coke Rister has written the history of the Dolores enterprise, drawing on Beale's journals and other documents, and including reports of the survivors. Leaving Dolores in the wake of news about the Alamo and Goliad disasters, the Horn family and their neighbors the Harrises headed toward Matamoras. They never arrived there. Later a broken Sarah Ann Horn told the horrifying story of the murder of the men and of the years of captivity she and Mrs. Harris and their children endured at the hands of the Comanches. Rister has edited and annotated her 1839 narrative, which complements and extends his account of Beales's folly.

211 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1989

Reviews

[D.A. Vega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comanche Bondage is the harrowing first person account of Sara Ann Horn. Horn and her family traveled from England to settle the community of Dolores, a small settlement in the scrublands of South Texas. Too far from timber and good water, the community languished. Warnings of nearby Comanches from the friendly Lipan Apache, coupled with the appearance of a rattlesnake in a baby's crib, prompted several of the settlers to abandon Dolores and leave for a new enterprise. Shortly after departing the settlement, the refugees from Dolores were set upon by a Comanche raiding party. The Comanche marauders murdered all of the men, splitting the skull of Horn's husband with the barrel of a shotgun. Horn was separated from her children, the captives divided between the war party. This book is a fantastic glimpse at the brutality of the Texas frontier.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm kind of obsessed with Comanche history right now so this book could have been anything about Comanches and I would have given it 5. I read a different version of it, but the cover of this one is the same. It was crazy. Everyone is crying racist about the other one, It's brutal but it seems that it was accurate at least in the descriptions of some of the tortures and deaths/murderings. This one details the woman's captivity rather briskly but accurately and matter of fact-ly. As something to read it was intense. As a historical document or reference, I don't know what to say. It seems "real" to me. It was a crazy read.
Maybe I'll read something else now. Maybe.