Confederates and Comancheros

“Comancheros, the New Mexico merchants who traded, often illegally with Comanches and other Southern Plains nations, have been highly fictionalized over the years. But. James Bailey Blackshear and Glen Sample Ely, historians knowns for their works about frontier Texas and New Mexico, correct that oversight and in the process deliver a highly readable and detailed look at the mostly illicit trade. With impeccable scholarship, the authors focus on the Civil War era and provide a lively look at assorted characters, few of them completely reputable, and put the dealings, shootings, legal procedures, raids, spies, killings and cattle drives in perspective. Along the way, Blackshear and Ely also correct some longstanding myths. Fascinating and a whole lot of fun to read. “—Western Writers of America, The Roundup

 

“James Blackshear and Glen Ely’s collaboration on the complicated struggle for control of the Texas-New Mexico borderlands in the Civil War era does much to illuminate the complex webs of conflict and cooperation among the various groups living on and around the Llano Estacado. Part economic history, part military history, and part ethnography, the work seeks to restore the Comancheros, largely Hispanic merchants and herders who traded extensively with the Comanche empire, to their rightful place in history…anyone interested in the far reaches of the Civil War in the Texas-New Mexico borderlands will benefit from a careful reading of Confederates and Comancheros. Both authors are to be commended for using their extensive expertise in the region to draw back the curtain on the economic activity that motivated many of the actions and reactions in the theater. The book further proves that the Civil War and the subsequent conquest of the American West are two acts that cannot be disentangled in the historical record, and will remain forever linked in history just as strongly as the disparate communities the enterprising Comancheros bound together."—H-Net Reviews