Cuerno Verde

Cuerno Verde. Colorado. In the 1700s, this area of southern Colorado became a significant cultural crossroads for the Indian tribes of the high plains. Apaches and Kiowas, Utes and Comanches all pressed in to take advantage of the abundant buffalo and other game. This caused a substantial amount of intertribal warfare that continued well into the 19th century. So intense was the struggle that even the name Comanche emerged from the Ute word "komantcia." meaning "anyone who wants to fight me all the time." , By the 1700s, this area also formed the most northern extremity of the Spanish empire. From Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, Spanish soldiers, explorers, and clergy ventured north to draw the plains people into trading alliances, spread Christianity, and quell the destructive raids on settlements in the Upper Rio Grande Valley., After driving the Utes and Apaches off the plains in the mid-1700s, the Comanches began to make ever more destructive raids on the settlements in Northern New Mexico. In 1779, the Governor of New Mexico, Juan Bautista de Anza, led some 600 Spanish soldiers, along with their Ute and Apache allies, north to suppress the attacks, particularly those led by the Comanche chief known as Cuerno Verde (meaning Green Horn because of the headdress he wore in battle)., Although Anza's exact route is subject to debate, he and his men ascended the San Luis Valley. crossed the mountains to reach the Arkansas River, then worked their way east to the high plains. Hurrying south just east of the mountains, they intercepted Cuerno Verde's band somewhere in this area. A battle ensued at the base of Greenhorn Mountain - later named for Cuerno Verde - and the chief and several of his principal warriors died in the struggle. Anza then established a fragile peace, one that lasted until the early 1800s. , Map Details , . August 1779 - Anza leaves Santa Fe with nearly 600 soldiers in search of Cuerno Verde., . Anza's troops travel at night to avoid detection., . The Spanish, strengthened by Ute and Apache allies, march north through the San Luis Valley probably to what is now Poncha Pass., . After reaching the high plains, Anza captures a Comanche village only to discover that Cerno Verde and other warriors have left to conduct a raid on Taos, New Mexico., . August 1779 - Cuerno Verde and about 50 other Comanches return north from a raid on Taos, New Mexico., . Anza intercepts Cuerno Verde and his warriors returning from their raid on Taos. After a two-day struggle at the foot of Greenhorn Mountain, Anza's force defeats the Comanches.