Tragedies of Canon Blanco: A Story of the Texas Panhandle, Book Review Example

Captain Robert Goldthwaite Carter’s account of Indian fighting in the Texas panhandle during 1870 is a memoir that reads like a novel. It is also a story which, while based on authenticated historical facts, is also based in a set of prejudices and cultural beliefs that were part of the author’s world-view. The main impression that the story is likely to have on a modern reader is one that reveals the way in which Native Americans were viewed as sub-human by the U.S. Army soldiers who fought against them. Another strong impression that is likely to be given by the story to modern readers is that of the violence and hardship that were a part of the Westward expansion of settlers in the years after the American Civil War. One of the most compelling aspects of the book is the fact that it details the way in which the war between the Native American tribes and the whites was largely carried out against the women and children on both sides. The book also recounts the ways in which the Native Americans tortured and enslaved whites while simultaneously showing the way in which the whites regarded the murdering and destruction of Native Americans as morally justifiable and, in fact, as heroic.

The story begins with some background details about the way that the Comanche tribes in the area of the Texas panhandle had been making raids against white forts and settlements. During one of the raids, a young woman was taken captive by the Comanches and later, recovered when the army was able to isolate and attack a party of Native Americans. During her captivity, the young woman, who was named Cynthia Ann Parker, became the wife of a Comanche chief and later, after the chief was slain and Parker returned to civilization, it was found she had given birth to several children. one of the children, a boy, went on to become a Comanche chief named Quanah who later led war raids against the whites. The raids led by Quanah form the basis for the narrative. the author was part of a group that included regiments of the Fourth cavalry as well as native American Ton-ka-way scouts (known as “Tonks”) that pursued the Comanches led by Quahan with the intention of driving them out of the panhandle and ending the raids.

One disastrous result of the operation was that a detachment under the command of Captain E.M Heyl was caught in a Comanche ambush. Because Captain Heyl’s men were comprised mainly of new soldiers who had not yet experienced Indian fighting first-hand, the initial stages of the ambush were particularly costly and terrifying to the soldiers. The author of the story was included in Heyl’s detachment and gives a breathless account of what happened, placing an emphasis on the fear and dread that was associated by the whites with the Native Americans. In carter’s description of the ambush, the careful reader will discover all of the elements of dehumanization that the whites used against the native Americans. Although the Native Americans used superior tactics and obtained both encirclement and surprise in the action, the way that Carter writes his account suggests that the natives for whatever power they possessed were simply “demonic” and the crux of the ambush lay not in the superior strategy used by the Comanche, but in the weak leadership displayed by Heyl and the “greenness” of his troops. This is a very important aspect of the book, not only in terms of the narrative, but in terms of how carter’s writing preserves important qualities of history.

One of the most important qualities that is conveyed by Carter’s account is the absolute racism and genocide that is evident on both sides of the conflict. However, because the narrative is based on Carter’s experiences, the expression of the racist and genocidal tendencies that are evident among the whites is only shown ironically. In other words, when Carter writes about the Comanches his prejudice and racism is evident. he commonly refers to the Comanche as savages and beats. He describes in detail the way that the Comanches scalped victims of their raids and the way that they kidnaped and held white women and children. he also describes the way in which, for most of the whites in the book, the native Americans were little more than a savage plague on the landscape that must be eradicated to make room and comfort for whites. In fact, the displacement of the Comanche is the actual story that is told by Carter, even though what he believes that he is narrative the heroic conquest of the West by good-meaning whites. Therefore, as mentioned previously, the modern reader is apt to understand much of Carter’s writing as ironic even if Carter himself would not have understood there to be much, if any, irony associated with his tendency to romanticize the way that the army dealt with the continuous threat and presence of the Comanche.

Later during the narrative, a large engagement between the army and Comanches both the author and the commanding officer, General Mackenzie are wounded. Thereafter, a series of humiliating experiences are recounted from camp to hospital and back to camp as the army retreats from its campaign and winter begins to set in. Carter devotes a considerable deal of time and effort to describe the way in which politics and internal rivalries as well as personal ego impacted the conduct of the army during the campaign against the Comanche. Without ever saying so in an outright fashion, Carter continues to express his personal doubts about Heyl’s conduct during the ambush. It becomes obvious that Mackenzie is interested in finding someone to blame for the great loss and failure of his campaign. throughout the later sections of the story, the reader is left to decide for themselves whether or not the army acted stupidly or heroically in their pursuit of the Comanche.

One thing is certain and that is that the experiences of the campaign led to a greater degree of paranoia, racism, and brutality directed against the Comanche. It is easy to see why the vents that are described in the carter’s narrative could function as propaganda for a war against the Comanche. What may be more difficult to appreciate is the fact that the propagandistic elements of the narrative are, for the most part, also the blunt admission of perspective and ideals that were genuinely held not only by Carter but by the other officers and soldiers in the army. it is this latter fact that might be the most fascinating and significant aspect of the narrative from an historical point of view. While it is more or less simple to track down the basic historical details of this particular campaign, it is much more difficult for modern minds to fully understand that way that people actually felt and thought during the years following the American Civil War. when only the events are studied, without a representation of the human thoughts and emotions that drove the events, only half the story is told.

For this reason, i felt that the book was not only captivating, but highly informative. however, what I felt I was learning from the book was not simply historical acts about the Texas frontier in the late 19th century — instead I felt as though I were gaining insight into the human tragedy of racism. In other words, what I read “between the lines” of Carter’s story was the fierce pride, certainty and moral justification that he felt for his profession and for the mission to tame and eradicate the Indians. In seeing that Carter’s self-identity was so firmly built on his contempt for native Americans, i realized that such an intense racial prejudice is something that is so endemic to white society that most whites are probably guilty of it even if they consider themselves open-minded and empathetic.

The end-result of the Carter’s telling of events is that the modern reader now has access to a “snapshot” in words that describes life in the Indian war in Texas during the late 1800’s. The savagery and brutality of the events that are chronicled should serve as a dual condemnation of the genocidal behavior of whites and the predatory nature of the Native Americans. When a story is told from a narrative perspective that exhibits so much obvious bias. it is always possible that the narrative in question will inadvertently make a case for its own undoing. That is to say, the narrative will ultimately bring more people to side against the narrator than with the narrator. this is almost certainly the case with Carter’s account of the war against the Comanche in the Texas panhandle.