Bajo el Sol and his death

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Tave Tuk (sunset)/Bajo el Sol (Under the sun) and his death

Bajo el Sol was one of the two grandsons or sons (it is not clear how they were related) of the famous "generaless and prophetess" of the Comanches in northern Mexico – Tave Pete. In 1851 Tave Pete and her grandsons/sons – Bajo el Sol and Mague signed a peace treaty in Chihuahua. They promised to stop raiding Mexican states and deliver Apache sclaps. The Mexicans claimed that he was known as Bajo el sol because he feared nothing under the sun. A well-known warrior and fierce fighter started to attack Apache rancherias in Northern Mexico.

One of the versions about his death in a battle against Mescaleros is decribed in Carlysle Graham Raht's The Romance of Davis Mountains and Big Bend Country: A History:

"In despair over the situation, the State of Chihuahua resolved to make a treaty with the Indians for that state alone. As the lesser of two evils, and also as probably being a more reliable ally, it was decided to treat with the Comanches. The treaty was made with Bajo el Sol, as the main chief, and with other chiefs of the war trail, by which Bajo el Sol and his associates, for a consideration, agreed to make war on the Mescalero Apaches, and to refrain from ravaging Chihuahua, being left free, however, to raid any other Mexican states. To carry out the agreement more effectually, the Indians of the war trail moved into Chihuahua, to the borders of Lake Haco. From this seat, they could more conveniently carry on the fight with the Mescalero Apaches, and at the same time harry Durango. "While this treaty was in force, Bajo el Sol, with his wife and her younger brother, was traveling near the Del Carmen Mountains, on the Rio Grande, above Boquillas, Brewster County, when they ran into a band of about thirty Mescalero Apaches. These Indians had in their possession a captive Mexican boy, by name Domingo Porras. "The wife of the Comanche chief entreated him to go on and leave the Apaches unmolested. To this, Bajo el Sol replied that his treaty with Chihuahua bound him to fight the Apaches wherever he met them, and he would not have it said that he feared the face of living man. So he sent on his wife and her brother, and prepared to make his lone fight against thirty Apaches. "He tightened the cinch of his skin saddle, and examined the rawhide bits in the mouth of his horse. Then he looked to see that the point of his ash-wood spear was well set, saw that his arrows were good and in place, strung his bois d'arc bow, and placed his chimal buffalo-hide in readiness. "His preparations complete, he rode up to the Apaches and in the lingua franca of the Southwestern Indians, demanded the surrender of the captive boy. This was refused. He then informed them that he would fight them and that they must get ready. In reply, they taunted him. He set his spear firmly under his right armpit, and charged. "The Apaches scattered to avoid the charge, and, while they ran and dodged among the bushes and rocks, Bajo el Sol shot at them with his bow and arrows. After this erratic manner, the fight continued for several hours, during which time he killed two Apaches and wounded several others. His arrows all being shot, Bajo el Sol continued the fight with his spear alone, which the Apaches, owing to the broken nature of the ground, were easily able to avoid. "In some manner the Apaches had gained possession of an old escopeta, and the owner had only one load. At last, it was planned among the Apaches that the owner of the escopeta should hide behind a certain rock, while the other Indians continued to lure Bajo el Sol to charge them by the side of this rock. He charged, as they intended him to do, and the Indian with the escopeta came out from behind the rock just after he had passed and fired at him at point-blank range. The slugstruck Bajo el Sol in the back of the head, and he fell from his horse. Thus ended, in the foothills of the Del Carmen Mountains, the last fight of the most heroic Indian of the old Comanche War Trail."

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The most famous raid conducted by Bajo el Sol is described in: William H. Emory, Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, Vol. 1, Washington 1857, pp. 86-89:

While at the Presidio we had authentic accounts of the unmolested march through Chihuahua, towards Durango, of four hundred Comanches under Bajo Sol. It seems that Chihuahua, not receiving the protection it was entitled to from the central government of Mexico, made an independent treaty with the Comanches, the practical effect of which was to aid and abet the Indians in their war upon Durango. In the fall of 1851 I had the honor of entertaining at my camp the excellent and reverend Bishop Leamy, who was then on his return from a visit to the Bishop of Durango, to adjust the territorial limits of their respective dioceses to make them conform to the altered boundaries of New Mexico and Texas. He stated as his opinion, that the wealthy State of Durango must soon be depopulated by the Indians. Haciendas within a few leagues of the city, that once numbered one hundred thousand animals, are now abandoned. This condition of things, together with the three years' drought, had overwhelmed the inhabitants of that State, and had driven them to unmanly despair. On the occasion of a great fiesta in the city of Durango, where no less than ten thousand people were assembled in and around the plaza, the cry was heard of Los Indios ! Bajo Sol ! and in a very short time every one had retreated to his house, leaving no one to face the enemy. The enemy, however, did not appear on the occasion, for it turned out to be a false alarm. "Bajo Sol" is the title assumed by a bold Comanche, who, as his name signifies, claims to be master of everything under the sun. His name, which strikes dismay into every heart through out Durango, is mentioned only in a whisper. I have never seen the villain or heard his name on the American side, where he probably takes another soubriquet ; but I did meet one of his lieutenants, who, I have no doubt, was in all respects a worthy disciple. I give here a sketch of this rascal, by Mr. Schott : He called himself " Mucho Toro," and represented himself as a Comanche, but he was evidently an escaped Mexican peon. It was in the fall of 1851, in making a rapid march across the continent, escorted by only fifteen soldiers under Lieut. Washington, as we approached the Comanche springs after a long journey without water, that we discovered grazing near the spring quite one thousand animals, divided into three different squads. As we approached we could see with the naked eye a party of thirty or forty warriors drawn up on the hill overlooking the spring. I considered it inevitable to fight, or die with thirst; so, without making a halt, the men were deployed to the right and left of the wagons as light infantry, and the whole moved rapidly towards the water. A flag was raised by the Indians, which was answered by Lieut. Washington and two others riding forward ; but believing it a ruse to divide our forces, or give time to deliberate, I quickened the speed of the column, so as to keep Lieut. Washington under cover of our fire ; so that we reached the ground and got within pistol-shot of the water before we halted to talk. A man was sent to the top of the hill with a spy-glass to look back, as if additional force was expected. We promptly corraled our wagons near the water, and put ourselves, without appearing to do so, in a good position to fight. We succeeded, without so stating, in producing the impression that we were only the advanced guard of a large force which would come on the next day, and possibly that night. We assumed all the air of the superior party, staid eighteen hours on the ground, and moved off the next day, as if we had a regiment to back us. The party were Kioways and Comanches, returning from a foray into Mexico with nearly one thousand animals. " Mucho Toro," the chief of this party, who spoke Spanish well, stated he had purchased his animals in Mexico, and that he was but the advanced party of several hundred warriors, who were close behind him. We desired very much to attack the party, but our force was too small, and we were three hundred miles from support. The next day, when crossing the dividing ridge between the Comanche and Leon springs, we discovered the dust rising from the trail which crossed our road as far as the eye could reach, leaving no doubt of the truth of " Mucho Toro's" statement, that his was but the advanced party of "Bajo Sol's" four hundred men. The following summer we found that such a party had passed out of Mexico over this road. Mucho Toro" paid me a visit in full dress, on which occasion he displayed great humility, exhibiting conspicuously on his person an immense silver cross, which he stated had been given him by the Bishop of Durango when he was converted to Christianity. He had, no doubt, robbed some church of it.

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Another version of Bajo el Sol's death is described by Julius Froebel, Seven Years' Travel In Central America, Northern Mexico, And The Far West Of The United States, pp. 352-353:

When Colonel Langberg visited the Southern Comanches who inhabit the Steppes, known by the name of the Bolson de Mápimi, the tribe was commanded by an old woman, called by the Mexicans “the Generaless of all the Comanches.” The eldest son of this Indian princess was known in Mexico by the name “ Bajo el-Sol,” or “Under-the-Sun.” He had raised himself above the level of his tribe, and had he lived would have been its reformer. He considered his promise to the Government of Chihuahua, to fight the Apaches wherever he met with them, as a sacred pledge. Upon an expedition which accompanied by some few young warriors of his tribe - he undertook to discover the position of the enemy, he came unawares, in the first dawn of themorning, upon a rancheria of the Apaches, of the tribe of the Espejos. They were not remarked, and the companions of the young hero urged him to retreat. But this was not his intention . “ I have given my word to destroy the Apaches,” he said , “ and Bajo-el- Sol will never break his word .” Hereupon he raised the war-cry of his tribe ; six of his companions followed him, and like wild beasts they broke into the Apache village, cutting down everything before them, and spreading death and terror around, till they had all fallen themselves. Such events as these are quickly made known throughout Mexico by the captives escaping from these tribes ; and the Mexicans themselves are so conscious of their Indian origin that they take pride in all deeds of Indian valour. I have remarked at least that such events are related with much satisfaction . After the death of Bajo -el-Sol, his brother bound to carry on the war with the Apaches. During my stay at Chihuahua he attacked one of their rancherias, and brought away thirty-seven scalps. Subsequently, on my journey from Chihuahua to Texas, I passed the Presidio del Norte (on the Rio Grande, below El Paso ), whence the Espejo Apaches had shortly before carried off several young girls. The Norteños, as the inhabitants are called, had sought aid from their allies the Comanches, and with them had concerted an expedition to the Sierra Rica, where the Espejos tribe then dwelt; and, as we had encamped near the Presidio, we were roused in the night by a troop of horsemen who passed us with laughter and song. They were a body of Norteños and Comanches just starting on this expedition . I subsequently heard that they succeeded in driving this Apache tribe from the Sierra Rica into the territory of Texas. On a subsequent journey from Texas to California , at the eastern base of the Limpia Mountains, I met the remainder of this tribe, which, joined to another tribe of Mescalero ' Apaches, were long the terror of another portion of the State of Chihuahua ; they made some demonstration of attacking our caravan.

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Much on Bajo el Sol can be found in: Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez, The Captivity of Macario Leal: A Tejano among the Comanches, 1847–1854, "Southwestern Historical Quarterly", Volume 117, Number 4, April 2014,
pp. 372-402. You can read it here: www.academia.edu/31434924/The_Captivity_of_Macario_Leal_A_Tejano_among_the_Comanches_1847_1854

An interesting fragment (Rivaya-Martinez, The Captivity of Macario Leal, p. 2014):

The Indian who took him along was called Bajo el Sol, who was their capitán.76 When they were fighting, Bajo el Sol told the deponent to bring him a gandul77 by the hair or else he would kill him. Deponent, in order not to suffer certain death, risked being killed by the Americans by repeatedly closing too much on them, shooting arrows at them, and receiving several gunshots in the shield and one in a leg. On returning alongside the capitán, he was upbraided for not having carried out what he had been told; deponent replied that he was afraid of the Americans, and the capitán heaped scorn and curses on him. He ordered Macario to paint him a dapple-gray horse using red, blue, yellow, green, and other colors that they were carrying, and to put vermilion blinkers on it, as well as a red garantía around its neck and another one on its tail. The Indian told him straightaway “now you will see what it is to be a man, a man among the select,” and entered the fight with his lance and then dismounted, ordering Macario to take the horse away. The Indian received twenty- something gunshots, and returned grabbing an American by the hair, whom he presented to the deponent to fight. Macario being too small to even move the American, when he tried to do it the American spurred him, causing the Indian to knock the American down and kill him. Then Bajo el Sol summoned the other bárbaros, who were getting dressed for battle, and they killed off the Americans, carrying away their belongings.

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There are some recollections of Macario Leal - a Tejano, who was a Comanche captive. He served Bajo el Sol. There is an interesting description of Bajo's deeds in the book "On the Borders of Love and Power", pp. 59-60.

Once Macario was able to communicate in Comanche, a leader called Bajo el Sol (Under the Sun), who presumably was Macario’s master, took him on his first campaign. During an encounter with American soldiers on the Colorado River in 1848, Bajo el Sol threatened to kill Macario unless he brought him a soldier “by the hair.” Macario received “several bullet shots in the shield and one in the leg” before he returned to the Comanches emptyhanded. They scorned him and “he replied that he was afraid of” the Americans. Bajo el Sol “told him many curses and bad arguments,” adding “now you will see what it is to be a man . . . of the chosen ones.” Then the Comanche leader “entered the fight with his lance [...] dismounted [...]  received twenty something bullet shots, and returned grabbing an American by the hair.” He presented the American to Macario to fight, but the soldier was so much taller that Macario could not even move his opponent. After the American hit Macario with his spur, Bajo el Sol himself knocked down and killed the soldier.

Here is the link: books.google.pl/books?id=FNA61PMRyhAC&pg=PA59&dq=Bajo+el+Sol+comanche&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAls-Khv3pAhUU6aYKHVpOBWMQ6AEIRjAD#v=onepage&q=Bajo%20el%20Sol%20&f=false

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There is an interesting description of Bajo El Sol in Carlysle Graham Raht's 'The Romance of Davis Mountains and Big Bend Country: A History', p. 294:

The Senores must know that the line between the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila runs into the Rio Grande at the Paso del Chisos, which the Comanches used in the times long ago, when they came into Mexico in the old days to rob and kill. They came in by Lajitas and Santa Helena. I was then a boy at San Carlos and many a time I have seen them. There was old Tave Pete, the old woman captain, so old that when she rode, she had to have a thick woolen cord tied around her throat to keep her jaws from clattering together. Often have I heard her call out her commands to her people from the belfry in the church, in front of the plazita in San Carlos, and have seen the warriors disperse to do her commands. There I saw the two pelones, her sons, so called by our people because they cut their hair short, instead of wearing a long scalp-lock like the other Indians. There have I seen Mauwe and Tave Tuk contend to see which could shoot the strongest arrow. Ah ! Tave Tuk was a man! We called him Baja el Sol, which means 'Under the Sun/ and he made his boast that there was no man like him for courage under the sun. I have since heard that he died in the Sierra Del Carmen, fighting the Apaches single-handed.