As a Native American myself I love these accounts as they destroy the myth of the noble savage. It brings into clear focus the reason why it took Europeans four hundred years to tame the west. Yes we were noble but we were also brutal we loved our tribes and our people but we are people and people can be inhuman to each other. We living in the modern times should remember this so we never repeat it.

Most people are ignorant of the true definition of the word savage. It never meant uncivilized or unintelligent. It means especially brutal or violent. When people called the natives “savages” this is what they were referring to.

As a teenager I was quite interested in tales of the American frontier. At one point I remember reading a book of short histories of the Indian Wars. One story in particular I wish I'd never read was about an American Army officer who was captured sometime in the early 1800's by an Iroquois war party. His own small band of soldiers had been killed during an ambush and he was the only survivor. The story was related by a French trapper who was friendly to the Iroquois in that area, but had no love for the Americans or British. Long story short, the Iroquois braves decided to burn the American alive. When the trapper told the officer that his fate was to be burned, he stated that he "would attempt to bear it bravely", but the trapper told him that it would be nowhere near a quick death, as the Iroquois truly enjoyed the spectacle of burning their captives slowly on a bed of coals where they would tie a man's hands behind his back and then rope him by his neck to a pole, but leave his feet and legs free. Then they'd watch him dance as he'd slowly roast to death over coals with just enough rope to allow him to put part of his body out of the intense heat, but not all of it. This led to a man "favoring" various parts of his body as the rest of him roasted in various places until the thousands of twists and turns to obtain some relief had finally caused every part of the man's surface to become charred, with the exception of his face and head; at which point the Iroquois would shove him to the ground and heap hot coals on his head to finish the deed. The "fun" was to see how long they could keep a man alive during this ordeal. The trapper related that it took this particular officer a day and a half to finally expire. I still have trouble grasping this level of evil and the knowledge that the native peoples of the Americas had been dealing out this sort of treatment to their rivals long before Europeans appeared on the scene has since destroyed any naive ideas of the "Noble Indigenous Peoples" B.S. you might hear from supremely ignorant people in our modern era.

There’s a great book called “Indian Depredations in Texas”, which is every Indian encounter in Texas from 1830ish-1870s. It’s wild stuff. These are great stories from the time.

"...never has to worry about serious violence breaking out ever again." Sad comment on human nature. Excellent summation. Thank you.

I love you dry witty humor and the learning experience 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿✊🏿💯‼️

Thanks for this Incredible history piece!

Nine Years Among The Indians...by Herman Lehmann (captured)....another awesome and eye opening read. Thank you.

I love your use of irony, it is the soul of both history and humor!

Supremely entertaining and well-done!

Really enjoyed this. Thank you.

Excellent. First time here. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks.

Goes to show: cruelty, evil, and generally being an asshole are equal opportunity human traits.

Thoroughly enjoyed. Love history ❤️

awesome video. couldnt stop listening

I truly appreciate the time you put into this audio was a little off. This is a story that should be told & you did it very well.

It’s pretty amazing that the hunters were so willing to help him. Great story. I look forward to more videos!

I have a cousin from South Dakota and it was incomprehensible to me that many of their neighbors and friends had ill-will toward Native Americans. We were taught in school they were peaceful, noble and agricultural people--all natives were the victims, and the white men were the brutal ones. When I got older I found my birth mother and found out that I'm part native (my grandmother was Shoshone and creek), and started researching. What we did to the Natives was brutal and horrible. But what the natives did to not only the whites, but Mexicans and other tribes, was horrifically cruel and brutal. The Comanche wiped out an entire tribe--complete genocide. They killed, raped and brutalized indiscriminately. It didn't matter to them if a girl was 12 or 20, they would rape and kill them. I'm not saying the white man was any better in some instances, but at least we realize that raping and killing women is wrong. The Comanche (and Apache) didn't seem to care about "right and wrong" or the concept of morality, or even consider those concepts. Those stories were passed down from generation to generation, about babies bashed to death, and little girls being raped and carted off never to be seen again. If they were called "savages" they earned it. Even fighting for your land and way of life is no excuse for some of the things the Comanche and Apache did to other human beings (slavery probably being the least of their sins and we consider slavery to be the worst, which they often, blatantly engaged in). The concept of the "noble savage" is a lie we were fed in school, not the reality. The reality is the West was utterly brutal in every way, with both sides committing atrocities that, today, would earn you the death sentence by lethal injection.

I enjoyed your video. I look forward to many more.

Wonderful channel mate. I really hope it goes far these topics are right up my street. Brilliant stuff you deserve more my friend 🙂👍

Just found this channel and it's fantastic, the telling of the story is excellent and obviously well researched, thank you.

Really cool channel, very interestingly done.

Love this. A wealth of fascinating information. Thank you.

Read the book Empire of the Summer Moon, the great Comanche Chief Quanah Parker. It was suppose to be made into a movie but it never happened. Great book, hard to put down once you start reading it. The Comanche were the best light infantry in the world in their time. I'm a Vietnam combat veteran, (173 ABN 1966 1967) one of the guys was 99% Comanche, what guy! After all these years, we lost contact. Read the book about 12 years ago, know why he was so good and fearless. Tool point for guys he felt didn't have it that day. Nothing seemed to bother him, all business for him. He even knew when we were the "hunted!"

Just a suggestion, to improve the audio, hang heavy sheets or blankets all the way around you. It'll cut down on the echo. Bedtimes Stories does the same thing and it sounds really good. Granted, they probably have a really good mike, but they don't use a soundbooth but it still sounds like they do. Enjoyed the story, hope you have some more coming soon!

Just found your site, as a youg man I grew up watching old time cowboys and Indians and now as a older man I am coming to discover my knowledge of those times are greatly flawed on both sides. looking forward for more videos. Thanks stay safe from newfoundland and labrador Canada.

Will be watchin, thankya. Great content👍

Great narration with some tongue in cheek humor!

All I can say is the native Americans definitely had some of the best names ever like this big wolf, rolling thunder, crazy horse, sitting Bull, Geronimo, God I love these names .

Comanche weren't noble, just savage. Even the Apache feared them, or were at least wary. Theirs was a culture of sadists. Hopefully today's tribal members are a bit more mellow.

This channel is going to blow up

Excellent channel!!

Him getting married & gaining their trust after what they put him through is the craziest part to me. I guess they believed that they had either broken him or gotten him to see himself as a part of their tribe; not exactly the wisest move from the Comanche, but then again this is also a dude who went on an expedition through the middle of Comanche territory. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

The reason they were willing to make it across the Comanche range was because the Comanche were a relatively small tribe, and the range was huge and the Comanche tended to stay to the north east toward Oklahoma. Certain bands did go in other directions but these were raiding parties looking for loot etc.

Surprised this popped up. Glad it did. Keep it up and you’ll do great. I’d get yourself a dedicated mic and run with it.

Awesome episode

Love your humor, dude! Great job and keep them coming.

Most Indians lived by the sword and then were put to the sword…this is the way it goes. The history with no punches pulled and excellent narration with quotes injected effectively makes this a first rate account. People who do not understand the movement of peoples need to understand “Entropy” and the universal presence of it from molecules to tribes or even bands of humans. Nothing is stagnant is this universe.

Hey ,the episodes on the Native American are truly inspiring,especially the ones with the Apaches ,please more of those,more on that amazing culture and history,much love,oren

Awesome video.....

A guy called willie mckay who was born near maghera in Northern Ireland was also captured. There's a book about him called 'beyond the wild missouri' it tells the story of how he eventually became chief of the tride. I live about a mile from where he was born

The similarities of the Viking culture, eight hundred years earlier in Europe are astounding. The only way the Comanche could be overcome was the post civil war union government paid to slaughter all of the Buffalo. William Tecumseh Sherman led the Indian wars and wiped out their food source as he had done to the confederates in the south. (Odd that his middle name was after a Shawnee chief who was known as a peace keeper)

Well done!

excellant ...well done!

I laughed when you mentioned about serious violence breaking out again and the Civil War. Poor Lee, can't catch a break.

My great grandmother Tomasa, was captured by the Comanches. Later sold to the Mexicans. She then escaped with her brother and found her way back to the Tribe.

"A broad hands width......that'll work" Love the delivery.

Terrific story telling.

Very well done Sir.

The phrase " A fate worse than death", comes from this period of American history. It`s how the settlers described being captured by The Comanche.

So glad k just found your channel. Thanks so much. I'm from Idaho so she have a lot of Shoshone and bannock natives here

Look at this channel! Wow , uh thank you sir.

They were American Mongols basically.

Very informative, and well done. ( learned a lot!). Note: Add background textiles or sound absorption materials to the surrounding area and that will get rid of one warehouse, tinny sound on the audio (cheap also). Really enjoyed it otherwise and will subscribe!

This was so interesting especially coming from South Africa where we mainly have seen and heard about the Native Americans via film.

Thx...courageous man.

I like to hear more of these stories are there any more like this?

On his escape, his limbs swelling and weakness, poor wound healing, are lesser known scurvy symptoms.

Cool story it’s so amazing and I’m glad I’m here today with all these crazies but it’s really violent

Ohhhh! I loved this!

To Los Lobos's point...all peoples across the globe have had their various histories of warfare, slavery , cruelty. The Native Americans were busy fighting each other....as were the Europeans, Africans, Asians etc. at the time of discovery and conquest. The Iroquois were wiping out tribes in the east, the Comanche establishing their lands in the southern plains, the Aztec and Inca had established dominance over tribute tribes.

Great history! The “Boy captives” is also a good book by Clinton L. Smith that tells of him and his brother being taken captive by the Comanche and the years that followed.

Great channel

Good job. Told it flat and square.

Great account very well written and spoken . You deserve more followers bro .

Matamoros is in Mexico, just south across the border from Brownsville, Tx. This makes sense if Lee was headed out of Corpus Christi. Distance between the 2 cities is 167 miles.

Wow! What a story.

I Read the book about this many many Years ago. A very well told and detailed account. Totally fascinating, very hard to put down. How some of the women were kind to him and very beautiful. Some tears when he was traded to others.

The only thing that saved Lee's life when he was captured was his pocket watch's alarm feature. Something to remember the next time you go shopping for survival gear. ;-)

Thanks for the video. Another fascinating story is that of Simon Kenton's capture by the Shawnee. Trafficked from village to village as a great prize he was forced to run the gauntlet 9 times and survived.

really enjoyed your summary of this interesting account/book. Thanks, great job

Here's my 2 cents. I read that when visitors/tourists would visit the Apache Geronimo, some would ask if he regretted some of the atrocities he committed. He was said to have replied that he had trouble sleeping because he would see the faces of the children he had killed. After an attack in which the Apache had captured 2 teenage boys, they reached enough distance where the chief gave the order to his 2 second-in-commands to kill the 2 teenagers. They went to the back of the raiding party where the two boys were being held and released them. It's speculated why but nothing happened to the 2 second-in-commands.

My 2nd great grandmother Elizabeth Hayley was kidnapped by the Comanche when she was 11 years old During the civil war. Here family didn’t have the money to pay their ransom until a year after the war ended She was 14 years. In history books her nickname was Squirrel tooth Alice.

Thank you for being respectful with our ancestors.

New subscriber

I *Loved* your closing sentence! Talk about Irony....

Great granddad was a Texas ranger 1870- 80s. He kept a diary and the commanches were definitely the meanest mfers ever..

Living in New York City, now that's real torture!!

Empire of the Summer Moon is an awesome read.

Subbed and good luck from a fellow youtuber

Matamoros Mexico is south of Brownsville TX, directly across the border. Cynthia Ann Parker is my cousin, her father trekked to TX & my grandfather established the Parker-Hickman Homestead. the Homestead is now part of the Buffalo River National Park.

Do you have any idea or speculation as to what happened to the watch? My assumption is that the Comanches were in possession of it when Lee made a run for it. It would make a great museum piece.

He survived because of the watch, but more importantly, he stayed quiet. To scream in pain is a weakness!

This should be a movie.

My only complaint is your vocal audio. Too much "echo" from your surroundings in that room. Different acoustics? Different microphone?

You’ll have to read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Probably best novel I’ve ever read. Great stuff and channel the content/pace/personality/ although you’ll have to get a mic to take away that echo bounce hard on my ears (@.20 seconds how can I find that art work?) Looks like a Comanche Chief/Warrior?

Fascinating!

Thanks !

The Matamoros you pointed to on the map is directly south of Corpus Christi about 100 miles as the crow flies on the gulf side of modern day Mexico and nowhere near Baja California. And if any Corpus Christi resident were to hear you say "some town called corpus christi...". It wouldn't be good.

I like your work but, the microphone echo is horrendous, you can correct this by suspending carpet vertically behind the camera and by using audio foam. Well researched, just very poor audio.

Fascinating story. Those were some tough dudes !

You are very knowledgeable in these things im a cree but yes you know alot

Great stuff -- just give this man a better microphone, please.

Hey maybe I heard this incorrectly but at about 6:12 mark your talking about the trip after they Comanche raided the camp. You then said the Cherokee taunted them with their tomahawks still bloodied from the night before. I think you mistakenly said Cherokee instead of Comanche.

great job......& love the satire...

TRUTH...Well done

nez Pearce had extensive herds of horses when Louis and Clark came through in 1703 they talked about them in their journel also Russian traders brought horses to the coast traded for furs in the 1600's and maybe before tribes did get horses from the Spanish too theirs a book called ghost wind stallions about early trade with the Russians

I read a biography of Kit Carson . I read that on one occasion , smiling Comanches cut out a captives liver , then ate it raw while the dying victim watched .

Truely terrifying!

Great video but there was a bit of echo in the sound made it a little hard to hear.