Buffalo Hump

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RIP FORD

Part 14: Buffalo Hump

by Bob Heinonen

Old Rip Ford met a number of interesting people on the expedition in 1849 to find a safe trail to El Paso. Among them was the Comanche chief, Buffalo Hump. One Comanche has told me personally that his name was misinterpreted and actually refers to a rear portion of the buffalo’s anatomy. I do not know if this is true and only report what I was told.

From 1845 to 1847, Dr. Ferdinand Roemer visited Texas to do a geological survey for the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He traveled extensively and kept an accurate, detailed journal of his travels. On one occasion, he accompanied Robert S. Neighbors to meet in council with the Comanche chiefs and the German settler’s representative from Fredericksburg, Herr von Meusebach. The interpreter was Jim Shaw of the Delaware tribe.

“The three chiefs, who were at the head of all the bands of Comanches roaming the frontiers of the settlements in Texas, looked very dignified and grave. They differed much in appearance. Mope-tshoko-pe (Old Owl) the political chief, was a small old man who in his dirty cotton jacket looked undistinguished and only his diplomatic crafty face marked him. The war chief, Santa Anna, presented an altogether different appearance. He was a powerfully built man with a benevolent and lively countenance. The third, Buffalo Hump, was the genuine, unadulterated picture of a North American Indian. Unlike the majority of his tribe, he scorned all European dress. The upper part of his body was naked. A buffalo hide was wound around his hips. Yellow copper rings decorated his arms and a string of beads his neck. With his long, straight black hair hanging down, he sat there with the earnest (to the European almost apethetic) expression of countenance of the North American savage. He drew special attention to himself because in previous years he had distinguished himself for daring and bravery in many engagements with the Texans.”[i]

When the expedition to explore west to El Paso was being organized, a number of Indians were asked to participate. “Captain Jim Shaw, a Delaware, was interpreter. The other Indians were: Joe Ellis and Tom Coshattee, Shawnees; Patrick Goin, a Choctaw, and John Harry, a Delaware. A band of Comanches travelled with us too.”[ii] The leader of this Comanche band was “Porchanaquaheap, or, Buffalo Hump”.[iii]

Ford soon learned one of the Comanche customs. “…the third morning out…Buffalo Hump…regaled us with a medicine song. It was a grand thing, no doubt, to an appreciative audience. It stirred up recollections of boyhood—the calling of hogs, the plaintive notes of a solitary bull frog, the bellowing of a small bull, and all that sort of noises. Anon, the awful melody of the sonorous song was reproduced; the next moment the mournful howl of a hungry wolf saluted the ear, which gradually softened into something like the gobble of a turkey. It might have been a choice assortment of Comanche airs gotten up to amuse and do honor to the supervising agent, but it failed to solace his white companions. The performance commenced about an hour before daylight and did little to soothe the slumbers of the morning.”[iv]

Buffalo Hump was asked to guide the party and took most of his pay in advance. His band traveled with us. “On our marches the Comanche children would beat the thickets for rabbits, birds, and rattlesnakes. When they encountered one of the latter there would be a general shouting, and a grand rally. The serpent would coil, strike into the air, and do all he could to punish his foes. The children would encircle him at a safe distance, and fire arrow into him until he gave up the ghost. Then notes of triumph would go up. The young warriors would gallop to the front to impart the news. The women would shout, whip up the pack animals; all would be going at half speed. The long poles of the wigwams, with ends dragging on the ground,, would make a clattering noise you could hear two miles away. The whole band would join in the din. The whites would catch the excitement, and yell as lustily as their savage companions—it does not take a civilized man a great while to lapse into semisavagery. To roam amid the unchanging scenes of Nature, where the foot of civilized man never trod before, perhaps to view the works of God in their primeval grandeur, and to realize that you constitute a part of these, conspire to produce a buoyancy of spirits, pleasant sensations, a rapture earth seldom affords to men: these are the charms which allure the woodsman to a life apart from other men.”[v]

Rip Ford learned a lot on this trip—one of them was to stop performing a particular trick.

Next Month - Part 15: Jumpin’ The Snake

Bob Heinonen is the founder of Texas Heroes and has been portraying Rip Ford since 1993.