Chief Cuerno Verde - Colorado City, CO - Colorado Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Sporadic Spanish records show occasional punitive forays against the Comanches in the mid 1700's. In late October, 1768, 500 Comanches attacked Ojo Caliente before dawn, attempting to wipe out the Spaniards. But Spanish firearms killed their charismatic leader, Cuerno Verde. Comanche beliefs bound his family to avenge his death. The chief's son took his father's name and his distinctive leather headdress with green-tinted buffalo horns and dedicated himself to killing all the Spaniards.

"Cuerno Verde" was the Spanish name given to the wearer of that headdress. The son's real name was Tabivo Naritgant, or "Dangerous Man."
Juan Bautista de Anza grew up on the Sonoran frontier in a family of proud Basques. Both his father and his grandfather were killed by Apaches, his father when he was four years old. By the time de Anza was 25, he was in command of the presidio at Tubac, south of Tucson, Arizona. In 1774 he blazed a trail from Sonora to San Gabriel Mission in Alta California, near today's Los Angeles. In 1775-76 he led 240 settlers north to Monterrey, the stepping stone to settlement of San Franciso Bay. In 1777, Teodoro del Croix, Commander General of the Internal Provinces, appointed de Anza Governor of New Mexico in hopes that he could do something about the Comanche problem.

Upon his arrival in Nuevo Mexico, de Anza quickly determined that previous forays against the Comanche all failed for the same reason: the Spaniards always took the same route east over the Sangre de Cristo's and then north over the Ratons. The Comanches saw them coming and just retreated to wait for a better day. De Anza determined to use a completely different route to the plains of Colorado, to sneak up on the Comanches.
He left Santa Fe with some 600 men: soldiers, settlers and allied Pueblo Indians. De Anza mustered his force at San Juan de los Caballeros, near the junction of the Chama and Rio Grande rivers. He then marched north at night along the western edge of the San Luis Valley over Poncha Pass, across South Park, then east to Ute Pass (north of Pike's Peak).

De Anza's scouts reported an encampment of Comanches on the plains near today's Wigwam, Colorado (south of Colorado Springs). He attacked them immediately, successfully. However, Cuerno Verde and his warriors were absent. They were on a raid against Taos, NM. So de Anza and his men hurried south along an ancient trail later known as the Trapper's Trail to the area we know now as Pueblo. From there they headed down the flank of the Wet Mountains (Sierra Mojada) heading for Sangre de Cristo Pass.

Somewhere just east of Greenhorn Mountain between the present day cities of Pueblo, CO and Colorado City, CO, the Spaniards met up with Cuerno Verde's raiders returning from their unsuccessful raid on Taos. The two groups skirmished a bit, then separated and regrouped. The next day the Comanches came up very close against the Spaniards and fired their muskets. The Spaniards identified Cuerno Verde by his headdress and cut off him and his closest warriors, trapping them in a gully of the St. Charles River. Cuerno Verde dismounted and, from behind his fallen horse, made his final defiance of the Spaniards. A hail of lead balls claimed his life and those of his followers. When it was all over, the Spaniards scoured the field for useful items and de Anza claimed the distinctive headdress as proof of his endeavors. He forwarded the headdress to Teodoro del Croix, who, rumor has it, forwarded it to his superiors who forwarded it all the way to the Vatican.

Although Anza called him a "cruel scourge" and made note in his diaries of atrocities attributed to him, many modern Comanches question the veracity of Anza's statements and maintain that Tabivo Naritgant was only meeting the obligations of a responsible Comanche leader of the period.

De Anza finally made a lasting Spanish-Comanche peace in 1787. That cleared the way for the Arapaho and the Cheyenne to move onto the plains and trade peacefully with the Spanish comancheros and ciboleros riding out of Santa Fe and Taos.

What's left of Cuerno Verde adorns a mountain: Greenhorn Mountain, a stream: Greenhorn Creek, and a valley: Greenhorn Valley. Today, the Greenhorn Valley consists of the communities of Rye and Colorado City, about 5,500 people. The town of Rye has been around since the late 1800's. Development of Colorado City began in earnest in the late 1960's.
The Greenhorn Valley sits at the foot of the majestic Greenhorn Mountain, which at 12,347 feet above sea level is the highest point of the Wet Mountain Range. The mountain is encompassed by the Greenhorn Wilderness Area.

Group or Groups Responsible for Placement: The State Historical Society of Colorado County or City: Colorado City Date Dedicated: 1932 Check here for Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]

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