The Comanche's were originally a part of the southern groups of Eastern Shoshoni that lived near the upper reaches of the Platte River in Eastern Wyoming.  After acquiring the horse, groups of Comanche's separated from the Shoshoni and begin to move south sometime around 1700.  Other groups continued to follow up until 1830.  For the next 50 years, the Comanche's remained between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers in eastern Colorado and western Kansas.  They eventually moved again and wound up controlling an area from western Oklahoma across the Texas Panhandle into New Mexico.

The Comanche's are believed to have been the first native people on the plains to utilize the horse extensively.  Comanche herds also supplied Americans with mules for the southern cotton plantations.  They also supplied horses used to reach California during the 1849 gold rush.

It has often been said that between 1700 and 1875, the Comanche's killed more Euro Americans than any other tribe.  However, this is clearly an exaggeration.  The Comanche's did not waste time on history.  In their experience, people who thought too much about those things starved.  Within a few generations, Comanche's had lost all memory of their first horses, and some even came to believe they had horses before the Spanish.

The Comanche's were very successful in the horse business.  Not only did their riding skills become the standard by which other plains tribes were judged, but Comanche's were one of the few native peoples to learn how to breed their horses.  They valued pinto and paints, and selectively bred for those characteristics.  Through trade, capture, careful breeding, and especially massive theft, Comanche's acquired large herds.  By the early 1800's, Comanche's had horses in numbers beyond the dreams of other tribes.

The Comanche epitomized the mounted plains warrior.  Until the 1750's, they often employed leather armor and large body shields to protect both horse and rider.  The Texas Rangers were organized during the 1840's primarily to fight Comanche's.  A decade later, when the American army began to assume much of the Rangers' responsibility, it had much to learn.  Although the Comanche's had acquired their first firearms from French traders as early as the 1740's, they continued to rely heavily on their traditional weapons:  lance and the bow and arrow.  These were not really a disadvantage in mounted warfare.  They disliked the rifle because of its weight, and its greater accuracy was useless from horseback.  Later, they adopted the revolver.  On foot, a Comanche warrior was dangerous, but not exceptional.  However, on horseback, the Comanche's had no equal.  As a moving target, they were difficult to hit; and if an enemy fired and had to reload, a Comanche could close rapidly with his lance or send six arrows into an opponent while hanging under the neck of a galloping horse.

Comanche raids were legendary for the distance covered, and could strike hundreds of miles from their starting point.  War parties usually traveled at night following separate routes to a previously agreed location.  War paint was black and usually consisted of two broad black stripes across the forehead and lower face.  Male prisoners were almost always killed at the scene, but women and children were taken back to the village.  Women were usually enslaved, and kept for ransom or sale as slaves.  Children might also be sold, but were often adopted and raised as part of the tribe.

Physically, Comanche's were generally shorter than other plains tribes.  Warriors wore their hair long, parted in the middle, and braided on the sides.  Women usually cut theirs short.  Clothing was buckskin, but after cloth became available, they preferred blue or scarlet.  Despite the stereotype seen in the movies, Comanche's did not wear feathered war bonnets like the Lakota until the late 1800's.  For a headdress, many preferred a war bonnet made from a buffalo scalp with horns.  This also served to protect its wearer from blows to the head.  Rather than ordinary moccasins, Comanche horsemen wore high riding boots extending to hip and usually colored a light blue.

Comanche dead were buried almost immediately in a shallow trench, usually on a hill near the village.  The grave was then covered with rocks, and often a warrior's horse was also killed.  The Comanche's had their own version of the sun dance, but it was performed at irregular intervals.

Of the great Comanche chiefs, Quanah Parker is probably the best known to Americans.  His unlikely name means "fragrance" (sweet smell).  Among the Comanche's themselves, other chiefs were regarded as more important than Quanah.  Among these were:  Ten Bears, Red Sleeves, Green Horn, Iron Shirt, Leather Cape, and Buffalo Hump.