Her hair didn’t stay blonde long, for the women constantly mixed buffalo tallow and charcoal and rubbed it into her hair to darken it and disguise the fact that she was a white girl.īianca had many tedious chores to do, but was still young enough to escape some of the backbreaking work the Comanche women had to bear. Tekwashana gave Bianca brass bracelets, silver earrings and an elaborate headdress of cloth and shiny metals to hold back her hair when she went riding. “We never sat down to eat,” she said, “just stood around the kettle of meat, and with the stick we would spear a piece of meat from the kettle, hold it to our mouth and bit off as much as we could conveniently chew.” They seemed to have no fixed hours, but ate anytime they were hungry. Meals were most always meat, and Bianca easily adjusted to the diet. As it was late fall, the Comanches kept a fire burning in the tepee all night, with a flap open at the top to let the smoke out.
She slept beside Tekwashana on a bed of dry grass, blankets and buffalo robes. The band Bianca was with consisted of about 35 people in about eight lodges. She thought they paid little attention to their hair, some of them hacking it crudely off, but they carefully painted their faces in red and yellow. That night there was a great feast, and Bianca watched as the Comanche women dressed. Bianca was given to the Comanche woman Tekwashana, a young widow with no children. They were particularly interested in stroking her long blonde hair, for none of them had seen a white girl before. When she was brought into the village, the Indian children flocked around Bianca the small boys were naked, the older ones had breechcloths and the girls wore buckskin dresses. It took several days to reach the Comanche camp on the Canadian River in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Bianca was so hungry she reached for another piece of meat, but an Indian hacked at her hand with a knife, and she learned not to take any more than she was given. On the third day, Bianca got a quick lesson in manners when the captives were finally given something to eat.
The Indians rode away with the two children. She grabbed a fencepost and held on until she was torn loose, but she said, “I did not cry.” Babb and dragged Bianca outside, fighting and kicking all the way. “No,” Dot answered, “they are Indians!” In a flash the warriors were upon the isolated cabin. Babb called to Dot and asked him if they were cowboys.
Theodore (age 14), called “Dot” by the family, and Bianca (10) were at play when they saw riders approaching their cabin. In mid-September 1866, a band of 40 Noconi Comanches raided through Wise County, Texas, and struck John Babb’s ranch.
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