Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center

Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center Free Admission. The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center (CNMCC) offers insight into the largest American Indian tribe in the Lawton-Fort Sill area.
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The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center offers visitors a glimpse of traditional cultural items and detailed historical information about the Comanche People. CNMCC is more than just a traditional museum. It is an experience that brings to life the "Nʉmʉnʉʉ," both past and present.

The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center is proud to present a new exhibit celebrating George “Woogie” Watchetak...
09/04/2026

The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center is proud to present a new exhibit celebrating George “Woogie” Watchetaker, opening September 29th. Discover his life as a dancer, artist, actor, cultural ambassador, and respected elder of the Comanche Nation.

In 1744, Padre Jacob Sadelmeyer pointed out that the Comanches had been raiding for horses in the frontier of the Rio Gr...
09/03/2026

In 1744, Padre Jacob Sadelmeyer pointed out that the Comanches had been raiding for horses in the frontier of the Rio Grande. With very little resistance in this region of northern Mexico, the Comanches saw tremendous amounts of horses to be gathered from the area. In those barren lands, intrepid warriors escalated their movements across haciendas, towns, and ranches. Great numbers of horses, livestock, and many captives were taken. The inhabitants of the borderlands lacked any sufficient way to defend themselves.
With regard to the leader of a war party and his responsibility, the noted Kwahada Comanche Quanah Parker descriptively spoke in the following manner to Captain Hugh Scott in an 1897 interview:

"A leader's road is a hard road. Some men are good leaders of war parties. Everybody knows who they are. Sometimes he meets a man and tells him he is going on a warpath and wants him to go along--then another and another and after a while he calls a council and says he is going on a warpath against the Pawnees and fills a pipe and offers it to a man to smoke--if the man smokes the pipe, he say yes, he will go on war path with him--one night they go into a big lodge . . . they sit down in a circle, sing--one man beating on a lodge pole--on a drum with a stick for a little while not long--then they take a hard hide, men and women holding, all carried in, drumming and singing until the middle of the night and then stop--this is done the night before they start out--a war party usually goes at the full of the moon as to have the moon to travel by--they want moonlight when they get there so as to see to find horses . . . at night--if near a mountain they climb up and remain hidden in the timber looking about during day and come down at night--they usually attack at daylight if they are in sufficient force to make a bold attack. When the leader starts out he mounts his horse and holds his pipe with stem down in his left hand with his reins."

A beautiful landscape picture of the rugged terrain and mountains of the northern Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas. On the way to Mexico, the war parties began their trek at the Arkansas River, traveled and branched across West Texas before coming to the Rio Grande River. Comanches rode their ponies to the south following the Great Comanche War Trail. Photograph courtesy of Gary Nored. Additional information from The Comanches, Lords of the South Plains by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel and The Last Comanche Chief, The Life and Times of Quanah Parker by Bill Neeley.

Talented in multi-media, the wonderful Comanche artist Cynthia Ann Clay was much acclaimed for her superb work. Cynthia...
08/31/2026

Talented in multi-media, the wonderful Comanche artist Cynthia Ann Clay was much acclaimed for her superb work. Cynthia's beautiful pieces of art are seen as truly inspirational. She possessed the gifts of exceptional imagery and spirituality. Moreover, Cynthia's remarkable use of color and form in her artwork remains outstanding.
In recognition of the accomplished life of Cynthia Clay (1949-2025), the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center honors her kindness and genuineness.
Of her art, Cynthia voiced the following:

"I believe that my art should speak for itself. The viewer can tell you how it makes them feel or think. Most of my art comes from my subconscious and I am unaware of it's meaning."

An excellent painting titled "Line for Cheese" by the well-known Comanche artist Cynthia Clay. The work of art was acquired in 2009 by the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center.

A perfect throwback to WWII. Comanche Code Talkers Forrest Kassanavoid of Indiahoma, Oklahoma and Willis Wood Yackeschi...
08/27/2026

A perfect throwback to WWII. Comanche Code Talkers Forrest Kassanavoid of Indiahoma, Oklahoma and Willis Wood Yackeschi of Walters, Oklahoma on maneuvers in England and shown with Associated Press war correspondent Edward D. Ball. 1944 Beach . S. Army 4th Infantry Division Signal Company

With the acquisition of 828,000 square miles of land for the purchase price of 15 million dollars from France, the size...
08/26/2026

With the acquisition of 828,000 square miles of land for the purchase price of 15 million dollars from France, the size of the United States was doubled. As the land was bought for about four cents an acre, the territory extended westward beyond the Mississippi River. Moreover, American military and civilian explorers of the time promptly moved along the Canadian River of the south plains.
At a former Spanish trading site on the Little River which was about three miles above the Canadian River in present-day Hughes County, Oklahoma, James Edwards and his partner Shelton established Edward's Post around 1835.
In 1850, the Yamparika Comanche Chief Esakeep and some 1,500 tribal members encountered the Black River California Company alongside the Canadian River. The California Company was an emigrant wagon train headed to the California Gold Rush. The wagon train's reporter described the Comanches' thriving village in the following manner:

"The women pitched and struck the lodges, saddled and unsaddled the horses, gathered wood or fuel, and performed the drudgery of the camp; they wore their hair short and were very plain in their dress. . . . The men were the reverse, all painted, some of a single color, some with many colors, with queues six or seven feet long braided with great nicety, and wreathed with beaded or silver ornaments which tapered to about the size of a dime or half dime. Many of the exquisites carried umbrellas to protect them from the sun, and nearly all the young men had new and brilliant blankets of blue or red cloth. They were excellently mounted and with them probably five thousand horses."

An outstanding tempera on paper painting titled "Women Drying Hide" by the remarkable Comanche artist Marian Terasaz Kassanavoid, circa 1938. Courtesy of the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Additional information from the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Comanche Political History, An Ethnohistorical Perspective 1706-1875 by Thomas W. Kavanagh.

With the excitement of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill, California in early 1848 and with word reaching back east by...
08/25/2026

With the excitement of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill, California in early 1848 and with word reaching back east by autumn, many adventurers moved across the vast great plains. The exploration of the Southwest toward New Mexico had earnestly begun.
In 1849, Captain Randolph B. Marcy led a caravan from Fort Smith, Arkansas toward Santa Fe. Along the south side of the Canadian River, the group advanced westwardly to the Llano Estacado. It's purpose was to assist the gold seekers and to find a central route to the Pacific Ocean. His command was made of 26 non-commissioned officers and privates, company F, First Dragoons, and also 50 souls from the Fifth Infantry. The chief reconnaissance officer was Lieutenant James H. Simpson, Topographical Engineers. Doctor Julian Rogers and the guide named "Black Beaver" were a part of the expedition.
When they arrived at Tucumcari Mountain in eastern New Mexico, a Comanche encampment was discovered. At the village, Marcy shared that the location revealed around 300 inhabitants. Some twenty-five hundred horses were also at the camp. Lieutenant J. H. Simpson had the responsibility to map the route of the Canadian River.
The chief of the village who Captain Marcy referred to him as a northern Comanche was most likely the Yamparika (Root-Eater) Chief Esakeep. In his contact with these Comanches. Marcy tried to explain and tell them about the large movement of people. In his own way, he shared the following:

"The Great Father, the President, having such a multitude of white children in the country to the east that there was not room sufficient for all of them, had purchased another country far towards the setting sun, and that he was now sending, and would continue to send, many of his children through their country to occupy the new purchase. He hoped and expected the Comanche would not mo**st these people in their journey through their country."

An outstanding landscape picture of Tucumcari Mountain in Quay County, New Mexico. The 4,976 foot mesa was vital as a natural landmark and a high point of observation for Comanches in search of bison (buffalo). Tucumcari Mountain still majestically rests within the bounds of the historical Comancheria. Photograph courtesy of Leaflet.
Additional information from Comanche Political History, An Ethnohistorical Perspective 1706-1875 by Thomas W, Kavanagh and Bender A. B.. "Government Explorations in the Territory of New Mexico, 1846-1859." New Mexico Historical Review 9, 1, 1934.

The land of the Comanches featured an assortment of landforms. It showcased the immense prairies, canyons, hills, timbe...
08/20/2026

The land of the Comanches featured an assortment of landforms. It showcased the immense prairies, canyons, hills, timbered areas, and valleys. Suitable bluffs and ridges of the land gave protection from strong winds and storms. Timber from canyons and streams were readily available for firewood and for their tipi poles.
Comanches at times nomadically moved as far north toward the upper part of the Missouri River as late as 1802. Moreover, they journeyed as far south as Durango, Mexico in the first half of the nineteenth century.
For the Comanche, the conical tipi was home. Made of tanned buffalo hides skillfully sewn together, the dwelling was portable and functional. Within a short time, the tipi could be either raised or lowered.
The well-known Comanche elder Niyah shared that warriors were sent out ahead of time to select a camp site. With the chief's direction and approval, a special camp crier announced the breaking up of the camp. It was done around two or three days prior to the actual move. He maintained that no certain way governed one's departure. Each family began to leave when they were ready. If the source of water or the grass became depleted, the camps were often moved. The families moved their own stock to the new location. Normally in the move, a family kept the same neighbors from camp to camp. The chief was located in the center of the village.

An impressive historical picture of a Comanche encampment near Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory, circa 1875. The photographer is not known. Courtesy of the Oswald Schraubstadter collection of Fort Sill photographs, National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution. Additional information from The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement by Rupert Norval Richardson and Comanche Ethnography, Field Notes of E. Adamson Hoebel, Waldo R. Wedel, Gustav G. Carlson, and Robert H. Lowie, Compiled and Edited by Thomas W. Kavanagh.

With Comanches being reported to be in northeastern New Mexico in the early 1700's, the Eastern Kotsotekas ("buffalo eat...
08/18/2026

With Comanches being reported to be in northeastern New Mexico in the early 1700's, the Eastern Kotsotekas ("buffalo eaters") were a prominent band on the south plains. These Kotsotekas as well as their kindred northern band of Yamparikas were common travelers to the Canadian Valley. In the old Wichita Mountains and along the Red River, Eastern Comanche villages were in place by the 1780's.
After arriving in San Antonio in the fall of 1784, the French-born explorer Pedro (Pierre) Vial was picked by Governor Domingo Cabello y Robles to secure vital information about the Eastern Comanches (Comanches Orientales). These eastern Comanches were friends of the Tayovayas. Accordingly, Vial along with Francisco Xavier Chavez then stayed within Comancheria for the summer months of 1785. In trying to find a direct route between San Antonio and Santa Fe in 1786, Vial and Bexar native Cristobal de los Santos set out on their journey in October. Along the way, a diary was kept to record significant information on the trek.
In his report about the Comanches which represented one of the earliest written descriptions of them, Vial included the following:

"The Eastern Comanches have as friends the Taovayas and Wichitas, and are also found among the Tawakonis, Yscanis, and Flechazos [Echaros?], but not so much as among the others. They have much trade in salt, which they lack, and for which they frequently come to trade. They have as enemies the Apaches and Lipans and the Osages, who steal many horses from them. Their arms are arrows, lances, and some guns and ammunition provided by the Taovayas and Wichitas, who also provide them to the Yambericas, who also get them from the nations known as Kansas, Guaxes, and Guitavoiratas who are situated in the north, and who in turn are provided by the traders who come from New Orleans and Illinois, and who are along the Missouri River. " And "The eastern Comanches are good looking, and of well built bodies, and well dressed. They are valiant, and of a rational mind, from which arises much generosity, and good hearts with his friends and even with his captives, of whom, during the season we were among them, they had no more than 10 men, according to the old ones, nor any who left their masters, the source of their captivity, but who had also been totally made into Comanches."

A remarkable black and white landscape picture of the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma. Located within the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, the recognizable 2,464 foot high Mount Scott is seen in the distance. The ancient mountains still rests within the bounds of the historical Comancheria. Photograph courtesy of the Z. P. Meyers/Barney Hillerman Photographic Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society. Additional information from the Texas State Historical Association, Austin, Texas, the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Comanche Political History, An Ethnohistorical Perspective 1706-1875 by Thomas W. Kavanagh.

Around 1838, the Kwahada Comanche Mamsookawat or Mumshukawa was born on the southern plains. At one time, his Kwahada b...
08/14/2026

Around 1838, the Kwahada Comanche Mamsookawat or Mumshukawa was born on the southern plains. At one time, his Kwahada band of Comanches readily moved about the landscape. When the Kwahadas eventually came to Fort Sill in 1875, they began their new way of living on the established reservation created under the terms of the Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty of 1867.
At his homesite on the assigned reservation, he shared his life with several wives. Moreover, Mamsookawat was a prominent Comanche pe**te leader. In 1918, he and other tribal pe**te leaders in the State of Oklahoma established a charter for the Native American Church. Their tireless collective effort protected the pe**te ceremony as a way of worship. By their actions, the Native American Church became equal with other religions in the United States.
From an earlier effort in 1914, tribal leaders which included Mamsookawat met in Washington D. C. to push for the establishment of an Indian hospital. Their presentation to the Indian Department helped provide a path for the hospital to be built near Lawton, Oklahoma.
When the U. S. Congress ended the reservation in 1900, the allotment period began for tribal members. The 160-acre allotment chosen by Mamsookawat was located along the rich bottomland of Big Beaver Creek of southeast Comanche County. He lived his final years at his home on his allotment. Passing away in 1938, Mamsookawat is at rest in the Eschiti Cemetery.

Handsome Comanche Silver Scarf slides owned by the well-respected Comanche leader Mamsookawat. The hammered and stamped items were collected by the anthropologist Mark Raymond Harrington in 1909. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC. Additional information from Comanche Ethnography, Field Notes of E. Adamson Hoebel, Waldo R. Wedel, Gustav G. Carlson, and Robert H. Lowie, Edited by Thomas W. Kavanagh, and Mump-su-Ki: Last Comanche Medicine Man by Hugh D. Corwin, a Lawton Constitution article from 1963, Lawton, Oklahoma.

After the devastation of Santa Cruz de San Saba Mission by the powerful Comanches and their allies in 1758, the Spanish ...
08/12/2026

After the devastation of Santa Cruz de San Saba Mission by the powerful Comanches and their allies in 1758, the Spanish had been whittled down to the single remote military post named San Luis de las Amarillas. With Spanish horses and French guns, the Comanches were a formidable tribe. The outpost was located by the San Saba River. In 1760, the presidio commander Col. Diego Ortiz Parrilla was relieved of his command. The replacement was Felipe de Rabago y Teran. The Spanish Viceroy Marques de Cruillas instructed him to explore the region between New Mexico and the San Saba River. A need existed to bring Spain's presence into those areas. The Spanish was concerned about the threat posed by the French. However, Rabago set aside and paid no attention to the Viceroy's instructions. With pleas from the Lipan Chieftains and by his own exploration, he founded the community of San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz on the upper Nueces River. Also, a Franciscan mission with the same name was established on January 23, 1762. The Spanish felt that the Apaches were not interested in religious conversions but saw only the mission as a safe haven from their adversaries. In October and November of 1766, around 300 Comanches and allies attacked the mission. Although the attackers were driven away both times, the inspector of frontier presidios in New Spain named Marques de Rubi was not pleased. After his visit to San Lorenzo in July of 1767, he was skeptical of it and not happy with the close by mission Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria del Canon. From his perspective, no hope existed for the conversion of the Apaches and both established missions needed to be abandoned. Moreover, the governor of Coahuila Jacobo de Ugarte y Loyola felt the missions needed to be closed. For the so named El Canon Missions, the official date of closure was set for June 21, 1777.

A magnificent landscape picture of the Nueces River just outside of Camp Wood, Texas. The historic Mission San Lorenzo De La Santa Cruz site is just north of Camp Wood, Texas. Remains of the mission San Lorenzo rests on a low ridge that is parallel to the east bank of the Nueces River in Real County, Texas. Photograph courtesy of Reddit. Additional information from the Texas State Historical Association, Austin, Texas and A Lipan Apache mission: San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz, 1762-1771 by Curtis D. Tunnell and W. W. Newcomb, Jr.

Address

701 NW Ferris Avenue
Lawton, OK
73507

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm

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(580)3530404

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