History Events in Palmer Lake

Palmer Lake Historical Society is honored to present John Anderson: 'Anza vs. Cuerno Verde, The 1779 Comanche Campaign'. This is a story about two fearless men, Spanish Governor Juan Bautista de Anza and the Comanche Warchief Cuerno Verde (Green Horn), both determined to protect their people and preserve their cultural way of life. While the legacy of Juan Bautista de Anza is well established in much of the American Southwest, his influence during the 18th Century remains relatively unknown across today’s Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. To punish the Comanche, Governor Anza left Santa Fe with a combined force of 600 mounted soldiers, who were joined enroute by 200 Ute and Jicarilla Apache. They traveled north around Sierra del Almagre (Pikes Peak), down the Ute Pass, and attacked the Comanche base camp on August 31, 1779, near present-day Colorado Springs, Colorado.