“Like the Mexicans ever really controlled the southwest. Mexicans were afraid to go into Comanche territory.”
You are exactly right. Many Cherokees in Texas had been there since 1820 (with Mexico’s blessing, btw) and protected Sam Houston and the ‘republic of Texas’ from invasion and harassment by Mexicans. The Mexicans didn’t want anything to do with that area as far as living there.
Bit of history -— my family got a land grant from the Queen of Spain -— in the middle of “Comanche Country” on the old maps (near what is now Tom Green County -— all the way to Big Lake).
They said “thanks, but no” until the Mexican Inquisition (they were Jewish), then packed their wagons and never really left.