Francisco Xavier Chaves (born c.1762, New Mexico—died 1832, San Antonio, Texas) was taken captive by the Comanche in 1770 and was subsequently sold or traded to the Taovaya.
A Comanche woman adopted him, but she died and he was sold to the Taovaya, a Wichita tribe living along the Red River in Oklahoma and Texas.
On July 18, he deserted the raiders and the same day offered his services to Domingo Cabello y Robles, the Spanish governor of Texas.
[4] Cabello was under pressure from Spanish authorities to negotiate a long-sought peace with the Comanche and he realized that Chaves was a rare asset.
Unknown to the Spanish, the eastern Comanche were weaker and perhaps more disposed toward peace because a smallpox epidemic four years earlier had killed as many as two thirds of them in some bands.
The two men and two helpers departed San Antonio on June 17, 1785, taking with them gifts and trade items with a value of 430 pesos (roughly $30,000 in 2020 dollars).
In the words of James F. Brooks, Chaves "inhabited, or coexisted in, multiple social worlds, fluidly crossing back and forth between them.