Francisco Xavier Chaves

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. He was fluent in both Native American (Indian) languages as well as Spanish. In 1785, along with Pedro Vial, he negotiated a durable peace agreement between the Comanche and the Spanish colony of Texas. Although illiterate, Chaves became a lieutenant in the Spanish and Mexican armies and continued to serve as an interpreter and intermediary between the Spanish and Mexicans and the Indian tribes of the Texas frontier.