Indians and Soldiers in the Texas Panhandle by Wes Phillips


     From 1858 until 1860 there was two years of intense warfare against the Comanches. The Comanches were defeated three times north of the Red River. In 1859 the Comanches and Kiowas made a raid into Jack County.

     In May 1861 the Comanches met with Albert Pike at the Wichita Agency, when they made a treaty with the Confederacy in which nine Comanche bands (not including the Antelope band) signed. In August, he negotiated two treaties with the Wasps, Yamparikas, Meat Eaters, and Liver Eaters. In the same year, the Fort Wise Treaty was made in which the Cheyenne and Arapaho were given a small reservation in the southeast corner of Colorado.

     The years of 1862 and 1863 were peaceful years, but with the failure at ratification of the treaties in Congress many groups became restless.

     In August of 1864 the Comanches killed five Americans at lower Cimmaron Springs. On October 13, 1864 an estimated 1000 Comanches rode through Young County, stealing what they wanted, and killing, wounding, and capturing people. Captain Jack Carlton took a company out to look for Indians and found some camped on the Llano Estacado where they were hunting prairie dogs with bows and arrows. Another Group of Comanches was camped beyond the Palo Duro 200 miles from the post in New Mexico. Apaches from the Bosque Redondo joined the expedition against the Comanches. The Kiowas were camped on Palo Duro Creek tributary of the North Canadian River. Colonel Kit Carson was at Fort Union and was placed under the command of Major General Blunt. Three hundred and fifty troops were with him as well as 75 Utes and Jicarilla Apaches. The First Battle of Adobe Walls was November 5, 1864.

     By 1865 there were 900 western Apaches at Fort Goodwin. The Cheyenne and Arapaho under Black Kettle united with the Comanches and Kiowa in all-out war against the Americans. Eight hundred troops were poured into the area, but to no avail. The Comanche and Kiowa Chiefs met with Colonel J. H. Leavenworth, their agent, at the mouth of the Little Arkansas River. A treaty was signed in October. Six of the nine Comanche bands were present at this council. During the Civil War, over 100,000 head of cattle were taken by the Comanches and sold to New Mexican Traders (Comancheros), probably in or near the Texas Panhandle.

     In 1866 the Comanches numbered 4700. Dohasan great chief of the Kiowas died. Lone Wolf took his place, but Satanta followed his own path.      In 1867 the Antelope band had 15,000 horses and over 300 mules. The Medicine Lodge Treaty of October 21st was made with the Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyenne, Arapahos and the Apaches. It was the last treaty ever made with these tribes. Douglass held councils with Satanta, Stumbling Bear, and other Kiowa chiefs. By this time Chief Bull Bear (Parra-o-coom) was old and Quannah became chief of the Kwahadi Comanches.

     The Comanches moved onto Creek and Choctaw lands on the Reservation in Oklahoma in 1868. Fort Concho was established this year. About this time Quannah took his first wife Weckeah, daughter of Arapaho chief Yellow Bear. On November 27, 1868 the "Battle" of the Washita occurred in which Custer's 7th Cavalry attacked a village of fifty Cheyenne tipis under peace chiefs Little Robe, Little Rock, and Black Kettle and killed around 100 Cheyenne.

     In 1869, Fort Sill was Established in Indian Territory on Cache Creek specifically to hold the Comanches, Kiowas, and their allies in check. About 1000 Indians went onto the reservation, but around 1500 remained free, including the Kwahadis under Quannah. This year, President Grant inaugurated a peace policy in which military agents were replaced by civilian religious agents on the reservations. A small Comanche party of six men and a woman stole some horses in the settlements, and seventy soldiers attacked them at Lookout Point and killed them all.

     General W. T. Sherman made an inspection tour in 1871. Colonel Ranald McKenzie came from Camp Cooper and caught the Comanches in Blanco Canyon. The Comanche fought a holding action, until the women and children could escape, and then they melted into the stillness of the Llano Estacado. Another battle was fought on McClellan Creek on September 29, 1872 in which 3000 horses and mules were captured, but later liberated by the Comanches and recaptured. Bull Elk was one of the leading chiefs of the Antelope band at this time, and was followed by Wild Horse and Black Mustache when the band went onto the reservation.

     The winter of 1872/73 was a quiet winter, with even the Kwahadi Comanches camping near the reservation at Lawton, but the Comanches raided Brown, Coleman, and San Saba Counties, killed several people and drove off or killed five or six thousand head of cattle in 1873.

     In the winter of 1873/74, Tau-ankia son of Lone Wolf was killed on the headwaters of the Nueces River, and Comanche raids continued. In 1874 some Lipan Apaches joined the Tonkawas in Central and North Texas. Little Robe, Chief of the Cheyennes, lost 43 ponies to raiders in May. At about this time, the Comanche developed a simplified version of the Kiowa Sun Dance.

     Isatai, a Comanche medicine man was talking war. The intended target was the Tonkawas at Fort Griffen, but they were moved into the fort to prevent the attack. The campaign then shifted to Adobe Walls. The Second Battle of Adobe Walls on June 27, 1874 was the opening battle of the Red River War.

Other battles included:

Palo Duro Canyon August 30, 1874;
Baldwin's battle Sept. 7;
Lyman's Wagon Train Sept. 9 through 14;
Battle of Buffalo Wallow September 10, 1874;
Mackenzie's battle of Palo Duro Canyon Sept. 28;
Farnsworth's battle November 6;
Baldwin's Wagon Battle Nov. 8, 1874;
Davidson's Engagement also on November 8, 1874. When captured in June of 1875, only Black Horse (Wild Horse) of the Comanche Chiefs was found guilty.
In 1874 the total Wichita tribe numbered 671 with 300 Wichita, 140 Waco, 125 Tawakoni, and 106 Kichai.

     Comanches involved in these wars included Quannah Parker, Mow-way, Black Horse, Tabananica, Horseback, Chewing Elk, White Wolf, Little Crow, Big Red Food, Black Duck, and Buffalo Hump. Cheyenne included Lone Wolf, Little Bear, Little Wolf, Stone Calf, Red Moon, Gray Beard, and Little Robe. Kiowas were Lone Wolf, Satanta, Maman-ti(O-ha-ma-tai), Woman's Heart, Big Bow, and Big Tree.



Kiowa Chief Dohasan


Kiowa Chief Satanta



Comanche Chief Quanah Parker

Resources

Adobe Walls: Historical trading Post and Battleground

El LLano Estacado: Exploration and Imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536 - 1860.
John Miller Morris, Texas State Historical Association, 1997.

The Texas Panhandle Frontier
Frederick W. Rathjen. Texas Tech University Press,1998.

Additional Reading

Dohasan bio at the Handbook of Texas Online
Satanta bio at the Handbook of Texas Online
Quanah Parker bio at the Handbook of Texas Online