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Adobe Walls & Attractions of the Llano Estacado

The Great Plains which lie to the east of the base of the Rocky Mountains extend into Northwest part of the state. This area, which is a vast, flat, high plain covered with thick layers of alluvial material, is known as the Staked Plains or the Spanish equivalent, Llano Estacado.

Historians differ as to the origin of this name. Some think that it came from the fact that the Francisco Coronado expedition, crossing the trackless sea of grass, staked its route so that it would be guided on its return trip. Others think that the "estacado" refers to the palisaded appearance of the Caprock in many places, especially the west-facing escarpment in New Mexico.

The Caprock Escarpment is the dividing line between the High Plains and the Lower Rolling Plains. Like the Balcones Escarpment, the Caprock Escarpment is a striking physical feature, rising abruptly 200, 500 and in some places almost 1,000 feet above the plains. Unlike the Balcones Escarpment, the Caprock was caused by surface erosion. Where rivers issue from the eastern face of the Caprock, there frequently are notable formations, such as the Palo Duro on the Prairie Dog Town Fork (main channel) of the Red River and the breaks along the Canadian as it crosses the region.

Along the eastern edge of the region there is a gradual descent of the earth's surface from high to low plains, but at the Red River the Caprock Escarpment becomes a striking surface feature. It continues as an east-facing wall south through Briscoe, Floyd, Motley, Dickens, Crosby, Garza and Borden counties, gradually decreasing in elevation.

South of Borden County the escarpment is less obvious, and the boundary between the High Plains and the Edwards Plateau occurs where the alluvial cover of the High Plains disappears.

Stretching over the largest level plain of its kind in the United States, the High Plains rise gradually from about 2,700 feet on the east to more than 4,000 in spots along the New Mexico border.

Chiefly because of climate and the resultant agriculture, subdivisions are called the North Plains and South Plains The North Plains, from Hale County north, has pri marily wheat and grain sorghum farming, but with significant ranching and petroleum developments.

The City of Amarillo TX is the largest township with Plainview on the south and Borger on the north as important commercial centers. The South Plains. also a leading grain sorghum region, leads the state in cotton production.

Southern Plains History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans into North America, the Southern Plains Region was inhabited by several powerful American Indian Tribes in pre-history.

These tribes included what is believed by many researchers to be the progenitors of the Pawnee, and several Pueblo peoples who resided along the Canadian River prior to the arrival of even more powerful tribes such as the Apache Tribe who came into the area in the late 1400's to the early 1500's.

It is during this time around 1540 that Spanish Conquistadors travelling with Fransisco Coronado came through the area. These Conquistadors are known to have camped in Palo Duro where these men found much needed water and was able to refresh themselves while searching for the seven cities of Cibola where it was rumored there was much Gold.

Conquistidors in the expedition wrote about the tribe they called the Querechos which anthropologists now believe was the Plains Apache that was also known to others as the Teya Indians. These Natives were known to have besieged the Pecos Pueblo, and had destroyed several towns in the area. To the best of our knowledge, these Indians mostly inhabited the Eastern part of the region and probably later joined the Lipan Apache in later years.

Several years later, another Spainard named Juan De Onate traveled along the Canadian River in the late 1590's. De Onate came into the area for the purpose of hunting Buffalo, and he was known to have done some hunting and exploration in Moore Co.

In June of 1601, De Onate returned to the area with an expedition searching for the fabled village of Quivira looking for gold and also seeking an outlet to the sea. Onate followed the Canadian River almost to the border of Oklahoma, and then headed North East where he wound up exploring in Central Kansas and finding several Indian villages there without gold. Onate was soon forced to return home without finding his treasure.

For many years afterwards, the Spaniards considered the region as belonging to New Mexico and no doubt they thought of it as such due to their desire to claim the entire region during these early years under what was then being called New Spain.

In later years, the more powerful Comanche Indians forced the Apaches living in the region further south and West of the area. It is known that around the year 1730 they were in full possession of the Llano Estacado and most of the South Plains. They quickly became known as the Lords of the Southern Plains, and they by far were the most powerful of all the Indian Tribes in the state.

The Lords of the Plains during these years literally controlled all of Comancheria for over 150 years and entry into the region by encroachers was hazardous, if not almost impossible during these years.

The region was also home to the largest herds of Antelope and Buffalo on the Southern Plains. The region has become a favorite of game hunters in modern times, and the area offers some of the finest sport fishing in the entire State in such places as Lake Meredith, Greenbelt, Baylor and other area lakes that all hold some kind of big fish records.

The High Plains with its vast diversity of landscape is in my opinion the most beautiful of all the regions that make up the Southern Plains. From the endless sea of the prairie, to the miles and miles of breaks as far as the eye can see, the area is by far the most beautiful place on God's Earth.

Two hundred and eighty plus years after Coronado had explored the area, the Americans also began exploring the region. After Mexico had won its independence from Spain, Santa Fe was then opened to trade legally with the Americans in 1821.

In the year 1820, Major Stephen H. Long spent 15 days in the area exploring the Canadian River which he mistook for the Red River. Long and others returned again in the following year in several small expeditions that recorded their journey and took samples of plants and other things. However, they ultimately failed to find the source of the Red River which was apparently the goal of the expedition.

The area was described by Long as being a wasteland desert and pretty much worthless for human habitation, and it was not long before his official reports became widely publicized.

As a result of his reports, interest in the area declined and for many years, and there was little if any visitation by Americans into the Region.

The area continued to be of little interest to Americans up until the adventures of Josish Gregg in 1840.

Josiah Gregg came into the area to explore along the Canadian River in March of that same year, where he entered the region with forty-seven men, twenty-eight wagons, two canons, 200 mules, and 300 sheep and goats.

The expedition entered the area from the West, and then into Oldham Co. where they were then quickly attacked by a band of Pawnees. Soon thereafter, the expedition endured a Blue Norther that swept across the Southern Plains that then resulted in most of the sheep and goats permanently escaping out onto the plains.

William Bent (Left) Charles Bent (Right)

Soon after Josiah Gregg's expedition, a man named William Bent who was an Indian Trader established the first Trading Post in the region on Bent's Creek in Hutchinson Co. outside of Stinnett.

Bent came to the area in 1843 to establish trade, and he first began trading goods from tipi's, which over time had proven to spark a very important series of events in American History.

Much of the trading and talks was done through what is known as American Indian Sign Language that for untold centuries was the norm for communication between peoples during those times.

In summer of 1845, another expedition came into the area under the command of James William Abert. Abert went up the Canadian River and wrote about finding Atascosa Creek and also the Flint Quarries at Alibates that he called Agate Bluffs.

This expedition was known to have stopped and rested at Bent's Creek, and he also exchanged gifts with visiting Natives while he was at Bent's Trading House.

Abert created several excellent maps of the areas that he travelled in the area, and he made note of many good camp sites and watering holes which later proved to be very valuable to later explorers. He also noted in detail his visit to Bent's Trading House, and he described the Indians he met there.

Successes in trading inspired Bent to build log structures for safety. However, this did not fortify the post very well, and over a short time the structures proved to be inadequate for protection against the elements, and also the trading post was really not very safe in the event that he were ever to be attacked by Indians.

So around 1846, Bent brought some Mexican workers with him that he had hired who were experts in working with adobe, and he then established what became known as Adobe Walls.

This new fort was then named Fort Adobe, and was comprised of a structure eighty feet long and sixty feet wide and had nine foot walls that were three feet thick! There also was only given one entry into the fort for safety.

The fort remained there for several years and was inhabited on occasion when trading permitted its use. However, in 1848 because of increasing trouble between the white man and the Indians, it became unsafe for the trading to continue in the area, and the fort was shut down.

In fall of 1848 a peace was established and Bent hoped to re-open the fort for trading. As a result Bent hired Kit Carson and some other employees to go back to the Canadian to re-open trade. After meeting some trouble with some Apaches, Carson returned back to the Arkansas River where Bent's fort was in safer territory and the attempt to re-open trade failed.

Soon thereafter, several Numunuh pursuaded Bent to re-open the trade at the post while visiting him on the Arkansas. So Bent sent thirteen men to the area which conducted trade through a window cut through the wall of the fort.

In spring of 1849, Bent himself came back to the post with several ox-drawn wagons in hopes of reviving trade.

Apparently some of Bent's oxen were killed which no doubt angered the man to no end, and consequently he blew up the interior of his outpost with some gunpowder and left the area and never again returned.

The old abandoned fort became a famous landmark for later explorers into the region, and was often visited by travelers who knew where to find the old structures.

Kit Carson also returned to the familliar fort fifteen years later in 1864 to rest his command of over 300 troops commisioned to "Chastise the Comanche Nation."

Carson was soon to realize that had actually attacked and pillaged a Kiowa Village by mistake.

The army after sacking the Kiowa village, then began getting attacked by the very people that he was supposed to have "chastised" in the first place.

Carsons' troops then began to suffer from several attacks made by both the Numu and Kiowa warriors who were intent on putting his hair on a stick.

Carson as soon as he was able to, then quickly withdrew from the area in retreat for his life.

As a result, Carson barely made it out of the area alive, and he never returned to the area to fight Indians again after what has became known as Carson's last stand, or the First Battle of Adobe Walls.

In 1849 Captain Randolph B. Marcy who was a U.S. Calvary officer began exploring the region so as to make a southern route for the Sante Fe Trail. Marcy recorded in his diary that this area was the Great Sahara of North America where no inhabitants could ever live.

Since that time, the land that Captain Marcy had said would remain forever uninhabitable has become rich in cattle, farming, and oil.

Three years after William Bent blew up his trading post, another expedition in 1852 commanded by Randolph B. Marcy and George McClellan was sent out as a means to find the source of the Red River which previous expeditions had apparently failed to acomplish.

During this expedition Marcy covered over a thousand miles of previously undocumented territory and cataloged over twenty five previously unknown species of mammals and ten reptiles along with other important discoveries. In addition Marcy located the source of the Red River and also was briefly able to explore parts of Tule Creek before ending the expedition.

During these early years the area was also surveyed by the Pacific Railroad Company and also explored by United States Army expeditions under the command of Amiel Whipple who in detail had described the Canadian River Valley, and the Rolling Plains region surrounding the Red River in the year 1853.

During the 1850's, the State began claiming these lands under frontier administration districts under the former claims of the Republic.

Although the State during these times had no real authority other than administrative for the lack of manpower or even any substantial outposts in the region, the State Government indeed did claim the area and had been known to claim the region since the early days of the Republic.

The area was considered frontier and wild to most whites, and in all truth it was a very dangerous place for people to go unless they were invited, and even then it was cautious going even with permission.

Even men who were heavily armed were very cautious when entering the area, and they always ran the risk of being found by the Indians while trying to sneak through the region.

Small Companies of Rangers would sometimes come into the area pursuing Indians, however the area was so distant from their headquarters that it was just not at all wise to stay in the area long, mostly due to the difficulties in finding water on long extended journeys.

In old writings, one finds the region called the Great American Desert. The area was often described as a wasteland with nothing but hot desert heat, and destitute of anything other than gyp water.

These types of salty writings no doubt contributed to the area being thought of by many as being unlivable and downright dangerous and is known to have considerably slowed its settlement.

The area as a result of these unique historical events was one of the last settled areas of the State! And as a result, the entire area has kept its famous old west culture alive and well. This is something that tourists will confirm to folks when they come to the area for a visit.

In 1850 the region became officially recognized by the State as a result of what was known as the Compromise of 1850. This agreement legally settled the numerous land claims of the State after the Mexican War of 1846-1848 with the Federal Government.

The region is comprised of over 26,610 square miles of territory, and officially consists of 26 Counties.

The majority of the region has been known traditionally as the High Plains due to the rising of the Caprock Escarpment that makes up the Staked Plains.

The Southeastern most counties also make up the beginning of the Rolling Plains region, and are considerably lower in elevation than the Caprock.

In the year 1858 on May 12th, a company of Rangers and Tonkawa Scouts led by Sul Ross and Colonial John Ford (Old Rip) entered the area from the south and then proceeded down river on the Canadian for the purpose of finding the Noconi Camps from which numerous raids were believed to be taking place into the interior of the State.

The Tonkaway Scouts soon after entering modern day Hutchinson Co. soon discovered a large Noconi Village where the Canadian make a very large bend in its course. The Noconi were completely unawares that they were about to be attacked and the Rangers sent in their Tonkaway allies to attack at sunrise!

Colonial Rip Ford later when speaking of this village, had said that as soon as the sun peaked over the surrounding hills and the Rangers could see the village, that he believed this camp to have been the most beautiful Village he had ever seen.

A solitary warrior riding his horse was sighted riding his horse towards the Rangers when the Tonkaway unable to supress their hatred for the Numunuh ran forward and the warrior turned around quickly riding hard towards the village and sounded the alarm.

The Numu Warriors quickly formed a battle phalanx between the Rangers and the women and children and began taunting the Tonkaway and the Rangers into battle. The Rangers tried to stop the Tonkaway from attacking, however they were loathed with hatred for the Numunuh and could not stand it so they ran forward to attack.

Many Tonkawa were killed while attempting to attack the line of battle, and soon became a mark for the Numu Warriors to hit easily. Prior to going into battle, the Rangers had the Tonkawa wear white patches so that the Rangers would not shoot their own scouts. As a result, the Tonks became the prime target of attack and the Tonks best warriors were soon dead.

Only after the Tonks discovering that these white patches were getting themselves killed did they take them off their buckskins and in the meantime the Numunuh had already begun making their escape in the confusion that took place.

During this battle, Chief Iron Jacket who was the father of Chief Petu Nocona was killed by Jim Pockmark a Tonkawa Scout and sharpshooter.

Iron Jacket was famous for being the War Chief who wore the chain mail that had come from a Spanish Knight. Iron Jacket was well respected as a powerful Medicine Man, of whom it was said that he could blow away missles with his breath during a battle.

As one might imagine, the death of this famous leader was a great blow to the Numu and was a sorrowful great loss to the people. However, his son Petu Nocona quickly sprang into action immediately and became famous and even earned the respect of the Rangers for his awesome bravery and his proven courage and leadership on the battlefield that day!

It was at this time that Petu Nocona bravely placed himself between the village filled with women and children and began taunting the Tonkaway and the Rangers so that his people could escape and retreat to safety. His strategy worked perfectly, as the Tonkaway could not stand his numerous insults, and they soon broke ranks which destroyed the main battle lines of the Tonks & their Ranger allies.

As a result, the Tonkaways then charged Nocona out of rage, and they were then subsequently killed which apparently included some of their best warriors who then died in the charge upon Chief Petu Nocona.

The battle soon subsided as the Tonkaway continuted to break ranks, and the people by this time had made a very good retreat in the face of this sudden attack that turned into a sort of running battle with Chief Peta Nocona guarding the rear of the retreat of the women and children.

The battle soon ended because the people had managed to put enough distance between themselves and the Rangers with their Tonkaway allies, and the Noconi were able to escape for their lives.

This attack on the Noconi on the Canadian River ultimately resulted in numerous revenge raids on Settlements that took place two years later in 1860 under Peta Nocona.

History has proven that the Rangers attack on the village at the Canadian River indeed had long reaching complications for the Frontier, as the People never forgot that the Texans were responsible for the death of their leader and the unprovoked attack on their sleeping village that early spring morning.

This began many years of continuing pitched hostilities between Texans and the Natives, and no doubt was the beginings of a much greater war to take place in the future.

In early fall of 1860 Chief Peta Nocona and his band of Noconi began raiding settlements in revenge for the attacks made on the village of Iron Jacket. The warriors began raiding settlements during the first Moon in Autumn striking out from their camps along the Pease River south of modern day Childress.

The Wanderers established their Autumn camp twelve miles east of Crowell, and it is at this location that Charles Goodnight, Sul Ross, and the Loving Brothers re-captured the wife of Peta Nocona, who was none other than Cynthia Ann Parker who was in fact a white captive taken from Fort Parker in 1836.

Cynthia Ann was captured with her infant daughter Prairie Flower by the Rangers who took part in what has become known as the Pease River Massacre. Later she was taken to live with her uncle Isaac Parker where it is said after the death of her daughter, that she starved herself to death and died of a broken heart.

It is said that Petu Nocona after loosing his wife and child lost his desire to make war and cried many tears until his death a few short years later in the Antelope Hills with his son at his side.

During the civil war years, the United States Army had abandoned many of the frontier forts and there were increasing raids due in part to the absence of federal troops in the regions of the Frontier. Companies of minute man rangers assigned to duty in frontier districts were virtually the only protection of settlers during the Civil War years.

After 1865 this changed once again to a strong military presence in the Frontier which then resulted in frequent confrontations on the frontier with Southern Plains tribes.

The United States then entered into treaty in 1867 with the tribes and established a reservation in Indian Territory for the Indians as stipulated in the Treaty of Medicine Lodge.

Chief Ten Bears during the talks at Medicine Lodge gave one of the most beloved speeches ever documented in American Indian History, he has gone down in history the "Beloved Orator of the Plains."

This treaty specified and set aside all of the traditional hunting grounds as defined in the agreement, which included all the area in the region that also stretched all the way north to the Arkansas River and was made completely off limits to whites.

These lands was promised for exclusive use for the Indians and the treaty specified that the Indians would always be entitled to utilize the area for hunting "so long as the buffalo may range thereon in such numbers as to justify the chase."

Many Natives whom did not sign the treaty refused to give up their lands and remove to Indian Territory, and so a winter campaign meant to force the tribes to the reservation was conducted in 1868 by General Sheridan; he sent in four columns of federal troops under the command of General George Armstrong Custer to attack the Indians when they were more vulnerable in their winter camps.

It was at this time that Custer attacked and destroyed Black Kettles' Cheyenne Indian Village on the Washita River in November of 1868 (Month of the freezing moon).

A few months later in March of 1869, Custer also attacked the Southern Cheyenne village of Stone Forehead in the region. This attack has gone down in history as Confrontation of the Sweetwater.

Immediately after signing the Medicine Lodge treaty, the United States Army began encouraging buffalo hunters to exterminate the buffalo on the Southern Plains. This was indeed a clear violation of the treaty.

History has proven that these events was the catalyst for the needless slaughter of the beautiful buffalo, and the consequential soon to unfold Red River War that was now becoming unavoidable.

The Kwahada Band refused the terms of the treaty and was not present during the council, and Kwanah was known to have said that they would never surrender until the blue coat soldiers came up on the plains and whipped them, so the Kwahada and others joining them continued to raid settlements on the frontier regardless of the Medicine Lodge Treaty.

Over one third of the Natives refused to sign the Medicine Lodge Treaty, and as a result the United States Army was enraged at the refusal of these Chiefs to move to the reservation and as a result then commissioned Ranald Slidell Mackenzie of the Fourth Cavarly to force the tribes to reservations.

Mackenzie desired to punish great Chiefs such as He Bear, Wild Horse & Bull Elk and he set out on the plains with his men after hiring some Tonkawa scouts who were the mortal enemies of the people.

Brevet General Ranald S. Mackenzie

In September of 1871 Mackenzie went out and was completely unable to find signs of the Natives whatsoever. Mackenzie while being learned in tracking was himself unable to find anything, so he sent out his Tonkawa scouts to try and find the Camps.

The Tonkawa soon surpised a group of scouts who had been spying on the Army from a ravine. When the Scouts realized that they were discovered, they quickly escaped with the Tonkawas in hot pursuit. Mackenzie began to realize the superiority of the Indian horses over his Army mounts when the scouts quickly left the Tonkawas eating dust with relative ease.

After the Tonkawas returned to camp and reported these events, Mackenzie ordered his troops to find the villages so he could destroy them and take some Indian captives so that he might have an upper hand at diplomacy with the tribe.

Mackenzie failed to find the villages and was forced to camp for the night.

Sometime late that night, the camp was aroused by the yells and whoops of Warriors led by Quanah Parker who utilizing buffalo robes and ringing bells then proceeded to stampede the army's horses into a swarming herd of chaos and excitement.

This resulted in the leader taking possession of over seventy horses including the General's own prized Gray Pacer. The Cavalry soon took chase once they recovered from these events, and began pursuing the band deep into Canyon Blanco.

Mackenzie soon learned that his idea of punishing the tribes was not going to be as easy as he had thought. For some reason he could not simply manage to pin down the people to one spot long enough to punish them as he had hoped to do.

While continuing to pursue the Indians, the Army came upon a very recently abandoned village where the people had just been. Fire pits were still warm and lodge poles and other Indian belongings were found all over the place as the Indians had been forced to leave in a hurry due to Mackenzie being hot on their trail.

The Kwahada then led the army out on to the plains where the army then wandered for a day or two, only to find out later that Kwanah had in fact in a brilliant millitary manuver doubled back and re-entered the breaks without the army being any wiser.

Mackenzie then ordered his men to follow after Kwanah and finally found the right trail after several hours of much troublesome scouting.

The General had estimated that the tribe was driving a herd of horses no less than two thousand head, and the strategy it took for Kwanah to make such an awesome military move both stunned and vexed Mackenzie.

Mackenzie who was intent on punishing the people suddenly realized that he had probably met his match in Chief Quanah Parker.

Chief Quanah Parker circa 1880

This young warrior barely 20 years old had just managed to outsmart and out manuever one of the most brilliant military officers in the U.S. Army with surprising ease, and to top it off it seemed as if the Kwahada actually enjoyed it.

This brave leader had managed not only to save his people, he had proven to demoralize the U.S. Army led by General Mackenzie. The Cavalry troops who just a short time before believed they could whip any Indian tribe in the Plains, were now completely foiled and humiliated.

Mackenzie had failed to punish Kwanah and he soon realized he was not going to whip them by any means during this particular military operation. Soon a Blue Norther came up on the plains and caused considerable trouble for his demoralized troops, and during the blowing snow and wind, his Tonkawa Scouts then found some braves spying on them from yet another ravine and went in after them.

Mackenzie then joined in the battle that was now playing out and received an Arrow in his left leg which forced the General to retreat. He then had to have his Army Surgeon cut the arrow out of his leg which was reported to to be quite painful and difficult.

Mackenzie continued to look for the Indians and could not find them anywhere, the army continued to lose many horses and the cold weather was further demoralizing the troops into a state of depression, so he was forced to return to Fort Gibson and from there he then retreated completely humiliated back to Fort Richardson in total defeat.

Mackenzie once again came back to the plains in fall of 1872 and began searching from his camp on the Clear Fork of the Brazos.

It was not long before he found the Kwahada and he gave chase clear across the Staked Plains all the way to Almagordo New Mexico where they yet escaped him again in another brilliant military manuver executed by their leaders.

This again left Mackenzie with yet another haunting defeat.

It was this particular military operation that gave way to the famous Mackenzie Trail that has it's place in area history that has its roots in the vicinity of Quitaque.

Mackenzie on his way back from being defeated by yet another Kwahada escape came back towards his camp through beautiful Palo Duro.

Mackenzie was completely foiled again, however the General later surprised Moways camp on McClellan Creek on September 29, 1872 and then captured over 130 women and children as captives. Mackenzie in an act of Genocide then burned over 262 lodges after killing over twenty Warriors.

Mackenzie also took some 300 horses & some 3000 mules belonging to the tribe and then returned back to his camp, yet all the while still smarting from yet another humiliating tactical defeat by the Quohadi.

Mackenzie's glee at surprising Moway's camp and capturing captives and the many horses was very short lived however, for that very night the Kwahada raided Mackenzies camp and was able to steal back literally all of the horses Mackenzie had captured and most of the booty along with some more of Mackenzies prized army mounts.

One of the white captive boys living with the people later accused the General of attrocities against the Indian people, when the boy testified to government authorities that during the night after Quanah's raid that General Mackenzie being outraged at once again being outsmarted then resorted to killing women and children during the night!

Officially Mackenzie and the U.S. Army was of the impression that these military incursions had defeated the tribes after 1872! However, frontier residents and Settlers knew better and had tried to tell the Army and Mackenzie both that they were dealing with the Lords of the Plains and not one of the less powerful Indian Tribes that the Army had been accustomed to fighting.

Later on, Mackenzie then discovered that the Chief was in fact conducting numerous raids while riding Mackenzie's own prized Gray Pacer that had taken from the General during the raid on the Army camp by the Kwahada in 1871.

The Army being totally humiliated did not return to the plains until after June of 1874, and only did return after the bold and daring attack on the well armed Buffalo Hunters at the famous Battle of Adobe Walls.

The Indians on the reservation seeing the horrible slaughter of the beloved sacred buffalo became enraged that the treaty of medicine lodge had been broken by the army.

As a direct result of this broken treaty, several important leaders among the Southern Plains tribes made the decision to resume raids on white settlements and joined up with other bands as a means to kill all the buffalo hunters that was responsible for the mass slaughter of the buffalo.

Battle Of Adobe Walls June 27 1874. Fort Attacked By 700 Indian Warriors!

The old fort again comes into very important historical significance as yet another Trading Post was established in March of 1874 a mile from Bent's old Fort Adobe by merchants from Dodge Kansas. A large complex was soon built called the Myers and Leonard Store that also had a resturant and a corral.

In April of 1874, a second store was opened by Charles Rath. Shortly afterward James N. Hanrahan and Charles Rath also opened a saloon, and Tom O'Keefe started a blacksmith shop.

The Walls by early spring had became a boom town for Buffalo Hunters and was estimated at supporting at least 200 to 300 full time Buffalo Hunters by the end of spring.

Medicine Man Esatai & Family

In June of 1874 the buffalo hunters were attacked by over 700 warriors led by Chief Quanah and Esa Tai who was a Medicine Man. The Numunuh with some Cheyenne and Arapaho, Kiowa, Kiowa Apaches and a few Lakota Sioux Indians had been at Council with the Southern Plains tribes during a Sun Dance.

This one time historical event was held as a means for the Southern Plains Tribes to unify and make war against the Buffalo Hunters to stop the slaughter of the Buffalo that was taking place.

The Indians were unable to surprise the Buffalo Hunters in the way that they had planned. In fact, there is some evidence that indicates that the folks at the post may have in fact been warned and at least one of the men, namely Charles Rath was indeed expecting an attack.

Apparently the Army at Camp Supply had sent word to Rath two days before the upcoming attack which resulted in the photograph pictured above being taken by a soldier who was with the outfit that was sent to warn the buffalo hunters.

Charles Rath then left the old fort immediately, heading back to Dodge, along with some others that were told of the coming attack by Amos Chapman who was with the outfit. Hanrahan also was informed of the coming attack that was to take place in the early morning of June 27th.

In any event, as the story goes a large pop rang out that sounded like a report from rifle fire in the early morning hours and Hanrahan shouted that the ridgepole of the building was going to break. After shoring up the ridge pole, it was at this time that the Indians began moving close to the buildings and were then seen by Billy Dixon who had gone outside in the twilight where he was able to view some Indians approaching.

The alarm was sounded, and soon the attack began!

In the first daring attack, Quanah Parker led the Indians on his mount riding right up in the middle of massive gunfire where he lanced one of the Sadler Brothers with his spear.

In a following attack, the War Chief wheeled his pony around and began attempting to kick in the door of the saloon which held fast and refused to give way after being previously barricaded by the Buffalo Hunters.

The Indians mounted charge after charge against the men in the buildings, and in one particular feat of courage, the leader ran headlong into a streaming hail of bullets to rescue a wounded warrior by grabbing the man off the battlefield while on his pony without breaking stride.

The Chief was also later seriously wounded during this fight when he was shot and he himself was also helped from the battlefield by another brave Warrior.

After the Chief was wounded, the Indians began slowing down their attack and soon began circling the settlement, and after a while they withdrew from out of the range of the Buffalo Hunters, or at least so it seemed!

William Billy Dixon Buffalo Hunter and Army Scout

Billy Dixon Buffalo Hunter

It was during this battle that Billy Dixon - who was an Army Scout and famed for his sharpshooting ability - was able to fire a Sharps 50 Rifle and knock a warrior off his horse who was on the hill shown in the photograph above.

Dixon did this while firing his rifle from a window within the largest building at a distance that has been estimated at being over 3/4 of a mile away!

The battle ultimately concluded in a draw when the Indians fought to a stalemate and unwilling to lose any more warriors decided to withdrawl. However, the war continued on for quite some time after the battle, and as a result of this war no less than 20 significant battles took place in the High Plains region in what has became known in history as the Red River War, or the Buffalo War.

The United States Army in retailiation for the attack then sent in over five columns of troops as a means to subdue and destroy the Southern Plains tribes. Yet the Army ultimately failed in capturing and defeating Quanah Parker.

During one battle of this war which has been called the Buffalo Wallow fight, Billy Dixon now acting as scout for General Miles, was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor along with five other men for their bravery and courage in this extraordinarily fierce battle near the Washita River in Hemphill Co.

Billy Dixon and the men found themselves surrounded by over 125 warriors which resulted in a battle for the mens' lives. One man was killed, and all the rest were injured with one of the men, Amos Chapman, having his leg amputated due to a gun shot wound that shattered his knee.

Several more battles took place in the Red River War where several major battles were fought with victories on both sides. During all these times, General Ranald Mackenzie was unable to subdue the tribes.

While attempting to capture the Kwahada, Mackenzie was utilizing Tonkawa scouts aiding him in finding the Indians villages. His Tonkawa scouts following some Indian trails into Tule Creek happened along a large encampment of Numu, Kiowa and Cheyenne which resulted in the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon on September 28, 1874.

Mackenzie then attacked the sleeping villages and before the Indians could organize into a plan of attack, he had already commenced destroying five large Indian Villages and consequently burned all of the Indians' winter supplies.

The Tonkawas who were traditional blood enemies of the Numunuh did the most damage because of their hatred for their enemies, and the Tonks soon seized most of the Indians belongings while they were in flight from the Army, and they were responsible for many of the horrific events that took place during that time.

Mackenzie, now in control of the Horses that the Indians were forced to leave behind, decided that rather than keep them, he would kill them all and subsequently then slaughtered over 1,500 Indian Horses after giving his Tonkawa scouts the mounts they wanted.

The General acted in this manner due to his previous experience with the Comanches who had more than gave him occasion to fear that the Indians would steal back the horses without him being able to stop them.

This possibility according to Mackenzie, would result in the people getting back their mounts, and he believed at that point that he would never have been able to make such an attack again in the future. This also might lead to him being humiliated again just as he had been in previous years.

The huge pile of slaughtered horse bones lay for over 50 years and was known to many as a landmark. Many people in years past and even today believe the area to be a haunted place. Local legends in fact speak of ghost horses and people often say they are hearing the sounds of Indians.

This was indeed a decisive manuver for Mackenzie, howbeit it was a horrible event and has been lamented by both Indians and Residents for all these years.

The bones in fact were used decades later by farmers in the region for fertilizer in their fields, which apparently supplied many years of fertilizer for the first farmers in the region who went to the location time and time again for many years to gather bones to grind up for their crops.

Mackenzie meanwhile after the battle soon became disgusted and revolted with his Tonkawa allies, and he then refused to camp anywhere near them after he had discovered that the Tonks were boiling some of the dead Indians' heads in a pot and had soon commenced in eating some kind of revolting soup made out of the boiled heads of their enemies!

Ranald Mackenzie was constantly frustrated and out-manuvered time and time again. He was consequently humiliated several times over a period of no less than 4 years since he was commissioned in the year 1871.

In April of 1875, he sent word through a Doctor Sturm who he knew was friends with the leaders, that said the Numunuh must come to Indian Territory and surrender or else the people would be hunted down and exterminated.

Kwanah then after receiving this information directly from Mackenzie then led the remaining Indians to Ft. Sill Indian Territory where the people were then locked up and fed raw meat by soldiers throwing the rotted stinking meat over the prison walls.

In later years, Ranald Slidell Mackenzie - who the army had praised as being the most upcoming young officer in the entire United States Army - ultimately died in an insane asylum in New York after being diagnosed as mentally insane.

As a means to keep peace in the area, Cantonment on the Sweetwater was established in the Eastern part of the region in 1874 by General Miles in Wheeler Co. as an advance supply post for his forces stationed at Camp Supply. The Cantonment was later re-named Fort Elliot in honor of Maj. Joel A. Elliott, who had died at the battle of the Washita.

The fort's establishment proved to be vital to the area in both peace and commerce, and soon settlers and land speculators and surveys were becoming common place in the area, and folks now began to feel safe enough to begin establishing communities due to the fort's existance.

Charles Goodnight JA Ranch

The region after the Red River War of 1874-75 soon became famous with Ranching interests. Most prominent of these men was Charles Goodnight who had on occasion traveled through the area, and he was well aware of several prime locations that later became part of his world famous JA Ranch that stretched over several counties.

To learn more about the Red River War please visit Beyond History - Red River War!

Charles Goodnight had visited localy on at least one occasion while acting as a Ranger. It is believed that the Colonial scouted out his future location for his ranch sometime around 1860 when his ranger company was seeking to subdue Chief Petu Nocona.

Other area Ranches also began operations around this same time, and soon the local area became world famous for its excellent beef. This soon attracted European interests who began investing in large ranches in the region.

In a short time after Ranching became established, towns such as Mobeetie in Wheeler Co, and Clarendon in Donley Co became important trading hubs for the entire region.

Other areas soon became vital to the region shortly after the first railroads were being built in the area, and more towns were built and many families soon began arriving in the area by rail and they began settling the area as farmers.

As more and more people came into the region the larger Ranches began selling their holdings for substantial profit. These old Ranch lands soon were sold to farming interests and soon the area began adding Agriculture to the local economy.

Because of the long growing seasons in the region, the area economy soon became more dependent on Agriculture which is alive and well today.

In the 1920's vast natural gas and oil deposits were found in Hutchinson Co. and soon the area boomed with the explosion of the oil industry. As it turns out, the region is among the largest reserves of such products in the world.

The area is also known as the Helium capitol of the world, and despite these important discoveries, the most important natural resource to the region is by far the water of the ancient Ogalalla Aquifer which supplies many in the region with water.

One of the areas famous and beloved citizens is Colonel Rick Husband who while serving his country was killed in a fateful explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia over his beloved homeland high in the sky where only eagles dare to fly.

The International Airport was renamed in his honor, as it should be.

From ancient times to the old west, and now in the modern computer age, this area is long remembered as one of America's most beautiful places and home to the finest people found anywhere on the face of the earth.

I really don't know of anyone who could look upon the myriad of colors that transform the sky during sunset, or the watch the rising of the Moon and contain themselves from describing these beautiful natural events as being the most outstanding of memories during their visit to the region.

The area is one of the very last places in America where the Old West is still alive and well today. The area still very much has in operation world famous Chuckwagon Dinners and some of Americas best entertainment!

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