Settling West Texas: The Red River War, Part I

On August 30, 1874, an army column commanded by Col. Nelson A. Miles defeated 600 Cheyenne warriors in the first significant battle of what would become a war. The Red River War, a series of military engagements between the army and hostile Indians from the summer of 1874 to the spring of 1875, ultimately drove Comanches, Kiowas, and southern Cheyennes to the reservation, opening West Texas for peaceful settlement.

The Red River War commenced after the failed 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge and the “Quaker Peace Policy.” Under this policy, Indians were to remain on reservations overseen by Quaker missionaries in exchange for rations and security provided by the federal government. The policy was a complete disaster: the government almost never met its obligations, the Indians had no desire to end their nomadic ways, and the army refused to protect tribal lands from white buffalo hunters. After the Warren Wagon Train Massacre and several other bloody incidents, the peace policy was reexamined. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman had been sent to investigate frontier conditions and, after narrowly escaping attack at the site of the Warren incident, the legendary Civil War general determined that only harsh military action could control the Indian threat.

This action, however, would be unlike any previously undertaken against Indians. For decades, the army had taken a mostly reactive approach, generally engaging Indians after attacks on white settlements. Inevitably, the army would have to abandon the chase once the Indians escaped into “Comancheria,” the vast, unexplored area of West Texas above the Caprock where the Indians made their home. Sherman and Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan devised a bold, daring offensive strategy – strike deep into the heart of Comancheria, destroy the Indians’ supplies and shelter, and then force the Indians to surrender or face total annihilation.

To ensure victory and prevent escape, the offensive would require the convergence of forces striking from all directions.  Gen. Sheridan devised a plan in which columns would attack Comancheria from five directions. To prevent a retreat east to the safety of the reservations, Col. J.W. Davidson set out from Fort Sill with four companies of the 10th Cavalry. To seal off escape into the New Mexico deserts, Maj. W.R. Price set out from the west, at Fort Union and Fort Bascom, with 250 members of the 8th Cavalry and two mounted howitzers. Lt. Col. George P. Buell marched northwest from Fort Richardson with eight companies of the 11th Infantry. The most important forces were those commanded by Col. Miles and Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie. Mackenzie struck from the south, at Fort Concho, with eight companies of his vaunted 4th Cavalry. Col. Miles swept down from the north, striking out from Fort Dodge with eight companies of the 6th Cavalry, four companies of the 5th Infantry, three mounted artillery pieces, and dozens of civilian and Indian scouts. With an unprecedented force in the field, the attack was on.

As the five massive army columns set out for the forbidding plains of the Llano Estacado, known as Comancheria, they did so in the midst of a brutal summer drought. Col. Nelson Miles’ column was the first in the field, leaving Fort Dodge, Kansas on August 11, 1874. That column, composed of cavalry, infantry, artillery, scouts, and trackers was also the first to engage Indian foes in significant battle. A running battle between Miles’ troops and Cheyenne warriors began on or about August 30 and lasted several days. This battle, which took place near the Red River at the lower end of Palo Duro Canyon, was declared an army victory by Col. Miles and commanding Gen. Phil Sheridan, but latter analysis termed the results inconclusive. Further, Col. Miles, in the heat of pursuit, unwisely outran his trailing supply lines and left his column short on provisions.

With the army campaign underway, Indian agents sought to confine as many Indians as possible to their reservations in Indian Territory. Approximately 400 Kiowas at the Wichita Agency near present-day Anadarko, Oklahoma escaped federal supervision and set out for Comancheria. As they did, the Kiowas crossed paths with an army wagon train commanded by Capt. Wyllys Lyman. Col. Miles, with his column’s supplies dwindling, had sent Lyman, with thirty-six wagons and over one hundred soldiers to Indian Territory to acquire more supplies. On the morning of September 10, the Kiowas attacked Lyman’s wagons, killing a sergeant and a civilian teamster. The Kiowas then laid siege to the wagons purely for the excitement, according to Indian sources. The siege kept Lyman’s men from water for two days and the sides traded potshots. After a drenching rainstorm and the sight of Maj. William Price’s column (marching from New Mexico) in the distance, the Kiowas pulled out and Capt. Lyman loaded his wagons to rejoin Col. Miles. Lyman lost two men in the siege and killed an estimated thirteen Kiowas.

When Lyman failed to return, Col. Miles sent several scouting parties to look for the wagon train. One party, consisting of Billy Dixon (he of Adobe Walls fame just a few months prior), an interpreter, and four soldiers, was pinned down in a buffalo wallow by the same Kiowas who had attacked Lyman’s wagons. One soldier was killed and everyone but Dixon was injured; all six were later awarded the Medal of Honor. Maj. Price’s column arrived on the scene but refused to aid the pinned-down scouting party, an act for which he was censured by Col. Miles and stripped of his command.

Meanwhile, Col. Mackenzie had marched up from Fort Concho and assembled his cavalry, infantry, and scouts at a base on Catfish Creek, near present-day Paducah. His forces skirmished with Indians in Tule Canyon on September 26. From there, he planned a decisive strike into what observers long believed was an impenetrable Indian fortress, Palo Duro Canyon.

Next week, the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon breaks the back of Indian resistance.

Sources: Old Mobeetie Texas Association, “Red River War”, http://www.mobeetie.com/pages/rrwar.htm and Handbook of Texas Online, “Mackenzie, Ranald Slidell”, “Miles, Nelson Appleton”, and “Red River War” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/.   Articles used with permission of the Texas State Historical Association. Handdbook of Texas Online, “Lyman’s Wagon Train” and “Red River War” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/.   Articles used with permission of the Texas State Historical Association.