Historians differ on which skirmishes and battles constitute the Red River
Wars. Some historians (like me) believe the war began in Young County in
1871. Others believe that it was a brief war, beginning in 1874 and ending in
1875. Whatever the Minutiae, no historian disputes the basic fact: the
conclusion of the series of fights between the Plains Indians and Union and
State forces caused the end of an entire culture.
Pre-Civil War Indian Country
The Comanches, Apaches and Kiowas (along with the occasional Caddos or
Wichitas) had been fighting against the intrusion of the Americans since before
the Civil War. And for a while, it looked as though they were able to stem the
tide of white settlers. In Texas and Indian Territory, the Civil War had led Union
troops to abandon the forts, and without protection, the American pioneers
opted to move away from the frontier lines.

After the conclusion of the Civil War, however, America looked with hungry
eyes to the West. Droves of settlers invaded the Plains to farm, mine, and -
most of all - speculate. The transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869, was
ready to expand. Bankers and investors coveted the wide open lands of the
Great Plains. That the Plains were inhabited by many tribes who were at the
peak of their civilization, and who had an extensive warrior culture, didn't seem
to faze the American expansionists in the least.

In 1867, Fort Sill opened as a large outpost in Indian Territory. Its mission was
two-fold: to protect the American and Indian tribes that had settled in the area,
and to consolidate the Southern Plains Indians. Fort Richardson in Texas had
been pretty much established for the same purposes. The push of the
American settlers, plus the establishment of the forts, led to an inevitable clash
between the United States and the peoples of the Plains. The Comanches and
Kiowas in particular had been conducting numerous raids on homesteaders
since the 1850s. In 1871, however, the Warren Wagontrain Raid led by Kiowa
warriors from Fort Sill managed to change federal Indian policy.

Indian Policy Abruptly Changes
Grand Commander of the Army William
Tecumseh Sherman had traveled from
Fort Belknap to Fort Richardson  to witness
for himself the Indian depredations that the
Texans had been fussing about. Since he
hadn't encountered any Indians on his journey,
he believed the accounts of raiding, stealing,
and scalping to be exaggerated. The day after
he arrived at Fort Richardson, however,
Sherman learned that beside the road he had
traveled on (on the Salt Creek Prairie), a group
of Kiowas had hidden among the post oaks
and black jacks of the forbidding Cross Timbers
prairie, waiting on a party to raid. They had let
Sherman's entourage pass by unmolested, but
the next day they attacked a passing wagon train,
killing several men.

When Sherman learned of his narrow escape from death, he changed military
policy right then and there. He ordered Union  troops to wage war against the
Plains Indians until they all were forced onto, and promised to stay in,  the
reservations (the reservation system had already been created with the 1867
Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty, but many Indians had refused to sign it). He also
advocated the mass slaughter of the buffalo, which would compel Indians off
the land - he put his experience with waging a war of attrition during the Civil
War to good use. He commented that  "it would be wise to invite all the
sportsmen of England and America... for a Grand Buffalo Hunt, and make one
grand sweep of them all."

The Kiowa raiding party was rounded up at Fort Sill and brought to Fort
Richardson to stand trial.  This was the first time the attackers from an Indian
raid were tried in a civil court - the army wanted to impress on Native
Americans that they were subject to the same laws and penalties that
Americans were subject to. On the way there, Chief Satank was killed by
soldiers after fighting his chains and overpowering a guard. The two remaining
chiefs, Satanta and Big Tree, were sentenced to death, but the judge
commuted their sentences and remanded the chiefs to the prison in Huntsville,
Texas.  After a serving time in Huntsville, the other chiefs went back to Fort Sill.
Two battles were fought at Adobe Walls in
Hutchinson County: the first one in 1864,
where Kit Carson was defeated by
Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne Warriors.
The Second Battle of Adobe Walls was
fought in 1874. Buffalo hunters defeated the
Indians in a long shoot-out.

The historical markers at the Adobe Walls
site, however, only commemorate the
Second Battle, as the White men won that.
The marker above was erected in 1924 and
heralds the buffalo hunters. Of course, lots of
money was donated by the Dixon family, on
whose land the marker stand - and whose
ancestor Billy Dixon fought at Adobe Walls.

The Dixons proudly own the land, and post
'no trespassing' signs  everywhere, oblivious
to the fact that their ancestors slaughtered
the buffalo (within four years after the Battle of
Adobe Walls, the buffalo were gone from the
Southern Plains) and pretty much stole the
land they now occupy.
This marker at Adobe Walls was erected in
1987 to memorialize the Native Americans
who fought and died here. Better late than
never.
Buffalo hides stacked, waiting for transport. The skinned
buffalo would lie where they fell, and when the meat was gone,
the bones bleached under the hot prairie sun. The bones lay in
the grass lands for years until fertilizer companies picked them
up to crush them into fertilizer. (Photo courtesy of the University
of Kansas.)
Behind the Native American marker at Adobe
Walls, some one placed ceremonial
offerings. Native Americans still visit this
place to reflect on their vanished way of life.
The Red River Wars Commence
Many Indians didn't dream of surrendering, however. Bands led by Chiefs of the
Comanches, Apaches, Arapahos, Cheyennes, and Kiowas came together to
ward off the white man. They realized that the Quaker Peace Policy, an
American, passive-agressive approach to the reservation system that
culminated in  the Medicine Lodge Treaties of 1867, had been abandoned.  
White men continued to encroach on the Plains Indians' lands, and the
reservations loomed like death traps. The tribes saw it as their duty to fight.

Not all members of the tribes wanted war, however. Plains Indians were
societies of individualists, and instead of following one leader they could follow
different ones, depending on their own moral codes. The Kiowas, for example,
split into several factions, some following the pro-war Chiefs like Lone Wolf,
others staying the course under Chief Kicking Bird.

One of the major battles of the Red River Wars - so called by historians
afterwards since all fighting had occurred in areas surrounding the Red River -
happened in 1874 at Adobe Walls, a buffalo hide trading post by the Canadian
River. True to Sherman's strategy, buffalo hunters had descended onto the
Great Plains to wage a mass assault on the Plains Indians' food source.
Warrior bands of the Kiowas, Apaches, and Comanches attacked the traders,
who fought back with superior weapons, killing two Indians (and one of their
own in a friendly fire incident).

Several other battles took place after Adobe Walls, such as the "Lost Valley
Fight" near Jacksboro, where two Army soldiers were killed. The last battle
occurred at Palo Duro Canyon along the North Fork of the Red River. General
Ranald S. McKenzie, who had been pivotal in the development of Fort
Richardson, had followed the Indians into the deep gorges of the canyon.
Surrounding the camps from all sides, McKenzie's troops fired on the Indians
from above, and a day-long shoot-out ensued. McKenzie was able to break into
and herd the Indians' horses, a strategy used by General George Custer at the
Battle of the Washita. By taking the horses, a Plains Indian loses his ability to
fight, hunt, and exist in status in his society. McKenzie's troops took the 1,000
horses to a canyon a few miles south of the battle site, where they shot them
to death.

Defeat and the End of a Civilization
Slowly, the defeated Indians walked with their families to Fort Sill and
surrendered. The Chiefs (including Geronimo and Quanah Parker) were taken
into custody and confined to Fort Marion in Florida. Chief Satanta committed
suicide in Huntsville. Chief Kicking Bird (of the peaceful Kiowas) was
assassinated. Chief Geronimo lived out his days at Fort Sill and even joined
Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Quanah Parker became a rich and
respected rancher south of the Fort Sill reservation.

The Red River War spelled the end of a culture and the extinction of an entire
eco- system. Though slowly degrading by  the time the white settlers had come
to the Southern Plains, the environment had been largely self sustaining. With
the buffalo killed and the range fenced, the white man became either farmer or
rancher, constantly guarding himself against hunger or trespassing. Instead of
a cooperative life, the American brought scarcity and competition to the Plains
- and the odd and false notion that the environment was 'hostile.' With the
change of the environment, the Americans had to rely on the railroads and
other modern institutions to survive, and the frontier ended as quickly as it
began.
Red River War Chief Lone Wolf of the Kiowas
and wife Etla of the Wichitas.
Palo Duro Canyon, where the last
battle took place.
"The hunter was hired by the piece: if robe hides were worth
$3.00, he was given twenty-five cents for every one that he
killed...

I have seen their bodies so thick after being skinned, that they
would look like logs where a hurricane had passed through a
forest."

The Recollections of W.S. Glenn, Buffalo Hunter. Panhandle Plains
Historical Review no. 22, pp 20-26.
"The Horse Head Battle on the plains was the most
outstanding battle that I was in. There were over
two-hundred Indians killed and only four whites. We
really had it on them this time. We were hidden in the
rocks of the canyon and every time an Indian showed up
he was shot by several different men. We sure had a lot
of fun there."

Daniel Boon Sinclair, "The Missouri Kid." From WPA life histories.
The Last Stand of the
Southern Plains Indians:
The Red River Wars,
1871-1875
William Tecumseh Sherman