The Red River War was a military campaign launched by the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in 1874 to displace the
Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
,
Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
,
Southern Cheyenne
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma.
History
The Cheyennes and Arapahos are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Ts ...
, and
Arapaho
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
Native American tribes from the
Southern Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and ...
, and forcibly relocate the tribes to reservations in
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
. Lasting only a few months, the war had several army columns crisscross the
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...
in an effort to locate, harass, and capture highly mobile Native American bands. Most of the engagements were small skirmishes in which neither side suffered many casualties. The war wound down over the last few months of 1874, as fewer and fewer Indian bands had the strength and supplies to remain in the field. Though the last significantly sized group did not surrender until mid-1875, the war marked the end of free-roaming Indian populations on the southern Great Plains.
Background
Prior to the arrival of
English American
English Americans (historically known as Anglo-Americans) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England.
In the 2020 American Community Survey, 25.21 million self-identified as being of English origin.
The term is distin ...
settlers on the
Great Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
, the southern Plains tribes had evolved into a nomadic pattern of existence. Beginning in the 1830s, significant numbers of permanent settlements were established in what had previously been the territory of the various
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
. Attacks, raids, and counter-raids occurred frequently. Prior to the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, the U.S. Army was only sporadically involved in these frontier conflicts, manning forts, but limited to a handful of larger expeditions due to manpower limitations. During the Civil War, the Regular Army withdrew almost completely, and Indian raids increased dramatically. Texas, as part of the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
, lacked the military resources to fight both the Union and the tribes.
After the war, the military began reasserting itself along the frontier. The
Medicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the Federal government of the United States and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by re ...
, signed near present-day Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in 1867, called for two reservations to be set aside in Indian Territory, one for the Comanche and Kiowa and one for the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. According to the treaty, the government would provide the tribes with housing, agricultural training, and food and other supplies. In exchange, the Indians agreed to cease raiding and attacking settlements. Dozens of chiefs endorsed the treaty and some tribal members moved voluntarily to the reservations, but it was never officially ratified and several groups of Indians still on the Plains did not attend the negotiations.
In 1867, the U.S. Army began hunting buffalo to sabotage the food sources of the indigenous people inhabiting the plains. In 1870, a new technique for tanning
buffalo hides became commercially available. In response, commercial hunters began systematically targeting buffalo for the first time. Once numbering in the tens of millions, the buffalo population plummeted. By 1878, they were all but extinct.
The destruction of the buffalo herds was a disaster for the Plains Indians, on and off the reservations. The entire nomadic way of life had been based around the animals. They were used for food, fuel, and construction materials. Without abundant buffalo, the southern Plains Indians had no means of self-support.
By the winter of 1873-1874, the southern Plains Indians were in crisis. The reduction of the buffalo herds combined with increasing numbers of new settlers and more aggressive military patrols had put them in an unsustainable position.
War
During the winter, a spiritual leader named
Isatai'i
Isatai'i ( Comanche ''isa'' 'wolf or coyote' + ''tai'i'' 'vagina'), Isatai, or Eschiti (c.1840 – 1916) was a Comanche warrior and medicine man of the Kwaharʉ band. Originally named Kwihnai Tosabitʉ (White Eagle), after the debacle at Adobe W ...
emerged among the Quahadi Band of Comanches. Isa-tai claimed to have the power to render himself and others invulnerable to their enemies, including to bullets, and was able to rally an enormous number of Indians for large raids. Also, a shift occurred within the political structure of the Kiowa, bringing the war faction (influenced by the head chief
Guipago
Guipago (Gui-pah-gho, or ''Lone Wolf he Elder'
'' Alone among the Wolves '') (c. 1820 – July 1879) was the last Principal Chief of the Kiowa tribe. He was a member of the Koitsenko, the Kiowa warrior elite, and was a signer of the Little Arkan ...
, or Gui-pah-gho, sometimes known, by modern people, as Lone Wolf "the Elder" to prevent confusion with Mamay-dayte, later named
Lone Wolf "the Younger") into a greater position of influence than they had held previously.
Early engagements
![Captain Pratt Native Americans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Captain_Pratt_Native_Americans.jpg)
On 27 June 1874, Isa-tai'i and Comanche chief
Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker (Comanche ''kwana'', "smell, odor") ( – February 23, 1911) was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwah ...
led about 250 warriors in an attack on a small outpost of buffalo hunters in the
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...
called
Adobe Walls. The encampment consisted of just a few buildings and was occupied by only 28 men and one woman. Though a few whites were killed in the opening moments of the Second Battle of Adobe Walls (the first had been
in 1864), the majority was able to barricade themselves indoors and hold off the attack. Using large-caliber buffalo guns, the hunters could fire on the warriors from much greater range than the Indians had expected, and the attack failed.
A second engagement involving the Kiowa took place in Texas. Warriors led by Lone Wolf attacked a patrol of Texas Rangers in July. The Lost Valley fight had light casualties on both sides, but it served to raise tensions along the frontier and push the Army into an aggressive response.
The explosion of violence took the government by surprise. The "peace policy" of the Grant administration was deemed a failure, and the Army was authorized to subdue the southern Plains tribes with whatever force necessary. At this time, roughly 1,800 Cheyennes, 2,000 Comanches, and 1,000 Kiowas remained at large. Combined, they mounted about 1,200 warriors.
Army response
![Texas Panhandle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Texas_Panhandle.PNG)
General
Philip Sheridan
General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...
ordered five army columns to converge on the general area of the Texas Panhandle and specifically upon the upper tributaries of the
Red River. The strategy was to deny the Indians any safe haven and attack them unceasingly until they went permanently to the reservations.
Three of the five columns were under the command of Colonel
Ranald S. Mackenzie
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, also called Bad Hand, (July 27, 1840 – January 19, 1889) was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was described by General Ulysses S. Grant as its ...
. The
Tenth Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel John W. Davidson, came due west from
Fort Sill. The
Eleventh Infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel
George P. Buell, moved northwest from
Fort Griffin
Fort Griffin, now a Texas state historic site as Fort Griffin State Historic Site, was a US Cavalry fort established 31 July 1867 by four companies of the Sixth Cavalry, U.S. ArmyCarter, R.G., ''On the Border with Mackenzie'', 1935, Washington ...
. Mackenzie himself led the
Fourth Cavalry north from
Fort Concho.
The fourth column, consisting of the
Sixth Cavalry and
Fifth Infantry, was commanded by Colonel
Nelson A. Miles
Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was an American military general who served in the American Civil War, the American Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War.
From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as the last Commanding Gen ...
and came south from
Fort Dodge
Fort Dodge is a city in, and the county seat of, Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Cen ...
. The fifth column, the
Eighth Cavalry commanded by Major William R. Price, a total of 225 officers and men, plus six Indian scouts and two guides originated from
Fort Union, marched east via
Fort Bascom
Fort Bascom, established in 1863 in New Mexico Territory, is located on the Canadian River in Quay County, New Mexico, slightly west of the Texas border, 10 miles north of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The fort was named in honor of Captain George Nic ...
in New Mexico. The plan called for the converging columns to maintain a continuous offensive until a decisive defeat had been inflicted on the Indians.
As many as 20 engagements took place across the Texas Panhandle. The Army, consisting entirely of soldiers and scouts, sought to engage the Indians at any opportunity. The Indians, traveling with women, children, and elderly, mostly attempted to avoid them. When the two did encounter one another, the Indians usually tried to escape before the Army could force them to surrender. However, even a successful escape could be disastrously costly if horses, food, and equipment had to be left behind. By contrast, the Army and its Indian scouts had access to essentially limitless supplies and equipment, they frequently burned anything they captured from retreating Indians, and were capable of continuing operations indefinitely. The war continued throughout the fall of 1874, but increasing numbers of Indians were forced to give up and head for Fort Sill to enter the reservation system.
Battle of Palo Duro Canyon
![Palo Duro 2002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Palo_Duro_2002.jpg)
Early in September,
Black Seminole Scouts
Black Seminole Scouts, also known as the Seminole Negro - Indian Scouts, or Seminole Scouts, were employed by the United States Army between 1870 and 1914. The unit included both Black Seminoles and some native Seminoles. However, because most ...
in advance of the 4th Cavalry were ambushed by Comanche near the
Staked Plains
The Llano Estacado (), sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North A ...
and escaped with their lives. The scouts relayed the Comanche position and put Mackenzie on alert.
The largest Army victory came when Mackenzie's scouts found a large village of Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne, including their horses and winter food supply, in upper Palo Duro Canyon. At dawn on September 28, Mackenzie's troops attacked down a steep canyon wall. The Indians were caught by surprise and did not have time to gather their horses or supplies before retreating. Sergeant John Charlton wrote of the battle:
The warriors held their ground for a time, fighting desperately to cover the exit of their squaws and pack animals, but under the persistent fire of the troops, they soon began falling back.
Only four Indians were killed, but the loss was devastating. Mackenzie's men burned over 450 lodges and destroyed countless pounds of buffalo meat. They also took 1,400 horses, most of which were subsequently shot to prevent the Indians from recapturing them.
Except for its unusually large size, the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon was typical of the war. Most encounters produced few or no casualties, but the Indians could not afford the constant loss of food and mounts. Even if it escaped immediate danger, an Indian band that found itself on foot and out of food generally had no choice but to give up and head for the reservation.
Aftermath
The Red River War officially ended in June 1875 when Quanah Parker and his band of Quahadi Comanche entered Fort Sill and surrendered; they were the last large roaming band of southwestern Indians. Combined with the extermination of the buffalo, the war left the Texas Panhandle permanently open to settlement by farmers and ranchers.
[Haley, James. L. 2009 ''The Red River War'' in ''Handbook of Texas Online']
online
It was the final military defeat of the once powerful Southern Plains tribes and brought an end to the
Texas–Indian Wars
The Texas–Indian wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians during the 19th-century. Conflict between the Plains Indians and the Spanish began before other European and Anglo-American settlers were ...
.
References
Further reading
* Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Enyon Printing Co.
* Hutton, Paul. ''Phil Sheridan and His Army'' (1985).
External links
Map of Red River War 1874-75*
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{{Authority control
Conflicts in 1874
1874 in the United States
Comanche tribe
Cheyenne tribe
Indian wars of the American Old West
Comanche campaign
Wars between the United States and Native Americans
Battles involving the Comanche
Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
Red River of the South