Battle of the North Fork of the Red River

Battle of North Fork of Red River, 1872

Date	September 28, 1872
Location	near McClellan Creek in Gray County, Texas 35°24′41.8068″N 100°40′19.10″W / 35.411613000°N 100.6719722°W / 35.411613000; -100.6719722
Result	U.S. victory

Belligerents

United States
4th Cavalry Regiment (United States), Tonkawa scouts

Comanche Kotsoteka Band

Commanders and leaders

Ranald S. Mackenzie

Kai-Wotche (killed)
Mow-way (escaped)

Strength

12 officers and 272 enlisted men, 20 Tonkawa scouts

Unknown, but the best guesses are 160 in the band, including 100 women and children

Casualties and losses

3 killed
7 wounded^[1]

approximately 50 killed
130 captured^[2]

North Fork of Red River Battlefield

Location within Texas

Texas–Indian wars

The Battle of North Fork or the Battle of the North Fork of the Red River occurred on September 28, 1872, near McClellan Creek in Gray County, Texas, United States. A monument on that spot marks the site of the battle between the Comanche Indians under Kai-Wotche and Mow-way and a detachment of cavalry and scouts under U.S. Army Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie. There was an accusation that the battle was really an attempt "to make a massacre," as during the height of battle some noncombatants were wounded while mixed in with warriors.^[3]

This battle is primarily remembered as the place where the army for the first time struck at the Comanches in the heart of the Llano Estacado in the western panhandle of Texas.^[4]

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(wind blowing, water flowing) >> DON'T EVER UNDERESTIMATE RED RIVER. YOU CAN'T TELL WHAT IT'S GONNA DO. YOU CAN'T PREDICT WHAT RED RIVER'S GONNA DO. WHATEVER THE LORD DECIDES TO DO WITH IT IS WHAT IT'S GONNA DO. (music) >> ALONG THE NORTHERN EDGE OF TEXAS, THERE IS A FORCE WHICH CONSTANTLY REDEFINES THE STATE'S BOUNDARY. WE'LL TRAVEL DOWN THIS RIVER TO SEE HOW IT HAS SHAPED THE LAND, THE TOWNS, AND PEOPLE'S LIVES ALONG THE WAY. THE RED RIVER DEVELOPS FROM A COLLECTION OF SMALL CREEKS AT THE EASTERN EDGE OF NEW MEXICO. THE CREEKS GATHER IN THE CANYONLANDS OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE. IT IS HERE THAT THE PRAIRIE DOG TOWN FORK OF THE RED RIVER BEGINS. (sound of raindrops) >> IN PALO DURO CANYON, MELTING SNOW AND RAINFALL CARRY SEDIMENT TO THE RIVER ADDING NATURAL SALTS AND RED CLAY PARTICLES TO THE WATER. TRIBUTARIES LIKE THE LITTLE RED, WHICH RUNS OUT OF CAPROCK CANYONS, ALSO SUPPORT THE PRAIRIE DOG TOWN FORK. BUT HERE, DRY SPELLS CAN TURN THE RIVER BED WHITE FROM GYPSUM AND OTHER MINERAL DEPOSITS FOUND IN THE WATER. AT THE HARDEMAN COUNTY LINE, THE PRAIRIE DOG TOWN FORK TAKES THE SOLE NAME OF RED RIVER AND SEPARATES TEXAS FROM OKLAHOMA. OUR JOURNEY DOWN THE RED BEGINS IN QUANAH. (sound of passing cars, horn honks) >> AS THE SEAT OF HARDEMAN COUNTY, THE TOWN WAS NAMED AFTER QUANAH PARKER, THE LAST GREAT COMANCHE CHIEF. AN AREA ONCE ROAMED BY THE KIOWA AND COMANCHE INDIANS, ROLLING PLAINS AND SANDY LOAM SOILS MADE FARMING AND RANCHING BIG BUSINESS HERE. >> AT ONE TIME THERE WERE LIKE 10 DIFFERENT OIL COMPANIES IN HERE THAT HAD OFFICES. EVERYTHING WAS ON A BOOM, WHEN THE BOTTOM FELL OUT ON THE OIL PRICE AND EVERYTHING WELL THEY JUST MOVED OUT. AND THEN IT REALLY DID, IT HURT EVERYTHING DOWNTOWN AND IT HURT OUR COMMUNITY WHEN THE OIL INDUSTRY WENT DOWN, BUT IT'S PICKED BACK. >> TRAVELING DOWNSTREAM PAST THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, WE ENTER MONTAGUE COUNTY, AT THE SITE OF RED RIVER STATION AND THE TOWN OF SPANISH FORT. (music) >> IT WAS NEAR THIS MARKER THAT COWBOYS HERDED THOUSANDS OF CATTLE ACROSS THE RED RIVER ON THE HISTORIC CHISOLM TRAIL. FOR DRIVES HEADING NORTH, RED RIVER STATION WAS THEIR LAST CHANCE FOR SUPPLIES BEFORE REACHING ABILENE, KANSAS. WHEN THE RIVER WAS UP, SOME CATTLE DRIVES WOULD CAMP HERE FOR SEVERAL DAYS, WAITING FOR THE WATER TO SUBSIDE. LESS PATIENT DRIVERS USUALLY LOST CATTLE, AND SOMETIMES THEIR OWN LIVES TO THE SWIFT CURRENT. >> OF COURSE I LIKE THE RED RIVER CAUSE I FISH IN IT ALL THE TIME. BUT THE RED RIVER HAS, IT'S HAD A GREAT IMPACT, IT'S SOME OF THE MOST FERTILE LAND IN TEXAS IS ALONG THE RED RIVER. >> THE TOWN OF SPANISH FORT WAS SO NAMED IN 1854 WHEN PIONEERS THOUGHT THEY FOUND RUINS OF A SPANISH PRESIDIO HERE. BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY THE SITE OF A TAOVAYAN INDIAN VILLAGE. THE TAOVAYAS WERE INDUSTRIOUS PEOPLE. LIVING IN GRASS HUTS, THEY FARMED IN FENCED AREAS AND STORED THEIR CROPS. BUT THEIR VILLAGE ON THE RED RIVER MADE HISTORY IN 1759. WITH THE AID OF FRENCH GUNS AND AMMUNITION, THE TAOVAYAS DEFEATED A SPANISH ARMY COLUMN SENT TO SEEK REVENGE FOR AN INDIAN RAID ON THE SAN SABA MISSION. SOME SAY THIS VERY BATTLE STOPPED THE SPANIARDS NORTHERN MIGRATION. >> CONTINUING DOWN THE RED, OUR JOURNEY BRINGS US TO LAKE TEXOMA AND DENISON DAM. >> THE LAKE HAD TWO MAJOR PROJECT PURPOSES. FLOOD CONTROL AND HYDRO-POWER PRODUCTION, AND TO THOSE ENDS THEY'VE MET THEIR OBJECTIVES, THEY HAVE INDEED CONTROLLED FLOODING AND PRODUCES A LOT OF HYDROPOWER, SO, IT'S DOING THAT. AND RECREATION, MY GOSH, JUST FISHING ALONE HERE ON TEXOMA, THE DIRECT INCOME IS ABOUT 25 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. THAT'S JUST FROM FISHING. SO IT'S AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE RIGHT HERE. (crow calling) >> ELEVEN MILES DOWNSTREAM FROM DENISON DAM, THE RED RIVER FLOWS UNDER A ONE LANE BRIDGE AT CARPENTER'S BLUFF. >> THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN A CONTROVERSY AS TO WHETHER THE RIVER RUNS EAST OR WEST, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, AND I'M 67 YEARS OLD AND STILL DON'T KNOW WHETHER IT RUNS EAST OR WEST AND I WAS BORN DOWN THERE. BUT I HAVE SEEN THE WATER COME UP TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BRIDGE. MANY TIMES, MANY TIMES I'VE SEEN THAT. >> CONSTRUCTED IN 1908 AS A RAILROAD BRIDGE, IT ALSO ALLOWED HORSE-DRAWN VEHICLES TO CROSS. THE BRIDGE GAVE COMMUNITIES EASIER ACCESS TO MARKETS WHEN FERRY BOATS WERE THE ONLY OTHER CROSSINGS NEARBY. (car sounds) >> IF IT WASN'T FOR THE BRIDGE, AND IF IT WASN'T FOR THE DENISON DAM, THIS PART OF EAST GRAYSON COUNTY WOULD JUST BE ISOLATED FROM EVERYTHING OVER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF OKLAHOMA. (truck passes) >> OUR LAST STOP ALONG THE RED LIES 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF PARIS. JOINED BY THE KIAMICHI RIVER FROM OKLAHOMA, THE RED MAKES A BEND, AT HISTORIC JONESBORO. THE ORIGINAL "GATEWAY TO TEXAS." >> OH THERE'S A LOT OF HISTORY HERE. THEY SAY DAVY CROCKETT AND SAM HOUSTON CROSSED THE RIVER IN THIS AREA. >> ELIZABETH POOL NOW LIVES ON THE SITE ONCE KNOWN AS JONESBORO. A TOWN THAT BEGAN ITS DEVELOPMENT IN 1814 AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ANGLO-AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS IN TEXAS. >> THERE WAS A COURTHOUSE, A HOTEL, A JAIL, AND THREE STORES, GENERAL STORES UP THERE AT THAT TIME. WELL THAT RIVER IS UP ISN'T IT? AND LOOK AT THOSE CRACKS. THAT'S GONNA GO. >> THE RED'S CHANGING COURSE AND THE ECONOMY MADE JONESBORO A GHOST TOWN BY THE MID 1800'S. TODAY THE RIVER CONTINUES TO REDEFINE ITS PATH. OVER THE YEARS MS. POOL HAS SEEN HER PROPERTY GRADUALLY DISAPPEAR. >> I GUESS THE LORD TAKETH, THE LORD GIVETH. (music) >> THE RED RIVER STILL SHAPES THE LAND AND LIFE ALONG ITS BANKS, AS IT HAS FOR CENTURIES. ITS COURSE HAS BEEN ALTERED BY MAN, BUT IT LARGELY REMAINS UNCONTROLLED. AND SO IT IS THAT THIS RIVER ON THE BORDER ROLLS ON. (sound of lapping water)

Prelude to the Red River War

This battle was a precursor to the Red River War of 1873–4. In early 1872, the new Military Commander of the District of Texas decided it was time to strike at the Comanches in the heart of their homeland on the Comancheria, much as the Texas Rangers had done 14 years before at the Battle of Little Robe Creek.^[3] The Grant administration's "Quaker Peace Policy" was still in effect, which placed the appointment of Indian agents in the hands of Protestant religious organizations (Quakers were the first to participate, thus the name of the policy), not political patrons. In addition, Indians were to be moved to reservations peacefully or forcefully, and U.S. troops were not to engage in combat against them. Under the policy, federal troops at Fort Sill could not be deployed against the Comanche. Troops from the Texas District, however, could be.^[5]

Campaign in the Staked Plains

Col. Mackenzie who led the cavalry at the Battle of the North Fork

Mackenzie marched out of Fort Concho in early July 1872, to begin his campaign. He reestablished Camp Supply on Duck Creek, on the edge of the Llano Estacado where he established his command. From there, McKenzie dispatched several scouting parties, one of which discovered a well-traveled path with hoof prints of a large herd of cattle stretching west. This find caught Mackenzie's attention, and on July 28, 1872, he marched 272 troopers, 12 officers, and 20 Tonkawa scouts into the heart of the Comancheria.^[6] On August 7, 1872, the detachment obtained supplies and rested at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. They then marched north to Fort Bascom, New Mexico, arriving August 16, 1872.^[3]

Ortiz, who accompanied Mackenzie, led the command to the east, skirting Palo Duro Canyon. Mackenzie split off smaller detachments to search possible locations of the Indian camps but with no success. They returned to Camp Supply on August 31, 1872. The expedition had marched close to 700 miles (1,127 km) over a five-week period, and discovered two new routes through the Staked Plains. These routes were reported to be shorter and had better water access than the Goodnight–Loving Trail that was being used to drive cattle to markets in Kansas.^[3]

Mackenzie rested his men until September 21, when he marched his troops north to search the last potential campsite of the Comanche, on the north fork of the Red River. On September 28, a scouting patrol under Lt. Boehm and Captain Wirt Davis,^[7] discovered a large Kotsoteka Comanche village. The cavalry moved within a half mile of the village before they were seen by the Indians. From there, they charged the village, capturing it after a half-hour battle. Mackenzie lost three men and three were wounded. The Comanche lost an estimated fifty or more, including Chief Kai-Wotche and his wife, who were both killed. Mow-way (Shaking Hand) escaped.^[3]

The Battle of North Fork

The army had caught the village completely unaware, and captive Clinton Smith in later years would accuse Mackenzie and the army of a massacre.^[8] Mackenzie reported officially twenty-three Comanches killed, although there may have been more. The warriors, who sustained heavy casualties, threw some of their dead into a ten-foot-deep pool to keep them away from the Tonkawas' knives and cooking pots; the Tonkawas were reputedly cannibals.^[3]

As justification for the attack, the army claimed it found overwhelming proof of the band's raids on white settlements in the wreckage of the village.^[9] For instance, a survivor of the wagon train massacred at Howard's Wells the previous spring recognized forty-three of its mules.^[3]

Almost 800–3000 horses were rounded up by the troops while the lodges, along with the stores of meat, equipment, and clothing, save for a few choice robes, were burned.^[10] About 130 Comanches, mostly women and children, were taken prisoner, but six of these were too badly wounded to be moved long distances.^[3]

After dark, Mackenzie's command moved to the hills several miles away from the burned village and camped. Fearing that the captured pony herd would stampede the cavalry horses, Mackenzie had them corralled. That night and the next, however, the Comanches succeeded in recovering most of their horses, plus those of the Tonkawa scouts.^[11] The Comanche prisoners were kept under guard as the command rejoined its supply train and retraced its route back south to the main supply base on Duck Creek, where the Indians were transferred to Fort Concho, where they were kept prisoner through the winter. MacKenzie used the captives as a bargaining tool to force the off-reservation Indians back to the reservation, and to force them to free white captives.^[3]

Aftermath

MacKenzie's stratagem worked, for shortly after the battle, Mow-way and Parra-o-coom (Bull Bear) moved their bands to the vicinity of the Wichita Agency. The Nokoni chief Horseback, who himself counted family members among the Indian prisoners, took the initiative in persuading the Comanches to trade stolen livestock and white captives, including Clinton Smith, in exchange for their own women and children.^[3]

Corporal William O'Neill, Blacksmith James Pratt, Farrier David Larkin, Privates Edward Branagan and William Rankin, Corporal Henry McMasters, Sergeant William Wilson, Sergeant William Foster, and First Sergeant William McNamara were awarded the Medal of Honor.

The Red River Campaign

This marked the first time the United States had successfully attacked the Comanches in the heart of the Comancheria, and showed that the Llano Estacado were no longer a safe haven. Further, this battle emphasized that if the army wished to force the wild Comanches onto reservations, the way to do it was destroy their villages and leave them unable to survive off-reservation. MacKenzie's tactics were such a success that William T. Sherman empowered him to use them further during the Red River War of 1874. His attack on the village at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, and his destruction of the Comanche horse herd at Tule Canyon, both in 1874, mirrored this battle in strategy and effect.^[4]

Notes

^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 383
^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 378
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Hosmer, Brian C. "Battle of the North Fork". Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
^ ^a ^b The Comanches: Lords of the Southern Plains. University of Oklahoma Press. 1952.
^ The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier. Arthur H. Clarke Co. 1933.
^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 376-377
^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 377
^ Smith, C.L., 1927, The Boy Captives, San Saba: San Saba Printing & Office Supply, p. 134
^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 380
^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 378-379, 382
^ Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington D.C.: Eynon Printing Co., p. 379

References

Bial, Raymond. Lifeways: The Comanche. New York: Benchmark Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0761408642
Brice, Donaly E. The Great Comanche Raid: Boldest Indian Attack on the Texas Republic – McGowan Book Co. 1987, ISBN 978-0890155943
"Comanche" Skyhawks Native American Dedication (August 15, 2005)
"Comanche Warrior" – Documentary Excerpt, Part 1 – History Channel (November 27, 2005)
"Comanche Warrior" – Documentary Excerpt, Part 2 – History Channel (November 27, 2005)
Dunnegan, Ted. Ted's Arrowheads and Artifacts from the Comancheria (August 19, 2005)
Fehrenbach, Theodore Reed The Comanches: The Destruction of a People. New York: Knopf, 1974, ISBN 0-394-48856-3. Later (2003) republished under the title The Comanches: The History of a People
Foster, Morris. Being Comanche.
Frazier, Ian. Great Plains. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.
Hacker, Margaret S., Cynthia Ann Parker: The Life and the Legend – Texas Western Pr; 1st edition 1990, ISBN 978-0874041873
John, Elizabeth and A.H. Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds: The Confrontation of the Indian, Spanish, and French in the Southwest, 1540–1795. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1975.
Jones, David E. Sanapia: Comanche Medicine Woman. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974.
Lodge, Sally. Native American People: The Comanche. Vero Beach, Florida 32964: Rourke Publications, Inc., 1992.
Lund, Bill. Native Peoples: The Comanche Indians. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books, 1997.
Mooney, Martin. The Junior Library of American Indians: The Comanche Indians. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993.
Native Americans: Comanche Archived 2011-09-11 at the Wayback Machine (August 13, 2005).
Powell, Jo Ann, Frontier Blood: the Saga of the Parker Family
Richardson, Rupert N. The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1933.
Rollings, Willard. Indians of North America: The Comanche. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.
Secoy, Frank. Changing Military Patterns on the Great Plains. Monograph of the American Ethnological Society, No. 21. Locust Valley, NY: J. J. Augustin, 1953.
Streissguth, Thomas. Indigenous Peoples of North America: The Comanche. San Diego: Lucent Books Incorporation, 2000.
"The Texas Comanches" on Texas Indians (August 14, 2005).
Wallace, Ernest, and E. Adamson Hoebel. The Comanches: Lords of the Southern Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952.

External links

Anderson, H. Allen: Battle of the North Fork – from Handbook of Texas online

Map of Comancheria

This page was last edited on 19 November 2023, at 21:17

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