Battles of Adobe Walls
The Battles of Adobe Walls refer to two significant military engagements that took place near the ruins of an abandoned trading post in present-day Hutchinson County, Texas. The first battle occurred on November 26, 1864, when Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson led a contingent of U.S. forces against a Kiowa encampment, aiming to suppress threats to federal posts in New Mexico. Despite encountering a large number of Kiowa and Comanche warriors, Carson was able to establish a defensive position, resulting in mixed casualties and a strategic retreat.
The second engagement happened nearly a decade later, on June 27, 1874, when around 700 warriors from the Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne tribes, led by Quanah Parker and Lone Wolf, attacked a trading post occupied by a small group of buffalo hunters. The attackers, motivated by a shaman's prophecy of invulnerability, faced heavy losses and ultimately failed to capture the post after a five-day siege. This clash marked a turning point in the escalating violence between Native American tribes and settlers, contributing to the broader context of the Red River War. Following these events, the trading post was abandoned for good in August 1874, signifying a shift in the region’s dynamics.
Battles of Adobe Walls
Date: November 26, 1864, and June 27, 1874
Place: Texas
Tribes affected: Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa
Significance: The confrontations at Adobe Walls reflect a pattern of ongoing conflict between whites and Plains Indians that culminated in the decisive defeat of the latter in the Red River War
There were two engagements in present-day Hutchinson County, Texas, near Adobe Walls, which were the ruins of a trading post built in 1843 by William Bent and abandoned before 1864.
The first clash occurred when Colonel Christopher “Kit” Carsonwas told to attack the winter camps of the Kiowa and Comanche, who were threatening federal posts in New Mexico. Carson moved down the Canadian River into Texas with fourteen officers and 321 enlisted men of the First New Mexico Cavalry, as well as seventy-five Ute and Apache allies, two howitzers, and a wagon train. On the morning of November 26, 1864, he attacked a Kiowa encampment with his mounted troops, leaving the infantry with the wagons. The ensuing alarm brought several thousand Kiowa and Comanche warriors to confront Carson, who established a defensive position at Adobe Walls. Sporadic attacks by Kiowa and Comanche were disrupted primarily by Carson’s howitzers, and at dusk he retreated to reunite his command. The next day he continued his withdrawal, having lost three killed and fifteen wounded but having inflicted perhaps a hundred casualties on his opponents. Carson was praised for extricating his force from their predicament.
The second engagement occurred nearly ten years later in 1874, after white buffalo hunters built a trading post near Adobe Walls. Angry clashes led to an attack by about seven hundred Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne, led by Quanah Parkerand Lone Wolf, on the post, which was occupied by about two dozen men and one woman. The warriors were told by a shaman that they could not be harmed, but heavy casualties led to the failure of their assault on June 27, 1874. After five days of siege, the hunters had lost four men, while the number of defenders had increased to about a hundred. The attackers, who had lost several dozen, withdrew. This escalating pattern of violence led to the Red River War, during which Adobe Walls was abandoned for good in August, 1874.