The Battle of the Wichita Village
In the summer of 1858, some Comanches stole horses from Smith Paul
and other settlers who lived near Fort Arbuckle. On August 20, Lieutenant
James E. Powell met with the Wichitas and Comanches at the Wichita Village.
The Comanches explained that their raids were justifiable reprisals because
Texan's attacked their people while their warriors and young men were away
hunting buffalo. The Texans killed their people, carried away some
of their women and children, and also took around three hundred horses.
They inturn stole horses from some of the settlers so they could hunt buffalo.
The Indians, in order to keep peace with the United States, agreed to take
the horses back to Fort Arbuckle. Buffalo Hump led the party that
was returning the horses. They camped adjacent to the Wichita Village
and were trading with the Wichitas when the United States troops attacked.
Unaware of the treaty just concluded at Fort Arbuckle, Captain Earl
Van Dorn, was marching north to attack the Comanches. He had four
hundred cavalrymen and was accompanied by Lawrence S. "Sul" Ross, son of
an Indian agent in Texas, and one hundred thirty five friendly Indian
troops. The army marched from Fort Belknap to a point on Otter Creek
in the southern part of Kiowa County. There, they erected a small
fort and called it "Camp Radziminski", in honor of Lieutenant Charles Radzminski
of the regiment, who had died from tuberculosis. While a stockade
was being constructed to protect the mule teams and supplies, the Indian
scouts roamed the country looking for hostile Indians.
Two Wichita scouts, Nashtoe (Shot-in-the-Foot) and his son, Wauseesecan,
went east to the Wichita village near Rush Springs. They were startled
to find a large Comanche village near the Wichitas. It was a camp
of mixed bands. Quohoahteme (Hair-bobbed-on-one-side) was in general
charge, with several other chiefs present, including Hotoyokowot (Over-the-Buttes)
and Buffalo Hump. Buffalo Hump was well known in Texas, where he
had been in several scrapes with the citizens and troops.
These Comanches having concluded their conference with the officers
from Fort Arbuckle, were trading and gambling with the Wichitas.
The two Wichita spies from Camp Radziminski waited in the brush until after
dark, then they made their way to the huts of the Wichita chiefs.
They warned them that the soldiers were coming to attack the Comanches.
The Comanches were also notified that the soldiers were camped at Otter
Creek. Two Comanche warriors, while returning from a raid into Chihuahua,
Mexico, saw the camp at Otter Creek. The chief directed them to ride
west again and keep an eye on the soldiers.
Nashtoe and Wauseesecan reported back to Sul Ross on the afternoon
of September 29. Ross immediately informed Van Dorn. Wagons,
spare animals, and supplies were moved inside the unfinished stockade.
The cavalry companies and the Indian scouts prepared for a short campaign
with spare ammunition and rations for two days in their saddle bags.
An hour later, the column rode eastward. Van Dorn expected to
attack at daylight; but when that time arrived he learned that the Comanche
village was nearly one hundred miles from Camp Radziminski instead of the
forty miles reported by the scouts. The march continued during the
next day. The Comanches observed the troops from a distance
Toward sunset on September 30, the troops arrived at White Wolf Ford,
on the south bank of Medicine Bluff Creek. Indian warriors were watching
from a nearby hillside and when the march resumed, the warriors raced ahead
to warn their chief that the soldiers were coming to attack.
The chief summoned his people for a council. The warriors said
that they were ready for fight. The chief advised the people to abandon
the village. Reassured there was no danger, the Comanches went to
bed. Only a few old men and women slept in the brush.
Captain Van Dorn knew nothing of the treaty . He had been ordered
to punish the Comanches, and he intended to follow orders. His plan
was to surprise the village at daybreak and destroy it.
The weary troopers plodded over starlit prairies, or felt their way
through black creek bottoms and treacherous prairie dog towns. Close
to morning, there was a chill blanket of fog clinging close to the billows
of the plains. The Wichita scouts ranged far to the front.
Soon they sent word that the enemy village was near.
Four successive ridges were crossed before the hostile camp was discovered.
Then when the sun came up, and the fog cleared, the Comanche teepees
could be seen dimly through the trees. The notes of the bugle sounded
through the air. The cavalry deployed and took up the charge.
The Comanches were still asleep when the clamor of Van Dorn's attack
broke upon them. They sprang to their feet with weapons ready.
The warriors ran to catch their ponies, but the herd was already being
driven away. Two hundred soldiers were almost in the village.
The Comanches rushed to the shallow ravine in front of the camp and commenced
shooting arrows to cover their families.
Three companies led by Van Dorn in person engaged the Comanches on
the left at the upper part of the village. Captain Nathan G. Evans
fought in the lower part of the camp, and the friendly Indians fought in
the lower part of the camp. Soon the smoke became so thick
that the antagonists were almost invisible to one another. Sul Ross,
peering through the fog, saw a group of Indians escaping down a branch.
Shouting for assistance, he rode to head them off. The confusion
was so great, that only Lieutenant Cornelius Van Camp, a Private named
Alexander, and a Caddo scout joined him. The fugitives were women
and children. Ross told the Caddo to grab a little captive white
girl who was with the Comanches. There were about twenty five braves
bearing down to rescue their families. Ross and his two companions
were cut off, and they wheeled to meet this threat. The
lieutenant and Alexander were shot with the Comanches' arrows. A
Comanche got Alexander's rife and shot Ross in the side. Ross tried
to draw his pistol, but his side was paralyzed. The Comanche advanced
on him with a scalping knife, and at this moment Lieutenant James Majors
galloped up and killed the Indian. A squad of troopers drove the
other Comanches away.
The Indians fought with absolute desperation covering the retreat of
their women and children. Superior fire power soon decided the issue.
The Indians lost heavily. Their bows and arrows were no match for
firearms. Their horses were gone. Several of their bravest
warriors were dead. It was hopeless to remain longer. Finally
they broke and fled, but they had held long enough to permit most of the
noncombatants to escape. When the break came, the cavalrymen went
after the Indians. Many were shot down as they ran.
The Comanche camp was empty and in disorder. Van Dorn was on
the ground with an arrow through his abdomen, and another between the bones
of his wrist. It seemed certain that he would die.
Fifty six dead Comanches were counted, and other bodies were discovered
later. This brought the total to seventy. Unfortunately some
of these were women.
A request was sent to Fort Arbuckle for a surgeon, an ambulance, and
rations of the command for four days. These things were
sent at once. When the doctor arrived, he cut the arrow point from
the shaft which had passed through Van Dorn's body, and pulled out the
arrow. Van Dorn was forced to stay on the field for five days, until
he was strong enough to be moved. He was taken to Camp Radziminski.
The other wounded were sent to Fort Arbuckle. The dead soldiers were
buried on the field. Lieutenant Van Camp's body was sent home to
Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
After the battle, the Comanches fled to the Wichita mountain region
and the Wichitas fled to Fort Arbuckle for protection.
The Wichitas stayed at the fort for some time and then settled on Caddo
Creek about twenty miles south of Fort Arbuckle. In 1859, the Indians
moved up on the Washita River near the present Anadarko. During the
Civil War, they fled to Kansas and settled on a place where Wichita, Kansas
is now located. Following the war, they moved to a reservation on
the Washita River near their former settlement. They came from Wichita,
Kansas down the old Chisholm Trail.
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