Battle of Sweetwater Creek (Red River War, Comanche & Kiowa)

Quanah Parker and Isatai'i were two Comanche leaders who in 1873 united the Comanche in an effort to protect their people from buffalo hunters and other whites they feared were ending the Comanche way of life. In response, the US Army launched the Red River War, a campaign to force Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes from the Southern Plains and onto reservations in Oklahoma. The military campaign was particularly genocidal with the purposeful killing of as many horses and buffalo as possible to destroy the Plains way of life. This economic destruction was more the cause of the eventual removal of Comanche and Kiowa's from the Texas panhandle than any major wins in the war. On this day in 1874, Major William R. Price encountered a large band of Kiowa and Comanche Indians led by Kiowa chief Ǥûib̶à:gàui (Lone Wolf). The running battle lasted four hours and covered seven miles. The battle was to lead the army away from a large group of women and children who escaped the US Army just on the other side of the ridge. These families successfully escaped to Palo Duro canyon as a result of this battle.