Red River War -
Lone Wolf's Revenge Raid

Warren Wagon Train Marker to Lost Valley

Take 16 north to Loving, turn right and go 4.2 miles to the east. You will see a culvert that carries water from Cameron Creek under Highway 114. Just to your south, Lone Wolf scored his revenge coup on the unfortunate Trooper Bailey. The creek originally bore its Scottish spelling, Cambren, after the family that lived to the northeast and was attacked in the 1858 massacre.

Click on the map (drawn with the aid of eyewitnesses)
for the complete history of the battle!
From the book, Carbine and Lance, The Story of Old Fort Sill

Lone Wolf had successfully lobbied United States Congress on behalf of Satanta and Big Tree, who were imprisoned for leading the Warren Wagon Train Massacre. In 1873 he was not only able to free the Kiowa chiefs but also the hundred or so Comanches captured by Mackenzie's raiders at Mo-Way's Quahida village the year before. He even wrangled a train trip to Washington, D.C. and commemorative medals for the whole group.

Going to Washington-Returning to His Home. A portrait by George Catlin.
From the New York Public Library.

In 1874, the Quahidas and other wild bands came off the Plains to join a Sun Dance on the edge of the Fort Sill reservation. A Comanche prophet (a rarity) named Ish-Ta-Ma emerged claiming he could make the warriors bullet proof and his bowel movements would provide brass rifle cartridges. After the celebration, bands of the different tribes scattered out, eager to raid the whites in what became known as the Red River War. Dozens of encounters followed, including Quanah leading a large contingent of the combined tribes against the hated buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls. Billy Dixon, Bat Masterson and a few dozen other buffalo hunters successfully defended the old trading fort. Quanah was wounded several times and had at least one horse shot out from under him.

During this time Lone Wolf was nursing a bitter hatred; his son and nephew had recently been killed in battle and this new war provided an opportunity for revenge.

Texas legislature authorized a battalion of Rangers at the outbreak of the war. Jones' newly formed troop of Rangers were surprised by Lone Wolf's Kiowas and found themselves cut off from the water hole on Cameron Creek.

Major J. Jones, Commander of Frontier Ranger Battalion	Lone Wolf holding the pipe hatchet he used to wreak his revenge for the loss of his son and nephew.	Gui-tain, nephew of Lone Wolf (Photo from the book, Carbine & Lance, by Colonel Nye)

Kiowa warrior Hunting Horse later gave his first-hand account of the Lost Valley Fight's climax:

...“When I got to the place where they had killed the other ranger, I learned that Dohauson had thrust him off his horse with a spear, but that Mamaday-te had made first coup by touching him with his hand. Lone Wolf and Maman-ti and everybody was there. Lone Wolf got off his horse and chopped the man’s head to pieces with his brass hatchet-pipe. Then he took out his butcher knife and cut open the man's bowels. Everyone who wanted to shot arrows into it or poked at it with their lances.

“Presently Lone Wolf stood back to make a speech. He said, ‘Thank you, Oh thank you, for what has been done today. My poor son has been paid back. His spirit is satisfied. Now listen! It was Mamaday-te who made the first coup. Because of this, and because he loved my son, I am going to honor him today. I am going to give him my name. Everybody listen! Let the name of Mamaday-te stay here on this battleground. Let the name of Mamaday-te be forgotten. From now on call him Lone Wolf!”

"After Lone Wolf had finished his talk, we all sang a few verses of the Victory Song, then got on our horses and started home.”

The above story is from the book, Carbine & Lance, The Story of Old Fort Sill, by Colonel W.S. Nye; Copyright © 1937 by the University of Oklahoma Press. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

More Lone Wolf's Revenge Raid

Billy Dixon, Heads Displayed on Gate at Adobe Walls and "Bat" Masterson

The Kiowas next rode north to the Panhandle, picking up Satanta and his band along the way. Here they struck Lyman's Wagon Train. The warriors found themselves in a protractive battle but were eventually forced to break off their siege so that they could make roll call at the Anadarko Reservation and receive their allotments. Their bloodied weapons drew an officer's attention and tensions mounted as the braves ignored the officer's demand to surrender their arms. Fighting broke out when Comanche Chief Red Food executed a back flip off his horse, unloading his weapon as his feet hit the ground. Reinforcements arrived from Fort Sill the next day forcing the Comanches to retreat to their strongholds on the Staked Plains. The reservation Indians were now completely under the army's authority and forced to attend a daily roll call.

This included Satanta. His bugle was easily identifiable and proof of his participation in the Lyman siege. He was returned to Huntsville for parole violation. Hopelessly confined, the great war chief jumped to his death from an upper level prison window. His partner, Big Tree, eventually became a deacon in the reservation's Baptist church.

Prisoners destined to Fort Marion: Lone Wolf, Owl Prophet and White Horse.

Mackenzie's raid into the Palo Duro Canyon and the subsequent destruction of thousands of the Comanches ponies assured the defeat of the combined tribes on the Southern Plains. The natives refer to the army's activities during the following year as a rabbit hunt. Cavalry units chased the scattered, starving, horseless and sometimes shoeless bands until they submitted to reservation life. In 1875 Quanah saw a wolf walking toward Fort Sill and took it as a sign to surrender his Quahida's.

Thomas Battey, a Quaker school teacher, displayed a gadget called a stereoscope, with which his Kiowa and Comanche charges could view photographs. First he showed them mountain landscapes from Colorado familiar to even the young boys and girls. Then, he showed city scenes including buildings and trains, which startled the Kiowa chiefs who had not believed the stories told by their peers who had visited the United States over the previous decades. Chief Sun Boy cried "You think they're all lies now? You still think all chiefs who've been to Washington are fools?"… "Look-see what a mighty, powerful people they are! We're fools! We don't know anything! We're just like wolves running wild on the plains!"

Kicking Bird was assigned the dubious task of turning over the warriors "most" responsible for the raids. The unfortunates were sent to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Included were the Kiowas Lone Wolf, Owl Prophet, White Horse, Buffalo Bulls Entrails, Woman Heart and Eagle Chief. In addition, thirty-four Cheyenne, nine Southern Comanche, two Arapaho and one Caddo were sent. Owl Prophet publicly placed a curse on Kicking Bird, who died mysteriously within a few days.