Chapter 20: The Indian Wars
Section 2: War on the Plains
The Salt Creek Raid
•Problems remain after Treaty of Medicine Lodge
•Indians frustrated with reservation life
•Some Indians begin to attack Texas settlements
The Salt Creek Raid
• July 1870: U.S. troops defeated in battle after chasing Kiowa that attacked a stagecoach
• August 1870: Kiowa leader White Horse leads a series of attacks
• Legislature asks for help
The Salt Creek Raid
•1871: Gen. William T. Sherman sent to Texas
•Has doubts about Indian threat
General William T. Sherman
The Salt Creek Raid
• May 1871: Kiowa & Comanche under big Tree, Satank, & Satanta attack wagon train near Salt Creek
• 7 men killedBig Tree & Santanta
The Salt Creek Raid
•Salt Creek Raid—Kiowa and Comanche attack on a wagon train that caused a shift in military policy towards Indians
The Salt Creek Raid
• Sherman has Big Tree, Satank, & Satanta arrested
• Satank killed while trying to escape
• Big Tree & Satanta convicted or murder and sentenced to death
The Salt Creek Raid
•Gov. E.J. Davis changes sentence to life in prison
•Released from prison in 1873
Governor E.J. Davis
Mackenzie’s Raids
•The Salt Creek Raid convince the war department that Indians must be forced onto reservations.
Mackenzie’s Raids
• Ranald S. Mackenzie—U.S. colonel who became famous fighting American Indians on the frontier
Ranald S. Mackenzie
Mackenzie’s Raids
•Colonel Mackenzie’s campaign in Texas was meant to force all of the Indians onto reservations.
Mackenzie’s Raids
•Fall 1871: Mackenzie begins raids
•Led by Tonkawa Indian scouts
•Fought battle against Comanche at Blanco Canyon
Mackenzie’s Raids
•Quanah Parker—Comanche leader whose mother was a captured settler
Quanah Parker
Cynthia Parker
• Captured by Comanche in 1836
• Lived with Comanche
• 1860: captured by Texas Rangers
• Always wanted to return to Comanche
Cynthia Parker
Mackenzie’s Raids
•Mackenzie pursues Comanche into Panhandle
•Escape during snowstorm
•Spring 1872: Mackenzie renews attacks following Indian raids
Mackenzie’s Raids
• September 29, 1872: Mackenzie’s troops defeat a Comanche force near Pampa
• Killed Comanche, destroyed village, & took 120 women and children prisoner
• Parker led unsuccessful attack to free prisoners
Mackenzie’s Raids
• Mackenzie kept prisoners at Fort Concho to try & convince others to surrender
• Many Comanche abandoned life on plains & move to reservations
• Mackenzie goes to Mexican border to stop Kickapoo & Lipan Apache attacks
The Slaughter of the Buffalo
•Plains Indians depended on buffalo for generations
•Risks to survival of buffalo:
–Westward expansion of railroads
–Development of new tanning technology & a market for hides
The Slaughter of the Buffalo
•Risks to survival of buffalo:
–Buffalo guns
–Desire to force Plains Indians to live on reservations
The Slaughter of the Buffalo
•Buffalo guns allowed hunters to kill from a long distance away.
The Slaughter of the Buffalo
“Let them (hunters) kill, skin, & sell
until the buffaloes are exterminated. Then your prairies
can be covered with speckled
cattle.”
--General Philip Sheridan
General Philip Sheridan
The Slaughter of the Buffalo
•Buffalo killed in order to force Indians to move.
•Growing market for buffalo hides nearly made them extinct.
•1872-1874: estimated 4.3 million buffalo killed