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 1873Governor 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 settlerQuanah 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