150th Anniversary Battle of the Buffalo Wallow

1,017 Views | 3 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by Bighunter43
CanyonAg77
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Probably only battle where all involved (six men) were awarded the Medal of Honor. Of course, this was a time when the standards were different, and two of the six were civilian scouts, ineligible under today's rules.

Billy Dixon was told to forfeit his medal, he did not. I've seen it in the Panhandle Plains Museum here in Canyon.

For those unfamiliar, two scouts and an escort were sent to look for a supply train. They stumbled across a large number of Indians, and held them off from a small depression in the ground for a scorching day and into a cold, rain-soaked night.

The first soldiers to find them refused to treat their wounds or even offer food and water.

https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/history/2024/09/08/caprock-chronicles-the-battle-of-buffalo-wallow/75091939007/

Quote:

As we approach the 150th anniversary of the short but significant Battle of Buffalo Wallow, we can take an opportunity to recount the incident. On Sept. 10,1874, Col. Nelson Miles was concerned about his overdue supply train from Camp Supply, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Miles tasked two civilian scouts - Amos Chapman and Billy Dixon - to locate the wagon train and let them know of the impending relocation of the troops.

Miles gave the scouts option to be accompanied by their choice of troops, and it was decided that a small number would be better to conceal while traveling through hostile territory. The military detachment consisted of four soldiers from the 6th cavalry, Sgt. Zachariah T. Woodall, and privates Peter Rath, John Herrington and George Smith....

CanyonAg77
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https://texasbeyondhistory.net/redriver/



A Kiowa ledger drawing possibly depicting the Buffalo Wallow battle in 1874, one of several clashes between Southern Plains Indians and the U.S. Army during the Red River War. Image from TARL Collections (TMM-1988-21 Reverse).

CanyonAg77
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https://texasbeyondhistory.net/redriver/battles.html

Quote:

On the morning of September 12, 1874 about 125 of the warriors who had laid siege to the Lyman wagon train decided to move south of the Wa****a River to join their families. As the warriors reached a small rise north of Gageby Creek they ran into a small detachment of six men from Colonel Miles' command who were riding with dispatches and were charged with locating Lyman's wagon train. The detachment consisted of civilian scouts Billy Dixon and Amos Chapman and four soldiers of the Sixth Cavalry. The ensuing engagement between the warriors and the six men has come to be known as the Battle of Buffalo Wallow.

The Indians quickly encircled the couriers, stranding them with essentially no cover. The little group of men dismounted and prepared to fight. A Private Smith was given the horses reins to hold. Within moments of the battle's outbreak he was shot in the chest and fell to the ground as the horses stampeded.

After about four hours of the Indians taunting and firing at them, all of the whites except Dixon had been wounded. He spotted a small buffalo wallow, a shallow depression on the plain. Determined to make use of what little cover there was, Dixon made a run for the wallow, and three of the other men quickly joined him. Once there, the men began digging with knives to deepen the depression, throwing the sandy soil up as a breastwork around the perimeter of the wallow. The two men who remained outside the wallow were Private Smith who had been shot first and was believed dead, and Chapman who had suffered a crippling wound to his leg. After several attempts, Dixon was able to reach Chapman and carry him back to the wallow.

As the afternoon wore on, the men began to run low on ammunition and it was decided that the revolver and ammunition belt should be retrieved from the body of the dead Private Smith. One of the soldiers, a Private Rath, ran to the motionless body and recovered the items, but when he got back to the wallow he reported that Private Smith was still alive. Dixon and Rath made their way back to Smith and carried him back to the wallow, but it was obvious that he would not survive. "We could see that there was no chance for him. He was shot through the left lung and when he breathed the wind sobbed out of his back under the shoulder blade," Dixon wrote in his memoirs. Later that night Private Smith died in his sleep.

By mid-afternoon a storm came up and a heavy rain began to fall. As miserable as the men were in the buffalo wallow the storm had an unseen benefit. With the advent of the inclement weather, the Indians broke off the fight and disappeared into the night.

The next morning Dixon left the wallow on foot to try to find help for the wounded men. After a short while, he encountered the Eighth Cavalry under Major Price's command. Upon learning of their situation, Colonel Miles had the men rescued. Although all six men were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Dixon's and Chapman's were later revoked because they were not officially enlisted in the Army. In 1989, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records restored the medals to Dixon and Chapman.
Bighunter43
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Major Price sounds like a pos!! How do you not offer these men a drink of water , and just ride on?? (That was a great read….thanks for sharing).
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