Battle of Adobe Walls
Stinnett, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Was fought here November 25, 1864, when Colonel Christopher (Kit) Carson (1809-1868) with a few companies of United States troops under the protection of the Adobe Walls attacked a band of hostile Kiowa and Comanche Indians and killed over 60 braves. This was "Kit" Carson's last fight. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On November 25, 1864, Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson led a column of U.S. troops against a large force of Kiowa and Comanche near the ruins of an old trading post known as Adobe Walls. Sheltering behind the crumbling walls, Carson's men fought a hard engagement before withdrawing from the far more numerous warriors. It proved to be the famed frontiersman's last battle.
Why it matters
The clash marks a chapter in the long struggle over the Southern Plains, where the U.S. Army and the Kiowa and Comanche contested the future of the region during the era of westward expansion.
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Related people
- · Christopher "Kit" Carson
Related events
- · Battle of Adobe Walls (1864)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fifteen miles to the Site of the Battle of Adobe Walls
Borger, TX
Fifteen miles from this marker lies the site of the first Battle of Adobe Walls, fought on November 25, 1864, when Kiowa and Comanche warriors met U.S. troops led by Colonel Christopher 'Kit' Carson. Carson attacked the villages but, badly outnumbered, was forced to withdraw in what proved to be the famous scout and frontiersman's last fight. The clash was one of the largest engagements between the Army and the Southern Plains nations.
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For generations, the springs near this spot were a rare oasis on the Texas Panhandle plains, drawing Native peoples and, later, U.S. military expeditions. Captain Randolph B. Marcy camped here in 1852 while searching for the headwaters of the Red River, and the springs figured in the campaigns of Ranald S. MacKenzie and Nelson Miles. Archeology has confirmed that an 1874 clash between troops under Lt. Frank Baldwin and Cheyenne chief Grey Beard occurred nearby, during the Red River War that ended free Native life on the Southern Plains.
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