Dove Creek Battlefield
Mertzon vicinity, Irion County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Around this mountain a battle was fought on January 8, 1865 between 2000 Indians and Texas Rangers and State Troops commanded by Captains John Fossett and S. S. Totten. Four officers and 22 of their men lie in unmarked graves nearby.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On January 8, 1865, in the closing weeks of the Civil War, some 2,000 Native people clashed here with Texas Rangers and state troops under Captains John Fossett and S. S. Totten in one of the bloodiest frontier fights of the era. Four officers and twenty-two of their men were left in unmarked graves near the mountain. The battle exposed how the frontier's Indian conflicts raged on even as the great war between the states drew to a close.
Why it matters
It marks a costly and controversial frontier engagement, a reminder that the violence of Texas's Indian wars ran parallel to and beyond the Civil War itself.
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Related people
- · John Fossett
- · S. S. Totten
Themes & tags
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