Kiowa Raid on Walnut Creek
Azle, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In April 1867 a band of about sixty Kiowa Indians, led by Chiefs Satank and Satanta, raided the home of William Hamleton on Walnut Creek. Hamleton was away when the Kiowas killed his wife, Sally, and captured two children, Lavina and Mary. Lavina was released from captivity after six months, but Mary was given to an Indian family and grew to adulthood among the Kiowas. Called To-Goam-Gat-Ty, she became an accepted tribal member and married another captive, Calisay. The site of the 1867 Kiowa Raid is now under the waters of Eagle Mountain Reservior (1.4 mi. E) (1983)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In April 1867 a band of about sixty Kiowa warriors, led by chiefs Satank and Satanta, struck the Walnut Creek home of William Hamleton while he was away, killing his wife Sally and carrying off their two daughters. Lavina was freed after six months, but young Mary was raised among the Kiowa, took the name To-Goam-Gat-Ty, and married another captive to become an accepted member of the tribe. The raid site now lies beneath the waters of Eagle Mountain Reservoir.
Why it matters
The raid and Mary's absorption into the Kiowa world lay bare the violent, intimate collisions of the Texas frontier, where the line between settler and Native life could be crossed in a single afternoon.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Satank
- · Satanta
- · Mary Hamleton (To-Goam-Gat-Ty)
- · Lavina Hamleton
- · Sally Hamleton
Related events
- · 1867 Kiowa Raid on Walnut Creek
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The 1865 Indian Creek Raid
Fort Worth, TX
As Anglo settlement pushed into the north Texas frontier in the mid-1800s, Native peoples grew increasingly determined to defend their lands, and raids and reprisals flared from 1859 into the 1870s. In September 1865, fifteen mounted warriors attacked two Denton County men near this spot; Wright was killed outright, and Smith, struck by an arrow, rode to Denton for help only to die of blood poisoning from the wound.
Teague Cemetery
Aurora, TX
John Teague, a veteran of the U.S. war with Mexico, brought his family from Missouri to settle this North Texas land in 1858 and later served on the frontier during the Civil War. The burial ground that bears his name holds about thirty graves, its earliest inscribed stone marking the Rev. Jacob Moffett, killed by Indians in September 1865. When Teague moved on to Foard County in 1885, the cemetery fell out of use as other plots opened nearby.
1869 Independence Day Raid
Fort Worth, TX
On July 4, 1869, a band of eleven Native raiders gathered horses around Fort Worth and rode northwest, pursued by a posse of Tarrant County men into Parker County. Along the way settlers' homes were raided and two travelers killed before the raiders slipped away on the night of July 5th, abandoning most of the stock. Such raids were a recurring feature of the North Texas frontier from the late 1850s until 1875.
Deep Creek Community
Boyd, TX
Settled around 1854 by pioneers Sam Woody and Tom McCarroll and soon joined by neighbors from East Texas, Deep Creek grew into a farming community raising cotton, corn, and cattle, with a Baptist church that doubled as a schoolhouse. Its cemetery holds Civil War veterans and the grave of Sally Bowman, killed in an 1868 Indian raid — a reminder of frontier peril. Generations later the community even inspired a nationally performed ballet, "Winter at Deep Creek."