Near Site of Indian Battle
Merkel, Taylor County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On February 15, 1870, Corporal Hilliard Morrow and five men of Company E, 24th U.S. Infantry, set out from Fort Griffin to relieve guards at Mountain Pass mail station near here. Soon after arriving, however, they were besieged by a raiding party of 75 Comanches. Although outnumbered by more than ten to one, the courageous group repelled the attack. The Indians, however, drove off five mules and one horse belonging to the El Paso and San Antonio Mail Company, which ran a branch line to the station. Three of the Indians were killed, but the soldiers suffered no losses. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On February 15, 1870, Corporal Hilliard Morrow and five soldiers of Company E, 24th U.S. Infantry, rode from Fort Griffin to relieve the guard at the Mountain Pass mail station. Soon after they arrived, a Comanche raiding party estimated at seventy-five warriors besieged them, but the vastly outnumbered soldiers held their ground and drove off the attack, losing no men though the raiders made off with army mules and a horse from the mail company.
Why it matters
The skirmish is a small but vivid episode of the post-Civil War Indian Wars, when the U.S. Army and the Comanche contested control of the West Texas plains and the mail routes crossing them.
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Related people
- · Hilliard Morrow
Related events
- · Mountain Pass mail station fight, 1870
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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