Showing posts with label Battle of Buffalo Wallow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battle of Buffalo Wallow. Show all posts

Thursday, September 12, 2024

Saturday, September 12, 1874. Battle of Buffalo Wallow

Scouts William Dixon, Amos Chapman and soldiers Sergeant Z. T. Woodall, Co. I; Peter Rath, Co. A; John Harrington, Co. H.; George W. Smith, Co. M, 6th Cavalry fought some of the Kiowa and Comanche from the Lyman fight that encountered them on their way to rejoin their families on the Washita.

Billy Dixon.

The battle went on all day, with the soldiers and scouts taking refuge against the must larger native party in a buffalo wallow.  During the night, scout Billy Dixon went for help on foot which arrived the next day.   Two of the soldiers died in the encounter.   Their survival had a lot to do with effective marksmanship.

The troops Dixon brought for relief were engaged in a battle that day as well, at the Sweetwater Creek and Dry Force of the Washita River.  The encounter between the 8th Cavalry and the Native Americans was brief and two Native Americans were killed and six wounded.

Dixon would receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in retrieving a wounded soldier during the fight, and going for help.  It'd later be revoked given as he was a civilian, but subsequently restored.  He'd go on to marry in the early 1890s and have seven children.  He made his home in those years near Adobe Walls, the site of his most famous battle.  He died in 1913.

Last edition:

Friday, September 11, 1874. The fate of the German family.