Battle of Adobe Walls

First Battle of Adobe Walls
Part of the American Indian Wars, Apache Wars
Adobe Walls
Date November 25, 1864 Location Hutchinson County, Texas 35°53′37.2588″N 101°9′43.36″W / 35.893683000°N 101.1620444°W / 35.893683000; -101.1620444 (Adobe Walls Battlefield)Coordinates: 35°53′37.2588″N 101°9′43.36″W / 35.893683000°N 101.1620444°W / 35.893683000; -101.1620444 (Adobe Walls Battlefield) Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
United States	Kiowa Comanche Plains Apache
Commanders and leaders
Kit Carson	Dohäsan Satank Guipago Satanta Iron Shirt
Strength
335 soldiers 72 native scouts 2 artillery pieces	<1,400 warriors
Casualties and losses
6 killed 25 wounded	Official Estimate: 60 killed and wounded 1 known dead
Adobe Walls Battlefield Location within Texas

The First Battle of Adobe Walls was a battle between the United States Army and American Indians. The Kiowa, Comanche and Plains Apache (Kiowa Apache) tribes drove from the battlefield a United States Expeditionary Force that was reacting to attacks on white settlers moving into the Southwest. The battle, on November 25, 1864, resulted in light casualties on both sides but was one of the largest engagements fought on the Great Plains.

The Battle of Adobe Walls occurred on November 25, 1864, in the vicinity of Adobe Walls, the ruins of William Bent's abandoned adobe trading post and saloon, located on the northern side of the Canadian River 17 miles (27 km) northeast of present-day Stinnett in Hutchinson County. The battle came about when Gen. James H. Carleton, commander of the military district of New Mexico, decided to punish severely the plains tribes of the Kiowa and Comanche, whom he deemed responsible for attacks on wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail. The Indians saw the wagon trains as trespassers who killed buffalo and other game the Indians needed to survive. As the American Civil War drained available troops, attacks on the Great Plains worsened, leading in the later part of 1863 to cries from settlers for protection.

Gen. Carleton wanted to put an end to the raids, or at least to send a sharp signal to the Indians that the Civil War had not left the United States unable to protect its people. He selected Col. Christopher (Kit) Carson to lead the expeditionary force as the most seasoned veteran Indian fighter at his disposal. Col. Carson took command of the First Cavalry, New Mexico Volunteers, with orders to proceed against the winter campgrounds of the Comanches and Kiowas, which were reported to be somewhere in the Palo Duro Canyons of the southern Panhandle area, on the south side of the Canadian River. The Carson expedition was the second invasion of the heart of the Comancheria, after the Antelope Hills Expedition.