Battle of Yellow House Canyon

Battle of Yellow House Canyon
Part of the Buffalo Hunters' War, Apache Wars
Comanche warriors circa 1870
Date March 18, 1877 Location near Lubbock, Texas 33°37′43.305″N 101°53′9.60″W / 33.62869583°N 101.8860000°W / 33.62869583; -101.8860000 (Yellow House Canyon Battlefield)Coordinates: 33°37′43.305″N 101°53′9.60″W / 33.62869583°N 101.8860000°W / 33.62869583; -101.8860000 (Yellow House Canyon Battlefield) Result Comanche/Apache victory; American militia retreat
Belligerents
United States	Comanche Apache
Commanders and leaders
Jim Smith	Black Horse
Strength
46 militia	~300 warriors
Casualties and losses
12 killed 8 wounded	21 killed 22 wounded
Yellow House Canyon battlefield Location within Texas

The Battle of Yellow House Canyon was a battle between a force of Comanches and Apaches against a group of American bison hunters that occurred on March 18, 1877, near the site of the present-day city of Lubbock, Texas. It was the final battle of the Buffalo Hunters' War, and was the last major fight involving the United States and Native Americans on the High Plains of Texas.

In December 1876, a group of Comanche under Black Horse received a permit, through the Indian agent at Fort Sill, to allow them to hunt in Texas. But Black Horse had other interests in mind; he was angry that overhunting by settlers had radically thinned herds of American bison (buffalo), and planned to camp in Yellow House Canyon and attack whatever hunters he saw. Earlier in the winter of 1876, buffalo hunter Marshall Sewell had, along with a group of skinners, set up camp below the Caprock in Garza County, near the head of the Salt Fork Brazos River. On February 1, 1877, Sewell discovered a herd of buffalo, and after setting up station, picked the animals off one-by-one with his rifle before running out of ammunition. Black Horse witnessed this, and with his warriors, surrounded the hunter on his way back to camp. They tortured and double-scalped him before cutting open his stomach and placing pieces of his rifle tripod in the wounds. The action was witnessed by the three skinners who had accompanied Sewell and by another hunter, all of whom were close to a mile away. They hurried to Rath City, the nearest settlement of any size, to report the murder.

Sewell appears to have been popular among local buffalo hunters, and as a result, reaction came quickly; about 40 men rode to the site of the murder and buried the hunter, after which they picked up the Comanches' trail. The two parties met in a brief skirmish, in which a half-breed hunter named Spotted Jack was wounded by the Texans, who then returned to Rath City. Black Horse took close to 170 warriors, among whom was captive Herman Lehmann, and began plundering hunters' camps in the region. Among those targeted were Pat Garrett and Willis Glenn. Needless to say, the affair caused great consternation among buffalo hunters, and they demanded action be taken.