JUNE 2, 1875

RED RIVER WAR ENDS WITH COMMANCHE QUANAH PARKER’S SURRENDER

With the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty, southern Plains tribes were settled onto reservations in Indian Territory (IT). While the Comanche & Kiowa still raided, they largely refrained from 1871 to 1873 while Kiowa leaders Satanta & Big Tree and 124 Comanche women & children were imprisoned. With their release, and following delays & shortages in rations and encroachment by white buffalo hunters onto the Texas Panhandle, the Comanche, Kiowa & Cheyenne attacked buffalo hunters in June 1874 in what is known as the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. The Kiowa then raided into Texas while the Comanche attacked the Wichita Agency at Anadarko, IT. By October, most Indians returned to their reservations. By spring 1875, only the bands of Kwahadi Comanche, led by Mow-way & Quanah Parker, remained at large. Parker’s band came to Fort Sill on June 2, 1875, ending the War–the last major conflict between the U.S. Army and the southern Plains Indians.

Sources:

“Red River War (1874–1875),” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.  Retrieved 2/13/2023,   Red River War (1874–1875) | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (okhistory.org)

Drawing:  Author unknown, 1874.  A Kiowa ledger drawing possibly depicting the Buffalo Wallow battle in 1874, a fight between Southern Plains Indians and the U.S. Army during the Red River War.  Public Domain.  Source: TARL Collections (TMM-1988-21 Reverse).