Nelson Miles's 1874 Southern Plains Campaign

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In August 1874, Colonel Nelson Miles launched an expedition from Fort Dodge into the Texas Panhandle to force hostile tribes onto reservations during the Red River War. His force—comprising eight cavalry companies, four infantry companies, and 37 scouts, including notable figures Bat Masterson and Billy Dixon—moved south across the Arkansas River. An advance detachment led by Lieutenant Frank Baldwin split off to scout toward Adobe Walls, where the scouts quickly engaged in sharp skirmishes with Native warriors, drove off an attack on a party of buffalo hunters, and tracked hostile trails deeper into the Canadian River country.

The campaign escalated on August 30 when Baldwin's scouts were ambushed by hundreds of warriors entrenched along steep bluffs. Miles soon brought up the main column, deploying Gatling guns, artillery, and coordinated cavalry charges led by officers like Captain Adna Chaffee and Captain Tullius Tupper to dislodge the warriors from the heights. After a grueling 20-mile pursuit across the arid Staked Plains in punishing heat, Miles bivouacked his exhausted troops to await supplies, leaving Captain Wyllys Lyman's supply train wagon guard surrounded by Comanche forces near the Washita River.

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