Adobe Walls Battle Ground
Adobe Walls was originally a trading post called Adobe Fort just north of the Canadian River. It was demolished after repeated native attacks in 1848. In 1864, Kit Carson was involved in the First Battle of Adobe Walls (two walls were still standing) with, reportedly, about 400 men against over 1000 natives. By 1874 there were two stores, a corral, saloon, and a blacksmithy. Native depradations had increased and many of the hunters in the area had moved closer to the camp. After this second battle, the natives burned the camp to the ground.
The memorial marker lists the names of the men and reads:
"Here, on June 27, 1874, about 700 picked warriors from the Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa indian Tribes were defeated by 28 brave frontiersmen."
Billy Dixon later wrote:
"There was never a more splendidly barbaric sight. In after years I was glad that I had seen it. Hundreds of warriors, the flower of the fighting men of the southwestern Plains tribes, mounted upon their finest horses, armed with guns and lances, and carrying heavy shields of thick buffalo hide, were coming like the wind. Over all was splashed the rich colors of red, vermillion and ochre, on the bodies of the men, on the bodies of the running horses. Scalps dangled from bridles, gorgeous war-bonnets fluttered their plumes, bright feathers dangled from the tails and manes of the horses, and the bronzed, halfnaked bodies of the riders glittered with ornaments of silver and brass. Behind this headlong charging host stretched the Plains, on whose horizon the rising sun was lifting its morning fires. The warriors seemed to emerge from this glowing background."
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes/Inscriptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| William "Billy" Dixon | 25 Sep 1850 | 9 Mar 1913 | Mason; Medal of Honor; Indian Scout, 6 US Cav, Indian Wars; Dixon was also at Buffalo Wallow |
| William Olds | 2 Jul 1874 | acciently shot himself during the seige | |
| Shorty Shadler | 27 Jun 1874 | 'brothers killed in the intial onslaught' | |
| Ike Shadler | 27 Jun 1874 | 'brothers killed in the intial onslaught' | |
| Billy Tyler | 27 Jun 1874 | killed at the beginning of the battle |