Kit Carson And The First Battle Of Adobe Walls

The ruins of Adobe Walls, one-time saloon, fort, and trading post with the Plains Indians was the 1864 site of the largest battle between the Indian and the U.S. Army. Some three hundred army troops, mostly cavalry, were led by famous western explorer, Indian agent, fighter and trapper Christopher (Kit) Carson. Not only was it the largest battle between the Indian and U.S. Army, it was the only time the army was forced to withdraw. Why withdraw? Because Carson and his New Mexico and California volunteers were outnumbered ten to one by their combined Kiowa, Comanche, and Arapaho enemy. Had it not been for Carson's command ability, a greater massacre than the Little Big Horn would have occurred.

"Following two journeys, Kit Carson's 1864 military expedition from Fort Bascom to Adobe Walls and Alvin Lynn's journey to document what happened are told"--

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Toward the end of 1864, in response to attacks by Native Americans on white settlers, Christopher "Kit" Carson was ordered to take 13 officers and 246 enlisted men to attack the Comanche and Kiowa tribes, believed to be spending the winter on the south side of the Canadian River. This is an annotated account of the battle that centered around Adobe Wells, Texas, by Capt. George H. Pettis, who was part of Carson's command. Additional information concerning Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache people, and Carson himself, has been added to the original manuscript. This edition of the book contains all three of the original illustrations, rejuvenated.

Kit Carson's Fight with the Comanche and Kiowa Indians, - at the Adobe Walls on the Canadian River, November 25th, 1864 is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1878. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Motorists traveling along State Highway 104 north of Tucumcari, New Mexico, may notice a sign indicating the location of Fort Bascom. The post itself is long gone, its adobe walls washed away. In 1863, the United States, fearing a second Confederate invasion of New Mexico Territory from Texas, built Fort Bascom. Until 1874, the troops stationed at this site on the Eroded Plains along the Canadian River defended Hispanic and Anglo-American settlements in eastern New Mexico and far western Texas against Comanches and other Southern Plains Indians. In Fort Bascom, James Bailey Blackshear presents the definitive history of this critical outpost in the American Southwest, along with a detailed view of army life on the late-nineteenth-century western frontier. Located in the middle of what General William T. Sherman called “an awful country,” Fort Bascom’s hardships went beyond the army’s efforts to control the Comanches and Kiowas. Blackshear shows the difficulties of maintaining a post in a harsh environment where scarce water and forage, long supply lines, poorly constructed facilities, and monotonous duty tested soldiers’ endurance. Fort Bascom also describes the social aspects of a frontier assignment and the impact of the Comanchero trade on military personnel and objectives, showing just how difficult it was for the army to subdue the Southern Plains Indians. Crucial to this enterprise were logistics, including procurement from civilian contractors of everything from beef to hay. Blackshear examines the strong links between New Mexican Comancheros and Comanches, detailing how the lure of illegal profits drew former military personnel into this black-market economy and revealing the influence of the Comanchero trade on Southwestern history. This first full account of the unique challenges soldiers faced on the Texas frontier during and after the Civil War restores Fort Bascom to its rightful place in the history of the U.S. military and of U.S.-Indian relations in the American Southwest.