First Battle of Adobe Walls The First Battle of Adobe Walls , was a battle between the United States Army and American Indians . The Kiowa , Comanche and Plains Apache ( Kiowa Apache ) tribes drove from the battlefield a United States Expeditionary Force that was reacting to attacks on white settlers moving into the Southwest . The battle , November 25 , 1864 , resulted in light casualties on both sides but was one of the largest engagements fought on the Great Plains . Background . The battle of Adobe Walls occurred on November 25 , 1864 , in the vicinity of Adobe Walls , the ruins of William Bent ' s abandoned adobe trading post and saloon , located on the northern side of the Canadian River 17 miles ( 27 km ) northeast of present day Stinnett in Hutchinson County . The battle came about when General James H . Carleton , commander of the military district of New Mexico , decided to punish severely the plains tribes of the Kiowa and Comanche , whom he deemed responsible for attacks on wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail . The Indians saw the wagon trains as trespassers who killed buffalo and other game the Indians needed to survive . As the American Civil War drained available troops , attacks on the Great Plains worsened , leading in the later part of 1863 to cries from settlers for protection . General Carleton wanted to put an end to the raids , or at least to send a sharp signal to the Indians that the Civil War had not left the United States unable to protect its people . He selected Col . Christopher ( Kit ) Carson to lead the expeditionary force as the most seasoned veteran Indian fighter at his disposal . Col . Carson took command of the First Cavalry , New Mexico Volunteers , with orders to proceed against the winter campgrounds of the Comanches and Kiowas , which were reported to be somewhere in the Palo Duro Canyons of the southern Panhandle area , on the south side of the Canadian River . The Carson expedition was the second invasion of the heart of the Comancheria , after the Antelope Hills Expedition . Prelude . On November 10 , 1864 Carson started from Fort Bascom with 260 cavalry , 75 infantry , and 72 Ute and Jicarilla Apache scouts that he had recruited from Lucien Maxwell ' s ranch near Cimarron , New Mexico . On November 12 , Carson ’ s force , accompanied by two mountain howitzers under the command of Lt . George H . Pettis , twenty - seven wagons , an ambulance , and with forty - five days ' rations , proceeded down the Canadian River into the Texas Panhandle . Carson had decided to march first to Adobe Walls , which he was familiar with from his employment there by Bent more than 20 years earlier . Carson , long familiar with the Utes and Jicarillas , had confidence in his Indian scouts . They covered his flanks and each morning two of them rode far ahead of the slow - moving column to search for Comanche and Kiowa encampments . Inclement weather , including an early snow storm , caused slow progress . On November 24 , 1864 , the First Cavalry reached Mule Springs , in Moore County , approximately west of Adobe Walls . That same afternoon , the Indian scouts reported they had found the trail of a large Indian village . Carson left his infantry behind to guard his supply train and ordered a night march of cavalry and artillery . He rode in the van with the Utes and Jicarillas . Next morning he ordered the two howitzers forward to join him in the van . Coming to the easily - fordable Canadian River he deployed one company of cavalry on the north side of the river and continued with the remainder on the south side . Battle . Approximately two hours after daybreak on November 25 , 1864 , Carson ' s cavalry found and attacked a Kiowa village of 176 lodges . The Chief , Dohäsan , and his people fled , passing the alarm to allied Comanche villages nearby . Marching forward to Adobe Walls , four miles from the Kiowa village , Carson dug in there about 10 : 00 am , using one corner of the ruins for a hospital . Carson discovered to his dismay that there were numerous villages in the area , including a large Comanche village . Carson saw large numbers of Indians pouring forward to engage him in battle , a much greater force than he had expected . Captain Pettis , who wrote the most complete report of the battle , estimated that 1 , 200 to 1 , 400 Comanche and Kiowa attacked the soldiers and Indian scouts who numbered 330 , 75 men having been left behind to guard the supply train . Carson dismounted his cavalry and deployed them around the two howitzers . His Indian scouts skirmished with about 200 Comanche and Kiowa warriors " mounted and covered with paint and feathers . . . charging backwards and forwards . . . their bodies thrown over the sides of their horses , at a full run , and shooting occasionally under their horses . " Dohäsan , assisted by Satank and Satanta , led the Kiowas in the first attack . Fierce fighting developed as the Kiowa , Plains Apache , and Comanche warriors repeatedly attacked Carson ' s position . Satanta replied to Carson ' s bugler with his own bugle calls to confuse the soldiers . Carson succeeded in repelling the attacks only through his clever use of supporting fire from the twin howitzers . The first shells from the howitzers caused the Comanche and Kiowa to retire from the battlefield , but they soon returned in even greater numbers and renewed the attack . By afternoon , Pettis estimated Carson ' s army faced more than 3 , 000 Indians . After six to eight hours of fairly continuous fighting , Carson realized he was running low on howitzer shells , and ammunition in general , and ordered his forces to retreat to the Kiowa village in his rear . Carson was also concerned about the fate of the 75 men guarding his much - needed supply train . The Indians tried to block his retreat by setting fire to the grass and brush down near the river . The wily Carson , however , set back - fires and retreated to higher ground , where the twin howitzers continued to hold off the Indians . When twilight came , Carson ordered about half his command and his Indian scouts to burn the lodges of the village , which also resulted in the death of the Kiowa - Apache chief , Iron Shirt , who refused to leave his tipi . The soldiers confiscated many " finely finished buffalo robes " and burned the rest and the Indian scouts killed and mutilated four Kiowas too decrepit to flee . The weary soldiers continued their retreat and found their supply train intact that night . Carson and his soldiers rested in camp on November 26 , their Indian opponents visible on a hilltop about two miles away . Carson ' s Indian scouts skirmished with the Comanche and Kiowa but no serious attack was mounted on the soldiers . The next day , Carson gave the order to return to New Mexico . Some of his officers wished to renew the battle , but Carson , consulting only with his Utes and Jicarillas , ordered the retreat to New Mexico . Aftermath . United States victory ? The United States Army declared the First Battle of Adobe Walls a victory . The Kiowa , to the contrary , recorded in their annual record , painted on buffalo skin , that the period was " muddy travel winter , the time when the Kiowas repelled Kit Carson . " Carson was well known by all the Indians of the Southern Plains . The battle left the Comanche and Kiowa unchallenged in their control of the Texas Panhandle until the Battle of the North Fork of the Red River eight years later . Most authorities believe that Carson ' s decision to retreat was wise and that he deserves credit for a good defense . He was outnumbered and only his clever use of back - fires and the howitzers prevented his force being overrun and massacred as Custer was later at the Little Bighorn . The number of Indians engaged against Carson in this battle has often been estimated as high as 3 , 000 , but that is likely an exaggeration . The total number of warriors possessed by the Comanche , Kiowa , and Kiowa - Apache probably did not total anywhere near 3 , 000 . As the Kiowa village consisted of 176 lodges and the Comanche village of about 500 lodges , it is unlikely that the total Indian force numbered more that two fighting men per lodge or 1 , 300 . As it was , Carson lost six dead and twenty - five wounded , including one Indian scout killed and four wounded , while he estimated that the Comanche and Kiowa lost approximately fifty to sixty killed and as many as 100 wounded . The official U . S . army report on the battle estimated an Indian loss of 60 killed and wounded . Given the long distance nature of the fighting the estimate of Indian casualties can only be a guess . Only one Comanche scalp was reported taken by Carson ' s soldiers . Epilogue . The First Battle at Adobe Walls would be the last time the Comanche and Kiowa forced American troops to retreat from a battlefield , and marked the beginning of the end of the plains tribes and their way of life . A decade later , the Second Battle of Adobe Walls was fought on June 27 , 1874 between 250 to 700 Comanche and a group of 28 hunters defending the settlement of Adobe Walls . After a four - day siege , the Indians withdrew . The Second Battle is historically significant because it led to the Red River War of 1874 - 75 , resulting in the final relocation of the Southern Plains Indians to reservations in what is now Oklahoma . Placement of Historical Marker . In 1964 , the Texas State Historical Survey Committee erected Historical Marker 1690 to preserve the memory of the First Battle of Adobe Walls . The marker is not located at the actual battle site , but is located 15 miles to the west . The marker states that " though Carson made a brilliant defense , the Indians won . "