Battle of the Washita

The plaque calls this attack the start of Sheridan's campaign, and that campaign ran on into spring. Troopers of the Seventh Cavalry and the Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry ranged over much of present southwestern Oklahoma, and work on Camp Wichita, later Fort Sill, began in January 1869 to replace Fort Cobb as a base. In March Custer overtook a large Cheyenne camp on the Sweetwater River in the Texas Panhandle; with his supplies exhausted, he took its leaders hostage by trickery to force a promise to report to Camp Supply. The column reached Fort Hays on April 10, 1869.

What the plaque says

Battle of the Washita 2 mi. West Nov. 27, 1868. Col. George A. Custer, commanding 7th Cavalry, attacked the Cheyenne village of Chief Black Kettle. 153 Cheyenne casualties, and 34 U.S. troops killed or wounded. Among the killed was Capt. L.M. Hamilton, grand- son of Alexander Hamilton. Battle the start of Sheridan's Washita campaign.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Washita Battlefield National Historic Site — 0.9 mi
  The bend of the Washita where the 7th Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Cheyenne village at dawn on November 27, 1868, kept by the Park Service with a trail to the village site.
• Elk City Museum Complex — 19 mi
  Elk City's museums on old 66: the National Route 66 and Transportation Museum's drive through all eight states, a pioneer Old Town, a farm and ranch hall and a blacksmith shop.
• Beckham County Courthouse — 22 mi
  Sayre's domed 1911 courthouse, built to impress people stepping off the train and filmed by John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath once Route 66 came through the square.

More markers nearby

• Sandstone Creek Area — 10 mi
• California Road — 13 mi
• Canute — 26 mi