Battle of Turkey Springs, I.T.

The Northern Cheyenne chose the ground. Captain Joseph Rendlebrock expected to overtake the families near the Arkansas River in Kansas, but warriors were waiting on a hilltop above the waterhole. Through an Arapaho scout called Chalk, or Ghost Man, he told Dull Knife and Little Wolf to return to the reservation, and they refused. Short of ammunition, the Cheyenne fired sparingly through the day, kept the soldiers from the springs that night and had them surrounded by morning. The troops retreated through the ravines to the Cimarron, and Rendlebrock was later court-martialed for the disorderly retreat.

What the plaque says

Battle of Turkey Springs, I.T. 7 Mi. N. of Here Last known encounter between Indians & U.S. Army in Okla. here Sept. 13-14, 1878. Northern Cheyenne led by Dull Knife & Little Wolf fled Darlington Agency at Ft. Reno to return to Dakotas. Crossing Woods Co. they killed 2 cowboys employed by W. R. Colcord & engaged portions of Cos. G & H, 4th Cavalry, under Capt. Joseph Rendlebrock at Turkey Springs. Arapaho scout & 3 soldiers killed & 3 wounded, 5 Indians wounded, including one little girl.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Alabaster Caverns State Park — 8.9 mi
  A three-quarter-mile gypsum cave under Cedar Canyon near Freedom, with selenite, rare black alabaster, five kinds of bats and a past as a 1950s fallout shelter.
• Little Sahara State Park — 22 mi
  More than 1,600 acres of bare, moving dunes south of Waynoka, blown from the Cimarron's Ice Age terraces, begun as a park with two circus camels in 1958.