Gen. Nelson Miles Expedition (Headquarters Dugout)

Nelson A. Miles came to the Panhandle as colonel of the Fifth Infantry with a Medal of Honor from Chancellorsville and a stint as Jefferson Davis's jailer behind him. The Handbook of Texas follows him after 1875: against the Sioux after the Little Bighorn, to the Nez Perce surrender at the Bear Paw Mountains in 1877, and to Geronimo's surrender at Skeleton Canyon in 1886. Named general in chief of the army in 1895, he led the Puerto Rico campaign of 1898, retired in 1903 and died in 1925.

What the plaque says

Indian raids brought General Miles' men to Texas in 1874 as part of U.S. Army pincer's tactic operating from a dugout post. The twelve infantry and cavalry units had supply camps on the Canadian, Red and Washita rivers. On November 8, 1874, Gen. Miles' troops recovered two captive sisters, Addie and Julia German. Two older sisters, Catherine and Sophia German, were freed February 28, 1875. Eight Indian battles were fought during that winter. At this post, General Miles nominated several of his men for the Congressional Medal of Honor, among them renowned Panhandle settler Billy Dixon. In 1875, Fort Elliott opened at Old Mobeetie to continue frontier protection. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Citadelle Art Museum — 13 mi
  A 1910 Baptist church saved from demolition in 1977, made into a family home filled with art, and given to Canadian in 2009 as one of the Panhandle's few art museums.
• River Valley Pioneer Museum — 13 mi
  The Hemphill County museum in Canadian, a Santa Fe division town of 1887 on the river breaks that held one of the first commercial rodeos in Texas and voted itself dry in 1903.
• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 14 mi
  Five thousand acres of sand sage and cottonwood bottomland along the Canadian River east of Canadian, bought by the state in 1950 for wildlife research and open to walkers with a permit.
• Canadian River Wagon Bridge — 14 mi
  The longest pin-connected bridge in Texas, 3,255 feet of Parker trusses across the Canadian River at Canadian, built for wagons in 1916 and reopened as a footpath in 2000.

More markers nearby

• Route of Marcy Trail — 5.8 mi
• Fletcher and Donley Stage Station — 6.4 mi
• 58 Yards West to Routes of Historic Trails — 6.8 mi
• Fossil Beds — 10 mi