The Battle of Blanco Canyon

The column that rode into Blanco Canyon took shape that fall. After Gen. William T. Sherman approved the expedition in September 1871, the Handbook of Texas says, Mackenzie gathered eight companies of the Fourth Cavalry, two companies of the Eleventh Infantry and about twenty Tonkawa scouts at the site of old Camp Cooper. Marching northwest, they made a base camp on the fourth night where Duck Creek meets the Salt Fork of the Brazos, near present Spur. The infantry stayed there to hold it, and the cavalry and scouts went on alone, reaching the White River on October 9.

What the plaque says

The Battle of Blanco Canyon Of all the confrontations between the United States Army and Indians in Texas, the Battle of Blanco Canyon is identified as one of the most decisive clashes in the U.S. cavalry's campaigns against the Comanches. Indians inhabited the canyons and plains as far back as 12,000 years, and various bands and tribes populated what is now Floyd County due to the area's abundant resources. In 1720, the Comanche Indians traveled into north Texas which drove the Apache and other tribes south. The Comanche maintained strong diplomatic and military power over Texas, and by 1790 the Comanche proved to be powerful trading figures in the region. On Aug. 12, 1871, an Indian agent, Lawrie Tatum, requested that Gen. Benjamin Grierson and Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie lead an expedition against Kotsoteka and Quahadi Comanche bands whom denied relocation to a reservation. On Oct. 3, the command left Camp Cooper (Throckmorton County) with Tonkawa scouts to find chief Quanah Parker and the accompanying Indians. During the Battle of Blanco canyon, a preemptive attack against the cavalry by Parker's forces on Oct. 10 in which the Indians drove off many cavalry horses, Col. Mackenzie's men suffered one fatality. In response, Col. Mackenzie and Lt. Robert G. Carter pursued the Comanches. During the expedition, Lt. Carter's leg was crushed when his horse slipped and Col. Mackenzie was shot in the leg when returning to Blanco Canyon. The expedition ended soon after the wounded and sick retreated on Oct. 24. The command marched 509 miles in total, and although the expedition discouraged Col. Mackenzie, the cavalry destroyed Comanche resources and disrupted regional Comanche dominance. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum — 18 mi
  Crosbyton's museum of Blanco Canyon, built in 1958 as a copy of Hank Smith's Rock House, and the place to learn the canyon's 1871 fight between Mackenzie's cavalry and Quanah's Quahadi Comanche.

More markers nearby

• Coronado in Blanco Canyon — steps away
• Roots of the Catholic Faith in West Texas — steps away
• Floyd County — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Floydada — 6.4 mi