The Mackenzie Trail

The Mackenzie Trail. . , In the fall of 1874, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie and his 4th Cavalry Regiment were under orders to drive large bands of hostile Indians in northwest Texas back to the Ft. Sill Reservation. In a fierce battle Sept. 26-28, 1874, in Palo Duro Canyon, the Indians, who dismounted and fought from the rocks on the bluffs, were routed. The better of their captured horses were used as cavalry remounts and others were given to the Tonkawa guides but nearly 2,000 had to be killed because it was too far to an army post to drive them there. Set afoot, the Indians could no longer depredate., Mackenzie’s big supply base for the campaign, at the confluence of Duck Creek and the Salt Fork of the Brazos, was furnished from Ft. Griffin, 1-1/4 miles ESE of this site. The road crossed here and the ruts made by the frequent wagon trains of supplies were plainly visible when pointed out about 1926 by J.A. Matthews, then owner of this site. The road continued west along the present fence line between the Matthews and Nail ranches, crossing the Clear Fork on the Nail Ranch at what is still known as “The Mackenzie Crossing.” The Mackenzie Trail became a well travelled road used by both buffalo hunters and plains settlers., Born in New York July 27, 1840, Mackenzie died Jan. 19, 1889, and was buried at West Point, where he had graduated highest in the class of 1862. Early in his career, Gen. U.S. Grant had regarded him as “the most promising young officer in the army.”