Battle of the Freshwater Fork of the Brazos

In Sep. 1871, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie and the 4th U.S. Cavalry received permission to lead an expedition from Fort Griffin (Shackelford County) and engage Comanche who had refused to move to their designated reservation at Fort Sill (Oklahoma territory). Soon after midnight on October 11, 1871, the Comanche surprised Col. Mackenzie’s U.S. Cavalry Troops as they camped on the Freshwater Fork of the Brazos River (now White River). The camp near the mouth of Blanco Canyon was infiltrated by numerous warriors with the goal of delaying the army’s advance into the Texas panhandle. After the Comanche stampeded the camp, scattering and taking dozens of horses, a chase ensued. Col. Mackenzie, Lt. Robert G. Carter and a small contingent of soldiers followed the Comanche. During a pursuit of more than forty miles, two Comanche and Pvt. Leander Gregg were killed, Lt. Carter’s leg was crushed when his horse slipped, and Col. Mackenzie was shot in the leg when returning to Blanco Canyon.

The army’s pursuit ended soon after the wounded and sick retreated back to the post on Nov. 5th. Carter, who kept a pocket diary of the expedition, wrote books and articles about his exploits in the Civil War and Indian wars. In 1900 he received the medal of honor for “most distinguished gallantry” in what had become known as the Battle of Blanco Canyon. Col. Mackenzie’s command marched more than 500 miles on the expedition before returning to their posts. This marked the initial contact between Quanah Parker and the Quahadi Comanche and Col. Mackenzie and the U.S. Army, and the beginning of the end of Comanche dominance in the panhandle, concluding with the Red River War of 1874. , Marker is property of the State of Texas