Battle of Wolf Creek, 1838 |
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During the early summer of 1838, a combined Cheyenne-Arapaho force
took its entire village from the Arkansas River in Kansas to northwestern
Oklahoma in search of their Kiowa enemy. While camped on Beaver Creek,
a Kiowa-Comanche buffalo hunt was spotted between Beaver and Wolf Creeks.
After destroying an unsuspecting Kiowa hunting party the Cheyenne-Arapaho
contingent launched a massive assault on the Kiowa and Comanche camps
along Wolf Creek. In the fight that followed, known as the Battle of
Wolf Creek, the Cheyenne and Arapaho killed fifty-eight Kiowa and Comanche
at a cost of fourteen of their own. The invaders retreated when a Comanche
messenger rode away to enlist the aid of a nearby detachment of U.S.
Dragoons and their Osage scouts. The Osages wanted to pursue and punish
the offending Cheyennes and Arapahos but the Kiowas and Comanches had
been badly mauled and were content to let the matter wait for a day
more to their liking.
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