DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Dove Creek has to say — and friend, this one deserves to be told carefully. January 8, 1865. Eight miles east of where that marker stands in Irion County.
The war back East was grinding toward its end, but out here on the Texas frontier, a different kind of reckoning was already underway. A large party of Kickapoo Indians had entered Texas — without authority, the marker is plain about that — and they were making their way to Mexico. Now the Kickapoos, the marker tells us, had formerly been hostile to the South.
Confederate troops and Texas militiamen encountered them, and somebody made the call to attack. What followed was five hours of desperate fighting. Five hours.
That's not a skirmish. That's a battle, long and grinding and bloody, and when it was over, the Confederate troops and militiamen withdrew. Twenty-two killed.
Nineteen wounded. The marker notes that Indian losses from the encounter were probably less. Let that land a moment.
The side that attacked withdrew. The losses were severe. And the story didn't end there.
Later raids by the Kickapoos — raids that would bring more suffering to the Texas frontier — were traced back to that fight at Dove Creek. The marker doesn't soften that. One bad decision on one January morning cast a long shadow.
Now the back of that marker pulls the lens wider, because Dove Creek didn't happen in a vacuum. The Civil War had thrown the whole map of the frontier into chaos. Most Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles had aided the South.
Others adhered to the North. The Comanches made a treaty with the South, but the marker says a great majority of them, along with their allies the Kiowas, held aloof from either side entirely — and plundered the frontier at will. Apaches and the Kickapoos did the same, operating out of Mexico.
Meanwhile, Texas and Confederate troops, the marker tells us, were working with poor arms and poor mounts, holding defense lines all the way until the war's end. War brought turmoil to Indians living in Kansas and the Indian Territory. That's how the marker puts it — with unfortunate results for Texans on the frontier.
Turmoil rippling outward, touching everyone, and on one cold January day in 1865, it all crashed together eight miles from here, and twenty-two men didn't come home, and the trouble that followed was traced right back to that morning. Some fights, once started, don't really end. They just change shape.
What the marker says
[front] On January 8, 1865 eight miles east of here Confederate troops and Texas militiamen engaged a large party of Kickapoo Indians. The Indians, formerly hostile to the South, had entered Texas without authority and were making their way to Mexico. Troops attacked them and following five hours of desperate fighting, withdrew, having suffered the loss of 22 killed and 19 wounded. Indian losses from the encounter were probably less. Later raids by the Kickapoos were traced to the Dove Creek fight. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy Erected by the State of Texas 1963 [back] TEXAS CIVIL WAR INDIAN TROUBLE War brought turmoil to Indians living in Kansas and the Indian Territory, with unfortunate results for Texans on the frontier. Most Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles aided the South, while others adhered to the North. The Comanches made a treaty with the South but a great majority, with their allies the Kiowas, held aloof from either side, and plundered the frontier at will. Apaches and the Kickapoos did the same from Mexico. Texas and Confederate troops, despite poor arms and mounts, held defense lines until war's end.